From the first step into the water park, Takabi felt his jaw drop. Never in his life had his eyes fell on something so massive.
Water slides and rides littered the entire back portion of the building. Thousands of people, students and families, bustling around to hurry to the next line for a slide. Further from the door, an artificial river was flowing with clean, light blue water, multiple groups all lying back in small boats or water equipment and allowing the current to take them through the park.
Nana took his hand and pulled him through the crowd, her face lit up with excitement. Finding a spot by the hot tubs, Takabi looked up to the ceiling of the park, and a single question left his mouth.
"How… Big is this place?"
"Massive from what I heard. There's plenty of food stands and stuff if you look around." She dug in her bag, pulling out their towels and lying them on two chairs. "It's perfect for a get away from the boring school walls for a little while." She looked over her shoulder at him, batting her brown eyes. "So, what do you want to do first?"
"Would it be bad to say to you," He muttered, and she placed a gentle, playful slap on his face.
"Right, well we could head to the slides first." He pointed towards the largest one.
Hesitant at first, she nodded, and the two made their way over. The staircase leading to the top was wet, the wood looking a tiny bit worn down but still usable. Takabi moved up without a care, yet Nana was two steps behind him. He glanced back at her, raising his eyebrows at her odd behavior, but didn't question her until they reached the top.
From that spot, they could see everything in the park. The teachers by the mini-bar, their classmates swimming in the large pool, crowding together in their usual groups while some broke out to meet new people.
"Whoa. We're pretty high up, huh?"
"Y-yeah.. Can we just go down already?"
"Sure," He said looking back at her. "You okay? You look like you're gonna faint."
Nana shook her head, and grabbed his arm. "Just… Not so good with heights.."
He blinked at her, laughing a little bit. Seeing her serious glare at him, he shut up, but felt himself holding back a harder laugh. "You… Can't you fly," He whispered in her ear.
He was unsure why. Everyone knew about his abilities, yet no one questioned it, which in itself is an extremely odd thing.
"I haven't tried to.. I get too freaked out about it." Her eyes closed up and she puffed her cheeks, "It sucks too, because I know falling from heights like this would be nothing for me.. I just can't… Handle it. Vertigo I guess."
"Hey, can you two hurry up? You're holding up the line," A boy yelled.
The two waved awkwardly to him, moving towards the tube slide. Takabi sat down first in the raft. Nana got in next, sitting in front of him. She took his arms, wrapping them around her stomach and exhaled.
"I can do this… I can do this."
The lifeguard watched the two, before pushing down the slide. Instantly, they were covered by green shading, the speed of their descent and rushing water splashing in their faces causing Nana to shut her eyes tight. Takabi felt nothing but excitement, like a child would when they discover a bounce house. A smile lit across his face, and he pulled Nana closer, laughing in her ear. "It's okay! You can look!"
"I can't!" She pleaded, half excitedly, half terrified.
The raft swirled around the tunnel, the water engulfing the pair a moment until the top portion of the tube stopped, and they glanced over the side of the park, wind blowing their hair wildly as they continued on their ride downwards. The slide began to curve closer to the park, their raft hopping off and landing in the current that made its way slowly around.
Takabi exhaled and stretched, looking down at Nana who kept her face buried in his chest. His hand brushed the hair from her face, and he spoke lovingly to her, gentle, reassuring, with a bit of a taunt in his tone. "The worst of it is over, Princess. You can open your eyes."
She shook her head, breathing a bit heavy. Slowly, she picked up her face, and she looked away, pressing her back against him and biting her lip. "Tell a single soul, and I will destroy you."
"Mature. Look, let's find something more your speed." He looked around, his eyes falling on the pool. He smiled, grabbing a rope nearby and pulling them over so they could return to the floor.
Nana crawled out first, then he followed, nudging the raft to continue down its slow path. Takabi patted her back, pointing to the pool. She followed the direction of his finger, then led the way. During the walk, the boy caught a glimpse of Carlos sitting at one of the pizza stand tables alone. He raised an eyebrow, before saying, "Hey, I'm gonna go check on him."
Nana followed his eyes, then nodded, kissing his cheek. "Don't be too long, okay?"
He nodded, moving through the crowd and up the small flight of steps.
The aroma of greasy bread, melted cheese and pepperoni made his stomach roar in hunger. For a moment, he wished he had brought his wallet with him, but figured he could just get something later. He plopped down across from Carlos, his friend refusing to look in his direction before saying, "What do you want?"
"Dude, why are you sulking? In your non swimming clothes, too? Put on some trunks and come swimming with us."
"No thanks," He said, huffing. "I'd rather just chill here. Alone." His tone was a bit harsh.
Takabi blinked at him, and replied with, "Hey, don't worry about being a third wheel or anything. You're my friend man, it's cool. Hell, ask Ariel to come hang too."
"She already is," He growled, then flicked his eyes behind Takabi.
He looked back, spotting the redhead with a group of unknown males. Some looked older than anyone in their class, with the obvious goatees and bodybuilder type bodies.
