The Unconventional Hero

13) Stolen Goods

Chapter Thirteen: Stolen Goods

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"She was the light, a lamp in the night..."

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"Telekinesis?" Dahlia repeated, eyes wide.

"Yes? Or have I been calling it wrong this whole time?"

"No, it's just, I haven't seen a telekinesis user in, well, ever. I didn't really think they existed. Didn't some scientists release a study paper that got real famous on the topic of how your powers came from your personality?" Dahlia said, head tilted as she tried to recall whatever she was thinking of.

"I'm unsure if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult," I muttered back, grumpily.

"Whichever makes you feel better," Dahlia said back smugly, before the somber mood returned. "So, do you want to know what... all that was about?"

"As long as you're okay with explaining, really, I feel like I have no right to know, in a sense." I was a little surprised she hadn't asked for a demonstration of my powers, but thankful nonetheless. It could be considered a little demeaning.

Dahlia sighed and nodded. "No, I'd like you to know. I shared my deepest secret with you, so I'd like you to know why Jaxson and I got in a fight."

I nodded at her, motioning with my hands to let her continue her explanation.

"Do you have any bestfriends, Elias?" she asked, head down, shuffling her fingers. Dahlia seemed to have two obvious tells, annoyed when her left eyebrow twitched, and nervous when she shuffles her fingers.

"Yeah, I have two. Carmen and Brian. I couldn't imagine living without them." Where was she going with this?

"Good, that's good. You need people in your life that you trust and love. It's healthy." Dahlia took a deep breath before continuing. "I had a bestfriend too, when I was your age. Her name was Loryn. We called her Laurie though. She was, at the time, the most important person in my life. Whenever I had a bad day, she knew just what to do to cheer me up. I could imagine growing old together, best friends to the end."

"I'd like to grow old with Carmen and Brian. They're the best friends anyone could ask for," I said sullenly.

"I'm sure you will. Keep them out of danger, Elias. Protect them. Don't let them make reckless mistakes. I did just the opposite of that, and now I regret so, so much. I met Laurie in sophomore year of high school, while she was a freshman, and ironically, we hated each other. We really had no reason to be interacting, seeing as we were in different grades. But the world has awful ways of working things out, doesn't it?"

It did. It really did have awful ways of working things out.

"What happened?" I asked attentively.

"About three years ago, powers started appearing. I'm sure you got your powers in that time period as well. Anyways, Laurie got her power. She was ecstatic. When I got mine, we were both so excited, except the difference was, she wanted to go out and do things with her powers, while I just wanted to lay low. But she was just so happy and vibrant, and I couldn't take that away from her. So... I didn't. But she never went out to be a crime fighter, no. Do you want to know what she did?" Dahlia said, a frown overtaking her features as she bit the inside of her cheek. Hollow. Dahlia sounded oh-so terribly hollow.

No, I really didn't want to. I could tell something awful happened to her, and I was too afraid to hear the rest. This wasn't a fictional story, or a ghost story. This was someone's best friend, this was someone. A person.