"You're not as light on your feet as you think."
•••
A young girl by the name of Lyra always knew she was different. It wasn't until she was ten that she found out she was a mutant. Her parents having been killed by mutant hunters left her as an orp...
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I walked out of the school, turning towards the football field which I often took a shortcut over to get back to my hotel. I walked under the bleachers, which I don't normally do. I listened to the yells of the football coach to the players. The adrenaline was pumping, making my own body surge with it.
I stopped in my tracks as I felt a new energy, besides the adrenaline of the football players. It was the same cool and calm I felt after I talked to Emily. The same feeling I got when I looked at the silver haired boy.
"You know, you're not very inconspicuous," I talked out loud.
"How'd you hear me?" A male voice spoke out from behind me. I didn't hear you. I felt you. I turned around to see exactly who I knew it was.
"You're not as light on your feet as you think," I thought up a quick excuse. He was actually very quiet. I most likely wouldn't have noticed him if I didn't have my powers. His face flashed with confusion before going blank once again. I crossed my arms with a slight head tilt. "Are you stalking me?"
"Can't a fellow loner enjoy a walk under the bleachers?" He pretended to be offended.
"Not when you're trying so hard not to be heard," I explained to him. He shook his head and walked closer to me, since we had to have raised voices just to hear each other over the screams of the football coach.
"I was trying not to be heard precisely because you'd think I was stalking," he explained to me. I opened my mouth, but closed it when I didn't have an answer. "I actually come here quite often. You just happen to be here."
"Okay, that's fair, but what about earlier?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"When?" He asked, tilting his head. I shifted my weight, grabbing onto one of the metal bars of the bleachers.
"When I was talking to Emily," I told him.
"Oh," he nodded. "I was just...intrigued. I wanted to listen, but so did everyone in the hallway. Nice job, by the way." He walked across from my and also leaned on one of the metal bars.
"Nice job with what?" I asked, honestly confused.
"Taking care of her. And her 'boyfriend,'" he put air quotes around boyfriend. Emily truly didn't have boyfriends. They were just guys she kept around for a few days before moving on to the next.
"Well in that case, thanks," I smiled, slightly. "My name is-"
"Lyra. I know," he nodded.
"That didn't sound creepy at all," I raised my eyebrows in a joking matter. His eyes widened, realizing what he said.
"Oh-sorry I didn't...that sounded...I'm Peter," he said with an awkward smile, one hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck while the other is held out in the suggestion of a hand shake. I stared at his hand for a second. I never liked physical contact, after what happened the last time I touched someone. But that was before I could control my powers. What do I have to be afraid of? He started retracting his hand, noticing I didn't want to shake it, but I quickly reached out and shook it, giving him a smile.
"Nice to meet you, officially."
•••
After having met the boy, Peter, in the strangest of circumstances, I had claimed I had somewhere to be. He offered to walk me to wherever I needed to go, but I declined. Nobody would see where I lived. The hotel itself is nice, but the fact that it's a hotel is the problem. It will create a flurry of problems, including the fact that I could be sent back to the orphanage since I'm not yet an adult. The owner of the hotel knew where I came from and that I didn't want to go back, so in exchange for occasional labor, he lets me stay here for free. And extra work gets me extra money, which is how I pay for everything else. I'm the hotel's electrician. He never asked or wondered how I knew about electricity, as long as I get the job done.
As I laid down to go to sleep, my mind fell back to the silver haired boy. Why was his hair silver colored? Was it dyed? What's his deal? Why is his emotion always calm yet mixed with adrenaline. I've never quite felt any emotion like his. Such a mix of parallel emotions. It's as if two chaotic things come together to make something calm. Like the eye of a tornado.
There's a lot more to this boy than he is letting on. And I intend to find out what.
