“Where did he hide the information?” He snarled, slamming his palms down on the metal table. The man’s face was a few inches from my one and there was a fearsome look on his face. The anger and determination radiated from him. My gray eyes focused on his green ones. He would not get anything from me. “We can be very persuasive.” He growled. I snorted in response, signaling I did not fear him.
My mind began to wander back to when things really began to change and the beginning of the whole ordeal.
***
I was five years old and I was playing on the swing set in my backyard. I was swing happily along, enjoying the warm day and the breeze that accompanied it. My head began to pound and I got off the swing set. I wanted my mother; she could make the horrible pain go away. It felt like my head was going to explode. I dropped to the ground on all fours, tears streaming from my grey eyes.
People were scared terribly scared. They were screaming and crying, begging for their lives to be spared by God. I turned to face a man, whom I recognized. That man was my father. Tears were streaming down from his light blue eyes. He pulled out his phone and dialed the home phone. I could not hear he heard the words he spoke, but something was terribly wrong. The scene cut once more and I was standing in the middle of a field. There was a great fire and the broken remnants of a plane. I ran towards it, desperate to find my father. The plane exploded once more.
I was released from the terrible vision and now, I was sobbing. I pushed myself off the ground towards my mother. “Daddy! Daddy is going to be in trouble! You can’t let daddy fly! You just can’t!” I screamed and sobbed.
My mother calmed me and told me everything would be okay. She kept running her hands through my black hair, telling me everything would be fine. Little did she know, my father would die five days later in a plane crash.
***
I was in freshmen year of high school when the next phase of my powers began. For about ten years, I had been dealing with the power to see the future. It was absolutely terrible; I had regular migraines all the time. My life had turned into a living hell. My mother was an empty shell, who barely had anything to do with me except for the basic parental duties. I had alienated myself from my classmates and anyone who I met. It was my own choice; I could not complain.
It had been a normal day like any other. I blended in with the crowd, not allowing anyone to perceive me as a freak. After all, I never wanted to draw attention. I was walking towards my art class when I heard the voice. It had stopped in my tracks. Man, I hate him so much. I wish I could just knock his fucking lights out. I turned to face the sound of his voice and found a rather skinny kid looking at another guy who was joking around with his friends. “That isn’t very nice.” I said to him quietly, moving out of the hallway traffic.
The skinny kid looked at me oddly. He was a few inches taller than my 5’2 and had chocolate brown eyes. His skin was much paler to my tan skin and he had a light brown spiky haircut. The boy gave me an odd look and said, “I didn’t say anything.”
“Yes, you did.” I said with much more confidence in my voice.
“No, I didn’t. I was thinking it. How did you know that? Besides, I wasn’t actually going to knock him out. He could bench-press twice what I weigh.” The kid said with humor in his voice.
Little did I know that kid would become my best friend. His name turned out to be Cliff and he turned out to be quite edgy.
***
Cliff was my confidant and the only person who knew about my powers. By now, I had discovered that I was both clairvoyant and telepathic. It was nice to have an actual friend and I wondered why I had been so determined to cut myself off from the world. Cliff and I were hanging out at his house. His parents both loved me and considered me their daughter. They had often credited me with keeping Cliff on the path, especially when I managed to stop so many of his fights.
We were currently sitting in his room, talking and listening to music. The Who was playing lightly in the background. Everything seemed perfect. I was just hanging out with my best friend. A headache began to come again, signaling a vision was coming again. I let out a small whimper of pain and gripped my head. “Sofia!” He cried, before I slipped under.
There was a man hunched over at a desk. He was scribbling down notes, muttering under his breath “They will never find this. They can’t find this.” He finished the notes and stuffed them into the doll. He would give this doll to his daughter tomorrow. She would keep it safe. They would not think to look there. His daughter would be with her mother and the men would come for him.
Five women flashed before me. They all wore different masks, yet they had the same look on their face: grim determination. I recognized one of the women, because she was I.
***
“Tell me, what you saw!” The man nearly growled, before slapping me up side the head. The blow stung my cheek and I glared at him.
“You will never get that information from me.” I snarled, determined not to give this man what he wanted.
He smiled at me and said, “What if we had your friend Cliff? Then would you talk?”
I took in a depth breath. They could not hurt Cliff; He did not have anything to do with this. The fear was evident in my eyes and the man knew he had caught victory. There was a twinkle to his eyes and a mischievous grin came onto his face. Before, he could rejoice anymore, the door flew off the hinges. We both stared in surprise before a blonde woman in red and gray stepped into the room.
Her cold blue eyes flickered between us and she raised her hand. The man flew against the wall, slumping to the ground unconscious. The woman looked over to me and asked, “Are you Sofia Milic?”
“Yeah, who’s asking?” I asked in confusion.
The woman held out her hand and said, “The name’s Animus. Come on, We are busting you out.”
Word Count: 1,145
