The Twins

Chapter 9: Goodbye

Part 3: purple

   At the edge of the camp It was almost perfectly silent. Any plants or animals had long since perished, leaving behind nothing to show they had once been there. Not even bones.

   In the past this area might have once been a great forest with living things of all shapes and sizes taking refuge in the boughs of the trees. It was empty though. Empty of everything except a teenage boy.

  He sat on the ground with his eyes closed trying to focus on his power. His sister had said that she used her power by drawing it from deep inside herself, and being quiet and motionless helped her access that power. Still, nothing happened. Matthew had been sitting there for what felt like hours, meditating, and while he felt very calm, he didn't feel anything relating to his token.

  The failure destroyed the patience and wholeness he had gained from the exercise. The teen stood and stamped his foot against the ground stifling a scream. Dust rose up to greet him from where he had disturbed it.

  "What am I doing wrong?" He muttered angerly. One would think that the energy for all tokens of the Saru Tokai would come from the same place. Besides, being a Saru Tokai is a genetic mutation, so that fits with Marie's theory that her energy to use her power came from herself, not from anywhere else. So why wasn't it working for Matthew? In a lot of superhero shows or movies, their powers come from themself, or at least they have to tap into some part of themself to use their power. Everything that matthew knew made it seem that what he was doing was what he was supposed to, but it still wasn't working.

   His breath slowed again as Matthew calmed down, trying to rationalize the failure,"I'll just keep on trying. Something has to give eventually right? My eyes are just as pink as Marie's I should be at the same level as her." Matthew sat back down closing his eyes once more. He bowed his head, mentally looking deep inside of himself, imagining that he was staring into a cavern. He slowed his breath further and pushed away his thoughts, focusing only on the cave. He visualized himself going inside the cave then letting the dark of it embrace him. The dark was alive, and it was holding him steady, making him stronger. He let the darkness take away the feeling in his body, making him completely still and ready to look even deeper into himself. Eventually his thoughts floated away and he was content in the arms of the dark.

   Eventually he started to wake himself up, gently moving each part of his body. He focused on his power and all his memories of how it felt when he used it. So far he couldn't control when or how he got the knowledge he did, but if he could tap into the source of his energy maybe he could control it. He focused on the odd nervous feeling he got when his powers awoke, like electricity running across his spine, warning him. He  began to feel some of that same electricity crackle on his forehead, and then it was gone. No matter how hard he focused, the feeling didn't come back.

   Matthew stood with a sigh and walked back to camp. The officials had told everyone that since they were doing tests on everyone's health, it would be better if everyone stayed in their huts so they would know where to find them if they were needed. So nobody went to work. He had told Marie where he was going but not why. She hadn't wanted to know anyways according to her.

  "Sup." Matthew greeted his sister as he walked into their hut,"......what are you doing?"

   Marie was laying face down on the floor groaning. It wasn't a groan of pain, more like the groan of a beached whale that had been trying to flop itslef back in the water but had failed, and was now wallowing in self pity. That kind of groan but less sad and more pathetically funny.

     "Can I ask what your issue is?" He asked the whale with a smirk.

     "I. Am. So. Frick frack paddy whack ding ding fuck gong diddily darn bored." His sister answered

    "Mmm." Matthew answered unenthusiastically, flopping on the bed,"and what are you going to do about it?"

     "Die probably."
    
     "Sounds fun."

     "More fun than this."

      "You're pathetic."

      "No You're pathetic."

      "Whatever you say walrus."

    At this point Marie was looking at her brother from the corner of her pink coloured eye, which was otherwise shrouded by her hair. She opened her mouth to say something when an official walked in.

    "Hello there you two. It's time for your check ups. Since you both have the same healing token you'll be tested together." The official said in a cheery voice. The twins nodded, Marie smiling with relief. You know you're bored when a doctor's appointment sound's more fun then whatever you were doing before.

    The three crossed the camp and entered the furthest tent. The silver coloured fabric shimmered in a mesmerizing way. The twins were brought inside to have their heart beats measured, and their brains scanned. The doctors took a little extra time looking at Matthew's, causing both twins to fear that their lie had been discovered. Fortunately, the doctors didn't say anything and continued with the tests. Soon they left the room, with the twins comfortably strapped into the chairs they had been in for the brain scan . 

   The twins were quiet for a while. A clock had been fixed onto the desktop and it ticked with a hollow sound. Matthew watched it feeling dread rise in his chest. At first he thought he was simply having a panic attack and tried to calm down by slowing his breathing. It didn't work. Suddenly the room felt oppressive and Matthew's eyes began darting from side to side looking for an escape. Tick tock. Tick tock. Something wrong. Something wrong. All the alarm bells in Matthew's brain rang at once. Just a panic attack. You're ok. You're ok. Something wrong. You're ok.

That was when he felt the electricity down his spine.

  Not ok! Not ok! Something wrong! Tick tock. Tick tock. Blood on clock. Tick tock.

   The doctors returned to the room carrying a metal box. With a few clicks it was open and a device looking a lot like a gun caught the light.

   Tick tock. Tick tock. Blood on clock.

 
         Bang!

      Panic seized Matthew's body. He had already sprung out of his chair and knocked the device out of the doctors hands. They looked at him in shock. Then anger. Then hatred.

   "You're smarter then you seem. Too slow though." One chuckled. She roundhouse kicked Matthew in the side sending him flying, then bent over to grab the gun,"Tell me what was it that tipped you off?" She fired, barley missing Matthew's shin,"oh nevermind I don't care. We'll just find out in the autopsy."

   Matthew lept over to Marie and ripped her restraints off. She looked a bit dazed, still very confused, but that didn't stop her from punching the male doctor in the face, knocking him on his ass.

   The female doctor fired a few more rounds but the twins used the chairs as shields. Together, they darted out of the tent and dashed off away from camp.

   "What do we do?" Matthew asked. His voice trembling because of his nerves as he looked around in panic.

   "They don't seem to be following us." Marie responded,"I don't think they want the others to see the commotion."

    Matthew relaxed a bit,"so should we go back? Get the help of everyone else?"

    Marie frowned,"No. All the officials will team up and kill everyone. We should go fast though, they must be sending someone after us."

   And so for the second time in their lives the children were adrift. Runways with nowhere to turn back to.