watsonma@hotmail.com
Life is Good
Oomph! I win again.
Nick groaned, sitting up on the floor and rubbing his back. I'd thrown him over my shoulder for the second time today. I had defeated him at archery too but he managed to save his pride by always defeating me at fencing.
The other guys had had enough and were resting and taking sips from their water bottles. I still had a lot of energy left but even Nick finally insisted that we call it a day. I'd had enough lessons in hand to hand combat to defend myself quite proficiently as Jay had soon learned and he was now sitting with the other guys massaging a sore shoulder that his pride would not allow me to heal for him. Sometimes he likes to pretend he is so macho. Men!
After we had taken a shower and we were sitting around the pool behind Jay's house. We were all completely wiped out. When I woke up tomorrow I was going to be in some serious pain.
"Serena, remember what you were saying about not
feeling human anymore?"
I turned to see Zach looking at me.
"I did that DNA testing you wanted me to." He sounded somewhat hesitant to say what he had to say.
"Oh yes. What were the results? I was so excited. I wanted to know, but I wasn't quite sure if hearing this would be a good thing. The expression I saw on Zach's face told me that this might not be such good news. I immediately became more subdued and slightly worried.
"Zach were the tests OK? Is there something wrong? My questions and our conversation got the attention of the other guys.
"Zach would you please stop stalling," Nick said.
The rest of us would like to know too you know."
"I never thought I would have to give this type
of news to anyone but
"Get on with it will you," a normally patient Mike snapped.
"Ok, Ok already. What I'm trying to say," he said and stopped to glare at mike and Nick, "is that you are not human Serena. In fact neither am I and I doubt that any of us are."
"WHAT!" four startled voices yelled in his ear.
How can we not be human?
"Guys please! I might not be human but I still
need my hearing. A Chimp's DNA is about 98.4% similar to Human DNA. That
means there's a 0.6% differential. When I completed the tests and ran the
results through the computer, Serena's differential came up to be about
1.0% and mine was almost 0.7%. That is a huge difference, especially on
Serena's part.
"I think that whenever we began using our powers we gradually became more than human. We still look human. In fact, I think that we are just like any other human being except the magical aspects of our lives affects us on and even deeper level than we first thought.
I haven't examined all the data yet, I wanted to wait until I told you guys this and see if you wanted to look at it with me. I figure I could take a look at the information I've gotten from the Human Genome Project database. If I look at each gene individually, I might be able to tell what differences there are."
"The other guys just looked at Zach and Jay said, "Can that wait till tomorrow? I'm really tired."
"Yeah. I know what you mean," Nick added, agreeing with Jay for a change.
"I can't believe you guys! You just found out that you're possibly not human and you want to sleep! Zach said. But Mike had long ago fallen asleep, his white hair blown over his face. Nick and Jay were well on their way. Zach sighed and I smiled at him. "Give it up. There'll be tomorrow."
It's been a few months since I moved here. Summer's almost here but I won't be spending it in Tokyo. In fact I might go to Canada or someplace on vacation with Jay, Zach, and Faith. Zach's graduating next week. We're all going to cheer him on and embarrass him. We plan to leave for Canada the day after graduation. Why Canada? It's far but cheap. It's going to be a long drive, but we'll all be taking turns.
Mike taught me how to drive earlier this spring and I got my license just a few weeks ago. I'm surprised Jay's going to let me drive his Wrangler. He swears I drive too fast. He's wrong though. Seventy on the freeway is perfectly acceptable. I promised to slow down for him though. Who'd think he's such a wuss?
I drove across the wide expanse of land. The jeep sped over the road and my hair was flying in the wind. My sunglasses rested on my forehead as I watched the sunset ahead of me. Jay, Faith, and Zach had fallen asleep, or so I'd thought.Jay turned to me and with a curious look on his face he asked me a question I would remember for the rest of my life.
"What does it mean to be in love?"
"I was so shocked. I turned my eyes away from the road and stared at him for a few seconds. His blue eyes stared up at me and his blonde hair was being blown into his eyes, making him look like a small child asking why the sky is blue. "Why do you ask? I never expected you of all people to ask that."
"Serena, you have so much love in you. You radiate love and goodness. I know you love Endymion, no matter how much you try to forget him. I know there is love out there somewhere for me, but I know I've never felt it, the way that you have. I just want to know. How does it feel?"
"I've never tried to describe it before. I think
I No It's more like when you're with someone you truly love,
you don't ever want to let go. Once you've felt
them, if they leave it's as though a part of you is gone and you can't
live the way you used to any more.
"When you're with someone you love, you feel them
even when they don't touch you. And no matter how much pain it will cause
you, you'll want to be with them even when they don't want to be with
you."
I couldn't stop the tears that came down my cheek
just then. "I think a way to know you're in love is when you can sit together
for hours and never say a word or just spend all day together talking about
everything and yet nothing."
More tears fell down my cheek as I remembered days I spent with Darien, times I would just stare into his deep blue eyes and remember things he said to me. "I would rather have just one breath of your hair, one touch of your hand, just one look from you, than spend an eternity without you." Sometimes Darien was unbelievably romantic.
I felt a warm hand form gently over my own. "I'm sorry Serena, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sure it will all be ok. I promise."
"It's ok Jay. I can't run away from my feelings
forever. I'll never stop loving him but I hope that one day it won't hurt
so bad."