Creation 1.7
The morning brought my family from their rooms, hungry and with eyes full of sand. I shook myself away from my thoughts, pasted a smile on my face, and grabbed my phone off the charger. I walked into the kitchen, and typed 'Good Morning!'
They chorused "Good morning" back, sounding more like a trio of zombies. I continued typing, 'I found out I don't sleep anymore.' "That's nice, honey," my mom said distractedly, before the words really hit her. "Oh. What did you do all night then?"
'I tested my powers.'
"Oh."
A pause.
"Okay."
I might need to wait for them to all wake up before I tried to explain any more. I settled down at the table, and ate some cereal, and so the rest of breakfast passed in silence, save the sounds of spoons in bowls. Afterwards, Mom and David headed for warm clothes and showers, and Jordan and I went to watch TV in our pajamas.
An hour or so later, we were called back to the table. My mother looked to me, saying, "Okay, sweetie, unless I'm mistaken, none of us know that much about your powers. Care to fill us in?" I nodded, and spent the next few minutes summarizing the conversation with the Wards the day before.
'… and the dream worlds can also be pushed. That was the main thing I tested last night.' I pressed on, my thumbs growing tired of the typing. 'Pushing on a world lets me bring it here, filling a slowly growing circle around me. I can demonstrate outside.' Mom shook her head. "No, I think it would be safer if you didn't use your powers at home. People might notice." Everyone nodded, though Jordan looked unhappy at that. He probably wanted to see my powers, instead of talking.
"Either we drive out of city limits so you can show us, if we really need to see, or we wait until Friday, for the official testing," she continued. 'Not that urgent, I guess,' I responded. Even if I did show them, it wouldn't really show them what got to me; it only showed a tiny portion, like seeing the night sky in a city versus out in the wild. The sheer scale of what was missing would make describing it impossible.
My mom nodded, then clapped her hands. "Alright then. Who wants to go with me to the store? We need a few things for Thanksgiving!" I needed more books, and so typed, 'Can you drop me at the library?' A nod, and Jordan and I ran off to get ready for the day.
-Shangri-La-
I had been introduced to public libraries last year, and had proceeded to take their juvenile sections by storm. I didn't go enough that every member of the staff knew me by sight, but I certainly made an impression when I came. After all, what little kid spends hours stalking the shelves, then brought almost as much reading material as he could forth, then laughed when they mentioned the 1 month due date? That usually got a smile, followed by a shocked look if they happened to be there a week or two later, watching me check out more.
I loved reading a lot. Books could take me away from my problems, but they did so in a good way. I was a third grader who could enjoy Tolkien, but only because I had read The Boxcar Children first, then Animorphs, then Harry Potter, and so on. I knew stuff about Earth Aleph, because publishers struck deals through the data link, and the idea of a real other world had been so exciting. I had read of fantastical worlds, ones that seemed even more strange than our own history had so recently become, and lost myself in them long before I had the power to do exactly that for real.
Books were my refuge, my fortress in a siege. They were part of my life in a way my few friends had never been. I wasn't deluded or anything, I knew fiction was the definition of 'not-real', that it couldn't really help me in life; but I treasured the words all the same on my worst days, and enjoyed adventuring as the hero on my good days; easy to read, impossible to master.
I stalked the rows, continuing the cycle. As I moved from aisle to aisle, I spotted a librarian I had had a conversation or two with, and waved with the arm that didn't have Artemis Fowl 1-4 stacked on it. I turned to the aisle, passing a blonde girl twice my age as I went, who gave me a weird smile and pulled out her phone as I dove back into looking for interesting titles. I eventually settled on the first two books of The Edge Chronicles, and moved to the next row, looking in my mind like nothing so much as a velociraptor creeping after its prey.
An hour and twelve books later, I was ready to be picked up from the library. If nothing else, the books I had would fill my nights for a week or so. I had also grabbed a few movies, to fill time while we cooked tomorrow. I waited outside for a few minutes, studiously ignoring strangers and homeless as I waited. The sky was growing overcast; a storm was coming soon. I was relieved when my mom's car pulled in, and I got up off the bench, only to almost headbutt a man heading into the library, who shot me a look, then sped up his rush inside.
I moved quickly to get in the car; the wind was singing that the storm was not far away now. Putting my bags in the back, I climbed in, then fished out my phone so I could talk if I needed to. After the customary "Find anything good?" and the reply, we were off to the house again.
Later that night, we watched the new Superman movie, Superman: Into the Light, which I had rented from the library. I wasn't a comics guy (and comics were basically dead), but I had enjoyed old VHS tapes of Superman cartoons and stuff, so I knew the basics. I think the character was helped by the fact that there were other capes to share his burdens now, and wondered how Aleph might handle a Superman movie, since they had so few capes. Anyway, it was good, and we had a laugh at some of the hero parodies, so overall, a good pick. After that, I helped clean up dinner, and they all headed up to bed while I got comfy with a good book.
-Shangri-La-
The Edge Chronicles was very interesting; I'd have to go get the rest of the series next week. I stretched, needing to walk around after nearly eight hours of reading. I set the finished book down, walked into the kitchen, and made myself some food, checking the time as I did. 6:29, Thanksgiving Day. I reached into the fridge, poked the turkey to make sure it was thawed by now, and looked over the other stuff to double check they had bought good produce instead of just grabbing any old veggie or fruit. I may have also grabbed a few crispy onions; they were too important to not 'ensure quality standards.' Mmhmm. That was it.
After that, I went back to the armchair, intent on seeing if Artemis Fowl was as good as Beyond the Deepwoods, but barely finished the first chapter before the family trudged downstairs to complete the morning ritual. I waved good morning, and went back to my book. My mom came into the living room and turned on the news; there went my quiet reading for the morning. Now I'd have to interact with my family. Oh the horror. With a small smile to myself, I set my bookmark in the pages, and laid it back atop the Tower of Doom – I mean Literature.
