Rejects

Chapter Ten - Storm of Nightmares

That night there was a storm.  There was loud thunder, bright lightning, rain tap tap tapping on the glass of our window. 

Mikey tried to block this all out with headphones and squeezing his eyes firmly shut, but I could tell he was still trying to hold back from shaking.  I, on the other hand, had grabbed another blanket, much thicker than any of the other ones on my bed, from out of a closet and hid under all my sheets, curled in a fetal position while wishing for death. 

Another loud BOOM of thunder outside made me jump and curl up tighter.  Unlike Mikey, the storm itself isn't what bothers me.  It's the unnecessarily loud howls of the wind and claps of thunder and all but light pitter-patter of the rain.  I hate loud noises. 

Usually whenever there's a storm Mikey and I hide together, try and comfort each other, but this time we kept to ourselves.  Ever since earlier, when he got mad at me, things have been awkward between us.  We avoided each other for the rest of the day as best we could considering we share a room, we haven't talked once.  I was texting Frank earlier and told him about Mikey, and with some minor details in between he essentially said they'd sort things out on monday.  Yeah...that's exactly what he said. 

Eventually I fell asleep, but it wasn't peaceful.  I had a nightmare, there was running, a forest, people chasing me.  Loud noises, shouting, thunder in the distance but no rain or lightning.  Harsh winds, maybe the loud noises were explosions?  There was no visible smoke either, so that might not be it.  Why were the people chasing me?

"Get back here you freak!"  Freak?  What are they- .....

I used my powers and shot a fireball back at them.  It glazed one person, but that was enough to catch their coat on fire.  It's remains lay on the leaves covering the autumn ground, flaming everywhere.  The forest was catching on fire.  The fire was growing.  That person was dying.  Oh god, what have I done?  They know about my powers, that's why they were calling me freak!  They know about my powers!  That's why they're chasing me! 

I ran faster, my heart was beating out of my chest and my lungs had stopped working but I ran on, I couldn't let them catch me.  Who knows what would happen if I did? 

The fire was growing, roaring behind me, catching up and beginning to match my speed.  By now it had engulfed my pursuers, and was steadily climbing towards me. 

Closer...closer...closer, closer still!  I could feel the heat against my back, it was burning and excruciatingly painful but I couldn't stop.  I could never stop running.  I can never sto-

The flames engulfed me.

Sweat drenched my face, why was I so hot?  Wait, where am- I'm in bed.  What just- was that all a dream?  Was that my nightmare?  It was so surreal, yet believable...holy crap that was terrifying.  If I concentrate hard enough I can still feel the flames pressing against my back, scorching my skin. 

I looked around, Mikey was still asleep.  The storm was over, and it was eerily quiet.  No more rain pounding on the windows like an angry army of ants, no more explosions of thunder or strikes of lightning similar to someone flickering a light switch.  It seemed as though not only all the loud noises were gone, but all noises in general, except for my own heavy breathing which was only now beginning to slow. 

BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!!

I jumped and my head swung around, darting to look at every inch of the room to determine what had just caused that noise.  I sighed deeply when I realized it was only the alarm clock. 

Mikey groaned. 

Wait, had I actually woken up before the alarm?  What day is it anyway?  Jeez, that dream really took something out of me because I'm still shaken up now and it is becoming more and more difficult for me to grasp reality.  Something about all of this just seems so...unreal.  Heh, that's ironic, reality seems unreal. 

I watched as Mikey swatted at the alarm next to his bed, still almost fully asleep.  He finally managed to turn the alarm off and as he did I sunk down into my sheets and wiped the sweat from my face.  My breathing had returned to normal by now, and I closed my eyes. 

I know, it's time to get up so I shouldn't close my eyes, but I reaaally don't wanna have to explain this to Mikey.  I don't know, I just don't feel like talking to anyone right now. 

Mikey groaned again and shifted around in his bed.  "Gee...Gee wake up."  He slurred.  I pretended to be sleepy and yawned, "I'm up, I'm up,"  I said groggily. 

We both spent at least ten more minutes finding enough willpower to stand, and suddenly I felt very tired.  I really didn't sleep well at all last night. 

I went downstairs before Mikey, but ran into a wall or two along the way.  I just wanted to go back to sleep, hopefully get a better sleep, I would be so much more refreshed and ready. 

The morning seemed to go by quickly, but that's probably because I was asleep for most of it.  Before I knew it Mikey was calling my name, telling me it was time to leave for school.  Oh yeah, it's Monday!  I mean, I knew we had school today I just couldn't remember what day it was.  It's Monday, which means yesterday was Sunday, which means....wait. 

Shit.  Oh shit.  Is Mikey still mad at me?  Does he even remember?  Surely he remembers, how could he not?  I walked downstairs, where Mikey was waiting.  We made eye contact for a second before he looked away.  I walked over and we left, yelling goodbye to mom as we walked out the door. 

On the way to school there was an uncomfortable silence between us, and it was clear there was tension in the air.  Finally Mikey broke it and said, "So, Gee, about yesterday-"

"I'm sorry, again.  Can we please just leave it at that and go back to how it was before?"

"Gee, I'm not mad at you." 

I stopped walking.  "Y-you're not?" 

"No," Mikey rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "I mean, I was yesterday, but only because you scared me.  Huh, that's funny.  You're not scary yet you managed to freak me out."

"Hey, what do you mean I'm not scary?" I asked as we began walking again.

"I'm only stating the truth." 

I sighed exasperatedly and Mikey chuckled at me before continuing, "Look, I just want you to know that I'm not mad at you, anymore.  And I was never mad at you for kissing Frank, you can do whatever the hell you want with him as long as it doesn't include finding out about your powers.  I was only worried.  But now that I know nothing bad happened I'm good.  Are we good?" 

I smiled and instead of answering said, "Stop acting so mature, you're the younger brother, I'm suppose to be the mature one." 

"I am more mature, I've actually been going outside my whole life."

"You're more experienced, not mature." 

"You still laugh at fart jokes." 

I laughed, Mikey joined in and just like that we were back to our normal, joking selves.  Until we got to school.