The first one to fall was Liam. His forehead beaded with sweat, his eyes glowing blue orbs of pure energy. His brown hair slicked back from sweat, he still fought diligently even when one of the Strangers cut off his hand.

Liam screamed, and we all turned around, even our opponents. The scream and startled us so much, it was almost supernatural. No human could make that sound. But then again, Liam isn't completely human. Like the rest of us, Liam is half a Stranger.

His force field shimmered in the dark winter air. He was loosing. There was nothing I could do.. 

Liam balled his fists, and invisible spears ran through a Stranger, and it immediately fell to the ground.

That was it. The last of his energy. Liam arched his back, and blue smoke seemed to envelope him. When the smoke cleared, Liam was gone, but not for long.

Liam's temporary death just made us need to fight harder. Of course, I wasn't fighting. There was no way I could fight in the state I was in. I looked down at my glistening palms. Dark rays of energy poured out of my fingertips and into our leader, Jesper. With every second that passed, Jesper grew stronger, and he fought more violently.

I sucked in my breath. Below my palms, fifteen feet down, was the battle.

I turned my attention to where One was shooting a stranger with her light while Two held them off. Zip, zap, he zoomed among them, confusing them. I remember, back at the Slaughterhouse, he disabled five hundred soldiers in less than a second.

And now here he was, Two, fighting for the lives of his sister, his friends, his family. Himself. That was the rule we all followed. Look after yourself, but put others first.

In the corner of my eye, something flickered in and out of vision. Grace. A Stranger lunged, Grace flicked out of existence and flicked back once she was safe. She kept doing this, flicking in and out, though she seemed to be growing tired.

I directed a small fraction of energy toward Grace. Her violet eyes glowed and the fight returned to her.

I glanced beside me. Jinx was still there, his red eyes turning the color of blood. He was whispering under his breath in a language that I surprisingly didn't know. Of everybody in our little gang, Jinx creeps me out the most. Maybe it's his eyes, or how he's always followed by his machines, or how he always seems to be doing a million things at once. But at the same time, I admire him the most.

Jinx yelled out. The whole world seemed to stop, even though Two was still zapping around. The trees bristled, the ground quivered, and the world suddenly exploded with life. Creatures of all shapes and sizes swarmed around the Strangers, disabling two. They retreated, but not before something flew in my ear. I lost concentration, and then Jinx and I were falling out of the air and Jesper needed help.

Something stopped my fall. I looked down. Liam was back in the game. He waved to Jinx and me before sending great invisible spears through a couple of Strangers. The fight was back on. I grained my concentration, and Jinx and I floated back into the air. I directed my energy towards Jesper, who was loosing the fight. His dual swords were a blur as he sliced and diced up a Stranger.

See, that's the thing with Jesper. He learns faster than anybody, but he also looses his energy faster than anybody. When he's fighting one minute without my help in a fight, and he'd be dead. 

Grace flickered, flick flick flick. The only problem with her is that she can't flick back somewhere else. A Stranger reached out to get a hold of her. Grace flickered, but unlike all the other times, the Stranger kept his arm where it was. Grace flicked back and screamed. The Stranger's arm went right through her head. Violet smoke surrounded her and the Stranger. Grace was gone, along with the Stranger, but she would come back. We always come back.

There were ten Strangers left. Jinx was whispering faster and faster, and his machines fought harder and took down a Stranger. Two zoomed amongst them, though I couldn't tell what he was doing, but the Strangers seemed to be growing weaker. 

One gathered all her energy and blasted a Stranger out of existence. And when I say all her energy, I mean it. A cloud of wispy orange smoke surrounded her. When it was gone, so was One.

"Great," I whispered to Jinx. "now we're down by two at once."

Jinx simply nodded.

Eight strangers left. Jesper was a blur and he used all these different fighting styles at once. He was doing karate one second, he was a boxer the next. He jumped up in the air and kicked a Stranger in the chest. While it was distracted, Jesper drew his swords and sliced of it's head.

Seven.

Grace flicked back. Flick, flick, flick, she distracted a Stranger long enough for Liam to ram an invisible spike through it. Grace flickered just in time for it to miss her, and when I fell on it's back, she flickered back.

