Hope
Chapter 1
AN: This is a story I wrote a long time ago, under a different pen name, and decided to start all over again and rewrite it. Please read and review. Please, no flames, though constructive criticism is okay with me.
Hope's life seemed to be falling apart. Her brother's cancer that had gone into remission three years earlier had returned. Her parents were getting divorced, and she was flunking algebra. She was only fourteen, yet sometimes she felt like she had to be a grown up all of a sudden. Her parents only went to visit her brother when the doctor called to tell them they were trying a new cocktail of chemo, or when they called to update them. Hope went every, single, day. Her older brother was her idol. She admired his courage and strength through everything. She worried about him, though. She was constantly afraid that something was going to happen to him.
"Hey, where is our favorite dyke heading off to?" Hope heard from somewhere behind her, as she began her daily walk to the hospital from the local high school. She turned to see Mark O'Connell and a few of his friends following behind her. He would not leave her alone. He was constantly calling her a dyke, whore, or many other derogative names. His friends and him would constantly follow her and throw things at her back. One day they bought sodas and ran past her, spraying her with them and laughing before she could even react. She always tried to ignore them, but it didn't stop their words from hurting her.
"Leave me alone Mark." Hope yelled back.
"Aw, do you want to play today?" Mark asked, laughing.
"I said leave me alone!" Hope screamed, not looking back at them, and continuing her walk toward the hospital.
"Slim chance of that." Mark said, running to walk beside her. She looked over at him wondering what he was up to, but before she could do anything his two friends and pushed her from behind and knocked her books out of her arms. When she bent down to pick them up, Mark quickly pushed her down on the ground. She tried to lie there, as still as possible. She thought maybe if she was quiet, and ignored them that they would leave. That didn't happen. She looked up to see Mark and his friends surround her. She knew what was coming, and closed her eyes to brace herself. This had happened to her once before, and her father had gotten Mark suspended. Yet, here he was starting with her again. Just as she prepared herself to feel the rough sneakers and boots on her sides and legs, she felt a rush of air. She opened her eyes to see that she was 5 feet in the air, above Mark and his friends. They were staring up at her in shock and horror. She had no clue what she was doing but before she knew it she was flying towards Mark, and he was running away. All she really wanted was to land back on the ground.
" Freak! Guys come on, she's more a freak then we thought she was!" Mark yelled, as he ran away. He was trying to act tough, but he could not hide the fear in his voice.
Hope did not land on the ground as she had hoped, but rather fell. She looked at herself and frowned. Her jeans were now ripped in several places, and covered in dirt and grass stains. The landing, or lack of one, had ruined her favorite pair of jeans. To top that off, her arm had scraped the cement of the sidewalk and was bleeding, and her hair was a mess.
"Lovely, I can't go to the hospital like this. What will Rob think?" Hope mumbled to herself. Hope didn't even know what had happened. That had never happened to her before, and how was it possible. She always thought it would be cool to be able to fly, but never imagined it was actually possible. She was a bit freaked by the whole thing and really wanted to go talk to Rob. Her brother always knew what to say or do. Yet, she knew if she walked into the hospital looking as she did Rob would flip. He didn't know she got bullied, because that's the one thing she never told him. She knew if she did, he'd beat the shit out of Mark, and she didn't want that. That would only make it worse. She needed to learn how to fight her own battles.
Hope quickly picked up her books, and changed her course, making her way toward her house. She hated going home after school, another reason she usually went straight to the hospital. Her parents were both home after school, and usually fighting. They fought over Rob's medical bills, Rob's treatments, her sister, Monica's college expenses, her younger brother Jimmy's little league fees. They fought over who was wrong in each situation. They never focused on what really mattered. They never focused on the fact that their family was falling apart. They never focused on the fact that her closest brother, and best friend could be dying for all they know. No all she ever heard was them arguing about money, and then one of them would storm out of the house and drive off somewhere. That is what she always walked into when she went right home after school. That is exactly what she walked into when she arrived home, that is until her little brother spoke up when he saw her.
"Hope has a boo boo!" Jimmy said when he saw the cut on her arm.
"Shhhh" Hope commanded, trying not to draw attention to herself. She wanted to get in and out without alerting her parents. She wanted to go see Rob. However, it was too late. Her Dad had heard Jimmy's comment.
"Hope, what happened?" Hope's dad asked, running over as soon as he saw her.
"I'm fine Dad, really. I fell on the way home, that's all." Hope told him, trying to escape his stare and head to her room.
"Hope, that cut looks nasty, let me look at it please." Her dad said.
"No, I got it Dad. I'll clean it and put a bandage on it! It's not that bad, really." Hope argued, walking into her room, and closing the door.
"You're going to see Rob aren't you? Honey, can't you spend time with a friend instead of spending all your free time in that damn hospital!" Her dad yelled to the closed door. He hated the fact that she was always at the hospital. He told her she needed to spend more time with friends and not in the hospital with her brother. That's another argument her parents constantly had. Her mother understood that she needed to be with Rob, and that she was old enough to decide what she wanted. Her father still treated her like a child and wanted to run everything in her life. He thought it was unhealthy for her to constantly be at the hospital, while her mother argued that it was completely normal.
Hope ignored him. She quickly changed out of her ripped jeans and dirty t-shirt and into clean jeans and a sweatshirt. She forgot to clean the cut on her arm, and honestly didn't care. She rummaged through her desk draw, looking for her hidden stash of chocolate. Once she found it she threw some in her backpack for Rob. She was always sneaking him candy. When that was done, she ran out the door, completely ignoring everyone in her family who tried to talk to her. She ran all the way to the hospital, and arrived in Rob's room completely out of breath.
