'What is pain? What is agony?' I contemplated as I sat on the floor, the the sharp pressure assaulting my mind. My body had finally hit rock bottom, the weeks of abuse of body, mind and soul had brought me to a state of utter desolation, of pain and for what? To prove a point, for a petty fued, for a battle I wasn't sure would come, to fan my pride, my obsession. No it was to guarantee my family's safety, to protect all those I held near, to safeguard the peace I resided in. I took a deep breath, the pain still saddled me like an immovable mantle, I welcomed it, I basked in it, it would build my tolerance, it would strengthen my dedication, strengthen my abilities.
I gazed at my targets, I stared at them determining the depth of my abilities the power required to move them. I gave a heavy thug on the veil, powering through the pain, the booming headache that threatened to fell me. I pushed on them, pulled on them, I calculated their center of mass, the best points to apply force. Yes that was all it was, all my ability allowed me to do was apply force and feel the forces applied around me. I channelled all my knowledge, my experience and all my will and I pushed, I watched in gratification as the car came off the floor and hanged suspended in mid air.
I was a small car, a little two door sedan, nothing truly outside the scope of human innovation. But in that moment I marvelled at my work, the fruit of my many weeks of labour, my new limit. It's truly inspiring how much hard work and effort can take you. The explosion of pain through my mind and the nerves of my back stopped my marvelling. The car came down with a crash and I fell on my back, the pain crippling me.
"Ha... hahahahaahaa." Even still I was laughing, I was happy, I was getting stronger, I was a step closer to reaching my goals, to saiting my ambitions.
I breathed deep mouthfuls of air, it carried the smell of fuel and engine oil with it. My eyes scanned the old junk yard, where a lot of old cars where sent to be decommissioned and sold for parts. It was a good place to train, it offered better challenges, new range of weights. I'd done more than enough for the day it was time to head home. I tried to stand up but the pain and accompanying soreness kept me down.
My back felt raw, the nerves felt so exposed, it was a whirlwind of new sensations one I couldn't quite explain, it toed on pain, freezing cold, unbearable heat and stilling numbness. I was pinned probably for another hour before I could move. Any attempt to stretch the veil resulted in more harm than good.
I needed a nice long rest, a few hours of actually sleep, not the dormancy rotations I did on my mind, sure it allowed me to function indefinitely but it didn't allow for my body to rest. My body was severely sleep deprived, I had pushed it past it's limits. The aches, muscle fatigue and inherent slowness were obvious signs that it would shut down soon, it was telling me to give it rest. Was I going to listen, no, no I would not. I had to pull through at least till the weekend when I didn't have school and a job that demanded my attention.
As I laid there on my back gazing at the stars I thought about the other reason I was coming out at night. Surveillance of the DeLark property proved mostly useless. There was no intel to add, nothing worth taking notes of. The weeks I spent on a room overlooking Jonathan's house like a stalker weren't something I was proud about. Truly it was not one of my best moments, I hoping to glimpse something, anything. All I had to show for it was an increased proficiency in roof climbing and stalking both things I couldn't put in my resume.
The logical thing to do is to leave him be, let him enjoy his nights, besides I was leaving the orphanage vulnerable by being out and about every night. But a stubborn, fixated part of me refused to let it go, I had to find something, anything.
An hour later I was on shaky legs on my way home. I powered through the pain, the adamant protest of my back and led my body home. 30 minutes later I was spilling in through the window I left open inside the smaller pantry. A bit more walking and I was in my room, I took in Tobias' sleeping from, he'd learned not to wait up for me by now. I gazed at the clock as I slid the clothes of my body, 4:35 am just on time anything later than that and I'd me dangerously close to Miss Adelaide's time to rouse which averages out to 5:00 am.
I put on my night ware and collapsed on bed, not even having enough energy to wash my face and legs like I usually did. Even though I was on bed I could not fully commit to sleep, but due to the exhaustion and my partially impressive feat I rewarded myself but putting a whole three quarters of my mind to sleep.
The remaining conscious quarter was left to suspend my weight above my bed and handle surveillance around the perimeter. It was more difficult than usual, of course it would be I barely gave myself time to rest after putting my abilities through so much use today. A bit past 5 Miss Adelaide woke up and started preparing for the day. First it was to turn on the water heaters, then prepare breakfast for us. Another one of our caretakers woke up shortly after to assist her with the work. By 6 she woke up the younger ones herself to prepare them for school. She prefered to do it herself, she said an alarm clock wasn't the best for their young minds, I thought otherwise it would precondition them to wake up as soon as they heard it, thereby simplifying the situation.
By 6:15 my dreadful alarm clock went off as well and with it signalled the end of my very short rest. Tobias as always woke up on the third ring, like a good little boy. If you're thinking that had something to do with me, it most definitely did. Moments later he was undressing and heading to the bathroom. Some minutes more and he was scrambling through his wardrobe deciding what to wear. I swear each day he spent longer and longer in front of that wardrobe. He gazed at my 'sleeping' form before gently tapping me awake. "Wake up Luke you don't want to be late for breakfast." I hummed a response wishing for a few more minutes to rest my eyes.
I sat for breakfast surveying those around the table. Their faces were coated in variable shades of joy. Today they made our favorite, toast, bacon and eggs with a smashing cup of jasmine tea. Miss Adelaide watched us eat with a happy smile on her face, her light wrinkles doing wonders for her smile. I liked mornings like these, simple, satisfying and tasty. "Goodness Luke what have you been up to, you look dreadful." Miss Adelaide said when she got a good look at me, har previously ornate smile replaced with a frown. She held my face, examined it and ran her fingers around the base of my eyes. Her cool fingers felt wonderful on my sore eyes. "Be honest with me boy, is there something that I should know about, something you aren't telling me." She asked, staring me down for a confession. "No ma'am." Came my short reply. She looked over at Tobias searching for answers, "Tobias mind telling me what's going on." Tobias the goody too shoes he is avoided her eyes, a telltale sign he had something to hide.
"Tobias." She pressed more firmly. "I honestly don't know what he's doing, he's busy throughout the night." He said. 'That little pressure and you squealed, shame on you Tobias.' he focused on his breakfast to hide his guilt, meanwhile Miss Adelaide looked at me with disapproval. "Tell me Luke what is it that you're doing that late into the night?" I hated lying to her but I absolutely had to. " I was reading and experimenting, you know I'm in the robotics club, we have a big project coming up for the state science fair." I was getting better at pulling lies out of nowhere. She looked at me but my face gave nothing away, then she thought it over it for a bit before deciding to believe me. "I'm glad you're being more involved with your school projects but you need to take some time to rest. Do you understand?" I nodded my response then she patted my cheek and returned to the kitchen.
"Luke I'm really sor—" "Save it Tobias." I cut him off, I wasn't in the mood. We were on our way to the bus stop, Tobias sulking as we walked. Honestly the nerve he had, well I wasn't completely at a loss, Miss Adelaide prepared some more jasmine tea for me and dumped in some glucose— just the way I liked it— to take to school.
"Hurry up Tobias we don't want to be late."