Desired Life

Chapter 10: Love Is Dead (Part 2)

Chapter 10: Love is Dead

  I teleport into the backyard just in case someone’s near. Thankfully, no one’s near, and so I can sneak inside without being noticed. Just at the turn of the corner, entering the kitchen, I see my mom sitting across the wooden kitchen table. As soon as she notices me, she says, “Oh, you’re back. You took longer than we expected.”
  “Mom, I actually was with Diane,” I confess.
  “Why didn’t you tell us that you were going to hang out with her?” Mom simply asks.
  “I supposed you were going to scold me or deny me permission,” I murmur.
  “Why did you think that, honey?” she asks.
  “I don’t know. Because... I don’t know. I just thought you wouldn’t.”
  “It’s better to tell the truth even if you are going to be denied, John. And we weren’t going to leave you here. I supposed you were lying to us. Didn’t know exactly with whom you were going to hang out, but I knew you were lying.”
  She smiles and gives me a hug. Her short stature allows her to reach up to my shoulders, barely. I tower above her a few inches, almost a foot.
  I check my phone screen and look at the hour: 11:47. 
  “We should get going if we want to get to eat at noon, Mom,” I say. “Where’s Dad?”
  “He’s almost ready. Don’t think we forgot,” my mother tells me.
  I run upstairs and read for a while. Legend by Marie Lu sits on my lap. I’m barely missing about twenty pages to finish it. It’s really good and well-written. I finish it, and by then, I hear my parent’s room’s door clicking open. Dad goes out of the room, fully dressed (Not that he ever goes out of his room in boxers or anything. He’s really respectful that way.), and then notices me.
  “Oh, you’re back. You took longer than we expected,” he tells me.
  “Yeah, that’s exactly what Mom said to me,” I respond, laughing.
  “So, you ready to leave, son?”
  “Yeah; you, Dad?”
  “Of course, son. Always,” he responds, a smile creeping on his lips.
  Mom, Dad, and I leave the house and head for some restaurant. After some ten minutes, we reach the place. It’s named Pizza House. I get out of the car and then I head for the restaurant. Once I’m inside, I wait for my parents. They enter soon enough and then we sit at a table on the side of the restaurant. So it’s pizza again for another day. Oh, well. At least pizza is delicious, usually.
  “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I ask my parents.
  “I think we should better tell you later after we’ve eaten,” Dad tells me.
  Great, another person that tells me that on the same day.
   We order a half-pepperoni, half-marguerite pizza. Delicious. It arrives in fifteen minutes, along with our drinks –melon juice for my dad, diet Coke for my mom, and a Coke for me-.
   We have finished eating in a matter of twenty minutes (I’m a really slow eater). Then, we head for the car.
  “Aren’t we going to talk?” I ask my parents, bewildered by the fact that we’ve already finished eating and still haven’t spoken.
  “Just wait. We’re going to go somewhere and then we may speak,” Dad responds, to which my mom silently agrees.
  And so, after another ten minutes, we are walking across the street, with my dad on front. He always takes the front, I don’t know why.
  “So, now we can talk?” I demand, desperate.
  “Now we can,” Dad agrees.
  “Great, ‘cause I was starting to wonder whether you actually wanted to talk to me or not,” I respond.
  “So, John, tell your father what you told me before we left,” my mom demands.
  “Dad, I lied to you. I actually left with Diane, not with Grindelwald,” I confess to my dad.
  “Didn’t you tell me he would do that, Marie?” Dad asks.
  “Yes, I did, Ryan,” Mom says. “And now, we should start by telling you, John, that we have also lied to you.”
  “You have?”
  “Yes, we have,” Dad answers.
  “But it was for your own good,” Mom tells me.
  “What did you lie to me about?” I demand.
  “Do you remember when we told you that we didn’t want you using your powers?” Dad reminds me.
  “Yeah, I do. What does that have to do with anything?”
