Gone

“Help me!” Lux screamed. She could feel her balance thrown off each time she uttered a sound.

She turned to her body, sending messages to different parts, yet she received no reply. Her heart pounded through her chest as she contemplated the thought of paralysis. It was a deadly thought. She knew her capturer stumbled not far behind herself and against her own instincts she had already exposed her location with a scream that she was sure must have been heard through every inch of the warehouse.

She attempted to turn her head and survey her surroundings wondering what was keeping the person following her, but it was to no avail. Her range of vision changed not an inch. She tried to take in steady deep breaths to calm herself but found herself shaking again.

Footsteps sounded down the hall, growing progressively louder. The sound of the inevitable, her capture by the mysterious man who had been stalking her for weeks.

Her breath became shallow again in some lame attempt to conceal her place, an attempt deemed useless due to her paralysis in such an open space. She closed her eyes trying to make herself invisible.

The footsteps grew and grew until she found them right on top of her.

Her breath stopped.

She could feel him right there, right in front of her, yet he let out a sigh of frustration.

“Where’d she go?” He screamed to an apparent cohort, whose presence Lux was not previously aware of.

She opened her eyes confused by his question and found herself staring at the man’s shoes. Her vision did not seem to extend past the knees of his pants. I must have fallen she thought to herself and attributed the man’s lack of seeing her to her proximity to the floor. She hoped this was the case, but as the relief began to flow, her vision changed. Her eyes now stared directly into the eyes of her follower. She wanted to cry but knew it wouldn’t help anything, so prepared herself to be taken.

Just then her view returned to the man’s feet.

“There’s no one here!” he replied to his co-conspirator. “Just some old vases. She must have found some way out. Either way she’s gone. No use in wasting any more time tonight. We’ll find her again.”

With this the man left and Lux’s mind searched.

She heard cars pull away then everything was silent.

In an attempt to check her vision she sent her hand up to rub her eyes and to her shock and surprise there were her fleshy fingers caressing her eyelid. She took her hand away and stared at it, as she used the other to pop herself up off the floor.

There she stood in the now darkening warehouse for nearly an hour staring at her hand and thinking, What the hell just happened?

Playing the scene through her mind, Lux sat on her disheveled bed surrounded by puce green walls, trying to make sense of her escape. The residual feelings along with the walls made her gulp constantly trying to keep everything down and making her unsteady.

She looked around the room trying to find a distraction to take her out of her memory but nothing did the trick. There was nothing to grab her attention and anchor her into the current moment, so she slipped into the terror of the previous night again.

What does he want? She thought. Why was he after me? What possible use would they have for some stupid orphan girl? What could they want with a girl who no one else seemed to want? Were those footsteps? Where is that light coming from? Where does this hall way go? How can I lose him?

She could feel every catch of her toe on the uneven floor, every stumble. Her heart leaped at every step fumbling along with her feet, causing her chest to contract. Her breath became shallow as though the air’s path was cut off at the larynx, before even making its way to her lungs.

Then she felt nothing. The numbness returned, as did her paralysis. This time through her view was different. She sat facing the cheap mirror that was carelessly mounted up on old desk to create the façade of a real dresser.

She started into the mirror searching for her reflection and found no sign of herself. Only some strange little teddy bear that sat in the spot she had previously occupied. She tried tilting her head to gain a different angle and found it moved as the tattered teddy bear’s own head slumped to the side. She tried then to move her arms and found the tan, furry arms of the bear floated up and down.

She began to laugh and flail her body about watching the silly stuffed animal spasm as she did. The thought that she was that bear; that somehow she had changed into that little child’s play thing was fun and surprisingly relieving. After some contemplation she began to flail again in a crazy fit until the sound of a whining voice hit her and she became still.

“Mom.” The voice screeched. “Where’s Lux? She was supposed to take me to see Unicorns in 3D.”

Lux scoffed at the sound of the last three words and attempted to stick out her tongue before she remembered teddy bears don’t have one. She knew very well that she had never and would never have promised or even agreed to bring that little brat anywhere let alone some stupid kids’ movie, but she also knew that fact would become irrelevant when her foster parents stepped into the picture. Their biological kids were always right and the stray mutts they took in never had a chance in hell because the real kids knew that’s how it worked. Lux would have rather died than spend any of the money that she had been able to save up on that “pretty” petulant princess and some crappy movie about horses with horns.

“She should be in her room!” the mother of the beast yelled back to her youngling.

A smile floated onto Lux lips remembering she was still disguise but recalling the mode of her disguise made the smile just as quickly drop. She winced at the sound of every footstep as it approached her door, until finally the tiny terror entered. Searching the room with an evil look in her eyes she riffled through everything around her, as if Lux could be hiding in some space as small as in the jewelry drawer of her “dresser”. Lux watched anxiously as she passed right by and screamed back to her mother, “She’s not here!” and ran out of the room slamming the door.

