Lit. Out Loud: Dyslexia

     I walked through the two doors and down the stairs that lead to the cafeteria. I stared at all the lights, shining around the room. The room was lit by Christmas lights and lava lambs that members of club donated for tonight. I looked around and noticed other students in the club and those that attended the school. I saw Mr. Gazzer, who I knew very little. He was one of the advisers for the club along with Mr. M, who was my English teacher and role model and just like years before, did not notice I was at the event.
     The lights went dim and I found a seat to sit at. None of my real friends were there, but I saw a few people I knew and waved to them with a smile on my face. I was there to listen to the pieces that people wrote. Some people wrote poems, other wrote short stories, and a few others played music. It was a wonderful performance, however, my heart started to ache for although I loved to write, there was one thing missing. Spelling and grammar, and my reading were below average. I knew that the people standing up there reading will get papers publish and maybe even a book, while my talent laid hidden to the world.
     Having dyslexia was never easy and I knew my dream of becoming a great writer was slim. I cannot remember the first short story I wrote, but I do remember that before going to bed, I would write. I would write about all my imaginary friends and how they went on magical adventures with me. How we saved the world, a world that existed in my imagination. Where laws and physics never set foot, but the good guys always won and bad guys always lose. I wrote down these stories when I was only about ten-years-old in elementary school, but when I looked back at these stories, I discovered my spelling mistakes and grammar. I could not spell “what”, “how”, “when”, “mine”, “the,” “next”, “this”, and much more. My letters were everyway on the page, never staying on the line. These were my first stories and I continued to write before bed until I finished high school.
     In middle school, and even in high school, very few had noticed my gift. Although my spelling and grammar have improved, many still overlook my creativity and only saw the errors.
     Besides my spelling and grammar, my reading is slow and I often mistake words for something else. I am embarrassed to read out loud and I am afraid of screwing up, like I used to do when I was younger. That is why I look up to these other students and I wish I could tell them how lucky they were. They have perfect grammar, spelling, and can read without a single flaw. They are in the spotlight, while I am in the dark. Their talents will be noticed and people will clap for them, while I am sitting down with the audience without anyone noticing my talents. Because the ones standing up and reading have a talent and gift, something that I have as well, but I will never be able to share it. Because I have dyslexia and it will be the cross that I carry for the rest of my life.

Leaves

     We knew they were coming, we always knew that they would come sooner or later. My parents grabbed my brothers and me and put us in a hidden room behind the bookcase. They were not able to finish it to fit all of us and before closing the hidden door, they kissed all three of us and told us that they loved us. Right when the door shut, we heard the door to our apartment open and guns were fired.
After many hours, we left the hidden room only to find our parents gone and the room torn to bits. I held my baby brother in my arms and looked down at my six-year-old brother and told him that we were going to leave and never return to the apartment.
     The war was terrible and it kept getting worse. Soldiers were everywhere and other countries kept bombing the country, mostly the capital city. People were suffering but were still loyal to the fatherland. And people like us (the Jews) were being taken away and killed.
My brothers and I found a shack to live in near the bay. We depended on the fish in the bay to eat and even sale. We thought we were safe, but eventually the soldiers found us and somehow they knew we were Jews. They burst into our new home and attacked by hitting and kicking us. One soldier grabbed my baby brother and I yelled at him to give him back. When a soldier was about to grab us, I held on to my other brother and then everything went blank.
     The next thing we knew, we were in the middle of a jungle and the sun was beaming down on us, but the trees cover sunlight. I woke up to see my brother next to me, but somehow I knew that my baby brother was not here. As my brother started to wake up, I started to cry and mourn for my baby brother. That was when they showed up. The other children with tan skin and yellow eyes.





     There was no time on the island. The sun rose and then it went down. The moon and stars came out at night, but there was no calendars, no days, no months, no years. No one kept track of time. No one on the island grew older then about thirteen years old and we all had tan skin and yellow eyes, despite that at the time when my brother and I arrived we had pale skin, we always had pale skin, until we arrived on the island. No one knew how he or she got here or why we were here. Either way, this island was a paradise. There were no adults, no wars, and fruit grew on every tree and bush. The water that surrounded the island was clean water instead of salt water. Our memories of our home, our families, and our other lives started to fade away. The only thing I could remember was my baby brother and how I could not protect him and I blamed myself every day.
     One day, while I was out gathering basil, I heard a baby crying. I thought that maybe my brother was alright and he finally arrived at the island. I followed the cry to the beach and out in the ocean I saw a boat. Except the boat was on fire and sinking. Coming towards the island was a basket and I heard the cry come from the basket. The basket wash up on the shore and I looked inside to see a small baby, looking up at me and when he saw me he stopped crying and had a big smile on. I picked up the baby and held him in my arms. I knew he was not my baby brother but I fell in love with him right away. I stared once more time at the boat sinking, most of it was under water and I knew that this baby was now an orphan. I cradle him in my arms and told him, “don’t worry, I will always protect you,”

“Gather everyone!” yelled Demon and everyone went out into the jungle to gather the kids who were out doing their chores, both pre-teen and toddler. Demon went to the tallest tree in the jungle and looked out into the ocean. In the distance appeared a ship and from that ship he saw a small boat coming towards the shore.
“What do you see brother?” asked Angel with a concern face.
“Adults, they found this island.”



“I’m faster than you!”
“No you’re not!”
“Then let’s have a race!”
“A race!” near the voice there was a shrieked and out came two children, a boy and a girl, barely eight years old.
“We want to see!” the young girl said.
“No way,” said a boy with blonde hair.
“Tiger, we are going to need witnesses,” said a boy with black hair and pale skin.
“I guess,” replied Tiger.
The two boys were ready to race and when the children yelled, “go!” they were off. They ran as fast as they could through the jungle. They jumped over roots, swung through branches, and ran through leaves and bushes that got in the way. The two boys had big smiles on their faces and laughed along the way.
“Hey Leaves! Is this the fastest you can run at?” asked Tiger and then it hit Leaves. He knew a short cut and went off the course.
“Giving up?” asked Tiger, but Leaves continued to run. While he ran, a cliff that he had to jump across caught Leaves. With a running start he jumped and crossed it. By then he knew he could win. When he saw the finish line, he saw Tiger next to him and the two younger children were cheering. Leaves saw that he was ahead by a little bit, but then he tripped and Tiger crossed as the winner.
“That doesn’t count!” exclaimed Leaves.
“You tripped, it’s fair,” replied Tiger. The two started arguing, when Feet and Hands appeared. The two were on the council and they were twin brother and sister.
“There is an emergency! Did you hear the alarm? Get back to the village, how could you ignore the alarm and getting two young ones in danger! Get back, you’ll be happy we won’t be telling Demon about this,” they both said.
Back at the village Leaves found his sister Angel and gave her a hug. He saw the worried look on her face.
“Where have you’ve been?” she asked.
“Tiger and I were having a friendly race. I lost,”
“Now is not the time to race, there is an emergency. Can’t you listen just once to the council and not worry me?” Leaves saw tears in her eyes and felt guilty for making his sister worried. His sister was the one who found him, raised him, feed him, clothe him, and did everything for him. Including getting him out of trouble when he broke a rule as a young kid. He did not see Angel as his sister, but as a mother. Then Demon came out.
     Demon was the leader of the village and also Angel’s brother. Angel found Leaves on the beach and adopted him, while Demon was her younger brother by blood. For some reason, Demon never accepted Leaves as his brother and Leaves believes it is because they are not blood related or that Leaves was different.
     On the island, all the other children appeared like magic to the jungle, while Leaves was washed up on the shore from a shipwreck. Because of this, the island never accepted Leaves. All the other children had tan skin and yellow eyes, but Leaves still had his dark black eyes and pale white skin. Also, unlike the other kids, Leaves kept getting older and everyone was aware that Leaves would probably grow up to be an adult, the only adult on the island while everyone else remains young. The part of growing up or even thinking about growing up disturbed Leaves, but for now he was about thirteen years old.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the children.
“We believe that adults are coming to the island,” announced Demon and then there was an up roar among them. Some children thought they should fight and protect their home while others believed they should hide and hope that the adults would go away. The five council members and Demon talked among themselves and seemed to agree to a solution.
“We decided to go into hiding and avoid conflict. We also forbid any contact with the adults. If someone should come into contact, they will be punish or exile.” Then Demon turned around and left with the council. Everyone went to their huts and started to pack up.
“Angel, what are we doing?” asked Leaves.
“Pack everything. Pack the clothes, the food, and put down the hut. We will burry the stuff we cannot take with us and eat as much as we can for now. We’ll be living in the trees for a while or maybe even a cave. This island is big enough to hide in,”




