Bayville was what you would call an ordinary suburban town in the middle of New York State. It seemed like the setting of John Green's next book given how uninteresting and plain it seemed. Rows of identical houses flocked down the streets of minor traffic and reasonably nice pedestrians. It may be one of the few remaing places in America where a stranger would say good morning and you wouldn't be reaching into your pocket for a taser.
It was a bright and sunny afternoon in August, school was edging ever so nearer so the kids whom remained in the town we're getting the most of their limited time. While many sat at home with their video games or Netflix marathons there were still some who preffered more conventional enjoyment.
Scott and Alex Summers rapidly sped their bikes down the winding suburban streets unaware of the world behind them. The former Scott, was the eldest at 14 years and was riding in front, probably out of the instinctive need to protect Alex just in case they came across anything dangerous. Not that danger was a concept that Bayville could define.
His brown hair was flowing through the holes in his helmet in the summer's breeze as well as his blue shirt and green shorts that ended just above his knee. His brother on the other hand found it difficult to fit his long blonde hair into his helmet that their mother was adamant about wearing. However Alex always felt like she babied him despite being 12 years old, which Scott couldn't miss an opportunity teasing him about.
As they rode their bikes, waving at friendly neighbours and store clerks Scott remisensed on his time at middle school and all the adventures and growth that came along with it, he was slightly saddened by the fact that he was going to miss it so much.
Alex noticed his brother began to slow down while in thought almost oblivious to his environment.
"Hey Scott you alright there?" Alex called out to his brother who was now only about a metre in front of him.
"Sorry bro just thinking." Scott was almost woken up by his brother's words as he began to speed up to his previous pace upon realising what he was doing. He knew one thing for sure, that he wanted to make high school mean something, but also noticing the sentiment. Every day counted even these last few weeks of summer.
Suddenly he made a sharp turn leading him and his brother down a side street which was not a part of their usual route. Down the street they went, eventually crossing through a skate park which frightened his brother slightly.
Althroughout, Scott was noticing a small surge of pain that was happening in his eyes. His vision became blurry and his sense of balance was being skewed in different directions. It was becoming increasingly harder to concentrate on the road as it became increasingly blurred to him. Alex looked on with concern at his older brother who was finding it hard to keep steady on his bike.
"Scott" Alex called out to his brother who didn't seem to hear him, either due to pain or not physically being able to respond. "Scott!" He shouted again as his brother seemed to be moving in a zig zag down the path in the park they were in. "SCOTT!" Alex exclaimed loudly as Scott rammed into a trash can and went toppling through he air, finally landing on the road, curled up in a heap of grass and dust.
Alex brought his bike to a halt doing a backwards wheelie in the process. Dashing over to him on his feet and chucking his helmet to the ground in a rush whilst kneeling down to his brothers side. Scott was clenching his eyes, keeping them rammed shut almost as if it was painful to open them.
After enough prods from Alex Scott managed to slowly blinked open his only to see a everything with a reddish hue applied to his vision. As quickly as he noticed this scarlet filter on the world it disappeared with him barely being able to collect himself.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Alex asked in a panicked rush which caught Scott up to what was happening. Other than a few sore spots Scott seemed to feel ok and staggered to his feet but then suddenly felt a pain in his knee which turned out to be a scar he acquired in the fall. He steadied himself on his brother who despite the two year age gap was nearly as tall as him which stopped him from stressing his torso to much.
"We need to get home, mom should look at that" Alex said while picking up Scott's suprisingly unbroken bike with his other hand.
The two walked off to their house.
Through the winding streets leading to their house the brothers exchanged little other than a few grunts and sighs as they walked with two bikes to number 63 Clairemont Lane. The street their house resided on was a normal street by Scott's standards it wasn't especially nice looking nor rotten. It had a warm feeling to it with nice neighbors and a dog that would run up and down the street with a face that could make the most hardened war vet smile.
A brown fence and small stone path led to a blue front door with a golden painted metal 63 number plates hammered onto the door. The house was painted white with a few nicks here and there, the roof was maroon which blended similarly to the other homes in the area. Alex rested Scott against the side of the building while he unlocked the door and let the two of them in, his brother going in first.
Scott made his way to the living room where he found their mother sitting comfortably on the couch with an episode of Suits on the television. She turned to Scott with a heavy look of concern upon seeing his injury tucking her brown hair behind her ears with both hands as she shot up to him to put her hands on her son's shoulders.
"Oh my gosh Scott are you alright what happened?" She asked quickly reminding him of what his brother said nearly half an hour earlier. "Alex grab the first aid kit please?" She commanded rather than asked. Katherine Ann-Summers wasn't a woman to say no to when she asked, it may be because of her being an English teacher at the local high school so she had plenty of experience even before having kids of her own.
