Mind Over Matter

Chapter 14

I think Don almost passed out.

He looked shocked, and was literally speechless. "I'm as surprised as you are!" I said. "How did you know you could do that?!?" he asked. "I didn't!" I replied, "I just tried it." He just stared at me. "I... am... awesome!" I said. "What else can you do?!?!?" he asked. "I don't know," I replied, "We'll see, I guess."

The door I opened led to a staircase, which led down to another door. We went down the staircase, and the door at the bottom automatically opened. There was a small past that door. There was a table in the middle of the room, but nothing else. On the table, there was a piece of paper, just like the one Mark left in our first fight. It said:

Help me! We went this way!

We went this way? Which way? I looked closer at the table. There was an arrow engraved in it, pointing toward a wall. The walls were made of metal, and I couldn't detect any more lines. "Any ideas?” I asked Don. "Can you blow it up?" he asked. "Stand back," I said. "I'm invincible. remember?" he replied, "I'm still cool too." I shot a missile at the wall, just like I did the bullets. Funny. I don't remember using a missile ever before, but I seemed to know I had it. Odd. The explosion filled the room, but we were both unscathed. when it cleared, the wall was mostly gone. Behind the wall, there was a tunnel. We walked into it. It just kept going. I wanted to fly, but I didn't want to make Don more jealous. It was dark. but I could see fine. "You can see in this?” asked Don. "Yeah," I said. "It's weird, isn't it?" he said. I stared at him. "Not knowing everything about yourself." he said. "Yeah," I said. "I'm still getting over the fact that I can shoot bullets without a gun." "Yeah," he said. "It took me forever to get used to my powers." "what are your powers, exactly?” I asked. "Well. like I said," he said. "I'm practically invincible. but I have a weakness." "what?" I asked. "Shoot me," he replied. We stopped walking. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Just do it." he replied. I thrust my hand out and shot a bullet right in his shoulder. He didn't even flinch. He pulled the bullet out. and besides the hole in his shirt. it was like nothing happened. I stared in amazement. "Now," he said. "Do you mind if I shoot you?" "Go crazy," I replied. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at my leg. He hesitated. Then he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit my thigh. Ouch! I winced, and clenched my fists. It hurt! But how? I'm a robot. I'm not supposed to feel pain! Then. I looked at Don. He was on the ground, grabbing his thigh, wincing. I look at my thigh. I pulled the bullet out. It's not bleeding, but I can see little lights and wires. Freaky.

Don seemed fine now. We kept walking. We were silent for awhile. "I wasn't sure that would work," he finally said. "what do you mean?" I asked. "I mean, you looked surprised when you felt the pain," he replied. "I was," I said. "I must be more human than I thought.” The bullet didn't feel as painful as I imagined one, but I wasn't expecting it to hurt at all. "So do you get my weakness?" he asked, "Or did we go through that for nothing?" "No." I replied, "I get it, you feel other people's pain." "Double their pain," he added, "To be exact." "Is it just any person you see?" I asked. "No," he replied, "I find that it's mainly people who I know are innocent..." He paused. "Especially ones that I'm close to,” he finished. I looked down at my leg. I watched all of the little lights flash for awhile. They looked kind of cool. I thought of how Alex said he took me apart. I wonder what all he knows about me. "Why are you and Alex always poking fun at each other?” I asked. "Because," he said after a pause. "We're friends." "I don't get it." I replied. "It may not make sense to

you. but that's what some friends do,” he said. "I guess it's how we put our differences aside." "I wonder if I've ever had friends," I said. "what about us?" he asked. "What?" I asked. "I consider you a friend, and I know Alex does," he replied. I consider Alex a friend, and I always suspected Don considered me a friend. "Oh." I said. "I meant like before the last time I was activated." "Have you ever considered,” he replied. "That the last time you were activated. was the first time?"

No, I hadn't thought of that. That's kind of comforting, because it means that I never lost anything, besides whoever created me. I wonder what happened to him, or her.