Afflictions

Introduction:

Being me means I am my affliction. Strange yes, but when you've known me as long as I have, it makes sense: I'm not entirely human. None of the six of us are. There's me (Shadow), I'm seventeen, Rikka, who's also seventeen, Angel, who's sixteen, Gage and Shea (fifteen and fourteen, respectively, and the only blood siblings among us) and Tip, who's thirteen. We're something more. This is our story, our nightmare.

Chapter 1:

I woke up to bright sunlight streaming through the gaps in the Venetian blinds covering my window. Rolling over away from the light, I buried my face in my pillow trying to get back to sleep. I couldn't. I sighed, and pushed myself up into a sitting position. Sliding off the bed, I was dressed only in a pair of loose blue jeans. Picking up a shirt on the way out, I headed for the bathroom. Inside, I turned on the light. Turning on the cold water, I splashed some on my face then dried it with a towel from the rack.

Hey, Angel finally got around to doing laundry, I thought wryly as I glanced at my reflection in the mirror.

Brushing several strands of black hair out of my eyes, I slipped the dark t-shirt over my head, and headed downstairs. Shivering slightly as my bare feet touched the cold wood floor at the bottom of the stairs, I made my way into the kitchen. Everything was quiet. Listening for a moment, I concluded that I was the first one up. Opening the fridge, I stared inside for a second, wondering what it was I was looking for. We were running low on food again, and neither Angel, I or any of the others had had the chance to do the grocery shopping lately. I sighed, pulling what was left of a carton of eggs out, and setting it on the counter next to the stove. Delving into the bottom crisper drawer, I retrieved a package of shredded cheese and tossed it over with the eggs. Firing up a burner on the stove, I got out a frying pan and set it to heat over the flame. Reaching for the eggs, I broke them on the edge of the pan, watching them sizzle and pop. After a few minutes, I added the cheese and started scrambling. Suddenly, I felt a new presence in the room.

"What, not making any for me?" a voice from behind me asked coolly. I turned to see Rikka standing there, watching me with mild interest in her dark eyes. She was dressed in her usual simple black, her straight black hair coming to halfway between her jaw line and shoulders.

"You weren't here to put in a request, so I guess not." I replied off-handedly. She shot me a look and began sifting through the fridge. Unsuccessfully completing her search of the fridge, she moved to the pantry, pulling out and opening a can of ravioli. Meanwhile, I sat down at the large oak table and dug into my eggs. "Went hunting last night, I take it?" I asked, looking up from my food. I could tell; she was always calmer, more relaxed after she'd been hunting. Rikka's response was a single word:

"Yeah."

Of course, 'hunting' was a milder term for what she did. All of us had exceptional combat skills, thanks to the training (particularly in Russian Systema) we had received back at the Lab, as well as from Matt, but Rikka seemed to feel the need to exercise those skills whenever something was on her mind or when she was in a bad mood, thus, the hunting. From what I'd seen first-hand, 'hunting' involved shadowing and cornering low-lives, or really anyone for that matter, and killing them as gruesomely and sadistically as was satisfying. Sick, I know, but that was Rikka for you. Finishing the rest of the meal in silence, I went back upstairs to wake up the others.

At the top of the stairs, I stopped in the doorway to Gage's room, just looking in for a second to see of he was awake. He wasn't. Picking up a shoe fro m the numerous piles of clothes and other stuff littered about the floor, I tossed it at him. He groaned, rolling over to see what had hit him.

"What was that for?" he asked sleepily, shaking his over-long blond hair out of his eyes.

"'Cause I wanted to… and it's time to wake up. And wake up Shea for me will you?" I said, already heading down the hall to Angel's room. I received a muttered swear word as I left. I smiled to myself. Outside the door to Angel's room, I stopped, knocking three times. "Ange? You awake?" I asked through the door. No answer. Opening the door, I stuck my head inside. "Ange?" I inquired again, quietly. There was a movement under the blankets as she came back to consciousness. Raising her head off the pillow a few inches, she looked at me silently with her emerald green eyes, her long auburn hair hanging in wisps around her face. "You up?" I asked. Angel just sighed and nodded, shifting into a sitting position. "Good." I left.

