Exceptional

The Cell

        Strong hands grabbed me from behind. I heard Safirah scream, and I struggled to break free, but I couldn't escape my attacker's grip. Every instinct in me screamed at me to use my fire, but my thoughts were going a million miles a minute. I couldn't focus enough at all!

        "Truman, what's going on?!" I shouted, as the figure behind him grew closer. Truman's expression became terribly sad, and he dropped his gaze to the floor. I heard laugher. I had heard this laughter before.

        "Well done, Mr. Tide!" Bones said, applauding. "You actually followed through with our plan. I thought your notorious cowardice would set in a number of times, especially since we're dealing with you little sister. But our four years together did you good. You've served me well."

        "You told us we could trust you!" I yelled.

        "He lied," shrugged Bones. "But he did the right thing. You five will make excellent test subjects for my new drug. It's meant to cure cancer, but lately I've been wondering... What will happen if it's given to people who don't have cancer?"

        I fought the iron grip of the gloved hands that held me back from ripping the two men in front of me to shreds, but Bones just laughed harder. "Give up! I engineered those guards myself only a few years back. Their strength is undefeatable, and they have no will except mine... that is, if their body accepts the drug."

        "B-Brother..." stuttered Kira. "You... You can't be doing this! I know you! Please, brother, help us!"

        "Correction- You knew him," said Bones. "Come on. Don't tell me you didn't see it coming! Seriously. Didn't you ever think it was just too easy?" He paused. "Funny... soon you won't think anything at all." With a snap of his fingers, he ordered the guards to put us somewhere dark and uncomfortable... Somewhere where our exceptions wouldn't be able to help us escape. If that's where we were headed, then I needed to fight back right then. I focused all my energy into making my wings burst from my back. I saw the fire engulf the guard...

        But nothing. The fire couldn't even singe his armour. That was it. That was the last of my energy. I heard Bones's laugh get fainter, and saw the room get darker and darker until all that was left was darkness and silence.

        I awoke in a small, damp room. There were no windows, and there was only a trapddor in the ceiling with a hole in it. I shot a huge fireball into the ceiling, hoping it would give way to escape. Nothing happened. I collapsed to the ground. I was trapped.

        I heard a knock on one of the walls. "I have no idea what this place is made out of, but it looks like we're trapped for good." I whipped around, and saw Safirah sitting in the opposite corner.

        "Safirah!" I said. "Aww, this would be so great if you could teleport through walls..."

        "I never said I couldn't," she said, avoiding my eyes. "I just don't."

        "What do you mean, 'you just don't?' You could save our butts over here! Come on, you have to!"

        "No! No, I don't have to!" she shouted. She huffed, and pulled her skirt up a little higher than it normally fell. I honestly did not know what she was doing, but I didn't look away. Because when I looked, I saw a mark on her upper thigh that almost looked like some kind of chemical burn. Okay, maybe that wasn't the only reason why I kept looking. But I certainly couldn't take my eyes away from that mark until she smoothed her skirt back into place.

        "That's what happens when I push my boundaries," she whispered, tilting her head toward the trapdoor in the ceiling.

        I walked over to the corner where she was, and plopped down next to her. "Wanna talk about it?"

        She glared at me. "No."

        "This might be your last chance to tell someone," I said, not entirely untruthfully.

        She rolled her eyes. "Spare me."

        I let her have her beloved silence for some time, while I wrapped my head around what was going to happen to me. What were they going to do, tie me down, stick all kinds of needles in me, and watch while I suffered? It didn't seem beyond them. God, what terrible things happened to the ones who came before me? The ones who had their minds and bodies so terribly tortured that they didn't even know themselves anymore. I laughed. Truman said he was one of those kids. That's obviously a lie. If I was him, I'd never let any one else suffer like me. How were we ever so stupid? Bones was right- it was all too easy.

        Safirah muttered something, but I couldn't tell what she said. "What?" I asked her.

        "I  got it in middle school. My boyfriend-"

        "Oh my God, do not tell me your boyfriend did that to you!" I interrupted.

        She laughed, sadly. "No. No, not really. My boyfriend was a grade higher than me, so we didn't have any classes together. We barely saw each other. But I loved him. we'd sometimes cut classes just so we could talk to each other. My parents didn't believe in dates, so this was all we had. But one day he didn't come.

        "The teachers told us a couple days later. He was kidnapped on his way to school. I couldn't believe it. I had to find him. But how could I do that, when I saw his face everywhere. Seriously, almost everywhere. I even thought I saw him through the neighbour's window. But it couldn't be him. What kind of crazy lady dreams that up? But every night, I could have sworn I saw him.

        "I wanted to rush over there, to save him. But I barely knew the men that lived there. It drove me crazy. One day, I just stared out the window, through the crack in the wonky blinds of the neighbour's house. I imagined myself in the house. And, just like in a dream, I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was there. it must have been a dream. I knew it was a dream. Stuff like that never happened in real life. But even saving him in a dream was good enough. He stared at me as if I were a ghost. He told me I appeared like an angel, right in front of him. I, of course, politely informed him that he was being ridiculous. I untied him, and imagined myself back in my house. I closed my eyes, gripping my boyfriend's hand. I opened my eyes, and I was there. And he was there. But something was wrong.

        "My leg hurt, and it hurt really, really bad. I collapsed to the floor, telling my boyfriend to get my parents. And I blacked out. I woke up a few days later in hospital, with this mark. I knew just how it happened. I had left a peice of myself back at the neighbour's house. And that's how they were able to convict the kidnappers. I simultaneously became a hero and an outcast. Everyone envies the exceptional. And that's why they hate us. My dad got deployed, and we moved. I never saw the boy I'd rescued again.

        "And now I'm here," she sighed. "In this godforsaken hell of a -"

        She stopped, and looked up. I did too. We had heard a creaking sound from above. Was this it? Were we never going to see each other again? Would these be our last painless memories?

        I grabbed her hand instictively. We watched and waited as the door swung open.