Six. We were winning.

Then I realized what Two was doing. He was battering them with rocks. How I knew this? Their armor was denting faster than it should. Much faster. But his progress was getting slower.

Two was getting weaker. For a few seconds, I diverged a fraction of my energy towards him, and he was faster than ever. I redirected it back to Jesper. Think about this. If a tiny fraction of my energy is enough to keep Two going, think about how much Jesper needs. He looses energy almost as fast as he regains it. That's how powerful he is.

A bright light blasted a Stranger. One was back. She blasted it, zap zap zap, until it caught fire and exploded. Of course, it would've taken longer if Two hadn't weakened them.

Five.

Jinx's machines battled a single Stranger. They rammed it with their iron arms, sat on it, threw it around, rolled it into a ball and played catch. I internally laughed at the image, but at least it worked. Finally, one of the machines heaved it into the air and threw it into the sky, god knows where it landed.

Four.

Grace flick-flick-flickered while Liam drowned the Stranger with tiny little spikes. By the time he was through, the Stranger had hundreds of little holes in him. He threw something into one of the holes, and the Stranger burned to a crisp. He probably hit it's wiring.

Three. Almost through.

Yes, Strangers are machines. Well, half machine. They're cyborgs. So if we're half Stranger, we are also a quarter mechanical. Probably just a few of our organs, though. Maybe our brain. I know Grace has a machine hand, though.

One zapped a Stranger, and Liam joined in. One zapped it while Liam impaled it. They quickly took it down.

Two.

Jesper battled his Stranger, stabbing, cutting, punching, kicking. Before long, it had lost it's arm. Them it's head. Jesper got the opportunity to slice off its head.

One.

The machines were playing catch again with this one. The taller one threw it in the air, the same direction as before.

Zero. We won. I gently lowered Jinx and me to the ground, all the while lowering Jesper's intake of energy. He fell to the ground and slept. He always did that after a battle, but he'd wake up soon. And then I'd feed him a tiny amount of energy to get him back on track.

One and Two hugged each other and cried. Grace sat down and meditated. Liam collapsed against a tree. Jinx whispered something to his machines, and the short one slung him over his shoulder.

I walked over to Liam and sat down next to him, cross legged. He smiled at me. "You did great, Merry."

I smiled back. "You did better. Are you feeling all right? You went out kinda fast." I put my hand to his forehead. He was fine.

"Yes, Mom." He said sarcastically in way a moody teenager might.

I nodded and went to check on Grace.

She sat there, eyes closed, occasionally flickering. I wish I had the patience to sit down and not do anything. "Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded. 

"Alrighty then." I walked around the clearing, making sure everybody was alright after the battle. 

One was sobbing into her brother's shoulders. It was her first time to go out. Two held her tight, making sure in his own brotherly way that she was safe. When I passed them, Two whispered to me, "She'll be fine."
 
Jinx was speaking with his machines. When he turned back to me, the taller machine left and went into the woods. The shorter one stood by a tree and held Jesper in his arms like a baby.

After I made sure everybody was alright, I sat down by a tree, all by myself. I didn't feel like talking to anybody. Fighting had worn me out, even if I didn't participate. Where else do you think all that power comes from? Most of it comes from the electricity in the air, but a lot of it comes from me. My power. 

I closed my eyes, resting against the soft tree trunk. I felt myself slipping away into sleep.

"Wake up, Meredith. We're leaving." I opened my eyes. I felt like I had barely slept at all, but the sky was noticeably darker. 

Jinx was fidgeting with a piece of string, his red eyes glowing in the night air. I stood up and groaned. My back was hurting like hell, probably from sleeping in the wrong position. Nothing Samson couldn't fix when. I stretched my back. 

One was holding a steadily glowing ball of light in her hands while Two held her in his arms. Jesper was up and pacing around the clearing. Grace had stopped meditating and was conversing with Liam about who knows what. The machine that had left was back, sand he muttered something to Jinx. The other one had six bags slung over its shoulder, one for each of us.

The machines don't need bags of fuel or anything. Once a day, I give each of them a load of energy to last the day, plus a bit more if Samson thinks there will be a fight.