     Leaves started to get bored living in the trees, he lost count for how long they have been hiding from the adults. Leaves was also curious about the adults. Leaves (and everyone on the island) do not know what he or she look like or forgotten what he or she looked like before arriving to the island.
“Hey Leaves,” Leaves looked up to notice Tiger, his best friend and also a rival at running. Tiger had two other boys with him, Quiet and Apple.
“What’s up guys? Up to no good?”
“Listen, we gather rocks and we have our sling shots. Guess what we are going to do.”
“Hit yourself?” Quiet and Apple giggled while Tiger seemed a bit angry.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to join us in fooling around with the adult.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know! Throw rocks at them. Like hide-and-seek. We throw the rocks, it hits them, and we hide. Maybe they’ll think it is a ghost. It’ll be funny to watch!”
“Demon said not to make contact with them,”
“He said not to make ‘contact’ with them. He said nothing about going near them, did he?” Leaves could not remember what Demon said except that no one could make contact with them because they can be put in excel.
“Come on, it’s boring here. Let’s have some action!” said Tiger and Leaves started to think.
“Alright, I’m in.”
     The boys found the adult camp in the jungle and they started to shoot rocks at them with their slingshots. There were two men. One was fat and the other one was extremely skinny and tall.
“Aim for the skinny one,” Tiger told Quiet. When the rock hit the man, he jumped up and ran in a circle screaming.
“What! What is it?” asked the fat one who started to look worry.
“Something hit me! Something hit me! Something hit me!” yelled the skinny man.
“It’s just your imagination,” said the fat one trying to calm him down. The boys in the trees started to giggle and covered their mouths so they would not get caught.
“Hey, Apple. Get the fat one,” said Quiet.
“Let’s both get him. I’ll get him in the butt!”
“Then I’ll get the back of his head.” The two aimed and got a direct hit of their targets. The fat man turned around and went pale, while rubbing his head.
“What is it?” asked the skinny man getting scared.
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” said the fat one in a scared tone.
“How many rocks do we have?” asked Leaves.
“I have none,” said Apple. Quiet and Tiger also said they had none and Leaves was able to find an extra one in his pocket. Leaves took aimed and then hit the skinny one in the head and he started to go crazy. The boys kept laughing under their breathes.
“Let’s go back before Demon discovers what we did,” said Leaves and the rest of the boys agreed.                                 When the three took off, Leaves turned around because he caught something in the corner of his eyes.
     Something was coming out of the jungle and towards the two adult men. He was ready to protect the men from whatever beast was about to come out and attack them but instead it was not a beast. It was a girl! A girl with clothes that Leaves never saw and she had dark brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes. He never saw anyone like her, someone like himself. The girl helped the two men and was laughing at whatever they were saying. Then a couple appeared behind the girl and the girl hugged them. Leaves did not understand how this girl could have affection for the adults, especially the two she was hugging. The five of them started to take off, but the girl turned around to pick flowers. That was when the branch under Leave’s legs broke and he fell out of the tree and on the ground. The girl turned around shock and dumfounded. Leaves quickly got up and the two stared at each other, silently, not knowing what to do. The girl said something but Leaves could not understand what she said. Then someone grabbed Leaves. The girl kept screaming something and Leaves kept fighting but then he was tied up. He looked up to find his capture: the two adult men whom him and his friends were teasing earlier.

      Leaves was put on a boat on the sand and the two men started to push it out into the ocean. The couple and the girl were on bored and the girl could not help staring at Leaves with a sad face. Leaves looked back to the jungle and saw someone. He took a closer look and saw Angel. She was crying. Leaves wanted to cry, but instead he sat up straight and tall, just like Demon did at every meeting.
“Don’t worry Angel, my dear sister, I’ll be alright.” The men got in the boat and it started to go towards the big boat out at sea. Leaves watched as the island, his home, was getting smaller and smaller. Leaves knew he never belong on the island and the island was now showing her true nature.

Pathways

The clock strike nine thirty and I got out of my seat and ran for it. There were not too many students in the hallways and I was able to get to the other side of the school fast. I walked through the door and was greeted by the secretary and on my way to the back room the mentors greeted me. In the back of the room was the test coordinator and the other kids like me.
We were all special in our unique way. We had powers that no one could imagine. John was gifted with teleportation, Roland with super speed, Francesca could walk through any solid object, Amy could shoot laser beams with her hands, Phil could control the element of water, and as for me, I was had the power of telepathy. The names and list of what each student could do could go on. There were over seventy college students in the program. The program was called Pathways.
The program was directed by a man we called Doc, although his full name was Doctor Joseph F. Cupertino who had a doctorate in psychology. He was one of us too, although is ability was too advance for any of us to comprehend. Besides directing the program, Doc was also a teacher, often teaching in the field of psychology. He always greeted us in the backroom when he was not busy. Often joking with us and helping us out with school work if we had trouble or questions. Being in school for only about three months, I did not know the man very well, however, seeing how the older students interact with him I could tell he was a good man and did his job well.


“Hello Sly, come in. What do you have to work on today?”
“English. I have an essay due next week,” I told my mentor, Kathleen. I walked into her office that was filled with books and folders on the shelves. She did not decorate her office with much, but the cactus on top of her desk caught my eye along with a silhouette of Alaska.
“Hey Sly, how is your grandmother doing?” asked Roger.
“She doing well, thank you. She moved back into her apartment last Thursday. She is happy to be home after being in rehab for a week,” Roger was the mentor who shared an office with Kathleen. Roger was there in the mornings while Kathleen took the afternoon shift. Each student in the program is given a mentor, someone to help him or her with his or her work. When there was no work to be done, we worked on controlling our powers.


“Who are you?” I asked.
“You know the answer, I should not answer for you,” he said.
“I know the connection, but do you have a name?”
“I do not bare a name,”
“How long have you’ve been around?”
“You know that,”
“Why are you here,”
“I can not answer that,”
“He sent you, did he not?”
“Who?”
“Father,”



“Sly, don’t start your sentence with ‘in’,” said Kathleen and I smirked. Getting Kathleen angry was like watching America’s Home Video on television. I could not help smiling at her anger because I knew putting ‘in’ at the front of my sentences made her go crazy. She got up and I sat down at the computer to do my work.
“It’s three fifteen,” said Catherine, the next student to be mentored. I said hello to my friend and left the office so she could get Kathleen’s attention. Kathleen told me she had kids; one of her kids is just like us. Special.
Pathways was supposed to be a program at college to help selected students with learning disabilities and ADHD. But that’s a lie, Pathways was a program to help college students who were “gifted” to control their powers. We each had a story and each one is just as dark and sad as the others.


I was seven when I first noticed my gift. My “imaginary” friend was not so imaginary. He was a real boy, but from a different part of the earth. That was when we first met. We first met at a building in New York City, he was in a coma. A friend of the family took me there with my mother’s permission. She told me that the boy was in a coma for seven years and that he was dying. With the technology and his brain scans, they were able to discover that he spoke to me telepathically. I sat down next to his bed and we spoke to each other. I cannot remember what we spoke about because it was so long ago, but I remember certain parts. I knew our connection and why we could only speak to each other. The scientist and doctors never found out, but we did. We were twins, he was the oldest and I was the youngest. We were born thirteen minutes apart on September 18th 2092. Our mother gave us up for research, since he was in a coma, the doctors kept him and I was adopted, although my mother did not learn about my identity until years later. My brother died nine days after I visited him, his tombstone does not bare a name.


I was not able to control my powers in high school. I could hear every thought and move objects with my mind at random. Of course the school informed my mother and I had to get special training to learn to control the power. It was difficult and hard, but eventually I learned how to take some control over it. That was when a recruiter found me. He told me about Pathways program at the college, he told me that they could help me and I would be surrounded by people who understood and who were just like me. I could not declined and I accepted to register to the program.


It’s was almost Thanksgiving vacation when Doc. made the pumpkin pie. It was so good and everyone loved it! Pumpkin pie was always my favorite and I could not help but take a second piece. Some students were misusing their power to take bigger pieces or cutting in line or like that one kid, Kyle, who accidentally froze a student in front of him. Although we come from different places and have a different history I am able to thank Pathways for all their help. For helping me succeed in school and for helping me acclimate into the world.

