She wanted to let him fly. She knew it was his dream. But the moment he touched her, sparks flew through her skin. Scary sparks. Immediately, she sat, a few feet away from Porter. He sat, too, but she could tell that he was hurt.
“My fourth I got a month before my fourth birthday. They called it astral projection.”
“An out-of-body experience.”
Pandora smiled. “Of course. I don’t like that power very much. It makes me seem...weak. I can’t protect my physical form while in my spiritual form. It’s impossible. My fifth I got when I was five years and four months.”
“What is it?”
“Dowsing. I can find people just by sniffing an item of theirs. It’s kind of weird.” She blushed, bringing color to her ivory face. “Like a dog, almost.”
“It’s interesting. Very cool.” Porter smiled.
Pandora smirked. “Yeah. Anyway, my sixth I got a month before I turned seven. It was precognition.”
“Like Final Destination?”
“I don’t know what that is. But precognition is the ability to see the future. Visions. They come and go. I haven’t had one in weeks.”
Porter scooted closer. “What are they usually about?”
Pandora scooted away. “Disasters, mostly. I saw my own death once. I was eight.”
“What was your seventh?”
“My seventh and eighth came at the same time. It was my eighth birthday. Pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis.”
“So you turned into the Avatar?”
“Again, I don’t know what that is.”
Porter chuckled. “You’ve never watched The Last Airbender on TV?”
“I’ve never watched television before.”
Porter laughed. “Come on, you gotta see this.”
He grabbed her hand and took off running, her following close behind. Sparks flew between the two. The sun was rising.
It was their birthday.
Pandora wanted to ask where they were going. She wanted to speak up, to say anything. But she was silent. It was just like back at the lab. If she spoke out of turn, she was punished.
They reached civilization after about fifteen minutes. Then, Pandora thought they would slow down. But no, Porter kept running. She was getting tired, but was too scared to speak up. After years of being hurt by the people she trusted, she couldn’t bring herself to truly trust this boy.
He stopped in front of the building with a big window in the front, advertising the sale of big boxes projecting moving photographs.
She doesn’t see people, or images. She sees a million, no, a billion, little squares, each with a separate color that changes almost instantly. All together, they created beautiful images.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” Porter frowned. “TV is amazing, Panda. You can’t diss it.”
“Panda?” Pandora looked towards at Porter, a smile playing on her lips.
“Sorry. It’s just that, Pandora is a long name, and you kinda remind me of a panda bear. You know, all cute and cuddly, let easily angered and stuff.”
At that moment, Pandora knew she could trust this boy. She knew she wanted to love him forever. This was the boy that would change her life. He barely knew her; he knew her as a killing machine, yet still accepted her.
Pandora laughed. Then she sniffed. Once. Twice. She turned towards the heavenly smell, a man on the corner, selling hotdogs.
“I want that!”
She took Porter’s hand and dragged him towards the cart. “Two, please,” she said, holding up two fingers. The man smiled. “Never seen you before. What’s your name?”
“Pandora.”
The man smiled and slid a hotdog into the bun, handing it to her. Porter fished some money out of his jeans and was about to fork it over when the man stopped him. “On the house! For the lady.”
Pandora took a bite into the hotdog, filled with ketchup, mustard, and relish. She moaned. “This is so good! What’s it called?”
The man looked at the girl weirdly as he handed the second hotdog to Porter. “Don’t mind her,” he said, pulling her away. “She’s from Canada.”
“My ninth power came when I was nine years and seven months,” Pandora said, wiping her mouth free of mustard. “It’s telepathy.”
“So you can read my mind?” Porter asked, his hands in his pockets.
“Yup.”
“What food am I thinking of, then?”
Pandora probed his mind, then burst out laughing. “Triangle,” she said after a few moments.
Porter laughed. “Dang, you’re good.”
“My tenth came at ten years and three weeks. Terrakinesis, the ability to move the earth.”
“Even closer to The Last Airbender. You can’t move air, can you?”
Pandora laughed. “Nah.”
“Dang.” Porter smiled.
“My eleventh came exactly a year ago. It was my eleventh birthday. They call it telekinesis. And my final power came a couple days ago. I call it metal moving.”
Porter thought for a moment. “You can move metal?”
“Yes.”
His eyes widened. “Come on!”
Porter took Pandora’s hand, dragging her out into the open road. A hovercar honked, but slowed to a stop before it hit them. Pandora laughed, but Porter was intent. He dashed into the library, into the darkest area, where there was a section for non-fiction. He pulled Pandora along, who was intent on finding out what was up with him. He stopped at a door.
“What is it?” Pandora asked.
“It’s a section of the library no one’s allowed to go into. It’s the Government section, and I want to be president when I’m older, so I want to know about the Government. But it’s off-limits to everyone, including the librarian. I want to know what’s inside.”
Pandora looked at Porter for a moment, then at the door. It was a simple, wooden door. Anybody could break it if they tried. Yet Porter wanted to get through. She would do anything for Porter.
She blinked, her eyes glowing green. She concentrated on the lock in the door. There was very little metal in it, the rest was something else, yet she could still target what little was there and with a flick of her wrist, the door unlocked.
“Let’s go,” she said, smiling and dragging Porter into the darkness.
YOU ARE READING
Pandemonium
Ficțiune științifico-fantasticăPandora is an experiment. After being replaced by her male counterpart, Adam, she is scheduled to be terminated on November 7: her birthday. Luckily, she escapes. She meets Porter, an socially awkward boy who likes to shy away from people. She falls...
