Antonio Herrera - New Jersey
A figure of a young man stood at the window of his bedroom, looking down into the street as people went to and fro about their daily business. He was cautious, cunning and calculating. It was easy to read people.
Antonio arched his head as he brother, his twin in fact, looked around the corner of his room. Carlos had been sent up to simply see if his brother was awake, he cared little for if he was actually ready.
Both boys worked hard at the local construction site, they had done for nearly five years. Their mother needed the money and they could barely afford to feed their small family, their father had run out when they were small, but Antonio never even remembered him being here.
Looking outside again, he could see that it was going to be a hot day. They hadn't seen rain in months, and the heat didn't help when working outside all day.
"Antonio!" his mother's voice called," time for work, go, you can't be late,"
Antonio sighed, huffed and picked up his work safety helmet. His hair was a mess as he looked in the mirror; It was just another day that he had to get through, whatever it cost.
He followed his brother to their rusty car and his mother kissed both men goodbye, Antonio said nothing in return. He hated this routine, everyday was the same thing. He got up, when to work, came home, slept. He yearned for something more, something to single him out from the everyday rabble of robots that he seemed to work with. Applications for higher positions had been sent off to every place he could think of, but they never replied and he couldn't get into college anywhere or even on a course. So for now he was stuck in a dead end job.
His brother always drove, despite both men holding a licence; it was his brother's car after all. The only reason he was allowed a lift to work in it was because their mother made Carlos take him, the brothers hated each other and Antonio seemed to be the one who always got left behind with the trash.
Carlos started the old car and reversed onto the road, as they prepared to pull off, the early morning light was shrouded in a sheet of darkness. Both men looked at each other and then peered up at the eclipse forming in the sky.
"That's strange," Antonio said quietly.
"Shut up," Carlos replied, giving his brother a cold glare.
Antonio shut his mouth, secretly thinking that he wished his brother would just die, or at leas be nicer.
They drove off towards work, a place that Antonio didn't really want to be today. He looked up at the cloudless sky, wishing that he could just fly away. But he knew that was impossible, no one could fly. Antonio realised he might just be stuck in this eternity of boredom and depression forever, he closed his eyes, it was at least a half hour drive until work and he knew traffic could be bad this time in the morning. His stomach did a somersault and he opened his eyes, looking around wildly.
"Did something hit the car?" Antonio asked.
His brother rose an eyebrow and said nothing, concentrating on driving to work. Antonio wondered what had made his stomach jolt, he looked up to see that the eclipse was almost total now, or at least it appeared to be, it was hard to tell.
Antonio closed his eyes again and tried to get a few minutes extra sleep, he knew that he would be grateful for it later. It only took a few seconds of his mind wandering for sleep to smother him, he thought about what it would be like if his father had stayed with the family. Perhaps that's why his brother hated him so much, because it reminded him that their father was never coming back. Their mother said that he wasn't exactly a nice person and that they were better off without him, but it didn't stop Antonio wondering if only his father was there that their life might be better.
Antonio woke with a start as the car stopped, they were at the gates to the construction sight and the guard was waving them through.
They parked up and Antonio got out, just another day in hell.
………………………………………………………………………………………
It must be almost lunch time by now; the other workers always had their lunch first, leaving the brothers to have it last. Sweat poured from Antonio's head as he lifted a heavy slab onto the wall and began fixing it with the already made up paste, he was tired and the sun was blazing down on his back, burning through his thin white shirt.
He caught his brother's eye as he grinned, Carlos didn't have any sweat on him at all. He looked on as Antonio struggled to work.
"What's with you?" Antonio asked viciously.
"Is it a little too hot for you?" Carlos replied, watching curiously as his brother glared back.
The heat on his back grew suddenly, more than what could be considered normal. He was sure he could actually hear the sweat boiling on his back; he ducked into the shade and picked up a bottle of water, taking a long gulp.
Carlos let out a laugh and drank some water of his own.
"It is getting a little hot," Carlos said to himself," It would be nice to get some rain wouldn't it Jeff?"
