Chapter Thirteen
“How could you?” Dad spat at me in disgust, “You could have killed someone!”
“She almost did,” Niyol interjected smugly.
I groaned in annoyance and shot him a look. He smiled at me proudly. He was so irritating.
“At least I didn’t almost kill my grandfather,” I snapped back at him. His thick face dropped sadly, and then twisted in anger.
“You’re such a bitch, Aura, I really hate you sometimes…”
“Enough!” Dad yelled, silencing Niyol, who sat back into the wooden chair. He crossed his arms in a huff, and gave me an evil look. I smirked at him, just to annoy him even more.
Sefarina sat there quietly, as she usually did. Her long brown hair tumbled over her round face, obscuring her eyes from the rest of us. She didn’t do too well with conflict, and tried to shy away from it as much as she could. This time though, Dad ordered that all three of us attend his emergency ‘family meeting’. We all sat around a small round wooden dining table, which was placed at one end of our long kitchen. We didn’t have a separate room for wining and dining, so Dad just put it here, which made sense, since it was so close to where we kept our food. But he was the only member of the family who ever used the table to actually eat from, since the rest of us either ate out with friends or sat in our rooms. Or in front of the television, in the living room. We weren’t exactly what I would call a ‘close’ family, but some of my friends had noted that we were a lot closer than most families, mainly because we occasionally spent time with one another.
When we were children, I used to hang out a lot with Sefarina, and we were really close, but when I went to secondary school, I had new friends, and I didn’t really get time to see her. It was only recently, when she discovered the truth about our powers, that we became close again. I liked being friends with her, even though we couldn’t be more different. Behind her painfully shy exterior was a loving, bright and interesting person. She was great to talk to, because she loved to listen, and often gave sound advice. Unlike Niyol, or ‘tard’ as I liked to call him, who was just an idiot. I guess, mostly, he couldn’t help it, because he’s a boy and they’re all rather dim. They aren’t like women: they don’t think about things and they don’t care about other people’s feelings. Robin was a perfect example of how unthinkingly cruel men can be.
I sighed, loudly. I hoped that Robin was going to recover soon. The paramedics who arrived at the scene were able to revive him, and his mum called me while she was at the hospital and said that he was okay. He only had a few broken bones, but they would heal. His brain function was normal, and the doctors had said that he would wake up soon. I had felt the weight of lingering nausea sinking further into my belly the entire time I had spoken to her. What were the odds, she had said, that gale force winds would direct themselves at one particular building? I replied that I hadn’t the first idea, and that it must have been down to global warming. She liked that theory. Apparently, it was the only thing that made any kind of logical sense. After I had wished Robin good luck and thanked her for calling, she cried. I felt even worse. People had often called me feisty, but destroying a small Italian restaurant single handedly and almost killing my boyfriend was probably not what they meant.
Dad leaned his elbows against the table and dropped his face into his hands.
“This is all too much…” he whispered, his voice full of sorrow. I heard him begin to sniff and snivel, and realised that he was crying. Tears began to fill my eyes too. I didn’t like to see my father like this. And it was all my fault.
“I’m sorry Dad,” I said, reaching my arm out to grabs his. Sitting opposite me, I watched in shock as he recoiled from my touch. He dropped his arms down and moved them back to his sides. His eyes were moist and red, and he avoided my gaze. I began to cry now, as it suddenly dawned on me that my own father feared me, and probably hated me for it. Sefarina, who sat to my right, took my open hand instead, and pulled her head up straight so that her hair fell back to reveal her face. She looked at me reassuringly, and stroked my hand tenderly. I smiled at her in appreciation, then looked back towards Dad.
“I said I was sorry, Dad, and I meant it. What more can I say?”
A loud inappropriate laugh exploded from his mouth.
“What more can you say?” he retorted mockingly. I continued to cry softly. “There’s nothing that you can say, Aura! You almost killed your boyfriend!”
“Ex boyfriend,” Niyol added haughtily, but we all ignored him.
“And you destroyed a restaurant. A year ago, Niyol almost killed my father. Years before that, your mother packed up and left because we discovered that our three children had creepy super powers!”
“They’re not creepy!” Sefarina blurted out, forcefully. We all stared at her in silence. It was unusual for her to be so defensive. Dad turned towards her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” he apologised, “It’s just that this whole thing is…”
“Crazy?” Niyol added seriously. Dad nodded.
“I’m just scared,” he continued, “scared for my children, and for everyone else around you. You told me you had your powers under control, Aura. You said that those few months in Ashbourne helped you to control yourself. Clearly they haven’t.” He turned back to me, disappointment smothering him.
“I was angry,” I rationalised, “I was furious.”
“You’re always angry,” Niyol interrupted. I scowled at him hatefully.
“Why are you even here, tard? You’re too dumb to be involved in adult conversations.”
“Shut up!” He shouted back at me, “and don’t call me that!”
I felt a sudden stinging sensation jab into my leg, and realised that Niyol had just electrocuted me.
“Did you just use your powers on me?” I asked him sternly. He squinted and then brought his arms up from under the table. He twisted his body away from mine, ignoring me in defiance.
“You’re not my mum,” he whispered honestly, “so stop acting like it.”
His words hurt more than his lightning. I didn’t like to think about my mother, and I definitely did not like to hear my brother throwing the help that I had given him over all these years back in my face. I closed my eyes, my arms quaking in rage, and felt the molecules moving through the room. I felt the space around Niyol’s chair, and very quickly nudged it. Niyol clattered to the floor along with the chair, as I threw them both backwards. Niyol cried out in confusion as he smacked into the dusky lino floor, but quickly jumped back up to his feet. He glared at me in fury, electricity crackling out of his palms and around his forearms. I wasn’t afraid of him. I had always been stronger than him, and I still was. I also knew that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. He was too soft. Or at least, he was before he got his powers. He seemed like a completely different person now.