Jesper paused and rubbed his temples. He looked seriously stressed out. He sighed, his green eyes dark from lack of healthy sleep. I fed a tiny bit of energy to him so he could get back on track. Jesper frowned. "Let's go!" he yelled. So off we went, going to go get Samson and the others so we could continue on our way to the land where all half-breeds are accepted: the Moon.

2: Somebody New

We walked through the woods in silence, except for the constant chatter of Grace and Liam.

Jinx and I walked side by side. He wasn't whispering; he had commanded his machines to flank us.

Jesper walked in the front, and One in the back.

Two was scouting ahead, coming back every five minutes to tell us how far away from camp we were.

Jinx shook his head. "I miss my mother."

"Your dad was a Stranger?"

"Yes. My father is a Stranger." Jinx said monotonously. That's another reason why Jinx creeps me out. He speaks like a machine. It probably because that's how Strangers talk, and Jinx was held as a slave for Strangers the first ten years of his life. He's eighteen now.

"What happened to your mom? She die? Run off?"

"No. When I escaped from my father, I tracked my mother down. She knew it was me, and I became her son again. She hid me until I was sixteen, when the humans started recruiting young men for the war. Once they realized I was a half-breed, I had to run. My mother's name was Matilda." Jinx closed his red eyes, like he was reliving his time with her.

I closed my own blue eyes and tried to remember my father. My mother was a Stranger. I don't remember my father. I've been on the run for as long as I can remember. Which is probably only maybe eight years. I do remember one thing, though.

I was walking in the rain. It was very dark out. Somebody else was there beside me, their face masked in a black hood. His whole body seemed to be trembling.

"It's okay, Meredith. Everything will be alright. We'll find Father." He must have been my brother.

"I know." I said.

"Meredith. Are you okay?" Jinx had his hand on my shoulder and a slightly worried look on his face.

I hadn't realized I had been crying. I brushed the tears off my face and tucked some of my brown hair behind my ear. "Yes, thank you, Jinx... I'm alright."

"That is in our best interest. I suggest you remain that way."

I laughed. That was such a Jinx thing to say. "You need to start adding emotion when you talk. It would save us a lot of trouble. Like that time we stayed at that town near the beach. The dude at the fast food place thought you were a Stranger and alerted the cops. Would've never happened if you sounded more human."

"I apologize."

"Can't fix the past, buddy, or we'd be long gone."

"I will try my best to add emotion or my speech." He said. After a moment, he said with faux curiosity. "How is this? Is this emotional?"

I laughed. "No, Jinx, not quite. I'd work on it a bit with Grace. She's the best at talking." It was true. Grace sounded the most human of us all. Whenever we go near humans, Grace does the talking. If anybody asks about us, we just say we're orphan siblings. Yes, all seven of us. If anybody asks about Jinx, we just say he's been through some stuff.

"Thank you. I will ask Grace how to speak like a human now." He stopped in his tracks and waited for Grace to catch up, then asked how to speak with emotion.

Since Grace was talking to somebody else, Liam started talking to me. "You trying to get old Robot Man to speak humanly?"

"Yep. Poor Grace. Must be so hard." I made a sad face but immediately replaced it with a laugh.

Liam glanced back at Jinx and Grace. She was trying to teach him how to sound happy, but it didn't sound well. Jinx just sounded like a madman.

"I wonder what his story is. Why he is the way he is."

We arrived at camp maybe half an hour later. The moon was high in the sky, and I guessed it was around ten or eleven at night.

Samson was there, building a small fire. The other children gathered around him. While Jesper was gone, Samson was the leader.

Samson was a tall, fair-haired boy of about seventeen. His ability was one of the more unique ones in our gang. He was a healer, and had glimpses of the future. I would say Samson, Jinx, and I had the most unique abilities. 

The younger four  children crowded around One and Two. They all looked up to them, probably because the twins were the oldest, maybe twenty.

However, the three young teenage girls crowded around Jesper. They were automatically drawn to his dark hair, gray eyes, and charming smile. He's handsome, but he is definitely not my type.

"Oh, Jesper, I bet you were so brave..." Audrey, a highly empathetic girl, swooned. I know she didn't feel that Jesper loved her, yet she still loved him.

"I bet you fought like a warrior..." Said Tesni the pyrokinetic.

