Invisible

Prologue

Before I came along, my family lived in a small town in Colorado. In August of 2000, the power plant in our town had some technical failures and imploded.

It was loud, and the smoke and debris could be seen from miles away.

At the time, my mother was pregnant with me. She's told me the story so many times, I feel like I witnessed it myself.

"Robert dear, we have to leave," She panicked.

"Why darling?" My dad bounded down the stairs.

But he didn't need an answer. He saw the dust billowing from just a couple of miles away from our home.

"Kids, we have to leave," my dad announced. My siblings emerged from their rooms and soon understood why dad was so panicked. "Pack quickly, we aren't coming back." My family rushed around grabbing important and sentimental items. Then they all piled into the car.

All the radio stations had the same emergency warning playing.

"A power plant in Colorado has collapsed, releasing radioactivity into the city. Everyone is contaminated. Evacuate the city and go to the nearest hospital."
"Rob, what will happen to the baby?" My mother played with her thin golden hair nervously.

"Sarah dear, we're going straight to the hospital. But I'm sure everything will be fine," My dad reasoned. He held her hand in his and kept the other on the wheel, driving his family to safety.

After endless tests on my family, the doctors found none of my family were affected. They were all completely healthy.

Except me.

My parents were devastated. They thought I'd be born with some sort of disability, or that my mother would miscarriage.

But on January 14, 2001, I was born: Christina Dovev.

My birthday is a grim day in my family history. For instance, on January 14, 1950, my great grandmother was murdered in front of her whole family. So it was just my luck I was born on the anniversary of her death.

The day I was born is also the day my father abandoned my mother.

The doctors were correct because the radioactivity definitely had an effect on me. When I was born, I was translucent, like a ghost you'd see in Harry Potter or something. The hospital confiscated me from my parents. Mom refused to leave me when the nurses told her they wouldn't release me, so my father left and took my older siblings with him and later filed for divorce.

My poor mother lost her husband and wasn't allowed to see her newborn baby. My mother never got in touch with my father again so she couldn't even see her other children.

She was not going to let the government take away the only family she had left. So one night, my mother somehow snuck into where the hospital was keeping me, and escaped.

The radioactivity gave me the power to turn invisible. But not like a superhero. No, because life is just that cruel. I can't control when I disappear. I turn invisible randomly and without warning.

My mother and I have been off the grid for quite a while in fear of the FBI coming for me. I go to school, but with an alias. I'm not allowed to invite people over or tell anyone about my "condition."

It's a miracle my mother didn't give me up years ago. She's my best and only friend and is the only reason I'm alive and well.

But of course, I wouldn't be telling this story if I just lived my life peacefully in hiding. So this is my story.