Saturday

Erick blinked and he was greeted by a dull gray morning; the sun had yet to rise though it wasn’t far off. A thick quilted blanket had been draped over Erick sometime during the night. A quick look around revealed that Sarah was not inside the car. Through the shot out windows on the one side of the car, Erick could see nothing but highway and squat apartment buildings. Condensation had collected on the remaining windows, obscuring Erick’s view of the other side of the car. Using a corner of the blanket like a towel, Erick wiped away the moisture from the window nearest him. Outside was a large grassy park, beyond which rose a towering skyline of skyscrapers whose outline he recognized at once. A gap between the skyscrapers made this one of the few spots on the west side of Purge City where you could watch the sun rise. Purge City was a good three or four hour drive from Erick’s home and he’d only made the trip once before. This was, however, the one place in Purge that Erick had visited. Across the street on the far side of the park was the old apartment building where his dad was shot and killed.

Still curious about where Sarah had gone, Erick eased himself out of the car, taking the blanket with him. A few joggers passed him as he walked along the path, a few of them glancing back with confused looks on their faces; not many teenagers wandered around the park wrapped up in quilts, apparently. About a hundred yards down the path, Erick spotted Sarah, silhouetted against the lightening horizon, on a bench not far off the path.

Sarah didn’t move or say anything when Erick sat down beside her and offered her some of the blanket. He didn’t know what to do next and so tried to follow Sarah’s example and remain silent. Unfortunately, given all that had happened the previous night and their current predicament, Erick knew they should be making plans, figuring out their next step, and the lack of communication quickly became uncomfortable.

“Thanks for the blanket,” Erick said at last to break the silence.

“Mmm,” Sarah muttered but didn’t follow it up with anything else.

“My legs are still a bit shaky,” Erick pressed on conversationally, not to be deterred, “but I think the worst of it’s over.”

Sarah nodded.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Erick asked, still trying to keep up the conversation, if it could be called that.

Sarah shook her head.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t think so, all things considered.”

A jogger came running along the path and they fell back into silence. The rhythmic plodding of feet must have frightened a group of nesting birds because all at once the air was filled with the sound of flapping wings and protesting bird calls.

“You know,” Erick whispered as soon as the jogger was out of earshot and leaning in close to Sarah, “I think we’re in trouble.”

Sarah gave a halfhearted attempt to laugh and for a moment Erick could see the distant lights reflect in her eyes, but all too quickly it faded as she lowered her gaze.

“It’s getting worse,” s he whispered back in a tone of unmistakable fear.

Erick shrank back and a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ran through him.

“There was a warning on the radio while you were asleep,” Sarah explained, “They’re saying that you’ve killed your family and taken me hostage.”

“So they are dead,” Erick’s voice choked up.

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, you at least can go home,” Erick said, restraining his emotions. “I’ve got my strength back and…well, I can figure things out from here on my own.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Sarah said, her voice becoming strained. “You think they’d leave me and my family alone if I just turned back up?” Sarah fought back tears, a battle she was clearly losing. “What would I tell them? I helped you escape and then regretted it but won’t tell them where you are? What do you think they’d do to me?” Sarah sobbed freely into her hands.

“Come here,” Erick wrapped an arm around her and tucked the blanket more firmly into place, “I think we’ve had enough to worry about for right now, so lets just watch the sunrise.”

The sun was indeed beginning to rise and Sarah allowed herself to be quieted. An early morning breeze caught the grass around them in swirling drafts. Sarah’s hair blew about, her eyes closed and her face regaining a measure of calm.

Their moment of peace couldn’t last, but Erick was grateful for the respite from the full weight of their situation. The government was hunting for him, his family was dead because of him, and if he lost control again, he might end up killing more innocent people.

Golden light flashed through the city as the first rays of the sun burst over the horizon, reflected everywhere on mirrored glass. Sarah pointed to the tallest building in Purge.

“Looks like a bottle of honey,” she said softly.