"You're late." Rob said, before he looked at her. He knew that Hope always got to the hospital between 2:30 and 2:40. She was never later than 2:40. He had worried when she hadn't arrived by 3.
"I'm sorry. I just, ran into some trouble on the way here." Hope responded, putting her backpack down, and plopping down in the chair next to Rob's bed.
"What kind of trouble? Mark O'Connell didn't start on you again did he?" Rob asked.
"Yeah, he did….wait how did you know Mark's been giving me trouble?" Hope asked in response. She was speechless.
"I'm your big brother I know all." Rob replied, with a smile.
"No, seriously, how did you know?" Hope asked, staring at him.
"Dad told me. Well actually, I asked. You didn't seriously expect me to believe that you got that black eye, and those nasty bruises from falling out of bed, did you?" Rob responded.
"Guess not." Hope said.
"Now did he start on you again, because if he did as soon as I'm out of this hospital he's going to hear it from me." Rob stated.
"Well, he did. I kind of handled it though." Hope said, still thinking about what had happened.
"Really? Is my little Hopie, finally learning to fight?" Rob joked.
"Rigggght….and who would teach me to fight besides you?" Hope asked.
"Good point. I'm the ONLY one capable of teaching my baby sister to fight." Rob stated.
"Anyway, how are you feeling?" Hope asked, finally taking a good look at her brother. The chemo had really done a number on him. He had lost his curly, chestnut hair because of it. He also looked emaciated. He looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He probably hadn't, being hope knew the chemo made him sick more often than not. Rob did not look like the brother in all the pictures, and the brother in all her memories. That Rob was gone the second the cancer returned. He may act the same, but he looked like a completely different person. Sometimes, it scared Hope.
"Do you want the truth, or a lie?" Rob asked, even as sick as he was, he loved to joke around.
"Come on Rob, seriously, how do you feel?" Hope asked.
"Like hell, the chemo isn't working. They said if the chemo doesn't start to work, my only hope may be a bone marrow transplant." Rob told Hope, honestly.
"Great! This day just keeps getting better." Hope groaned.
"Hope, please don't worry. It'll be okay. I'm confident, so you have to be too." Rob said.
"How!?!? Rob, how can you be so confident that everything will be okay! You don't know that! You have cancer. There's NO cure for cancer! There's nothing. If the chemo doesn't work, and they do the transplant they need a donor. What if they can't find a match? Rob, there's a lot of scenarios here! This is serious, and could be bad. How can you be confident! Not everything turns out okay! You're sitting here trying to tell me that, yet you look like death! I'm hallucinating, thinking I can fly…and everything in my life is going down the tubes!" Hope responded, pacing the room.
"Hope, calm down please! You're not helping. I'm not going to yell. I'm not going to fight. If you want to be a pessimist here go ahead. I'm going to stay optimistic. That's all I have Hope. I have to believe that everything will be okay. If I don't believe it, how can it even possibly happen? If I need a transplant they'll find a match. Your life isn't going down the tubes. Hope, everything will be fine. I'm telling you." Rob stated.
"Rob, I'm scared. I can't lose you. I need you now more than ever. I think there's something seriously wrong with me." Hope cried, standing up and hugging her brother tightly. She began to cry.
"Hopie, come on sis, don't cry. I'm not going anywhere. At least not without a fight. Please don't cry. There's nothing wrong with you. If anything you're the normal one in our family. Mom and Dad don't visit, they haven't even told Monica my cancer came back. I doubt they told Jimmy he's so young, but they should still be here. Not just when a doctor calls, and tells them their needed, but they should want to be here as you do." Rob said, as he rubbed Hope's back trying to calm her down.
"Rob, that's not why I say there's something wrong with me." Hope stated, pulling away from the hug.
"Then what is it?" Rob asked, looking at Hope curiously.
"Please, don't freak out. Promise me right now." Hope ordered, as she walked over and closed the door to the room.
"I promise I won't freak out. Now tell me before I break that promise." Rob stated.
"Rob, I flew today. I don't mean by plane. I mean physically, I flew." Hope told her brother.
"Wait, what?" Rob asked, not comprehending what she was trying to tell him.
"I flew. Mark and his friends knocked me over. I was certain I was going to feel them kicking me any second, but Rob, when I opened my eyes I was in the air above them and they were staring at me afraid. I don't know how it happened, but it did." Hope stated.
"Oh god, Hope. You can't tell anyone else about this, please. There have been reports like this on the news. The whole country is afraid of these so called mutants. People, like you, but most of them are a little older. They have powers. Many different powers, some can read minds, others can walk through walls. The powers are all so different. Most of the time, these so called mutants don't even know they have these powers until their late teens, or until something traumatic happens to them. The world fears what they don't understand and they definitely fear this. So please, Hopie, keep this quiet. I don't want to see you get hurt. From the news reports it seems like the government is practically hunting for mutants. They want to know who they are, and to alert people. They feel mutants are a threat." Rob said, pulling his sister in for another hug.
"I will. I promise. I won't tell anyone. Rob, it scares me. I don't know how to control it. I didn't even know what I was doing! I couldn't land, that's how I got the cut, plus I ripped my favorite jeans. I hit the ground hard because I didn't know how to land. I didn't even know how to control where I was flying either." Hope told him, burrowing against his shoulder.
"It's okay. We'll figure this out together. I promise. I won't let you go through this alone, if there's a way I can help, I will." Rob stated, smiling down at his baby sister. He knew she wasn't a baby anymore, but to him she would always be his baby sister. After all, she was five years younger than him.