Half & Half: The Beginning

Half & Half: The Beginning

The bell rang and I ran to the door. I didn’t know why I was so excited. Mike said he was going to meet up with me. Wow. Shut up I told myself. I couldn’t wait. I hadn’t seen him in about 5 weeks and I was dying to hug him. I ran down to the park with the river, jumped on the bench and bounced up and down, waiting for him to come. Suddenly my phone vibrated, A new text. Sighing impatiently as I saw the sender was Mike, I opened the message. “Sorry” the message read. “Can’t come. Grounded. Another time? Mike The Spike x” This was the fifth time he’s done this! I snapped the phone shut angrily. I glared at the tree across the river, fuming. A small part of me that was growing by the second wanted that tree to snap, a sign of my fury. As I focused on that I heard a loud snapping sound and then the tree fell, halved. I was frozen in place. Did I do that? I looked around. No one else seemed to see or be close enough to do it. But … how? I didn’t even touch the tree. I was only wanting it to snap, imagining it in my mind. As I went through all the possible answers of how it happened, something dawned on me. I wanted it to snap. MY mind wanted it to happen. Something dawned on me. No way. How was that even possible?!

I stared at a rock next to the river, knowing this was stupid and impossible. I imagined the rock flying, skipping down the river next tot the broken tree. And then, as if I had thrown it with great force, the rock was hurling though the air, skimming the water, bouncing down-stream. I gasped.

I look around again, this time panicked, to make sure no one had seen. But sure enough, a young boy about my age, 12 or 13, was staring in the river, his mouth open so wide I could see the chewing gum inside. As he was frozen in place, his thoughts were scattered. That froze me too. How could I hear his thoughts?? I branched my mind out and suddenly my head was like a busy crowd, thousands of thoughts gnawing away at me. What was I now?! A freak? A monster? There was no way I was just a normal girl if I could move stuff with my mind and hear people’s thoughts!

Suddenly a memory flickered to the surface of my mind but this wasn’t my memory as I could see myself as a baby with my mum who looked out of it. I saw 2 sciencests discussing a new mutant gene they had created that would give the human they injected it to powers beyond Earth as soon as a large shot of hormones was released. I was still standing the street, next to the river, a whole second hadn’t passed yet I was caught up in the foreign memory, I saw myself get injected by a needle, with the gene in it I presumed. Suddenly my mind was spinning with such force I thought I would throw up. I figured it out. It was ME that was injected with the gene. I would get the powers. It finally dawned on me. I already had the powers. Hormones set it off. I’d just had a growth spurt. I felt sick. I hasn’t human! Fully anyway. I was half and half. I was suddenly VERY aware of my surroundings. The boy was

still frozen with his mouth open, the cars only moved inches since I’d “thrown” the rock yet it felt like years to me. My mind was going at a mind-boggling speed. I ran down the street faster than I ever had before. I ran straight to my room and sat down in a chair. This couldn’t be happening. I’d been injected with a mutant gene and no one had told me?! Did anyone else know? Did Mum? I went back to that memory I had seen through someone else’s eyes. Mum looked unconscious, by force. She couldn’t of known could she? Like earlier I branched my mind further and further out downstairs, past the kitchen … and into the sitting room. I could only just hear what she was thinking. I jumped onto my bed and flipped onto my stomach. Focus I told myself. Slowly I raked through her mind. This was easy, I noted, After digging so deep that I didn’t think I’d find it, a memory flicked to my awareness. I saw me in a buggy in some sort of public place. A park? I could see 2 covered figures coming towards us. I felt us go in the other direction but the shady figures followed. I saw them step in front of us, cutting us off. The memory fades there. I flipped over annoyed, Something occurred to me. Who was it that had the memory in the street? Someone that knows about what happened to me. I had to find that person.

Now.

As I yanked on my jeans and t-shirt, my mind was miles away. I had 2 powers. Did I have more? I looked at myself in the mirror. No way. I shouldn’t even have 2, never mind more. I stared at myself in the mirror again. Was this the face of a half-mutant? If I just got powers, wouldn’t there be a physical difference too? I looked about an inch taller and my hair was more ginger, more wavy. Hm… I looked at my eyes. They were green. That’s odd! They are usually grey-blue. As I stared at my eyes, they turned flat black. I gasped in shock. They snapped back to my usual grey-blue. What the?! How…?! Did I just change my eye colour?? No, I MUST be imagining that! Hearing people’s thoughts was one thing. Moving things with my mind was another. But to ACTUALLY change my physical appearance is another totally! This all must be a dream! No, actually I take that back. A nightmare! This was the stuff of fiction! I was a mutant freak! I looked back into the mirror, sensing a change. My hair was flared red and my eyes were pitch black, reflected my anger.

Get a grip, I scolded myself. Someone would see me like this and know I was different. If one other person knew, what would happen? I knew and that person on the street knew. Did anyone else?