Lightning Bug

Sleep

*
Abby Smith

I woke up to a man standing over me. He was talking, but I couldn't hear him. I cupped my hands over my ears and he nodded.

"Abby? Darling can you hear me?" I nodded and he smiled. "You remember who I am right?"

"Uncle Barren." My voice came out in a dry croak. He handed me water and I drank it quickly. "You saved me from my parents murderers and you trained me on how to use my peculiarity. Then I got sick and I wasn't sure I was going to survive."

"Yes, but you got better!" An unfamiliar voice came from the doorway. A man stood there. he had the same white eyes as Uncle Barren. Were they relatives?

"Yes, Abby, that's my cousin Tom and my other cousins, Sam and John and Louisa are outside. Do you not remember them?" Uncle Barren asked me with concern in his voice. Oops, I said that out loud.

"No sir, I'm sorry." I hung my head.

"Well, at least that means I can reuse all my old jokes!" Tom smiled in a creepy way. He came and put a hand on my shoulder. I shivered. His touch was unexpectedly cold. "Anyway, Abby, we need your help."

Uncle Barren looked at him and Tom walked out. "Tom was right Abby, we need your help. there is this group of peculiars. They are around your age, and even younger. They want to kill us."

I gasped and stared at him. "Why do they want to kill you?"

"We tried to become immortal, and it worked, but they didn't agree with our methods of doing it." He explained. "Sure our methods were... extreme, but once the process was over, we were fine."

What methods? I opened my mouth to ask what methods, but felt something in my mind tell me not to say anything. The methods couldn't be that bad, all my memories were of Uncle Barren showing me how to use my peculiarity. He taught me how to blind my opponents, how to defend myself, he saved me. As soon as I closed my mouth, I forgot what I was going to ask.

"We want you to help us defeat them. Will you help us?" Uncle Barren smiled at me, and I nodded.

"They want to kill you, so I'll try to kill them." I promised.