The door to Tip's room was open. I knocked on the doorjamb. Looking around the jamb, I saw him sitting at his desk, fully dressed, working with something, surrounded by bits of electronics and other stuff. "What are you doing up so early?" I asked suspiciously. I knew for a fact that Tip only got up before ten in the morning if someone woke him up or he was working on some major project of his. I guessed it was a project. Tip swiveled in the office chair to face me.

"Oh, hey. 'Morning." He glanced back at whatever it was he was working on. "Uh… yeah…"

"Hey, wait a minute… Is that part of the stereo?" I asked incredulously, spotting something among the junk that littered the desktop, not entirely wanting to know the answer.

"Uh… yeah…" He tried to look innocent. "But it's the old one from Matt's office."

"Oh, ok, good… 'Cause if it was the stereo, I'd have to kill you and put your remains through the coffee maker." I told him jokingly. Tip grinned at me.

"How pleasant…"

"Yeah… C'mon. Have some breakfast, join the rest of us." I suggested lightly, messing up his short, spiky brown hair. He slid off the chair, still smoothing his hair, and followed me back downstairs. I loved that kid. He was like a little brother to me.

.:X:.

Back in the kitchen, everyone had finally gathered for the day. Gage, Shea, Angel and Tip sat at the breakfast table, while I leaned against the pantry door, my arms folded across my chest. Rikka was sitting on the counter next to the stove, playing with a small pairing knife.

"So…" Shea asked, looking up at me, "We got any plans for today?" I cast a sidelong glance at Rikka. She looked back in my direction but didn't say anything.

"Well, as you might have noticed, we're kinda running low on food, so we're gonna have to make a trip to the grocery store sometime today, preferably earlier rather than later…" I said. "Anyone wanna come with me?"

"I'll go." Tip volunteered.

"Me too." Shea agreed.

Angel spoke up, "Why don't we all go?" she commented. I nodded.

"Alright. We'll all go." I concluded. "Everybody be ready in ten?"

.:X:.

Ten minutes later we all met back up on the front porch, ready to go.

"We all here?" I asked, looking at the others. "Good. Let's get going…" Sprinting a few yards, I unfurled my black wings to their full fourteen foot span, and launched myself into the air, quickly followed by Rikka and the others. It was only a short flight into town, so we soon touched down in an empty lot behind the drug store next to the super-market. Furling my wings away, I watched Rikka land gracefully beside me, when a jingling from inside her jacket caught my attention. "You brought the knives with you, didn't you?" I asked, slightly exasperated. She looked at me, but just started walking around the side of the building. I shook my head. Rikka had a strange fascination with knives, guns and various other killing implements, but we had all come to accept that by now. It did come in handy sometimes though.

She brought the knives… What the hell am I gonna do with her…? Sighing, I followed her and the others around the building and into the store.

Walking in through the automatic doors, I looked around at the various isles and sections, wondering where to start. "Right… We split into pairs. Shea? You and Angel take meats and bread. Rikka? You and Gage get vegetables and produce. Tip and I'll get breakfast foods and whatever else." I told them, reading the signs over the rows. With that, we split up to get the assigned foods.

Wandering through the frozen food section, Tip and I picked up whatever seemed good at the time, tossing it into the cart as we went. Just as we finished up on our part, Rikka and Gage showed up. Gage was looking over his shoulder as he turned the corner onto the frozen isle. Rikka was expressionless, but her hands were in her pockets. Never a good sign…

What now…? I wondered as the two approached.

"We've got a problem." Rikka said quietly, as she came to stand next to me.

"Human?" I asked, concerned.

"Eraser." she replied simply.

"Shit. Not again…"