"Yes, I bet you would've won even without the help of that pretty old Meredith." Antoinette the clone machine said.

"Mother is right!" Said Clone Number One.

I rolled my eyes. I needed to get away from those snotty girls. Apparently, Jesper felt the same way. He shoved past the girls and went to his tent, which our youngest member had put together.

Matt, his name was. He put broken or dissembled things back together.

"Tesni! Come start the fire!" Samson yelled. He had finished building it, but why go through all the trouble of lighting it when your friend is a pyrokinetic? Hmmm?

Half an hour later, Tesni had roasted a deer that Two caught and we were all eating happily while the youngsters, who had eaten faster than everybody else, danced around the fire with Two, singing camp songs.

Eventually, Jesper got wary of their song and put an end to it, worried somebody would hear and find them.

"Nobody can get to us," I told him. "We'd scare them away."

Jesper shook his head and nibbled at his deer leg.

"Not that this is a place where humans like to go camping. I mean, if they do, they're probably-"

I stopped. Everybody stopped. Somebody was coming. I whispered to Two, "Is somebody coming?"

Audrey answered for me. "Yes. He's very scared."

A stick snapped, and the intruder gasped. 

An unfamiliar voice called out, "H-hello?"

"Well. At least we were happy before we die." I whispered.

3: News Channels can Save Lives

One and Liam into defensive stances. 

I got ready to recharge Jesper. 

The kids with mental abilities and the youngest ones hid behind a wall of Antoinette's clones. 

Two's entire body was vibrating faster and faster.

Grace flickered and drew her rarely drawn knife.

Jinx's machines looked more than ready for a fight.

Tesni's hands were on fire, ready to burn the intruder.

I clenched my fists and scrounged up the courage needed to call out, "Come out!"

The bushes shivered in anticipation. The whole world grew silent. No crickets. No birds. Nobody dared to breathe.

The bushes shivered again, and this time a young man came out.

Liam picked him up in a force field and brought him over to where Jesper and I stood. Jesper walked right up to the intruder's face. "Who are you?!" He hissed. 

I opened my fists and let the energy pour into Jesper. I could tell a fight was going to happen, or at least a skirmish.

The young man's eyes were wide with terror. "I-I-I g-got l-l-lost in the w-woods... I saw t-the fi-fire, a-and I thou-thought you c-could hel-help me?" The man broke down and cried. "Oh, plea-please don't k-kill me, I-I... I'm too you-young t-to d-d-die!"

Jesper's furious eyes softened. "What's your name?"

"K-Kenneth Bonheur."

Jesper stared at me like I had just murdered somebody. "Merry! That's your last name."

I shrugged. "Never seen this doofus before in my life."

Jesper glared back and forth at the two of us, deciding Kenneth's fate. He squinted at the young man and said, "Alright. You can stay with us for one night, and in the morning, we'll take you to your camp." Kenneth started to thank him when Jesper said, "On one condition. You tell nobody that you saw us."

Kenneth gulped and nodded.

We brought Kenneth into a tent and asked Audrey to watch him. If any suspicious emotions rose up inside of him, we'd lock him down.

Night. My favorite part of the day. 

So quiet and peaceful. I oftentimes pull all-nighters. It's how I get stuff done. I need to check the news on my computer. Search up on any strange happenings, and find other half-breeds. 

It's also when I add to my daily collection of drawings. Well, nearly daily. Sometimes, we're busy all day. 

I took out my huge, 500 page sketchbook from my bag. It was nearly full, but I drew anyways. It started out as a circle. I added some shape., shading, detail. After an hour or so, it had turned into a very realistic drawing of myself. Not to brag or anything.

Then, I turned on my computer. I scammed the salesman into giving me a laptop that got internet connection no matter where I was. I opened up the internet browser. "News, news, news..." I murmured.

I opened up my favorite news website and took a sip of water from my canteen. I clicked the first thing that showed up on the site. It was a video, presumably just another bank robbery or car accident.l

The newscaster said, "Hello everybody. I am here at Nightwood Forest, California. A week ago, a young man named Kenneth Bonheur went missing here. The police are going to search the area in the morning." I immediately closed my laptop and stared at the wall of my tent before making up my mind that I had to wake up the camp.