Experiment XXX

“Hey there. Are you in pain? I’m sorry they did this to you. I’ve been here a long time. Can you speak? Can you understand me?” but the creature did not reply. It only moaned and rolled up into a corner in its cage. I watched as it fell asleep and within minutes it died.
I saw the white coats come in and look at the creature. They did not seem disappointed in his death, although I knew they were. I read their minds and could make out that they were hoping the creature wouldn’t die, but somehow knew it would, like all the other creatures before it. Then someone hit my cage.
“Stop reading our minds!”
“How do you know it’s reading our minds?”
“I just know. This one should be dispose of.”
“No,” said an older man in a white coat, “we still need it,” Then he turned to face me.
“How are we today? Are we ready for some more tests?” he asked with a grin. I gave him a glare and would not answer him.
“Stubborn as ever. Take it to the stadium, we have work to do,”
     The stadium was like any normal stadium except most likely it was underground or in a secret location. The floor was part dirt and part mud. It was hard to stand in some spots and a few trees grew in the arena. I knew that from the look of the environment, they were going to test my fighting ability. From the other side of the arena, a large animal emerges. One of the chimeras the white coats created.
The chimera was part lion, wolf, and bear. It stood on two feet and was about 7ft tall.
“Food, food, food,” it kept saying. I was surprised that it talked, very few chimeras could talk. That also meant that it was 2% human.
     The chimera rushed towards me and I jumped into the air at about 8ft and landed on the other side of the stadium. The chimera ran towards me again and I ran towards it as fast as I could and jumped up to punch it in the face. It was a success and the chimera got even more annoyed and angry. When it was wide open I did a roundhouse kick to its stomach and caught one of its arms and broke it. But the chimera would not stop and kept saying, “food, food, food”. That’s the thing about any chimera, they don’t know when to quit. They are trained to fight to the death.
After what seemed like forever, the chimera died down and started to crawl toward me, thinking it could still kill and eat me. I ran towards the chimera and jumped in the air, ready to smash its skull into the floor. Before I hit the creature I said, “I’m sorry,” and killed it. After the chimera was presumed dead, I heard clapping coming from the room where the white coats were watching. I listen in on what they were thinking.
“Amazing, a new record,”
“It took 20 minutes to defeat a chimera, impressive,”
“A new discovery! Better write this down in the file”
“We should send in another chimera, a much more difficult chimera,”
“It’s talents keep impressing me. We should do more test on it today,”
The thoughts were mixing into my head and it was hard keeping track of which words belong to which sentences. My brain started to hurt from concentrating so hard. I stared at the dead chimera and seeing a creature defeated for results of an experiment made me angry. I sat down on the ground.
“Get up experiment 213,” I didn’t move. Then I felt a surge of pain through my whole body. It felt as if I was hit by lightening. Somehow, the white coats were able to electrocute me. I was still on the ground and I felt the same pain again. And again and again until I finally got up.
Two white coats came out and took me to a room where there was only a chair and straps to keep me still. There needles everywhere and I knew they wanted to insert new drugs into me. Before putting the needle in, a white coat said to me, “now one of the side effects of this drug is that after being injected with it, you will be in a lot of pain, so don’t be surprise. Don’t worry, after this, we got 30 other drugs to test on you,” He had a grin on his face and after the injection went in, I started to feel the pain.

     Someone was at my cage, screaming. It gave me a headache. I was lying down after all those drug tests and my vision was a bit blurry before I could really focus and become conscious.
“She’s just a kid!” I heard someone yell, “she doesn’t belong here!” and then I heard a scream and a whip in the air. I heard it again, the whip and the scream. Someone was getting a beating.
“Be obedient experiment 314 or you’ll be dispose of,” Then I fell back asleep.

“Mary, Mary. Mary wake up. Don’t be dead, please don’t be dead,” and I slowly open my eyes to the cage next to me.
“Matt?”
“Yeah, it’s good to see that you’re alright. What did they do to you?”
“Drug tests and they made me fight a chimera,”
“If we ever get out of here, I’ll kill them,”
“Same for me,” said another voice.
“Count me in,” said a different voice. I sat up straight and saw Matt’s face with a few tears but he tried to hide them. I looked across the room and saw Richard and Jason.
“What happen to you?” I asked Jason. His left eye and right cheek were swollen and purple. He probably had other bruises that were hidden away under his clothes.
“They made me fight Joseph. They did something to him. He was high and out of character. Like a fighting zombie,”
“Probably a side effect of one of the drugs they gave him,” replied Richard.
“You think he’ll be dispose of?” I asked.
“He’s already dead,” said Jason looking down in his cage.
“I’m going to get us out of here, somehow I will,” said Matt. Then the white coats came in.
“Take experiments 332” and the guard unlock Richard’s cage and they took him away. Matt and Jason both looked at me but I nodded, saying that they didn’t plan on killing or drugging Richard. Not yet anyway.






“Wake up! Hey, kid, wake up!” I heard someone say. I opened my eyes slowly to the dark room and I squinted to see who was waking me up. I was wondering if it was one of the guys in white coats that wanted to do more tests. More of those agony and painful tests.
“Get a way,” I hissed tossing the hand aside. I slid to the corner of my cage and waited for someone to drag me out.
“Mary, it’s okay. It’s me. We’re getting out,” and I stopped fighting and stared harder at the face that was looking at me.
“Matt? How did you get out?”
“No time to explain. Come on, the others are out of their cages and we are going to get out of here,” and Matt grabbed my arm and I was pulled out of my cage.
“Hurry before they notice,” and I followed Matt down some hallways and making many turns. Right and left and left and right. It was so confusing but somehow Matt knew his way.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“Waiting for us,” Matt replied.
“Hey!” we heard someone yell and the two of us started running faster. The man who was chasing us turned into three or four guards chasing us.
“This is the last door,” Matt said and he grabbed my hand. He opened the door and he shot into the air. We flew high into the sky and below us, the guards got smaller and smaller and smaller.

     Matt and I landed in the mountains deep in the woods. We didn’t know where we were or where to go. I didn’t care, as long as we were free. Then a figure came out from the shadows.
“Richard!” I exclaimed as I saw him waiting for us and as I got closer to him I noticed something different.
“What’s with the glasses?” I asked.
“Sun glasses. I don’t think normal people would like my eyes,” he replied.
“But I like your scarlet eyes. They’re really pretty. Don’t they give you night vision, doesn’t the sun glasses block that?”
“I still have my night and X-ray vision, but I don’t think the ‘outside’ world would appreciate a man with red eyes,”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not normal,” said Matt. That was when I noticed that there were only three of us.
“Where’s Jason?”
“Right here,” said Richard pointing down to a rabbit. The rabbit started to shift into something bigger and bigger and bigger until it turned into Jason.
“That power comes in handy,” said Richard.
“I like it, but it’s hard to do small animals like rabbits. I prefer big animals like deer, lions, wolves, cats, you know, animals on four legs,” Then it was quite. None of us knew what to do now that we escaped.
“I want to go home,” said Richard. I forgot. Richard, Jason, and Matt were kidnapped from colleges before becoming lab rats.
Matt wasn’t in college for a week when he was taken to the lab and was locked up for four years. Richard and Jason arrived to the lab one month apart about two years ago shortly after their first year of college. The white coats found out that many of the experiments were successful if tested on young adults. Matt, Richard, and Jason all had families who were probably looking for them and waiting for them to return home.
     But not me. I was a rare experiment. The lab was my whole life. Raised by white coats since I could remember. I was one of the few experiments who made it from infancy, to childhood, to adulthood. So as far as I knew, I had no family and no one in the world was looking for me.
“Hey Mary,” said Matt, bending down to look at me in the eyes. Despite being 18, I looked like a 13 year old because of my short height, probably a side effect of a drug they gave me.
“I know you don’t have anyone out there, but maybe, you can stay with me. I’m 24, almost 25, I can get an apartment and you can stay with me. If that’s what you want. I promise that I will never leave you,” I then looked at Richard and Jason who both nodded at me.
“How about if the four of us live together? I mean, we’re all adults, even though Mary just turned 18, but it’s likely the white coats are after us and we don’t want any of our families getting hurt, so maybe it’s best if we don’t see them and lie low for awhile,” said Richard.
“I agree. My parents are very religious and I think they will think that I was taken over by Satan. You know, the whole I can change into whatever animal I like thing. Might freak them out. Maybe they might shun me,” said Jason.
“Thank you guys. You’re the best brothers I ever had!” I said and the four of us had a group hug.

Bloodline

     It’s been 20 days since the head of the Reyes family died. The whole family gathered in front of the main house and waited for the successor to share his prophecy of the one who will rule the family after him. Over 120 members gathered to hear the prophecy. Men, women, and children of all ages waited and slept in front of the main house. The only ones allowed in were the shamans who were advisors and holy men and women of the family. It was shortly after midnight when the drums were heard and the new head of the family stepped out onto the balcony. When they saw him, everyone got on their knee and bowed.
“Blood Jaguar, head of the Reyes family,” announced the head shaman. Everyone sat and looked up to hear what they had been waiting for.
“My successor will be the youngest on 0 Pop of this year on the Haab calendar,” The crowd started to whisper and then they fell silent and bowed at their new leader and his prophecy.

     It was a dangerous year for children of the Reyes family. Each household wanted their child to be the successor of Blood Jaguar and tried every effort to have a child near the month of Pop. Families tried to find favor with Blood Jaguar, women fought over their children, and men raped other women to avoid competition. The family was in ruins and disgrace.
     The head shaman, Shaman Sun Rise shared his vision from the Gods to his family. A plague would affect the family and take away many children because the Gods were upset over the family’s disgrace and disloyalty to one another. When winter arrived, Shaman Sun Rise’s vision came true. A terrible disease struck the children and no doctor inside the family or outside could do anything. Women had miscarriages over and over again. None of the Reyes children were safe until the successor was found.
When morning came of 0 Pop, all the shamans went out to find the child of prophecy. Every shaman gathered a mother and her child. Any child that was under the age of 2. That year, only 13 children were born between the month of Wayeb to 0 Pop. But only one was born on 0 Pop and that child was born right when the sun rose, but the moon was still out.
     The shaman took the child to the main house where Shaman Sun Rise and Blood Jaguar waited. Shaman Sun Rise took the child into his hands and presented it to Blood Jaguar who noticed that her eyes were of two different colors. One was brown, while the other was blue.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said. Shaman Sun Rise blessed the child with an ancient Mayan blessing and then handed it over to Blood Jaguar.
“It’s a girl,” he said.
“How did you know?” asked Shaman Sun Rise.
“It was in my vision,” and he kissed the child. Blood Jaguar took the child to the balcony where every family member waited to see the heir of the family.
“In my arms is the child who will succeed me when I pass from this world. This child will be given the name, Moon Sun, since the moon and sun are still out, watching over us.” The crowd that gather outside the main house cheered and Shaman Sun Rise looked up into the sky. The moon and sun still high in the sky, as if, welcoming the child to the world.