She gestured for Scott to take a seat at the dinner table and rolled up his shorts so that she could get a good look at the graze he had received.
"What happened dear?" She asked him actually seeming to want an answer this time.
"We were riding our bikes in the park and I randomly got this splitting headache and my eyes just hurt so much I got such blurry vision I couldn't keep steady and I ended up hitting a trash can" Scott explained to his mother who seemed to have expected this to come from Alex rather than him but regardless her concern grew larger.
"I'll make you a doctor's appointment in a bit to get you checked out cause that doesn't sound normal." She said as Alex walked into the room with the first aid kit in his hands. As he handed her the box his mother took a look at his hair and smirked. "And we're getting your brother a haircut"
Scott began to laugh while Alex gained an angsty impression within a split second from hearing that. "What's wrong with my hair?" He said gesturing to his long blonde locks that were headed half way down his neck.
"Dude you look like you're going to join a surfing team" Scott laughed as his mom placed a bandage around his leg while also giggling.
As evening fell the brothers were sitting on the couch watching Netflix while their mom was calling the doctor about Scott's eyes while sitting at the table. They were watching a stand up where a joke caused them all to laugh together hysterically, a powerful "shush" came from their mom as she was still on the phone.
Scott stood up to move over to the kitchen which was connected to the living room at the other end. He poured himself a glass of water and drank it leisurely while looking back at his family in the room. He turned his attention to a picture frame kept on the kitchen table, it was a family photo of them and their dad who died in iraq when Scott was 4. He could barely remember him to the point where the man in the photo looked like a stranger. His mom was dating a fellow teacher that worked at Bayville High called Ronnie for several years now. He was a nice guy who made Scott that he was making her happy.
Speaking of which he could hear the conversation his brother and mom were having about how she'd set us summer homework if she was made their teacher. He smiled at his brother's childish frown to their mother's words. He couldn't imagine being a teacher despite that, especially given how his class behaved, it would just be too much hassle.
Suddenly pain surged throughout his forehead yet again but this time even worse than before, the glass dropped out of his hand and smashed on the floor into smitherines.
His mother and shot around to him as they hearted the smash. Scott grabbed the sides of his head, pressing as hard as he could as his vertigo increased, vision blurred and he fell to his knees. He could see the world around him turn various shades of red as his family walked rushed towards him. His mum told Alex to stand aside as she came closer to Scott placing her hands over his.
"Scott! I need you to breathe just try to relax." She said while alerting Alex to dial 911.
"It hurts so much!" Scott mangaed to blurt out in all his pain that was enveloping him and what felt like the entire room. His mom pressed her head against his, feeling the quivering in his body.
"I know sweetheart but I need you to concentrate on my voice- just try to block everything else out and just focus on me." She softly into his ear.
He did his best he blocked out the TV, his brother on the phone with the ambulance services, the shards of glass that had cut his foot, the lights, the picture of his dad, everything.
Everything except his mom's voice.
Bit by bit, second by second, he managed to calm down and stop shaking. His mom wiped the tears from his closed eyes and kissed him on the forehead. She hugged him pressing his head into her neck and rubbed his back as the final quivers receeded. She pulled him off to look at his face, still noticing his shut eyes
"Scott, honey do you feel better?" She asked him with a concerned but optimistic tone.
"Yeah" he squeaked.
"Sweety can you open you're eyes?" She said collecting herself while wiping a tear from her own eye.
"I'm scared." He whispered.
"It's ok just open them for me" she whispered back.
"Ok, yeah I think I feel better-" Suddenly, the second his eyelid flickered opened huge streams of scarlet light blasted through his eyes, straight in front of him directly to his mom's face.
She was thrusted backwards flying through the furniture as it crumbled as a result of the pressure. She flew through the window, down the lawn and finally into their car which remained parked outside which then erupted into flames upwards in a spectacular fashion alerting the whole town to the destructive action that occurred.
Scott shut his eyes as soon as he realised what had happened. Within a few extremely short seconds he had utterly destroyed the house and tore apart his mother by just looking at her, leaving blood stains throughout the rubble finally leaving her mangled corpse covered in the ash and flame of their car.
Without looking he knew the devastation he had caused, he heard his brother fall to his knees, too gobsmacked and melancholy to move as he just sat there and looked at the burnt floor and house. Scott leaned back against the stove and fell into tears. He sobbed and sobbed more than he ever had in his life, covering his shut eyes with his fists not daring to get his brother's attention out of fear.
He had murdered his mother.