The apartment was lit up not only by the light which bounced on the snow outside but by the numerous laughs breaking out from within. Lisa had decided that with her brother being out it would be a perfect day to invite some friends over.
A planned few hours of respite turned to a full-blown slumber party without worry for her sibling. Dinner was ordered from the local pizzeria of which pineapple pizza, a flavor adored by Lisa, and pepperoni were obtained. Now with the girls dressed in their pajamas and Lisa without her prosthetic arm, they comfortably sat about the living room deciding on their next action for the course of the party.
"Where's your brother at, Lisa? I was planning on seeing whether he was as good looking as the others say." Winked a redhead with high cheekbones emphasized by a slathering of rouge.
"Oh, shush Sarah!" Jenice, a girl with looks from Korean ancestry and dyed brown hair, jokingly slapped. Two other girls sat in the circle not far away. A darkly skinned senior of unnatural build with broad sloping shoulders proffered by large bulging eyes that popped from their sockets. This mass of muscle went by the nickname of Tami.
The other was Rose Edelberg. A diminutive girl who stood out due to her natural pink hair that served as inspiration for the always constant wad of bubblegum that choked her mouth. Even then this chew demonstrated her ability in the constant inflation of the pouch underneath her tongue resembling that of a frog except no croaking was heard.
Lisa had known three of the girls since her move to the new apartment some years back. However, Tami was a remnant from the past. A friend that had grown alongside Lisa as children. She was even there the night of the change.
"I heard he practices with some top students at the academy. They claim they're all gonna be Heroes." Rose chided with a touch of mockery to the end bit. "You think they could be out now?"
Lisa brushed the hair from her left eye then propped herself up with her hand. "That's what he told me, but you know. He kind of just does what he wants, there's no stopping him after all." Lisa's face darkened as her nose crooked downward only offset by an eerie silence drawn out longer than wanted. Tami reached her hand out for Lisa's shoulder but just before it could reach, Lisa flung herself up and hurried to the kitchen calling behind her, "How about some popcorn, let's get to another movie." Her hand clung to the opposite, rubbing something that no longer was. "You guys can choose while I'll go get the popcorn started." She quickly shuffled her feet into the warmth of her pink slippers and took off.
As she was out of ear shot the girls turned toward one another whispering.
Sarah immediately blasted off, "She always gets like this whenever we even say a word about her brother. Is their relationship really that… that-"
"Bad?" Finished Jenice, a hand now having taken position beneath her chin holding her head up as she wrinkled her brain. "Not too sure, never seen him before but I've heard how smart he is."
Shaking her head, Rose spoke, "Yeah, but all the other kids know of it as well."
"Of what?"
Rose leaned into the center lowering her voice even further so just Jenice and Sarah could hear. "How he has no ability. He's a defect."
Gasping the two of them scuttered forward barely a foot from Rose's face. "What do you mean? So, you mean he's basically the black sheep of the family? I guess that makes sense as to why Lisa's parents forced him out. But why did they get rid of her as well?" Their voices had once again reached their original volume. The girls were overwhelmed by this recent discovery theorizing their own stories of Lisa's well-hidden past. Of course, this was only the three of them all the while Tami sat apart from them, her bulging arms straining against the fabric in frustration.
Eyes squeezed tight and a curl to her brow Tami had held on long enough. "That's not it at all!" She brazenly shouted quietly enough as to not garner Lisa's attention, but the pitch muddled to rouse the girls into silence.
Wide eyed the girls had turned their attention toward her. Immediately came the same rapid-fire questioning from before, "That's right you've known Lisa longer than the rest of us. Bet you've seen her brother before, what's he like?"
"Is he really as smart as the other girls say he is?
"What's his hobbies?"
Tami stared at the three of them as they shuffled closer and closer. Rose having her hands smashed against the carpeting begging like a dog, Sarah had herself bunched together up to her shoulders relaxing her face into a cutesy smile and Jenice took hold of one of Tami's shoulders using her own ability to produce enough pheromones to relax some nerves to encourage her to gush out those secrets.
