Visions of A Powered

Soooorrryyy... it’s long but I think it’s worth the read. Action packed(or at least I tried to make it so). Dramatic(or at least I think it is). Exciting(you’ll have to let me know if I succeeded). Also I meant to change the title too because I don't like it much at all, but I didn't have any ideas of what to change it to, so I left it be.

I’ve been captured. Jail cells aren’t usually supposed to be lavish suites though I don’t think. The room I’m being held in is a large fancy room with a bathroom, walk in closet, and a kitchen area even though I don’t need a kitchen because they have brought me my meals each mealtime. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to act as a guest or a captive. The bars on the windows and the forceful kidnapping lead me to believe I’m supposed to be a captive while the high class room and superb meals suggest I’m a guest.

Let me step back a bit to tell you the full story then you can enjoy the rest of it.

So about eleven years ago, let’s see, I’d have been six, a healthy little boy who cared about little more than basketball, toy cars, his mom and his best friend. I found out soon after my sixth birthday that I was kind of special. Not like a good special, more of a bad special.

I am able to be omniscient. I can see into the future and past and know what is going on anywhere in the world; I can tell what people are thinking and what they were thinking. I am all-knowing but only when I’m in physical pain. Most of the time I carry my army knife with me now so I have a way to stimulate it I have reason to, but I don’t like using it if I don’t need to.

When I turned six, I got a skateboard from my mom and dad. I was so excited to use it. My sister told me to go outside and play with the skateboard while she wrapped my present because she hadn’t wrapped it yet. I ran outside to get as much time in as possible before she was ready. I didn’t know the first thing about skateboarding. I stood on it and wiggles back and forth waiting for it to move, I stood on it with one foot and scooted with the other a bit, I tried that with the other foot. It was slow and boring after a while and the whole time I was wondering what the present way that Katie had gotten me for my birthday that she couldn’t wrap it until now. I was tired of the skateboard going so slowly. New plan: run as fast as you can and jump onto it so your momentum would carry you forward. Ha! My momentum went forward, and down to the ground as the wheels on the skateboard wooshed forward and my body didn’t. I landed on my elbow and pain shot up through my arm. I blacked out and a second later a tornado of color flooded my vision. each color settled into place and created a scene. I saw my sister humming to herself, a box with a black puppy being wrapped with silver paper and a huge blue bow. She poked a couple holes in the side and ran into the living room, sat it down and ran to the front door to call me in. I heard a shriek and a shuffle of heavy feet coming to meet her and my parents appeared in view. Then it was gone and I blacked out again.

I woke up on a bed being run through a hospital hall. Pain flamed in my mangled arm. One bone poked through my skin pointing in a strange L away from my body. Suddenly nauseus from seeing the bloody bone sticking through my ripped arm I puked all over the sheet and the nurse above my head called out “He’s awake. Get room 304 ready for surgery. It’s a broken arm sticking out of the skin.” and I blacked out again.

When I woke up, eyes were heavy, my head was throbbing and an IV was in my wrist. My sister, Katie, sat across from me. Katie is seven years older than me and always takes good care of me. I took a good several blinks trying to lift the weights on my eyelids. Katie looked up from her phone and smiled at me. “Quite the birthday, eh?”

“Yeah.” I replied smiling, “Thanks for the little puppy. I’m gonna name it...” I looked around the room, “Calf.” I told her beaming the picture of a muscle chart on the wall opposite the bed.

She stared at me. “But you haven’t opened that present up yet.” She said slowly.

“I saw it when I hurt my arm. I saw you wrapping a black little puppy in a box in your room.” I chirped, and then I saw you come to get me, but I was unconscious outside, so you screamed for mom and dad.

Her eyes got big and she cursed. You could tell she was scared. “What’s the matter?” I questioned.

“You can see visions.” She whispered.

“Oh cool! Like a superpower?”

“I suppose so.” she took a deep breath and scrunched her eyebrows together like she does when she thinks. “We can’t tell mom or dad about this. If they find out they will freak out and probably do something they shouldn’t. Promise to keep this a secret?”

“Yes. I’m good at keeping secrets.” And from then on, I became a master of secrets.

Back to about one year ago, when I would have it’s turned sixteen, I started all this trouble and if you can guess, it’s because I broke the promise. A year before that, I also found out some pretty interesting news, but I like getting shocked faces, so I’ll tell it in opposite order starting this next part when I was sixteen.

Katie came home for my sixteenth birthday acting strange like she was hiding something. She has a way of sharing any secret on accident so I set about trying to wiggle it out off her. I could have just hurt myself and watched the visions, but I didn’t want to. I don’t know about other people, but I don’t like to hurt myself. So I used what I already knew to sneak it out of her.

