Abilities

Once Michael got home that morning, he did nothing but sit in his room and rest. He told his parents he was suffering from the common cold so that they wouldn’t ask any questions but would let him rest for work. On Monday, Brittany picked him up again like she had every day the week before.

He didn’t tell her about what happened after the bar. She knew about the dream. She knew about Jamie’s picture, but until Michael could figure out what it all meant, he didn’t want her to know anything else. He didn’t want to scare her.

Michael did his best to shake the feeling that something was happening when he was around the kids. He loved teaching and he didn’t want to resent it because of everything else that was going on in his life. He was trying extra hard to be a good mentor to the kids, especially Jamie. He felt that she was more than freaked out during their first encounter. He spent the rest of his first week congratulating her on her work, calling on her in class, and doing all the other little things to show her she is a good student.

He sat at his desk and watched Mr. Kruger talk about language arts. He went through mechanics, punctuation, and sentence structure. Michael was serious about his opportunity. He listened like he was one of the students hearing the information for the first time, and not like he was a soon to be teacher already knowing all of it and more.

A knock at the door interrupted a lecture that was putting some of the students to sleep. When someone comes to the door in the middle of the classroom, it’s like someone famous is about to come in. It wakes all the students up. It gives them a burst of adrenaline because they never know who’s coming into their classroom. It could be the principal, or a new student, or most importantly it could be a hall pass excusing someone from class.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Kruger,” it was the principal this time, so it must have been important. “I need to speak to Mr. Vernor, please.”

Michael was as shocked as Mr. Kruger. The rest of the students “ooh’d” and “aah’d” because this meant that Michael was in trouble. That’s the only reason the principal ever comes into the room. As far as the students knew, the principal’s only job was to punish people.

Michael excused himself from the class and left the room with the Principal. They exchanged pleasantries and small talk on their way to the front office. He didn’t tell Michael why he needed him. He didn’t say much at all. He asked how his first week was and if the cafeteria food was any good.

Michael stopped at the front office. Inside the room, were two police officers waiting for Michael.

“What’s this about, Mr. Ford?” asked Michael.

“They just want to ask you a few questions. They wouldn’t tell me much.”

Michael stepped into the office. He was worried that his incident at the local bar was going to come back and ruin his teaching career before it ever got started, but he secretly knew that no one knew about that. He shook hands with the officers and they guided him into the principal’s office. Mr. Ford tried to step into the office, but the officers closed the door in front of him.

Michael sat down and watched the cops walk around the front of the desk never taking their eyes off Michael.

“What can I do for you, officers?” he asked.

“Mr. Vernor, I’m officer Hanson and this is officer Bishop. We just have to ask you a couple questions about your father,” said one of the cops. He was a scrawny guy equipped with the stereotypical mustache.

“My dad?”

“Mr. Vernor, When was the last time you saw him?”

“This morning at home.”

“Your house?” he asked with more liveliness. “What was he doing at your house?”

“He was leaving for work. What is this about? Is my dad ok?” Michael grew impatient.

The cop with the mustache leaned in while the other cop whispered in his ear. Michael leaned forward but couldn’t hear anything. The cop had the softest whisper imaginable, but his partner understood everything.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Vernor,” the other cop said. “We’re not talking about John Vernor, we’re talking about your biological father.”

“My biological father?” Michael said.

“Yeah,” said Hanson. “We’re talking about William Wehde. Have you heard from him?”

“How could I? William Wehde is dead,” Michael said reluctantly.

“Dead? You think William Wehde is dead?” asked the cop.

“He’s not? He died shortly after I was born, right? That’s what my parents told me. That’s why I was put up for adoption.”

The police officers glanced at each other knowing they just broke the news to Michael that a man that he thought was dead for over twenty years really wasn’t. Michael waited for answers. The look on his face urged the cops to continue.

“Well, I’m sorry you have to hear about this for the first time from us, but William Wehde isn’t dead. The reason we’re coming to you is because he’s gone missing.”

“Mr. Vernor, I understand this is a lot of information to take in,” said the partner, officer Bishop. “But if you do see him, we need you to call us. If he tries to contact you in any way, you need to let us know, understand?”

“Yeah, I do. Is he dangerous?” asked Michael.

“We don’t think so. We received a call from an anonymous person reporting that he’s gone missing. That person never identified herself,” said the cop.