However, Tami appeared dumbfounded by the change in their tones. How had it gone back to the basics of them searching for a man when they had just been hypothesizing his weakness? Tami couldn't understand such changes in expressions or emotions. On most days Tami held the same stone-cold face sometimes to be mixed with a grimace or click of the tongue. Yet, the last time this had occurred would be months before this day. Hence why she mostly let Lisa handle such situations.
'She always knew how to navigate these gossiping sirens.'
"Um… well, yeah. I've been with Lisa since we were in elementary school. Uh… yeah." Tami nonchalantly said while itching the bridge to her nose. "Don't assume things about Kage… he's quite different than anyone you would probably meet."
Jenice pushed the other two aside, "So have you spoken to him?"
"Yes…"
Jenice was taken aback by Tami's expression. She had seen her become angry, enraged, and even violent, but this was nothing like that. Her face darkened just as Lisa's had, but where Lisa had an underlying sadness there was a fueled hatred to Tami.
Speaking into her chest she continued, "When I first met him… it was by the pond outside of their old home. Lisa and I would sometimes play near trying to catch the tadpoles that swam about. Every time I came to that pond her brother was terribly sick, so sick he needed aid to move from his bed. I don't know exactly why but how he is now could be a result of his parents. Neither of them gave an ounce of respect toward him once he fell ill. They didn't even care for him." A glance of their father leaving Kage's room with bloodied knuckles and the look of a reaper danced near the memory. Tami shuddered at the thought. Sarah held out tissues, but Tami only looked at them, questioning the gesture.
Then her eyes met Sarah's, "I will not cry. There's no reason to. It wasn't my life." Sarah laid the box in her lap with creases sparkling, "Thank you for the thought." Sarah shot her head up again as brightly as ever.
"Um… well, yeah, so that day Lisa hadn't gotten to the pond yet, but Kage was there where she usually sat. Or that's what I thought. Instead, he was just to the side of it but traced her spot with his hand. It was as if he could actually feel her warmth from the day prior." A thoughtful narrowing of her eyes drew many wandering questions from the girls. The browned girl was befuddled by the sibling.
"When he heard my steps, he probably expected his sister but saw me instead. Yet, his expression did not change. It was the brother Lisa loved and although I was worried at first, he quickly came over assuring me. Although I loomed over him, he didn't care but instead embraced me asking whether I wanted to talk for a while." She had stopped for breath also to gauge the others. They looked with worry as to where this story was leading, for they knew some tragedy took place just not the specifics.
"I don't know what changed. It could've been… Well, that's not what matters. For a few years Lisa and I hadn't met and the same goes for her brother and me. However, we met again, but it was her brother I saw first; later I would realize Lisa attended the same school.
The day we met, I was searching for a gym to train in. There were many but few could deal with my stature while those that did had unreasonable members… It was probably after a month or two since the start of classes that I stumbled across the one Kage was at." An open window whistled a solemn tune as the chilly night creaked the floorboards. It was still a foreign concept to Tami that such weather could ever be so cold. Her birth was in the center of Mexico, a deserted land plagued by never-ending sunlight as the fake star burned until the end of the villain's death. A concept which may take centuries to materialize.
"Someone was stirring up a ruckus with three of the trainers. Kage was, of course, the one messing with them. Despite being a foot shorter than the rest, those three of those guys were winded after a single round in their makeshift ring. The crowd let up just enough for me to peek over the heads of the tallest and there I saw him. Although his hair had grown considerably and his body widened with effort, there was the…" Tami had stopped. Completely.
She knew the scar would be too much information for these girls. It had to be Kage or Lisa themselves who spoke of it and what had happened. But it was more than that. Already revealing this much felt to Tami that she was shortening her own life span. "Anyways, Kage left the mat bloodier than any training floor I had witnessed. Teeth and skin stuck to it. Due to his aura not having formed yet the others most likely had not known he was an Evolved. While the three of them were dragged away Kage's eyes tore through us. It was like a predator searching for meat. He stopped at me with a toothy grin. For a moment, he actually considered taking me on-"
"WHAT!?" cried Jenice.
It was loud enough to even stir Lisa who yelled back, "Is everything alright over there?"
Rose jumped up answering, "Don't worry, we're just doing some scary stories while waiting."
"Well, OK. I'll be right back, should be another minute or so."
