Naturally, if somebody tells you that you're going to be living with three guys, you'd find this a little weird, if not awkward. Especially if they are supposedly 'adopting' you and are allegedly best friends or roommates or whatever else they say. While the world isn't allowed to discriminate, the people in it are allowed to find things a little weird, aren't they? I mean, come on! These were three grown guys, with pretty much nothing in common, living under the same roof. If that's not odd, then I don't know what is.
I've gotten used to it all, I guess. I mean, it's been a year since they 'formally adopted' me or whatever. They're pretty much friends like they claim to be, except that I've always had the feeling that there's more to them than they say. Not in the way I was talking about earlier, but something different. Julian always seemed to me like he was the one in charge, even though he's the youngest. But let me tell you something, one look in those blazing blue eyes, and he's got you. That guy's intimidating.
Another odd thing about them. If you look at these guys, they all look sort of normal. By sort of, I mean there's something not right with their hair. Maybe they dyed it when they were kids, maybe not. Julian's hair is so dark it's nearly jet black, except for a pale white streak. I've never seen that streak get a single speck of dirt on it, at all, and I definitely do not understand what initiative he might've had to get it in the first place. Same with Damion. His color is a bright yellow, sort of the bright that makes you want to poke your eyes out. But Chris's hair is the weirdest of all. I mean, come on! He's got dirty blonde hair with yellow and green tips.
If those guys dyed their hair when they were teenagers or whatever, I think they're crazy. White? Yellow? Green? Come on... those practically have the words "FEMININE" written all over them!
Then again, you could probably label me "FREAK" too. My parents used to tell me that I asked to dye my hair when I was a little kid. I don't remember that, but maybe I did, because right in the middle of my hair is a shining blue streak. I guess it looks cool, because nobody has actually walked up to me yet and said "Diego, get a life."
Yeah. I know what you're thinking. What kind of name is Diego? I asked the same question for years. My parents always told me that they loved the name, and that I should respect it, because some of my background is Spanish anyway. That was before they died last year in a car crash. Now I'd give anything to hear them lecture me on "respecting my name and background" again.
It's been nearly a year since they died. A year ago, I was almost fifteen. Today's my sixteenth birthday. I know my parents should be here - I wish they could be. It's my sixteenth. That's only a year or two before I would really be an adult and could move away. Sixteen means that hey, I'm not some little kid anymore. It's supposed to be a wake-up call.
But it's a wake-up call they'll never get.
It's not bad, really, living with these guys. But honestly, you try explaining to your friends why there's three young guys living in your house with you. They'll think you're nuts. I know mine do, and they already think I'm crazy because of the blue in my hair that I don't know how to explain. Maybe some day someone will actually enlighten me on how to explain these things. My sixteenth birthday, amongst other things, is one of those that I don't think I could ever explain.
Now, you can probably imagine my surprise when I awoke on my birthday. I rolled over in my bed to look at my alarm clock, only to see that it was, in fact, five in the morning. I don't make a habit of waking up that early unless I absolutely have to. At first, I was simply disoriented, but as the tiredness ebbed away, I realized that there were voices outside my door. Hushed, but nevertheless loud enough to have woken me up.
"It's his sixteenth, Julian," one of the voices said, and I looked up. Even without seeing who was speaking, I recognized Chris's voice. "We can't wait any longer."
"We have to be sure," Julian told him in reply. I was as confused as ever, but I didn't move from my bed. They'd be likely to stop talking if they realized I was awake and listening in. Since I'd moved in with them, they'd always maintained one rule above all else: I was not to be eavesdropping.
Of course, I did it anyway.
"What is there to be sure of? We already know that he's it. We already know what he's capable of. Julian, all we have to do is unlock it!" It. What was Damion talking about? In all my time at this house - despite hearing some of the oddest things before - I'd never actually heard them referring to me in some of their strange conversations. I had no doubt that they were talking about me anyway... unless, of course, it was somebody else's sixteenth birthday, but I didn't see any other minors around. It was just me and the cat we didn't have.
"You know... what I've seen." I had never heard Julian's voice drop so low like it did now, and honestly, it was a little weird. He didn't sound excited or cheerful in the least. In fact, he sounded a little... afraid.