Lux didn’t get it. How did the queen of selfishness and cutesy pass right by a new teddy bear on the bed and not even paw at it? Lux looked back in the mirror, only to find a pillow matching her bed in her place. Again she laughed, relieved. This thing could really come in handy.

The she heard her foster mother scream threats and punishments as the little queen of terror cried her lungs out. She knew that no matter how hard she hid or how much, she couldn’t stay where she was. Quickly she snapped back to life and began to quietly pack up her things. She grabbed the case of money she had been saving for her eventual release. It wasn’t that much but it was better than nothing. She figured she would be able to use it to get what she needed.

Though as she stepped through her bedroom doorway she began to think that it may take too long for this talent to become useful enough, so she sneaked into the terror’s bedroom under the veil of the princess’s tears and quickly emptied her piggy bank into her bag. At first glance there was easily double, if not triple, the amount there than it had taken Lux five years to save up.

“She doesn’t deserve this!” Lux said under her breath remembering all the money for the "poor" little brat. With one more look into her own room she slid down the stairs and out the door still undetected under the terror’s tantrum.

She smiled walking down the street knowing that even if they tried to find her, they never would. She was free, free at last!

The next few weeks she lived better than she had ever remembered, she continuously honed her newfound skills. She was happy and free and for the first time in a long time she actually felt safe. It was intoxicating, this new way of life and she didn’t ever want it to end. Though it was clear it would eventually.

The realization came as she walked around the downtown shopping center, high on her newest accomplishment of being able to transform into a mannequin. She looked around at her fellow shoppers with pride from her new secret accomplishment until she met a certain pair of eyes. That pair of eyes seemed too familiar and struck her like lightening causing her to burst into a run, knowing that transforming now in the clear view of so many others would be no good.

She sprinted only to be cornered and stopped by a strong arm to her waist.

“Hey, calm down.” The voice behind her said. “I’m not going to hurt you, Lux.”

The sound of her name being used brought no real comfort but she did steady her breathing.

“Good girl.” The voice continued.

“Why have you been following me?” she asked loudly to gain attention.

“To see when they finally let you out of that hell hole.” He replied back calmly.

Something in his voice drove her to turn around. She was suddenly face-to-face with the man she had been running from only weeks before but he looked different, younger. She examined his face and body in detail and found nothing that showed anything but warmth. And she realized he couldn’t have been much more than her own age. Her previous questions ran through her head but she couldn’t speak.

“So rude of me.” He said letting her go and stepping back slightly. “I’m Avan, Emo-kinetic specialist. I read people’s emotions and movements.” He explained to Lux’s confused look. “You’re apparently a changeling.” He continued with a smile. “No wonder it was so hard to keep finding you.”

“A changeling?” Lux asked.

“Sorry.” Avan replied, “a transformation specialist. You change into other things at will.”

“Not always at will!” she corrected.

“Nobody would ever discover their abilities if the only happened at will. You’re right. Anyways we should probably get going back to the house before you freak out again.”

“What house? I am not going back to another foster home!” Lux said ready to bolt again.

“Too late for the whole freak out thing I guess.” Avan laughed. “You’re going to be fun to have around.”

Lux scowled at him.

“It’s no foster home.” he explained, “Just a house where equally talented and unusual people go to live. It’s like a fraternity, where no one is really related but we are all family because we all have these weird abilities. We help each other learn how to control them better, for the overall good and our own good. We’ve been trying to get you there for years now but you kept moving.”

“How am I supposed to be sure you aren’t lying? That you aren’t part of some scheme to take me off to a ‘special’ foster home where they deal with ‘problem’ children like me?”

“ ‘Problem’ children? What the hell are you talking about? There is nothing ‘wrong’ with you. Except maybe that you could use a serious attitude adjustment.”

“Nice!”

“Exactly what I mean!”

“What do you expect? You stalked me! You chased me through that old glass warehouse by the park. You had me stumbling over so many chards of glass that my cuts still haven’t disappeared. You lurked around every corner, watching me for months and now I am beginning to believe years. Is it common courtesy or something to be nice to your stalker? Well sorry never learned that lesson. Never…”

“…Had parents to teach me?” He finished her rant.

She scowled again, her anger rising like lava in a volcano.

“Hate to break it to you, babe. But there isn’t anything ‘special’ about you. Not in our group anyway. None of us had parents to teach us these sort of things. Our abilities may run through our bloodlines, they may connect us to our parents but none of us ever have had the chance to validate that fact. All our parents were gone before we discovered what we were. It’s like they didn’t want to deal with the little freaks they created running around the house.”

Lux’s eyes dropped with her anger.

“At least yours had the courtesy to leave before you had a chance to form a memory of them. Some of us weren’t that lucky. Some of us can still remember the sound of the door closing and of our own cries as they left never to return.”

It didn’t take long for Lux to realize who “some of us” were.

“So everyone is orphaned than, or abandoned?”

“Yes for the most part.”

