Ataxia

Chapter 2

Sander

2043

The light shone brightly through the trees and beat down upon my little red head. It was all very strange to me, the fact of having abnormal abilities was thrust in front of my face with no warning. The news was delivered to my parents first.

"I'm afraid I have bad news," my pediatrician, Dr. Hendriks, had said a few hours before. He was a kind man, yet the news he delivered was not. "Your son, he ...," he paused, staring at the floor. He gripped the clipboard tightly, licking his lips and trying not to make a scene. "Mr. and Mrs. Vos, your son is ... your son is an ataxia."

I was in the waiting room, twiddling with my feet, staring at the office door with the naive idea everything was all right. I couldn't hear anything that was said, but I saw my Mam through the window. She was crying. Why in the world would Mam cry? To a little four-year-old as myself at the time, this was all very puzzling to me. When my parents came out of the office, their faces were very solemn.

"Mam!" I shouted too cheerfully for the situation, running over to her and hugging her legs. "Why are you crying? Is there something wrong?"

"Son ...," Pa patted my little red head, "Mam is fine. We're going home, buddy. Grab your shoes and let's go."

"Okay," I said, still confused. I snatched my little crocs and waved goodbye to my pediatrician on my way out. "Goodbye, Dr. Hendriks!"

"Goodbye, Sander," he waved in return. Tears welled up in his eyes, knowing he might never see me ever again.

And he never did.

"Hallo (Hello), Sander!" A voice snapped me back into reality. I saw my neighborhood friends I grew up with approaching me, Pim and Danique. For some strange reason, Pim had his arms crossed and was staring at the ground. He looked very sad to me but I decided to ignore it. Danique, as always, had a bright smile on his face and loving and innocent brown eyes. "So how did it go, Sander?" He asked, his eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "Did the appointment go well?"

"Uh ...," was all that came from my mouth. The other two boys waited impatiently, watching me stutter on the park bench like a helpless kid. "Pa told me that I'm an ataxia."

The boys stopped breathing. They stared at me and exchanged surprised glances. We had heard the stories from preschool of how ataxias were removed from existence, like that Abhik Kabadi kid five years ago. "That's awful, Sander," Danique said. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah!" I replied, forcing a fake smile on my face. I rubbed the back of his neck as if it was no big deal. Jeez, do I know I was kidding myself. "I know that ataxias are established as illegal now, but I'll be okay. Mam and Pa said they'll take me to Mexico, where ataxias aren't illegal. I'll be safe there."

"That's great!" Danique exclaimed, though there were tears in his eyes. He didn't want to lose me as a friend. I understood that, I would miss them both, too. We both looked over to Pim standing next to him and we realized he was crying. "P-Pim, are you okay? You're crying and not saying anything."

Pim stood there, shaking and staring at the ground with clenched fists. Tears streamed down his slightly plump cheeks. He shook his head. "Why are you smiling like an idiot, Danique?" Pim said the harsh words quietly. I gasped, I didn't expect him to say that, he may have been a little rough around the edges, sure. But insulting Danique like that? He wasn't himself. "Don't you ever watch the news? From what some famous guy said on TV, ataxias are the world's curse. Sander is a curse, just like my Pa is. He was stupid enough to use his powers on innocent people and he's in jail right now, on his way to life sentence."

"Pim, I had no idea ...," Danique tugged at his red T-shirt, trying to comfort him. At the time, I didn't know it was useless. Because what Pim was about to do, and what I was about to do, would change the course of all of our lives. "But don't be so harsh on Sander. He is our friend and we respect him."

"Open up your eyes, Danique! His type of people are why the world is bad right now." Pim jabbed a finger in my face and I flinched. "Because of him, I ...," he stopped in mid-sentence, more tears silently leaking from his eyes. I stood up from my bench, patting his shoulder.

"Pim, I'm so sorry. I had no idea about your Pa," I said quietly. "I wish there was something I could do to help." And I really wish there was. What kind of thing like this happened to a little four-year-old like him? It was so tragic.

"Yeah, yeah! It's all talk!" Pim yelled at me and I shrunk back in fear. I don't remember him being this angry or zealous. "You've helped enough by ruining my life. I could possibly have the ataxia gene and become a scum like you. I honestly don't care what you say at this point. You're a monster, Sander! I don't care if you end up in jail or even dead. I want everybody like you dead."

Tears escaped from my eyes and I fell back onto the park bench, trying to process what my supposed best friend just said. He ... wanted me to be sent to my grave? Just like that?

"You don't mean that, Pim!" Danique defended me like a real friend. "You don't talk to him like that. That's not what friends do."

Pim looked as if he was about to explode. The tears from his eyes were gone as if they swallowed them up. He gritted his teeth, pushing Danique to the ground as if he was a feather. "Don't you dare tell me what to do!" He shrieked. "It's all Sander's fault. Everything's his fault. He's a monster!"

Danique collapsed to the concrete ground, sobbing. He scratched up his knees and they were bleeding from road burns. He stayed on the ground, tears falling from his eyes. He looked at his palms, which were leaking scarlet liquid. I felt the anger in my veins and I wanted to give Pim a taste of his own medicine. But then I'd end up just like him. So I refrained.

"Stop it, guys!" I exclaimed. Danique struggled to get back up again, but Pim pushed him right back down again. "Guys, I said to stop!" I said again, wanting to disappear into thin air. I still sometimes wish my ability was to turn invisible. "Stop!"

I stood to my feet, the bench behind me melting to ash that blew away in the wind. Both of my best friends stopped what they were doing and looked up at me, petrified. I was feeling quite the same. "You ... really are a monster," Pim said under his breath.

There was a fire in my eyes that day and my blood was boiling with revenge. I screamed in rage and tackled Pim to the ground, continuously punching him over and over. I don't know what got into me, but I felt as though I had to repay him for what he did to my friend. Danique shuffled away, trying to get away from the fight. I ended the fight when Pim disintegrated by being punched in the mouth. I've regretted and mulled over that single moment so many times. I almost took my own life because of what I had done. Pim blew away into the wind, just like the park bench. Danique looked back at me and stood to his feet. I stared at the ground where Pim used to be. I had just killed my best friend. What kind of a friend does that? Tears welled up in my eyes and I bolted, running away from Danique. What had I just done?

"Sander, wait!" Danique called after me.

"No, Danique! You don't understand!" I cried. "I really am a monster!"