The first people I woke were One and Two. They were experts at waking people up. We ran around camp, softly shouting for everybody to get up.

The sleepy children eventually all climbed out of their tents with a look of anger and confusion. Audrey came out of her tent, gripping Kenneth's wrists as strong as possible. I gave her a tiny bit of energy to keep her going, and she nodded her head in thanks.

"Okay, listen. I was watching the news and the police are going to start searching for him-" I pointed to Kenneth, "in the morning. It's nearly two in the morning now. If we can get ready in half an hour, we can be out of here by four or five."

Everybody drowsily nodded. "Wake up!" I yelled. They would be no use in this state. I clenched my fists and sent a small burst of energy through everybody in attempt to wake them up. Apparently, I succeeded, because nobody looked tired anymore.

I clapped my hands and everybody set to work, packing up their possessions. 

I ran over to my tent and shoved my few possessions into my bag. Clothes, pencils, sketchbook, sketchbook, computer, sleeping bag, and a ring that my father gave to me before he died and I was forced to run away. I didn't need a charger for my laptop because I am the charger.

Once my bag was all packed, I went to help Matt take down the tents.

"You need help?" I asked him.

The ten-year-old shook his head. "No, not with the tents. But can you pack up my stuff for me? My tent's next to Jesper's." I nodded and ran over to Matt's tent. I was guessing he shared it with Tesni, because why else would there be a bucket of water and a black sleeping bag next to his own sleeping bag?

I shoved his sleeping bag in his pack first. Then I put his clothes in. I picked up his toy solider and examined it before wedging it in between some clothes so it didn't get broken or lost. That was pretty much all of his stuff, and I was surprised that I had more than him.

By the time I got back out, everybody was ready except for Tesni, who still needed to pack up her stuff. She had been helping Matt take down the tents. She ran into her tent and came back a minute later with her bag slung over her shoulder. Matt quickly dissembled their tent, and we were all ready to go.

Now was the time to ask Kenneth what he intended to do. I mention that to Jesper, then watched as he approached the young man, who had been out back into one of Liam's force field, and asked, "Are you staying with us, or leaving?"

Kenneth shook his head. "Uh... i-if you're le-leaving, I-I may we-we'll go with y-you..." He stammered. 

Jesper nodded an came back to stand by me at the front. He swung his arms forward before softly yelling, "Alrighty then. Let's go."

And so, the sixteen of us, including Kenneth, were once again on the move.

Since it would take a few hours at least to hike out of the woods, I decided it would be a good time to teach one of the younger kids a few lessons on how to control their ability.

My pupil for the day was Shiver. That was what we called him, anyway. His real name was Gary, but seriously. 'Shiver' sounds way cooler than 'Gary'. 

Shiver excreted a venom from underneath his fingernails that, if fatal, could kill people. It starts out as shivering, hence his nickname. Shivering and chills, than numbness all over, than death, if you're that unlucky person. If not, you just start getting shivers and feeling extremely numb for a few days, but it passes. Trust me. I've been poisoned by him before, and it is not fun.

Shiver's nine year old body was trembling. Obviously, he was not happy about having lessons. 

"But Merry-" he started to complain.

I patted his back as a sort of affection. "Come on, kid, you'll do fine."

Shiver, well, Shiver shivered. "Alright, fine."

See, as everybody is different, we worked out a system so that the three youngsters- Gwen, Shiver, and Harry- would be taught by four different people. Two for abilities, one for math and science, and another for English and history. Shiver's teachers were me and One for powers, Two for math and science, and Audrey for English and history. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

Shiver shrugged. "My neck hurts," was all he said.

I sighed. "Stand up straight. And I mean about your abilities. Are you improving?" 

Shiver half-heatedly shrugged again. "I dunno. I still can't properly touch anything without infecting them with this curse." Shiver put an emphasis on 'curse' that I really didn't like.

I frowned. "The first step in learning how to use your ability is to accept it as a gift, not a curse."

Shiver looked up at me with big yellow eyes. "I can't, because it's not a gift. Every time I touch somebody, they get poisoned. You don't understand. You have a good ability."

He's wrong. There's a lot to my ability he doesn't know.