13 Years Later

“Wake up Moon Sun. It’s time to get up,” said Blood Jaguar. Moon Sun turned over and put her head under the pillow. Blood Jaguar chuckled and took the covers off.
“5 minutes?” asked Moon Sun.
“No, not today. We have to go out today,” replied Blood Jaguar as he pulled back the curtains.
“Okay, I’m up,”
“Get dress. I’ll be back in ten minutes,” and Blood Jaguar left leaving Moon Sun alone to get dress. Moon Sun opened her draws and got out a pair of jeans and a red shirt.
     Moon Sun never had the normal life like the other children who lived on the family property. Blood Jaguar raised her with the help of the shamans. She was home schooled and learned the history of her ancestors, the Mayans, studied math, astronomy, and was also taught to read in English, Spanish, and Mayan hieroglyphs. The shamans also taught her the Mayan religion and whenever there was a festival or a meeting, she was always seated at the right hand of Blood Jaguar. Even though Moon Sun played tricks on the shamans, she was always respectful to Blood Jaguar and looked up to him.
“Ready?” asked Blood Jaguar and Moon Sun went down stairs to get ready for the day.
     The people of the Reyes family were out and ready for the day. Some were in suits and ready to get in their cars and leave for work, some stayed home to work on the farm, and children were getting ready for school. The children either went to the local public school or attended a private academy depending on their parent’s choice. Everyone greeted the two with “good morning” and a slight bow.
“Look over there,” said Blood Jaguar pointed towards a field. Some men and women were setting up for the festival of Hunab Ku. A few more groups gathered to practice for their dance to present to the festival. Some of the dances even included fire and the participants had to practice every chance they got. While practicing, everyone was singing either a Mayan hymn or an English song.
“Can we see?” asked Moon Sun.
“You read my mind,” replied Blood Jaguar and Moon Sun took off towards the open field. She then joined a group of dancers who started to dance in a circle around her. Moon Sun started to dance and move her feet to the beat of the drums and joined in the hymn. Blood Jaguar watched and clapped while watching her. When the dance finished, everyone clapped and Moon Sun took a bowed and then ran back to Blood Jaguar.
“How are the set ups going?” Blood Jaguar asked White Fang, who was in charge of setting up the festival and preparing everything.
“It’s going very well. The only ones not here are the children, but as you know education is important! But everything is going very well and this will be the best festival ever! Praise the Gods! How are you young Moon Sun?”
“I’m good, a bit tired. I’m excited about the festival. Can I dance?”
“Of course, if it’s alright with the head of the family,” and the two stared at Blood Jaguar.
“Of course you can dance. I will participate too,”
“Wonderful,”
“Blood Jaguar! Blood Jaguar! Blood Jaguar!” exclaimed a messenger.
“Yes?”
“The Mayor of the town is here. He wants to meet with you in private,” the messenger said while looking at Moon Sun. Blood Jaguar had a huge sigh before he agreed to meet with the mayor.
“What should I do?” asked Moon Sun.
“Whatever you like. I’ll be busy,” and he started walking off leaving Moon Sun with the messenger.
“Hey what’s that!” exclaimed Moon Sun and the messenger looks up and then Moon Sun kicks him and runs off.
“I will get you! I don’t care if you are the heir to this family! I will teach you how to show respect to your elders!”
“You! An elder? You’re only 5 years older then me! Plus, you started teasing me first! Ha!”
“I’ll tell the head of the family about this!”
“He’ll be on my side! After all, I am the heir to this family!”
     The two ran into the forest and before Moon Sun realized it, she made it to a wall. One of the walls that separates the family’s property to the outside world. Moon Sun has never left the family property and doesn’t know what’s beyond the wall. She’s forbidden to climb it and wants so badly to see what’s out there.
“Just a peak,” she tells herself and she starts climbing a tree and when she gets to the top of the wall she sees a huge city in a valley.
“What is that?” she starts to think and while looking she sees a plane land, an ocean on the other side of the valley, and very tall buildings.
“Moon Sun!” yells an angry voice. Moon Sun turns too sharply that she falls from the wall, but then someone catches her.
“Blood Jaguar!”
“We’re going home,”
“But-
“No buts! We are going home now!” As they are walking, many shamans accompany them, including the messenger who only looks down at the ground.

“Moon Sun,” says Blood Jaguar when he finds Moon Sun staring at the moon on her balcony.
“I’m sorry. I was just curious. I’m really sorry. I just wanted to see. Why am I not allowed out?”
“When you become head of the family then you can go out and see the world. But not now. It’s too dangerous out there. Climbing that wall is dangerous; no one is allowed to climb it. You almost got hurt! I’ve told you many times not to climb that wall! And you disobeyed me. Someday you will be able to go out, but not now.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not safe. But I promise you; someday you will be able to go outside the wall. You just need to be patience,”
“Why was I chosen? Why did you choose me?” asked Moon Sun. Blood Jaguar looked up at the night sky. He looked at the stars and the moon before answering.
“I didn’t. The Gods, our ancestors did. We were all chosen. The head of the family before me and the one before him and the one before her and so on. It’s been that way for over 100 years. We are not like the other family members, we were favor among our ancestors,”
“Did you know my parents?”
“No. I don’t know who they are. But even though you are not my daughter, I still love you. We have a special bond, it’s more then blood. It’s in our hearts and in our spirit. Our bond will continue in the after life and in the decedents after us. It can not be broken,”
“It can’t?”
“No,”
“Will you always be here?”
“Yes, always. I will always be here to help you. Even after I am gone. I care about you, Moon Sun.”
“I care about you too Blood Jaguar.” Moon Sun gives Blood Jaguar a huge and tells him that she loves him and wish that he could have been her real father.
“What’s that?” asked Moon Sun looking towards the entrance gate of the family’s property. Blood Jaguar stares at it for a moment, until they both realize that it’s fire.
“Stay here, I have to gather the shamans and the family’s army,”

     The smoke and fire started to spread throughout the whole family’s property. Men on horseback entered the property and started shooting at the Reyes family members. Many of the men, women, and older children fought to protect their homes, but many were shot dead. Families with young children ran into the forest and opened the emergency doors into the forest.
“Moon Sun!” yelled Shaman Sun Rise, “you must get out of here. Come with me,”
“Where is Blood Jaguar?”
“He’s out fighting,”
“Then I want to fight too!”
“No, you’re too young and heir to rule this family. We need you! Otherwise there will be no one!”
The two ran outside, where there was chaos and everyone screaming. The two had to get low to escape the smoke. But Moon Sun got separated from Shaman Sun Rise easily and stood up. She watched the flames on people houses burn and people crying over dead bodies of family members. Moon Sun felt a huge rage to fight and grabbed the nearest weapon to fight with. She knocked a man off his horse and grabbed the horse and got on.
“Blood Jaguar!” she yelled and rode the horse as fast as she could to find him. As she passed family members she warned them to leave the dead behind and run into the forest to escape. Then when she found a vacant area, she found Blood Jaguar fighting.
“Blood Jaguar!” she yelled and got off the horse.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with the shamans and hiding in the forest!”
“I want to fight!”
“No, this is not the time to be brave. You must run! You’re the future. You must hide!”
“Not without you!”
“You must!” Blood Jaguar then picks up Moon Sun and puts her on the horse. He takes off his amulet and puts it around Moon Sun’s neck.
“Don’t forget who you are! You are Moon Sun, heir to the Reyes family. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” The two of them then hear men on horse back riding towards them. Blood Jaguar hits the horse and the horse starts to run with Moon Sun on it. Moon Sun turns around and watches as Blood Jaguar is shot and killed. Moon Sun screams “no” but only the men on horseback hears her. Then they start chasing her, but Moon Star losing them in the smoke of the fire and runs into the forest. When she arrives at the wall, she sees an opening and gets off the horse and runs through it. She runs into the forest alone and she keeps running and running. She makes it to the top of a hill and turns around to see her home in flames.
     The following morning, Moon Sun wasn’t able to sleep. She stares back to what was once her home, but everything turned to ash. Tears roll down her cheeks at the lost of her family and Blood Jaguar. She looks up at the gray sky and prays to the Mayan Gods to be her guidance and restore her family. She looks back at her home one more time and then walks into the forest to begin a new life.

