It's four hours later and my eyes are red raw. I can cry no more. I ran from the college and now sit in an empty park just outside of the village. I still don't understand what happened. I always knew I was weird, different. I mean being able to read people's thoughts was proof enough but when I read someone's thoughts I didn't hurt them. I hurt Megan. I could have hurt her really bad. I could have killed her. I slip my phone out of my pocket to look at the time. The screen pops up with a message "5 missed calls from Dad" I sigh to myself. So I'm guessing Megan's told the someone and now my Dad knows what happens. Maybe I can convince them that I pushed her over with my hands. I will get in trouble but it won't be nearly as bad as it would be if they really knew. Who am I kidding? Brandon and that other boy saw me. They all know now. I can't go back there. "You've got that much right" A strange voice says. It startles me so much that I jump up of the bench where I am sat. There is no one there. The park is still empty. "Who's there" I shout.
"I need you to stay calm" The voice says. It's a man's voice. He sounds quite young, maybe in his twenties. "Where are you" I say steadying my breathing.
"I'm coming to you now. Just hang on in there". He's coming! I feel the panic rising again. Who is he? What does he want? Why can I hear him? Does he know what happened? Does he know what I am? I am about to turn and run but then I think about it a bit more. He might have answers. I could really do with someone who knows what's going on right now. "Hey" I hear his voice again but this time it's not in my head. it's coming from behind me. I spin quickly to face him. I am so shocked I nearly stumble. He is beautiful. His dark hair cut short to his face causing his cheek bones and perfect jaw line to stand out. He has a bit of dark stubble around his perfectly formed lips and bushy eye brows that strangely seem to go with the look. The most shocking thing about him though is his eyes. They are the bluest eyes I have ever seen and then look even bluer because of his dark feature. They're almost as blue as mine earlier I think. Then it hits me. They are identical to mine were after the incident with Megan. They are glowing. "We need to go" He says grabbing my arm. I try to pull away but he's too strong. "Go where" I ask "I don't know you I-" He cuts me off.
"You're in danger. There are more people like you. Like us. We have to go to them" I star at him. So he is like me, and there are more of us. "Okay" I nod my head slightly. He turns still holding onto my arm and breaks into a run. I run after him because if I don't I will trip since he is still holding my arm. We barely turn the corner when a black SUV pulls up in front of us. "What the-" I start to say. He turns to face me. "I didn't want to do this but you have to trust me" he says.
"What?" I reply. He doesn't answer and suddenly the world spins around me. it keeps spinning and spinning and I feel like I am going to be sick. Then I am falling. I don't fall far until I hit concrete floor. I look up and the man is stood next to me. He landed on his feet. I jump up and look around. We are indoors now. The room is massive. Easily the size of a football pitch. The walls are made of corrugated metal and the floor is concrete. To my left there are about thirty adults sat and stood around tables filled with weapons and playing cards. Behind them is a load of tents. The tents are dark, dull green like they are on military camps. I see more people milling around in the tents there. All the people over this side of the room are wearing matching grey trousers and jackets. I can only guess that these people are the army of whatever weird little civilisation this is. To my right are the only doors in the entire room. There are three doors. They have no writing on them and no windows to see through. Just slabs of metal forming a square pushed into the corner of the room. In front of me is where it gets really amazing. The closest thing to me is the tables. There are rows and rows of tables like you would see in a high school cafeteria. There are a few people sat around these but not many really. The only thing I can see beyond that is tents. Tents of all different shapes, sizes, colours and designs. There are so many people over there. Past the rooms and the tables. There are adults and kids alike. The children chase each other between the tents and play fight on the floor. I even see a few dogs running around with the children. Adults sit around fire pits laughing and talking. I notice that a few of them have eyes like the man that brought me here (*).
Suddenly I feel strong hands around my arms, pulling me up from the ground. I stand up and look to see who is holding me but instead of seeing kind faces helping me up I realise that they weren't helping me. They were restraining me. People who are close enough to see stop what they are doing and look over. Some of the men in the grey run over with guns. I start to panic. They're going to kill me I think. But then the man who brought me here steps in front of me. "It's okay" he says "I brought her here" The men who had hold of me let go and walk away. He turns to me.
"Sorry about them. Security is paramount. For all they knew you could have hitch hiked."
"I could have what" I whisper.
