[Adam's POV]
I stared at the clock on the wall, watching the second hand move way slower then it should while my fourth grade teacher talked about what her weekend was going to be like. And considering she is well above seventy, the talk was incredibly long and boring. No Mrs. Evans, I do not care about your early morning power walk and how we kids need to get outside more often and blah blah blah. And guess what? No one else cares about what you're saying either. The only thing anyone in this classroom cares about at the moment, is actually getting to the weekend, which is taking forever!
Finally, the clock hit three thirty, and everyone darted out of the classroom out into the parking lot where our parents picked us up. The weekend has officially begun! I stood next to Ian as I waited, and we talked about random things like TV shows and the epic new video games he had just gotten for his birthday. Then in the middle of our conversation, one of our classmates, a tall blonde boy named Ethan, walked over and smiled at us. "Hey guys!"
"Hi Ethan. What's up?" I asked.
He handed me and Ian both a piece of paper with balloons on it. "Well, my birthday is this weekend, and that's the invite to my party at the arcade downtown! It's gonna be super cool! The entire class is invited. There's gonna be pizza, prizes and different contests too. So do you think you can come guys?"
Ian immediately nodded. "Yeah. We'll both be there. It sounds awesome."
Ethan gave us a huge smile. "Great! Maybe for a gift, you could get me some sunglasses like yours. Then I could be part of the sunglasses crew!"
All three of us laughed. Ian and I, for obvious reasons, both have to wear our sunglasses at all times, including school. Nobody ever really seemed to mind except Mrs. Evans, who thought it was disrespectful for some reason and frequently tried to get us to take our glasses off. It never worked, which always made her mad. One day, for a joke, the entire class came in wearing sunglasses, and boy was she furious! But anyways, after that whole scenario, anyone who came to school wearing sunglasses was considered part of the sunglasses crew. So for most of the year, It was just me and Ian.
Ethan said goodbye to us then went on handing out his party invitations. "This party is going to be so awesome!" Ian exclaimed.
"Yeah," I replied half heartedly. "I bet you'll have fun at that. I wish I could go."
"Wait, what can't you go?" Ian asked.
"The same reason I can't go to any other party. My dad's worried about, you know, my glasses."
Ian rolled his eyes. "Seriously dude? I pretty much have the same problem as you. I'm fine at all these parties. I bet if you asked your dad, he'd let you go."
"You don't know my dad," I mumbled miserably.
"It's worth a shot Sky."
I playfully punched him in the arm. "I told you to stop calling me that!"
He laughed. "Sorry, sorry! I couldn't resist! But really, just ask your dad. If he cares about you, he'll let you go."
"Come on Dad! You have to let me go!"
"No, Adam. That's my final answer."
"Just let me go dad!" I whined. "Everyone is going! I get left out of everything, because you don't let me do anything!"
"Adam, you know why I don't let you go to parties like that," he reminded me.
"Yeah, yeah, it gets too crazy and my glasses may get knocked off and blah blah blah. I don't care anymore!"
"This isn't a joke Adam! Do you remember the last time your glasses came off? Do I need to remind you that Darren, four years after the incident, is still in the mental hospital, and not getting any better?" That sentence stung. Yes, I still felt terrible for what happened to Darren. But at the moment, my rage was in control, and that just fed the fire.
"Oh, so is that what this is about? I'm not allowed to go have fun because a bully got what he deserved?!"
"Adam! He may have been a bully, but he did not deserve to be driven insane!"
"Hey, he was the one who took off my glasses. He was practically asking for it. But that was four years ago! So what if that happened?! I'm older now. I can control it even if my glasses did come off!"
"You know that's not true Adam! I don't know where your ability came from or how it works, but I do know that it can't be controlled. It's too dangerous, and I know that you don't want to hurt anyone."
"Oh really? You don't think I can do anything with my life because I'm too dangerous?"
"That's not what I said-"
"Well, I can control my eyes if I want to! I can do whatever I want!" Now don't ask what came over me next. Rage does weird things to me. I was always so cautious about my eyes, because I knew what they were capable of. But in that moment, I was so angry and resentful about what I thought was my dad not having faith in me, I took any caution I ever had and chucked it a thousand miles away. In that moment, I didn't think, and didn't care. I took off my sunglasses, threw them down at the ground, and stared my dad square in the eye.
At first, nothing happened. But that only lasted a second. Then my dad's face morphed into an expression of pain. He started to scream too. "Agh! It burns! Agh!"
I kept my eyes on him and didn't look away. I thought he was just faking to prove a point. He'd have to stop eventually. But he never did. He just kept on screaming about burns, then collapsed on the ground. That's when I realized this was serious. "Dad!" I ran over to him and shook him. "Stop screaming! Please! You're not burning!" But he kept screaming, and I burst into tears. Did I drive my dad into insanity like Darren? Or something worse?