The glowing sunlight had indeed turned the building a deep shade of amber. More buildings followed suit as the the sun climbed higher over the horizon. Like a flood of honey pouring ever so slowly through the city, each building in turn changed hue to match the rising sun. Most of the joggers throughout the park stopped to watch the spectacle as well, resting and stretching their legs at the same time.

Erick was just wishing to himself for this moment to last forever when, in an instance, it was over. The sun was risen, the city was back to its usual gray and black, and their short time of peace was over.

“Okay,” Erick said when neither of them could comfortably continue to ignore reality, “First things first. How do you know what’s going on?”

“I don’t,” said Sarah.

“What about what you said when we were leaving the theater?” Erick said in disbelief, “’Your parents will need to know’?”

“I don’t—

“You even knew where I lived,” Erick cut Sarah off, “and now that I think about it, you knew my name.” Erick shook his head. “Did they tell everyone but me about…me?”

“They didn’t tell everyone,” Sarah said, “I found out by accident.”

“But what did they tell you about me?”

“They lied to you, why not the rest of us?”

“But what did they tell you?” Erick repeated. “Anything that they’ve told you is more than what they’ve told me.”

Sarah shied away, “It was probably all a lie.”

Erick’s shoulders sagged and he took in a deep breath. “I don’t care. I want to know.”

“They said,” Sarah looked down to her lap, “that you’re dangerous.”

“So is a guy with a gun,” Erick said flatly.

“Not in the same way,” Sarah murmured. “Did you mean to blow up that car? Or what about your house?”

“Fair enough,” said Erick and then added as an afterthought, “How did you find out about me?”

Sarah hesitated for a moment but then she spoke, a little faster than usual but not so much as to make it difficult to understand her.

“Last year some friends and I decided to skip school,” she said, “but I needed to grab some stuff from my house first. While I was up in my room I heard people talking downstairs which freaked me out since no one was supposed to be home then. Well, the vent in my room has always acted like a little speaker for whatever else is going on in the house so I bent down and put my ear to listen through it. I recognized my parents voices right away, but the other voice was new to me. That guy your step dad mentioned, Dr. Spielman, was talking about you and the weird stuff you did when you were younger.”

“Weird stuff?” Erick asked when Sarah paused to adjust the blanket.

“The same as what your step dad told you about,” she assured him. “He said that you could do all that stuff because you can manipulate energy with your mind.”

Erick waited for further explanation but none came.

“That’s it?” he asked when Sarah continued to say nothing. “Parents beware, he can manipulate energy!”

“I mean, I think he was trying to get my dad to help him study you because my dad’s a neuro-scientist as well.”

Anger flared inside Erick’s chest. “So your dad’s been studying me too?”

“Of course not!” Sarah exclaimed at once, and then blushed. “Well, I don’t know,” she admitted, “An agent, like the ones from last night, caught me listening in before they could get too far into that part of the conversation.”

“Did they say anything about where they were stationed, or where Dr. Spielman’s office was?”

“No,” Sarah said, “I missed that part of the conversation.”

Fear and frustration over how little they knew drove Erick to his feet and he paced back and forth in front of the bench.

“But I stopped doing all that stuff, why were they still so interested in studying me?” Erick demanded.

“I don’t know,” Sarah said.

“And if all they wanted me for was a weapon why wait until now to come for me?”

“They don’t want you for a weapon,” Sarah said.

“They do,” Erick said in a tone of finality “I heard them.”

Sarah looked as though she wanted to argue the point further but didn’t.

“And what does manipulate energy even mean?” Erick shouted, his voice cracking, and he gesticulated wildly as his frustration peaked.

“IT MEANS YOU CAN BLOW UP CARS!” Sarah yelled, making several joggers turn down branching paths so they wouldn’t have to go passed.

Erick’s brief fury abated and Sarah relaxed as well

“You can do anything you can imagine. That’s what Dr. Spielman said at least.”