“Shaman Sun Rise?” asked a boy sitting next to him. The shaman opens his eyes and stares at the few who survived the massacre. Children wondering about their homes, women cooking, and men wiping blood from their hands. Shaman Sun Rise looks in his bowl of soup and puts a smile on.
“What is it?” asked the boy and Shaman Sun Rise pats him on the head.
“Moon Sun is alive. Our family will be restore. This was supposed to happen because it is her destiny and we will be greater then ever because of her. She will be the greatest head of the family that this family has ever seen since Pakal the Great,”

Stranded

“Mom! Dad!” I yelled but there was no answer. I got up from the debris and started to look around but I could not see anything through the smoke. I called their names again, but I received no answer. Then I saw a light.
“They’re here!” I exclaimed to myself and ran to hide under a broken wing from the ship. I kept low and quiet and watched as the vehicle searched for any survivors, I started to pray to God that they would not find me. When I saw the vehicle leave, I got out from my hiding space but then another vehicle spotted me.
“A survivor!”
I got up and ran as fast as I could through the broken pieces of the spaceship. I could hear the hunters shooting their laser guns at me. Just when I thought I was going to die, a man came out and fought the two hunters. While they were fighting, I was able to find a place to hide in the debris and watch from a distance.
The man wore a cloak and I saw the crest, the crest had the symbol delta on it, and the delta covered a picture of the Milky Way galaxy. From the crest, I knew that the man was part of the Galactic Police Force or GPF. The man was able to get the hunters to go away and after fighting them, he came over to me. From my pocket I got out a knife, just in case if he was an imposter.
“I was trained to fight,” I said but the policeman just stared at me. He got on his knees and looked at me face to face.
“There is nothing to be afraid of. I’ll make sure you return to your home planet,” he said and then he looked at my crest. The crest I wore symbolized the planet I was from.
“You’re a long way from home. Are you hungry? Come with me, I’ll get you something to eat and drink,” He slowly grabbed my hand with the knife in it and I gave it to him. I knew that he could help me return home.
“What’s your name?”
“Andrex,”

“Mr. Moslow! Welcome home! How was work?” I asked when he arrived home. Mr. Moslow patted me on the head with a big smile on his face.
“My day was good. I got in touch with your home planet. A ship will be on its way to pick you up next week,” He said after giving me a hug.
“Andy, want to play Mario Kart with me?” asked Tracy and I nodded.
Mr. and Mrs. Moslow both worked for the Galactic Police Force, but Mr. Moslow was the one who worked in the field while Mrs. Moslow was part of a forensics team. Their children don’t know about their work and believe they work for their home world police force. Mr. Moslow had to inform me that their planet knows nothing about other life forms and believe that they are the only planet with any living humans. I remembered mom and dad telling me that there were planets in the universe that still did not know that there were other humans out there because they were not ready.
“The wii is broken,” Tracy said frustrated and disappointed.
“I bet I can fix it,” I told her and walked over to the device. I got out a screwdriver and undid a few screws to look inside. I found what the problem was and fixed it. I closed it back up and it was working as if it was brand new.
“Wow, how did you do that? You must be really smart,” Tracy told me.
“It’s a gift,” I told her forgetting that the children on this planet knew very little about mathematics and science.
“Tracy, you have to go to your tutor soon,” Mr. Moslow said. Tracy sighed, I knew she hated math and I wished I could help her, but Mr. Moslow told me that I could not give away to anyone that I knew so much. Including his children.
“Andy. Mrs. Moslow went out to buy stuff for dinner. I’m taking Tracy to her tutor and the boys are out. You’ll be home alone for a while. Are you alright with that?” Mr. Moslow asked and I nodded. They left.
I went to the guest room, where I was staying, and got out a book. It was a book from my home planet. The book was filled with pictures of my family. I opened it and the first picture was of my parents and I on planet X-13 when I was two. My parents are smiling and laughing while holding me. My mother gave me a kiss and I giggled while my father held us both. It was very difficult for me to believe that they were gone.
I heard the door unlock and I closed my book because the book would give away evidence of things that this planet thought were impossible. When the door opened I saw Mr. Moslow run in. He was out of breath and I knew something was wrong.
“Andrex,” he said using my full name, “They’re here, the hunters. They are looking for you. I informed my family, we have to leave now. Get your stuff we are leaving now,” I quickly grabbed my backpack and Mr. Moslow took me by the hand. I heard a loud noise from the kitchen as if someone just broke in. That’s when I knew the hunters were there.
“Give us the boy!” a hunter yelled. Mr. Moslow and I turned around to face the hunter. Mr. Moslow was ready to fight, but I used my power of telekinesis to push the man back into a wall. I pushed him so hard that he fell unconscious.
“Good job, Andrex. Let’s go. We have to go,” But there were more hunters and we ran into the back woods. We were able to blend into the woods and then it was silent. Mr. Moslow looked around and then down at me.
“Andrex, keep going straight and you will go into town. Once there, get on a bus. Any bus. Stay on there until someone from the GPF finds you. You got that? Here is some money. You have to run, I’ll fight them off. Run as fast as you can. I know you have the power of super speed so run as fast as you can. As fast as you can, you understand? Go, go, go!” I then took off. I never saw Mr. Moslow or his family again.

“Get off this bus! Get off! I won’t allow pathetic urchins on this bus! It’s bad business. Go or I’ll call the cops! Get out of here!” yelled the bus driver. He picked me up by the collar and grabbed my backpack. He then threw me and my stuff off the bus.
“Let me back on! I have money! Please!” I begged. He turned around, grabbed the wheel and drove off.
I looked around and I found myself in a small suburban area and I thought that maybe someone would find me. I wiped the dust from my clothes and from my bag and walked into town. When I found a bus stop, I sat on the bench and waited for the next bus to arrive.
“What’s a boy like you doing waiting for a bus?” asked a lady. I looked up and just stared at her.
“Anyway the bus doesn’t stop here anymore. I just wanted to inform you,” she said and walked away. But I sat there, thinking that someone from the GPF would find me and then another woman stopped by.
“Are you lost little boy?” she asked and I shook my head.
“Where is your mother?”
“Not here,” I answered. She looked worried and walked over to a man who wore a funny brown hat with a brown uniform on. He crossed the street and came over to me.
“Hey son, where are your folks?” I said nothing but I started to get nervous.
“Are you a runaway?”
“No sir,” I answered.
“What’s your name?”
“Andy”
“Where are you from Andy?”
“I don’t know.” The man who must had been an officer started talking to the nice beautiful lady who talked to me. The two of them seemed to agree on something.
“Do you have a place to stay?” He asked me and I said no.
After staying at the police office for an hour, the nice lady said that I could stay with her until someone came to help me. She said that she had a son about my age name Joe.
“Joseph!” she yelled and a fat boy with curly hair came to the door. His mother explained the situation and his was happy to show me his room. His room had an extra bed that I could sleep on.
“You’ll like it here. It’s a nice town,” he said with a big grin on his face. I could tell that Joe was just as nice as his mother.
“I like to do magic. Can you do any magic?” he asked me.
“Yeah,” I said and showed him all the tricks I could do, but the truth was they weren’t tricks; they were my power of telekinesis.
“Can you teach me to do those tricks?” Joe asked. I smiled at him and nodded. Then his mother called us for dinner and Joe ran down stairs.
Before going downstairs, I looked out the window to see the backyard and other people’s backyard. I knew that the hunters would have a difficult time trying to find me in a place like this, but so would the GPF.
“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay,”

Desert

I dropped my bat and looked up. The sky was as blue as the sea, the clouds, as white as clear milk, but there was a shadow - a shadow growing bigger and bigger. I ran as fast as my friends ran and I heard it explode.
People were running and screaming in every direction. Young children got separated from their parents, and some parents even left their children for dead. I heard the loud noise again and I kept running. I couldn’t see where I was going with all the dust in my eyes, but I found an empty house where I thought I could hide. I ran to the corner, I crawled into a ball, and put my hands over my ears. To keep my hopes up that I would live, I thought about my mother.
She was a beautiful woman who married my father while she was still very young. She cared about everyone: my father, my sister, and me. She said that someday everything would get better and that there was more out there than this desert town. My mother was dedicated to teaching my sister and I how to read and write, which was forbidden in our country. She was a perfect mother who everyone loved.
My sister was only four and I eight. Father had left early that morning to work at the factory. I could smell the oatmeal that mother was making for my sister and I, and I heard the door bang open. My sister and I jumped out of bed and ran upstairs to see what was going on. There were two soldiers; they wore their light army uniform and their helmets with the crest of the country on the front. They wore durable boots and dark sunglasses, and, of course, they carried guns. I saw one soldier burn all our books and papers with which we practiced the alphabet. The other stared at me, and that was when I noticed that mother was nowhere to be seen.
“Mom!” I yelled. Nothing. The oatmeal was knocked over and spilled everywhere on the floor and my sister started to cry, I wanted to scream. I looked at the soldier that stood in front of me. He kept staring at me with his big sunglasses. I wanted to scare him, fight him or ask him where my mother was. After his partner said something in a language I did not understand, the two left and slammed the door. I never saw my mother again.

