Shadows in the Dark (13 page)

Karen ran towards him, but didn’t
get far. She was sent flying back, smacking right into a tree. She
fell to the ground, and didn’t get back up.

I started to panic, sending bolts
of electricity in every direction, hoping to hit something that
wasn’t meant to be there with us. Dirt was sent into the air as I
flung electricity everywhere. I stopped for a second, and it was
silent for a moment. Then, I was sent flying into the air, smacking
my left shoulder into a tree and landing on the ground.

A huge pain filtered my mind and
my shoulder, making me grind my teeth. I slowly stood up and looked
around. That’s when I saw him.

He was standing about thirty feet
away from me, watching me. Sunlight filtered into his hood,
revealing his smile.

“
You have a lot of guts heading
back to my home,” he said as he started walking towards me. “I
figured you were too scared to come back and face me like a man.”
My muscles stiffened, and my hands formed into fists.

“
Why would I be afraid of you?” I
said. “I am just as powerful as you!” He smiled at me, laughing a
little.

“
Prove
it!
” He pushed his hands in front of him,
and the trees around me collapsed, all of them falling towards me.
I jumped out of the way, barely just in time. I jumped up and shot
a bolt of electricity at him.

It smacked into his chest, sending
him flying back and into a tree. I started flinging my hands at
him, sending electricity with each swing. Almost all of them hit
him, sending him farther back.

Then, he pushed his arm out in
front of him, sending a log towards me and into my side. I felt my
ribs cry in pain and a small cry came from my mouth. I fell to the
ground, grabbing my side in agony. The man stood over me, watching
and smiling at me.

I really thought I was going to
die at that exact moment as the man looked down at me. But,
something happened at that moment. Something that started a
war.

Nick tackled the man to the ground
and jumped on top of him. Before the man could react, Nick started
punching him in the head. It took me a second to realize something.
His fists were covered in flames. The man pushed Nick off of him
and jumped up. His hood had fallen off, and his face was covered in
burnt marks.

Nick looked up and ran at the man
again, but he quickly stopped. He started to grab at his neck as if
something was choking him. The man started to smile, but I made it
disappear.

A bolt of electricity smacked into
his temple, making him fall to the floor. Nick fell to his knees
and started coughing, gasping for air. He quickly got back up and
nodded his head at me, thanking me.

The man grunted as he shot back up
and looked at us both. His eyes were filled with anger.

“
You two think
you can stop me?
You don’t know what I’m
capable of!
” The trees shook around us,
making leaves fall from the limbs. “
I can
make you lose your mind!”

Nick covered his whole arms in
flames and scoffed at the man.

“
And we can make you wish you were
never born.” The man jumped at Nick, screaming in anger. But I shot
a bolt at him, hitting him right in his ribcage. He yelped as he
landed, holding his side. Nick grabbed him and threw him against a
tree. The man didn’t try to run at us, he just stood there at the
tree as he held his side in pain.

He fell to the ground as Nick
socked him in the jaw with his flame-covered hands, causing another
burn on his face. The man screamed in agony.

The man jumped up and stared at
Nick right in the eyes.

“
Yeah, that’s right!” he yelled.
“Kill me! Kill me just like you did with little Anna! Make me burn
in your flames!”

Nick stopped and stared at the man
in disbelief.

“
Don’t
you
dare
talk
about my sister like that!” he yelled. “I swear to God I will kill
you!”

“
Do it! Make me feel what she felt
when she was betrayed by her own brother!”

“
Shut
up!”
Nick punched the man right in the
temple, making him fall to the ground. The man started to
laugh.

“
I feel sorry for you! It must be
the worst feeling knowing that you burnt your sister
alive!”

Nick punched him in the head
twice, causing more burns.

“
Shut the hell up! I will burn you
until you’re nothing but bones!”

“
Do it! I dare you!”

Nick punched the man and grabbed
him by his collar, throwing him into a tree. The man staggered back
up, but Nick fell to his knees. He grabbed his hair and started to
scream. It got hotter and hotter in a matter of seconds. All of a
sudden, fire started to form all around Nick, spiraling and raising
into the air. He was having a meltdown.

I turned and ran, running and
picking up Karen as she laid on the ground. I carried her and ran
as fast as I could. I could hear the sound of wind as it rushed
past us, going in the opposite direction. I turned my head and saw
what looked like a tornado forming where Nick was. A tornado of
fire.

My heart started to race and I
kept running. The temperature of the woods got incredibly hot,
rising faster with each second. I could hear the fire tornado as it
grew in size and heat.

I kept running until I came up on
a hill. I stopped and set Karen down against a tree. I looked back,
and what I saw made my heart stop.

The fire tornado had grown to a
massive size. Trees caught flame all around it, sending thick,
black smoke into the air. Karen slowly became conscious, and
gasped. She jumped up and started to run towards it, but I grabbed
her arm.

“
No!” she yelled. “You have to let
me go!”

“
Are you crazy? You’ll be
killed!”

“
I’m the only
person that can stop him! I can use my
Telekinesis to push him out of the tornado and make it stop!”
I stared at her, then at the giant, fire tornado. Then, I let her
go.

She ran off down the hill and
disappeared into the trees. I sprinted after her and caught up. We
both started to sweat as we got closer and closer. We stopped once
we got as close as possible without getting set on fire.

