The Manipulators

Chapter One

I look down the alleyway, there's nothing and no one. Finally, I am alone. I can embrace the one thing that I keep buried in my heart, where no one can find it. My right hand moves up, and over the left, they swirl together like two ballroom dancers, God how I hate dancing. Out of thin air, the bright yellow ball glows, my hands lock together, then explode outward, my fingertips almost touching the alley walls.

Everything suddenly glows yellow, and orange, then nothing. It is the same, except now the old, red brick walls beside me are covered in beautiful flowers and vines. It looks like a scene from a fairytale. I wish everything was this beautiful, and I did not have to keep my secret from everyone.

A dark figure appears far in front of me, with a single wave of my hand, I quickly wipe away what I have done. It is old again, those same dirty red brick walls before have come back, and it feels like they are closing in on me. The figure starts moving towards me, getting closer and closer with every passing second. Scared, and not knowing what else to do, I run. Then, I am relieved to hear my name.

"Arden, wait it's just me! I want to talk!"

I can breath again, it's just Freya. Why does she insist on sneaking up on me like this? This is the third time this week, and it's only Tuesday.

"Stop doing that, you know it scares me."

Now, I am looking straight into her striking blue eyes.

"Sorry, I can never find you anywhere but here."

"Well look harder! What do you want anyways?"

"I want to talk about your ..." She stops to look around, then whispers the word, "Powers."

She always whispers it, even when there is no one around. I will admit, she has known about her powers for a lot longer than I have, I just discovered mine a few years ago. In all honesty, I have learned a lot about how to control my talent, and I truly believe there is nothing more she can teach me.

"I've told you before, I know everything. I know how to use them, control them, and most important, how to hide them."

"No, you think you know everything, but you don't. The only reason you can do more than me is because you were born with a different power than I was."

"I know, but it doesn't matter, you still have powers, and no one can take that away from you."

I'm still not sure if our powers being taken away is a good or bad thing.

"Wait, how do you know?"

"I have, let's say, connections with others that also have powers."

"What do you mean?"

At this point she thinks the only people with powers are me and her. She used to think that everyone has powers. One day when we were little, she was 9 and I was 8, I wanted to go and play outside. But when I opened the door, the sky looked like it was crying, and it was relentless. Thunder, rain, and lightning crashed in the perfect storm. Then before I could say 'Nevermind, let's go back inside' she waved her hand and everything disappears, and the sun was shining, and birds started chirping. I turned around to see her then, smiling face. I asked what she just did, and she simply said,

"I wiped away the rain, so now, we can play out here."

I was so confused, I didn't even know that was possible. I always wondered how she did it, and that single action plagued my thoughts for many years to come. But now? Now I understand. I learned that I too had powers not long ago. It was a sunny day in May, a light breeze blew through the town, and me and Freya were outside walking along the streets.