The Flip Side

The Incident

     The time is 1:45 P.M. The class falls to a hush. The few students standing take their seats, and the teacher, Mrs. Watson, stands in front of the chalkboard. She picks up a small piece of chalk and starts slowly writing on the board, her small voice barely carrying beyond the third row of desks. She's saying something about biomedical engineering or something, but all I can hear is, "And the prosthetic helps..... some have difficulties.... have to use stronger materials...."
     I start to lose focus on the lecture, so I pull my notebook out of my backpack along with a pack of markers. I look at the markers, admiring the slightly smoldered corners and the Electric Blue with the melted cap. If it weren't for the black streaks from being exposed to flame, it would look exactly like my hair. My brother Jay thinks that marker is the only reason I dyed it. I can see why he would think that. These markers had been through everything. They almost reminded me of myself.
     I shake my head slightly to bring myself back to reality, setting the markers down on the table. I click the end of my pencil a few times, the thin tip of the lead protruding from the end. I open my notebook to a blank page and begin to doodle. I draw a forest with a narrow path winding through the dense overgrowth. I imagine myself walking through those woods, the leaves blocking out the afternoon sun while allowing a few rays to shine through. A small rabbit runs across the path, disappearing as quick as it appeared.
     I draw in everything as I imagine it, and add color. As I color the patterns into the trees, a shrill voice breaks my concentration.
     "Artemis!" It's Mrs. Watson. I jerk my head up and quickly hide my notebook under the desk. "Would you like to join us?" She tilts her head slightly and points at me with the stubby piece of chalk in her hand. The entire class is staring at me. After a moment of awkward silence, her eyes go wide.
     A student in a red pullover (I think his name is Tyler) points and shouts, "She's on fire!" But that's not what's happening. I look down at my notebook, and see nothing but a bright blue flame amongst a cloud of dense smoke. I quickly drop the notebook and jump to my feet, stomping on it in an effort to put it out. Mrs. Watson grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays the notebook, killing the flame after a few moments.
     What's left of the notebook lays smoldering on the cold tile as I stand there, frozen. That's when I see all eyes in the room shift to my hands. There's a solid blue flame coming out of each of my palms. I clap my hands together, putting out the flames, and grab my bag, running out of the room. I put up a hand to cover my face, but the flame erupts again. I clap again and shove the door open, running into the hall. I power walk down the hallway and into the women's bathroom, shutting myself in a stall and clicking the lock.
     Ok, let me make this clear. Things like the notebook happen all the time. The flames coming from my palms were something I was born with. The doctor says it only happens when I get a sudden surge of adrenaline, which perfectly explains why they appeared twice with the notebook. The first was from Mrs. Watson startling me, and the second must have been from the embarrassment. The surprised looks of my classmates were not because they've never seen anything like it. Although it isn't common, a few people have it. I've met a couple kids here at Bloomstown County High School with abilities, but most of them don't show it.
    The biggest reason people with these abilities try to hide them is because in today's society, with the rising control and importance of religion, people born with these strange abilities are seen as "cursed". We have a very limited selection of doctors we can go to, and schools hate us. The worst part of these abilities is that we have very little control over them. In time, you learn tricks to control them. For example, I quickly picked up on the clap trick. It was easy, really, being my initial reaction to seeing my hand catch fire. Jay was also born with an ability, and he's gotten to the point where he can control when he does and doesn't use it.
     I dig through my backpack and pull out my phone. An old flip phone, complete with a custom fireproof coating. I flip it open and open the Messages application. I scroll down to my conversation with Jay, and send a simple Hey. A few moments later, the little 3 dots show up, showing him typing.
Again? I'm on my way. Let me guess, girl's bathroom outside room 304? I laugh quietly. He knows me too well. Ding ding! You got it! :) I respond, slipping my phone back into my backpack. I stand up, grab my backpack, and open the stall door. And of course, she's there.
     "Hey Angela." I say, shifting the shoulder strap of my backpack up onto my shoulder. Angela is Jay's girlfriend. I've never quite liked her. She's the dangerous type. And I don't mean rebellious, I mean DANGEROUS. Angie has been sent to Juvy 8 times on account of assault. She plays for the BCHS football team, and could probably beat up the biggest linebacker on the team.
     "Hey, you're Artemis, right?" I nod. "Jay sent me to check on you until he gets here. Said you had another accident." I wince. Accident. I hate that word. I've heard it countless times. Doctors, counselors, fire marshals, the chief of police, they all say the same. Accident.
     "Thanks for checking, Angie." I start towards the door, but she places her hand on my shoulder.
     "You can talk to me, you know that, right? I know a lot of people say bad stuff about the Gifted, but I'm not like them, ok? I mean, I'm dating a guy who could basically be a living electric chair." She chuckles, nudging me jokingly. "Hey, I think it's badass. I sure wish I could do that."
     Trust me, no you don't. I think to myself, and there's a soft knock on the door to the bathroom. I walk to the door and open it, finding myself face to face with Jay, who's wearing a grey beanie and some weird shirt for a band nobody has ever heard of. His backpack is strung over one shoulder, and he's carrying a notebook.
