4

I don't remember when I first discovered my power, but my oldest memory of ever using these powers was when I was just about 4 years old.

I just barely remember seeing numbers magically floating on top of my mother's head as she picked me up and cradled me in her arms. I guess I didn't think much of it. After all, how do you expect a 4-year-old kid to understand that not everyone sees little numbers floating above other people's heads?

I don't think I figured out it was abnormal until I accidentally mentioned it to my mom at the dinner table one night. Probably around second or third grade.

Of course, my mom brushed it off, thinking it was just my imagination running wild. Morbid, but wild. My dad would often come home late at night due to his job as a police officer so he never really said anything--other than the fact that he was too tired to hear about it. I would rarely ever see him, so my dad and I never developed a close bond.

I used to be quite popular actually--in school I mean. Wasn't always this nontalkative outcast. I guess being friendly and talkative really works wonders on how many people know you. I thought I would be able to live the high life...at least until after I graduated.

But one day, everything changed.

I remember going to school one day and mentioning this freakish power to my friends. Nobody believed me at first, but it gradually dawned on them as I slowly started to prove my point.

The day I predicted the death of a faculty member who worked at the school I used to attend was the day I became an outcast. Of course, the death of that teacher was very sad and unexpected (not unexpected to me though), but after the funeral service and after they adjusted to the new teacher, my classmates were terrified of me.

Nobody wanted to hang out with me or even look at me. I was a social reject. The only time I ever made contact with someone, was when I was called many (for politeness's sake, let's just say) terrible names. I was verbally bullied, and it eventually became physical.

"Demon." "Grim reaper." "Death himself." Those were the names they spat at me while I lay curled up in a ball on the ground.

The bruises on my arms became harder and harder to hide, and my mom eventually caught on to what was happening at school. She immediately knew I was being bullied.

Of course, her first question was, "Why are you being bullied?" And the moment I revealed why, her face said it all. That shocked expression on her face is something I can never forget.

I feel like that was the moment my mom finally started to take my whole "power talk" seriously.

Things got crazy, and there are some blurry spots in my memory, but I do know that I transferred to a different school that was still relatively close to our house.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but it was the only thing in our power that we could do.

In technical terms, it was a fresh start for me...right? Wrong.

I was pulled back into the same world of bullying and trauma yet again in this new environment. Why you may ask? For the same exact reason from the first time.

My big mouth spouted out to my new school about my powers once again. This time, people were quicker to believe me; however, the end result did not change.

Another school transfer commenced, but this time, the closest school was a 20-minute bus ride from our house. This sparked many more conflicts at home.

My mother wanted to move closer to that school, but doing so would make life harder for my father (who was already leaving the house at 4 am in order to get to work on time). My father would complain that it can take him over an hour to get to places he was called to, so I should just suck it up and learn to deal with it early in life. Then my mother would go off on a rant about how I'm only 8 years old and she refuses to let me travel 20 minutes by public transportation alone. This would spark an argument that would go along the lines of:

"Well if he's so young, then maybe you should go with him, you lazy woman!"

"Do you want dinner or not?! I spend all day laboring and toiling in the house and this is what I get? Is there no appreciation in this household??"

"You think you work hard? At least you can go to bed before midnight!"

The constant bickering between the two eventually became an everyday thing. It was actually the major reason for my parents' divorce. During the court ruling, I decided to stay with my mother, and after all the paperwork was completed, I never saw or heard from my father again.

With a new home comes a new school. However, word spreads fast and I once again became a victim of bullying, only this time, it's because of my divorced parents.

I moved to a different school once again, and we have stayed here since. This has been, and hopefully will be, the last time I will have to transfer schools.

Running away was starting to take a toll on our savings, and I was older than the first time it happened, so my mother told me to just push through and stay strong.

Eventually, everyone seemed to forget about the incident and the bullying stopped.

However, as a result of my previous experiences with human cruelty, socializing with people became a rare occasion for me. Eventually, I chose to be a social outcast. Talking minimally if anyone ever walked up to me.

I tried to find something to stop me from remembering all the bullying, and I stumbled across the world of games. The first game I ever played was on a little Game Boy. Nothing fancy or over the top, but it introduced me to a whole new world. A new world where I can make my own reality.

I was instantly hooked on games, and finally, when I had saved up enough money, I used my birthday money and savings to buy a fancy computer setup.

Ever since then, gaming was the only thing I looked forward to after school. Either that or I would go to the internet café and play there by myself instead.

I'm always hooked on the newest game deals and news 24/7 now. I guess it really doesn't come as a surprise since it is kind of all I ever do in my free time, but the world of games really did save me.

Letting go of every emotion in that fantasy world always felt so reviving to me. It was such a comfort to let my imagination run wild.

I was pulled out of my memories by an immaculate hand waving in my face. A sing-song voice soon followed.

"Mr. Mysteriooooo- Earth to Mysterious!"

Lily's playful voice rang through the air. Backtracking, I realized how rude it was to be thinking about my unfortunate past when I am basically out on a date with Lily.

"Sorry...I kinda got distracted."

She glanced at me in confusion, then laughed. Suddenly, she pointed towards a hardware store that was about a block away from where we were standing.

"Let's go here first! I need to run some errands."

Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed my arm and started jogging towards the hardware store. Slowly and steadily, I'm finding that it's nice spending time with Lily--not because she is popular, but more so because she is just a good friend to have. It's a...sorta weird feeling. Maybe because this is something I never experienced before moving to this school. I can't say I dislike it. Maybe this whole "hanging out" thing wasn't such a bad idea.