Unique
Chapter 1 - Peter
As I've walked into the bathroom with my noisy flowery high heels and watched myself (with my curly dark hair over my long weaved gray coat) in the mirror, I've felt something was about to happen. I've been anxious and distracted for weeks and it felt like what has been disturbing me was finally going to take place. But instead of been more nervous, I was just calm and ready.
And that's how it always happens to me: I usually get anxious and distracted for days, sometimes weeks, and then suddenly it all goes away. And I can tell precisely the moment it happens, because I start to feel safe and at ease, and this time the moment was when I was crossing the bathroom on the mall.
So, just like all the other times, my sixth sense was mistaking, and nothing happened at the bathroom. I've got my car on the parking lot and left the mall normally. A light rain was pouring down softly and I wasn't too far from home when I've made a curve a little too fast.
The car slipped a little on the road but somehow I knew I'd be able to control it and I did. I guess I should have been nervous or something like that about it, but I wasn't. My peace of mind was back and until I get my anxiety issues back (and they would be back soon because they never stayed away longer than 3 or 4 months) few things on earth could really disturb me.
It wasn't very late when I got home and stepped out of the car to open the gate, but my parents must have been already sleeping because I couldn't see any light on. I didn't want to, but I've envied them a little - during my anxiety crisis (as I call them) it's really hard for me to get any sleep (when I do, I simply pass out of exhaustion into a troubled sleep without dreams) and even now that my anxiety was out I'd probably suffer at least two more nights of insomnia.
Anyway, now that I'm 23 years old, I can just spend my sleepless nights happily on internet, but when I was a bad-graded teenager, my parents used to make things a lot harder. And this is a top item on my 'Good Things About Getting Old' list.
When I was just getting back to my car after opening the gate, I've felt a pressure on my chest, suddenly breathing became something very hard for me to do. And that's surely a bad sign. There were times I've spent days unable to breath properly and I usually get a seriously bad mood when it happens. And what I mean is people get scared of getting near me when I'm like that. I've been told, it looks like I'll blow people heads off with a single look, and I suppose they're not lying.
When I've finally reached the car and grabbed the car handled, I've heard a voice whispering my name in my head. And that's something new, even for me. I've been half-crazy for my whole life, but I've never heard voices before. Not sober, at least.
- Sophie! - the male voice said again and this time I was pretty sure it wasn't in my head – I need you to call me in. Just call my name, please.
- But I don't... - I've started to say and I've realized somehow I knew what name I was supposed to call – Peter. - I've said and reached my left hand ahead waiting for his like it had happened many times before.
In the next moment, he was in front of me, with his bruised right hand laid on mine. He was a lot taller than me and looked very pale. His hair was short and a bit lighter than mine and his dark grayish green eyes, just like the ocean after a storm (because where I live, the ocean is usually emerald green), looked very tired and beaten up with black circles around them.
But unfortunately he wasn't the only guest that showed up on my sidewalk. We were surrounded by huge hooded man-like creatures. They were even bigger than Peter and I'd put him on my 'Very Large Man' list (yeah, I've got lists to almost everything and my psychiatrist is aware of that). Anyway, the eight things around my car were completely covered by black cloaks and I could recognize their heads, shoulders and arms under the dark blur fabric, but somehow I knew they were not humans.
- Just like you called me, send them away. - said Peter calmly and still holding my hand.
I turned my head and stared at him for a while. Again, when I was about to say I didn't know how to do that, I suddenly realized what I was suppose to do. So I pressed my eyes closed and whispered:
- Go away.
And when I opened back my eyes, the cloak guys were vanished.
- Now we should move, just to be sure they won't come back soon.
- What? - I asked.
- Just get in the car and drive, please.
I've stared at him for a while. He looked back patiently until I finally let go of his hand. We've got in the car and we both fastened our seat belts.
- So, who are you and why it feels like we've done all this before? - I asked as I drived away from my house.
- I'm Peter, and I'm your Keeper. And we've done this a few times before, we even had this useless conversation before, too.
- My keeper? What the hell that's suppose to mean? And why I can't remember the other times we had this useless conversation?
- Well, I'm your keeper because I'm supposed to keep you safe and keep you in this universe. And you can't remember having this conversation before, because this was not suppose to happen. You should never see me, and I've got to erase that memory from you every time this happens, and that's why this conversation is useless, because you won't remember it.
- It's getting better and better. Why I shouldn't see you?
- That's the rule, a unique should never be aware of her keeper existence.
- And who made the rule?
- The council.
- Great. I won't even bother to ask who the hell the council is. Let's try another question, like why do you have to keep me safe?
- Because your father has chosen me.
- My father? And that's not the one who's sleeping at my house right now?
- Your other father.
- Dammit, I've suspected you'd say that. So, what? Am I a half-blood or something like that?
- No, you're not half-blood. If you were you'd have a sad job like mine.
- What? Why sad job?
- You're a unique and it is a half-blood task to keep a unique safe in her universe.
- All right, I didn't get anything you said. Could you explain what's a unique and what's a half-blood, in few easy words, please?
- Let's say there are several known parallel universes and every person has at least one pair in some other universe, but not you. You're unique. There's only one of you in the whole amount of universes and that makes you extremely powerful. We all are made of energy, and the same amount of energy that is divided among me and my pairs in other universes is concentrated on you.
- Powerful, me? That's unlikely. Anyway, are there other uniques, then?
- Yes, there are others like you. I don't know how many, but I don't think there are many of uniques left.
- And why do you have to keep me in this universe?
- A unique with some practice can do almost everything and that caused a lot of trouble in the past. So it was decided a unique must be kept away from her original universe, that's the way the council found to diminish your power. They've invented a device that attaches you to this universe and keeps you here. As long a half-blood is someone whose parents are from different universes, they can easily travel from two universes, so they're the only ones who could keep an eye on a banished unique.
- But why banish me? Why they don't kill me when they get the chance?
- Two reason: first your father is a very important man in the council, second after a unique has control of all her powers, only another unique can kill her. So it's a smart move keeping a unique handy just in case.
- All right, all of it is too much insanity even for me.
Before I could say anything else I saw a dark shadow spreading over the street in front of us. I've slowed the car down and realized it was a wave of cloaked creatures just like the ones I've seen in front of my house.
- Now what? - I asked calmly.
I knew I should be worried, but strangely just being around Peter soothed me.
- I've never seen so many of them before.
- Awesome.