"Can you believe she told me she loved me just yesterday… Funny how that all changed. Dumped me right here, said she needed some space to clear her head. Nice excuse."
"Damn. I'm sorry, Carlos. Anything I can do to help?" He asked.
Carlos laughed, a little twistedly, then said, "Let me bang Nana?"
Takabi kept a straight face, eyeing Carlos down, waiting for him to apologize. When the apology never came, Takabi just stood, slight anger oozing from his words. "Fix your fucking attitude. I didn't do anything to you for you to say some dumb shit like that."
"No, you didn't do anything." He eyed him down. "Not now, and not to help Carrie."
"Don't you DARE pin her death on me!" Takabi yelled, attracting attention from some people around. The noise of the park drowned out his voice reaching past the lines of people waiting for their turn on one of the slides. "I did what I could."
Carlos scoffed at him, hand squeezing his foam cup. "Oh, bullshit. The only thing you did was run. Run and leave her there alone to be eaten by bears." He made quotation marks around the last few words.
"I didn't abandon Carrie," He said, low to mask his growing irritation.
"You didn't help her either." Carlos challenged. "Where were you when she needed you? Where was Anna, or my mother for that matter, when I needed them for support, huh?"
"Dude, calm the hell down before you have a mental breakdown."
"Mental… Mental breakdown… You try having your parents divorce and leave your ass alone so they can be happy on their own. Anna is in the hospital, and Carrie is dead. As far as I'm concerned, it's because you couldn't grow a fucking backbone and do something. You didn't then, and you won't now." He smiled then, getting in Takabi's face. "Maybe I should try to fuck Nana. At least then she'd be with a real man."
That did it.
Without any warning, Takabi hit Carlos, so hard the boy stumbled back into the trash bins, nose spewing blood as he gripped it. He watched Takabi, eyes wide.
"Oh my god! Takabi," Ariel yelled.
"What's going on," The gym teacher, Mr. K, asked as he approached the two. "Takabi, what did you do!?"
That glare, the same one he had the night in the forest. The face of that untainted evil.
"Stay the fuck away from me and her. I'm tossing your shit when I get back to the room." He said, turning on his heel and walking down the steps. All eyes were on him when he stopped, looking Carlos in the eye and spoke low, not a single care in any of his words. "And you're right, I didn't help her because the bitch was already dead by the time I got there. Be grateful you don't have two dead sisters."
"Takabi!" He turned to Nana, the girl watching with a strong shock. She looked between the pair, unsure of what really happened. "I… What's the matter with you two?"
"I tried to be nice," He said, moving away from the park. "I'll see you back in the room."
Jewel walked by him as he left the park, approaching Nana as Carlos stood and ran to the bathroom, face flush with blood and embarrassment. "What happened," She asked, and Nana just shook her head.
---------------------------
Carlos slammed his knuckles into the mirror, shattering it and cutting his flesh.
Blood oozed into the sink as he lowered his head, grateful no one was in the bathroom as tears began to flow. He felt it build in his chest, and released whatever he had inside in a loud yell of anger.
Hatred. The growing, uncaring for the world. Hatred that Carrie was taken away so suddenly, so unfairly.
He blamed his Father for never going with them on that camping trip. He blamed his Mother for so easily abandoning her kids to have fun with a new man. Most of all, he blamed Takabi, for doing nothing to help Carrie.
To help him.
Abandonment would be the first word that came to Carlos' mind. After all, that's what it was right? Everyone was leaving him, making him out to be the villain when he was really just a victim. A victim of the unfair world. He used to be smooth, he used to be calm, happy.
As he stared in the shattered reflection of himself, all he saw was a pathetic excuse for a human being, and that, in his mind, is where the problem was.
He was Human.
He had no powers like he witnessed others have.
Takabi, his random twin brother that attacked him, and the Vampire Erodon. They have powers, and were blessed by God himself to be above humans. So why, where did the big headedness of Takabi come from? Some false sense of humanity?
He was never human to begin with.
Carlos bit his lip, squeezing the sides of the sink until his knuckles turned white. "... I'll find a way… I'll find a way to be like him…"
--------------------------------
Takabi had his hands in his swim trunks pockets as he made his way towards the golden elevators to head back upstairs. The crowd around him was a blur, all avoiding him as they walked by. He assumed it was because he was emitting some kind of dark aura that they knew was trouble.
A man bumped into him. Quickly, he apologized, his tone low and smooth, like butter. "My apologies."
"No worr…." The voice. It sounded so familiar. Sounds so much like…
Like…
He whipped around, eyes wide, yet found nothing.
Just people spilling into and out of the water park. A lump settled in his throat, his heart ramming against his ribs as if it was ready to burst from his chest. In this instance, he figured it would. As he turned back, moving ahead and touching the elevator button panels for the seventh floor, a single question lingered in his mind, one he didn't know if he wanted the answer to or not.
"Was that… Was that Dad?"