Radioactive CH. 4

I’m waking up, I feel it in my bones, enough to make my systems blow.

I blink a few times and looked around. It was a wide open meadow…so beautiful. The leaves were a perfect emerald green. It looked like the middle of spring where it wasn’t raining all the time or too hot where it was all dry. I looked down at my own legs. They were lying upon healthy grass. It was about 4 inches high.  The ends weren’t stringed or chopped off. It hadn’t looked mowed…yet, not really long. I pushed my hand through it, it was very thick.

I looked around and seen nothing but trees as if a human had never been here. Was this real? I bent forward and pushed myself up. I walked slowly to the biggest tree in my vision. I rubbed my fingers down the bark. I rubbed my fingers together…they were sticky. The tree had natural sap on it. It was completely silent. The only thing I heard was my own footsteps. I looked up curiously and a bright red ball was on a branch. I reached up and grabbed it with my full palm. I brought it down to my vision…a bright perfect apple. It shined like a diamond and was picture perfect. I smiled to myself and took a bite. The juice filled my mouth and the taste of its freshness was like heaven. I closed my eyes in ecstasy as I chewed. I took another bite enjoying every second. Why don’t we have this at home? I took my third bite. oh my god…this was better than air conditioning on a hot day…

“Hey!!!” My eyes shot open and I turned on my heel to figure out who just spoke. I looked behind me…but I had to look down quite a bit. “Who said you can eat that, mister!?” It was a little blonde girl. Her freckles light, but not as light as her ghostly skin. Her eyes as blue as crystals and as big as light bulbs. I couldn’t help but smile. Her voice was so tiny and cute. She didn’t seem to be really mad though.

“Sorry, I thought this was a free meadow…so I ate one of these apples.” I smiled at her and she stared at me blankly. “Are these your trees?” She smiled. I was taken aback. Her smile resembled mine. Perfect white teeth and lips curved up to the side. It was my smile, only in little kid form. She had to be…what, 10? 12? It was like brother and sister identical smiles! But…well more like sister and sister, my lips and smile was already feminine enough.

“No, Adam they aren’t mine. I was just joking.” She giggled and it echoed through the trees. It had this sound to it. It was like one of those you hear on video games…the creepy little princess laugh.
“Wait…how do you know my name?” I raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t annoyed or scared or anything. I was just curious.
“Hehe…you’ll figure it out later, I promise. You’re really smart…” She giggled some more. “In fact, I’m here because you are smart and gifted. Here..come with me.” She insisted and she held out her hand. Of course I reached mine out and took hers.

She started walking through the trees. No wind though, but I smelt the leaves even more now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose…perfect. I opened my eyes and looked at the ground there were no roots sticking out for me to trip on. It was flat ground with trees around. I looked back and could barely see where I picked the apple. I glanced up and there were copies of that perfect red fruit. I smiled to myself and looked back at the girl that was leading me. She seemed to know where she was going so I wasn’t worried.

“So do you know where you are, Adam?” She questioned with her cute voice. I looked around and wondered for a moment.
“No I do not…and may I ask, what is your name?” She stopped and turned around almost creepily.
“My name is Amber. And your name is Adam…” She turned around and continued to walk. I raised my eyebrow and followed….ummm….okay??
“How much farther do we need to walk…urm…Amber?” I asked cautiously. She didn’t seem to like me to ask questions.
“Just a few more seconds…” and as she said that we made our way out of the woods and to this big brick building. It was in ruins and the ground around it was just dirt. She turned around and took my other hand. She looked me dead in the eyes and gave me a look I couldn’t read. “I’m going to show you something…any idea what this building is?”  I shook my head. “…It’s your old house.” I nodded trying to remember. I don’t recall living in a brick home. “Of course you don’t remember just watch.”

I did what I was told and watched the house. Like magic the ground around it turned to green grass and the house ship shaped into a decent looking home with curtains. I couldn’t see inside because we were a distance away from it. A car appeared outside in a driveway. The black car that pulled in looked familiar. The car door opened and revealed my dad. The house door opened too and a woman walked out and gave him a hug.

“Hey babydoll!” My dad said and hugged the woman. I squinted to see who it was. “I missed you.” She pulled away….mom? I smiled to myself, she looked so beautiful younger.
“I missed you too! And I have news…” I could barely hear them, but I was making due. “I’m pregnant!!!” She smiled and started jumping, but…dad didn’t. His back was too me but I knew his body language. His shoulders rose slightly and huffed.
“I do NOT want another child!! I repeat do NOT!!! I demand you abort this baby!!!” My dad yelled a little louder than needed. My mom’s face dropped. She was horrified! I’ve never seen her like that in my life! I frowned to myself.
“I will have this baby, and you will not make me do anything I don’t want!!” She huffed back and let go of him stepping back a few feet. Her face went to sad to furious. She pushed his chest and he jolted back a few steps.
“SO WHAT MAN WERE YOU  SLEEPING WITH THIS TIME?? Hmm??? I know it’s not MINE!” Her face went expressionless. She knew he was right…I could tell. “YUP! I know about your ‘going out with your friends’ excuse!” He stepped toward her a little.
“Back off!! So what? I still want you to be the father!!!” Her voice raising too. With that he lifted up his arm and struck her face. She fell to the ground with a thud.

