A/N: So, it's Christmas Eve (in the story). (for Christmas I actually got 6 Beatles things!) And November was Sexy Sadie's (and my FanFiction membership's) one year anniversary! And last chapter was posted last holidays and now I'm on school holidays for like 2 months and I just finished Year 11 at the end of November! I should have so much time to write now (but I'll procrastinate). I've said this before, but I spend way more time writing future bits than current bits (because it's more interesting!). Anyway…
Chapter 28 – Do You Want To Know a Secret
So this is Christmas… and what have we done? Another year over, and a new one's just begun. And so happy Christmas, I hope you have fun. The near and the dear ones, the old and the young.
Okay, I couldn't help myself. I've been playing the song practically non-stop now for like a week, as well as some other awesome ones such as Wonderful Christmas Time, Merry Christmas Everybody and Do They Know It's Christmas? Oh, by the way, it's Christmas Eve. I'm at the airport with my parents. Pretty soon we'll be on a plane to Melbourne to visit our family. We moved to Brisbane when I was two, so the rest of our family is still in Melbourne with the odd few in Ballarat. Max wasn't entirely thrilled about me going away for a week. I told him there was this great invention called a telephone. I think mainly he was just worried about me. Our powers have been… developing recently, you could say. We now know how to pick out people by their individual distinctive scent. It's very, very difficult to describe each person's scent – but they are easily recognisable by it. People are going to have trouble hiding from me or sneaking up on me now – I can smell them. It's like we're animals or something. We jokingly call ourselves werewolves, due to our monthly 'problem' and our incredible senses. Luckily we don't have that particular hairy problem. Just awesome powers.
Anyway, I think Max is worried about me becoming overwhelmed with everyone's scents. There's going to be about twenty-thirty family members at my grandparents' house for Christmas Day lunch. But I told Max that I endure many scents whenever I go out in public anyway – more than twenty or thirty at once. And when we go back to school next year… I'll be bombarded with them. But I'll survive. I think Max struggles a bit. This whole power thing hasn't been as kind on him as it has been on me. Like when we first got our powers – he was injured and weak when I felt just fine, despite me having more exposure to the moon light. And he has a greater difficulty controlling his powers with his emotions. Like in the last week of school he was so nervous about one of his exams that he accidentally made lightning strike a tree. My powers aren't so independent. They are not affected by my emotions as much as they are for Max. Also, Max has a higher difficulty in identifying certain tastes and smells. I don't know what makes me better at it… ugh, I don't want to say better…
"Sadie?" Mum got my attention as we sat at our gate.
"Hmm?" I hummed, coming out of my reverie.
"I said, are you thinking about Max?"
"What gives you that impression?" I snapped back.
"You always have that look on your face when you're thinking about him. You love him, don't you?"
I was caught off-guard by her fast-paced question. The truth was, I didn't know.
"I don't know…" I sighed, "I feel like I should, but I told Max from the start that we can't love each other yet, that things were going too fast. True love doesn't happen on the spot. We needed time to get to know each other first, before we can say that we are in love. But, you know, it's bordering on love. Right now I think it's just infatuation. But we do share something special, we really do. If this doesn't work out, it will be very hard to find someone to match up to him."
Mum just stared at me in awe and amazement.
"What?" I asked self-consciously.
"It's just… you've never opened up to me about Max like that before."
I looked away awkwardly. Maybe I did spill too much.
"Oh, no, it's good honey, it's great! I'm glad you're opening up to me."
Dad, next to Mum, chuckled at our little conversation. At that moment, our flight was called for boarding. We got on the plane and took off, jetting to Melbourne.
Max
"Max, cheer up would ya? Stop being a sook!" Dad shook me playfully by the shoulders.
"Max, it's Christmas Eve!" Mum added, "Can't you be happy?"
"I am happy!" I exclaimed, "What're you all talking about?"
"You're a bit out of it, love," said my Grandma Louise, my Dad's Mum.
"Ugh, how many people are here, exactly?" I asked.
"Only nineteen," Mum replied.
"Nineteen?" I swallowed hard.
"Maxwell, what's the problem?" Dad asked, more serious this time.
"I just don't like big crowds, that's all."
"But it's family. Surely you don't feel uncomfortable around us?"
"No, no, I'm just feeling a bit claustrophobic, that's all."
"Claustrophobic? There's only four of us in this room."
I didn't like their questioning. How could I explain the real reason I was feeling uncomfortable?
"Max, socialise with your family, please!" Mum ordered as she set off into the kitchen.
It was Christmas Eve and we were at my Aunty Lisa and Uncle Steven's house (Aunty Lisa is my Dad's younger sister). They had twin daughters, Hayley and Alannah, who were thirteen. Also here was my Dad's identical twin, David, and his sixteen-year-old son, Thomas and fourteen-year-old daughter, Emily (he was separated from their mother). My Grandma Louise and Grandpa Bill were here also, along with Grandma Louise's brother, Joseph, his wife Anita, their daughter Ellie and her husband Chris and their kids Luke, five, and Sam, three. That added up to nineteen people.
