“When does the competition start again?” her dad asked as he drank his coffee, looking out of the window. He’d been distracted all week, more than usual. Disappointment hung in his features since the day he’d gotten home.
“It’s at six. Dad, you really don’t have to go,” she pleaded, trying to sound normal.
“I just have to do a repair at Mrs. Watson’s and then I’ll be there, darling. I know this means a lot to you.”
Donna knew he felt proud of himself for going. He never went to many of Donna’s gymnastic things. He was always helping others, making repairs, or searching for David, her runaway brother that everyone but her father believed was dead.
“Please don’t go,” she whispered, so low he couldn’t hear her. It’s not safe, nothing here is safe. This town is death …
Her dad was heading out back.
“You never told me how your trip went,” Donna said suddenly, still facing the sink. For some reason she still wanted to hear her dad’s voice.
“It—it wasn’t him. He was someone else’s boy,” her dad told her in agony and defeat.
Yeah, Donna knew his answer would be something like that, it always was. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
He headed out back, leaving Donna alone.
* * *
Earlier That Day
Randy
Randy walked onto campus. He’d blown off school all week, sleeping in his car far away from his house and his father. Now though, his dad had cut off his credit card, and he had no more gas. So, with nowhere else to go, he went to school. He was three hours late but who gave a damn. This town, his education, it was all a joke; a government’s candy shop of super soldiers they told what to do.
He leaned against his locker and grabbed his last cigarette, taking a long hard smoke. He wished he could “smoke” the people who had made him feel like this, but then what would he do? Where would he go? This town was like his holding place, like the cage that holds a rabid dog inside. Open it and the dog kills people, keep it shut and the dog grows more numb and bitter.
“Randy Applegate!” The dean called out annoyingly. The man thought he had control of these halls; he thought he had power. He had no idea what he was dealing with.
“Your father’s been looking for you!”
“When you see him, tell him I don’t give a—”
The dean interrupted Randy’s cursing. “You can tell him yourself, along with the words suspension worked into your speech.”
Randy looked away from the dean. He could care less.
“For skipping school and smoking on campus,” the dean continued. “Now, you will be handing over your lighter and coming with me!”
Randy laughed, bitterly. “You really think so?”
The bell rang and Randy’s classmates started pouring into the hallway; his team members, girls he’d hooked up with, geeks he’d taken lunch money from due to boredom a few years back. They all watched the dean and Randy square off. This town is so pathetic …
“Your two week suspension is about to be increased, now hand me your lighter!” the dean demanded.
Randy looked at him, so tempted, so very tempted to show the world what he could do. To become the criminal he’d really been made to be. All the speeches about fighting for his country and for the people, that was all bull.
He saw his brother and Lynn approaching, and for a split second, he wondered if he could take them. If his brother would jump through the flames and try to stop him. Would Ryan stand by while other agents gunned Randy down? Like his father stood by while agents gunned Paul Cohen down? He is your brother, Randy! he argued with himself. He’s not your father!
Randy tossed the lighter, which was flaming hot from being in his hands, then walked into the dean’s office, ignoring the tiny scream as the dean caught the hot mechanical device from the air. Ignoring the crowd around him as they watched and whispered. Ignoring life.
* * *
Brook
Brook arrived in the hick town known as East Applegate early. She’d tried to go to Donna’s, but no one had been home, and Donna didn’t have a cell phone. She must still be in class. Brook walked over to the vending machine in front of the gas station, getting a bag of peanuts to soothe her over till after Donna’s performance tonight. This town was so plain, yet it felt homey in a foreign way.
She ripped open the bag, and went back to her car feeling bored and out of place. The only time she’d actually shown up early and she should have left late. Hearing a knock at her window, she turned to see who it was. Surprise, surprise, Randy Applegate, the gorgeous rich jerk who’d blown her off.
She lowered her window. “Can I help you?” she asked with a mixture of flirtation and bitterness. Shouldn’t he be in school? Odds were he was skipping or had gotten suspended again.
“Yeah, could I get a lift?” he asked.
She looked at him strangely. “Don’t you have a seventy thousand dollar car strong enough to probably lift this town from one place to another?”
“Not today,” he told her with his usual cold tone.
She popped open her door and let him take a seat. He was one year younger than her so she could give him some slack, “some” being the key word. “Ok, your highness, where exactly would you like to go?” she asked him.
“Far away from here,” was his answer.
She smiled; at least the time would go by fast. By the time she and Randy were done, Donna would be out of school.
* * *
Randy
Two hours later, Randy was kissing Brook fiercely, the girl whose last name he couldn’t even remember. They’d gone back to the guesthouse and he was ready to enjoy life for just one more moment. Ready for a drug that would make him forget.
He kissed her soft skin, taking her shirt off and lowering her down to the bed.
“Are you ok?” she asked, pulling away from him.
He looked at her confused.
“You seem a little distracted,” she said cautiously.