  “Well, there’s a reason why we didn’t want you using your powers,” Mom starts.
  “And what would that reason be?”
  “We know about the history of the Outsiders. How they came to live within the common folk, how they were worshipped like gods, how they are being hunted now,” Dad confesses.
  “What do you mean they were worshipped like gods?” I ask.
  “What do you think all those Greek Mythology gods and Egyptian Mythology and what-not were in reality?” Mom says.
  “They were Outsiders?” I ask, awestruck.
  “Yes, like you,” Dad responds. “Now, if you allow me to proceed, let me begin with how they came to live within the common folk.
  “You see, John, Outsiders were, well, what their names says: People from the Outside. Outside was considered as anywhere beyond the place where civilizations were, at that time. Accordingly, Outsiders didn’t bother to mingle with the common folk until one day.
  “Outsiders didn’t want to be left aside. They wanted to live like normal people. Mostly because living with the same people gets boring at some point; but also because they didn’t want to be lonely, without anything to do. They wanted to help.”
  “At first,” Mom continues, “their lives were threatened. They were looked at as if they were something out of the ordinary –they were, actually, and they still are- but then some started seeing them as potential allies, or as greater beings, as gods.
  “They lived in riches and in nourishment, living life at their maximum. They continued to live like that for centuries on end. Until they weren’t recognized as gods anymore. They were left in history. They were simple beings now, decreased in number, though, since some decided to turn into maidens or gave a vow of celibacy.
  “They lived the simple life. They used their powers for good. Until some twisted beings decided that they were superior to the common folk. They were superior, in some way, but they were cowards, using their powers to exterminate the inferior population.”
  “That’s when they were turned into enemies. The Outsiders were forced to retreat into hiding, some of them never even realizing that they had powers, since their parents’ fear hid them in the depth of their beings,” Dad says.
  “Now, it isn’t your fault that you have to hide, John,” Mom assures me. “But it is your mission to re-establish order between the Outsiders and the common folk.”
  “And how do you expect me to do that?” I demand.
  “That is yours to figure out. You think we don’t know the history of your father’s family? The Adams are popularly known as Outsiders in your father’s family. And my family has a history of Outsider descendants as well. The Williams were more of a hidden Outsider community, whilst the Adams have always decided to remain on top, never hiding their true nature,” Mom tells me.
  “What do you expect me to do with this information?” I ask my parents.
  “Family history, John, family history,” my dad answers. “There is a point, though. We are not as oblivious to the Outsider world as you may think we are.”
  “Now, back to what we were talking about,” Mom continues. “I think that’s enough of old history. Let’s jump centuries forward now.
  “Your uncle Logan and your father were quite different, ever since they were children. Your uncle was the Outsider, so he usually took advantage of your father. You know what I mean, brother bothering brother.”
  “Hey, you’re making me look weak,” Dad says, blushing.
  “Oh, honey, you were never strong compared to Logan. Yet you had a better sense of warning than that Logan.
  “Anyhow, your uncle could Teleport. That, in addition of him being an excellent fighter, made him into a deadly man. Yet, he had a good sense of morale, protecting the weak. And still, that cost him his life.”
  “What happened to him?” I ask since I had never heard my uncle’s story.
  “That is not our story to tell, John. I’m afraid that if you want to know, you should better ask your cousin Grindelwald,” Dad replies.
  “Okay,” I mutter.
  “Now, there hasn’t been Outsiders in my family since long ago. Someone severed the connection in my family,” Mom confesses.
  “What about the Kin of the Eight?” I question.
  “I was afraid you’d ask that,” Dad answers. “But I guess we brought you here to tell you everything we know. Plus, you’re old enough to know.
  “It all began when some Outsiders started to rebel against the common folk. They were still friends of the common folk, at the time. But it wasn’t long before that friendship was severed because of some stupid Outsiders –they always have to appear at some point in history, don’t they.