“I’m sorry,” Erick said and ran a hand through his messy hair. Dirt and gravel were still abundant and scratched against his scalp, adding to his agitation.

“Come sit back down,” Sarah patted the seat beside her and Erick obeyed. His spot on the bench was still warm and he wrapped himself back up in the quilt. Sarah rested her hand on Erick’s leg and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“So, that’s it?” Erick asked in a much more subdued voice.

“Yeah, but I got the impression my parents weren’t the only ones that were visited.”

Birds twittered above them in the trees and they watched as other wildlife woke up and began skittering through the park. The birds were by far the most active, swooping around, eating the little berries that grew on so many of the trees and bushes.

“Can I fly?” Erick asked abruptly.

“You tell me,” Sarah laughed and tied back her hair to keep the wind from whipping it around, “I’ve always just imagined comic book characters whenever I’ve thought about you.”

“And how often is that?” Erick pried.

“Often enough that now I can’t help but visualizing you in tights.”

Erick deflated and his face began to redden. “I’m…really not sure how to feel about that.”

Sarah nodded and continued to smirk. “Cute ones, too, with a bright yellow cape and booties and—”

“And that’s enough,” Erick cut her off before the image of him in tights became etched into his mind as well. “What do we do now?”

Sarah stared at Erick as though the answer to his questions should have been obvious. “Learn to control your powers.”

“Yeah, right,” Erick chuckled but Sarah’s face remained serious. Erick gawked, open mouthed. “You can’t be serious? That’s what they’re after.”

“But you have super powers, Erick,” Sarah stated.

“Powers that they could control if they got their hands on me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Think about it,” Erick replied, “They want me for some kind of weapon, but they came to get me only after I had manifested my abilities. Whatever their plan is, I’m useless to them as long as I don’t learn to control—

“But, Erick, you blew up a car and—”

“And I passed out afterwards,” Erick’s body was still lethargic. “Blacking out after a few blasts doesn’t sound very efficient to me and I’m sure they noticed it too. No!” Erick pressed on when Sarah opened her mouth to continue arguing, “I’m pretty much useless to them right now and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Then I think we should do what I first suggested and go to the police. Let them take care of it,” Sarah said.

“We can’t do that either,” Erick wondered if Sarah was even listened to what he said. If she was, none of it seemed to be sinking in. “They are the police. They are the military. They are the government. There’s no one we can go to for help.”

“You don’t know that,” Sarah said, though she didn’t quite sound like she believed herself.

“It’s not worth the risk,” Erick said. “We can’t just go to the police and hope they’re on our side. Of course, we’d have to convince them that we’re not crazy first.”

“You could blow up another car for them,” Sarah teased, “but I see your point. We probably should keep ourselves hidden for now.” Sarah thought for a long while, her face giving nothing away, and at last she spoke again. “What do we do then? Neither of us can go home, the government is hunting you, and you refuse to learn to control your powers, which, I might add, could possibly be the answer to our problems.”

Erick rolled his eyes and finally decided to take the bait. “Okay,” he said, “how do you figure that?”

“You can do anything you can imagine, Erick. Anything. If you would only stop and think about what that means for one minute you would understand. Why not use your powers against them?”

“Because I’m not a fighter,” Erick said more in defeat than as an argument.

“What about that guy you decked in the theater?” Sarah asked.

“You saw that?”

“Kinda hard to miss when it happened right in front of me.”

It seemed like an eternity ago that Erick was at the theater with his friends. He wondered what Mark and the others would think when they heard the news. Would they believe that he, Erick, had gone off the deep end and done all of those horrible things? Erick hoped that they wouldn’t believe it, but given his home life, he would understand if they did. Mark would probably tell the others the truth about Jack, and they’d all assume that he had pushed Erick a little too far.

“I don’t think anyone actually knows what all you can do,” Sarah said, bringing Erick back to the present, “I think if you learned how to use your powers, build up some endurance maybe, you could protect yourself from them, and then…well I’m not sure. But whatever you decide to do, I want to help,” Sarah gave Erick’s knee another comforting squeeze.