He realized then that his eyes were watery and his hands were shaking. He backed up, mad and disgusted and feeling like a total idiot. “I’m fine,” he said coldly. “I’m more than fine.” He moved back toward her, taking her back into his arms. She could be any girl right now, who she was didn’t matter. “I’m fantastic.” He started kissing her again, and she kissed him back. Her long legs entangled with his.
An hour went by, and the two of them just lay there silent. It had been great, a little awkward, but still really good. Now it was over and the reality of his life had set back in. Sex, his drug of choice, had worn off, and he felt the same disgust for himself and what he was even stronger than he did before. He needed a smoke. He pulled out the plastic lighter he’d bought at the drugstore and lit a cigarette.
Brook stood up and started to put her clothes back on. “Could you keep the second hand smoke far away from me please,” she snapped at him. He said nothing so she chirped on. “Donna’s going to be in a competition today. Are you going?” she asked.
He shrugged, anything was better than staying here. When he wasn’t doing it in his dad’s house, he was just in his dad’s house, which made him feel even worse.
“She’s your godsister right?” she asked him next.
“Whatever,” he mumbled.
Donna was an innocent, clueless girl, and his family was a family of Biomax soldiers who had enough power to control the United States. Donna wasn’t in any shape or form like his family.
He stood up and slipped his shirt on, not looking at the girl getting dressed in his room that he hardly knew; she was just another face that had entertained him. “Let’s go,” he said, walking toward the door without a glance back.
Chapter Two
The Night Of Donna’s Competition
Later that night, after their junior state gymnastic team performed, the music Donna had chosen started and she took her first pose. This was it, the performance she’d been preparing herself for all year. If s
he scored the highest, she’d be sponsored as the newest member of the state team and would finally be given her ticket out of this place.
She jumped into a cartwheel, causing her body to spring upward, landing on the beam. She should have been more nervous than she was, but all she thought about was what she was supposed to do, and if she’d really be able to do it. She did everything she could to look as graceful as possible with the melody of the song, starting out with simple walks and poses, then going into back handsprings. She felt like time was slowing down, like her routine was in slow motion and could last forever. She tried to listen to the music, to do every move with fluidity and rhythm, but it was pointless. She couldn’t hear the music anymore. She was alone up there, the world far away.
This was supposed to be the moment when she’d win her freedom. This was supposed to be her new beginning and farewell to the town that before ten weeks ago she thought she understood. She was supposed to win this, and she knew she could.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer sat in the crowd, trying not to look at Mr. Applegate who was sitting right next to Donna’s dad. Supposedly they were best friends growing up, he and Mr. Young. Mr. Applegate had even been chosen as Donna’s godfather at the time of her birth. No one knew he was a sick monster; a man who had everybody fooled. Everyone but Spencer, Rebecca, and Donna that is.
Spencer had never liked him to begin with. There was always something off about the way Mr. Applegate looked at Spencer and his mom. Then on the night of Paul’s death, Spencer, Rebecca, and Donna had all heard through a recording device Mr. Applegate brag to Paul about his secret government base, about how he had the power to make people disappear, and about the creation of secretly enhanced government soldiers.
Pulling his gaze and thoughts away from Mr. Applegate, Spencer looked ahead at Donna as she did her routine. She looked so beautiful and delicate; like an angel doing gymnastics on a cloud. Two and a half months ago, he would have been staring at her body. Yeah, she was his friend, one of his best friends in East Applegate in fact, but she had also gotten very, very hot.
But Spencer didn’t look at her like that now. Everything had changed. He looked at her and saw flashes of Mr. Applegate’s son, Randy, trying to burn her alive with pyro powers no human should have. He saw flashes of Donna almost being run over and her body doing the impossible, turning into live electricity. Flashes of him holding her while she was crying after the day Paul had died. He knew the real Donna now, had seen her vulnerable and afraid, and he knew he’d never look at her or life the same way again. She had the powers of one of these secret government monsters, and yet none of Mr. Applegate’s fiends knew she did. Neither Ryan or Randy knew who she really was, thank God!
Spencer closed his eyes for a moment, once again trying to block out thoughts of the past that were now bursting into his brain like exploding glass. Not just the most recent unbelievable past of him and his friends trying to save Paul and failing, but also thoughts he had kept hidden from everyone for most of his life, until now. Thoughts of his stepfather, Sergio, trying to hurt his mom, of them running away, and memories of the police not being able to protect them, until they came here to the town where his mother had grown up. Supposedly it was the most boring town in existence. Boring … yeah, what a farce!
Spencer could do nothing but jest and pretend he wasn’t anything more than an innocent loser at his school. Someone who only cared about being funny. Only now, even jokes were hard to make. Fear of what was going to happen next was everywhere.
* * *
Donna
Donna did her first back walkover, her body feeling lighter and less real than it would have had she been normal. The music was so perfect, so numbing and beautiful. Mr. Applegate’s voice echoed in her mind, “The winner of the tournament I’m going to sponsor … that could be you young lady.” This was it … this was the moment …
One last memory flew through Donna’s thoughts. One she wished she could forget but needed right now to draw strength from. Past the aching grayness that suddenly began manifesting in her head, was the fresh memory of Paul’s funeral; the memory of his coffin being lowered as she took one glance at Mr. Applegate, her godfather. His son Ryan, her ex-best friend and ex-biggest crush of her existence, was next to him, but from him Donna shunned her eyes away. Standing away from the casket, she had tried to let herself cry as Spencer held her hand. Her skin was so electric that every tear disintegrated.