4: How to be a Human Being

"Okay. So you can work on that?" I asked Shiver.

Shiver shrugged. "I guess," he sighed.

I slapped him on the back and agave him a big smile before going off to talk to Jinx. I was halfway to him when Audrey grabbed my shoulder. "Meredith, I have to speak with you."

I nodded. "What's up?"

Audrey glanced over at Shiver, who was walking side by side with Harry, a nine year old that could speak with the dead and bring them back for short amounts of time.

"It's Kenneth. He's having suspicious feelings. Guilt, shame, fright..."

I smiled, but it was more of a grimace. "Thank you, Audrey." I walked over to where Antoinette and her clones were surrounding the young man. Antoinette glanced at me and nodded to give me permission to speak with him.

I crossed my arms as I walked next to Kenneth. I had to admit, up close, we had an unmistakable resemblance. The same almost-black brown hair and blue eyes that looked like they were from a heavily photoshopped picture.

No. Probably just a cousin. I know I got my hair and eyes from my mother, so if he was to be my brother, he's probably just a half-brother. But that wouldn't explain the last name. The same last name as me. Bonheur.

Like I said, probably a cousin. A cousin from my mom's side with the same last name.

I nudged his arm. "Our empath told me you've been having some suspicious emotions. Care to explain?"

Kenneth looked up at me with big, sad eyes. "A while b-back, I, uh... I h-hurt some pe-people. I've just b-been thinking 'bout it..." He looked at his feet and wrapped the string from his sweater around his finger.

"Alright. But I'm watching you." I scowled and stomped off.

"If you could have any other ability, what would it be?" I asked, staring off into the woods. Jinx and I were having one of those conversations where it's just 'what ifs' and stuff like that.

Jinx glanced at me before bringing a tiny robot cat to life in his hands. The machine grumbled for a second, then said in a tiny little machine voice, "I would not have any other ability. The one I have now is more than fine."

I smiled and punched his shoulder in a friendly sort of way. He stopped whispering, and the machine closed it's eyes and fell limp in his hand.

"No, no, no, that's not an option. I mean if you had to have a different ability."

Jinx put the machine cat in his backpack. "I suppose I should like to be like Jesper. If I was like Jesper, I would not have to spend my free time learning how to build robots. I would build one machine to build for me." He tried to grin, but, being Jinx, it turned out more like a grimace or a frown.

I poked his cheek in an effort to stop him smiling, but he just gently removed my finger. "Stop it!" I said, laughing. 

Jinx returned to his regular half-frown. "Teach me how to be human."

Well. That was unexpected. I thought Grace was teaching him. I cleared my voice. "Uh, I thought Grace was teaching you?"

Jinx shook his head. "Yes, but no. Grace was teaching me, but she is not a good teacher. I think you would be a better teacher."

"Listen, buddy, I'm not much of a teacher either..." I rubbed the back of my neck. There was no way I could get out of this.

He shook his head again. "No. You teach me, I tell you why you need to teach me in the first place. As Liam put it, 'why I am the way I am.' My history. My story. My past. I'm my opinion, it is a very fair trade."

"I thought it was because-" I started, but he slapped his hand over my mouth.

"No. You teach, I tell."

I shrugged. Definitely no way I was getting out of this. "Alright. Fine. Okie dokie. Just warning you, though. I am not a good teacher."

"First things first. Emotion. You gotta learn to speak with feeling. I'm gonna say something with emotion, you'll repeat with emotion. I dropped my grin and scowled. "I am speaking with extreme anger and emotion!" I said angrily, not quite shouting but with a raised voice. They're funny, voices. You can be loud without shouting and angry without putting it in your voice, but with the person you're speaking to still knowing you're angry. Don't mind me, I'm just rambling.

In turn, Jinx scowled. "I am speaking with extreme anger and emotion." He didn't sound angry. He just sounded mildly annoyed and irritated. Well, it's the most feeling I've ever heard him put into words, so I guess it's a start.

I shook my head. "No. You just sound annoyed. Try again, like this." I paused before saying, loudly and quietly at the same time, "I am speaking with extreme anger and emotion!"

