Chp. 14 "Who Am I?"

I was a Catalyst; I was the person who was supposed to save the world? I was only 18 years old? Why did it have to be me? Was it me because of my healing powers? Was it because I could absorb any power I came into contact with? Was it because I was expected to help bring down the F.P.S and stop them from trying to make these Super Soldiers?

How could I do this on my own?

Max touched my shoulder, “Hey… know you’re not alone in this Andy. I’m going to be right next to you, fighting against them the entire time.”

I smiled, feeling as if he had read my mind. Max was my best friend; he had been since last year when we had met. He meant a lot to me, and he was like my older, protective brother I never had. I smiled, “Thank you.”

Then Avery squeezed my leg, “Don’t count me out, I’m along for the ride too.”

Max groaned, “You can’t protect yourself, you don’t have any powers!”

She shrugged, “I’m still smart, extremely smart actually… and I bet you guys didn’t know that I’m good with computers and tracking things down, huh?”

Max looked at me, “Are you serious?”

My eyes snapped to Avery, knowing she could either be a secret weapon or the reason of our destruction. She couldn’t protect herself, but then again she could help protect us by keeping us out of the line of fire. I knew she was right about one thing, she was extremely smart, and that could come into handy with the computers and tracking certain things down.

And Max’s brother was also good at things like that, that’s why he was graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Criminal Forensics. He had good connections too, and he could help us out even more than Avery could.

And I suddenly realized there might be a team forming here.

Max sighed, “What are you conjuring up in your head?”

I looked at him and Avery, knowing this could be our only way to find these people, but we would have to wait until graduation. So I explained everything, about what I was thinking about and how Avery and Gage could help Max and I find these agencies. For now it was just an idea, but I knew I had hit a soft spot in Max when I mentioned the BD3 disease and finding a cure.

He knew we needed to do this, but we still had a little bit of school to finish.

I sighed, “We need to head out, it’s getting dark.”

I started towards Max’s house first to drop him off because I needed to head back to school to drop Avery off at her car. The entire time we had all chatted about this idea I had formed in my head, and now they were all feeding off of it. I knew we could do this, but the fact that Blaine had mysteriously disappeared didn’t help us.

I needed to know where to start looking.

Another thing that was bothering me was my parents, and how I felt as if they were lying to me about who I really was. It hurt deep inside my heart knowing that it was possible they weren’t even my real parents, and the fact that they hadn’t told me killed me.

Why would they lie for so long?

There was no way my parents could hide powers from me either, if they did have them. We were a family, we ate around the dinner table and we did everything together. A possible slip and an accidental revelation should’ve happened by now.

So either way they were still lying to me about something, and I wanted the truth.

Soon we had arrived at Max’s and he grabbed his booksack, “We can get together tomorrow and discuss everything.”

Avery smiled big up at Max, “Can I come?”

Max looked at me and then back at Avery, still seeming completely unsure about her. I thought it was kind of funny but he sighed, “I guess,” then he disappeared into his house.

Avery jumped into the passenger seat next to me and sighed, “Today was exciting!”

I laughed at her eagerness, driving my car back out onto the main road, “You took everything extremely well today. I was impressed.”

She blushed as she turned towards me, “I impressed you?”

I smiled, was she flirting with me? After everything that had happened today she was still acting normal towards me.

This girl was a trip, but in a good way.

And I liked her.

“This disease is pretty serious Andy… did you know it was that serious?”

I shook my head, feeling the atmosphere in the car become serious all of a sudden. I sighed, “I really didn’t, I thought it was just this sort of flu that people couldn’t hold out for but it’s a lot more than a flu. This disease… it’s becoming a pandemic, its done spread from Canada and made its way across the border.”

“It’s frightening.”

I heard the desperation in her voice, she knew she could die from this but I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t want to have to watch everyone die while I would live and be all alone. I couldn’t watch the people I loved suffer from this disease I could possibly stop.

And I knew I had to try.

Blaine had come in contact with me for a reason, whether he knew it or not, and now it was my turn to make a difference.

I just didn’t know exactly where to start.

I pulled up into the dim parking lot, seeing Avery’s car sitting just a couple of feet away from mine. She opened her door and exited the vehicle, allowing me to follow behind her to her car. She turned around suddenly like she always did and we ended up face to face, close enough for a quick kiss.

She sighed, “Can I ask you something?”

I felt my heart sped up in my chest, feeling as if she was about to ask me something I had been waiting to talk about for a while. I nodded, “Yea?”

“I might be wrong… but I feel like we end up in this position too often for it not to mean something.”

I smiled, knowing already she was talking about the intimacy we shared, “You’re right, I’ve been thinking the exact same thing.”

She smiled, blushing and looking down at the ground, “So… why haven’t we kissed yet?”

My smile grew immediately from cheek to cheek as I stared down at her, “I don’t know Avery.” I leaned closer, trapping her between both of my arms and feeling the tip of her nose on mine, “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Her breathing hitched in her throat as her eyes looked to my lips, nodding slowly, “I really do…”

I leaned in slower and let our lips meet; finally releasing all the tension we had between us. It felt amazing kissing her sweet lips, and my heart was skipping beats because it was going so fast. One of my hands automatically cupped her cheek, feeling her soft, velvety skin against mine was perfect. I smiled, knowing something amazing could grow between us now, and hopefully it would.