“Than how does anyone know… what they know? Like, that it runs in bloodlines, or what abilities are called…though it seems like that is somewhat up for debate in certain instances.”

“A few people had grandparents or aunts to lay down some of the ground work. Others found diaries or journals, or just old books with notes in the margins about it. None of the information is completely reliable, but what we don’t know, we figure out together.”

“Oh.”

“Many of the extended relatives have given up on us. They didn’t want to deal with this strange world or died. When it comes down to it, we really are the only family each other has.”

“Oh...Well…” Lux replied. “I guess I could try it.”

“Wow. Well if you are that excited!” Avan replied sarcastically.

Lux hit him hard in the shoulder and the two walked along to the car.

“Just one more question.” Lux ventured.

“Yes?”

“How did you know to look for me or that I was a…transformation specialist, when I didn’t?”

“I’m a seeker. I didn’t know what you were but I knew you were a something. It’s something that runs in my blood, like the other abilities.”

“Oh.” Lux replied with a pile of new questions about her parents, her new “family” and specifically Avan, building up in her head as she headed to her new home.

Arriving at the house, she was surprised by the normal appearance of it. The beige siding and grayish shudders screamed average suburban household, but once entering the front door that illusion was betrayed by the activity going on inside

Inanimate objects zoomed right past Lux’s eyes as if in war with each other. Those same objects moments later would become not so inanimate, transforming into children with sparkling eyes and enthusiastic smiles, shrieking “again, again!!!” and traversing up the staircase that lay on her right side.

Lux’s jaw dropped at the sight of it all. The seemingly wild children running around without any order, seemed almost beautiful to her as opposed to the chaos that had been rampant in quite a few of her past homes. Their shrieks were not from frustration, hunger, dissatisfaction, or to strictly get their most selfish want, but from resounding joy. There was naturalness to all this un-natural behavior.

Stepping forward to allow Avan entrance into the foyer, she was shaken a bit from her initial astonishment, yet the more steps she took into the this building the more an abnormal feeling surrounded her. It was tender, alluring, the smell of something baking drifted towards her, as did a small girl who attached herself to Lux’s leg.

“Welcome!” the small voice said, remaining clung around Lux’s legs, but tilting her head to meet Lux’s eyes with her own pools of chocolate and cheeky grin. The confused and ambushed Lux couldn’t help but smile back and say “Thank you.”

The young girl remained hugged around Lux’s legs not willing to release anytime soon for moments more until, Avan spoke sternly, “Ally.”

At the sound of what appeared to be her name the girl released and a slight frown took over the smile’s residence. Still she stood nearby the two with her gaze intent on Lux.

Avan suggested that he give her the tour and Lux accepted, still dazed from her welcome to this strange place. As they walked through the house and introduced rooms and people alike, each welcomed Lux. Though many of the children embraced and welcomed her, none seemed to have the vigor of her first greeter who now trailed closely behind her and Avan, eyes never leaving Lux and looking anxious, almost pleading. She could feel little Ally’s gaze on her as they continued through the house, but it did not seem to bother her. In a way it gave her comfort, and comfort that she had long forgotten, and it hit her what the strange feeling was that this house contained.

It was love, unconditional and unselfish love. Avan’s comment before their coming about them all being a family was validated. They were, a real one, though they may seem makeshift. They were more a real family than half of those who shared DNA and biology. The smile returned to her face and was followed by one on Ally’s little cheeks.

After being shown where she would stay, her own little room not far from the rooms of the younger kids but isolated enough to give her more privacy than she had ever had before, Avan brought her down into the kitchen where many of the kids were surrounding a plate of fresh muffins.

“Now, here, we do all do our share. The older ones care for and teach the younger ones and any skills one has they use to benefit the family as a whole. I’m not saying that this is a place to just crash and do nothing all day. Part of being here is being a part of the family and family comes first in these halls but, like I said we all work together, so the load is never too much.”

“Understood.”

“So what do you think? Will you stay?”

Dozens of little wide eyes, switched gaze onto her and she could feel Ally’s eyes in with double the force waiting for the next words to come out of her mouth.

“Please stay?” Ally’s little lips pleaded unable to harness themselves any longer. “We’ve been waiting so long! We need a new mommy!” she ended, tears coming into her eyes.

Avan shrank thinking that Ally might have just thrown a little too much onto the pot than the obstinate, attitudinal Lux would wish to deal with. He looked down at the floor feeling all his searching and tracking had now been blown.

Lux turned to Ally and stared into her eyes, recognizing that look that she once had held in her own, the wanting to have someone there to sing her to sleep, or read her a story, to play dress up with, or fight tears as she went off to school for the first time. She couldn’t deny this little girl the things that she had so desperately wished for herself for so long. It was too late for her, but she wouldn’t let the time pass on this still untouched innocent little soul.

She bent down to the young girl, looked straight in her eyes and said the four words that she knew would change hers and their lives forever.

“I would be honored!”

She was finally home.