Chapter 4: The Truth

The truth is explained to jack and more of his past is revealed

As Jack ran home, many thoughts ran through his head: “What happened back there?”, “Who was that man?”, “What am I?” Many people stared as he ran past. He thought that his parents would laugh at him if he told them what happened. What about the man? Was he real or just imagination? The cold air he felt could’ve came from him. “Was that man Death itself?” he thought. The neighbors were all inside, because of the hot sun bearing down on them like an ant inside an oven.
When he got back home, he burst through the door and entered his home. He slammed the door and was sweating, trying to find his family.
“MOM? DAD? MAGGIE? You guys here? ” he shouted.
He ran through a few rooms, before finding all three of them, sitting on their couch. They stared at him as if they’ve been waiting for him. Maggie stared at him with tears in her eyes. Jack ran to his parents and explained what had happened.
“Guys you are not gonna believe what just happened to me I swear that it is the truth”
He explained the bullies, the red aura around him, the man, and the truth. John sighed and sat him down next to him.
“Jack, my boy, from what you told us, I am happy as can be Although, I am a little scared at the same time.”
“Huh? ” He said, shocked.
“Honey, we are more proud of you then we ever have been.” she giggled.
“Mom how is this in anyway funny?”
“Son,” said John. “Welcome to a whole new world.”
“What are you talking about? ”
He stared at his wife, smiling.
“Son, you have discovered your ‘gift.’”
“I thought being a freak was my gift.” he said quietly.
“Jack, you have the ability to do something that most of the human race cannot do.”
“What’s that?”
“You can control one of the many Elements.”
“WHAT? ” He shouted.
“You, Maggie, your mom, and me are what we call Elemental Users or Users for short. Each user controls their own Element that they are born with. I was born with Wind. Your mother was gifted with Nature. We don’t know Maggie’s yet, but it’ll show itself before long.”
“You’ll earn more at your new school.” said Dezi.
“HUH?” He yelled surprisingly.
“Yeah. You’re going to a new school where you will learn to use, control, and practice your Element. Understand?” said John.
“I understand dad, but...”
“But what?”

“How can I trust that you two have Wind and Nature? I call fake.”
“Fake, huh? Watch this.”
John closed his eyes and held his left hand open. He took his right hand and pointed two fingers to the ceiling. Jack watched in disbelief, but was soon blown away. He swung his two fingers in a circle and quickly smacked his palm with the two fingers. Immediately, he was holding what appeared to be a ball of air in his left hand. He opened his eyes and smiled at his son.
“Fake, huh?” he laughed.
“Wow dad. That was... SO COOL do something else” he cheered.
“If you insist.” he smiled.
He took the ball of air and closed his hand. He threw the ball underarm and the entire living room bursted in flying objects. Dvds, chairs, the TV, players, and much more were flying in the air. Everyone’s hair was swaying to one side, and even Riley was flying around, which made Maggie laugh.
Dezi coughed and John understood. He slashed the air with his hand and everything went back to their original places. Riley plopped down on Jacks lap and quickly ran away to his pen. Jack shook his head so that his hair would be where it was before.
“Mom? Dad? That... was... AMAZING”
“I thought you’d say that.” said John. “Now, the school you’ll be going to is called E.U. or Element University. Your mom and I went there when we were students. Loads of good times.”
“Guys? What other kinds of Elements are there?” asked Jack.
“Metal, Water, Ice, Earth, and many others.” started Dezi.
“I see... is Fire a common Element?” he asked curiously.
“Who wants cookies?” shouted Dezi after a few quiet seconds.

