Josh grinned as he dashed up his driveway. He couldn't wait to get into the safety of his room, the obscurity of the closed doors, to test his ability. He was special, so special. "Mom! I'm home!" If he wasn't so preoccupied with getting to his bedroom, Joshua probably would've noticed his mother was washing the dishes, which was his chore for the week. The door was slammed shut; he happily hopped in his computer chair. His hand rested on the top of the desk. Something strange suddenly happened. As if the desktop were the surface of water, Joshua's hand sunk in, only to emerge from the ceiling. He was waving at himself.
"Bravo." A dry, emotionless voice seemed to echo through the tiny bedroom. Josh jumped, then turned around, only to find a spiky haired man, dressed in black, reclining on the headboard.
"Wh- Who are you?" The eight year old tensed up, and trying to look intimidating, sucked in air and puffed his chest out. "What are you doing here!? How did you get here!?" The last question was actually valid. And apparently a good one, since it was the first one Spiky Hair answered.
"Oh. I've been here the whole time, Joshua," he smirked, rising from the bed and strolling over to the closet. As if only to spend some time, he casually ruffled through the toy box.
"Y-you're lying! I checked my room to-"
"Make sure no one saw you use your… special talents? You're not the only one who's special." Spiky Hair moved from the closet and slowly sauntered toward Joshua, taking his time, his eyes darting from wall to wall, certificate to certificate, trophy to trophy. "I hid myself using my ability to control light particles- Oh, I bet this is all going over your head. I can make illusions." His hand drifted toward Joshua's throat. The child was lifted two feet off the ground, eye level with the stranger.
"Mom!!"
"No use screaming, Joshua. Your mother is dead."
"N-no!! She was in the kitchen!"
"An illusion," Spiky Hair sneered. "I had to… open her up. Sometimes, having power runs in the family. But apparently not. Your mother was broken." His grip tightened, shutting Joshua's air supply down. Up drifted the stranger's left hand- he was pointing at the boy's forehead. "How rude of me. I didn't answer your other questions. My name is Sylar. And I'm here for your power."
Suddenly, a sharp pain drilled into Joshua's skull. Blood slowly trickled into his eye. He begged for his life.
"Sorry, Josh," Sylar grinned. "It's an evolutionary imperative."