Chapter 1
*Slam*
"Mum, Dad, I'm home!" jack said to the silence that followed, dumping his bag by the front door and heading into the living room. He switched on the TV and slumped onto the sofa, just as his father called from the kitchen "Jack I hope you haven't left your bag by the door again."
"Sorry Dad." Jack replied getting up off the sofa and slowly started over to where he left his bag.
Deal with your bag and then tidy your room, or you won't go to the youth centre, you know the deal." Jack had just got to the door and was about to pick it up when the door opened and in came jacks mother.
"Oh, hello Jack sweetie, are you home early?" his mother queried with a mixed expression of concern and confusion.
"No, he's not. You're THREE HOUR LATE!" came his father's voice again from the kitchen, but this time it sounded angry. Jacks mother hurried into the kitchen calling behind her
"Go upstairs, jack honey." Jack scurried up the stairs as fast as he could, hoping in vain to escape the torrent of arguing voices that he knew was inevitable. Sure enough, they came.
"WHO IS IT" came the first raised voice, cutting though the ominous silence like a knife "WHO HAVE YOU BEEN SEEING"?
Somehow jack had known this was coming. His mum had been rather detached from the family, both he and his father had noticed. As both voices continued raised, Jack felt the familiar feeling of a volcano about to explode. It had never gotten this bad before though. He felt like he actually would explode. Suddenly he felt a surge of power coming right up from his stomach, coursing through his veins, traveling around his body, pumping with his blood. He felt strong as the rush of power reached his head, finally filling him up.
"STOP LYING TO ME" Jack's Dad shouted, cutting away at his last ounces of endurance. This is it, I'm going to explode! Jack thought just before a rush of anger overtook his thoughts. Not quite knowing why He embraced the anger and shouted at the top of his lungs…
"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!"
Jack's voice seemed amplified, as if bouncing off the walls, leaving nothing but silence in its wake. He took that moment in, listening intently for the raised voices that were present just moment before. He was listening so intently that he almost didn't notice the floor rushing up to meet his face. Almost.
"I've found someone!"
Jack awoke, hearing the familiar voice of the local police officer Andrews and instantly feared the worst.
"I know him; it's their son, jack."
Jack sat up too quickly and instantly regretted it as he felt a rush of nausea go straight to his head. He lifted his hand to his head to try and counter act his light headedness. It was surprisingly wet and he brought his hand back round to his face and saw it was red. By the time he realised it was blood, he had already passed out.
He came to again in a strange room. The walls were half white and half blue and there were machines doing many different jobs arranged orderly around the room. Taking his blood pressure, his heart rate, his pulse. He sat up slowly and realised he was in the hospital. Then he saw the police outside. Just as he was trying to make sense of the situation, the door opened and in came police officer Andrews.
"Hi, Jack sweetheart. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"What's going on? Where are mum and dad?" the questions came flying out of Jack's mouth in an almost an incoherent blur.
"Hey, hey slow down" said wpc Andrews, "well you've been here for two weeks bec- "
"Two weeks!" Jack exclaimed "what happened?"
"We're not really sure, we were hoping you could tell us" wpc Andrews concluded. "Anyway, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. When we found you, you were unconscious. We came round because we had your neighbours were concerned after hearing loud noises, screaming and an abrupt silence. We came in because no-one answered and, well, there is no way to break this to you but, Jack your parents are dead, probably murdered. Jack took a minute, trying to take it in and failing miserably. Mum. Dad. Dead? " No. Jack thought. It can't be. Any second now they'll jump from behind the curtain yelling fooled you. Jack waited. Seconds passed. A minute. Two minutes. Three.
"Jack love, are you ok?" wpc Andrews asked. Her voice sounded concerned.
"How, what. Who?" jack said, His eyes leaking.
"We don't know. As I said, we were hoping you could tell us that. We came in and they were lying on the floor with their jugulars crushed, as if they had both been strangled. The strange thing was, there wasn't a mark on them. There were no signs of a forced entry so it was probably someone you knew. If you can think of anything that could help the case, call me on this number." She handed jack a card with her number, address and name on.
Karma Andrews. Jack thought as he read the card. That's why she became an officer of the law. Karma smiled at his expression
"What goes around comes around, and I normally make it happen." She told jack. "We will find the scum that did this, I promise you. In the meantime, we have to work out where you're going to stay." She finished.
"My aunt Cora lives in Sheffield." Jack said weakly, still shocked.
Sheffield to Luton. How long will that take.
"It took her four hours last time." Jack informed her.
Karma Andrews jumped as Jack answered the question that had been whizzing around her head.
"What." Jack said, confused. "I was only answering your question."
"I didn't say anything." She said. An awkward silence followed. "Um, they died at around five o'clock. Ten minutes, give or take, before we got there, if that helps. Their voice boxes were paralysed before they were killed, for about an hour and a half." She finished. "I'll ring your aunt and tell her about the situation." Karma said before turning to leave.
"You never told me why I'm here." Jack said.
"You smashed your head open on a cabinet." Karma said before she turned around and left the room.
Jack was confused. When he passed out, he had fallen forwards, not backwards. And the time difference. He was out almost an hour and a half before the police came. And his parents died ten minutes before the police came in. he remembered the power surge, his voice reverberating off the walls and the silence that followed. There was only one thing he was sure of. He was the one that paralysed his parent's voice boxes, preventing them from screaming. Could that mean he had power? Then another thought stirred, rearing its ugly head. He had been in the house when the murderer had come, and the murderer had left him. Alive. Moved him from the position he had fallen. What if his parents were just casualties and the murderer had really wanted him. Jack gulped. Now he was scared.