The next few hours went by uneventfully. Every so often he would ask his parents questions about the school. “What kind of classes will I take?”, “Where is it?” And they would answer: “You’ll find out soon enough.” It was close to dinner time when he approached his parents, who were watching over dinner. His fists became sweaty, and fear surrounded him.
“Mom? Dad?” Could you please... teach me... some moves I could do with my Element?” he said quickly.
They ignored him as if they didn’t hear him. For some reason, he though “Are they scared to teach me? What are they not telling me?” He gave a low sigh and exited the room. He began to walk upstairs to his room, which was his place of peace and quiet. He looked over into his sister’s room and saw her playing with her dolls. She looked up and saw him. Maggie quickly shut her door to avoid his gaze. This made Jack even more depressed. “Even my family is ignoring me. What could be worse? ” 
He entered his room, kicked off his shoes, and laid down on his bed. He gave a look at his right palm and it was glowing red. He clutched it tight and closed his eyes. He began remembering back to his 11th birthday party, which was special for a very important reason; other than the fact that it was near a year before Amy moved.
It started in his room, which looked exactly the same as it was in present time. He stared out the window as he saw a lot of his fellow classmates who, according to Desaree, were his ‘friends.’ “I have no friends.” he thought. He could see his crush Amy playing with a four year old boy named Andy. 
“Brother?” he asked himself.
Near her, he saw Katelyn Rogers, the class’ nerd girl. She always had a thing for Jack, which confused him beyond belief. For only ten year olds, they were all passed the ‘cooties’ stage. He looked for signs of Joe and his friends. “No Joe. Good. I don’t need their presence at my party. “Come to think of it,” he thought. “Why are my classmates even here? I thought they disliked me? ”
In fact, a total of six kids (counting Jack) were at the party. 2 girls and 3 other boys that considered Jack a friend. Arthur Martin, a tall boy with red hair, Ralph Goldberg, a short blond boy with freckles, and Colin Segal, a short, fat dark haired boy, were all close friends and rarely talked to Jack in school. He saw Arthur and Colin talking to John about NASCAR and Ralph was playing tag with Maggie. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
“It’s open.” he said sadly.
“Hi Jack.” greeted Katelyn as she walked in.
“Hi Katelyn.”
“Why aren’t you at your party?”
“No one wants me there. Not even my own family.” he replied as he stared out the window.
“That’s not true” she shouted. She murmured something else.
“What did you say?” he asked curiously.
“I WANT YOU THERE”
Jack raised an eyebrow and looked at her puzzled. She turned, blushing with embarrassment. He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. He looked into her deep brown eyes.
“You are the only person who wants me there, Katelyn. I’ll go and have a good time.”
Before he knew it, Katelyn wrapped her arms around him and kissed him full on the lips. Time seemed to speed out of control in his mind. He couldn’t believe this was happening. “I’m kissing the nerdy girl Katelyn My heart belongs to Amy I wanna let go, but this feels so passionate.”
He closed his eyes and put his arms around her, hugging her tightly. What felt like minutes, turned out to be only 30 seconds. It ceased when the door opened and they turned to see who it was. It was Amy. She stood there, shocked, woozy, and a tear began coming down her cheek.
“HOW COULD YOU? I HATE YOU” she screamed. She quickly slammed the door and left.
“Oh boy.” started Katelyn. “I think she’s mad at both of us.”
“I agree. She saw her two best friends kissing each other. Doesn’t look pretty.”
“Yeah.” she blushed. “I enjoyed our kiss Jack. You’re the first boy I ever kissed. It was so nerve wracking”
“I’m sure.” he replied. “You were my first kiss as well. Although, I was saving that for... never mind. Not important.”
“Okay,” she smiled.
“Can I ask you something, though?”
“Why did I kiss you?”
He nodded
“Well, I’ve had a crush on you since 4th grade and when I had a moment alone with you, I took it.”
“Well, either way, I enjoyed our kiss. Let’s go to the party and try and cheer Amy up.”
“Yeah” she cheered.
After a few minutes, they arrived outside with mostly everyone saying “Happy Birthday” to him. Katelyn left his side to get a drink of Coca Cola from the refreshments stand. Jack searched for a few minutes before finding Amy crying her eyes out on the old swing set he still had. He sat on the swing next to her and said nothing.
“Why did you kiss her?” she asked.
“I didn’t plan to. She hugged me and planted her lips on mine. Wasn’t my fault.”
“You had your hands around her waist Now, we may be only 11, but we know what the process of kissing is”
“I know Amy. I know. I’m sorry. I am truly sorry I kissed your friend.”
“It’s not that. I’m not upset by that.”
“Than what?”
“I... umm...” she said nervously. “Never mind. Just forget it.” she laughed.
“Can you forgive me?”
“Maybe. If you promise to be by my side when we are in school or anywhere else. Deal?”
“Deal,” he said as they shook hands.
He woke up a few hours later and remembered the dream he had. Dreaming back to the day that Katelyn kissed him made him smile. He hadn’t smiled for quite some time and it felt good. “Am I getting feelings for Katelyn?” he asked himself. “Maybe. Maybe not.” As a last thought, he remembered back to the aftermath of the party, where he was approached by Katelyn.
“Can we keep this kiss between you, me, and Amy?” she asked.
“Of course. Because you don’t want to have people saying bad thing?”
“Yeah. They’d call me “The girl who dates freaks.” and I don’t want that. Maybe we could meet in secret and kiss again?” she stuttered.
“Sorry. You know my heart belongs to Amy. Maybe one day you and I could date. If things don’t work out.”
“Okay,” she smiled. “Here’s hoping” she was about to hug him, but restrained herself. Instead, she shook his hand gently and left.
Back in the present time, he looked at his right palm again and it was still glowing red. It was like in the cartoons, with the characters hand glowing red when it was in pain, but this wasn’t the case. For some unknown reason, he snapped his finger and a little flame appeared on his thumb. It didn’t hurt. Not one bit. It felt relaxing, like lying in nice cool water. He fell into a peaceful trance and laid back down. This was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Son? Its Dad and Mom. Can we come in?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
The door opened and Desaree walked in first; very slowly and looking sad. John had the same look on his face, but tried to avoid Jacks gaze. The both sat at the foot of his bed, looking nervous.
“Jack,” started John. “We’re sorry for ignoring you.”
“Yes. We are just scared honey.” said Desaree.
“Why? I’m not threatening. Am I?”
“No. It’s just because of your element” she shouted. “Fire Users are extremely rare in our world you will be feared by all when you go to the new school”
“She speaks the truth son.” said John as he comforted his wife. “If you can, be careful who you make friends with. There will be students that will want you as an ally. They may not act scared, but they will try to have your power on their side.”
“I’ll be careful guys. I promise.” he said. 
“Good,” said John. “Let’s go out. It’s pizza night”
“Yay” cheered Jack.

