Descent

Chapter 1

It all started when I was real little, only five. I suppose I'd always known on some level. It was just something I could do, and I wasn't any more amazed by it than I was my ability to speak or walk.

My parents first noticed it when I was too good at dodgeball, which all the kids near here played nearly every day. They sat me down one day to talk. I was really anxious to get back outside though, and kept glancing out the window.

"Rosemarie, honey," Mom said. "How come, when you're playing dodgeball, and the older kids dodge it, they get hit anyway? How is that possible?"

"I don't know," I said, legs swinging. "I throw the ball and it goes after them."

"Yeah, but how?" My dad asked.

I shrugged.

"Can-- can you do it with this? Can you make it move?" he put a glass of water in front of me.

I picked up the glass and threw it across the room. It shattered into a thousand glittering shards on the floor. I giggled, happy that I'd just gotten permission to do that.

"Rosemarie Peters! That is not what we meant and you know it. Now you stay put while we clean this up. Don't move, you could get cut."

I stopped laughing and sat very still. My parents started picking up the glass and putting it in the trashcan. The trashcan scooted closer to my dad's hand when he reached to drop glass in. He tapped Mom on the shoulder, pointing. He held the glass farther away, pretending the can was just out of reach. It slid a few inches forward, shaking as it went. It still wasn't close enough. My brow furrowed, and the trashcan moved closer, shivering and jingling all the little bits of glass inside.

The can dropped into place. It had barely been an inch above the ground. I let out a burst of air from my small cheeks, collapsing back into the couch.

"Rosemarie!" My parents rushed towards me, worried looks on their faces. I grinned back up at them.

"I helped," I said proudly. Mom laughed, tears in her eyes, and hugged me tightly.

That was how my parents realized what I could do. After that, they told me not to use my powers in front of anyone but them and the baby, and to never ever tell anyone. I nodded my promise, eyes wide. I didn't know why my friends couldn't know, but I promised, so I didn't say a word.