“Thank you,” Erick replied.

Sarah looked around, “So where do we go from here?”

That question, at least, was an easy one to answer, even though Erick’s stomach turned at the thought. He pointed across the park to an abandoned apartment complex.

“It’s been closed for years,” Erick explained, “it’s out of the way, and near enough to the rest of the city that we can find other places to hide, if we need to.”

They crossed the park and headed over to the back of the apartment complex so that no one would see them go in. The complex wasn’t anything special, just a simple two story building in the shape of a square doughnut with all the apartment doors facing the central courtyard. A couple of small arched gateways on either end were the only ways in or out of the courtyard. The back gate was locked and the archway was bricked high to prevent eager climbers. They spread out, trying the windows to see if any of them would open.

“I’ve got an idea,” Erick told Sarah when the last window failed to budge. “Get back.”

The gate and the brickwork were both large and sturdy but the lock was small, nothing but a series of pins and gears.

“What…”

Sarah’s question was already being answered as Erick brought his hands to the center of his chest. Energy began to flow through him, it was easier now and he only needed enough to break the lock.

The small, blue distortion shot through the air and struck the lock. Bursting like a firecracker, the lock flew apart and the gate screeched open. They crossed over the threshold and peered in. Trees were overgrown and the waist high grass concealed any other features about the ground. Each corner had a set of ivy covered stairs leading up to the second floor apartments.

“Let’s bring the car around back,” Erick said. “We’ll need to hide it from view.”

Within ten minutes the car was hidden in the back and concealed beneath a tarp and a pile of garbage that they’d collected.

“Power’s off,” Sarah called as they inspected their new second floor apartment.

“No surprise there. Do we have water?”

Erick looked out the living room window. From his vantage point he could still make out a few of the early morning runners in the park.

“No water, either,” Sarah announced when she joined Erick at the windowsill.

“Shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Erick told her. “I installed sprinkler systems last summer. We always had to find the main water valve and shut it off and on.”

Sarah sighed in relief and Erick went out and found the water main buried in the grassy courtyard. A few minutes later, hands and knees muddy, Erick returned.

“Let it run for a while,” Erick told Sarah after tuning on the kitchen faucet and going towards the bathroom. “I can only imagine what the pipes are like after being dry for so long.”

The tub gurgled and spit longer than the rest before it maintained a steady flow of brown water.

“Yeah,” Erick said to himself, “let it run for long while.”

“No chance for any warm water, is there?”

Sarah came around the corner and Erick, sitting on the edge of the tub and watching the murky water run, started and began to fall backwards into the tub. Sarah lunged forward and caught him at the last second.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” she said and helped Erick back to his feet.

“Hot water?” Sarah asked again with a hint of a plea.

“Sorry, no. We’ll have to make due with cold,” Erick looked back at the tub, “brown, water.”

Sarah made a face and turned to leave.

“I’m going to get some things from the car,” she said, “be right back.”

Erick was left to explore the rest of the apartment alone. They’d chosen a corner apartment on the second floor because it gave them the best view possible, which made it easier to keep on eye on the outside and make sure they didn’t get surprised by any unwanted visitors. On the one side of the living room, the windows overlooked the park and the other side looked down along the street they’d come in on. The back room was empty except for a single wooden chair which Erick dragged out to the front room and placed facing the park.

While he waited for Sarah to return, the details of his father’s death played over in his mind. He had been living in this complex, in the apartment just below where they were staying. After a week undercover his body was found in the kitchen.

“I didn’t know this apartment came furnished,” Sarah called as she reentered the living room and tossed a light blue blanket to Erick as soon as he turned to look at her. “I’ve got a few more in my car if we need them.”

Erick looked down at the blanket she’d thrown to him and was immediately bombarded by several others. He shuffled free and stared at the remaining pile in her arms.