She’d had a boyfriend that she wasn’t telling us about so I figured that was probably what she was hiding but I wanted to make sure.

“Hey Katie, who do you hang out with at college?” Katie was 23 and finishing college.

“My friends? You saw them all when you visited a couple weeks ago. Why?”

“No reason. I just know you have a boyfriend you haven’t been telling us about.” I suggested cooly, not looking at her.

“You little jerk! Max, why would you use tha-that omniscience” she exploded, “to spy on me?!”

“Sorry, I just know you’re hiding something because you’re acting all weird.” I watched her for a second or two while she sat fidgeting in her chair from where I sat on her bed. “And by the looks of it, you’re hiding more than just your boyfriend.”

Katie squirmed in her chair. She got up and sat on the bed next to me. Her eyes, tearing up. Oh God no. “Oh, shit Katie. What did you do this time?”

“Don’t tell mom or dad until I do, promise?”

“Promise.”

I guess I broke two promises actually, now that I think about it.

“I’m pregnant.”

“Shit. Fuck. Aaah...” I moaned and closed my eyes with my hands behind my head.

Tears were falling faster now and each breath in was more of a gasp until she was full out sobbing. Her body shook with the ragged breaths, and she wiped at her eyes in vain with the back of her hands. I held out my arms and scooted closer. She collapsed into me putting her head on my shoulder and holding onto me around my torso. I’d seen people in movies do this before. In most of the movies, the person holding the other strokes their hair and tells them it’s going to be ok. It’s almost a proven fact that it works, so I figured I’d give it a try. Stroking her long dark brown curls, I whispered softly, “It’s gonna be ok. You’ll see. Everything will be fine.”

“No, it’s not gonna be ok.”

I didn’t know what to say to that because most of the inconsolable people in movies didn’t argue to their comforters.

“I-I don’t know w-what I’m gonna d-do.” She wailed.

I didn’t say anything, just sat and stroked her hair. I couldn’t have said anything if I was honest. I didn’t know what she was going to do. We sat there like that for a while until about a half hour later, exhausted from crying, she slowly fell asleep. I laid her down on the bed, sliding the pillow under her head, and stood up. I looked down at her wondering what it felt like to have something living inside of her, knowing she was just as good as a greenhouse for the little growing seed of an embryo within her.

I couldn’t help it. I put my hand on her flat stomach thinking I’d sense the baby. I was going to be an uncle. I sat down again, this time on the floor, and rested my head on the bed. I suddenly felt sad. I don’t know why, but a couple tears rolled from my eyes and a little sniff escaped me. A soft hand slid into my own rough one resting on her stomach. She whispered softly,

“Max, you’re the father.”

I spent the next few weeks slitting my wrists wanting andwers to all my questions until that no longer gave me pain. I relived every moment from the past, watched others in the present, and caught tiny glimpses of the future. I’ve always had a hard time getting visions of the future but it was even harder now that the pain was so short. I was growing so used to the cuts on my wrist, legs, stomach, and hands that I didn’t feel the pain very often.

One night standing in front of my mirror, shirt off, knife in hand. I was outlining each muscle with the tip of the blade. Blood droplets rolled down staining the waist of my sweatpants and yet, pain didn’t follow the blade’s path like it did a few months ago. I must have been deep in thought because I didn’t hear Katie come in.

“What in are you doing?!” She screamed.

I whipped around so fast I forgot the blade in my hand. it wasn’t forgotten for very long because this time I did feel pain. When I looked down before crumpling to the ground, I saw it plunged halfway into my side, a hood three inches deep. From where I laid on the floor, I could see her standing above me shocked as blood pooled around me and she shrieked for help.

Lights whipped around me, settling into the scene. I was always a bystander watching even my own self in each moment. This time I was in a hospital room. Katie was on the bed red faced puffing and screaming. A doctor or nurse was at her feet and my mom was at her side. I was standing in the corner looking as sick as I felt now and my dad was nowhere to be seen though I figured he was probably in the hallway. everyone seemed to be talking to her, my mom telling her to breath and the doctor telling her to push while I paced nervously on the far side white faced and sickly looking. I turned my attention back toward Katie when she gave a huge push and a roar, but there wasn’t a baby’s cry like I expected. The vision moved me closer and I saw the doctor struggling to unwrap a cord from around a baby boy’s neck. He cut its and one of the nurses rushed it out of the room. The vision took me into another room where a group of masked people in sterile blue gowns and rubber gloves hovered busily around the baby. A heart monitor was hooked up and with each beat, it slowed. Mine sped up as I watched it until mine was racing and it’s was barely making spikes ont he graph, and then finally was just a flat line across the screen. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see the unmoving line. If I was able to screem in the visions, I would have screamed until I was mute.