I put my hands down when the bombing stop. Most likely, my friends didn’t make it. They couldn’t run as fast as I could. I left the empty house and noticed that it was almost dark outside.
Home was nothing like it used to be after mother disappeared. Father became depressed and drank as often as he could, while my sister sat around playing with dolls she made out of toilet paper and any other materials she could find.
“You’re late,” said my father. I didn’t say anything. He then fell back asleep and I went over to my sister to find a black and blue mark on her cheek.
“Come with me, I’ll wash it,” I told her as I took her by the hand.
I felt a surge of pain in my left rib. I woke up to the sight of my father’s face. I could tell he was drinking by the smell of the booze in his breath.
“Go to school,” he said. He then repeated it louder. He wanted us both to attend a secret school, a school where they trained children to become rebels and fighters.
Father picked my sister up by her hair until she woke up and told her the same thing he had told me. I wanted to yell at him to put down my sister, but I knew we would both get hurt if I yelled or talked back to him. My sister didn’t want either of us to get hurt, but I wanted to protect her.
My sister and I walked out into the desert until we found the secret camp where children of all ages had already gathered. I hated the secret school because my mother was always against fighting and violence. The secret school was developed to make children become rebel soldier and join the Kinship, an underground organization that hates the government. It wasn’t until I was older that I found out our own government had taken my mother away. But I wasn’t going to take revenge. My mother had always told us to forgive our enemies, and I was never going to let her principles die.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” one of the teachers told me.
“I’ve been busy sir,” I replied.
“Do you remember the motto of the Kinship?”
“Fear no one, be feared. Don’t get destroyed, be the destroyer. Don’t fight to live, live to fight.”
“Good boy. How about you! What’s your name?” he asked another boy and I continued to practice shooting with my gun.
“Sir, what’s that?” I heard one of my classmate say. We all looked at the desert sand and saw an army on horseback. It was the government. They started to charge to the camp.
“How did those bastards find us?” asked one of the teachers. All my classmates started to grab guns, bazookas, and knives to get ready for battle. The teachers kept yelling commands that we all had to follow. I grabbed a gun but stayed far away from the front line.
“Time to prove yourself worthy, kids,” said a teacher. Before I knew it, a battle broke out.
The battle kept going and going. I forgot how long it had been. Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? I lost track, but the government was now in town and we learned their plan. They didn’t aim for the secret school; they aimed for the town.
I still didn’t use my gun; I kept running and hiding. I started to go crazy, wondering if a soldier of the government would find me and if he would kill me. I wanted to scream, but I was too afraid to scream. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was certain the soldiers would hear it and find me; my heightened senses were all that kept me alive. I passed people dying in streets and even tripped over dead bodies. I didn’t stop; I kept running, trying to find a hiding place in the town. Then I turned a corner and found myself in a dead end. I turned around to run and ran into a soldier. By the boots, I could tell it was a government soldier.
Our eyes met. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses like the other soldiers, and I could see his young face and brown eyes. By the look of his face, he seemed to be in his early twenties. He looked shocked and he didn’t point his gun at me. My gun had already fallen out of my hands and I was waiting for the bullet to go into my head. I didn’t stop staring at the man.
“Stay here, you’ll be safe,” he said, pointing to a garbage can. I was so skinny and small, but I was still amazed that I could fit in such a tight space. I heard other soldiers outside talking to each other in a language I did not understand. I went back to thinking about my mother and I kept as quiet as I could, hoping that someday this cruel life would end, that peace would be made in the world, and that I would live long enough to see it happen.

The Man with the Red Eyes

Once upon a time, as all fairytales start out, there was a young boy who saw the good in the world. He always did what he was told both at school and at home and was the light in everyone’s hearts.
While walking home from school one day, John found a hidden path and discovered a man sitting on a rock. The man was reading a book with a red cover and did not pay any attention to John. John just stared at the man and noticed that the man had bright red eyes.
“Sir?” asked John, but the man paid no attention to the boy. When John was beginning to leave, the man said, “How are your grades?” Although John was a bright child, he had a lot of difficulties in the academic areas and as he was talking, the man only nodded. When John began to leave, the man said nothing more.
The next day John took his friend, Mark to see the man. Mark was a chubby boy with big round glasses. When the two spotted the man, Mark went straight up to the man, pushed back his glasses, and started a conversation about history with the man.
“How are your grades?” asked the man.
“Average. B’s and A’s.” replied Mark. The man patted Mark on the head and when Mark turned around to leave, he fell, dead.
John stood over his friend’s body and looked up at the man who only continued to read his book. John was very curious about this “magic” and wanted to see it again. So the next day he found his friend Matthew. Matthew was a skinny kid, tall for his age, and had very bright blonde hair. When the two saw the man, Matthew had a conversation with him about mathematics, which was Matthew’s favorite subject.
“How are your grades?” asked the man.
“All A’s,” replied Matthew and the man patted him on the head. As Matthew turned around to leave, he fell, dead.
John was now more interested than ever and wanted to see the magic be done one more time. This time, he got his friend Mary. When the two found the man, Mary took great interest in the book and started a conversation about literature.
“How are your grades?” asked the man. Unlike the two children before her, Mary was just as terrible in school as John was. While talking to the man, Mary took notice of his eyes. When Mary turned around to leave, she rushed to John and pushed him to the ground and ran home. The man than put his hand on top of John’s head.
“Wait! Please!” yelled John but then he went quiet.
When the three boys went missing for a long time, Mary took the authorities to the place where the man was, but once they got there, the man was gone, the rock that he sat upon was gone, and all three boys were never seen again, as was the man with the red eyes.

Unconscious

“Here’s the plan, men. Alex and Jesi, you two will go in and clear the entrance for us. The rest of us will follow you from behind, then we’ll take down the enemy and bring them back to the base,” said the officer in charge of the operation. All eight men nodded that they understood.
Alex and Jesi silently and quickly ran towards the mansion where it was believed the terrorist was. Jesi was holding an explosive device that would open the secured entrance and allow the squad in.
As Jesi placed the bomb down and Alex was hooking it up, Jesi tapped Alex on the solder and pointed to an open window.
“I’ll go in to help you guys on the inside,” he said.
“That’s not part of the plan, we have to be cautious,” Alex replied, but Jesi didn’t listen and entered the building.
“What’s that noise?” thought Alex as a huge explosion came from inside the mansion.

The alarm clock went off and Alex tapped it to shut it off. He turned in his bed to see the clock showing six in the morning. Alex sat up and stretched before he got out of his bed to get ready for the day. After eating a healthy tofu breakfast, Alex opened a cabinet that housed a huge assortment of pills.
Alex stared at the pills, finding the one that would help him focus during the day. The pill was necessary after all that happened five years earlier during the war. Alex took the pill with water, grabbed his brief case and went off to work.

“Alex, you okay?” asked Christine, a co-worker.
“I’m just tired, I stayed up late working,” replied Alex.
“You sure? You’ve been acting strange lately,”
“No, I’m fine. I just need to get more sleep,” Christine left and went to her cubicle to get back to her own work. When she left, Alex sat holding his iphone under his desk, wondering if he should call his therapist.
“I hate that dream,” thought Alex. He knew the dream he had the night before was not just a dream, but a terrible memory. A memory where he lost a friend. He got up from his desk and decided to take the day off.

When Alex returned home, he could not help but throw himself on his bed and take a long nap after not getting enough sleep the night before. Alex immediately started dreaming. He was on 44th Street eating a hotdog that he got from a hotdog stand. He saw an elderly woman about to cross the street just when the signal turned to the “Do Not Cross” red hand.
“Hey lady!” yelled Alex as he ran towards her. But it was too late and the old woman was hit by a car. Alex ran towards her as a crowd started to form.
“Are you alright?” asked Alex, but he already knew the woman was dead.
Alex woke up with a start at first not realizing it was the next day. He did his old daily routines and took his pills. He knew he had to work for the whole day to make up for the previous day’s absence.

“Alex, are you hungry?” asked Casey, another one of Alex’s co-workers.
“Yeah, I need to get out of this cubicle,” Alex said with a smile. “I’m in the mood for a hotdog. Let’s go. My treat.”
While eating his hotdog and talking to Casey, Alex noticed that he was standing on 44th street, where his dream had taken place.
“Just a coincidence,” he thought and shrugged it off. That was when he saw the elderly lady. The same lady from his dream. Without thinking, Alex ran.
“Alex?” asked Casey and Alex grabbed the lady as the signal turned to the red hand.
“Excuse me?” said the lady and Alex watched the car pass without hitting the woman.
“You were about to fall,” Alex lied to the elderly woman. The woman pushed him away and waited with the crowd till the signal indicated it was okay to cross. Alex returned to his co-worker who asked what was going on. Alex ignored him and walked back to work.