     "Need this?" He asks, smiling. I snatch the notebook out of his hands and hit his head playfully with it. "I called Cass, she said it's cool if you come home early." Great-Aunt Cassidy. The only place we can go where we don't feel like someone's gonna steal our lunch money. After my first incident, we ran away and stayed with Cass, who happens to be the only other living member of my family in Bloomstown.
     Jay tells Angela goodbye and me and him head to his car. Even though he is 16, he shouldn't technically be allowed to drive. But, after the incident, Cass got us both fake IDs. So, if anyone asks, I'm 20 and he's 22. Honestly, he looks 22. He has a very sharp jawline, his voice is super low, and he's 5'11".
     Jay presses the key fob and there's a faint beep beep across the parking lot. We start walking in the direction of the car when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and find myself looking at a dark figure with a gleaming smile. I hear Jay behind me stop and I can faintly hear his sparks crackling. I put my hand up in a sort of hold on gesture towards him as I take a step back.
     I recognize the person. He's wearing the same hoodie that he does all the time. It's red on his right side, black on his left, and the black side juts out into the red side in the shape of a triangle. No Name. That's what most people call him. He never says a word, and always hides his face. Not even the teachers know his name. When he turns in his homework, he just draws the pattern of his hoodie on the name line.
     "What do you want?" I ask, a bit more aggressively than I had intended. He slowly steps back, walking towards the doors. I watch him walk backwards until he reaches the doors of the school, when he suddenly disappears. I step back, my flames erupting again. Where did he go? Is he a Gifted? What's his ability? My mind was racing with countless questions. I wanted to ask him, but even if I knew where he was, he would never answer them.
     I turn around, and Jay is standing there, frozen in shock, still sparking. He blinks a few times, stops sparking, and turns around, walking to the car. I follow, clapping out my flames. We get in the car and Jay drives us to Cass' house.
     On the way home, I can't stop thinking about No Name. He just, disappeared. Did he use the door as some sort of gateway? Maybe it was because he was under the awning? Perhaps the shadows? Whatever happened, he must have been trying to show me. Why else would he get my attention? If he had nothing to say (as usual), why would he have put his hand on my shoulder?
     Jay has a worried look on his face. He's seemed a bit timid lately. He's always protective of me, and I know for a fact he wouldn't have hesitated to use his ability against No Name had he done anything to harm me. But Jay always acts like this when I have an incident. He tries to keep me from doing anything serious and/or stupid.
     We pull into Cass' driveway and get out, walking up to the front door. Jay rings the doorbell and we wait for a second. After a moment, we hear the sound of the 2 sliding locks, 3 deadbolts, a padlock, and finally, the handle unlocks. You could say Cass was a little paranoid. She routinely changed locks and keys, and had enough security cameras to see the entire area in and around the house at the same time.
     The door swings open, and Cass greets us with a cheerful smile and hugs both of us, looking us up and down to make sure we aren't hurt. She ushers us in, we sit down, and she turns on the TV to the news. Nothing abnormal, just a few crashes on the highway and some Gifted got the death penalty for supposedly using his ability to kill a family of 4. She walks out of the room into the kitchen, and returns moments later with two plates.
     "After Jason told me you guys were gonna be home early, I went ahead and made a few sandwiches." She grins and sets them down in front of us. Roast beef with melted cheddar. My favorite. Jay always has turkey with Swiss. I never understood his taste.
     Cass sits down across from us at the coffee table. "So what brings you two home so early?" She asks, still grinning. I look at Jay.  I though he told her. He nods and gestures for me to tell her. So I do. I tell her the whole story, from the moment I sat down in Mrs. Watson's class to the moment I shut myself in the bathroom stall. She nods understandingly from time to time, and asks a few questions along the way.
     After finishing the story, Jay pats me on the back and we finish our sandwiches. As I'm washing dishes afterwards, my phone buzzes in my backpack. I set down the plate I'm working on and walk over to the bag, pulling my phone out. There's a pop-up on the tiny screen telling me that I have 4 new messages, with a cheesy animation of a letter opening and closing. I press a few buttons to get to my inbox, and scroll through the messages. They're all from the same unknown number. The first is just Hey. Then, Sorry if I startled you outside. I pause. Is this...? I continue reading. We're not too different, you and I. And finally, But I'm sure you already figured that out.
     I walk into the living room, where Jay is laying on the couch watching some old western film. "Hey Jay, does this number look familiar to you?" I ask, showing him the contact.
     He shakes his head. "No, why?"
     "They just messaged me, and it kinda seems like it might be that No Name kid we saw outside the school." His brow narrows as he flips through the messages, reading them.
     "Is this 'No Name' guy a Gifted?" He says, handing my phone back.
     I shrug. "I think so, judging by those messages and his little disappearing act outside the school. I have homeroom with him, but he's never really shown it. If he is Gifted, he sure knows how to handle it."