A co-worker coming back from his lunch grinned, that man also seemed to pick on Antonio for some reason and caught on to the conversation when he saw Antonio sweating like a pig and Carlos standing there grinning.
"Yeah," Jeff said," rain would be nice,"
"Haha," Carlos laughed.
Antonio left the two men to laugh to themselves, he went back to building the wall. His back was wet with sweat, and it was starting to distract him now. He went to remove his shirt when he felt water hit him on the back, he stood up to see small raindrops falling here and there, only small spits but it was raining.
Antonio looked up at the cloudless sky, bewildered as to what was happening. There were no clouds, yet rain was falling.
"Carlos look," Jeff said.
Carlos stopped laughing stood in shock as he too saw what was happening, however the moment he looked the rain started to ease and a few seconds later it had stopped. Antonio looked at his brother, but he didn't make eye contact, his brother always stared Antonio down but this time he walked away in some kind of trance.
"You ok Carlos?" Jeff asked," what did you do you little-,"
Jeff grabbed Antonio around the throat and held him against the wall, Carlos half fell onto a wall to sit down. He was looking at his hands as though he had never seen them before. Jeff seemed to think Antonio had set it up as some kind of joke, as the man muttered to him under his breath. He looked at Antonio and the colour drained from his face and let go.
"What……is…..this?" Jeff stuttered, turning and running away.
"You freak!" Carlos shouted at Antonio," you did this to me didn't you?"
"What are you talking about?" Antonio asked.
"Look!" Carlos said, grabbing his brother and forcing his face in front of the window of a forklift truck.
His face was surrounded by some kind of blue glow, raising his hands he saw the same strange glow around his hands and the rest of his body. He could hear the sound of Jeff shouting at someone, something about Antonio being a mutant.
"This cant be happening," Antonio cried," im not one of those people,"
Carlos suddenly threw a punch at Antonio, knocking him to the ground. Blood sprayed from his lip and he turned onto his belly to crawl away.
"I always knew you would be the end of me brother," Carlos said," I'll be hailed a hero for taking in my mutant brother, you know there's a reward for helping capture mutants?"
"Im not-," he began as Carlos punched him again, this time in the back of the head.
A kick struck him in the ribs and he cried out in pain, Carlos grabbed his brother and dragged him to his feet so he could punch him again. Rain was now pouring all around them, Antonio looked around in wonder as bellowing storm clouds sprung up.
"Or maybe ill just kill you!" Carlos said, his eyes glowing with a rabid hatred.
Lightning flashed and fell on Carlos, but it didn't hurt him. It twisted around him like it was part of him. Carlos was just as shocked as Antonio.
"You're the one doing this!" Antonio shouted.
"No…..," Carlos started.
"I have to stop this!" Antonio shouted, tackling his brother.
As their body's hit, a pain unlike anything Antonio had ever experienced swept through his body. His brother's hands around his neck were choking away his life as lightning paralysed him; the blue light around him sprang up again but Antonio didn't understand what this thing was that was happening to them.
He had seen a women a few years ago taken down by the FBI, she started cutting people to pieces with her hands alone. The government said that there were these people with abnormal abilities that could ruin the world; never had Antonio dreamed that he would be one of them. But obviously this glow around him was something; his brother appeared to have some control of the weather as well.
Antonio grabbed his brother's face, trying to fight back, but Carlos had always been stronger. Thunder roared and he felt like he was drowning in raw power from the heavens, his whole body felt like it was on fire.
He was going to die.
Suddenly and uncontrollably his body wriggled and warped, he felt his brother's mind as though the two of them were connected. Blood poured from Carlo's nose and he appeared to be losing strength, Antonio tasted his own blood and saw that his own nose was bleeding and his head was feeling faint.
'……cant….hold.,….it….,' a voice said in his mind, the voice of Carlos.
'……I'll…..kill….you,' Antonio thought.
'…get out of my head!....,' Carlos shouted back.
"Aaaahhhh," they both screamed as Antonio's hands merged with Carlos's face.
