Sixty-Seven- Wren

A Chapter by Sophie

lolz and sadness :(

Chapter 67

Wren

I sit on the couch across from my parents, who are just staring at me. They haven't spoken to me since the battle, not a word, until a few minutes ago, when my mom asked us to sit with them in the living room for a chat.

“So...” I say awkwardly. It's been ten minutes.

“You are not allowed to live here any longer.” Dad says. I'm silent.

“...What?” I ask after a minute.

“Unless you choose to never use your... abilities ever again, neither you or Marina are welcome in this house.” Mom explains.

“But... why?” I ask, and the front door opens, Marina's back from the sleepover.

“Because you're not natural, if you want to act human and completely forget that this whole thing ever happened, then that's okay, but if not, then you have a half an hour to pack..” Dad says.

“Whoa, wait, what's going on?” Marina says, her eyes widening, trying to control her tangled and curly hair.

“They're... kicking us out.” I say.

“Only if you decide to continue using your abilities.”

“But... that's like asking me to not be a person anymore.” Marina says. “Our powers are apart of us, it's the whole reason for our existence, and you expect us to just... cut off half of our bodies, practically?”

“What she said!” I say, I couldn't have said it better.

“Wren, we tried to keep you from your abilities, but somehow you got around the pills. We love you, we really do, but we can't raise two children who aren't human.” Dad says. The words come as a blow to me, and I see Marina recoil as well. That word is a big deal for all of us: 'human'.

“We may not be your version of human, but pretending we are isn't going to change it.” I spit. “And you know you gave birth to this non human. What does that say?” My eyes have blurred with tears, but I refuse to cry. I will have no weakness.

“It says I gave birth to a child who shot many living, feeling beings!” Mom cries.

“You know, they would have killed you and made your soul rot inside their bodies instead of ROTTING IN HELL LIKE YOU DESERVE!” Marina loses it, “You can kick me out, that's fine! I'm not even your daughter. But he's your child, your own flesh and blood! And just because he's special means you have to disown him? That's like disowning a child with Down syndrome because they look different! You are awful people. And to think I thought you were my angels in disguise. You're nothing more than snakes. Nothing more than the evil beings we saved you from.”

“Goodbye George. Goodbye Marjorie.” I say to my once-parents.

“Oh, and one more thing, WE DID IT AND YOU WASHED THE SHEETS. SO...” She can't seem to think of something to say, so she ends with “BLEH!” I laugh even though I want to cry. I take Marina's hand and we walk out of the house. We'll ask Nox to get our stuff later. Once we reach the end of the street, we're at a loss. We sit in the middle of the road as the sun sets.

“You were so articulate and then you ended with 'Bleh'?” I laugh.

“Well, I didn't want to swear at them.” She shrugs.

“I wouldn't have objected.” I laugh. And then she's laughing with me, and then somehow, we're both crying.

“When did our lives get so messed up?” I ask.

“I think it was when you asked me if I lost a friend in the fire. Around then.” She says.

“Sounds about right. Though I think I might be able to trace it back to the year 224.”

“Yeah, that works too.” She sniffs. We sit in a silence for a bit, watching the sunset. The cool ocean breeze wraps itself around us and Marina's tangled and untidy waves tickle my face. Her eyes glisten with left over tears and her nose is adorably red. The pavement underneath us is warm from the sun beating down on it all day.

“So are we homeless now?” I ask.

“No, I think I have an idea, c'mon.” Marina says, getting up and taking me hand. “Remember the police man from the hospital after the car accident? Well in the battle the other day I saved his daughter from a Fire Child and he said if I ever needed anything, he was in my debt. Maybe he can house us for a while, or maybe he knows someone who will. Or maybe he has a dog house, I don't know.” She explains as we run a few streets. We reach a house with white walls and she rings the doorbell.

“How do you know where he lives?” I ask, taking Marina's hand.

“This was where he put her to keep her safe so he could fight with us.” She answers, staring at the door.

“People fought?”

“Yeah, you were too busy being a dragon to notice.” She laughs. Finally the door opens and it's Officer Jonson.

“Marina?” He asks.

“Hi, um... Wren's parents kicked us out.” She says, fresh tears welling up in her eyes. I can't tell if they're actual tears or just a manipulation tactic. I see his wife cooking at the stove and his daughter coloring at the counter, or rather, she was, now she's looking at Marina with a blue crayon in her hand like she's trying to remember something. Suddenly it clicks.

“Hey! You're the lady who made the mean fire go away!” She exclaims, wiggling out of her highchair and running over to Marina, pushing past her father, and wrapping her arms in a big hug around Marina's legs. “Thanks!” She says without letting go.

“Well, it looks like you'll be living here then.” The mother says, wiping a bit of sweat off her dark skin with her apron. “Dave, would you go stir the soup while I get them settled?” She asks. Officer Johnson nods. “C'mon Keisha, let go of Marina, she needs to go get cleaned up.” I hadn't really noticed, but we're both kind of tear streaked and just generally sad looking. Keisha lets go of Marina and clambers back into her chair to finish her drawing.

“I'm Lucy.” She smiles, hugging each of us. We follow her up the stairs. “Do you have any belongings?”

“Not yet, but we will eventually.” I say.

“I hope you don't mind sharing a room.” Lucy says, opening to door to a room.

“No, it's fine. We did at Wren's.” Marina explains. As Lucy opens the door, her wrist brushes the wall and she hisses in pain.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I'm fine, I just have a burn from the big thing the other day.” She explains.

“Oh, let us help you!” Marina says, “Where's the bathroom?” Lucy leads us there and Marina turns on the faucet and leads the water with her hands to Lucy's wrist. She wraps the water around her and closes her eyes to focus. In a few seconds, the burn is almost completely gone.

“That's amazing!” Lucy gasps, her eyes sparkling with awe, “Thank you.”

“It's no problem.” Marina smiles.

“Why doesn't one of you take a shower and the other can help me put the sheets on the bed.” Lucy says, getting a towel from the linen closet.

“You can shower first, you can't put on sheets for your life.” Marina laughs, rolling her eyes.

“Okay.” I say and they leave the bathroom. After fiddling with the handle for a bit, I finally figure out how to turn the shower on and I step into the steaming water. I don't cry, or get angry, I just wash my hair and body while staring blankly at the wall. I knew this would happen the second I found out why I turned into a lion. I don't really know why I knew, but I did. I knew my parents just wouldn't be happy that their son wasn't normal. And then when I found out that the pills were to hide my powers, well then, it was just a done deal.

After I finish showering, I wrap up in a towel and go into me and Marina's new room. I see some clothes laid out on the bed and Marina sits on the bed, wiping her eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” I ask.

“Just missing my parents.” She sniffs, wiping away another tear. “Put on some clothes and hug me.” She tries to laugh. I pull on the clothes that are a little too big, they must be Mr. Johnson's and crawl across the bed and wrap my arms around her. She buries her face into my chest and cries. Sometimes I wish our lives would just go back to normal, but I know that's impossible at this point.

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