Running for Life

Chapter 1

I wake up to the familiar smell of burning wood and brick. Actually, I'm pretty sure I have never smelled that before. I look over at the clock, it's 2:35. How did this happen? Why does it smell familiar? What was I just dreaming about? Then the immensity of it fell upon me. The house is on fire. Why am I still in bed? I need to get out. I get out of my king-sized bed, I got it as an early birthday present because I turn 16 today, and groggily walk over and feel my door. It's not hot, so I'm okay. I open the door and smoke hits me like a thousand bricks. I fall to the floor, my ice blue eyes not seeing a thing, my lungs burning with every cough and inhale of the smoke. Just as I think I'm done for it, my dad bursts out of his bedroom door in nothing but his plaid boxers. He runs at me and swoops in just in time like Superman. But it wasn't the verge of death, it only felt like it. Somehow I knew I wasn't going to die. But why did I feel that way? Then I began thinking about the fire again. What could have happened to set this gorgeous house on fire? A spark from a wire? Did the dryer overheat? Was the fireplace on? A candle? Then it hit me. It's not what did this it's who? More questions flood into my brain while I'm down the stairs like a rag doll.
"We will be okay Ty, we're gonna be okay." My dad whispers into my ears on the way down the now fragile steps.
Why would someone do this to us? How did they pass the elite security system? It's impossible to pass. My dad finds the front door as soon as we get down the stairs. I'm still coughing when my father has to set me down to open the door. I stand there weak and try to get my balance. Pain shoots through my head like a bullet. Images start flashing in my head, a little boy about 10, light hair, not sure what color, is running down the street from something, a shadow. I couldn't see the kids face though. I quickly come out of my daze as soon as the door flings open and the stairs crash to the ground in a fiery mess. I look up at the house that was my childhood, take in the fiery image, and then stumble out the door. I miss the second step and fall into my other dad's arms. Images flash again. The kid is running down the street, the shadow chasing him. The kid gets closer but I can't see his face, but I get the hair color. Bright blond, just like mine. The kid seems to get older by the second until he looks about my age and the shadow he's running from disappears. Then I'm snapped back to reality by the sound of the roof collapsing. How could someone be so wicked as to burn down my childhood? Why? How? When? All the questions floated around in my mind. I look up at my dads, they both look horrified, the worry in their eyes so easy to read they could have been words on a page. Brian's short brown hair is in a horrible mess of loose strands and ashes. Adam's long blonde hair also in a mess of loose strands and ashes.
"How did they find us Adam? I thought the experiments were done! They said they stopped! Why did they lie!"
"They lied because they are horrible people, Brian." My father says in the calmest voice he could have, even though it still had a hint of hatred in it. "They didn't hurt any of us. Our family is okay."
"They who?" I had to find out who it was, I was boiling with anger. My face usually a pale white, now red as a tomato.
"I'm not some little kid anymore afraid of his own shadows! Tell me who it was! I'm tired of being left out of the conversations!" They both look at each other. Adam, the one who carried me down the stairs, raises an eyebrow as if he is asking Brian if he should tell me whatever it is. They stand there looking at each other for a moment, then Adam finally speaks, "Maybe it's time we tell him."
"I don't know. They told us not to tell him until he was ready." My other dad answers with a shrug. Now I was mad. Not just at the person, or people, that did this to our family, but at my dads for not telling me obviously vital information about me.
"What in the world is going on!" I almost shout it.
"It's a good thing nobody around us woke up, or there would be some real issues." Brian says with much more relief than I had expected. Our house just burned down and we are just sitting here looking at the mess! Why aren't we calling the fire department! Our house was burned down by someone and we are just sitting here watching it! That's when I realize something. Something that may change my life forever. The reason it all smelled familiar, felt familiar. The reason I didn't panic as much as my dads did. The reason I knew I was going to survive that fire. My father didn't have to tell me that vital bit of information. I already figured it out. I had seen it all before. This was what my dream was. I dreamed about the future.