Falling Worlds (COMPLETED)

TIME 06:

(sunday the 10th)

That evening, Roman came home. Sydney was with him. I heard them enter the door from the other room. I jerked upright as I heard him yell; "Taryn! We're home!" I had been sitting in my room: reading. Doing more research on genetic engineering and trying to find out how to control my abilities. I jumped out of my hammock and ran down the hallway. I stopped in time to not slide into them. By them, I mean Roman and Sydney.

"Hello," I said shyly.

"Hey," he said. I noticed the girl next to him. It was Sydney. I had never met her before. She was very pretty. She had long dark hair and icy blue eyes. Her skin was flawless. "This is Sydney."

"Nice to meet you," I said politely. She smiled.

"Nice to meet you too," she replied. "Roman has told me all about you." Roman laughed.

"I'll go put dinner on," he said, walking over to the kitchen. Sydney followed him. I went over to watch television.

"I can make dinner," Sydney said. Roman shook his head, but she insisted.

"Okay," he said. "I'll go download the files we made onto the computer." She smiled and nodded as he left. He came back just before we sat down to eat. The food was good. It consisted of a steak like meat with potatoes and corn.

Dinner was quiet at first, then Sydney started talking.

"So how did you figure out about your powers?" she asked. I nearly choked.

"Me?" I asked, wondering if she was addressing me. She nodded. "Well, I went back in time." I said. She sat there, waiting for more.

"How did you do it?" she asked. "How did you go back in time?" I thought or a second.

"I was just really scared," I said. "It all just sort of happened." She nodded understandingly.

"What happened that was so bad that you went back in time?" she asked.

"Roman died," I stated bluntly. "He was hit across the head with a bottle. Shards of glass were smashed into his temple. Lots of blood." Sydney looked scared. Roman looked scared. I was the only one that didn't seem too freaked out about it. This was probably because I had thought about what had happened a lot. I had done quite a bit of thinking and had imagined it so many times in my mind that it seemed kind of dull. I was bored with the thought.

"You said I died, but I didn't think you meant I was murdered," he said. I kept eating my food.

"You must have been pretty scared, huh?" Sydney said, her voice quieted with sympathy. I saw what she was trying to do. She was trying to get to know me better. I wouldn't let that happen. I sat quietly.

"I guess you could say that," I said. Everyone was quiet.

"So, when are you going to use your powers again?" she asked. She really didn't understand this power thing, did she? It wasn't something I could just turn on and off. Not yet. I shrugged

"I dunno," I stated. "Once I figure out how to use them." She smiled.

"From the research I've done, it just takes a large amount of mental focus," she said. I tried to stop myself from rolling my eyes. She was sitting here, sounding really nerdy, probably trying to impress me. "I study brains. I could run some tests to see if I can help-'

"No, I'm fine," I said a bit too quickly. "I can figure it out."

"Okay," she said cheerfully. "But if you ever change your mind, just tell me. I've got all the equipment I could ever wish for down at the college. I could put it to some good use." She broke into a kind of nervous laugh. Roman sat silently in the midst of this, like he wasn't sure how to respond.

"You should meet my sister," Sydney suggested. "She's about your age. She'll probably have powers too. You could learn how to use them together. You could be good friends." I don't know why, but I wasn't too excited about the fact of meeting someone else with powers. It just seemed like a disaster. I thought about politely turning down her offer, but realized that no matter how I tried to word it: it just came out plain rude.

"That sounds fun," I lied, trying to be polite. "I would enjoy that." Sydney smiled and continued to eat.

When dinner was finished, Roman found her her coat and helped her put it on. She walked towards the door.

"It was nice meeting you," she told me cheerfully. Roman walked over to her and quickly kissed her on the lips as he said goodbye. I stood there watching. After she had gone, Roman looked to me.

"That wasn't too bad," he said, glancing over at me as I watched television. There wasn't anything good on, just some dumb cartoons, but it saved me from an annoying silence. "Hey," he said, walking over and sitting down on the couch that I was laying on. He took the remote and shut off the TV. He took my hand in his.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I looked away.

"Nothing," I said. "Nothing's wrong."

"Don't you like her?" he asked curiously. I shrugged.

"I dunno," I said. "I guess. I can't really judge. I don't know her that well yet."

"You should get to know her then," he said. "I could take you to the college tomorrow and you could spend the day with her. You're probably really bored here."

"Nah, I'm fine," I said. "You don't have to do that." He smirked.

"It'll be fun," he said. "She could do all of those tests on your brain. It could really help you-"

"I said I'm fine," I said, trying not to seem bratty.

"She's actually pretty awesome once you get to know her," he said. I shrugged.

"Okay," I said. "Whatever." He stood up and left.

"Get to bed soon, okay?" he called. "You need to be fully rested tomorrow. You're gonna have lots of fun with Sydney."