“It was a she?”

“Yeah. Do you know who it might be?”

“No, I’m sorry. I would have no idea about that,” responded Michael.

“We went to his house and he wasn’t there. Michael, he’s been missing since early October. Almost three months now. So, if you hear anything will you let us know?”

“Yeah, of course,” Michael shook hands with the two cops and sat back down in the chair. The cops left the room and thanked the principal for their time. Michael tried to take everything in. Twenty years of his life he believed one thing and now in a matter of minutes all of that meant nothing. Everything was different now.

His adoptive parents had been lying to him since he could remember.

CHAPTER 21

The streets of Ireland were unfamiliar to Mitchel. He walked aimlessly with no idea what had happened over the last couple of hours First, his dead friend John showed up at the airport. Then John told him to get on a plane and fly to Ireland without telling him what he was going to do when he got there.

He put up with the middle seat that John bought for him and survived being squeezed between to overly large passengers, a man and a woman. He got off the plane and called for a taxi to take him to downtown Dublin. Once there, he got out of the cab and just started walking. He did all of this without knowing what he was looking for.

Mitchel parked himself on a bench and watched everyone waiting for someone to make a move towards him. Mitchel could tell when people were hiding something like he had worked for the CIA for most of his life. If someone shot him the wrong look or changed directions to get out of his path, he would know that was the person he was looking for.

Nobody acted suspicious to Mitchel’s standards. From what he saw, everybody was simply enjoying their day. He sat on the bench and waited. Minutes turned into hours. The temperature dropped a little from when he first sat on the bench, but he found ways to warm himself up. It was easy to do when you have electricity pumping through your veins.

“Hi, Mitchel,” came an Irish accent.

Mitchel hadn’t even noticed the man was sitting next to him on the bench. He must have been a local man that was used to the weather because he had a light sweatshirt on and a scarf while everyone else was wearing heavy winter coats. He was shorter than Mitchel. He leaned a wooden walking stick against the bench and smiled at Mitchel.

“Who are you?” asked Mitchel.

“My name is Gazet. I used to be friends with your father.”

“Used to be?”

“We haven’t seen each other in a long time. You were just a couple of weeks old.”

Gazet didn’t seem surprised to see Mitchel. He didn’t have any trouble recognizing him, either. He could have picked Mitchel out of a crowd of one hundred. It was Gazet’s gift. He saw Mitchel coming from a mile away. He actually saw him coming about three months earlier.

“So, you’re the guy that’s going to give me all the answers, right?”

“Well, that depends,” responded Gazet.

“On what?”

“Depends on you asking the right questions. I know a lot,” explained Gazet. He looked out at all the people walking around as he continued on, “when you’re my age, you learn a lot. But that’s not to say that everyone my age has all the answers. No, the key is that you need pay attention.”

“You’ve paid attention?” Mitchel’s questions brought a smile out in Gazet.

“More than you’ll ever know.”

They sat quietly after that. Mitchel didn’t know where to go from there. After all, it wasn’t his idea to be in Ireland having a conversation with this strange short man, but there he was. He waited for Gazet who wasn’t in any hurry to get a move on out of the cold breeze. He breathed in the cool air that was sharp enough to tighten his lungs.

“Mitchel, I know all about you. I know that you’ve robbed your share of banks. I know that you’ve killed. You’ve killed a lot of people. And I know that you are running from someone that used to be very close with you. I know the things you’ve done and I know what you can do. The electricity, the strength. I know that you’re an Ability.”

“How do you know all of this?” there was anger in Mitchel’s voice.

“Because I’m an Ability too, Mitchel,” responded Gazet. “I know all of this because I’ve seen it. I saw you rob your ATM machine when you were a twenty-year-old kid. But when I saw that, you were only fourteen at the time, Mitchel.”

“You can see the future. I’ve heard about Abilities like you.”

“Not like me. Most visionaries can see what they’d like, they can use their ability at any time, but I can’t. I only see the visions that God wants me to see.”

“Like what?”

“Like you. I saw when you were born. I’ve seen the bank you robbed. I see a lot of your brother.”

That left Mitchel dumbfounded. He had never heard of any brother. It was always William and Mitchel in that house. There was never a sibling. Mitchel didn’t grow up with brothers or sisters; he didn’t even have aunts or uncles. He spent a lot of time alone.

“What?”