Rose fell over onto her back with a relieved sigh. "What do you mean he challenged you?" Continued Jenice, "There's no way he would win; especially when he has no ability."
"That's what I thought as well. But I got a gut feeling from him. His look didn't have a shred of the loving brother that once was, but rested on a twisted, tainted expression formed by something disgusting.
The stance he took was something I did not know. It looked like some mixture of Japanese ancient arts. It was for a moment, but it honestly looked like he could defeat me with a single punch. I practically froze but as soon as it happened, he then laughed asking whether I was doing fine. He remembered who I was." Kage had indeed. Yet, Tami refused to divulge the absolute monotony behind the question. It was not a real one that was to enlighten the moment, no, Kage hadn't cared what the response may be.
"The two of us spoke for a bit but all that honest and good-natured tone from our days as children had vanished with cynicism. The entirety of our talk had his eyes surveying my body. I think he was sizing me up wondering how he could get rid of me. After learning Lisa attended the same school, I made up some excuse and ran out of there." The room was echoed by a nothingness so penetrative that the forms of the girls shook as the static television carried their shadows up walls.
"I can't imagine living in the same home as him. He wasn't even human." Tami sat back on her elbows releasing a winded exhalation. She felt like some of the weight was thrown off. It was surprisingly good.
However, the others were mortified of Kage. They felt like they had experienced the same scene as Tami.
"Shouldn't we at least help Lisa a bit?" Asked Sarah, "She's probably struggling a lot. We should talk to Kage and find out what's going on with him, right?"
Tami turned toward Sarah, "That won't be a good idea. One thing I remember about him even from our childhood was how protective he was of Lisa. It always felt like he was watching us while we played. If we came to him and he felt like he was being isolated or threatened from being together with Lisa, we would have a bigger problem on our hands."
"That's right! He's friends with some of the top Evolved at the academy. They could ruin our lives if we did anything." Asserted Jenice with a trembling finger that punctuated her point.
Rose glanced at Jenice, "What? Are you scared or something? There're other schools we could go to if anything. It's not like some high schoolers control every place we can go."
"In actuality, I doubt Kage would even get his friends to help. He seemed to me like a lone wolf. I doubt they know everything, even Lisa may not."
"Then, what should we do? We can't just leave Lisa with all of this building on her, can we?!" Sarah lashed out with a snap of her tongue.
Tami stood up, jolting her head backward, tossing her mane of hair over her shoulders. "No, just make sure to be there when she needs us. Don't pry too much but if you see her especially down ask if there's anything to do. If something does happen, call the rest of us."
Sarah clicked her tongue again, visibly annoyed by such mundane actions. "Whatever, I guess that will just be it." Rose and Jenice nodded in agreement with the plan, however, Jenice still remained visibly shaken by the recent revelation.
Jenice however spoke a rather gut dropping question, "That said… is he hot?"
Almost as Rose wound up a hand to smack the lights back into her eyes, they collectively heard the beep of the microwave signaling the popcorn having finished. "Shit, we didn't pick a flick. What do we do?" Whispered Rose as she looked toward Jenice who whipped her head at Tami which pointed at Sarah. Mouth agape Sarah began rebutting but was stopped by Lisa popping in at the doorway, arm slung around a steaming metal bowl.
"So, what we watchin'?" Lisa questioned with squinted eyes at Sarah.
"Um~
'Come on, think. Can't disappoint them again and have to go with something safe enough to be a good choice.'
A dim lightbulb that fizzled out every few seconds shone in Sarah's head.
'GOT IT!'
"Why not Crimson Babes?" Sarah stated with the utmost confidence only to be met with groans from Jenice while the cringing of Rose's face could be pantomimed by the rest. The two of them assaulted Sarah for her decision in almost invisible tantrums.
But there was something bothering Tami still. Although she knew of how terrible Kage's personality could impact and manipulate someone especially through the smallest of actions, it did not line up with Lisa's quietness on the subject.
'What did he do to you? Just how badly did he hurt you.'
They laughed together as Sarah fumbled over her words listing a multitude of other films they could enjoy. Once again did Lisa touch the spot where nothing remained.
The ghostly pain had never left her.