Later that night when they came back home, he went back to his room and got ready for bed. He could hardly sleep because of the pizza and the fact that he would be going to a new school in a few months. His parents told him so many things 
He was informed that the school was located in a far off part of the Rocky Mountains. The school and the mountain itself held many secrets, secrets that even the teachers couldn’t figure out. It didn’t look like a normal school. It looked exactly like a mansion, but bigger inside. Nearly a mile away from the school, were the dorms that each student would live in. They even got roommates. “Maybe I’ll make a friend the first day”
What’s more, the staff was real nice and was very helpful. To Jack, it seemed like a vacation despite his excitement, he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep. Before long, a shifting pain came to his skull. It was like all the other pains he experienced, but didn’t go away after a few seconds. He could hear a pitching sound that made his roll out of bed and scream.
“GOD MAKE IT STOP MOM DAD”
His parents and Maggie came dashing in when they heard the yells. Desaree was dressed in a towel, indicating she had just got out of the shower. John was in his robe and Maggie was in her P.J.’s. John crouched down and pried Jacks hands away from his head. At that touch, his eyes turned bright red and he blacked out.
The next thing he saw was darkness. It was like being in one of his nightmares, but no monsters were coming for him. In the distance he saw a red light, like a traffic light. He ran toward it, hoping to find someone who knew where he was. Instead, he saw two figures. One was a demon like monster. The other, was unknown to him. The mystery figure was punching the demon, but couldn’t hit him. It backed off and held out a hand. A fiery essence emerged from his hand, not hurting him. The figure began running toward jack, but it looked like he was getting nowhere. The demon swung his arm at the unknown being and it hit him square in the back. It fell forward and collapsed onto the dark floor. It held out a hand and struggled.
“Jack... Help me” it said.
“H-H-How do you know my name?” he shouted. 
“I... am... your...“ Before he could finish, he fell silent. Dead. 

Jack woke up in St. Dales Hospital, looking stunned. He looked around and saw Desaree looking over him. She began crying with joy as her son woke up.
“Mom? What happened?”
“You... umm... were screaming in pain and then you collapsed. Blacked out.”
“Oh. My head still hurts a little.” he said as he sat up and held his head.
“Easy sweetie.” she said as she laid him back down. “Doctors wanna run some more tests. If everything checks out, you’re allowed to come home.”
“Well that’s good. Where is dad and Mags?”
“In the waiting room. I asked to stay with you alone. They’ll be in soon once they hear that you’re okay.” she cried.
“That’s good. What time is it?”
“It’s seven in the morning. Happy 13th birthday sweetie.” she smiled.
“Really? It came so fast. What about my party?”
“Had to cancel it. Poor Katelyn. She wanted to see you so much.”

Jack closed his eyes and thought back to his dream. The demon looking monster killing the mysterious person. “Who was that guy? What was that thing? Was he wielding Fire?” He had so many questions about it that he didn’t hear the doors open. John and Maggie each gave him a hug and kisses.
“How ya holding up sport?” he asked.
“Good dad. Head hurts, but I’m fine. What do ya have there Mags?”
“Mr. Lumpy.” she answered as she hugged a teddy bear.
“I remember I gave him to you years ago. Has he been protecting you like I asked him?”
She nodded and held the bear to him. He took it in disbelief and looked at it.
“For me?”
“He’s gonna protect you from bad dreams.”
“Thank you Maggie. Means a lot.” he cried.
She gave him another big hug and kissed him.
“I want him back when you get home.” she whispered.
“Promise.” he whispered back.
The doctor came in soon after and asked them to leave so Jack could be examined. They left without question and waved good-bye to him. He waved back and made himself comfortable. After falling asleep again, he drew up an image of his family, hoping they would be around forever. “Was that guy? No... It couldn’t be” he thought out loud. 

Author's Note

Please be honest and point out grammar and punctuation mistakes. Please comment on how you like the story. How do you feel about Jack and all the other characters, and the character development

Reviews

[Taylor H.]

Something I just realized that I dont understand, why does Maggie know about the users but Jack didnt? Mag never showed a power yet and jack did when he was younger. Jack should know if anything