8 Powerless II

RAY

With my head bowed in complete shame I made sure to use my hoodie to cover my face and hide the tears that threatened to fall from the corner of my eyes,

"Coward," whispered the thoughts in my head, 

"Even Kin that was taken away didn't act half as pathetic as you,"

"I have no powers," I lazily replied lifting up my head as I stood in the Carpark where I remembered meeting Kin for the first time, watching the dark clouds slowly eclipse the sun as the weather turned gloomy,

A strong wind gradually began to blow and it slowly became obvious that a downpour was imminent.

"I don't care which power I get as long as I get something but at this rate, I might as well become one of those bums on the street," I began mumbling to myself, as I slowly walked to the nearest speed station.

I got to the entrance, bringing out my normal ID out and giving it to the train station staff only for him to take it from me before exclaiming in a suspicious voice.

"Hasn't this expired already?" He asked stretching the card out and turning it towards my face.

For a second, I was stunned but only for a second.

"So...rry," I stammered out reaching inside my pocket for the temporary No- AB's card that the soldier had given me and giving it to the staff,

He couldn't even try to hide the expression on his face, as I watched him glance at the card before glancing back at me with a pitiful expression on his face, 

"Oh," he said, handing both my cards back to me, 

"You can enter...May the higher powers protect you," he said as he continued speaking saying the standard way of greeting mostly used by the FAN- atics in the city,

Trying my best to maintain a neutral expression on my face, I passed beside him without so much as opening my mouth to utter a word. Instead, I slowly headed to the speed trains.

I entered absentmindedly and in no time at all and almost in the blink of an eye, the speed train I boarded got to the terminal on white street where I lived.

It was already evening and the sun was just still setting in the sky when I stepped out of the terminal on white street where I lived with his mother.

The terminal was not as crowded as it usually was in the early hours of the morning as I strolled out along with the people in the train the moment it's doors opened.

With my hoodie back up over my head, I grudgingly walked and mechanically did things I was meant to not knowing how I was going to explain to my mum that I wasn't able to get any powers which indirectly meant that my prospects for getting a good job to support us were non-existent.

"Excuse me...can you give me a brown note?"

"A single brown note to buy bread would be enough...," the beggar suddenly pleaded, not far away from where I stood, louder than before as various people passed him as he stood in front of the train begging for money.

"Ma...Ma...," the beggar said to a wealthy looking woman decked in all kinds of finery who stood in front of me.

The badly dressed beggar wore nothing more than rags, with shaggy hair and an appearance that made any normal person want to jump the other way.

"A single note from you would help...," he began but was unable to finish, when the woman yelped and dived away from him, gripping her hand bag tightly around her, while spotting a disgusted expression on her face.

"Stay away from me you disgusting leech!" she screamed loudly in hopes that the "Judges" would hear and immediately dispose of the man in front of her.

With a calm expression on his face, the beggar quickly backed away, right before increasing the intensity of his requests.

"A note...A coin...anything would be fine," his eyes crazily swishing over everyone around him as quickly as he could, hoping to get at least something before the judges in charge of civil matters appeared to cart him away.

I simply watched the scene unfolding in front of his eyes with despair wondering if it would ever get that bad for me if my mum wasn't there for me.

The only thing that could reduce someone to a beggar with no income at all was if he didn't have powers or they were too useless for him to get a job or join a guild.

With a wry smile on my face, unable to ignore the gripping feeling of pity I felt in my chest, I slightly bent down, digging my hand into my pocket, about to bring out one of the brown notes I had on me and give it to the beggar, that way he would be able to flee before the judges appeared with their baton.

However, before I could, I was shocked to see a hand appear from behind me filled with silver notes, right before it was flung in the blink of an eye into the air at the beggar making me feel like I had imagined the entire scene.

Shocked and without any hesitation, the beggar crawled forward, picking up the money as quickly as he could, forgetting every thing else including the person who gave it as he had never seen such a huge amount of money in his life before.

Heck! Even I haven't seen so many silver notes before.

But before he was half way done, the judges appeared, running towards him with their batons raised, the noise of their boots echoing on the concrete floor, signalling their arrival.

"the judges are here...," I whispered wondering why the beggar continued picking up the silver notes until there was barely no time for him to escape.