At work, Alex stared at Christine from his cubicle and, while watching her, he had a vision. He was at a fancy restaurant and saw Christine. She had a nice dark blue dress on and he could smell her perfume. He could tell Christine was having a good time but he could not tell with whom she was sitting with. He could only see the back of her companion’s head. Then Alex returned to reality. He watched as another co-worker approach Christine.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked.
“My boyfriend is taking me out to this wonderful five star restaurant!” she said. Alex was in shock. Not because Christine had a boyfriend, but because he saw it! But he did not know how.
Alex jolted up from his seat, grabbed his briefcase, and ran home. He started to sweat and act paranoid. Once he got home, he sat down and put his head in his hand.
“What’s going on! Why is this happening! Why can I see these things? Why?” he kept asking. He then turned on the TV for comfort only to hear disturbing news.
“This just in, the mayor has committed suicide. After cutting the ribbon at the new shelter for the homeless, Mayor Cooper was found dead in the bathroom with his throat cut, and a pair of scissors in his hands.” Alex turned off the TV, he did not want to hear such disturbing and bad news. Alex again was holding his cell phone wondering if he should call his therapist and wondering if he would believe him. But again Alex refused the impulse. Alex started to pace, fearing he would fall asleep and have another vision.
“What!” all of a sudden Alex could not move his body. He was fully conscious but his body was moving on it’s own. His body started walking towards the door. There was a knock on the door. Alex did not want to open it, but his body was not obeying him.
“Stop!” said Alex but his body would not listen to him and before he knew it, he opened the door to a strange man. The man was wearing baggy jeans, a black T-shirt with a skull, old sneakers, and a long black coat that was obviously too big on him. He also wore a gray hat, so it was hard to see his face.
“What do you want?” asked Alex. The stranger did not reply.
“Why are you here?”
“We are the same, but also different,” the man said. Alex still could not see his face.
“I don’t understand,”
“It’s your fault,” the man said. He looked up at Alex and Alex could see his face clearly. He wore an eye patch over his left eye, but Alex could never forget that face. The face of an old friend, whose face is not filled with joy or enthusiasm, but with anger and hate.
“Jesi? But you’re dead,”

Neverland

March 15th, 2210. It was almost midnight and the secret service went through every town, examining everyone who could potentially become a secret weapon. My wife and I just put our two children to sleep. When I was about to fall into a deep sleep, someone rang the doorbell and when I got to the door, the first thing I heard was “police, open up!” and of course I opened. When the door was ajar, the police stormed in and ran upstairs.
“What are you doing?” I exclaimed, but two policemen held me back. I could hear my wife screaming and my children starting to cry. The group of policemen took my wife and children downstairs.
My wife and I sat down on the couch while the policemen were holding my children. A man in a white coat (presumably a doctor) walked into my home and the policemen holding my youngest infant child gave him to the doctor. As the doctor examined my youngest son, he shook his head and walked over, handing the baby to my wife and me. I held my wife and tried to calm her down while she was holding our son tightly.
The doctor walked over to our oldest child who would soon be two years old. The doctor took him from the policeman and placed him on the ground to examine him. He then took a sample of his blood and, with a small machine from his pocket, he quickly got the results of our child. He then turned his head towards my wife and me.
“How old is he?” My wife and I kept quiet.
“Take the infant.”
“Wait! He’s twenty-one months. Born on June 17,” my wife said shaking and holding our youngest son to her chest. I could not help staring at my oldest son, being held by a stranger and not understanding what was happening. The doctor nodded to the policeman and the policeman started to walk out the house with my son.
“No!” I yelled, but a force of policemen blocked me. My wife put our youngest son down and started to scream and yell.


All over the country, families were crying for their children to return to their arms. These children were so young, that they were not aware that most of them, no, all of them would never see their families or taste freedom ever again.
Dr. Wagner, one of the scientists who were part of the project stood at the corner of the street, watching the policeman and other scientist gather children who would be selected for the project. While standing, he looked down at the child in his arms whom started to play with his long, white beard.
“You will need a new name, child,” he told the toddler. The toddler kept laughing, smiling, and playing with his beard.
“I have a good name! Samuel, yes, it’s a good name. Samuel.”


The bell rang and all the children left their training quarters and headed to the cafeteria for lunch. While all the children went to the cafeteria to get lunch, one boy stood by the window and stared at the endless ocean.
“Sam! Sam! Come on, or else we’ll be the last ones and you know what that means? It means we’ll get the worst part of lunch, come on!”
“I’m not going to eat,” said Sam. The boy who called out to him walked up to him and stared outside with Sam.
“I guess I won’t eat either.”
“Alvin, do you think there is anything out there?” asked Sam.
“I don’t know,” replied Alvin.
“When we were little, the teachers used to tell us stories, remember?”
“You mean ‘Neverland’? That place where people live in square houses and live with other people?”
“Yeah, the older kids used to say it was a real place, where no one controlled anyone and we could make our own decision, instead of following order.”
“Why do you think about these stuff? You’re the best student of our age. When you leave this island, you’ll be a successful soldier. You’ll be able to go on missions!”
“How long do I have to keep following orders? I want to be free.”
“Come on, at least let’s go outside to the courtyard and play some soccer.” Sam stepped away from the window and followed Alvin to the courtyard to play a game of soccer, but while they were playing one of the teachers came out.
“Alvin! Step forward!” the teacher yelled. Everyone in the courtyard stopped what they were doing and stared at Alvin, who slowly walked up to the teacher and stood in front of him.
“Alvin, last night did you steal something?” asked the teacher.
“No, sir,” replied Alvin. The teacher looked at him dead in the eyes.
“We have on video, a tape of you stealing some food last night. A little midnight snack, did it taste good?”
“Sir?”
“We do not lie here and I’ll ask one more time. Did you steal something last night?” Alvin started to shake, his legs looked like they were going to give out. He started to sweat like a pig and wouldn’t stare at the teacher in his eyes.
“Answer me!” yelled the teacher.
“Yes, sir!” replied Alvin. The teacher stood tall and proud. Alvin knew what was coming next and no matter how hard Sam wanted to help, he could not step in.
“You know the punishment,” said the teacher. The teacher got out his whip and just when the whip was about to hit Alvin, he grabbed it and threw it into the ocean! He threw it so far and fast that no one could see where it landed.
“Sir?” Alvin struggled to say. The teacher got so angry he turned red. Alvin did what was forbidden. He used his “gift,” as the teachers said, of super strength without permission.
The teacher grabbed Alvin by his gray T-shirt and took him inside. All the other kids returned to playing, but Sam was extremely worried. Unlike Sam, Alvin was the youngest of the group and was extremely small and skinny for his age. By 17, Alvin should have been at least five-foot-five, but instead he was only five-foot.
While everyone was walking back into the building, Sam, one of the few with two powers, used his invisibility to find Alvin. Alvin often got in trouble for the stupidest thing, like the lowest grade, taking food because he was hungry, and using his gift, not on purpose, but as a means of self-defense. Using the gifts was as simple and normal as walking down a hallway.

While turning a corner in the teachers’ hallway, Sam was lucky enough to see one of the teachers lock Alvin in a punishment room. When the teacher left, Sam went to the door and whispered.
“Alvin? Alvin? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,”
“You don’t sound fine,”
“I’m okay, really. Sam, do you really believe ‘Neverland’ is real?”
“I don’t know. I want to believe it’s real.”
“They got me good this time Sam, I don’t know if I will ever see you again.”
“What are you saying?”
“You’re a good person Sam, get out while you still can. It’s too late for me.”
“I’m not leaving here without you. And besides, no one has ever escaped before.”
“I believe you will.”
“Samuel!” said a loud and angry voice. Sam stood up and faced a teacher who looked extremely angry.
“Come here Samuel!” the teacher said, but Sam didn’t move. Sam could barely hear Alvin breathing, and before he knew it, he couldn’t hear Alvin breathing at all.
“What did you do to my friend?” Sam said in a whisper.
“There are no such things as friends! You are to be trained to be a soldier, a weapon! Forming bonds is a weakness, didn’t you learn anything after all these years?”
“Why Alvin?”
“On your 18th birthday you will be sent out to the world to work as a soldier. Alvin and you were close, too close. One of you had to go, and since Alvin was the weaker out of the two of you, he was chosen.”
“No!”
Sam was so angry that he used his invisibility and vanished. Sam ran outside, and when he made it out the front door, the alarms went off. Teachers, guards, everyone started to run out of the building and onto the island, searching for Sam.
Sam used his second power to jump in the water and breathe; he made a call to the fish, dolphins, and whales to help him escape. Sam could hear the engine of boats being started to find him. They even used a submarine, but Sam was able to outsmart them by getting out of the water and walking on it instead, while using his invisibility gift. Sam kept walking on the water and even though he had been walking for only ten minutes without being spotted, it felt to Sam more like ten hours. Finally free, Sam collapsed into the ocean, exhausted.


Sam slowly opened his eyes to the sun that was beaming down on him. He sat up and put his hand to the sandy ground. He started to hear noises; it sounded like a celebration. He jumped up and ran toward the sound. He saw people, many people, gathered for a celebration! Sam could have sworn he saw people waving to him, welcoming him to the celebration. Sam was so excited that he could utter but one word: “Neverland!”

Rome

A sudden jolt went through the little girl’s body and she couldn’t understand the feeling. It was a quick feeling of fear, but also calmness. When she got that feeling she couldn’t help but stare at the sky with hate and anger.
“Lila,” said her nanny, but she did not pay attention to her or to the puppy at her feet trying to get the child’s attention.
The nanny came over, took her hand, and led the girl inside. The clouds began to turn gray and, as it began to rain, the child felt more anger and could not help staring outside.
“It just started to rain all of a sudden, right?” the nanny asked, but the child did not answer or give any attention to her nanny. As the nanny left the room to get the child’s lunch, the room got darker and the shadows started to bend and twist to take on a shape. It was the shape of a man.
“Lila,” said the man.
She turned towards the man with a big smile on her face and walked over to him. She gave him a big hug while watching him with a worried look in her eyes.
“It is alright my child. I will not let him harm you; I came to see if you were all right. I got that exact same feeling of fear. A child just like you was born today that will become your enemy. Fear not, for you are my child and we are bound together. I will train you in preparation for your destiny and the legacy of our story will be known.”