Now in present time, Donna moved her body around and began her stunt, doing again another back handspring; feeling herself grow even more light and flexible. “That could be you,” Mr. Applegate’s words in her head repeated. She continued into a back tuck, and then another, but then just as it was time to land and finish off, she pushed her body to the side and slammed her leg onto the beam, forcing herself to fall.
* * *
Randy
Randy stood by the door of the school he’d been suspended from and couldn’t bear to watch his father sit inside the gym as if he really cared for the community any longer. Please!
He walked away from the gymnastic performance and through the empty halls, his anger and bitterness eating away at his soul. This was the first time the town had been together since Paul’s funeral. Paul, the geek who he’d been watching since they found out someone had hacked into their systems. Paul, who’d tried to jump on Randy to save the Electrolite intruder, whose identity they still didn’t know. Whether Paul had somehow been working with the electric guy or not, the kid should still have been alive today. He’d been unarmed, with no abilities except for his annoying brain, which had gotten him into this mess in the first place. It wasn’t Randy’s fault he’d chosen to die. Yet it burned him to the core that he didn’t think fast enough to somehow stop what had happened.
He kicked open the door of the dean’s office, walking into the dark room to the jerk’s desk and pulling open one drawer after another, looking for his silver lighter. After two minutes, he found it in the fourth drawer with a bunch of other crap the dean had confiscated from other students. Even with his good lighter in hand, which usually calmed his nerves down, it was too late. Randy felt fire burst up all around him, and in anger, he made it grow. He walked out of the office, letting the desk burn to dust, and left the fire to consume and multiply.
* * *
Spencer
Donna had messed up on purpose. Seeing her do that burned Spencer. It was painful to see her give up what he could see in her eyes she wanted so badly. The music still played as he watched her fake the injury on the ground, holding her leg. The crowd was at first very quiet, then a few echoes of laughter started to sound, one after another as someone went to help Donna up. The moment was interrupted when the fire alarm started going off. The crowd gasped and Spencer jumped almost a foot into the air, having a small heart attack as everyone stood up wondering if this was for real or a joke.
The coach was with Donna now, helping her walk over to the other gymnasts. She seemed to have no clue as to what was going on as she eyed Spencer and Rebecca with uncertainty. This was all probably a prank or something, but fear crept inside Spencer and he began wondering if it was something more.
Smoke started coming from under one of the doors leading into the hallway. The laughing and talking of the students turned into screams as the principal and a bunch of men started heading down the hall to put the fire out. Ryan Applegate ran with them, which gave Spencer an eerie feeling. It was like Paul’s death all over again.
He saw that Donna and the rest of the gymnastic team were being evacuated, and her dad was running to help the other men with the fire. Mr. Applegate, the wicked foe, was on the phone, yelling at someone. As everyone headed outside, Spencer looked at Brook, who was alone and looking around.
“Randy was in the hallway. I hope he’s ok,” she said to Spencer with a worried look.
Spencer and Rebecca crossed eyes with each other as he grew sick to his stomach. He knew Mr. Apple
gate’s oldest son would be more than fine, and that he had no doubt started this fire.
Chapter Three
Ryan
Ryan, Randy’s brother, waited outside the family library with Lynn, his girlfriend. Despite everything, she was in a good mood, and Ryan was sure he knew why: Donna. Before all the chaos with his brother, Lynn had celebrated and laughed when Donna fell at the gymnastic tournament tonight. Seeing her hurt herself on the beam was still eating away at him. His bones clamped together with tension, screaming that above all else Donna should always be the one to never get hurt. Wasn’t that why he’d pushed her away in the first place?
“I can’t believe Randy did this,” Lynn said as she tried to hold onto Ryan’s hand. He pulled it to his side.
“It is stupid and immature,” Ryan spat. “Of course he’d do something like this.”
“He’s been acting so strange ever since that Electrolite attacked us. Do you think this is over failing the mission, or because that senior kid died?” she asked more gently, trying to sound sincere.
Ryan just wasn’t in the mood to talk or understand his older brother right now. Randy had been brooding for two weeks, but this time he’d gone way too far. His temper was getting more and more out of control. What would happen if he did something like this outside of East Applegate and their school? What would happen if Randy one day became one of the criminals they were expected to track down? He was supposed to be Ryan’s older brother. Yet Ryan always had to be the more responsible one who kept everything together.
Randy walked out of the office. He looked pissed and completely disconnected as usual. “Enjoy the show?” he snickered.
Lynn stayed quiet. For the first time ever it was Ryan’s turn to yell at his brother, not hers. “You mean the knock off version of a circus? No, no one enjoyed it!” Ryan barked.