I was suddenly glad for the pain in my side. The pain in my side. The pain. I don’t feel physical pain in visions. I opened my eyes and I was in a sterile white room, my parents were there, but Katie was gone. I frantically tried to push myself out of bed but the pain in my side which was just a steady throbbing spiked and I had to lay back down.

I had to tell someone about the baby. I had to or else it would die. My first child. Katie’s child.

“Mom! Dad! Please. Please listen!” I begged.

“We’re right here. You need to rest. I don’t know how you got a knife in your side but you need rest to feel better.” My mom soothed.

“No, no, no. I won’t. I can’t. Katie is pregnant!” I gasp.

“What? No! She would have told us! No!”

I nod.

“She’s not married. Who is the father?”

I lower my head. “I am.” I exhale. I look back up at their faces, a mixture of shock, rage, disgust, and curiosity. “I’m the father.” I say louder.

I spend the next four hours telling them about everything. I told them about my accident with the broken arm on my birthday and how I saw the vision of the puppy when I blacked out. I tell them about a vision where I saw my mom and dad signing adoption papers for Katie when she was about a year old. I told them about how Katie and I saw more in each other after we both knew we weren’t related. I told them about how we had sex when I visited her a few weeks before my birthday and how I found out about the baby and her being pregnant on my birthday. (My dad, bad at knowing when to add in a joke, had to make one about Katie’s strange birthday present selection.) Then I told them about the vision I just came out of. They listened to all of this with very few comments and questions and it started to worry me. Had I broke my parents? Finding out your son has a superpower and your two children know that one of them is adopted and is carrying your other child’s baby which is going to die at birth unless we do something about it is a lot to take in at one time especially when the one telling all this just had a knife stuck in his abdomen just hours before.

After I went to sleep, my parents told my sister they knew everything and went to find help for Katie’s baby. They made arrangements and scheduled appointments for her. The doctor was informed on the vision of the umbilical cord and though the doctor was sworn not to talk about the visions to anyone, the listening ears of a government spy stationed at the hospital receptionist desk were not sworn to that secrecy.

A few days after the doctor was told, I was let out of the hospital stiched up, with new blood, and bandaged. The doctor told me I was very fortunate. “You missed the lungs by only a couple centimeters, hitting the liver instead. Liver wounds have a much lower mortality rate for several reasons. The liver is the only organ which repairs itself not with scar tissue but with its own cells. You need to watch for infection and clean it regularly. If it swells larger or doesn’t go down after this next week, come back in.”

I thanked him and left for home.

When I got home, we checked the mail and went inside. A few of the letters were for me. Probably get well soon cards I figured. The first two were but I came to an envelope without a return address with a red stamp on the back: CONFIDENTIAL. This made me a bit suspicious, so I opened it last.

It read:

Mr. Maxwell Foster,

This is a Case Officer working to recruit specific people. We have heard about your unique talent and wish for you to join us to work with the military. To reply YES, put this back in the mailbox with the flag up. It will get back to us.

-Case Officer T. G.

I ran it through the paper shredder, not telling anyone else. I wasn’t going to sell my power to the US Government so they could hurt me for their personal gain.

Next day, another letter came. This read:

Mr. Maxwell Foster,

We noticed you have disposed of our previous letter and did not return it with a YES. We regret to inform you that this invitation not an option. Send back YES and we will meet you at your house in one week.

-Case Officer T. G.

How did they know I shredded the last one? I guess they don’t know that I shredded it. Maybe they just know that I didn’t send it in. I do have an option. They can’t just kidnap me. I shredded this new letter. The following day, another letter came:

Mr. Maxwell Foster,

We must tell you that shredding the letters does not eliminate us. We will be picking you up at 10:00 p.m. in three days. Tomorrow, we send a list for you to pack and instructions on where to meet us. If you do not comply, we will be forced to share your secrets with the world. Your friends and relatives may not take kindly to you having a child with your sister or being able to see visions. If we have not shown you already, we have sent someone to watch you for about five days now.

-Case Officer T. G.

This was too much. I brought my parents and Katie into the bathroom in our basement, the only room without windows. I told them about the letters and showed them teh newest one which was the only one I hadn’t shredded. “You have to run.” Katie said.

“I can’t. You read the part where it said they have someone watching me right?”

“Yes, but they can’t be awake all the time. You need to pretend like you’re asleep for a couple hours then leave. You might get lucky and be able to go while they are asleep. It’s a risk you‘ll need to take.”

