Vivid

  He pulled me along as if I was weightless. My heart drummed inside my ribs, worn out due to the continuous running, coupled with the fear cooped up inside me. My muscles ached throughout my body as I ran along my dad in the dark alleyway. A cat scampered away as the sound of our shoes pounding came closer to it. My dad took a sudden turn into an open doorway and entered a nightmarish courtyard.

  The building in front of us was ancient with all the paint almost peeling off. Moss grew on the outer wall facing us. All in all the total impression it gave was of a haunted deserted building straight out of a horror movie. My dad broke the rusted lock open and we ran inside. We entered one of the rooms and hid behind the filing cabinet.

  I heard a crash as our pursuers entered the building. They had rung our doorbell when we were having dinner. My dad saw then through the window and ran, taking me in his arms, through the back door. My dad had promised that we would practice after our meal. He had discovered my prowess, what I was destined to have, after being invoked with electromagnetic gamma rays. Apparently it was there inside me, but it came out because of those rays. Pyrokinesis; the ability to conjure, manipulate and control the fifth element: fire. It had first happened when dad was lighting the fire and the fire got disbanded. It spilled onto the carpet and the carpet caught fire. Suddenly it fizzed out. I don’t know how that happened, but I just thought it should and it did. It was like I had willed it to stop.

  Since then I have been a part of this secret. If those people found out about me, then I would be experimented on and used for the wrong purpose.

  But they found out about me and reached us that night. And now, we were running just to save our lives.

  “They’re coming”, I whispered, and he nodded tensely. He stood up and pushed me away. He prodded me towards the open staircase and said to me, what would be the last words I hear from him, “Run”.

  I looked at him one last time and ran up the stairs, until I reached the top floor. From there I jumped onto the branch of a tree and climbed down into the shadows. From my safe place I could see my dad dying. He was being tortured by those men. One man walked up to him and grabbed his head. My dad got immersed in deadly convulsions. I saw him twitch for one last time and he lay still. From there, I knew I was orphaned.

  Tears ran down my cheek and my throat went dry. I remember the time when those street boys would make fun of me. I used to go running up to my dad and cry on his lap. Those boys would tease me and call me a baby. Suddenly it hit me. I opened my palm and released a flow of energy. A ball of flame appeared on my palm calmly. Those boys used to call me names and laugh at me.

They weren’t laughing anymore.

  I turned back and disappeared into the darkness, with my heart throbbing with revenge coupled with a desire to kill. I found a deserted spot for the night and lay down. All of a sudden a police siren shattered the silence of the night. A car stopped in front of me and a kind voice called out “are you alone son??”, “where do you live?” After each question I thought here it comes. He was going to get out of his car and catch me. But he just opened the door and came towards me. I couldn’t take a risk.

  A ball of flames engulfed the man, and he ran about as his clothes were on fire. The car exploded. I had already reached the cover of the forest by that time.

 

I had to stay in hiding. Police would catch me and take me to those men. I had to hide myself. But while I was hiding, I had to formulate a plan for the fate of my dad’s killer. The main killer was a guy who was completely bald he had a scar on his right cheek. He was going to die.

 

                                                       *       *      *

 

  He was the chief executive of the Branch of Secret Experimentation, which was under the Governmental Secret Services. Only a few people knew of its existence, mainly the people who worked under it. He was completely bald and had a scar running down his right cheek. He was specially sent for from Africa. At this moment, He was speaking to his secretary about the latest case of the boy with mysterious powers.

  “We have to get hold of that boy. Think of how it would help the country. We can fight wars; we could even manipulate his skill into other people, and what not. “Order the search warrant right now”. The secretary went to carry out the orders given. The chief lit a cigar and grinned to himself “but the boy’s power shall be mine”. The cigar fell off his hands as an explosion caused the window to shatter into pieces. The security alarm went on, flashing red. The chief ran up to what was left of the window and looked down from thirty floors above. The main gate was completely unhinged and crooked. The security guards lay burning, dead.

  The secretary ran into the room shouting “are you alright sir...”He looked at the broken window and said “it’s an attack sir, and an unexpected missile of flame hit the front gate. All the security cameras are destroyed. But the ones inside are still intact. He switched on the monitor in the room. It showed a person blasting guards out of his way with his palms ablaze with fire. His eyes had an orange glow.

                                                       *       *      *

  Most of the floors in between were deserted. The flame inside me was pulsing to come out. It was easy for me to burn my way to the top floor. On the thirtieth floor there was a door at the end of the corridor marked with CEO. I kicked it open and looked inside. There was a man sitting on the chair, but it wasn’t the man I wanted. “Where’s the black guy, the man who killed my father?” I asked him. He didn’t respond, but instead turned towards the window. I walked forward and readied my power, when suddenly a huge pair of hands grabbed my head.

  I was in agony, mentally. It was like the flame inside me was destroying my brain. I twitched continuously, trying to get free. I was sure I was about to die, just like my father before me. At least I would be reunited with him. As I let the darkness envelope me, I suddenly found myself clutching the bedpost and panting hard. Oh my god, it was just a dream! I was just a normal guy!!

  I got up from bed and got ready for school, thinking about the lovely story I had to tell my friends. I went down for breakfast after packing my bag. I saw my dad, alive and kicking, as healthy as a horse. GOD, dreams can be so realistic! I sat down at the table with my plate of oats. My dad lit a matchstick for the gas stove. The newspaper lay on the kitchen slab, on the other side of the room. I looked at the flame and suddenly it was on page one of the newspaper, eating it up. I looked at my dad and smiled..