8 years later (Tess POV)
"Tess, would you be able to baby-sit Meghan tonight?" Mom asks me. I look at her and give a painful sigh. I have nothing up tonight, so there's no excuse.
"Sure mom. Where are you going?" I ask even though I don't really care.
"Dad and I are going out to dinner with some friends. We'll leave at 5:30 and be back around 12. Is that fine with you?" She asks me.
"Yup." I say and then go into my room.
Mom and Dad left a few hours ago and now I'm watching Castaway with Meghan. Kevin is at a friend's house for a sleepover and Michael is on a date with Isabel. Meghan starts getting restless and is starting to move around on the couch.
"Meghan, will you stay still please?" I ask politely.
"I'm hungry." She tells me in a whiney voice.
"Well make something."
"Like what?"
"Make some popcorn."
"Okay." Meghan gets up and walks into the kitchen. I go back to watching the movie when a few minutes later I hear a scream coming from the kitchen. I jump up from the couch and run towards the kitchen. When I reach the kitchen, I see her lying on the ground, wincing in pain.
"Meghan! What's wrong? Are you okay?" I ask frantically while checking her body for any burns or cuts.
"My back. It hurts. Something hit me in my back." She cries. I lift up her shirt to take a look at her small back. My eyes widen at the sight. Her back is burnt black with blood coming out of a few cuts that cut deep into the skin. I feel like puking at the sight, but I tell my self to keep my act together.
"It's okay, Meg. You're going to be fine." I say, trying to calm her down. She's almost screaming with the pain. I run to the phone and dial Max's number. The phone rings twice and then he picks up. "Max, it's Tess." I say.
"Oh, hi Tess. What's up?" He says in a leisurely tone.
"It's my sister Meg. She's hurt real bad and I don't think it's human. You've got to come over." I'm almost crying as I'm telling him. I'm so scared to loose my sister.
"Don't worry, I'll be there right away." He responds and hangs up the phone. I put down the receiver and then bend down to Meghan to comfort her. She's still crying and I pull her into my arms.
"Sshhh. It's gonna be okay, Meg. Max is coming. He'll help you. You're going to be all right. Just hang on for a minute. Sshhh, I'm here." I try comforting her and it seems to work. About five minutes pass and then I see Max walking through the kitchen door. "Okay Meghan. I want you to lie on your stomach so Max can see your back." I help her lie down. Max bends down and lifts up her shirt. He's a little taken back by the sight of her black back but then puts his hand on her back. She winces and shouts in agony when she feels his hand. He has a pained look in his eyes as he's healing my sister. I can tell he's receiving her pain. I look over to Meghan's back and see the skin turning healthy again and the blood going back where it came from. Soon, he pulls his hand away and fall to the floor. Meghan gives a big sigh of relief. I smile as I put my hand on her cheek. I look over at Max, who's getting up from the floor.
"She's alright now." He tells me while he breathes deep.
"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. You saved my sister." I give him a thankful hug.
"Your welcome." He says and smiles at Meghan. I bend down and pick her up and hold her tight. She scared me to death.
"Thank God you're alright." I'm still in tears and so is she. I put her down and she gives Max a tight squeeze. He hugs her back.
"Thank you Max." She says as she squeezes him.
"Any thing for you, Meghan. Do you feel okay?" He asks with concern.
"I'm fine. But…how did you do that? I mean, how did you heal me?" Meghan is totally blown away at how Max healed her. Max looks at me, worried. "Don't worry, I'll tell her later." I say so as not to worry him. "Do you want to stay for a while?" I ask.
"Oh, um I don't know. My parents don't really know I'm here. But…" He tries coming up with a lame excuse.
"You have to stay! At least for a little while. Watch the rest of Castaway with us. Please?" Meghan begs him. I can tell she's made a bond with Max already. Max agrees and we all watch the rest of the movie.
The next evening
I'm just about to shut off my lamp when Meghan opens the door. I smile at her and put down my book.
"Hey Meg. What's up?" I ask her. She walks in and closes the door behind her. I open up my blanket and she climbs in next to me.
"I wanted to ask you about last night. About Max." Her eyes are filled with confusion as she thinks back to the other night. I shift in the bed, getting uncomfortable.
"Meghan, there are some things about me that you don't understand. You've seen me do things that you never thought were possible. You don't remember because you were too young." I start telling her.
"What kinds of things?" She's still completely confused.
"When you were three years old, Michael and I were left in charge when mom and dad went to some friends house. Kevin had gone off to his friend's house, so it was just us three in the house. Now, me being the tomboy I was and Michael being the control freak he is, we were fighting in the living room because I wanted to do one thing and he wanted to do another. And when I say fighting, I mean serious fighting. We were furious with each other and were determined to hurt each other." Meghan is giggling by now. She knows how mad Michael and I get sometimes. I continue. "We both had pinned each other down to the floor a couple times by the time we started getting tired. But we were still dead mad at each other……Now I'm going to tell you something you're not going to believe. You have to promise not to tell anyone. No one, not even mom or dad. Not even Kevin. Promise?" She nods energetically, wanting me to get on with the story. "So I decided to create a fire ball and hurl it at him. I made a little ball of fire in my hand and through it right at his head." I create one so she can see what I'm talking about. Meghan gasps. "But before it could hit him, he put up his hand and started repelling it back towards me. I had to repel it towards him so it wouldn't hit me. Our strengths were almost equal, so it wasn't going anywhere. Eventually we got tired and one of us let down our guard, I can't remember who. The fireball flew towards the couch where you were sitting watching us. It hit the couch and it blew up. I ran to get you off the couch while Michael put out the fire with his mind. That time, we almost got you killed. We learned our lesson and haven't fought that bad since. Do you understand so far?" I ask my poor little sister.
"Uh…I guess so. I don't know." I can tell she's getting a little scared.
"It's okay to be frightened Meg. I've lived with this my whole life. You see, I can do immeasurable things. Like break things and put them back together all with my mind. I can move things without touching them. Does this scare you? Because I don't want you to be scared. I'm still your big sister you've always known. I'm no different than before. You understand?" I want to make it clear that I'm still the same person. For some odd reason, when people find out new things about people, they all of a sudden think that that person is completely different.
"I always knew you were different. I just didn't know how." She's trying to comprehend everything. "Why don't you tell mom and dad?"
"Well…it's kind of too late now. Michael and I are in our teens already. We don't want to scare mom and dad." I explain, hoping she understands.
"I'm not scared. Why would they be?"
"Grown ups think differently than kids do. When they find out that someone is really different, they get scared."
"But mom and dad…"
"Meghan. I'm not telling mom and dad. Trust me, I've thought about it a billion times. You have to promise me you'll keep this a secret." I'm serious now, she can tell.
"Pinky swear!" She holds out her pinky and I grab it with mine.
"Pinky swear." I look at her and a smile. "Thanks Meg."