Irony
Meredith Gordon
The older woman took a drag from her cigarette. Across from her sat a beautiful young blonde girl. The two sat in silence, neither being able to express their thoughts. She looked at her daughter, wondering what she would think of her home which was no doubt horrible compared to the house she had been raised in. Meanwhile, the same girl was wondering if she could find some shred of the past, some truth to break the web of lies which surrounded her for as long as she could remember.
Finally Claire broke the silence. "Is there anything special about you or my father? Any kind of medical problems or something I should be worried about?" Instantly her mother's face tightened. Her mind raced with thoughts of fourteen years ago, to the fire which had separated mother and daughter.
"How did you survive?"
The question took the girl off-guard. She had expected some kind of list of diseases and illnesses, as Hank and Lisa had given when her father used them to simulate her real parents, or some sort of list of slight problems. The last thing she expected was a question that took her right to the heart of her visit. "I…" The words could barely come out. The fear of rejection due to her powers overwhelmed her. What if her mother had no powers, and thought her a freak? There would be no way to know anything was real.
Finally the woman gathered the words the girl could not. "What can you do?" In that moment, both understood that the other had a gift, and that they were not really alone in the world. "I heal."
Rather than explain, Meredith merely lit her hand on fire. Extinguishing the flame, she asked, "Anything else you want to know about? Your family will probably start to worry about you." Whatever she had been expecting, the fierce look that crossed Claire's eyes took her by surprise. "Who was my real father?"
That question was the one she had hoped would not be asked, but she had known she would have wondered. "I didn't really know him for very long. A few years before you were born, I was contacted by an organization looking for people like us. Those damn government people. When I started out, I could only make things a little warmer. Once they got to me, they taught me how to light my hand on fire. The man they 'assigned' to watch me and train me was your father."
A wrenching feeling in Claire's gut came then, tearing at her mind. "What was his name?"
"His name was Matthew. That's all he could tell me according to his bosses." Her words faded away as Claire took in the truth at last.
The man who had raised her as his own daughter was named Matt. And he was her real father.