"You alright there kid? You spaced out for a while" Asked John "Are you sure you don't want me calling any of the other workers?"
"N- No, it's fine Mr John, it's just… I guess running so much got me dizzy, I think I'll just rest in the floor, if that's okay?" Expressed Allen, with a sad look on his face.
"Yeah, it's okay, if you want to ask me anything else I'll be around the corner, rest up" He patted him in the shoulder after that and went on his way.
"Not only I'm twenty years before I was born, but even in another continent… That's insane" While these thoughts were running in his head he let his body fall down on the floor, cushioning it with his telekinesis so he didn't hurt himself.
"What about my parents in this life?" He tried to forget about them, distract himself with anything he could get his hands on, including his powers, but now after learning just a bit more about him, the questions that he always had emerged form within him.
"Did they die or they didn't want me so they dropped me in an orphanage?" Tears fell down his face, he tried to hide it by putting his arm on top of his face to cover it, but it just made the crying harder. It was a while since he cried so much.
After a few minutes John and Ms Sarah were walking towards him, John looked like he was tired of working and Ms Sarah had a worried look on her face.
"Crap, he went to get her, gotta get out" Just as they saw him, Allen saw them as well and decided to flee, but it was too late.
"Allen, wait! What happened? Are you alright?" Asked Ms Sarah "John told me you were feeling a bit down, but did someone do something to you?"
"N- No Ms Sarah, it's just…" He knew he couldn't get away with just saying he was tired this time, and he wanted answers as well, and it was probably better to ask her than John in the first place, so he told her, about how he suddenly thought about his birth, where he was and his parents.
After listening for a while, she understood the situation "Come with me Allen, John, please ask Ms Katie to bring me some tea to my room for two, she'll understand"
Resigned with the situation John stopped doing his work and went out to look for Ms Katie.
"If I were to be honest Allen, is that I didn't expect you to care for your past, you always looked as if you were looking to the future instead of the past, but I should've told you, I just wanted to wait more until you were mature enough to understand" She couldn't stop talking, and he could feel a tint of regret in her voice, she really regretted not telling him sooner.
It made sense to him, he's only five, what five year old can understand so many concepts, after a while he got tired of pretending to not understand.
"Sarah? I've brought the briefcase" Ms Katie peeked through the door, lifting and pointing at a black briefcase.
"Yes, come here Katie and put it on the table, thank you" Ms Sarah wiped the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Be right back with the actual tea this time" She said with a joking tone, most likely to make the situation feel less heavy.
"Um, Ms Sarah, what's that briefcase got to do with anything?" Allen wondered, but then he remembered how his mother used to save important documents in a briefcase just like this one.
"This Allen, is where we document all the important papers for the children, there really is no need to be so secretive about it, but I just like to talk about it with Ms Katie in a roundabout way, while these are just documents, they are really important for when all of you will leave the orphanage, so we try to keep them in a safe place" She explained to him.
"O- Okay, so is there anything about my birth in there?" Allen asked, then hesitated for a moment before continuing "Or about my parents?"
"Yes, we have your birth certificate, and a letter which we assume it's from your relatives who left you here with us"
"Can I see it?" He could feel the emotions running haywire inside him, his powers were slipping out of him and some stuff in the room levitated a bit before he realized and calmed himself down.
Breath in breath out, deep breaths, he didn't want Ms Sarah of all people to find out about this.
"Yes, of course, here, look" She passed the documents along the table to him.
"Allen Joseph Li- let's skip that part" He scanned the whole document finding at the end of it the names of his parents.
"Joseph Edgar Li-" and "Mary Heather Knight"
"Those are definitely names" He thought, not really sure of what to do or think about it, since he never met them. He returned his birth certificate to Ms Sarah and read the card.
There wasn't much to it other than the relatives couldn't take care of him from either side of the family, since the side from his mother, everyone was dead, and the ones who weren't, were so far away in the family tree that they were practically strangers at that point. And from the side of his father, they didn't know how to take care of him, it was written just like that, since they didn't know, they decided to left him in an orphanage…
"This…" A sole word left his mouth, anger, sadness and frustration were noticeable.
"I'm sorry Allen, we did try to go to the police so they could find your father's side of the family" She clenched her fist in frustration.
"I wanted the police to find them so bad so I could lash at them" Bitterness left her mouth the more she talked "What do they mean 'they didn't know how to take care of a baby'" She extended her hands on the table "I assure you, we tried to look for them so they would take care of you, but the police couldn't find them, I'm so sorry"
After a silence that felt like an eternity he answered her "No, it's fine Ms Sarah, I just… didn't expect the reason for me to be here to be so… dumb" Tears fell down his face, but decided against it, he tried to stop crying and cleaned his face with his forearm.