“MOM!!!!” I lunged forward but Amber held me back.
“You can’t do anything, Adam. You can’t change the past.” I just put my head down for a moment and continued watching.

She looked up crying now. “YOU BASTARD!” She rose up faster than I could ever say I did and pushed him into the car and ran inside. I just wanted to go in there and comfort her. My dad crawled back in his car with his nose bleeding. He honked louder than my ears could handle and he spun out of the driveway and was out of there.

I winced myself holding back tears. How could he do this? I looked down at Amber who was still watching. There’s still more?? What the hell do I need to see?? I whipped my eyes and continued watching.

Soon enough my mom walked back outside on the phone crying. I have no idea who she was talking too though. She started up the grill and put some meat on it. She kept talking and talking, and sobbing and sobbing. I felt so sorry for her. She walked back inside and grabbed a wire. I think it was her phone charger. No, it wasn’t any fancy phones we have now a-days…it was a flip phone. Looks like one of the first too.

She plugged it in on an extension cord and sat down in the grass still talking. She had been talking for almost 15 minutes now. Sadly I couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t yelling like she was before. You would think after a certain time her tears would stop…but they only got worse. She talked and talked and one of her tears got on her phone wire. My eyes widened.
“Mom there is water…oh god.” I looked down at Amber who was still watching. The wires back then were worse about wires.
I wasn’t paying attention to mom anymore. I was paying attention to that tear slipping down slowly to the outlet. Oh God…please don’t! It slowly made its way down the wire inches from the outlet. Amber was making me watch this!! I wanted to shield my eyes, but somehow couldn’t! Finally what I was hoping wouldn’t happen did happen. The tear made its way to the outlet. Mom started shaking instantly and fell over. My eyes widened. I looked down at my hands and they were tingling just as bad as they were at Hot Topics. My bones felt like there was energy flowing through them. Almost like I was being shocked too…
She wasn’t dead…no. I knew that, but it was still horrifying to see. She was still breathing but unconscious.

I looked down at Amber and I spoke. “Please…tell me this is it! I don’t want to see anymore!! Please!” She didn’t look up she just pointed back at the scene. “PLEASE!” tears going down my face….yes I was very girly and wimpy about these things. I cry every chick flick I see. She shook her head and I closed my eyes and got myself together and looked back.

I didn’t know what was happening anymore so I just kept looking around the scene. I avoided looking at Mom because it was just horrible. The brick house was two stories high…and at the very top had a room. I squinted my eyes to see in it…which was very hard at this angle. Pink room, pink curtains…pink everything. A girl’s room? Now I’m really confused. All of a sudden I had a realization…THE GRILL!

I looked down at the grill near mom and the meat…looks like hot dog…were now burning. Oh God…oh God…They were already burnt to a crisp. I could smell them burning. But that isn’t what caught my eye. A little edge of the grill was wooden and appeared to be getting lighter…and not faded type of lighter. It was lighter as in turning on a lamp. Could it be? No….it couldn’t. I looked at Amber once again and she hadn’t moved an inch. I gulped and looked back and the wood had gotten lighter and lighter until I seen an orange flame! I kept my cool…I knew I couldn’t do anything.

The flame rose higher and higher until it reached the door frame. It scared the shit outta me because the grill was right next to mom. The door frame started to catch on fire soon did the window frames. The smoke started rising faster than you would think. I could see the black smoke reach the upstairs bedroom. The girl’s room, in fact. The air in there was poisoned with the smoke. The window wasn’t open so it couldn’t vent out. I looked down back at mom and the fire wasn’t even close to her. I smiled at her safety but my eyes drifted to the upstairs bedroom again. There was movement…no was somebody up there?? Please be nobody up there! I watched carefully for it again and there was nothing. I soon seen the flames reach the second floor and the movement started again. I widened my eyes as I seen a little girl rise up to the window! PLEASE I WISH I COULD SAVE HER!! I started tearing up again. I started hearing a faint scream and the girl banging on the window. She was yelling something…I couldn’t hear, the window was covering her voice. It almost sounded audible…but I couldn’t tell. I looked closer to see if I could read her lips….

My eyes widened. I looked at Amber then at the little girl…it just hit me what she was telling me. I looked closer at the girl. Blonde hair and blue eyes….it WAS Amber. I looked back down at Amber who was smirking now which only made my eyes grow bigger. I turned myself to watch more. She was yelling…
“MOM…HELP ME! PLEASE! MOOOOOMMMMM!!” I could hear now because the wood around the windows burned off and there was a hole. My mouthed gaped and I just stood there in disbelief. Her screams grew quieter and she fell to her bedroom floor.

