'You are what you love, not who loves you'- Fall Out Boy

When it first started, I was too young to understand what was going on.

Too young to understand why my teachers looked at me with emotions ranging from disgust, pity and terror, or treated me differently from the other students, speaking to me in a slow voice while announciating each word, as if I couldn't understand them otherwise. And after leaving the classroom of my psychic teacher on parents evening, I couldn't understand why both of my parents faces were streaked with tears.

I still don't understand why they've only criticised me since.

I didn't know why my parents started paying tutors to come over to 'focus my mind' or why most of those tutors quit after the first week with me. Why my mum would burst into tears when they did, or why my dad would scream at me for not trying hard enough.

I sat there, innocently clueless even when the name calling started, with insults ranging 'Freak!' To 'Weirdo' my primary school 'friends' began to isolate me, and then began to bully me too. I didn't understand, thinking I must have done something wrong to them, I desperately tried to apologise, only for them to laugh at my face.

Looking back, I realise that all of these signs should have made it obvious, but back then, I was oblivious to how cruel people could be. I only began to understand when my psychic teacher turned up and told me I wouldn't be taking lessons in her class anymore, there was no need to as I wouldn't be able to pass the exam. She sat down and talked to me, telling me that while everyone else starts developing their abilities when they're between one and four, at five, I'd not even shown a hint of power.

In a world full of amazing psychics, where literally everyone had a power, I sat alone. Without any powers and with everyone too busy bullying or criticising me to notice that my once bright, happy and bubbly self was fading. And so, I became a shell of my former self.

Treated like a freak, ridiculed, feared and outcasted, I built imaginary walls in my head, which would make me immune to their words of disgust and hatred. And over the months and years, the walls got thicker due to the increasingly sharp words from the bullies, and the complete lack of comfort from my parents when I most needed them. Even on the days when I returned home from school sobbing, they'd just feign ignorance and pretend they never saw, as to them, it seemed I wasn't worth worrying about, after all, I was, and am, a disgrace to their pristine family name.

All hope of my parents actually caring about me diminished when they had my little brother, Caleb Somerville. Doted on and adored by every person he met, Caleb ended up developing his teleportation power as soon as he turned one. Which drove both my parents into a delightful panic when they found him, after several hours of him being missing, laying on the roof after teleporting, sound asleep.

It was almost like from then on, instead of them acknowledging me slightly, they thought it would just be easier to ignore their freak of a daughter all together. No longer did I get the occasional nod when they saw me. No longer did they make dinner for me. They didn't even remember my birthday, and if they did, they chose not to celebrate their abominations birth, or give her any Christmas presents. I don't know how I managed to cope, I was eight years old.

I was cast into the shadows, ignored, mistreated, bullied and did the only thing I thought I could. I threw myself into schoolwork, constantly reading, constantly revising, always getting the best grades in my classes, hoping that one day, they'd have to notice, they'd have to forgive me for being different, even though I'd done nothing wrong. But, yet again, they refused to acknowledge it, or anything else that had anything at all to do with me.

My hope yet again was crushed when my brother turned out to be just like them, except, he didn't ignore me, he penalised me every chance he could get, much to the delight of my 'supportive' parents. And from then on, I tried to learn not to hope or dream anymore, as I knew from experience that it hurts more than it's worth when your hopes are crushed again and again as if they're nothing.

I knew I'd never fit in, I was literally powerless in a word full of people with psychic abilities. The only powerless person known on my planet.

And so, as I'm powerless, the reason that I'm ignored, bullied and vilified is because...

I'm only human.

I would never be more than that, but in the eyes of others, I could always be less.

And yes, this was my opinion, until, one fateful day, I met Dante Castello who's literally changed everything.

*****

Hiya guys! I know this is short (970 words isn't too bad though in my opinion), but it's a prologue, and it basically summed up her whole life, so.... I couldn't really add more than that.

Anyway! Thank you for taking the time to read this book! I promise updates will be longer in the future (hopefully ;)) and also, the updates will hopefully have a happier side to them (Haven't really planned that far). Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this book so far and it's been an absolute pleasure writing for you! So, without further ado, I'll go plot and start writing the next chapter! Because I have way too much spare time on my hands. (P.S Lily's pic is at the top).

Ciao darlings.