A/N: Hey y'all! So I think this one is a little bit tamer, but I might've cried while writing it. I've decided that while it is pretty hard to get too much of Super 8, being able to quote entire sections to friends might be a bit much. Especially when these friends already think you're already some sort of dancing monkey. So enjoy and review. Love to the editor from the stars, this never would have ended out as good as it did if it weren't for her. Plus I have a cover now! :D Peace!

Disclaimer: Don't own Super 8, I'm pretty sure that honor belongs to J.J Abrams (Please put in comments whether I'm right or an idiot, I'd appreciate it(:)


Because of course his friends know. How can they not? Every time Joe would wake up cold at a sleepover to find Cary hogging the blankets... and floating feet above his head. Or when Preston's mother insulted Cary's mom within earshot and her oven caught fire. He was blamed, naturally, until they couldn't find any evidence that he did start it. Preston still knows that it was Cary, just as Martin knows it was him that broke the mirror when Martin scared him. They all know. And they are all scared for Cary. That kind of ability isn't useful in a place like Lillian. In a town where nobody likes different, Cary already has too much attention. If anybody finds out, his friends worry, Cary won't be around long enough to say goodbye. If anybody finds out… Cary will die. They know this the same way they know about Cary's gift. It's just a given, a terrifying reality.

So they all protect him, lie away the accidents that happen around him, and they marvel him, because it really is a wondrous ability. How he came by it... they have their suspicions, but for now they will worry, because Cary's gotten himself in trouble. Big trouble. And for once they can't lie it away to their parents or the staff. It seems that Lillian will know before it's ready….

Alice thinks it's their fault; they should do something! Anything! She can only watch because of the hand in hers once Cary starts coughing blood up. It's horrifying, she can see Martin hiding tears with his sleeve across the crowd. Charles has his eyes closed and Preston looks frozen. In shock, most likely. Joe won't let go of her hand, and it's really starting to hurt, but none of them do anything. They could face a train wreck and an alien, but give them a bully and what do they do? Nothing. Alice feels physically sick with disgust at herself. And then she sees the glowing. They all react at once, screaming, "CARY! NO!" Before the light hits, her last thought is, I should've stood up.

Joe can't breathe, his vision narrows and he feels sick. Cary's bleeding, he's crying, he's in pain! And no matter how much he wants to, how much it hurts him not to, Joe won't help. He can't, not with Alice gripping his hand, not with Charles warning him with his eyes, not when, if they get involved, so will Brett's friends. His stomach twists with every kick, with every groan that comes out of Cary. Just as his eyes become uncomfortable and he has to blink, Cary starts to glow, pupils growing over irises until no sky blue was left. Joe closes his eyes, his feeling of trepidation and guilt multiplying with every pulse he could almost sense of Cary's power. Tensing he shouts, "CARY! NO!" Just as it washes over him… Joe thinks, I could've helped.

Charles can't get rid of the guilt. The guilt that plagues him because it's his fault any of this is happening. He's the one that set Brett against Cary years before in the locker room after a game, telling a secret that wasn't his to tell, revealing information that would lead up to this day and the terrifying ending it will have. But his mind, a very desperate part of his mind, tries to tell him, it's not all your fault. Brett was popular and he pressured you. Cary, being the smartass he is, already pissed Brett off; you didn't set him against the blonde. Plus, the darkest corner of Charles's mind adds, maybe Cary deserves this. Maybe he has since you saw him kiss your cousin. Your extremely male cousin. Maybe because no matter how hard he tries to hide himself, you know – all of you know: He is gay. He is all the derogatory terms Brett spits at him like poison. Charles puts this thought away, stores it in the locked box it escaped from. He won't blame anybody but himself this time around, because Cary already has enough problems. Looking at Cary's blood, getting smeared by his hands and Brett's feet, brought tears he would always deny, emotions that he'd never reveal. Shouting at Cary "CARY! NO!" and watching the world go gold as it blurred… If only I was stronger…

Martin is crying. He isn't ashamed, not this time around. No one is calling him Smartin or telling him to get control of his emotions and be a man, because only Cary does that, and right at this moment Martin is watching him die. He's sure Cary is dying; people who aren't dying don't bleed like that. But, then again, the only reason he does well in biology is because Cary teaches him. Martin wipes his eyes, he can hear the track team behind him cheering, but he is too scared to face them. Out of all of them, he is the one that stuck with Cary the longest at school. It was Cary's idea for Martin to join track, to help him get used to his leg again. As soon as the team accepted him, he abandoned Cary. Everyone abandoned Cary.

When Cary ducks, Martin feels the air in his lungs leave him. He takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes and then closing them, not wanting see Cary's blonde hair tipped red anymore. But instead he's seeing broken blue eyes tinged with pain and desperation in the darkness of his mind. As the world started to vibrate, Martin sniffs, he can hear the rest of the gang yelling but he just can't. Not after what they all did to Cary, leaving him, talking about him, ignoring him. Martin knows he deserves what comes next, and he welcomes the blackness with one last thought: I should've been better…

Preston doesn't understand how his friends didn't see this one coming. Cary is different; the town doesn't like different. Cary is careless; he was bound to cause trouble. It really should've been expected; honestly, it's the only possibility he can see. He tried to warn Cary, tried to warn them all, but they ignored him. Preston sees another kick land in Cary's stomach, hears the groan that escapes Cary's mouth and shudders. Preston wishes now more than ever, seeing Cary on the ground like this, that they listened to him. He's the one that knows the numbers, but the gang never looked at him the same after The Visitor. Whenever he spoke up about it, they told him he was overreacting, that he was a wimp. And maybe he was, but they always forgot that he's the smartest, not Joe or Charles or even Alice. He's the one who can remember pi past 3.14, but what does that matter when everyone else had an adventure and saved the town?

And now, look where not listening led all of them: watching Cary get hurt without the ability to do anything. The funny thing is, instead of feeling like saying "I told you so," all he feels like doing is crying… Preston isn't one to let a moment to prove himself right go by, but it feels wrong to do so now, when Cary is being hurt right before his very eyes. When Cary ducks his head down and Brett raises his foot to land one more blow - this one most likely going to break Cary's already cracked ribs (he's been keeping track) – Preston doesn't need to see any glow or feel any vibration to know what's going to happen next, it's obvious. Opening his mouth and letting out a yell, most likely forming the words "CARY! NO!" Preston starts to black out. It's his body reacting to the... whatever it is… coming out of Cary's body. His last thought before darkness completely overwhelms him is, I wish I was wrong…

As the energy forces itself out of Cary's body, he slumps to the floor. Opening his eyes, he watches the destruction that it... no… he, is causing: bodies are crumbling before flying backwards, metal is turning in on itself, the papers closest to him are ripping as they fly, glass is breaking. Cary watches this happen with half-lidded eyes as pain consumes his body. It's like his brain is being ripped to pieces as the rest of him is being sewn back together. When it becomes too much, he closes his eyes, slipping slowly into the peaceful darkness…