I pulled away, looking right into her captivating eyes as she caught her breath, “That was… nice.”

I smiled, feeling as if I was on cloud nine as I nodded, “I swear I’ve never felt something this strong in my life Avery…”

She nodded, agreeing to my statement, “Me too Andy.”

I pulled her into a quick hug then, feeling her tiny arms wrap around my torso as I whispered in her ear, “See you tomorrow?”

She pulled back, smiling like there was nothing better than this moment, “Yes, tomorrow.”

I sat in my car then, watching her drive out of the parking lot and leaving me alone. I sighed, knowing it was onto business, knowing I would have to confront my parents tonight.

But first I would hurry home to search through the photo albums, just to make sure.

It didn’t take me long to get there because I had sped through town, not catching any red lights. I was nervous about this whole snooping operation I was about to perform because it meant I might find out some stuff I didn’t want to know.

But I needed to, and I was ready for the truth.

I could do things most people couldn’t do, and that was something that was a big deal to me. I had to find out who I really was before I tried to attempt and save the world.

And this was the place to start.

Finally after searching through our cabinets I found the first photo album, immediately flipping to the front. My parents liked pictures but really never took any, so finding my answer shouldn’t be too complicated.

And the more I looked the sooner I realized they had absolutely no pictures of me in the hospital. Zero, nada, none… as if I hadn’t even been born.

But there were pictures of my first birthday, and everything else after that…

I sat on the ground, knowing that my whole fear of being adopted might just be true and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I shoved the photo album back into the cabinet in attempt to shove the ugly truth back to where it came from. I couldn’t believe they didn’t have one picture of me in the hospital… not one, and if they claim they just, “didn’t take any,” then they’re lying.

How could my parents do this to me?

Then I heard the front door open and the familiar jangle of my mom’s keys, knowing she was home. She immediately saw me sitting at the cabinet and questioned, “Andy, sweetie why are you sitting on the ground?”

I didn’t know how to answer her, I just stared at her, and then all of a sudden she knew why I was sitting here looking at her like this. She knew that I had started questioning if she was really my mother or just someone that claimed and lied about it.

She set down her stuff on the table carefully, walking slowly over to me and holding out her hand, “Come, we’ll started cooking dinner and talk once dad gets home.”

She was genuine, as if nothing was actually going on, so I followed her to the kitchen and started helping her with dinner. I was silent, she was too, and I knew this talk was either going to break me… or completely break me.

The feeling of being lied to sucks, but when it’s your own parents… well, it’s almost too much to bear. I watched the clock intently, knowing dad should be getting home any minute now, and then we would talk.

Then dad walked in, seeming oblivious to everything that was about to go down in just a couple of minutes. He walked over to me, “Well, I’m happy to be home.”

Mom looked at him and sighed, “Ryan, Andy has something she wants to ask us.”

The seriousness in her face let him know that it was a real situation, and that I wanted to real answers. I folded my hands on the table before speaking, “So, am I adopted?”

It was blunt and to the point but there was no use trying to sugar coat something like this. I mean come on, it was right in my face the entire time and I didn’t realize until a year ago when I got powers from Max. My parents didn’t know about them but hell, if they were coming clean tonight then so am I.

My mom and dad sat across the table from me, “Andy look… it’s a lot more complicated than you realize…”

I laughed, “Look, my life just got a lot more complicated in the last week so I figured you guys could actually tell the truth.”

My dad leaned forward, looking right into my eyes, “What do you mean your life has gotten a lot more complicated?”

They wanted to know what I was talking about but they hadn’t come clean about who I really was. I knew I should start explaining to them everything that I had gotten myself into but it was harder than it looked. Their eyes were pleading me to come clean and let them know what was going on…

So I did.

I told them everything, from the day I met Max all the way to the day I met Blaine, and how I survived a very brutal wound to my arm. I told them about everything Blaine told me and how there was a deadly disease making its way down here. I even showed them my powers, one at a time of course, and they were awe struck.

Then my dad said something I never would’ve expected, “Andy, we knew you were going to have powers.”

I felt my heart drop in my chest, wondering why he was saying that to me, “W-What?”

He laid his hands flat on the table, trying hard not to lose me, “Look, yes, we adopted you. Yes you are not our biological daughter, but we took you in for a good reason. Your real parents… they’re like you, they have powers… but they wanted you safe. Safe from the F.P.S., safe from being kidnapped and possibly experimented on. They’re actually really good friends of ours, which is why when they asked us to adopt you and keep you safe we complied without hesitation.”

I felt like my world had collapsed from under me, feeling like a ton of brick were laying on my chest. I shook my head, “You know my real parents?”

He nodded, “I know it sounds harsh honey but… it was for a good reason.”

“I want to meet them.”

I hadn’t realized I had said that until I saw my parent’s faces change from worried to relieved, knowing that I was accepting this information quite well. My dad pulled out an old phone number book and tore out a page, handing it to me, “That’s their number for whenever you’re ready.”

I stared down at the number, trying to make myself brave enough to call them right now but I couldn’t. I couldn’t call them now. I wasn’t ready, was I? I took the little slip of paper in my hand and held it lightly, reading the names out loud.

“Fred and Teal Mason.”

So my real name was Andrea Mason, not Andrea Brock.