The thunder roared outside, loud enough to cover up the shriek coming from the apartment.
The child, frozen in place, is filled with fear and disbelief. Not knowing what to do, he simply stood there, staring at his blood-covered hands.
"You…you demon!" yelled the woman as she collapsed to the floor.
The world began swirling around the boy. He could hear the sharp ringing inside his skull getting louder and louder, like someone drilling into his brain.
To him, the world was tearing itself apart as it slowly became blurry fragments. The ringing did not stop, it just kept getting more and more painful. He was at his breaking point. He wanted to scream, but his body is too numb to do so. All that rage and fear were about to explode, just when the ringing reached an unbearable level…
"Get away from me, you demon!!!"
◆ ◆ ◆
Edwin Li shot up from his bed. The pillow soaked in sweat.
When he looked at the alarm clock buzzing, he sighed deeply and turned it off with a pat. Rays of sunlight made its way through the window on the second floor while the curtain glowed warmly. The living room was already getting noisy, with the walls blurring the noise of the news channel and the clanking of pots and bows coming from the kitchen.
After stretching his back, Edwin walked straight towards the bathroom. Through the hallway, his gloomy mood painted everything around him with an extra layer of shadow. Turning on the lights, he stared in to the shirtless teenager in the mirror: the bushy black hair jumbled on his head. Despite his young age, the lifeless pupils and the eye bags beneath them had him resemble a middle-aged man – the scars and bruises on his well-built upper body further enhance that.
"Just when can I get rid of these nightmares…" he growled under his breath.
"Oh, it seems that the depressed boy is awake," came a marked voice from the living room, "nightmares again?"
"As always, Dan," Edwin replied in a flat tone. Looks like that weird and cheerful uncle had returned from his job. The last time he heard from him was days ago.
Edwin splashed cold water on his face and wiped it with a towel, then got dressed and headed for the dining room. The house was small, but had just enough space for two. The furniture felt like they were from two centuries ago, with a wooden floor that squealed every time someone stepped on it. Next to the moldy wall was the TV, broadcasting the morning news.
"I assume you've been taking care of yourself lately?" Dan asked and sat across Edwin, "done anything fun?"
"No." The reply was immediate. Edwin's sight remained on the bowl of cereal.
"I seriously hope you can be a bit more…outgoing," Dan kept going, "say…for a nice-looking lad like you, girls around your age surely-"
"Check the news," Edwin diverted the topic as soon as Dan began with his "emotional counseling". The two shifted their focus to the TV, where the voice of the news lady accompanied the blurry security footage on the screen.
"...footages from the recent terrorist assaults reveal what seemed like an attack involving super-natural ability. There were numerous casualties among civilians, employees, and policemen. The rest of the country of La Angosta, and the world, once again demand explanations from the governments, who supposedly 'made sure no espers remain'…"
"Is that what got you caught up?" Edwin sipped his glass of water and asked.
"Yeah, kid…things got seriously out of hand," Dan replied in a sullen tone, the cheerfulness vanished instantly. The news continued.
"…casualties include the captain Fernandez of the armed police squad, who had served the city for more than twenty-four years…"
Edwin immediately noticed Dan's face twitching a bit. He stood up and turned off the TV. Dan grinned slightly and shook his head: though this kid had never been great at socializing, he knew when to stop a discussion on certain topics.
"It's alright, kid. Things like that happen all the time," Dan said with a smile, "believe me; one day, you will have to prepare yourself for these tragedies."
"That day would arrive sooner than expected if you don't quit smoking," replied Edwin as he prepared to leave the house.
"C'mon, don't take the fun away," Dan complained loudly, "in fact, you should find things that make you happy."
Edwin stopped for a moment.
"Not in this sort of a world," he stated, then slammed the door behind him. The banging of the wooden door resonated through the house for a moment while Dan kept looking at where the porch. To Dan, Edwin's athletic look failed to make him look mature – that figure still had the innocence of a young, lost child.
"I know you've been through plenty, kid. But…" Dan talked to himself and sighed deeply, "someday, I'll bring you out of the dark corners of this world."
◆ ◆ ◆
Even as the outer rim of the city, where the cracked roads and pavements haven't been fixed in years, the town still gets noisy in the mornings; retailers shouting towards the packed streets, while bikes and a few broken-down cars made their way through the chaotic crowd. Edwin walked through the blocks swiftly, making himself the last thing anyone would notice. His grey sports pants and black shirt helped with the obscureness of his figure.
He knew quite clearly how, under all this "prosperity", people always find ways to inflict pain on others. As if to prove it, Edwin, like every morning, quickly glanced in the direction of a few hidden alleys, where the sun's rays never reach. The view of groups of thugs following some unlucky fellow before forcing him into a valley was nothing new. Like the crowed, Edwin ignored the barely audible call for help and moved on. The poles and walls along the road were all covered up in jumbles of posters and advertisements. A few street artists even spent their time painting a few cartoons on the brick walls. Edwin turned his head slightly to observe the painting, which consisted of a wizard burning police badges with fireballs from his wand, along with a caption reading "Beware of espers". Without a word, Edwin moved on.