There was a blinding flash and Antonio lost consciousness.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Antonio felt himself floating in complete darkness, in some kind of suspended dream. He saw nothing but the dark, an endless shadow of his mind. He could feel his body though, it ached and he was unable to move a muscle, it felt like he had been electrocuted, when actually he probably had been. Underneath he could feel a soft warm bed and thin sheets, in the background he hear inaudible voices chatting nearby.
"Carlos" a voice said, Antonio didn't recognise it.
'Im here!' Carlos's voice shouted back.
Antonio's eyes opened to see two people looking down at him, one of them was his mother, her eyes full of tears and the other was a women in a lab coat, probably a doctor.
"Carlos," the doctor said," I am Leona Johnson from the department of mutant studies and detection,"
"What?" Antonio said, trying to lift his head.
"I know this may be hard for you," Leona said," but it is imperative that you tell me immediately where your brother has gone,"
"I don't know what you are talking about," Antonio said.
'Yes you do asshole,' Carlos's voice shouted,' you are a freak, hes a freak, take him away,'
"Shut up!" Antonio said.
"Oooh," Leona said startled," who are you talking to?"
"Where's my brother?" Antonio said," I'll kill him,"
"You remember what happened then?" his mother said.
"Look," Leona said," if you tell us where your brother is, we will be able to soften the blow for you,"
"What do you mean?" Antonio asked.
"Your brother Antonio showed signs of an ability manifesting," the doctor explained," I have tested your DNA and you also have the potential to manifest a power, however those that help our cause and give up willingly will be transferred to a top security prison rather than…..well you don't want to know the alternative,"
"But I am….," Antonio began, he was confused.
They thought he was Carlos.
"It's happening again," his mother said," my sons are becoming monsters just like their father,"
"I thought dad ran away when we were small," Antonio said," mother?"
"Maya," the doctor said," it may be best if you leave us to it,"
"Tell me mother!" Antonio cried out," aaaahhhh,"
His arms wriggled, but he couldn't escape, they had him tied down.
"Im sorry about this," Leona said," Sedate him, we can't afford a power manifesting in a public place,"
"Im sorry," his mother, Maya said," I wont have you turning out like your father,"
As two men came and held him down, Leona pulled out a needle and began prepping it. Antonio glanced at his mother and cried out as he caught the image in the mirror, It wasn't himself that was struggling, his brother was the one in the bed, he was in his brother's body.
"Nooo!" he screamed, grabbing his mother's hand, she too screamed.
As he touched her, his arm warped and blinding light swept around him and her thoughts became his.
'…..why did I sleep with that man…..if only I'd known what he was at the time……..,' her voice echoed.
'…..the boys must never find him…….not him……ill never tell them who he is…….'
"Who is my father?" Antonio screamed, it was obvious that his father had been one of these 'mutants' too.
'……he must never find him…… …..'
Antonio's eyes focused and he was helped to his feet by Leona, who wiped blood from his face.
"Are you ok Maya?" she asked.
'Help!' his mother's voice screamed in his head as he looked down at his brother tied up.
"Im fine," he said, surprised to hear a female voice come from him," I just need to go,"
Antonio fled the room, heading into the men's restroom, not caring for his mistake now that he was in his mother's body.
He turned and looked in the mirror, he was in his mother's body all right and he no longer cared about anything.
'You are going to tell me everything,' Antonio thought.
'No!' Maya cried back in his head.
'Starting with his name,' Antonio thought.
'NO!' Maya screamed back.
"Fine," Antonio said, punching the mirror.
'aahhhhh!' the voice of Maya screamed as glass stuck in his hand.
He felt the pain too but bit his lip.
'Ill do whatever it takes,' Antonio thought,' maybe next it will be a truck im under, well its your body, not mine'
'Don't do this,' Maya sobbed.
'Why have you lied to me all my life? And abandoned your love for me just because of what I can do?' Antonio asked,' his name now!'
Two solid words sobbed in his head.
'………Gabriel Gray…….,'