The scene stopped and we were in the middle of the meadow again. I turned and faced Amber in disbelief. Questions were stopping my brain from functioning. I just stared at her and she was staring at me. I never realized her eyes looked familiar, too. They were replicas of mine. Too close to mine…

“Yes, Adam, I know my eyes are like yours.” She giggled and startled me from my thoughts only making her giggle louder. “There is a reason for that.” She squinted and looked at me straight in the eye almost like I was supposed to know. I thought about it for a second and it hit me like Dad did at the robbery.
“You’re my sister!!! I was the one mom was pregnant with!!!” I said a little too excitedly because I figured it out. She looked at me and smirked…ah the smirk, it was like mine too! “Wait so why am I older than you?”
“Ha! Ghost don’t age!” She said putting her hands on her hips. “I have the knowledge of a 30 year old I really am!” She laughed this time.
I was kind of taken aback again. It’s weird…this is all just weird. My ghost sister?? I thought I was an only child… “Wait…so I was electrocuted with mom?”
“Yup…a miracle you survived.” She giggled with her childish voice. “Now just think about it some more…you’ll figure it out…like I said
you’re very smart, Adam…”


My eyes opened…
I looked around and seen Tommy crashed on my bed and Sauli sleeping on the ground next to me. We must’ve fell asleep at 5 a.m. watching funny videos online. I looked at the clock in my disaster of a room. 12…I slept until friggin’ 12 o’clock. How do I manage that?

I rubbed my temples remembering the dream last night like it was real. I need to stop having these dreams, they aren’t normal…but yet it seemed so real!

“GUYS GET THE FUCK UP…NOW!!!” I hated using the F word. I really did, but it was necessary at times.
Sauli shot straight up out of sleep while Tommy just turned away from me. I pushed myself with more force than I thought I had in the mornings and shook him. “TOMMY FOR REAL!” He grabbed his…well my pillow and hit me in the face. I grabbed it from him and shot it across the room almost hitting Sauli. He spun around as much as he could with me holding him down and opened his eyes and they were bloodshot from sleeping.
“What.the.hell.do.you.want?” He said sounding like he wanted to rip my heart out and eat my soul. I just smirked and backed up resisting a giggle. I remember always trying to get him up when we were little kids. He was never a morning person.
“C’mon Tommy…I think my mom made rolls for breakfast with cinnamon butter!! It smells dilish…but to bad it’ll be gone by the time you get up.” I wasn’t lying either. I could smell them as soon as I stood up. My mom knew we all loved it too.
“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!” Tommy groaned and made his way up staggering as he walked to the door. Sauli and I were laughing our tails off at his pants. They were almost down to his knees!! He looked down and noticed and pulled them up. He lifted his hand up and gave us his middle finger making us roll on the floor more! “Are you guys coming? For real?” He asked anger in his voice. Sauli and I followed him down the hall into the kitchen.

“Boys! You’re up!” My mom said waving to all of them and Tommy just went and sat down at his normal spot. Sauli waved back and waited for me to sit before he did. They were two opposites for sure. Polite and patient to…well there was no definition for Tommy.  “I made all of you guys’ favorites!! Rolls with butter!” I looked across the table from Tommy and smirked. He was so mad at me. HA…I couldn’t even keep my laughter in….it’s so…pathetic, I just don’t know.

“So thank you Mo-OW!” A shot of pain started in my shin. Did that little blonde across the table really want to start with me? I kicked him back making him wince. I just smirked and he stomped my foot. “Ah!” I tried kicking him again but my legs were too long so my knee hit the table with great force. My hands shot under the table to rub my knee. I’m surprised my mom’s drink stayed up straight. I’m sure the table went up 10 feet in the air!

“Boy!!! Very childish! Playing footsie…pft.” Tommy and I looked down shamefully blushing a little of embarrassment. Sauli was getting a kick out of this. He was dying of laughter over there!! “So…Tommy, Sauli…” She looked at both of them. “Did Adam tell you about what happened yesterday with his father?”

My eyebrows went together…how dare she mention that sick soul at the table? My hands started tingling again…it made me so mad. How could he treat her like that and she act like nothing happened? How could he treat me like that?? I had to focus on something else…I couldn’t handle this right now.

I launched my hand in my pocket and pulled my phone out. I started checking my email and my mind wondering. that little sum bitch deserved death row…he deserved to suffer! He deserved to have his mind blown. I was so close to growling. My cheeks were probably red with anger. I grabbed my phone tighter trying to ignore their conversations. My hands started tingling and my bones starting to feel this energy again. I ignored it though. It didn’t matter until I started to hear them again. My mom spoke up again and mentioned something I’ve heard a dozen times before but it hit me harder this time…

“…I just can’t believe he went to prison….he was a good man, but was just a criminal at heart.” I bit my lip and like that I felt all the tension in my bones release and my phone lit up and crackled in pop making a what seemed like lightening shoot out of it. I dropped it and pushed away from the table avoiding shock.

I looked up and they were all looking at me scared.

“D-Did your phone just…like try to electrocute you?” Sauli asked shakily. I looked down at it and it looked burnt like it had been struck by lightning. I looked down at my fingers and they were tingling…but my bones didn’t feel that energy anymore.

“No…I think I tried to electrocute it ”