“How many blankets do you have?” Erick asked.

“Enough,” she replied with a mischievous grin, “And a first-aid kit and some other things that my dad thought I might need in case of an emergency.”

Erick chuckled while he laid out the blankets in one corner, forming a makeshift bed. It was no masterpiece but it looked comfy enough.

“I thought you would take the bedroom,” Erick said, surprised when he turned away from his corner to see Sarah doing the same with her blankets in the opposite corner.

Sarah shrugged, “I trust you.”

Erick didn’t say anything. That wasn’t what he’d meant when he offered Sarah the bedroom. It was mere courtesy, he thought.

“Now all we need is food,” Sarah said, looking around.

“Your dad didn’t by any chance pack you some in those emergency supplies of yours?” Erick, of course, knew the answer would be no, seeing as it was Sarah who pointed out their need but he asked the question any way.

“He did,” Sarah replied with a hint of guilt.

“But you ate it?”

Sarah nodded and Erick barked out a laughed. It felt good to laugh and Erick took every opportunity to do so.

“Your dad takes good care of you, doesn’t he?” Erick observed.

“Hmm,” Sarah answered with a faraway look.

“Did he pay for your car as well?” Erick teased.

“As a matter of fact he did. He gave it to me for my last birthday.” Sarah stated proudly in defense of her dad.

“It certainly is a nice car,” Erick said.

“Yeah, it was,” Sarah replied, “until someone had to go and get it all shot up.”

Erick lowered his gaze from Sarah’s when a sudden idea struck him. “Do you want to call your parents?” he asked, “I’m sure they must be worried out of their minds.”

Sarah hesitated for a moment and her expression darkened.

“Erick,” she said, choosing her words with care and keeping her voice level, “I had a lot of time to think this morning before you woke up. First of all, you know calling my parents would be a terrible idea. They probably got their phones tapped the minute we escaped. Second, I always set my phone on silent when I go to the movies and with everything that happened after the movie I never turned it back. About halfway to Purge I noticed that I had a text message from my dad.” Sarah paused and fought back tears. “It said, ‘They can track your phone. We trust you. Love Dad and Mom.’ I shut my phone off and tossed it, just in case. I hope you don’t mind but I did the same to yours.”

Erick instinctively checked his pocket where he usually kept his phone and, sure enough, it was gone. Sarah wiped the tears from her face and regained her composure.

“Yeah, um” Erick stammered, “that was smart to get rid of both phones. If they can trace yours they can trace mine,” his throat tightened, though he wasn’t sure if it was in response to Sarah’s emotion or from his own fears, barely contained as they were. “Alright then. That’s settled.”

They looked solemnly at each other and returned to setting up their temporary home.

“Well,” Sarah began after a while, “I think that it should be me who goes out and does our shopping. People will be looking for you more than me. Besides, you need all the time you can get to work on your powers.”

Erick didn’t protest this time against Sarah’s suggestion about his powers, he didn’t see the point in it.

“Do you have any cash on you?” Erick asked. “We can’t risk using anything else.”

“There should be about a hundred dollars in my car,” she said, “My dad packs what he thinks people will need.”

“If only I’d been so lucky,” Erick stated dryly.

Sarah pursed her lips and studied the grain in the wood floor. After the awkward silence had stretched on long enough, Sarah said “I’m off.” She turned and walked toward the door. “I saw a convenience store a couple blocks back when we drove in.”

She left and Erick sat down on the chair to watch the park.

“Try a little mind reading while I’m gone,” Sarah called up from the courtyard.

The clang of the gate sounded and she was gone before Erick could respond.

“Okay then,” Erick murmured, “Mind reading.”

Joggers dotted the small paths that wove through the trees and sloped lawn of the park across the street. Erick focused on a middle-aged woman. She was nearest and had a dog that liked to stop and smell the trunks of trees more than it did jogging.

What are you thinking? Erick probed as he stared steely eyed at her.

