The Seattle Files

File 1. How I Got My Spark

 File 1.

It only makes sense that I start from the beginning, which in this case is when me and my sister got our powers. That's right, my sister is my partner. Didn't expect that right? Well, yeah, sibling superheroes, here. At least we aren't twins... that would be wonderful.

You heard right though, Matthew and Mira Gaddison. We got an apartment together near Laurelhurst. It only makes sense since we both moved here to go to universities in the city. I go to Seattle U and Mira goes to the Cornish College of the Arts. So it only makes sense we move close by. I got here first since I am 2 years older than Mira but I've been here only a year since I took a year off from school after high school, so I'm only a sophomore there. I got my powers that year.

I bet you're wondering how I got them, huh? Freak accident? Radioactive waste? Mutations? Magic? Am I a robot? No to all of it. Well, almost. It was actually a freak combination of circumstances that made me what I am. If you want to know you'll have to know what happened to set up the accident (for me anyways). It was a regular day for me, I had just started a job at a bookstore downtown called Allister's Brook. A family owned store out on Mercer Island. Allister Cage started the store back in 1977 and it has been a well trusted store for the local heavy readers. I never got to meet Allister, he had passed away a few years ago. He had passed the store on to his daughter before he died and she was running the place with one other employee when I showed up at her door holding the help wanted flyer.

The store was the front of a distribution company of the same name. The store was just a small part of the store's revenue base. It was a favorite because you could get books cheaper that at big name chains. Alison was, of course, the owner of both but she was in love with her bookstore and treated it well. She did most of the work by herself leaving the distribution to a group of her father's old truck drivers who she kept on after he passed.

I pulled up in my black Dodge and looked around. The store was a good looking place, with big glass windows and an open view to the little display case of bestsellers and the rest of the store beyond that. I lived out there in a small rental house that first year of school. I didn't relocate to Laurelhurst until the month before Mira moved over. As I walked in I saw Alison standing behind the counter sorting through a stack of knick knacks to hang around the cash register to sell.

“Hey, there.” I said when I got to the register. “I saw the ad. You said you were hiring here?”

Alison turned and smiled. “Oh, yeah!” She walked from behind the counter. She was wearing a light purple pants suit with a white blouse. I will say this about Alison, she is a 28 year old business grad with a tennis trophy, with green eyes and her straight brown hair in a loose bun, she looked good. “You looking to apply?”

“Definitely,” I say, “I just moved in to Seattle and I'm going to Seattle U, so I thought a job might be nice for some extra pocket money.”

“Nice. Well, how about I interview you now?”

I blinked for a second. Did she want me to apply now? I don't even have a resume with me! “Right now?”

She chuckles, “Yeah, I do that. I think it helps keep my applicants honest.”

It honestly wasn't a bad strategy, honestly. “Ok, I'm in. Where should we start?”

Two days later I got a call from Alison saying I got the job. She said she was waiting to see how many others would apply but only a few had before me and, honestly, mine was the best by far. I started on that following week.

Fast forward a few months and I've been at work for a while now and I've gotten the hang of my job. I was scheduled as a store clerk and my job was to keep the shelves full and work the customer service desk while Alison stayed at the register and manned the in-store phone. It was a little difficult with classes and all but I worked out a way to take classes in the evening and work from opening the store til around two o'clock. That way she had help in the morning and I could still attend classes without being there the whole night.