p class="MsoNormal"I knock the wood weakly. I feel awkward standing before the green door. This is the house I grew up in. This should be home. But it's not. emHome is with / /em"Just a second!" My mother sings from inside. Her voice brings a small smile to my tear stained face. I wait for a minute longer before she swings open the / /em"Mum!" I drop my bags and hug her, sobbing into her /
/em"Oh, Evi, honey! What's happened?" She holds me back to look at me, with an empathetic expression on her face, before bending down to pick up my bags. "Let's get you inside."embr / /emI nod silently. We step into the warm house, my mother closing the door behind us. The familiar rooms feel so strange now. embr / /em"Go sit down in the lounge. I'll make us some hot cocoa." She says sweetly. I comply, quickly falling into the soft /
/emI don't like being alone now. I don't want to be all alone with my thoughts. They torture me and pull at my mind. So, I am extremely thankful when my mother returns with two steaming mugs. She passes one to me and sits beside /
/em"What's happened, honey? Have you moved out of the institute?" She places her hand lovingly on my / /emI nod. "Scott's split up with me." The words cause more tears to / /em"Oh,
Evi!" She hugs me tightly. "Shhh. It'll be okay. Did he say why?"embr / /em"W-we had a f-fight!" I stutter through the /
/em"Why? I thought you were so happy together." I sense her sympathy. It makes me feel weak. I hate feeling / /em"We w-were!" As happy as you can be when every day runs the risk of your mutation being exposed and the world hating /
/em"Was there someone else?" She questions, finally releasing me. I simply nod. Technically, there was. "He cheated?" She sounds /
/em"No."embr / /em"Oh,
Evi, you didn't! No, honey, I thought you-"embr /
/em"I didn't." I cut in. "He was just a friend."embr / /em"Then, what happened?" She pushes. As much as I love her, my mother's addiction to gossip is so irritating /
/em"I met this guy, John, and we found out we had a lot in common. He gave me his number. Scott made it clear when they first met that he disliked John, but I really liked him. So I rang him and we started meeting up." I take a few more deep breaths, to keeping my words clear of sob-induced stuttering. "But we had to do it behind Scott's back, so that he wouldn't stop us. It went on for months. Then, John did something to upset me, so I said I didn't want to friends. To get back at me, he told Scott everything."embr / /em"Oh, Evelyn." She shakes her head. "You know that was a silly thing to do!"embr /
/em"I know." I sigh. "And I wanted to tell him sooner, but John kept persuading me not too."embr /
/em"But nothing more went on between you and this John guy?" She / /em"No.
He was just a friend." I can't really tell her we have a psychic connection and we made out telepathically once. "And now I've lost both of them!"embr / /em"I'm sure Scott will forgive you in time, honey." emI'm not./em "But in the meantime, what are you doing about school?"embr / /em"I'm going back to public school. I didn't learn much at the institute anyway."
I / /em"Okay, honey." She hugs me one last time. "Why don't you go and unpack, while I get started on dinner?"embr / /em"Yeah."
My voice is almost too weak to carry the word. "Thanks,
mom."embr / /emI take my bags and slowly walk to my old room. This isn't right. I shouldn't be sleeping alone again. This is all emhis/em fault!embr /
/em"emPyro!/em" I snap in my / /em"emWhat?/em"
He sounds irritated, which annoys me even /
/em"emYou know what!/em" My thoughts are loud and I'm sure he will be able to feel my anger and / /em"emHe deserved to know/em." He replies /
/em"emOh, don't pretend you're so righteous!/em"embr / /em"emFine!
I told him because you don't belong there!/em" His emotion seems to peak to match /
/em"emNo! You've just ruined my life! I've lost my boyfriend, been rejected by my team and been thrown out of my home. You've destroyed everything/em!" I battle with myself to keep the tears / /em"emYou still have me./em" I don't reply. I can't. emWhat am I supposed to say to that?/em I've lost everyone who knows the truth about me... emEveryone but John/em. I hate him for what he's done to me. But he's all I have left. emNo.
No, I can't just forgive him. Can I? No. br / /em"emThey can't hold you back anymore, Ardor. I freed you./em"embr / /em"emYou broke me, John./em"
Even my thoughts are weak now. embr / /em"emWe need to talk./em" He changes the subject / /em"emSo talk, Pyro!/em" I / /em"emNo, I need to see you./em"embr / /em"emFine./em"
I agree, though I'm not sure why. "emMidnight. The usual place./em"embr / /em"emThank you, Evelyn./em" His thoughts are calm / /em"emNo. You still can't call me that./em" I cut / /em"emI'll see you tonight, Ardor/em."/p