Half an hour later Sarah came bouncing in with a grocery bag in either hand. “Any luck?” she asked.

“We’re insane,” Erick replied without hiding his frustration. “This whole situation is crazy.”

“So, no luck?” Sarah guessed.

He shook his head and turned away from her.

“Well come have some breakfast,” Sarah chided him. “You must be too exhausted right now to do anything, that’s all. I’m surprised you were able to break the lock on the gate earlier.”

Erick mumbled indistinctly in agreement and Sarah left to finish preparing their breakfast in the kitchen.

Erick knew she was right. Thinking back, he was surprised about the lock too. Searching inside of himself for the pulsing he found almost nothing. He must have used up what little energy he’d stored up since the night before.

“Breakfast!” Sarah called with a distinct cheerful tone.

How she could be so happy and upbeat all of a sudden was beyond Erick and she greeted him perkily as he entered the kitchen, everything needed to make peanut butter sandwiches were laid out on the counter.

“It’s not much but it’s cheap and easy.”

Erick’s stomach growled as they each made a sandwich.

“Cheers,” she said and they tapped their sandwiches together as though toasting each other with glasses.

“No point wasting time with your powers until you get recharged,” Sarah beamed at Erick, “So while we wait you can tell me about yourself?”

“Recharged?” he asked. “What am I, a battery?” He moved to leave the kitchen.

“Oh stop acting like you’re offended.”

Sarah moved to grab his arm before he could get out of reach. Erick slowed his pace enough for her to catch his hand and pull him back to the counter. Sarah gave a knowing look and cloistered the captured hand in hers.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said while stroking his wrist.

Erick’s mind threatened to blank out.

Sarah strolled out of the kitchen, pulling him along with her, and over to her nest of blankets where she sat down. Erick slid his back down along the wall and sat on the hard floor, facing her.

A moment passed and Erick couldn’t help but stare at the wall.

“Are you going to tell me about yourself or not?” Sarah spoke after some time.

“What do you want to know?” Erick said quickly, hoping to cover up for his distraction.

Sarah brightened and threw a blanket over her shoulders.

“You said you’ve used your powers before. What else have you done?”

He rolled his head back against the wall and stared up at the cracking ceiling. “I thought we were taking a break from that.”

“No, really,” Sarah pressed on, “It might be useful, you know, give us something to work towards.”

Erick looked back at her and was surprised by the hungry look she was giving him.

“I said there were a few times when I think I may have been doing something out of the ordinary,” Erick used as many words as he could to deflect Sarah’s interest but her expression never faltered. “I’ll admit,” he went on, “I was curious about a few things before last night but—

“But you didn’t know what you were doing before, when those things happened. Now you do and it might be useful.”

She met his gaze with pure determination and Erick knew she wouldn’t budge.

“Okay, you win again. I’m going to have to stop arguing with you. It’s pointless to resist.”

“Resistance is futile,” Sarah said with a mischievous glint in her eye that made Erick hesitate.

“Did you just quote Star Trek?” he asked after a moment.

“You’re getting off subject,” Sarah said a little too loud and abrupt to be natural.

“No, I think you—

“We need to focus, Erick.”

Sarah’s neck flushed. It continued to spread up to her cheeks and into her forehead until her entire face was bright red. Sarah hid her face behind her hair and hands and for the first time since they’d met it was her, not Erick, who was at a loss for words. Erick grinned broadly.

“Oh, I hate blushing,” Sarah squirmed.

The experience was priceless, if a bit short lived. Chivalry won out and Erick didn’t pursue the matter.

“I think I can fly,” he said to call Sarah back from behind her hands.

She peeked through her hair and fingers at him and he could still see the faint tinge of pink on her forehead.

“There was that field trip last year to the capital, remember?” he asked.

Sarah nodded and her hands receded a couple more inches.

“It was a long bus ride so we stopped halfway to stretch our legs and as I was walking back to the bus I took a running jump off the curb.”