“Remus! Remus watch out!” yelled a voice, but Remus was too focused on the sky to notice the ball about to hit him from behind. He turned around just as fast as lightning to hit the ball and he hit it so hard that he was able to make the goal and win for the team.
“Remus, what’s wrong?” asked a friend.
“It’s going to rain.”
“What are you talking about? The forecast is sunny all day!”
“You can’t always trust the forecast. They don’t always get it right.”
“I know. Every time rain is about to come, you are always right. I’ll trust you; let’s go home.”
Remus lived the life of a normal 17-year-old in the suburbs of Rome. He went to school, played soccer, and went on Facebook when he got the time. He was tall and handsome, as said by his classmates. Every girl wanted to date him, but he had no interest in girls. His friends often made fun of him for this lack of interest and were secretly envious.
He lived in a small house with his elder grandparents. They raised him his whole life after his mother passed away when he was born. His grandparents said his birth was complicated and that the doctors thought both he and his mother would die. But Remus was strong, even as an infant, and so he survived. As a young child, Remus often wondered about his father. His grandparents told him that they didn’t know who his father was and it was not on his birth certificate. After some years, Remus gave up trying to figure out who his father could have been and accepted his grandparents as his parents.
“Grandma! Grandpa! I’m home,”
“Playing soccer again? Look at you! You’re all dirty,” said his grandmother with a big smile on her face.
“It’s soccer. What did you expect?”
“Go upstairs and clean up. Dinner won’t be ready until eight,”
“Is grandpa home?”
“No. He won’t be home until six.”
After taking a shower and putting on clean clothes, Remus opened the shades to his windows to look outside. It was getting dark and Remus could see the lights from Rome, starting to come on. If he squinted a little, he could see part of the coliseum in the city. For some unknown reason, Remus felt like he should be there. In the city instead of the suburbs, as if the city was calling to him. He could not understand this feeling, except that it had followed him his whole life.
“Remus? Did you finish your homework?”
“I just have math, grandma, I’ll be done soon,”
Remus was very gifted in school in subjects such as math, science, history, and English. He had difficulties with Italian, especially grammar, spelling, and reading but he worked hard and found tricks to overcome his disadvantages.
“Remus,” he heard a voice say, but Remus didn’t flinch. He heard his name again, this time Remus started to feel uncomfortable. He got up and went downstairs to the kitchen where his grandmother was cooking.
“Dinner’s not ready yet,” she said and Remus walked into the living room to watch TV.

That night Remus was having difficulty sleeping. He twisted and turned and then woke up all of a sudden. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen to get some water.
“Remus,” the voice said, but this time the voice was coming from behind the kitchen table. Remus turned to see a man with a beard and lots of curly brown hair. He looked like a homeless person, but he was dressed in a fine, clean suit. Remus was dumbfounded and could not open his mouth. He started to slowly reach for the phone, but with a flick of the man’s finger, the phone moved away.
“As you can see, I’m not human,” the man said.
“What do you want? I have money if you need it, in my bedroom, I have at least 200 euros,”
“It’s not money I want. It’s time that you understand your destiny,”
“I’m just a high school student. My destiny is to go to college and make a living. Get out of here now,”
“Do you want to know who your father is, boy?” The man looked at his fingers nails, like a really rich man. Remus started to get angry.
“My grandfather is my father and it’s none of your business,”
“Oh, but it is. I can tell you right now who your father is,”
“I don’t want to know old man! He’s never been around so I don’t care about him. It’s none of your business, leave! Now!” The man put his hand down and folded his hands on the table, he looked at the boy seriously as if he was about to gut him with one blow.
“Remus, I am your father,”
“You lie!” Then a loud sound of thunder was heard outside and Remus’ heart jumped, but the man sat still in his seat, glaring at Remus.
“May I ask you a question? Have you ever thought that you could do something that no one else could? For example, soccer. You hit much harder then the other boys, but you feel as if you can control where it’s going after you kick it. As if you can make the wind carry it on your command? I also know you can predict when it’s about to rain,”
“How do you know all this?”
“These gifts are what many of my children before you have experienced. You are not human,”
“What?”
“You are half human, half God,” There was a moment of silence before Remus replied.
“Old man, you’re crazy. This is 2011, many kids like me don’t really care much about mythology from our ancestors or Perseus or whatever.”
“You do not want to anger me,” The boy heard the thunder getting louder and louder outside. He knew he had to watch what he was saying and not make the man upset.
“Remus, you are my son. You have the blood of a god, you can’t turn your back on it. It’s who you are. I will tell you now, there will be many complications in the future, but that is common for demigods. I need you now to destroy evil,”
“Why now? Why didn’t you show up when I was a child?”
“You’re grandparents took good care you. They love you and I do too as I do with all my children. Just like my children before you, I wanted you to have a normal life but from this moment on, you’re life will never be normal,”
“What about my mother!”
“I loved her too, she was very beautiful. But sadly, the birth of a demigod can be very dangerous for a mother who gives birth to such a child. But like you, I miss your mother very much,” Remus noticed a tear in the man’s eye and saw a face of sadness but as quickly as he was sad, he returned to being stern and serious.
“We don’t have much time. You will have to face the ‘other child’ soon and both of you can not be alive,”
“Who is this other child?”
“The daughter of my brother, Pluto”

The audience clapped as Lila enter the stage to play her piano. She wore a beautiful purple dress and her black hair was long and clean. Many said that she looked like a goddess, but for some reason she often took offense from those comments.
She sat down and put her hands on the keys of the piano and began to play a piece she had written. She hadn’t given it a name yet, but many agreed that the music she wrote was beautiful and almost gave a calm and hopeful feeling. As Lila was playing, she felt a surge of peace and tranquility. At the end of her recital, the people in the audience stood up and clapped for her as she bowed and walked off the stage.
“Beautiful as always!” said her teacher. Lila smiled at her teacher and told him that she was going to get changed and go home because she did not feel well.
Once she stepped outside of the studio she noticed that it was raining. Lila hated the rain and just like a child, the thunder and lighting scared her. It made her feel as if she was going to die at any moment.
When she pulled into her driveway, she saw a man waiting for her by the window. She got out of her car and walked inside to greet him.
The man was dressed in a black T-shirt and baggy jeans covered by an oversized brown coat. He sat on the chair as if he was a king and all that Lila could do was bow in respect.
“You’re art is lovely, just as death is,” said the man, looking around the room at her beautiful artwork hanging on all the walls.
“I am a gifted artist, father. I thank you for those gifts,” she replied.
“A demigod with the gift of art. It’s a rare gift, none of my children ever had this gift, only those who were children of the 12 major Gods. Who would have thought that a child of mine would have this precious gift,”
“Would you like anything to drink, father?”
“No my dear. I will make this meeting short. I could not find my brother Jupiter today. He’s not home, which means he’s here on Earth somewhere. Probably revealing the identity to his child. I often do not agree with my brother, as I believe my children should know who they are at birth and feel loved by their father,”
“I love you father and I will do your will,”
“Go find the child of Jupiter and bring him to me,” Pluto disappeared into the shadows and Lila went upstairs and stepped out on her balcony where she could see the cemetery just a few blocks away.
“Awake!” she commanded and out from the grave emerged an army of skeletons.
“Find the child of Jupiter and bring him to me!” The skeletons bowed and disappeared into the mist of the night.

A few days after the meeting with his father, Remus could not get it out of his head that he was a demigod. He discovered that he could control the wind around him and make objects float. He started to distance himself from his friends and refused to play soccer.
“What’s bothering you?” asked his grandmother.
“Nothing,” he replied.
“You haven’t been playing soccer, you don’t see your friends, and you don’t focus on your studying anymore. Why won’t you talk to me?”
“I said it was nothing. Please leave,” His grandmother walked out of his room quietly with a look of sadness on her face. All of a sudden, Remus heard a crash.
“Grandma!” he yelled and found her at the bottom of the steps.

“Doctor, how is she?” asked his grandfather who rushed to the hospital when Remus made the call.
“I’m sorry sir, as of right now she’s in a coma. We put her on life-support but at the current moment we don’t know if she’ll pull through,”
“Do you know what caused this to happen?”
“A stroke? Heart attack? We don’t really know.”
“Thank you doctor,” Remus went into the room with his grandfather, who sat down next to his wife, holding her hand and telling her over and over again, “I’m here,”
Remus felt pain in his heart for the first time. He felt as if this was no accident but like someone was pulling strings to make this happen. All of a sudden, Remus got the urge to take a little walk. His grandfather gave him permission to leave.
As Remus was walking past the cemetery, something grabbed him and hit him over the head, Remus blacked out.

Remus woke up on a cold floor and slowly sat up. As quickly as he was knock out, he started to come back to reality.
“The son of Jupiter,” said a woman’s voice. Remus got up and faced a girl who looked about fifteen, but Remus had the feeling she was older.
“Where are we? Who are you?” asked Remus.
“I am the daughter of Pluto! Where we are is of no matter,” Remus looked around to see that he was surrounded by trees. He thought he was in the woods or a forest, but had the feeling that this was a mystical place.
“Father said he was busy, but he gave me the order,” said Lila.
“What order?” he asked.
“To kill you,” and as she was about to attack him, Remus remember something Jupiter told him as he stood, ready to fight.
“Only one can survive. You can’t live with the other. One of you must die!”