ch.10      Samantha          

         Samantha walked in her door still waving at people. What were their names? I can't remember it's been such a long day... I think they're on the student council? Or was it cheer team? She waved one last time and just gave a general goodbye to all of them and quickly shut and locked the door. She sighed getting caught by Favio a few weeks back had really backed up her schedule and she was still catching up. She thought back to his mumbling. She didn't really understand everything he was doing still but she was sure of one thing. He was trying to find others like her. The thought made her heart race. She had never thought about being able to find others like her. Someone who would understand how hard it was to pretend to be like everyone else. Although for her it was worse she had to also pretend to be perfect. Her parents would accept no less. Where were they? She looked her dad's den and her mom's office. Not there. Which meant they weren't home. She ran to the kitchen and sure enough on the fridge was a note. Both of them were away on business trips. She bit her lip worried. It wasn't like this was unusual. Her parents went on business trips all the time but never THIS much. Not to mention all the strange things happening lately. The teenage teacher was weird enough but all the accidents... flying wasn't very safe at the moment.

         She shook her head. No this was a good thing them being gone gave her time to prepare. She ate a quick dinner then grabbed some long lasting things. Energy bars,instant noodles, chips, cereal, trail mix. She was going to bring other food of course but she didn't want to get that stuff until she was sure she'd be leaving in the next few days. She up to the attic and packed her sleeping bag, a tarp, lantern and the small tent. She got some cash out of the emergency fund. There was a lot there all the time since her parents added to it every day. Because of that she had only been able to sneak a couple twenties at a time. She ran down to check on the spare car. It was in good condition still she just had to run it's engine every night to make sure the battery didn't die and refuel it every now and then. Once that was done she went up to her room pack some more clothes. The clothes were tricky she didn't want to spend any money on them when she left for a while but she still needed some for every season. She didn't want to pack more than two duffels worth and a winter coat and boots took up a lot of space. She decided that it could wait after a few minutes and went to work making a fake ID. Getting the right material for the card and putting on her face and all the info wasn't that hard the problem was with the microchip that belonged inside them. She had no idea how to make it just right or how to organize the data in the chip.

         After a couple of hours at this she gave up and started getting ready for bed. She hadn't even showered after PE today. Her mind wandered back to Favio and the whole psychic thing as she walked down the hall to the bathroom. She paused in front of the door staring at her hand on the doorknob. One time when she was younger she had cut her pinkie clean off when she had been trying to chop wood like she had seen her grandpa doing. She took her hand off the knob and studied the digit. It was perfect without the slightest hint of there ever having been anything wrong. She remembered how she had choked on the scream thinking of how mad her parents would be if they found out. They had told her specifically not to touch the axe when she had asked if she could chop fire would with grandpa. She closes her eyes at the memory of the serge of energy called on by her panic. How her finger had reformed right before her eyes in seconds. She thought back to when her older brother had broken his wrist. He had been devastated thinking he'd lose his football scholarship. Panicking with him she had called the same energy to her and had placed her hand on the wound and like with the finger it healed without any hint of there ever having been anything wrong. Simon had been the only one she ever told about her ability. He would make her practice and experiment with it. With his help she discovered how with the energy she could increase her strength, eyesight, memory even smell. Then he had gotten in a car accident driving to college. There had been a bus on his car. I ran to the sight as fast as I could and forced so much strength to my limbs to get him out of there. But when I got him out he was so weak. I tried and tried. I used all the energy I had but he wouldn't heal. His veins had been black and they wouldn't go back to normal no matter what I tried. At one point in it he closed his eyes and seemed to have stopped breathing, but I kept on trying anyway. It went on like that for hours as my despair grew till I passed out. I was very ill for the next week or so and when I came to his funeral had passed. I had to make my peace as best I could and live on without him. But people had seen me trying to heal him. I had seen how Myra was treated because people thought that she was strange, different. So I did my best to be perfect in their eyes so that they would never think that I was abnormal. Oh but Myra! I've wanted to talk to her for so long. I wanted to ask if she was like me but I was always scared the answer would be no. But I've wondered more and more everyday for so many years. Now I know she must be! After what she did in class that day to Favio's toy. But at this point it doesn't matter as much once I turn sixteen and learn to drive I'll be out of here. I almost have everything in order. Once I'm gone I won't have to keep acting perfect to keep them from remembering.