"I'm sorry dear, I know it might not be consolation enough but on the next page they talk about how they've been followed by dangerous people"
"No, the might have been lying after thinking that it sounded really bad with the first page" He said in a hurried tone, the situation between his past life and current life was overlapping, if what was said on the letter is true, the situation is almost the same, just a bit worse, since it happened since before he was born.
Now he doesn't know if being all alone it's a blessing or a curse with those relatives and family.
"I, I think this is too much for me Ms Sarah, I wanna go rest in my room, if that's okay?" He asked, his shoulders slumped, and a defeated look on his face.
"Yes dear, you can go" She picked up the papers and put them inside the briefcase "Want me to accompany you?"
"No, it's alright, thanks" He took his leave, dragging his feet on the wooden floor.
He didn't know how, or when it happened, but he fell asleep on his bed, as he woke up he could feel dry tears on his face. Allen did his usual routine of making his bed and changing clothes, trying to come to terms with what he learned yesterday.
"It doesn't change anything, it's not like I was gonna met them or something" He thought to himself "And I still have my powers"
He lifted the blankets with both hands using telekinesis and finished making the bed.
"Today's a new day, and I should do something new to distract myself"
As he was thinking what he could do over breakfast, he remembered something that espers could do in media.
Pyrokinesis.
Almost as if he forgot all about what happened yesterday, after washing his dishes, he ran to the nearest supply closet and found two buckets.
While running back to the kitchen to fill one of them with water, he passed John who was sweeping the floor.
"You alright kid?" He asked, making Allen stop in his tracks.
"Yes, Mr John, I'm better now"
"Mmhh, that's good, but what are you going to do with the buckets?" John wondered, since he was the only one who touched the supplies to clean around.
"W- Well… I was thinking of watering the bushed in the garden!" Allen's eyes wandered around, trying to not meet his eyes.
John could tell that he wasn't a very good liar, but it wasn't really in his job description to take care of the children, so he let him go, reminding him to not do anything dangerous, otherwise it would case more work him.
After hearing what John had to say, Allen ran faster than ever towards the kitchen, using his powers, a dim light emanated from his feet and legs, giving him a boost of speed.
He filled one bucket of water and the other empty, in case the water wasn't enough and he needed to extinguish the fire choking the oxygen out of it.
Allen looked around in the garden for an empty corner where he wouldn't be bothered, he ran there trying to not tip the water over and needing to bring more water again. He put both of the buckets down, and looked around the ground for some dry leaves that he could use to practice.
He brought all of the leaves he could with only his hands and put them in the ground, he got down on his knees and used telekinesis to grab a ball of dirt from the ground, putting it around the hole the ball just made, he continued to do this a few more times until he had a hole with a wall of dirt around, just in case the fire grew too much, he could cover it with the dirt, then the water and finally the empty bucket to finish it off.
"Okay, safety measures are all in place, so the only thing left is to practice" He nodded, proud of the work so far, and crossed his legs on the ground, close to the bucket and the hole.
Since he got everything ready, it was time to practice, he let his emotions flow and his willpower traveled across him, activating his powers, what he wants to do… ignite the pile of leaves in front of him, and as he thinks that, a red light shoots from his hand through the air, reaching the leaves and turning them on fire.
He lifted his arms in joy, almost shouting from the excitement, but then he remembered that he wasn't in his room but the garden, with the other kids, and that there was a fire in front of him that was burning brighter and brighter.
"Oh shit!" He took the empty bucket and covered the fire. After a few minutes the fire went out and let out a sigh.
It worked, just as he was tired from the situation, he was also excited, and wanted to try it again, this time a bit different.
Allen shoot the red light again, turning the leaves on fire once more, but this time instead of letting it grow he thought about controlling the flames.
He put his hand close to the fire, and let the red light connect his powers and the fire itself, then he did it with his other hand and thought about making the fire bigger, the light coming out of his hands grew in size, and the fire did so as well, fearing it would go out of control, he did the opposite, sucked all the red light back to him, and that made the fire smaller than before.
He continued to control the fire, making it bigger, smaller, and even thin but taller, until the heat got too much and decided to extinguish it, he absorbed the red light from the fire, as if it were the oxygen keeping it burning and it went out.
"Alright! Now, to make sure nothing will start a fire again, let's throw the water on top, just in case" He stood up, excited that he managed to do what he put his mind to it, grabbed the bucket full of water and poured it on top of where the flame used to be.
"Okay, and next is… these, just to be extra sure" He grabbed the balls of dirt that formed the wall around the hole using his telekinesis, and filled it, leaving a flat but we ground where he lit the fire.
He cleaned his hands and put them on his hips, proud of the work he did, he took the buckets, to return them and then go back to his room.