Us Mutants Prefer the Term "Special"

x37x

"When I was a kid, my father was enlisted in the Marine Corp and my mom was a prosthetic surgeon for the military. When I was about two, my father had been honorably discharged for being a war hero, but I was just happy he was home. I mean, he didn't show his affection, but it was nice to know he'd be...there," Zaine started as he positioned himself against the corner's wall and I sat adjacent to him because I still didn't know how we were. He could be opening up his life without considerably dating me. "About a year later, Macintyre came and questioned my parents about this new branch in the military they could be part of...which was the makings of SSAS, but more scientific. The years went by and then after my first year in school, they started testing me...and my sister...and I started questioning myself. They didn't find anything they wanted within my sister's genes, but they were ecstatic finding mine."

"Why did they test on you?" I questioned. Of all the people in the world, why a five year old?

"They thought beneficial mutation—what they called it—could be done externally, but they went back to biochemistry to realize that you can't change genetics. So as a sample, they tested me and my sister, but my genes were...a more prominent sample, they called it? But the funny thing was that they couldn't test anything but my saliva because syringes couldn't pierce my skin after months of proving my strength. They had me literally bite my tongue hard enough so that I could give them blood—all the while I was being trained as a soldier. If a toddler could pick up a car, of course he could be mind controlled into a perfect soldier...

The testing and training began under everyone's watch; I got to fourth grade and realized that my sister was having a life out of all this. She didn't know anything because they never included her. To her, it was a perfect family and her brother was so special he had to be homeschooled. No one knew anything and I wasn't going to ruin that. She didn't question it, but she still loved me. She was my best friend. Then, when I was maybe eight, I went to the carnival with her; we had gone every year and we always liked the Ferris Wheel the best. We went on Friday and her boyfriend was there—I didn't know they were boyfriend and girlfriend until then because I had only seen him for the first year my sister was in middle school. But anyways we didn't get the chance to ride the Ferris Wheel and I was glad because I saw what the other couples were doing on there and I was too protective of my sister. So Saturday we went on the Ferris Wheel and her boyfriend got us food and when we were going up she was so excited about everything and she was just so happy for school and sports and dances and when we reached the top, something clicked and I looked down at the world beneath me and I wondered why I was different...why I couldn't do what anyone else could or maybe vice versa. And then I figured that if everyone knew I was different, I could do anything I wanted without the secret..."

He paused as if this was the hardest part, even though there was passion in his voice about being himself—or finding himself back then.

"Then what happened?" I found myself whispering to him.

"I jumped," he answered. He...he jumped.

"You...—"

"I jumped...or at least I thought I jumped," he nodded. "From the highest point on the Ferris Wheel, I hit the ground because I wanted to prove that the only thing special was my strength and impenetrable skin. However, when I hit the ground, I heard the cement crack and there was no blood from anywhere, but my vision was blackening and I was already seeing crowds of people questioning why a little boy just tried to seemingly commit suicide. And as if she followed me, my sister was at my side, trying to get me up. She tried her hardest to get me out of there, but she could barely carry me. By the time we reached her boyfriend, he didn't need to know what was going on. He just threw my arm around his shoulder and he carried me away from there. I didn't know where we went, but my consciousness was going in and out. I realized I was sitting with my head swaying back and forth as I wanted to sleep, but I felt a pinch of pain and woke up to realize her boyfriend was holding a lighter to my arm and he was pressing it to my skin. He pulled it away and said 'Damn, you are painless'. I looked between him and my sister, trying to piece everything together and all my sister was telling me was that I couldn't go to sleep just in case I had a concussion.