"You heard your mother," Dad said to me, "Go and socialise!"
I stood up and did what I was told. I found Tom and Emily sitting in the lounge room looking bored and I sat down with them.
"Oh, Tom, you really smell!" I immediately grimaced, "Did you put deodorant on this morning?"
"As a matter of fact, no, I didn't," he replied.
"He never bloody puts any on," Emily rolled her eyes.
"So, Maxy…" Tom raised his arm, revealing the horrific stench, "I hear you've got a girlfriend."
"Where'd you hear that?" I quickly asked, becoming self-conscious. I could feel myself turning red.
"I saw it on Facebook. That, and Dad told me."
They both looked at me incredulously.
"What?" I asked.
"Well aren't you going to tell us about her?" he questioned.
"Why?"
"Why? Because you're our cousin, that's why!"
I sighed loudly (or maybe it was just loud to me).
"Her name is Sadie," I started.
"She pretty?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. She's beautiful. She's got brown hair which never seems to know what to do with itself. She has dark chocolaty eyes. She's about my height. She's the biggest Beatles maniac I've ever met."
"Perfect for you!" Tom slapped my arm with the back of his hand. "Aw, how sweet!" Emily commented, "Is that what attracted you to each other?"
"Well, initially. We met because her mum works with my mum and we were invited over to their house for a party."
"Aunty Joan, a wingman?" Tom laughed.
"Well, I don't think they intended it to happen that way. We kinda clicked. We share something special," Tom coughed 'original' at this, "Mum and Dad love her, fortunately."
"Oh, she seems lovely," Emily murmured.
"Seems like a good catch then," Tom commented, followed by a slap from his sister.
"Tom! It sounds lovely, Max. Can't wait to meet her."
Emily always was my favourite cousin.
"What are you lot talking about?" Aunty Lisa came over to us.
"Maxy's girlfriend," Tom was quick to reply loudly.
"Oh, Sadie? She seems lovely," Aunty Lisa smiled, "Your mother's told me all about her. We'd love to meet her sometime."
"Sadie, Max's girlfriend?" Grandma hobbled over, "Lovely girl, so I hear."
"Oh, yes, I saw her on Facebook," Dad's cousin Ellie commented, "She seems like a gorgeous girl."
"You did?" Tom couldn't whip out his phone quick enough. Soon we were all (except me, who sat with my arms crossed and scowling) peering at Tom's phone, trying to get a look at Sadie on my Facebook page. There was one picture on there that was a remnant of the event that changed our lives – a photo of us in David Jones. Tom found it hilarious.
"Were you two camping out in David Jones?" he laughed.
"No," I shyly replied quietly.
"Oh, she's quite pretty," Aunty Lisa commented.
"Aw, you two look so cute together!" said Emily as they looked at a picture of us sitting in Abbey Road Studios, Sadie holding my acoustic guitar, Julia and me holding my bass, Lucy.
"Look, you're both holding instruments, how cute!" Tom sarcastically commented, being his usual obnoxious self.
"Tom," Grandma scolded.
"What's her name again?" he asked.
Everyone who was there (including me) all looked at him and said simultaneously, in annoyed voices, "Sadie!"
"Right, right."
"Where's she for Christmas?" Grandma asked.
"Melbourne," I replied softly, "Her family lives down there. She used to live there until she was two."
For some reason, I was being extremely timid and shy. It made me uncomfortable, them all cooing over Sadie and asking questions. Or maybe it was the real reason I was feeling uncomfortable… having too many scents to deal with.
"When are we going to meet her?" Aunty Lisa asked.
"I don't know," I replied, still quietly, "She might not want to meet you lot."
They all looked at me, slightly offended.
"I kid, I kid," I was quick to assure them.
"Hey, hey, look at this one," Tom was back to looking at pictures of Sadie again. It was one of my favourites of her. She was lying on the grass in my backyard, the same place we had our first kiss. The picture was taken from an angle from behind her head and she was looking upside-down at the camera. She looked extremely beautiful.
"I'd tap that," Tom mused.
That comment tipped me over the edge of uncomfortableness, for at that very moment a loud crack of thunder could be heard.
"Oh, no!" Mum rushed to the back door from the kitchen, with an apron on, to look up at the sky, "We're eating outside! It's not supposed to rain!"
"Does Sadie like the rain?" Tom randomly asked me, "Because she looks like she likes being wet."
I elbowed him very hardly and Aunty Lisa, Ellie, Emily and Grandma all slapped him at the same time whilst he giggled trying to block them.
More thunder could be heard and flashes of lightning could be seen through the windows. It appeared to be very windy outside too. I could be to blame for that.
"Apologise to him, Tom," Grandma ordered. Tom sighed.
"I'm sorry, Max."
He didn't sound too sincere.
"I guess we'll have to eat inside," Grandpa commented from the kitchen, where he was basting the ham.
"No, we don't," I got up and walked over to them in the kitchen, "I'm sure it won't last long."
They all looked at me like I was quite conceited, thinking I knew everything about the weather. Truth was, I actually did.
"You might want to grab the stuff from the tables before they blow away, though."