Ooh!” Sarah exclaimed and sat bolt upright. “Someone saw you! They said they saw you walking back, they turned away for a second and when they looked back you were landing on the other side of the street. I remember wondering at the time if I should call it in.”

“Call it in?” Erick asked.

“Oh, right,” Sarah stammered, “After I found out about you and your powers, they said that if I ever saw you use them, that I should call and let them know.”

Erick nodded and Sarah bristled with renewed excitement.

“So what was it like?” she asked.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “People don’t just jump twenty feet.”

“But what was it like?” Sarah repeated.

Erick thought back. He remembered jumping off the curb, leaving the ground and having that momentary sensation of weightlessness, but then…

“It was like, glowing,” he faltered.

Sarah’s excitement dropped when Erick’s analogy failed.

“Like energy was pouring out me…from…everywhere. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like trying to describe the color blue to someone.”

“Cold,” said Sarah without missing a beat.

“Or purple.”

“Autumn air in the evening.”

“Yellow.”

“Soprano on a high note.” Sarah grinned in challenge.

“Why don’t you describe what flying’s like, then?”

“I know colors, not flight, Erick.”

“Fair enough, but I still don’t know how else to describe it.”

Sarah nodded and looked down to her lap where she held a small notebook and pen that Erick hadn’t noticed before. She wrote a few notes and then looked back to Erick.

“What?” she asked while she tried to slide the notebook out of view.

“What are you writing?”

Erick leaned forward to see if he could get a better view of the page. Sarah pushed him back against the wall but in doing so she left her notebook unguarded. He swiped it away and rolled across the floor out of her reach.

“Strength, speed, laser vision,” he read with increasing disbelief. “And fly with three stars around it?”

Sarah recovered from her initial failed attempt to catch me and snagged the notebook back.

“I’m not Superman,” Erick said.

Sarah retreated back to her corner and sat down on her notebook like a mother hen protecting her eggs. Erick laughed.

“I’m trying to follow Dr. Spielman’s advice,” she said.

“What advice?” asked Erick. “I thought all he told you to do was beware.”

“Right,” Sarah with obvious unease, “Well, it’s just that, when they were explaining it all to me, Dr. Spielman said the easiest way to understand your powers was to think of super heroes and what they could do.”

Sarah shuffled a few more inches away from Erick when he glared down suspiciously at her notebook once more.

“It’s okay, your notebook’s safe,” he reassured her. “Go ahead and make your list.”

Sarah pulled the notebook back out but held it on her side furthest from Erick.

“But I’m not becoming Superman.”

Sarah continued to smile and giggle as she turned over a new page.

“Alright then,” she said as she began to write down her new list as she spoke. “Fly, mind reading, and your blue thingy.”

“My what?” Erick asked.

“You know,” Sarah pulled her hands to her chest, thrust them outward, and said, “Pshew!”

“We are not calling it that.”

“Okay, it’s your power, what do you want to call it?”

“Not blue thingy.”

“Um, yeah, I guessed that.”

“I don’t know,” Erick thought for a moment and Sarah tapped impatiently on her notebook. “How about, energy blast.”

Sarah wrote it down before he could change his mind.

“What else?” she asked, looking up at Erick with her ever-present air of excitement.

Erick shuffled his weight to get feeling back in his legs after sitting on the hard floor for so long. Sarah moved over in her pile of blankets and motioned for him to join her. Erick shuffled awkwardly over to her and, side by side, they stared down at the list in her lap.

“So, what’s the next power’s story?” Sarah prompted me.

“Right,” said Erick, “well things around me have have a tendency to move without warning. Usually when I need them to. Stopped some baseballs before they hit me, pulled things to my hand that were out of reach, and once I pushed my half sister, Rachel, across the living room without touching her. There was never any blue light or explosions with those so I figure it must be something different from my energy blast.”

“And none of that was ever a dead giveaway that you had powers?” Sarah demanded.