“You didn’t know?” asked Gazet.

“You think I have a brother?” Mitchel began to laugh. He believed that Gazet could see the future but didn’t know if he could believe him now. He had never heard his father, William, ever mention another son.

Gazet didn’t answer. His gaze left Mitchel’s and focused on the background. His eyes moved back and forth. He looked over to a young couple laughing as they walked down the street. Happy. Two cars almost collided head on in the intersection, but slightly missed each other. The honking and screaming caught Gazet’s attention.

“You need to come with me, Mitchel.”

“First, you need to tell me everything you know. Why am I here?”

“Do you want to die?” asked Gazet. Mitchel took offense to another threat by a strange guy. Gazet grabbed his cane and struggled to get to his feet. “Your girlfriend’s here.”

“Karen?” Mitchel asked looking around the city.

“She didn’t come to play nice this time.”

“How do you know this stuff?”

“I’ve seen it. Now come with me and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

Gazet waited for a brief moment, but Mitchel wasn’t budging. Gazet tapped his cane into the ground. Mitchel rolled his eyes and stood up. He and Gazet left the bench and walked down the street blending in with the crowd.

They were down the street and around the corner before Karen reached the bench area. She was by herself looking around the streets searching for Mitchel. They hadn’t seen each other since that night in the Tuscany hotel.

“He’s not here,” she said into a small communication device that was hidden in her jacket cuff. “He left with the Irishman. Don’t worry, we’ll find them.”

CHAPTER 22

Gazet opened the door and led Mitchel into his apartment. It looked like no one had been inside for a couple months. It wasn’t that there were clothes all over the floor or that it was an unclean apartment, but everything looked like it wasn’t being used. The amount of dust on the furniture made the room look like a recently discovered World War II hideout. This was not the way Gazet lived. He liked clean and organized but for some reason his apartment had been unused.

Gazet flipped on a lamp that only accentuated the dust that covered the shade. Mitchel coughed as he made his way through the room. Gazet tossed his cane on the couch and limped around the edge of the room. He opened the blinds so that the room was a little less depressing and smacked the cushions of the furniture to bring them back to life while creating a dust storm. After a while it all settled and Mitchel didn’t feel quite suffocated.

“Aren’t you gonna ask about the girl?” asked Mitchel.

“I already know.”

“Oh, right,” forgetting Gazet sees the future.

“So, what now? We just hide out here and exchange stories? You gonna tell me how cute I was as a child, or can we cut the crap. You said I have a brother.”

“Mitchel, have you ever been told the story ‘The Brothers of the Sky?’”

Annoyed because he felt that Gazet was beating around the bush, Mitchel let out a long sigh before answering, “No, I haven’t.”

“It’s the story of the oldest civilization known to man. The first man, the Creator, was put on Earth to create everything we know today. He did that through his children. He child was created with his or her own purpose. But in the end fate took over. One of Creator’s children began killing everyone, including the Creator.”

Mitchel didn’t want to hear an old wise man’s tale, but he figured that it had to have some set of importance no matter how crazy Gazet seemed so he leaned back and listened with his eyes close, partially because he was annoyed but he also wanted to take it all in without any distraction.

“But before his death,” Gazet continued, “Creator made two final children. The Sun and the Moon. The two were created to watch over the people of Earth. The Sun to be their savior. To give them light. The moon was there to ensure the darkness would survive. While the sun was the savior, the moon soon came to be known as the destroyer. It was beautiful, and elegant, but would-be half of what the Sun was. Because of this, the moon grew hungry and a rage began to take over. After years of being able to coexist with each other, the moon declared war on the sun. That is why the moon and sun split time between the day and the night. They’ve been in a war over control of the sky for over millions of years. They are the brothers of the sky.”

Mitchel soaked up the story. The gears inside his mind were cranking away. They were moving a mile a second. Mitchel, although he didn’t quite understand the meaning of ‘The Brothers of The Sky,’ he realized that this story had a lot to do with the questions that he needed answers to.

“So, what happened?” asked Mitchel.

“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been written yet and it is a future that I cannot see. Have you ever wondered why you are an Ability?” Mitchel shook his head. He never thought about it. He took his powers for granted, and never worried about where they came from. Gazet continued on, “Think about it. Your father isn’t one. Your mother wasn’t. Yet, here you are, one of the more powerful Abilities I’ve ever come across. And you want to know something? Your brother is also an Ability.”