  “Anyhow, the Outsiders with common sense decided to stop the idiots who were wreaking havoc and who severed their friendship with the common folk. Plenty tried to help, but none could stop them.
  “It wasn’t until eight young teenagers –kind of like you and your friends-, though unexperienced and all, decided that they could be the heroes of the story.”
  “Wait, how did you know it was my friends and I?” I demand to know.
  “We have our ways to know things, John. We are your parents after all.” That’s all my parents say in unison, and that’s all it takes for me to stay silent and not ask further questions.
  “Their names were Philip Adams, Ginevra Keating, Lyon Grondie, Hyacinth Jameson, Ira Plyeron, Morgana Lawson, Ariel Morgan, and Kiera Harrison. Eight teenagers, all around your age, John. They took on themselves that great responsibility, when no one else was able to defeat the low-morale Outsiders,” Dad says.
  “First,” my mother continues, “they took out their hierarchy. They planned to kill the leader, working slowly from the inside. And then, they started killing the high-rank officers. And at last, they over-threw the leader.
  “In less than a month, they had won. The fight bonded them together, and as friends, together they vowed to protect the Outsiders and the common folk.”
  “That has kept going. Or had kept going, until all of a sudden, no Outsiders came from the families. Only the Morgan’s kept having Outsiders. And they didn’t really keep cooperating once they saw that they were alone.
  “And yet now, the Kin of the Eight must reunite in order to defeat the Corporal Hybrids. That’s the only way to win this war, John. This is the only way to return peace.”
  “But... I’m barely fifteen!” I exclaim.
  “The original Eight were around your age when they defeated their enemies,” Dad reminds me.
  “I know, but bullets can still kill us. We aren’t immortal. We aren’t invulnerable. We are just human beings. We have powers, yes, but we aren’t killers either.” I manage to convey the ideas that I had been keeping for myself until now.
  “Plus, they have already plenty of humans against us,” I add.
  “Then make them common folk see that you aren’t the actual enemies. Show them what you must. Plus, I never mentioned that you’d have to kill them in order to win,” Dad says.
  “Then how do you expect us to win?” I ask.
  “Words can be stronger than actions, if you put them on course,” Mom responds.
  “But you prohibited me from using my powers.”
  “It’s not like you’ve followed that. And we didn’t mean that you couldn’t use your powers. We meant that you must only use them as a last resort. You can make powerful allies with the aid of words, but you also make powerful enemies if you choose them incorrectly,” Dad says wisely.
  I hadn’t noticed until now, but we have been walking for a long time, oblivious to where we were going. I look around, and see that we are in some sort of warehouse. It’s dark, with only a couple of rows of lights at each end. It’s wide and big. Shadows move around, the swinging lamplights on top casting them.
  “Yeah, I understand. The thing is... I can’t force sense into the Corporeal Hybrids since apparently they can’t see that we only want to help the Outsiders that are being threatened, which, in this case, is every single one of us,” I mutter.
  Swinging lamplights? But there’s no wind. I hear something rustling again the metal boxes thrown around here.
  “Did you hear that?” I ask my parents.
  “Yes, we did,” they both say.
  We stay in silence for a while, trying to listen for any other movement or sound that might come up.
  And then, a familiar voice breaks out of the silence.
  “But we also want to help the people. We aren’t just planning on killing the Outsiders for bad. We are planning on eradicating the world of all threatening human beings. And sadly, that contains Outsiders,” the voice says, reverberating around the room.
  “Show yourself!” my dad commands the voice.
  “If you are so willing to see me, then I guess I will,” the voice responds.
  A figure steps out of the shadows. Its graying hair glistening with grease in the lights, same dark brown suit and dark brown trousers he was wearing the first time I met him –and hated him. I feel an animal rage at the sight of him. I snarl, and slowly whisper his name.
  “Narcissus.”
  “Yeah, that’s how my parents named me,” he responds.