After awhile of sobbing into my dad's shoulder, I stood up and ran out the door. I didn't want to hear him scream anymore. When I got downtown, I walked along the sidewalk, making sure to keep my eyes down. As if I wasn't stupid enough to just look at my dad with my eyes, I also had to break my glasses. Now I can't even look at anyone!
Suddenly, I felt someone grab my wrist and yank me into an alley. I was about to scream, but the stranger covered my mouth. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I just need to talk." He let go of my mouth, but kept hold of my wrist so I couldn't run. "Now, if you don't mind, could you look at me for a second?"
I shook my head. "You don't understand mister. If I look at you, bad things will happen to you."
"Maybe to others," the man said, "but not to me. Now, please, look at me." I still refused. I wouldn't do to this man what I did to my dad, even if was a total stranger. No one deserved to look me in the eye. The man just sighed. "I asked nicely." I felt a sharp pain in my neck, then my head lurched up and I was looking the man straight in his eyes. His... pure white glowing eyes?
I waited for the screaming to start, but it never came. Instead, the man just nodded. "Hm. This makes much more sense."
"Wait, what makes more sense? Cause right now nothing's making sense to me."
The man smirked. "Oh, I suppose I do have some explaining to do, Adam." I opened my mouth to ask how he knew my name, but he put his hand up to stop me. "First off, no questions until I'm done. My name is Herobrine, and you see, I'm responsible for those eyes of yours."
My heart skipped a beat. "You… gave me eyes that can kill people? Why?"
"What did I say about questions?" he scolded. "Besides, it wasn't intentional. And you weren't the only one who got this ability, Adam. A couple years ago, there was this other kid I was going to give my powers to, but I needed to perfect giving them first. You were my first, how should I say this? Test subject, I guess. When you were first born, I gave you my abilities, then planned to kill you as soon as I got my results. I saw what happened to your mother and the doctor, how you froze them with your eyes. I got my results, but you were the first one I tested this on. I was sloppy and never killed you. Then I moved onto the next test subject and forgot about you over the years. That is until a couple of years ago.
I felt something powerful from over in this area. Something similar to the powers I gave… the other boy. I came here, expecting to find him, but instead I found you. That's when I realized you were something special. So, I started monitoring and learning more about you. I figured out that your effect on people is not only triggered by when you look them in the eye, but also by your emotions. Each emotion combined with your power has a different effect on people. For example, when you're calm, you can hypnotize people into doing different things for you. When you're scared, you freeze people in place forever. When you're tired, everyone around you collapses and sleeps."
I felt a nerves rise in my stomach. "Wh...what about when I'm angry?" I silently pleaded that my theory wouldn't be true.
Herobrine smirked. "Oh, you mean what happened to your father? Well, when you're angry, people burn from the inside out."
I stared at him wide-eyed. "I… I burned my dad?"
"That would seem to be the case, yes." Tears started to sting my eyes. "Now, now. There's no reason to cry, Adam. You should feel lucky in fact."
"Lucky?!" I demanded. "How am I lucky?!"
Herobrine smiled at me. "Well, when I first found you, I considered killing you right then and there. Then I saw how powerful you were, and I decided that you could be an excellent pawn in my plan."
"I won't do anything for you!" I shouted at him.
Herobrine just chuckled at my reaction. "Wow, you really are a lot like Mitch." He covered his mouth and laughed when he said the name. "Oops. Oh well. Now you know his name. I suppose that it will just save me some time later when you two actually meet. But honestly, you two really are so much alike. You're both determined, ambitious, and oblivious to what is really good for you because of what you lost. One day, maybe when you two meet, you'll both figure out that things happen for the better."
Herobrine handed me a pair of dark black sunglasses, just like the ones I had broken earlier. "Until that day, do not tell anyone of our little talk, okay? Because if you do, you'll lose a lot more than just you father, and I would hate to break you more before I need you."
I reluctantly put on the glasses and looked at Herobrine, who smiled at me. "Good. Well then, I must be off then. See you soon, Adam. And remember, things happen for a reason." Then he faded into the shadows, leaving me in the alley way alone.
Things happen for a reason. That one sentence kept playing on repeat in my head. "Yeah, Herobrine," I spat to the spot where Herobrine had stood a few seconds ago. "Things do happen for a reason." My hands shook with anger and tears streamed down my cheeks. "Now I know you are the one who gave me these powers that kill people. You're the reason I killed my dad. I also know that if I ever get a chance, I'll make sure that you don't get what you want, ever. You won't control me. I'll do anything to stop whatever plan you have. And if I ever do meet that Mitch guy, whoever he is, I'll make sure he thinks the same thing."