“I agree.” my mom chimed in, “They will use you and hurt you if you don’t go. Take the risk and leave us.” “They’ll use you to get to me. You have to go somewhere too.” “We’ll be fine.” My father sighed from the corner where he hadn’t said anything yet.

“No you won’t. I at least need Katie to go somewhere else so she and the baby will be safe.”

“I can go to Dean’s house.” She decided. “As long as he thinks it’s his, he’ll keep us safe there.”

“Ok. Then everything is settled. You eave today, and I’ll pack a small backpack and be on the run by midnight tonight.” I stepped forward putting my arms out. When we all in, I whispered my good licks and goodbyes. “Be safe.”

My parents left the room and Katie and I were alone.

“You broke my promise.”

“To save the baby.”

She sighed, “I know, but now you’re in danger and you won’t be able to see the baby anyway. It might as well be dead to you if you can never see it and I can never see you.”

“How can you say that? How can you say that you’d rather it die than not be able to see me? You are going to be a mother. Please take care of it. It’s going to be a boy.” “I didn’t mean what I said.” She cried, “You’re going to be running away from more than just the military who want you for your powers. I’m scared for you. A group called The Powered will want you to join them. I don’t know what they will want from you but I have powers too and a long time ago they tracked me and asked that I join them. I told them no. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I have little time to explain.” She’s took a deep breath and continued, “I can time travel. I don’t need to hurt myself like you do. I never use it anymore because it wasn’t safe for me to. When I was just a baby, The Powered found out I could time travel and came to collect me. My parents fought with them and were killed. I went into the future to see what to do. I found myself being adopted by your parents so I went back and got baby me to be adopted by your parents. I time traveled once more to just a year from now and found that they were after you. I didn’t know how or why and it frightened me, so I didn’t time travel again. I know I have a baby boy. I thought before that I just named him after you because you were the uncle because when I time traveled, I was living with Dean, but I guess, he wasn’t just Max but Max Jr.”

I thought about this, opened the door again and left. Katie packed her things and was ready to sa her goodbyes within an hour of the conversation.

“Goodbye Max. Take care not to be killed. I want the baby’s father back even if most people think you’re my brother.” She whispered into my ear as we hugged goodbye.

“Will do. I promise to live,” whispered back, “but if you can’t tell, I’m not very good with promises.”

She left in her car and promised to text me when she got to Dean’s.

Later that night I breathed in and out rhythmically focusing on making each breath the same as the last and adding in a longer breath every once in a while. I figured that was how I probably slept most nights. I’d been laying down for two hours and twenty minutes. I planned to leave at 11:40 which was only another twenty minutes away.

My backpack was sitting on the ground in my closet packed with food, flashlights, portable solar powered charger, water, a blanket, and a whole heck of a lot of money. Running away can be fairly spendy especially when you are predicting that you’ll lose some of your stuff while getting chased. I had on a hoodie over a t-shirt, shorts under sweatpants, and a pair of socks even though it was summer. I was sweating profusel, but thought about how when winter came, I’d thank myself for sweating one night so I wouldn’t freeze to death many nights.

At 11:40, I stood up, grabbed my bag and headed out the back door. I climbed the fence into my neighbor’s yard and climbed another fence into their neighbor’s yard. One more fence and I’d be in the trees. From there I could walk to a gas station, haggle a ride to the next state over which was an hour away, and continue walking until I found a suitable park bench or tree branch.

I walked for what felt like ages before I got through the trees. Google maps told me the closest gas station was a 20 minute walk from where I was currently. I plodded allong wishing I’d brought big spray. That is something I will have to buy at the gas station I decided with no less than about ten bug bites already on my arms, legs and face.

My side started to hurt as I neared the gas station. It was like a giant side stitch, each breath making it worse. I hobbled to the gas station and sat down outside to catch my breath and get ge pain under control. I needed ibuprofen too. I managed to stand and walk inside without the pain starting again, but once in the back aisles, it started up again. Wincing I stopped before The rows of over the counter medicine bottles and chose the one I needed. I then hobbled to the random crap aisle and selected a can of bug spray and a small neck pillow. At the counter, the guy squinted at me and I panicked. Was he the person who was keeping watch on me? Was he going to follow me outside and kidnap me? Oh no. I gotta get out of here. But then he smiled kindly and said, “Sorry, thought I recognized ya from somewhere. I’d recomend a different ibuprofen. This brand doesn’t work well.” He pointed to the right side of my torso, “And by the looks of it, you’re probably needing something more than ibuprofen.”

