#anomalycode

Chapter Four: Eva

Shefirst met Asa, codename Draugar two weeks after she’d joined the Foundation. He was an anomaly with the ability to phase through things. He was to be her partner while working for the Foundation. Draugar never spoke much. She knew nothing about him, his hobbies, favourite food. But despite this, he had become important to her. He had become her friend.

A hiss cut through the murmur of the cafe as the machine got to work and an aroma of fresh coffee began to waft into the air, how she loved the smell of it.

           “It’s almost as good as a hit of sugar when I really need it,” thought Eva to herself as she breathed in deeply, letting her hands go on auto pilot to make the strawberry and white chocolate mocha that had been ordered. Carefully, she wove through the paint stained tables that dotted La Vie Boheme, heading for the person sitting in the most distant corner.

           “A strawberry and white chocolate mocha and a neenish tart, enjoy,” she said, placing the coffee and food on the table, “Will there be anything else?”

The customer, a boy about her age with large grey eyes hidden behind round glasses, looked up at her nervously and opened his mouth as if to speak but no sound came out.

           “Poor guy, I’d hate to be that nervous” she thought, giving him her warmest smile.

           The boy gave a nervous smile back and tried again, “N-no th-th-thank you.”

           “You just give me a call if you need anything else,” said Eva brightly, noticing the mortified look on the boy’s face, as if he would die if he actually had to raise his voice, before she walked away, brushing crumbs off her apron.

           Grabbing a cloth she began to clean the bench, looking at the customers. If she concentrated, she could see swatches of colour surrounding them, drifting about lazily. She had been able to do this for years. She knew that the colours represented their mood. The couple over by the window for example were extremely happy about something and the young woman heading to the bathroom was feeling very lonely.

           Sometimes she could even move the colours. Rearranging them into new patterns or blending them together. This way she could make people happier or give them a confidence boost. She didn’t do this very often though because it made her tired. Still, she thought it was worth it if she was helping people.

           With a start she noticed a girl waiting by the register and hurried over.

           “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said, giving the girl a bright smile, “How can I help?”

           Moments later her shift had finished and she was waiting in the park for her friend, Danielle. The two had made plans to go out for lunch.

           “Hey gorgeous!” shouted out a woman’s voice with a heavy British accent.

           Eva turned to see Danielle walking quickly towards her. Danielle was a plump mother of three who had very pleasant characteristics and silky ash blonde hair. She lived across the hall from Eva and was constantly checking in on her.

           “How was work, love?” said Danielle, wrapping Eva in a hug.

           “Pretty good,” replied Eva, “There was this one guy who came in, he was so nervous that he could barely speak.”

           Eva paused for a moment as she thought back to the boy’s grey eyes and the way he had stuttered.

           “It was adorable but I felt so sorry for him,” she said.

           “Ah, well some things can’t be helped,” said Danielle in a matter-of-fact voice, “Now let’s go get some food, I’m starving.”

           “If only you knew,” thought Eva to herself.

           “Speaking of food,” said Danielle, “Would you like to join the family for dinner tonight? I’m making that cottage pie you like.”

           “Are you sure?” asked Eva, “I don’t want to be a burden.”

           Danielle stopped and turned to face Eva, a look of mock hurt on her face.

           “As if you could be a burden, love,” she said, “You’re like the teenage daughter I’m yet to have, although I’m sure Lara will get there soon and Gwen won’t be too far behind. Besides, Jimmy has a picture he wants to show you. Wants a ‘fellow artists’ opinion he said.”

Chapter Three: Derik

TheFoundation had told her what had happened. How she had burnt down her house,how her mother had died in the fire. She had been devastated but they had taught her how to channel her anger and grief into her new ability. Making her stronger. Shaping her into a weapon.

Derik stood in front of the mirror, gazing at his reflection with hate. Why was this happening to him? The last week had gone downhill at super speed, one disaster after another. Failing an assignment, being late for class, forgetting homework and now this. Could his life possibly get worse? He hadn’t even seen Max once during the week, that made it almost unbearable. He quickly slipped on a grey hoodie and left the room, glaring darkly at the posters that decorated the walls. Knowing his luck he was going to be late for school.

Caught in his bad mood he stomped down the stairs into the kitchen where his foster father, Jason, was sitting, drinking coffee.

“Buenos Dias Derik,” he said, taking a sip, “How did you sleep?”