What was there for him to be afraid of?
"Julian, we can't wait forever. If we don't act now, someone else will. Someone else will find him, and he'll be gone forever. We can't risk that."
"We may have to, Damion. It's a risk we may have to take."
"But we've waited years for this! Don't tell me that you haven't been tracking the boy since you were his age - perhaps younger, even. Don't tell me that you haven't been working towards this for most of your life!"
"Do you doubt me?" This was a tone I didn't know before. I'd heard Julian telling the others what to do - ordering them, I guess - but this was threatening. This was cold. It was obvious that he knew more than he was outright stating, and I didn't like the sound of things. Especially since they kept mentioning 'the boy' - me - and talking about things that made no sense.
Why would grown men be following me? I'm not exactly special.
"No, Julian. You know we don't doubt you. You've proven your abilities before. But... the boy. We haven't taken on anyone in years!"
"Need I remind you, Damion, that you were the last one we happened to pick up? You don't have experience... after all, you've not fully developed either. I've dealt with this for years, as has Chris. You should know by now to trust me."
"It's not a matter of trust, Julian."
I almost moved from my bed right then, because I could have sworn that I'd never heard Chris speak like that. He'd always been a rather laid back guy, at least around me. And he'd always taken what Julian had said with a smile and a nod. He didn't fight these things. This had to be really important for him to get all serious. By the sounds of what they were saying, it had to be.
I just wished I could have understood, because I was still thoroughly confused. Put in the same position, I'm sure any kid my age would have been the same way. Lucky for me though, the guys still hadn't noticed that I was awake.
Of course, living with them, I knew that they would notice soon. Julian always had a knack for knowing what I was up to. Chris was never far behind, but Damion was sometimes a little clueless. I'd have to pretend pretty well for them not to notice eventually. That, and they'd have to be completely immersed in what they were saying and ignoring their surroundings.
Still, I leaned forward intently to hear the next words. I could nearly see the fire in Julian's eyes, and I could practically feel the power of his words. "Then what is it a matter of? This isn't about childhood games. This isn't about training, and this isn't about chasing dreams. This could mean life or death."
"You're taking this too far. The boy will need to be exposed before he does something drastic."
"You know what I've seen!" Those words again. Obviously, Julian seemed to think that the others would listen to him just by saying that. What had he seen anyway? The sky? I mean, come on. There wasn't much interesting for him to 'see' around here... at least nothing that could be as groundbreaking as Julian was making it out to be.
"Julian... by leaving him, we'll be making a mistake. We can't leave him like this for long, or we'll lose him." I couldn't be sure who said that. Without thinking, I shifted to try and get a look at the speaker, but I instantly knew that I'd made an error. The springs on my bed screeched as I moved. I could hear as everybody stopped their discussion all at once and turned to look at my room, at me. Cautiously, Julian opened the door, a smile on his face that I easily recognized as fake.
He'd never been particularly good at lying to me, of all things.
I put on a smile for him too, though I could guess that my face still gave away a little bit of my confusion, because his smile faltered ever-so-slightly. Damion and Chris approached the doorway more slowly than Julian had, stopping behind him. They had half-smiles on their faces. Anyone could read their uneasiness, even without knowing the pair. Chris could normally work up a smile for anything. This had to be pretty important for them to be so worried.
What, were they afraid that I'd heard their strange conversation? If they were, then they shouldn't be worried. I mean, it made no sense to me, even if it did to them.
"Good morning," I greeted brightly, faking a yawn. I stretched carefully, my eyes constantly trained on the guys standing in front of me. If they wanted to play charades, fine, I'd play.
Nobody moved for a few moments, not even returning my greeting. I could see Julian's jaw muscles twitching, as if he had something important to say but could not quite get the right words. It took a lot of my willpower not to tell him just to spit it out, but somehow I managed not to. I'd wait them out. If they wanted to play charades and the waiting game, they'd picked the wrong opponent. I'd never really liked to lose.
Then again, I'd never been great with the whole "silence game" or whatever teachers called it now. You know, the "game" from Kindergarten that the teacher used only when she wanted you to shut up? Ha, I hated that game. And I still do, I guess, because I was having trouble keeping myself from bombarding them with questions or yelling at them.