The day after that went by in a rush; mostly, Jordan and I helped a little, inevitably messed up with our underage coordination skills, and proceeded to play for a while until Mom and David forgot the last time. Both floors of the house were soon permeated in the wonderful smells of turkey and sweet potato and onion and spice, but that soon backfired as well, since it brought two boys begging at their heels for scraps and samples. We were summarily booted into the backyard, where we then proceeded with the hunt for the elven bandits that hid in our forest.
I quickly found out that mud was incredibly easy to control with my powers, and the storm yesterday had left plenty of it around. I decided to have actual ambush attacks by our 'pursuers', but Jordan mistook the attack to be a declaration of war, and a mud fight was had. I had the advantage; not only could I throw more than he, I did it with ninja moves, so I was automatically better. After he was thoroughly trounced, I got what mud I could off of us, and we trudged inside to clean up and change.
After a loud but brief scolding, and some threats made against our upcoming meal, we headed to the bathrooms with our metaphorical tails between our legs. As I entered the master bathroom, I took in the travesties of war.
My brown hair was clumpy and disheveled, mud caking it here and there. My pale face was half browned, my glasses thankfully easy to get the mud off, but that just left my bright gray eyes to shine out of the dirt. My pudgy figure was spattered with mud, making my Battery t-shirt look like it was camo. Overall, I looked like I had been wrestling a pig, and that was after I had removed most of it. I undressed, deciding that I may as well make laundry easier on Mom, and took my pants and shirt into the shower with me.
After the thirty minute scrubfest, I was squeaky clean and in fresh clothes, and oh so very hungry. I tossed the towel and my wet clothes over the side of the tub, and stampeded downstairs to see about some noms. Nothing was available, so I made a fat PBJ with banana, and had that to curb my hunger for now. Jordan and I were quick to decide it was time for some SORRY, and he invited David to play, too. A rousing game was had, but in the end, I came up dead last, with the other two neck and neck for the lead. I swear, even if you can't really strategize in this game, they still team up on me.
David eventually won, with me still 12 spaces back and Jordan just 1 away from the win. Good timing, too, as it was time to get the food laid out at the table. It was a team effort; namely, they carried the food to the table while we untrusted little folk did a cheerleader routine on the side, both of them glaring daggers at us as they passed. Finally, the table was set, the food was ready, and everyone was seated. We folded our hands, said a prayer of thanks, and dug in.
It was delicious.
Seasoned juicy turkey with cranberries and gravy, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, sweet potato pie, Chex mix, corn on the cob, and this multigrain bread they got at some local bakery I now wanted to visit; a veritable smorgasbord of food. Nobody had room for more than a few 'MM-mm's' and nods of satisfaction, because nobody could stop trying that next forkful. It was nice, though. I felt more comfortable without conversation, especially since I couldn't contribute. We just enjoyed our meal, and enjoyed having each other.
After that, we all got together and played some Monopoly. Fair warning: my family was bad at Monopoly, and I was not. After a sweet victory courtesy of the influx of renters at Pennsylvania Avenue and the hotel on St. Charles, We settled in to watch another classic: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, aka the pre-Scion one, if anyone even counted the Aleph disaster as a contender. As always, it was lighthearted, zany, and catchy. I wanted to live in these moments forever. Too bad.
My brain can't leave well enough alone. I just had to think about tomorrow, about next week, didn't I? I couldn't have let me have one day to enjoy with my family, one day to pretend this would ever be normal again? Why did I have to think about how much powers might change my life, how much they already had? Why couldn't I just be happy?
I tried to get back into the movie, to enjoy the time with my family, but one stray thought had popped my happy bubble. Instead, while the main characters floated up to certain doom, I contemplated the things I had given thanks for today; My mom, my brothers, my home, and my life; and hoped I could hold myself together long enough to be thankful for them again next year.
-Shangri-La-
The next day, I was in a grumpy mood. All night, I had tried to focus on reading, but kept being distracted by little thoughts I couldn't quite translate into words. Doubts, worries, dark thoughts, and feelings of sadness and loss had haunted my mind, and I had teared up more than once without realizing why. I wished I could have gone to sleep, let those feelings rest until today; it took losing the ability to sleep to realize how much it helps you cope sometimes.
They got up early; Jordan had had a really cool flying dream (Another thing I missed was dreaming; my mood got a little darker), and shared it with everyone. My mother laughed at the idea of Jordan flying loops around Alexandria, and I smiled a bit at the bit where Photon Mom crashed into him; it was pretty funny. Breakfast was eaten, I had a few extra strips of turkey since I'd need my energy today, and we broke to get ready to go by 8.
I went to my room; I actually hadn't spent much time in here lately, except to feed my fish. It probably had something to do with the window. I didn't want to go too near it, not after last Saturday, not after the fall. My bed was comfy, but it was right under the window, so I tended to just read curled up in the recliner in the living room. I instead headed to my closet, picking out an Eidolon t-shirt in white, my scout pants with the removable legs, and a skintight long-sleeved black undershirt for layers, followed by a plain zip hoodie in grey. I closed the closet doors, looking away from the reflection as the mirrors on them came into view, and got dressed quickly, grabbing some gum and my phone on the way out.
I psyched myself up as I waited for the others. I was going to test my powers, for real, and I was going to be awesome. My powers did indeed let me bring my worlds to the real world, and I had a lot of control over it, plus, maybe, they might have ideas I never would have thought of. I couldn't think of too many things, but that was because I was too excited and because of course you couldn't think of things you would never have thought of because then everyone could know everything. A part of my mind rebelled at the positive thinking, but I refused to listen. Today would be a good day.