“I always found a way to rationalize it.”

“You rationalized jumping an entire street?” Sarah asked.

Erick shook his head. “I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“That I was wrong, or right,” he told her. “If I was right, what was going on with me? But if I was wrong, then what? Was I crazy?”

Sarah nodded, understanding, and found her place in her notebook.

“Telekinesis,” she said as she wrote it down, “The ability to move objects with your mind. Jealous…You okay, Erick?”

He’d gone pale and his hands were shaking. Sarah touched his shoulder and he jumped. Erick’s heart pounded in his ears and his breathing was fast like he’d been running.

“You zoned out and went pale all of a sudden,” Sarah explained.

Erick wiped his forehead and shook himself a couple more times.

“Sorry,” he said a little sheepishly. “I guess got a little freaked out.”

“Thinking about when you’ll have to use these?” Sarah asked knowingly and holding up the list.

“Yeah.”

Sarah, for all of her support and unending happiness, wouldn’t be able to help much if and when the time came.

But what if he could find a way to move around unnoticed? He could find their base, if such a thing existed, sabotage whatever it was they planned to use to control him, and then sneak out. He wouldn’t need to fight at all.

“This should be enough for now,” Sarah was saying.

“Invisible,” Erick interrupted. “I want to learn to become invisible.”

“You can do that?” she asked in surprise.

“It’s worth a try,” he said with a shrug.

Sarah added it to her list and put it down.

“Now we’re done with the list, right?” she asked, but went on without waiting for a response. “We can add more as we go along.”

Erick stretched out his legs to stem the pins and needles that were still creeping through them regardless of the soft blankets he sat on.

“So what now?” Erick asked, rubbing out his thighs. “It’s a Saturday morning and we can’t go anywhere.”

Sarah rolled over onto her stomach, rested her head on her hands and bent her knees to dangle her feet over her back.

“We still haven’t gotten to know much about each other,” she said. “We’re practically strangers.”

And so they began to tell one another about themselves. It was wonderful. Sarah told of how she was an only child but that her parents wanted more. Erick avoided saying much about his family. His was nothing like the happy little utopia Sarah described. Erick’s mom waited a whole five months after his dad died before marrying Jack. Sarah made up for Erick’s lack of input and described her phobia of heights and went into great detail about where she wanted to go to college and get a nursing degree.

“It’s strange, though,” Sarah said, “none of that’s going to happen now, is it?”

Erick’s stomach tightened and his breath caught in his throat. What could he tell her?

“I don’t have the answer to that, Sarah.”

He rolled over onto his back so that their heads were next to one another with their bodies going in opposite directions.

“But I will say this,” his voice was low, just over a whisper, “As much as I am able, I’ll help you.”

A silver tear slid down the side of her face. Erick wanted to reach over and wipe it off but held back.

“And what about you?” Sarah asked, her own voice softening. “Do you plan to go to college? Use your powers to disguise yourself or something?”

For the first time Erick heard real jealousy in Sarah’s voice.

“Honestly? I doubt I’ll graduate High School at this rate.”

Erick overcame his fear and wiped the stream of tears away from Sarah’s face.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I get the feeling that what we’re doing right now,” Erick said, “pretty much defines what the rest of my life is going to be like.”

Sarah turned over onto her side, “You really think so?” she asked. Erick nodded and left it at that.

“Well then lets stop feeling sorry for ourselves,” Sarah said with a bit of her usual spark. “It seems like we should have plenty of time for sulking later.”

Erick chuckled, “You’re either an amazing optimist, or the world’s greatest procrastinator. Whichever it is, thank you. We can at least enjoy what we have.”

Sarah grinned in her usual, innocent manner.

“Exactly,” she said and leaned over and kissed Erick on the forehead. “I’m going to take a nap.”

Without saying another word she grabbed up a patch of blankets and rolled them over herself. Erick lied there a moment longer, still feeling the spot on his forehead where she’d kissed him.