Derik opened the fridge, scowling at the contents before taking out the orange juice and glaring at Jason, as if thinking that it should be obvious.

“Not too good I see, you should try some camomile tea before bed, it might help,” said Jason, scratching his soul patch thoughtfully.

There was an awkward silence as Derik grabbed a glass from the cupboard and sat down at the table.

“Look, Derik, I know you don’t want to talk about it but we need to sort this out,” said Jason, placing his coffee down gently, “I don’t know what it was you did and I’m not sure how to deal with it but I think we need to find someone who understands it.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” said Derik, twisting the diamond ring on his index finger around viciously, “As if anyone will understand this.”

With this comment he placed his hand on the glass and focused, steadily it began to change from glass into steel.

“I’m a freak,” he said gloomily, “An anomaly. I should just disappear.”

“I don’t care if you’re an alchemist or an alien or whatever,” said Jason sternly, looking at the glass unamused, “Anomaly or not, I just want to see you happy, there has to be someone out there who can help.”

Derik looked away and snorted, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over his head.

“I’ll give you a ride to school and ask around in the meantime,” said Jason cheerily, grabbing his keys and running a hand through his dark hair.

“Yeah. Great. Just what I need, another day in hell,” muttered Derik as he walked out the door towards the car.

           Hours later he was slumped into his seat watching as the other students walked around the school grounds chatting. No one came to talk to him, he had no friends at school, they all thought they were too good for him. Time had moved so slowly today but finally he was free.

           A burst of laughter echoed down the hall and he looked up to see the new exchange student surrounded by his usual fan club. Endrew had transferred from Brazil a few weeks ago and always seemed to be surrounded by people. Derik could see why, he was hot, not as good looking as Max but he wouldn’t have said no. Who was he kidding, he wasn’t exactly picky and it wasn’t like the exchange student even knew he existed.

           Picking up his bag he walked out of the class room. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with people. On the way he passed the weird girl who always sat and ate lunch with her brothers. She was always changing her hair colour, right now it was brown with pink streaks but next week it would probably be turquoise or some other strange colour. He didn’t like her much, he didn’t even remember her name, she was always butting into other people’s business and adding in her two cents worth. As if anyone cared. Her brothers on the other hand, Cam and Luca, were an entirely different story.

Derik had seen Luca playing sports with Max sometimes, he didn’t seem as motivated as Max but he still had the body of an athlete, Derik had a feeling that Luca would give great hugs. Cam on the other hand seemed to be more into his learning, Derik imagined that Cam would be a very shy but eager boyfriend, and that Italian accent? He smiled just thinking about it.

As if they could tell he was thinking about them, all three looked up and stared at him. Quietly he rushed away, glaring at the girl as he passed. He didn’t have time to bother with them anyway. Max usually went for a run after school and he wanted to catch him before he left. Blindly he skidded around a corner and almost collided with the figure crouched there.

“Watch…” he said, the words dying in his throat. It was Max.

Max looked up from the shoelace he’d been tying and stood straight. He was at least a head taller than Derik.

“Oh, sorry about that,” said Max, scratching the back of his neck, “That was a bit of a stupid place for me to tie my shoe. Are you ok?”

Derik said nothing, he was too busy staring at Max, admiring the way his running shorts fell over his perfectly sculpted legs, the way the sun caught his blonde hair. He had never been this close to Max before.

           “You’re Derik right?” asked Max, ‘I’ve seen you around but I don’t think we’ve actually met before, I’m Max.”

           “I know,” said Derik in a daze, he actually knew his name.

His skin was flawless, perfectly tanned, he longed to hold one of Max’s massive hands just to feel his skin against his own.

           “I’ve seen you around too,” he added quickly.

           At this Max smiled, “Small school I guess.”

           Now was his chance, he might not get another one. He had to take a leap.

           “Do you want to...hang out?” he asked, the words almost blending together.

How was he going to react? Would he say yes? Would he finally get the chance to spend some time with him? He could barely stand the anticipation.

“I’m really sorry but I can’t at the moment, I have plans already,” said Max apologetically, “Maybe we can go…”

But Derik wasn’t listening, he was too deep in thought. Rejected straight out without even considering it. His life truly did suck.

           “Does that sound alright?” asked Max.

           “Whatever,” said Derik, not paying attention, “I need to go.”