I looked down to see blood staining shirt. I had taken off my hoodie as soon as I could and wrapped it around my waist. Now with only my shirt clinging to me with sweat, I looked down to see the dark red patch around the week old wound. “Shit.” I mumbled under my breath.

“Follow me around back and we’ll get ya fixed up.”

“You sure? Don’t you have to stay at the counter?”

“Whatdoya think that little bell’s for, kid? If someone needs my help I’ll just be in the back. Still want help?”

I nodded and the guy behind the counter, his name tag read: John, chuckled and brought me around back where he took out a first aid box.

“I’ve never used this before except for a little girl who wanted a band aid or so be it, she’d have cried til her lungs stopped workin’. I was a school nurse at one point believed it or not, but quit for a change of surroundings. I’ll tell you, this i sent quite the change.” He rambled while taking out a few items and placing them on a coffee table in front of a tv. “Now, let’s take a look at whatever’s under that bloody spot.”

I peeled my shirt up and looked at the saturated gauze that covered the cut.

“Sorry to tell ya sport, but to regauze that, you’re gonna need to wash it good. Looks like you’ve had yourself a good ole walk and worked up some sweat. That could cause an infection in that wound if not washed and bandaged up properly, and I assure you, you do not want that.”

I nodded already feeling faint. Washing it didn’t sound great. My stomach felt all squishy like it was turning inside out. My head started to feel like it was floating away I took a couple deep breaths to try and steady myself. Why am I such a baby when it comes to this sort of stuff? Guess that’s why I’ll never be a doctor or medic.

“Sport, you’re white as a sheet. Sit down before ya pass out.” He motioned to a couch and I sat obediently.

“Cough, it’ll help.” He instructed. I coughed and it did help. Just a little.

“Sorry, I’m not good with injuries like this.” “I gotcha, kid. Imma need you to keep your shirt up while I wash it. I just gotta go n’ get some water real quick. Oh, and wash my hands o’course.”

“Right. Thanks.”

While he went to the restroom to get water and wash his hands, I eyed the backroom, scoping out possible hiding places if necessary. Shelves stacked with cardboard boxes and other stuff lined the walls and a tv was against the wall opposite me. I sat on the couch which was across from the television. In between the couch and tv, a wooden coffee table stood with a vase of flowers. there were three doors: one that lead to a bathroom(I know because that’s the door he left through and there’s was a sign above it), the door to the store which is where we came through to get back here, and a door labeled EXIT which I assumed led outside. It was cleaner and tidier than I would have expected for a gas station back room, but it added to my surprise tally for the passed two weeks. I was beginning to add up all of the surprises when John came back into the room with a bucket of water and a clean washcloth.

“Do ya wanna watch or no?” He asked though I’m pretty sure he knew my answer. “I’d suggest laying back if you didn’t.”

“No thanks.” I said quickly and laid back slowly on the couch. My feet stuck off the edge and my head was on the armrest. A sharp pain came from the cut and I opened my eyes to look. The once white washcloth was now red and dripping. My vision went dark around the edges. He dipped he rag into the water and another stinging pain followed until I blacked out seconds later.

There were the lights again. They swirled around me and settled into place. I was in a grocery store hiding behind a cart of milk jugs in the refrigerator. A rosy faced girl was walking up to the door chatting and holding hands with a tall guy with dark hair. I turned around and a store worker was coming toward me with a cross face. I turned back a to the pair. I didn’t move until the couple was just feet away. I looked back at the store worker and tried kicking her. My foot passed right through her. I tried again but my foot slid through her like it didn’t the time before. I sprung forward to run, but this time she was solid and I couldn’t run through her. Surprise dinner by not being able to run through, I stumbled backward stunned then sprinted around her andthrough the back room.

(spy on a government case reports this to the military who then want to use me to see the outcomes of battles and other things. They try to recruit me but when I refuse I have to run to get away from them. Katie has her baby. I come back for the delivery: the baby either dies or lives. It’s a boy. I keep on the run getting into trouble and trying to find a friend from a long time ago. I meet all sorts of people and get caught up in bad things. I’m no longer running from the military or government. I’m running from a group called The Powered who are also magical beings. I run from them until they capture me and change my mind that they are bad. I become the newest member and Katie and my baby have powers too so they come and join me and we stay on the run with The Powered group and live as happily ever after as you can as hide-aways.)

After I wrote this much of the story, I noticed that this might be hurtful to some poeople. I was trying to figure out a way to change the way he got hurt to see visions because of the assimilation of cutting with self harm, but I couldn’t find a substitute that would keep the story the same. If someone has a problem with the story, let me know and I can take it down.

Thanks again for reading! \(•u•)/