Jinx crossed his arms. He probably noticed that angry or frustrated people sometimes do that. "I am speaking with extreme anger and emotion." Slightly more emotional, though not enough.

I waved my hands in front of my face and closed my eyes in disgust. "Naw, that ain't right yet. Try a bit more. I'm going-"

Stop. Everybody stop.

"Wait! Stop! Everybody stop moving!" I yelled.

Our group stopped and turned to stare at me. Then, their eyes all widened. They heard it. The police sirens. The blaring voice of a man yelling, "Attention Half-breeds, we know that you are in the woods! Surrender immediately, or we will go in there and shoot!"

"They don't know we can't die, do they?" Shiver asked.

5: Elijah and Serena's Balloon Adventure

If you think about, we're all just hairless apes. Big, ugly, bags of water. Well, mostly water. But with hair, we'd all look like hairy men. No offense, hairy men. 

"I agree." Elijah glanced up from his tablet to look me in the eye for a second.

"It goes sploshing about inside." I murmur.

"Yes. Like-"

"Jello. Jello in a big bowl."

I nodded. Elijah nodded inside. He wanted to nod, but his neck was hurting. Therefore my neck hurts, though not as much.

After all, the neck is just one part of this bag of water. I suppose people are just like those ballon animals people for at carnivals and whatnot in the old days. Can't find them anymore. Balloons were made illegal ten years ago because people started hiding drugs and stuff inside of them.

"I always did like balloons. In the old films, they looked so-" Elijah put down his tablet and tucked it inside of his jacket.

"Magical." I smiled. 

"Enchanted."

"Should we-"

"Yes."

"I agree."

"Let's go."

Elijah and I think each other's thoughts. Speaking just makes it easier.

Elijah and I joined hands. We closed our eyes. It shielded our souls from the bright light that was to come.

Swirling. Swishing, swirling lights that danced around us like fire. Our minds moved with the fire, controlling it, forming it, shaping it.we pictured balloons in our minds, and the fire burst up in great flashes, surrounding us with colorful shapes and swirls.

We pictured a day a few weeks before the government said no to balloons. Winter. Specs of the great light fell around us, covering the floor in a blanket or pure white light. November 14, 2027. The numbers rose up from the blanket and floating right in front of us.

This is what time looks like.

We appeared in an old school parking lot, one where the black asphalt was cracking and wheeled cars lay on the ground. The sun was low against the horizon, making everything have long shadows that seemed to reach out at us. It was almost as if they were trying to touch us. To our right, the party store. A big, baby blue building with the words "PARTY, PARTY" on the window. Perfect.

"I will do the speaking." I mumbled.

"Alright," Elijah said, "but I want two balloons of each color."

"Okay."

We walked as one into the big party store. A bell rang as the door opened, and a cheerful young woman said, "Hello! Are you looking for anything specific?"

Elijah and I nodded simultaneously and I elbowed him. We can't show that we are one.

"Yes." I said. "I need balloons. Two of each color on the rainbow."

The cheerful woman frowned. "I'm sorry, we ran out of orange balloons this morning. We get more tomorrow, so if you wanna come back then..."

Elijah and I exchanged glances. "We will wait," he said, and we walked over to the window and stood with our backs to it.

The woman looked a bit disconcerted, but we excused it. It was expected of her to not understand. She had her hands behind her back, then swung them back and forth. "I'm sorry, but... we close at nine. It's seven now."

"We must have fourteen balloons. Two of each color, orange included."

The lady scowled and walked away, only to brung back a man. She said to the man, "They refuse to leave. They said they need fourteen balloons, two of each color, but we ran out of orange."

The man puffed up his cheeks and let it out in a long whistle. "Guys, there's a grocery store down the street. They hand out balloons there, too." He crossed his arms and looks at us like we were stupid.

Elijah and I exchanged glances again. "Alright. Thank you." I said, and Elijah and I walked out of the store.

"We need balloons. Two of each color."

The balloon man shrugged. "Sure."

He reached into seven drawers and pulled out two from each. He started pumping helium into them, and we soon had fourteen balloons,  two of each color, just like Elijah wanted.

"Thank you," we said, and walked out of that building.

We each held seven balloons. We joined hands, and walked back into the dazzling light that surrounded us.