We saw the man taking shelter
behind a boulder, too afraid to run away. I focused my eyes on the
tornado, and saw Nick in the middle, still on his knees
screaming.

Karen pushed her arms out in front
of her, but nothing happened.

“
Why won’t it work?” she
yelled.

“
You have to focus!”

She closed her eyes and inhaled
deeply. Then, she tried again.

Nick went flying and flew out of
the tornado and into a tree. The massive thing slowly disappeared,
and revealed what it had done.

No trees were in sight where that
massive tornado of fire stood. All that laid there were ashes.
Karen and I ran over to Nick and examined him. He moaned, and Karen
rubbed his head.

“
It’s okay, Nick. You’re safe
now.”

We heard footsteps coming towards
us, and we looked over. The man was walking over to us, reading
anger in his eyes.

“
You’re going to pay for that, you
evil bastards!” He put his arms out in front of him, but Karen
stepped up.

She pushed her arm out in front of
her with extreme force, and the man’s right leg bent backwards,
snapping and causing him to fall to the floor, crying in pain. I
gagged, that being one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever
seen.

The man kept screaming, grabbing
his leg as it sat there, out of place. Karen put her hand up, and
his other leg started to slowly do the same. The man let out a roar
of pain, but I stopped her. I grabbed her shoulder and faced her
towards me.

“
What the hell are you doing?” I
yelled in her face. She had a blank, sad expression on her face.
She looked at me with as much sorrow as she could.

“
It’s what has to be done.” She
slowly turned around back at the man, and put her hand out. A sharp
rock was sent flying and it pierced into the man’s side.

“
Karen, I don’t think-”

“
It’s what has to be done!” She
shot a look back at me, having tears in her eyes. It was as if she
knew who he was. I looked into her eyes, then back at the man who
was whimpering in pain. I gulped, then shot a bolt at
him.

It smacked right into his chest,
sending him rolling back a few feet. I heard Nick as he slowly got
up and formed a flame in his hand. He then threw it, having it ram
into the man’s right shoulder. Through all of this, the man was
crying out in pain.

“
I know everything,” Karen said. “I
know about your sister, Loren. I know about you running away from
home. I know everything about you.” The man stopped grieving in
pain and looked at Karen, still flinching from his leg.

“
I don’t know why you saw the
things you saw,” she said. “But those futures you saw were wrong. I
believe it in my heart that we would never do something like that.
Sadly, you’ve been waiting for us for thirteen years. I know that
you are determined to kill us.” The man gave her a look of anger
and revenge.

I heard her as she sobbed, walking
over to the man. She put her hand up, and the man went flying back,
disappearing into the thick smoke left by the fire. She slowly
walked in that direction, disappearing too. I followed, and so did
Nick.

We met up with Karen shortly
after, and we all stepped out and saw the man lying on the ash
covered ground, moaning and sobbing in pain. We stood there for a
second, then the man spoke up.

“
You shouldn’t
have done this,” he said. “I was trying to protect the world
from
you
.” I
heard Nick scoff from my side.

“
Protect it from what?” The man
started to laugh. “If anybody needs to be stopped, it’s
you.”

Karen stepped up and sighed,
kneeling down to face the man.

“
Things didn’t have to be like
this,” she said. “If you listened, you would understand.” Nick
grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her up, away from the
man.

“
Don’t talk to
him like he’s a
person,”
he said. “He tried to kill us for no reason. If
his excuse is that we’re different, than he needs a news
flash.
So is he.
”
I nodded my head in agreement.

“
He nearly killed us,” I said. The
man’s muscles stiffened, and he quickly looked at Nick.

“
Look around!”
he yelled. “You did this! You nearly killed you
and
your friends! You’re a monster!”
Nick kicked him in the ribs, causing him to scream in
pain.

“Shut up!” he yelled.

Karen pushed Nick back and took
his place. She gave the man a sympathetic look. She looked back at
Nick and I and shook her head.

“
They just don’t
understand,” she said. “I understand. I understand everything.
After what happened to you, I understand why you looked for someone
to blame.” The man’s muscles stiffened again. “But
we
didn’t cause it.
There’s no one else to blame but you.” She put her hand out in
front of her, facing it towards the man.

“
But what has to be done, has to be
done.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Joshua.”

Her hand started to shake, and the
man stopped breathing. He stopped moving and his breath stopped. He
laid there dead as his lifeless eyes stared up at the sky. It
sounded like Karen was trying to hold back a sob. Nick and I patted
her on the shoulders sympathetically, and turned and walked
away.

It took a second for her to
follow, but she eventually did. We walked in silence out of the
thick smoke, ash covering our shoes. That was a disturbing and sad
moment that we just went through. We were all pretty shaken
up.

“
What did you do to him?” I asked.
She hesitated, still trying to hold back sobs.

“
I stopped his
heart,” she said.
I felt a shiver flow
down my spine.

“
How did you know all of those
things you said?” I asked.
“I’d rather not say.” She gave one quick look at Nick. “Reasons
that I shouldn’t say.” I didn’t bother her after that answer.
That’s all I needed to hear.

After that, we continued walking
to where we were going in the first place. But, we weren’t going
that way to fight. We were going that way to leave this all behind
us.

We were going to become normal
again.

…
..