"I'll explain it all later. All you need to know for now is that this is your home from now on. You will be assigned a tent and a job -"
"But what is this place" I ask. He looks around as if noticing the crowd of people gathering around us.
"Come with me" He starts walking away. I look round at all the faces watching my ever move and I run after him.
He leads me though one of the doors and into a small room. The room is made of the same corrugated metal that the main room is. It has the same concrete floor too however there is an old tattered rug in covering the middle of the room. In the far corner there is a small single bed with a few blankets on it, an electric heater and a bedside table. I'm guessing this is where he sleeps. The centre of the room is taken up with an office desk and chair. The desk is cluttered with paper, pens and big binding folders. There are shelves pushed up against the walls that are also cluttered. He sits down in the chair behind the desk. I stand in front of the desk. I am strangely reminded of when I used to misbehave at school and my teacher used to send me to the principle.
"I expect you want to know what's going on" He says calmly. I suddenly find myself angry.
"Well let me think" I say, a sarcastic hint in my slightly raised voice. He smiles which makes me more angry. I look down at my hands are sure enough, the blue is there again but I don't care. They already know. He leans forwards in his seat. "Let's start with the basics" He says "What's your name?"
"Flora Jackson" I reply
"Wrong" he says leaning back in his chair again. "Your name is Flora Coleburn. You moved here from America five years ago after you older sister Cara Coleburn committed murder and then vanished of the face of the earth" I stare at him. My parents changed our sir name when we moved to the UK. They told me it's because we needed a fresh start. I already knew that but my sister, a murderer. I can't imagine my sweet, quiet, deaf sister being capable of murdering someone. Yet it made sense. Why the police had been lurking around our house all the time. Why our family suddenly started getting abuse from our friends and neighbours. "Cara wouldn't kill anyone. She's deaf. I doubt she could kill someone if she tried" I say not intending to sound mean.
"Ha!" He laughs making me jump "You really haven't seen her for a while have you?" I start getting angry again. Did this man know where my sister was? "Not since she vanished from the face of the earth" I say a scowl on my face.
"Well we can discuss her later. Right now there are more important things to talk about" he sighs as if he's sick of asking his next question. "Do you know what you are?"
"What? I know I can read people's minds, talk in their heads and now apparently push people over without touching them but I don't see how that makes me..." I'm lost for words "A thing"
"Well Flora, what you are is a Homo Superior"
"A what?"
"It's basically a better, more advanced version of the human race"
"A version with powers"
"Exactly!" He smiles. "We can do three things. We can read people's minds and talk into their heads. This is called Telepathy." I laugh. Telepathy is the kind of thing you read about in books and see in films and comics like X-men. "We are also Telekinetic. That means -"
"We can move things with our minds" I say in monotone, to distracted to speak properly.
"Right. And there is one more. We can teleport. That's how we got here actually." I just watch him. I don't want to believe what he's saying. How can this possible? I think the world would know if there were people who could teleport. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to stay hidden" He says.
"Did you just read my thoughts?" I demand.
"Maybe" He smirks. I decide I don't like him.
"So I say" wanting to change the subject "What is this place?"
"Officially it's called the warehouse, for obvious reasons, but we like to call it home"
"We?" I ask.
"Everyone here is like us. We have our own little society with systems, rules and our own way of living. When you arrive you get a month to get settled in then you are assigned a job. You must do your job in order to be allowed to eat our food or to accept protection from our military." It's so much to take in. I have so many questions but I decide to ask the one that's playing on my mind. "Why can't I just go home?". He sighs.
"There are some people who do know about us. They know and hate us. They see us as a threat to humanity."
"The people in the black van?" I ask. He nods.
"They call themselves ultra. They hunt people like us and either take our powers or kill us. More often the latter. They are very powerful Flora. We used to fight them but now we hide out here. Saving what we have is more important than trying to rescue others like us from ultra and risking losing some of our own in the process."
"But you rescued me." I ask questioningly.
"That's the thing though. You are very important Flora. More important then you could imagine"
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR :D
IF YOU ARE CONFUSED ABOUT THE LAYOUT OF THE WEARHOUSE THEN LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS AND I COULD PUT UP A CHAPTER DESCRIBING IT AND EXPLAINING HOW THE WHOLE SYSTEM WORKS!
PLEASE FOLLOW, REVIEW AND FAVORITE!
BEST WISHES, BETH