           With this he brushed past Max, ignoring the look of confusion on his face.

           “Umm...see you later?” said Max, waving a hand indecisively.

Chapter Two: Lace

Anomaly.That was what they had called her, the Foundation. They were the ones who hadfound her when her veins began running with fire. They hadn’t judged her, even though she was unnatural. They had taken her in and offered her help, a cure, despite what she’d done.

Lace snapped back to reality. She had zoned out for a second, entranced by the trailer to a new videogame. She didn’t normally pay attention to games because she couldn’t usually afford them but a character in this one had caught her eye, a harpy that had been a slave and now used the chains of captivity as a weapon.

Shaking her head she readjusted the grip on her groceries and turned away from the tv in the store window to continue on her way only to be stopped again by a glint of light from a street stall. She saw that the light belonged to a set of silver spoons and as she moved closer her fingers began to itch. Lace hadn’t always been a thief but with two brothers to look after she’d done what she had to, becoming the Magpie so they could survive. Lace and her brothers, Cam and Luca were triplets and the three of them had run away from their home in Italy after the incident. After she had killed a girl. It had been an accident but that didn’t change what she’d done. It had been Cam who’d got them out of the country, he had taken action while Lace was still in shock. Just for a moment she flashed back, once more she saw that flash of red against white. It was an image that never left her.

The spoons were now twitching in time to her fingers along with every other metallic object on the table. Lace hurried away. She couldn’t afford to lose control, especially not in public. She was what the media called an anomaly, if people found out that she could move metal with her mind then they would come after her. There had been reports on the news or anomaly terrorists though there was never any proof that anomalies were behind the attacks.

Lace knew that people were just scared of anomalies because they were different. That was why everything bad that happened got blamed on the “anomaly threat.” It didn’t matter how nice you were or if you’d never hurt someone in your life, if you were an anomaly, you were to be feared and hated. Lace wasn’t ashamed of being an anomaly, she wasn’t proud of some of the things she’d done with her ability, especially when she lost control but she was born what she was and there was no way for her to change it. She hid only because she just wanted to live her life without being harassed for existing. She hoped that one day she’d be able to be open about what she was though.

Lace sighed with relief as she walked through door to the apartment she shared with Cam and Luca. The apartment was near the railroad tracks and wasn’t much, especially compared to the fancy estate their parents owned in Italy but it felt more like a home than the place in Italy ever had. They had decided to rent this apartment because the rumblings from the trains helped to hide the rattling metal that were side effects of Lace’s ability.

Luca was in the kitchen making breakfast. He was dressed in track pants and a muscleback tee. Lace guessed that he’d just come back from his morning run. Luca was involved with a lot of sports at school but he had a tendency to be a bit lazy about practicing. Cam sat in a corner next to his plants reading a gardening catalogue, deciding which pack of seeds to get next. That was one thing that Lace missed about Italy, at least there they’d had enough room for Cam to have his own garden but now he had to make do with what he could keep in flower pots.

           Both Luca and cam looked up as she came in, almost as if they could sense she was upset.

           “It happened again, didn’t it?” asked Cam. As if it was answering him, the metal light fixture above his head began to swing.

           “It wasn’t so bad,” said Lace, setting down the groceries on the bench, “It was just a small flashback and a little bit of trembling cutlery, I don’t think anybody noticed.”

           “Isn’t that called post-traumatic stress disorder or something?” asked Luca, “I mean, you’ve been having these flashbacks for a few years now, maybe you should talk to someone.”

           “I’m fine,” Lace snapped as the cutlery drawer sprang open, “Really, there’s nothing to worry about, besides, we can’t afford to waste money on a counsellor.”

           Cam and Luca looked at each other, Lace knew this meant that they weren’t prepared to let this go and were probably planning out a way to get some help for her.

           “Don’t even think about it,” she warned, “I’m fine, let’s just get ready for school.”

           “If you decide you need help then please let us know,” said Cam before walking away.

Just thought I’d upload a few chapters of my story to see what people thought of it. I need to rewrite some stuff and I’m terrible at dialogue but hopefully it’s ok.

Anomaly Code - Hindsight 20/20 (Original Mix)

another new original i finished recently. lossless on bandcamp:

http://anomalycode.bandcamp.com/track/hindsight-20-20-original-mix

cover art was done by the wonderful @alcal once again :)