Forgotten Spark

Chapter 10

My head spun. That wasn't new, just uncomfortable. Why were Jack's memories appearing in my head? I shook my head. That didn't help the dizziness. I sat down on the hill. I needed to think. Jack and Abigail had walked away a little while ago, after telling me they were going to find someone who might be able to figure this out (the leader of this place, I figured. Maybe Ostin, too). Abi went reluctantly, but I assured her my shoulder was fine. What I didn't tell her was that I could have been shot for all I knew, I couldn't think about much more than what had appeared in my head.

Was there any possibility, even the slightest, that it wasn't Jack's memory? No, how would we have been able to know those things about it if it weren't the same? Well, what if someone planted it in both our brains? No, that would be even more impossible, and even pointless. Why plant that random memory? What if this was my electric power, and no one but my old self knew about it? I didn't think someone could have more than one power, but the way everyone was talking about mine, that could have been a possibility.

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. Why couldn't I have been some normal kid living in the city and playing video games with my friends? I just had to be a super-powered mutant fighting evil. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I wished I could lose my memory all over again and pretend I could still be normal.

I quickly wiped the tear from my face. I didn't need to be upset about that. Any normal kid would trade their left arm to be in my place. It could have been like a movie. Only real. And the movies don't show how terrible it really is.

I looked up and saw a man [description of Simon. For the life of me, I couldn't find a decent description of him! If any of you own the books and can find where he's described could you pleeeeaase leave it in the comments? I would really appreciate it :(] walking towards me, Jack next to him. I stood up to greet them. The man held his hand out, and I shook it.

"Hello, Michael. My name in Simon." He tried to smile, but I saw a hesitancy behind it. Like he wasn't sure what to expect from the new me. "I'm sorry we haven't been able to meet yet, and I'm sure you've been disoriented quite a bit in the last few days. We wanted to let you settle in before we gave you the rundown. But now I see we probably should have just told you in the beginning what all is happening."

He motioned for me to walk with him, and turned towards the lake. Jack followed us a ways behind. Almost like a bodyguard (he definitely looked the part).

"So...." I began, "you're going to tell me what's going on? Everything that's happened to me? And everyone else I know--er--knew?"

Simon looked at me and took a deep breath. "Yes," he said slowly. "It seems that to understand what happened to you, and what's happening now, you'll have to understand why we exist and how you came to be a part of it all. You might be able to make connections and remember minute details related to this if you know everything. Something might click."

I nodded my understanding. After a moment of silence, I asked, "So, how did this start?"

Simon began to talk. He started at the beginning--the MEI, Dr. Hatch, the Elgen. We talked for hours about the resistance and how the Elgen has grown. Eventually we reached the other side of the lake and sat down, Jack sitting with us and piping in with my story when it came time.

The beginning was sixteen years ago, when the MEI was tested before it was ready. It was put into a hospital, where it ran for about a week and a half. Most of the children born during that time on that hospital died within a few days. Only seventeen babies survived (me being one of them), and they were given electric powers. The Elgen found out, and started tracking down the survivors, kidnapping them to study them, and to raise them on their side. Before he died of a heart attack (brought on by Elgen technology) my father started the resistance, seeing what the Elgen were doing. The Elgen thought it died with him, but it grew and raised money without them knowing.