22

For a minute, he continued to stare at me, and I stared back, unsure of what to do. Then, he pushed onto he railing with one hand, and jumped over it, coming to join me in the rain. "I think the rains very calming. And when you came out here to soak it in, it reminded me of myself when I was younger." "Oh?" I asked, and he nodded. "I loved playing in the rain and the puddles when I was little. I was defiently an outdoor type of boy." I nodded. It went silent again before I sighed. "I've never told anyone this, and I don't know why I'm telling you, of all people, but here I am. When the villain used his power on me, I saw a childhood memory that I'm not a fan of. It's just that I've been trying for so long to forget my childhood. But I can't, no matter what I do." I looked down at my hands, balling them into fists. "Oh-I'm so sorry, Shelby, I didn't-if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to-" "Its fine. I...want to tell you." I took another breath, enjoying the rain traveling down my hair, the way my wet clothes stuck to my body. "My mom used to be the best. I can remember bits and pieces of that side of her. But shortly after she married my father, he left her alone with me. He didn't lift a finger to help raise me. That's when I started to notice she was changing. And, once I completely realized why, it was too late. She started drinking everyday until she was so drunk, there wasn't a single time she was sober. For a few years, I thought if I did all my chores and kept my grades up, my real mother would come back to me. But she never did, no matter what I tried. One day, she was so drunk, she tried to kill me." I could picture the memory clearly in my mind. Her chasing me around the house with the sharpest kitchen knife she could find. Yelling things she didn't really mean, even though it felt like she did. "She chased me around the house with the sharpest kitchen knife we had. All I could do was run from her before I'd had enough. My power ended up getting out of control as she tried to grab me, to hold me still while trying to stab me in the heart, but when the ground shook, she was thrown off balance. The building was shaking violently. I ran outside, hoping she didn't make it. The building collapsed, and when she didn't come out, I realized what had happened." I bowed my head, letting my arms rest at my sides, balling my fists so tight, my fingernails were cutting into my skin. "You killed your own mother." He finished, and I could picture his expression, showing anger and concern. "But it was on accident-" "No, it wasn't. I'm the one who made the ground shake. I'm the one who caused the building to fall apart. But it was an act of self-defense. The neighbors called the cops, and when they figured out what had happened, they didn't press charges. I was adopted into many foster families until I ran away and started living on my own. I couldn't quit telling myself I'd killed my mother at the age of five, Connor. It's stuck with me all these years." My eyes started to well up. "No matter how much I wanted that voice to go away, it stuck with me as I raised myself, never fully going away. No matter what I did to try and take my mind off the fact, it was still there. Nothing I did to try and forget worked. It's still in my mind somewhere, and I would always know the reason she hated looking at me when she turned, why she had started drinking." My tears fell, mixing in with the rain on the ground. "I have my father's eyes, Connor. The eyes she once loved to look into everyday. I was the reminder of dad leaving us. She couldn't-" "Hey, Shelby." He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I went rigid, trying to push everything down. "You know what it sounds like?" I didn't answer. "It sounds like your a fucking survivor." Then, he did the thing I least expected from him. He pushed my head to his chest, and snaked his hand into my back, hugging me. That's when I did what I thought I would never do again. I cried, I fucking cried into his chest, and hugged him back, needing to get this out of my system.