A few of us rushed outside to grab the stuff. Uncle David yelled at Tom to help. Whilst people were frantically grabbing flyaway serviettes and stray bonbons, I snuck off around the side of the house. I needed to fix this. Leaning against the house, I took some deep breaths to try and calm myself down. It didn't seem to do much, though, and the storm raged on like I'd never tried to stop it. After my failed attempts at calming myself, I tried to control it physically. Raising my hands in the air hesitantly, I tried to focus first on slowing the wind down. After trying hard at that, the wind eventually died down. I next tried getting rid of the lightning bolts, and they reduced somewhat after a while.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw something heart-stopping – Tom was standing there watching me. My head swivelled in a panic towards him.
"You freak!" he looked at me in slight terror.
"Tom, wait!" I lowered my arms in a flash and began to approach him, only for him to start running away. I outstretched my arm, making a hand movement to cause some wind to push him back. My wind was so strong (due to my panicking, no doubt) that it pushed him backwards and he fell over. I crouched next to him, pleading frantically.
"Tom, please, don't be scared, I can explain…" I started.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled, scared.
"I can explain! Just come around the back with me."
I held my hand out to help him up and he hesitantly took it. I pulled him around the side of the house where the was little risk of anyone hearing us.
"Tell me what the fuck that was," Tom said, still shaken up, "It looked like you were… were-."
"Controlling the weather? That's because I was," I told him as his eyes widened.
"How the hell can you do that?"
I sighed, prepared to tell the story.
"You might not believe me, but I fucking hope you do," he looked shocked at my sudden use of swear words, "It was mine and Sadie's first date. We went to the movies – it was night time – and when we came out of the theatre, there was this weird thing… a massively blinding light shone down from the sky, and it bloody hurt, boy did it hurt. We tried to hold on to each other but somehow we lost each other. I made my way into the shopping centre and hid under a table in the food court for the rest of the night. I never saw Sadie come inside. The next morning, Sadie woke up and came inside looking for me. We recounted the events of the night before and realised we were the only people in the whole shopping centre. I was in bad shape, still hurting from the light attacking us, but Sadie seemed to be fine. When we touched each other, there was this pain, like an electric shock. The pain was less and less each time we touched each other until there was no pain at all. Sadie spoke to Dad on the phone and learnt that everyone else was evacuated from the centre and everyone else who was touched by the light… died. We couldn't understand how we survived but they didn't. So we had to live in the shopping centre for a few days, like fugitives. Remember that photo you saw of Sadie and I camping in David Jones? That's where we lived. Eventually we got out. That night I accidentally made it stop raining. The next morning I woke up feeling really weird… but I was pretty much used to it from the days before… and I started seeing and hearing and smelling things I couldn't usually. I could see tiny specks of dust on tables, not visible to the human eye from the distance I was. I thought it was some pretty weird shit but instantly concluded that the light attack had something to do with it – it was the moon, you see – and then discovered I could control weather. Like all aspects of weather. So, all of a sudden I had weather-controlling powers and superhuman senses. I immediately visited Sadie to see what she could do and to show her my power. I made it snow on the carpet and she was shocked. I told her to show me what she could do but she said she didn't have a power. We then discovered she had superhuman senses too, so that must mean she didhave a power – we concluded that the senses just come with all powers. We eventually figured out that she has telekinesis… that means she can move things with her mind. Well, not really with her mind… you see, we aren't really learned in how to use our powers correctly yet, you see, so our minds aren't able to control them on their own yet. It requires some hand movements. Also, our emotions and moods affect our powers. Prime example – before, I was feeling very uncomfortable about the way you were talking about Sadie. Nek Minnit, there's a thunderstorm brewing outside!"
I finished and looked at him expectantly. He looked completely shell-shocked. He was also looking at me like I was crazy.
"Are you kidding me?" he asked.
"No, I made every fine detail up on the spot," I replied sarcastically, "Oh, and… don't tell anyone."
"I wasn't going to."
"Oh, so you believe me?"
"Yeah, I believe you. You just knocked me over with wind! Man, I'm sorry I was making you feel uncomfortable… all those inappropriate comments about Sadie."
"Yeah, man, if she heard you saying those things, I'd be scared. She's used her power in self-defence before… successfully."
"So it's really true? You guys have superpowers as the result of the moon attacking you with its light?"
Hearing him say it sounded very unbelievable. It's a wonder it was true and that he believed me.
"It sounds crazy when you say it like that…" I scratched the back of my head, "Oh, and we are, I guess you could say, 'allergic' to basil. And we kinda get affected on full moons."
"Like you're werewolves or something?"
I laughed shortly, seeing as how Sadie and I jokingly called ourselves werewolves.
"Something like that. Look, Tom, you can't tell anyone. You're the only other person apart from Sadie and I who knows."
"I won't."
I think my eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was actually saying he wouldn't tell anyone? Could I trust him?
"Seriously, Max, I swear I won't tell anyone," he reaffirmed seriously. It felt earnest.
"Thanks," I said as I hugged him, catching him by surprise.
And at that very moment, the sky cleared up.