“That’s the third or fourth time you’ve mentioned that I have a brother, but why don’t I believe you?” Mitchel questioned.

“You’re the only two in your entire family history that have abilities. It’s destiny. You both grew up not knowing the other one existed, and I’m guessing he still doesn’t know about you. Did you ever wonder why the electricity that is running through your veins is black? The color of night? Did you know your brother has the exact same abilities? But his isn’t black.”

“You think we are the brothers of the sky?” asked a skeptical Mitchel.

“You tell me I’m wrong. A week into your life two men showed up at the hospital to kill you. Your brother was put up for adoption a week after you were born in hopes that you two would grow up and never discover your powers.

“Why?”

“As you two continue to live, your powers are going to keep getting stronger. You won’t be able to control it. It’ll take you over and you two will wage war on each other and everyone you’ve ever met. When it’s all said and done everyone you’ve ever known, anyone you’ve ever loved will be gone. You and your brother are going to be the reason that the world we live in today…ends.”

Mitchel had been searching for a long time for someone to tell him the reason he was the way he was. He killed time by running from his father, his friends. He robbed banks and killed people that got in his way because he was sick and tired of not knowing whom he was, or what he was supposed to do. But every step led to this very moment. The people and the banks, the girl and his friend dying all led him to this exact moment.

“So, what do I do?” asked Mitchel.

Gazet grabbed his cane off the couch to use it as a helping hand. It took all his effort to rise to his feet. The cane wobbled beneath him as he struggled to get to his feet. Since his car accident in September, he hadn’t fully healed. He walked to a picture of his deceased sister, Claire. He picked it up from the mantel and blew off the dust. But he looked at it like he didn’t even know who it was. As if she was a stranger.

“You need to find your brother,” Gazet turned to Mitchel. “And you need to kill him.”

CHAPTER 23

Karen walked straight toward an apartment complex as if she knew for a fact that her target was hiding inside, as if she had been tipped off by a witness or by an undercover agent.

She stopped at the front door of the apartments and looked up. The building was only ten stories up, but it was wide. Twenty windows stretched from left to right. She scanned the entire building from the ground floor to the top floor and then from one side to the other. She took a deep breath and tried to control her emotions. She never expected it to come to this. She never expected to be chasing the man that she used to love.

She set her sights on one window in particular and knew they were in there She had been wearing a communication device in her sleeve and was wearing a clear earpiece that couldn’t be seen by anyone unless they already knew it was there. She listened to her instructions from the man who called the shots, her boss.

She raised her wrist to her mouth but didn’t seem to be herself. She kept her eyes on the one room she needed to get into, but now they were glazed over as if she wasn’t looking at the window, but right through it, through the window, the room, the building. It was as if she had a concussion and didn’t know where she was. She closed her eyes tightly, breathed in deeply from her nose and slowly exhaled from the mouth. A tear fell from her eye.

“I got it,” she said reluctantly into her communicator.

She put up her hand and waved for others to come with her. Across the street three guys wearing black trench coats, black suits nodded to her. Two of them were seated at a small rounded table outside a café, and the other was leaning against a pole reading a newspaper. They dropped what they were doing and crossed the street.

They walked into oncoming traffic with no indecision. They didn’t flinch when cars came a couple feet from breaking their legs, or swerved out of the way to dodge them. They didn’t put up their hands to stop the cars from moving forward, they just walked. They walked with a purpose, with one goal in mind.

“Room 4D” she said.

Karen led the three guys into an empty main lobby. The four assassins waited for the elevator to find its way to the first floor.

“Does he want him alive?” asked one of the men.

Karen stared at the numbers counting down. 7. 6. 5. She knew the answer but she wasn’t sure she wanted anyone else to know. These three men she stood with were the best at what they do. They have had over fifty assignments, and they hadn’t failed once. Whether their task was to catch and release or to catch and kill, they did it. They never missed their mark.

Nobody in the company knew what their personal lives were like, because they never talked about it. They didn’t talk much at all. They were there to do the boss’s dirty work. They were professionals. All she knew was that one of them used to be a Marine, but she never asked which one.

Karen was different. She was the typical girl next-door type. She grew up in a close family; an only child. She and her parents were always traveling until her mother passed away. She wasn’t close to her father until a couple years ago when she decided to work for him.