“Come on then, Aura!” He shouted threateningly, “I have no problem fighting you!”
“Stop it!” Dad and Sefarina cried out as I rose slowly to my feet, moving my mind through the air that flowed calmly across the room. I gathered every drop of moisture I could from within the small vicinity, and prepared to fling it into his face. He wouldn’t expect that.
“I’m not going to fight you,” I retorted, mockingly, “because it would be too easy to kick your scrawny behind.” I smiled, and he growled. More sparks of light jumped out of his body, singeing his clothes. I grabbed the droplets of water that dribbled out of the tap that hovered over the kitchen sink. There were no doors or windows open, so there wasn’t much moisture left for me to fight with. I would just have to use the wind against him, and use that alongside the little water vapour I had just collected. Dad jumped up, his chair falling to the floor, and he ran between us, holding his hands up in surrender.
“Look at yourselves!! Just look at what you are about to do to one another!!” He turned to Niyol. “Are you really going to try to electrocute your sister?” He turned to me. “Are you really going to hurt yo
ur brother? This is just awful that you could even consider harming one another! It makes me sick! I didn’t raise you to be like this!”
“You didn’t raise us at all!” I replied coldly. As soon as the words were spat out into the frosty climate, I immediately wished that I hadn’t said it. It was nasty, untrue, and completely disrespectful.
Dad’s lower lip began to tremble and his eyes became watery. As the droplets of tears dribbled out of his eyes and down his cheeks, he turned away from me in disgust and shame. I stood there, awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do. I wanted to apologise, but I knew that it wouldn’t mean anything. Even if I was sincere, the damage had been done. I had said something that could not be retracted, no matter how hard I tried. I felt disgusted with myself. I was a horrible person.
Sefarina pushed past me aggressively as she rushed towards Dad. She snarled at me as she took him in her arms, and hugged him against her tightly.
“You’re such a bitch, Aura, you really are.” Hearing Sefarina say what I knew to be the truth was hard to stomach. The anger I had towards my world, my situation, and most importantly, myself, was becoming harder to handle. I had been so strong for such a long time, but I didn’t want to be anymore. Pretty quickly, I discovered that I too was crying, and once I began, I found it hard to stop. I sobbed and gasped and spluttered uncontrollably, as if all of the pain of the last ten years was being released from me in a huge wave of emotion that I couldn’t contain.
“I’m so sorry,” Sefarina apologised guiltily, her face now sad and sincere. She looked as if she wanted to rush over and hug me too, but she was busy tending to our father.
“Don’t be,” I gulped between outpours, “It’s the truth isn’t it? I’m a horrible person!”
My knees rocked dramatically and I folded in half at my waist, pushing my back against the wall to my left for support. I was never an emotional person, and I never liked to show signs of what I would call weakness. And right now, I was showing my whole family just how weak I really was.
Niyol scooped my upper body up and rested my head against his shoulder. He hugged me lightly, allowing me to fall onto his body and continue crying. Normally I would avoid the physical interaction since I really wasn’t a very touchy feely person, but right now I needed the support.
“Thank you,” Niyol whispered gently into my right ear, “thanks for everything.”
I stopped blubbering and pushed my hands against his arms and removed my head from his shoulder so that I could look into his eyes. They were a serious dark brown. I knew that he meant it. I had never known any of my family show gratitude towards me, least of all Niyol. It was completely unexpected. I had given up everything to take care of them, and as a result, my grades had suffered. I wasn’t able to do what I had wanted to, but no matter how much I resented them for it, I had wanted them to achieve the best that they could. That was the least they could do to show me that my hard work hadn’t been in vain. And now they were finally saying what I had always wanted to hear… I just needed to know that my sacrifice hadn’t been taken for granted.
“You’re… you’re welcome,” I replied. He hugged me tight, and for the first time in a long time, I smiled.
I heard Sefarina and my father walk over to myself and Niyol. They wrapped their arms around me too, pulling me close. Even though it was getting harder to breathe, I didn’t struggle against the crushing weight. I knew that it was a thank you for everything I had done. I looked up at my father, and he gazed back at me. I wanted to say sorry to him but by the look in his eyes, I knew that I didn’t have to. He knew I was sorry, and I could see that he was too. It had been hard on all of us, especially my dad. He kissed me gently on the cheek, and then pinched it lightly with his fingers like he always did ever since I was a little girl. He smiled proudly.
“I just want the best for… all of you,” he sighed. “Whatever you do with your lives is up to you. I’m not going to force you to do anything against your will. I just want you all to be… happy.”
His gaze caught my own. His eyes smiled sincerely, and all of the love he had for me shimmered in my own reflection.
“The choice is yours,” he uttered honestly, “to do whatever you think is right.”
He let go of me and stepped back, as did Sefarina and Niyol. I breathed in deeply, allowing the air to get back into my lungs. My eyes jumped from face to face, as they all stared wide eyed at me eagerly. Once again, I was expected to do ‘the right thing’. They wanted me to give up my future, my plans, my dreams for what they wanted. If I chose to do what I wanted, then I would be letting everyone down. I sighed, sadly.
“I think we have a lot to talk about,” I said gently, sitting back down on my chair and pulling in under the table.
“Okay,” Dad replied, going back to his seat, Niyol and Sefarina following suit. It was going to be a long night.