"Esper" – that was the name coined to people with paranormal abilities. The word has become the synonym for freaks and terrorists, for what they did earned them the titles. To Edwin, the fact that people still hate them for what espers did over a decade ago in a brief international conflict was just another evidence that the world was stupidly cruel.
As expected from a country whose name literally means "the narrow one", the nation of La Angosta extends from the equator to the far south, giving it a range of intriguing geographical features. This means that most of the prosperity were concentrated at the capital city, while the rest of the land consisted of savannas, farmlands, mountains, and even glaciers – regions far from jurisdiction. As a result, La Angosta was barely developed and far from attentions of the rest of the world, making it a great place for outlaws – exactly what Edwin was looking for.
At last, he arrived at his destination. The smell of decades-old yellow paper filled the store as Edwin walked in, followed by the crisp ringing of the shop doorbell. After greeting the white-bearded gramps who ran the place, he headed straight for the "Sci-fi" shelves.
All he had to do was organize the books into categories, dust off the old ones, and guide visitors to the shelves. Most of his time were spent reading – that was one of the only interests left for him.
Grabbing a thin book, he sat down on the edge of a creaking wooden chair next to an equally rotten table. On it, a rose sits quietly in a glass vase. He dusted the cover and flipped it open where he left off.
◆ ◆ ◆
Edwin looked up in alarm when the doorbell rang again. It was rare for customers to arrive as early as him.
A girl, wearing a dark-grey jacket and shorts, was walking between the shelves while looking around aimlessly, with her face hid beneath a cap and hands in her pockets. Edwin tried to ignore her, but her walking closer alerted him – even if she made it look natural, he could tell by his instinct that she wasn't just here for the books.
She walked to where Edwin was sitting, and began flipping through the books with her slim fingers. Edwin held the book higher as her exposed thighs neared him.
"I guess there aren't many visitors to this section." The thin voice came out in a light-hearted manner.
Judging from how she spoke, she seemed to be around his age – sixteen at least. Edwin observed carefully without moving his eyes off the text. He caught a glance of a bundle of pinkish-red hair under the cap, tied in a short pony tail – quite a harmless look, actually.
Edwin did not answer. If she's trying to pick on him, then this would be the century's worst decision.
She then glanced towards Edwin.
"Flat Land, huh. A classic novel. Imagine living as a square…jeez, the amount of power you would get if you were the sphere and everyone else are flat shapes…"
Despite his best effort to hid it, Edwin still jolted a little. What was that? Was she just trying to talk about the book, making the relevance of that phrase a coincidence…or does she actually know something about…?
The girl grinned. She must have noticed Edwin's reaction.
Out of the blues, she suddenly turned around, hurling at Edwin two transparent spearheads.
Edwin, who already dropped the book and stood up before she had turned around, dodged the first spearhead with ease before catching the second one with bare hands, all the while glaring at the attacker. A wet feeling came from the spear like an icicle, it melted into water – except it didn't feel cold at all.
"Impressive reaction speed for an ordinary guy," said the girl in a lowered voice, treading around the table, "but a walk in the park for someone who's brain is strong enough to calculate the trajectory of things in, say, another dimension…am I right, Mr. Esper?"
That was it. No more hiding.
Edwin grabbed the vase and threw it toward the girl. She recognized this being a distraction and quickly caught it, while rushing towards the escaping teen.
Edwin ran out of the backdoor and dashed through the dim alleyway between the back of the buildings, while the pursuer followed right behind. Luckily, all that were present were trashcans and a few lines used to hang clothes. No other humans were present.
"Not so fast, buddy."
The girl grabbed a rubble half the size of her fist lying at the corner of the wall, and held it with both hands for a second. With an explosion, the rubble flew out like a cannon ball, heading for the target right in front of it. Edwin sensed the projectile and jumped sideways, just in time for the rubble to grace his shoulder, before striking a crater on the brick wall. He took a sharp turn on the next conjunction, but found himself facing an iron gate blocking the path. To the pursuer's surprise, Edwin had no signs of stopping. Instead, he ran at it without slowing down by the slightest. With a swing of his arm, a blue flash ran across the hinges on the sides of the gate. Sharp and crisp noises of metal parts being sliced ringed across the alley, followed by the loud bang of the heavy gate crashing to the floor as Edwin ran over it.
"Huh, cutting parts in a higher dimension for they have almost zero thickness there…" The girl came to a stop, held her hand to the chin and thought to herself. A grin appeared across her face. "How brilliant!"
Finally, Edwin arrived at a clear space, where the view of roadside stores and people chattering lie just a block away. Looking back from where he came, the pursuer was nowhere to be found. He sighed – exposing his true nature could've cost his life. Before he could clear his mind of the confusion, a loud explosion came from the side. While his ears ringed due to the proximity from the blast, he could feel himself flying through the air. Edwin made a hard landing on his back. The sharp pain of hitting concrete floor resonated across his spine. With a deep growl, he sat up and stared at the attacker, who walked towards him with a widely stretched smile. Then, she spoke in a smug manner that showed excitement and malice.
"Please do entertain me, fellow esper. Do not disappoint me!"