Finally, Chris started to laugh and I actually grinned at him. He was always one to burst out laughing in the middle of a silent room, for no obvious reason at all. I guessed that he was laughing at the awkward silence between four guys who'd known each other for a year, but you could never be sure with him. Still grinning, I switched my gaze from him to Damion, who seemed to be losing the struggle not to smile. Only Julian actually stared at me without any hint of cheeriness or laughter on his face - I was used to his seriousness, but he somehow seemed more serious than ever, standing tall despite the other people in the room.
I don't think I'll ever understand him. Then again, the other guys seem to, so, maybe I will... eventually.
Chris sobered slowly, though a big grin was still spread across my face. I couldn't help but keep my smile. He was still having trouble keeping from laughing when he spoke to me, his tone matching mine with near-perfection, though he seemed honestly cheerful. "Happy birthday, kid! You're sixteen. What are you gonna do now?"
I actually yawned this time, unsure of exactly how to reply. What did I want to do? I couldn't get the conversation I'd overheard out of my head long enough to actually think of somewhere to go, or something to do. After a while, I decided to settle on the truth... sort of. "I... don't know, Chris."
This time, Damion jumped into the conversation, though I couldn't help being aware that Julian was still silent. "It's your sixteenth, Diego! You've gotta have some idea. I mean, on my sixteenth-"
"Uh, Damion, don't give him the details," Chris cut him off, a warning edge to his voice. Apparently they thought I was too young to know or something. Fine, I'd deal with that if I had to.
Their voices were sort of a blur for a moment after that, as I tried to block them out of my mind. Julian was particularly interesting right now, his eyes switching back and forth between me and the others rapidly, his jaw still twitching. I guessed that their talking of birthdays was bringing up memories for him, but of what I couldn't be sure. After all, I knew very little about these guys' lives before I met them.
That was where mind reading would have been useful. I've never heard of anybody who could do that though, except in movies, so it would be pretty hard to get ahold of some nonexistent mindreader anyway. I couldn't even try to guess much of Julian's thoughts - he'd always had some strange way of keeping me out of his past. He'd never shown pictures or told stories like the other guys did, he only smiled and nodded along with me while the others spoke. Maybe it was his way of creating a sanctuary in his own head, maybe not. Either way, I could never entirely be sure what he was going to do next.
If I had been able to know what he'd be doing next, then maybe I wouldn't have jumped so high as I did when he finally moved.
He only moved a step forward, but it was enough to startle me out of my thoughts. The other guys kept chattering in the background, occasionally asking me questions whose answer I don't think they cared about. Damion and Chris were obviously used to this, because they didn't move - only Damion looked up at the younger guy, his smile fading slightly.
"Yeah, I dare you to ask Julian that," I heard one of the guys say. If they were talking about bugging Julian, they were definitely swimming in dangerous waters. He wasn't exactly the hair-trigger temper type, but he did get irritable... and an irritable Julian was never good.
"Ask Julian what? Come on guys. Don't mess-" Now that he'd actually started to speak, Julian seemed okay. That is, until he stopped mid-sentence. His eyes seemed strangely glassy for a few seconds, and he simply stood, every part of him frozen, every limb locked in place. I stayed on my bed, honestly afraid of whatever was happening to him. Was he having a heart attack? I'd never seen a heart attack!
Both of the guys stopped everything immediately, and turned to watch him. Despite how weird he looked, they didn't seem worried - at least not outwardly. They were curious, though, just like me.
Of course, they liked to leave me in the dark, so I wasn't entirely sure what was happening.
And just like that, he was back. Like, he seemed to realize where he was all of a sudden. But now his eyes were wide with panic, and I could almost feel his rapid heartbeat.
"We have to get out of here. Now."
***
Author's note:
Any and all criticism is loved on this. I realize the voice has changed drastically from the prologue to chapter 1, but the main character is actually Diego. Julian's just our prologue narrator, and I love him anyway, so the more of him, the better.
It does get more actiony and interesting from here (if you don't believe me, I am actually writing part of a character's death scene right now. :'O!) Thanks!