She had a great boyfriend in college. They were together for almost three years, only breaking up a year before she stood outside the very building, he was hiding out in.

“Karen, do we kill him or not?” he repeated just as the elevator reached the bottom floor. The bell sounded.

“Do whatever you have to,” she answered.

They rode the elevator to the fourth floor in silence. Their heads were all tilted towards the ceiling watching the numbers light up. The elevator music was the only thing making any real sound. It was slow, steady, calm music.

They reached the fourth floor and the doors parted. Karen stepped out first. Once out of the elevator, she stepped to the side and let the men walk ahead of her. She looked at each guy as they walked to make sure that they were prepared for what they were walking into. Karen wasn’t prepared the first time she witnessed Mitchel’s abilities.

“He’s killed eleven of my men,” she said to them. “Most of them were better at what they did than you are. If you aren’t ready to go through that door, then don’t. I don’t care what my father says, use your abilities.”

The three men in black smirked at one another as if Karen just let them off their leashes. One of them stood in front of the door, lifted his leg and kicked through it. He moved aside and let Karen be the first one through the door. Gazet and Mitchel sat on the couch, as if they were waiting for her.

She pointed her gun, aiming in Mitchel’s direction.

****

Fifteen minutes earlier, Gazet and Mitchel were still discussing the relationships between Mitchel, his brother, and the story about the sun and the moon. Mitchel’s thoughts about it, his beliefs, were starting to change. Gazet was doing his best to prove to Mitchel, just like he once proved to William twenty-years earlier, that the stories were true.

Gazet stood at the window looking out at the street and the people walking around it. He saw three men standing across the street trying to blend in with the crowd but their black trench coats gave them away. They looked like characters straight out of the Matrix. Gazet scanned the rest of the street, checking back to make sure they hadn’t left; they were looking for someone in charge, looking for the woman.

He saw her. She was standing in front of the building looking it up and down. She was scoping each window as if trying to count how many rooms there were, and then she stopped. She kept her gaze steady on the window where he stood. Her eyes were deadlocked on Gazet.

“Gazet, I’m talking to you,” said Mitchel from the other side of the room. He rose from the couch and walked closer to Gazet.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Gazet asked

“You want me to kill my brother. Why?”

“You’ve killed dozens of people, Mitchel. People with wives and husbands, with children. They had dreams and ambitions, but you didn’t care about any of that. You didn’t take any of it into consideration when you used your powers to cut through their hearts. But these men were complete strangers to you, so none of that mattered. Well, your brother is a complete stranger, Mitchel. So, what’s the difference? Why not just kill him?”

“Because he’s my family.” he responded with little conviction.

“He’s the family you don’t know, and trust me if you get to know him it’ll just be harder to kill him.”

Mitchel threw his hands-on top of his head and walked off his frustration. Gazet was right. Mitchel had killed people he didn’t know, that he didn’t care about. He just did it for one reason; he wanted to survive. Killing those men was the only way to survive. He didn’t know his brother. He didn’t know he existed until a couple minutes ago, and now he was supposed to be a family man? Were they supposed to get to know each other and relive their childhood doing all the things that brothers do that they missed out on?

“What happens if I don’t? If I just walk away from all of this and never look back?” asked Mitchel.

“Then we’re all dead,” his response sent chills through Mitchel’s back. “In the end, one of you has to do it. You’re part of an Eclipse, Mitchel and those don’t last forever. If you don’t kill him, he’ll kill you. So, you need to decide what’s important.”

Mitchel walked in circles. At this point in his life, he wasn’t close to anyone. His best friend was killed in an alley, his dad didn’t even know that he dropped out of school three years ago, and the love of his life was trying to kill him.

“She’s here.” Mitchel turned because he knew the exact woman that Gazet was going to talk about. It was Karen. “She’s here, Mitchel. She’s with three men and they’re coming to the apartment right now to take you, or worse kill you.”

“Where are they?” Mitchel ran to the window thinking he would see her standing in the streets looking up at him.

“They just got out of the elevator.”

Mitchel left the window and headed for the apartment door. He held onto the handle and pressed his ear up to the door. He listened. He listened like a predator waiting for his prey to appear.

“Listen, you need to do what I tell you,” said Gazet. “Or they’re going to kill you.”

“I can handle them.”

“Trust me, I’ve seen this before. Sit down.”