Jayce Connors grew up like any normal suburban kid. That was the case until his thirteenth birthday. When he first started experiencing the strangeness, it was random occurrences of Jayce going to sleep in his bed and waking up by the lake on the other end of town. A year later, Jayce figured out how he was getting there,and it sure wasn't sleepwalking. Jayce discovered he was sleep teleporting, and with a little trial and error, he managed to control it therefore preventing him from doing it in his sleep. By the time he turned eighteen, his strength increased enormously. Life still ended up being pretty normal... until now.
Two years later...
Eion Doyle liked to pretend he was an average man with an average life, but that couldn't be further from the truth. His early life played out like a Lifetime movie, and if it weren't for his drunkard father, maybe nothing would have happened. That nothing, meaning he couldn't do the things he could.
It had started out like any other day. He was in high school, a sophomore, and he had just gotten home. His father was in his chair, already drunk off his arse. Eion must have done something his father hadn't liked, because within seconds he was across the room, arm raised and ready to strike. He had only gotten one hit in before Eion snapped, though, and the next thing he knew, his pa was flying across the room, tipping over his booze and chair. Eion hadn't moved a muscle.
If only his father wasn't a drunk, if only his mother gave a damn, none of that would have happened, and he wouldn't be able to do the things he could do. He wouldn't have realized his potential. And if he didn't know, he wouldn't be be so bored with the daily life. He'd be content with his 9-5 office job. But he did know, and sometimes he'd find himself moving things around on his coworkers. Looking at their bewildered faces when they could have sworn that they'd put their coffee there, not there. But it was all so very boring.
Sometimes he wished that something interesting would finally happen to him. Something that would let him free himself. Let him feel that satisfying snap of the rubber band that he could feel constricting, restricting, his mind.
The music was loud and the colorful lights were flashing and whirling. Jayce was out of high school, but that didn't really stop him from going to house parties. All his friends never really grew out of that phase and neither did he. "Band-aid" by Rx Bandits was playing on the sound system as people were moving to the music and smoking cigarettes with red solo cups in hand. His friends he went to high school with were at the party. They were at every party. It was the same large group of people he's associated with since back in middle school. The punks were punching each other and laughing in the corner. All his rudies were skankin in the living room. All the rest were posted sporadically throughout the house drinking and smoking... the usual.
Jayce smoked cigarettes and he drank at parties, but he didn't touch any of the other stuff that his friends touched. It's not because he didn't want to. He enjoyed the way pot made him feel, but his abilities always wonked out whenever he did do it. Jayce was relieved that the couple of times he did try it, he was alone. That definitely would have made for an interesting explanation to his friends.
A sigh escaped his mouth as he was trying to overcome his dizziness from the eight shots of Johnny Walker Green Label he put down when he got there. It probably didn't help that he had a few four packs of pints of PBR(one can of which was in his hand half empty) in his band patch-covered, olive drab green backpack. He didn't always drink, but when he went to parties, he tried to pickle his liver.
Just like clockwork, Jayce saw here. Tina Rogers. She was a punk rock angel to him. They were in an oi punk band together in their junior and senior years called Wood Gone Rotten. She was the bass player and he played guitar and did vocals. They went their separate ways musically. She stayed with the oi and he grew more fond of ska. Jayce had a huge thing for Tina, but he never told her. She spotted Jayce and called out to him, "Hey, a*****e! Come here!"Jayce shook his head and laughed as he walked over to her.
"What's up?"
"Did you see what happened to Gary!?", Tina asked changing her tone to a serious, concerned one.
"No. What happened?"
"His stupid ass dealer came in here, grabbed him by the hair and drug his ass out!"
Gary was the drummer to their band from back in the day. Jayce knew it wasn't good and he assumed it had something to do with Gary's addiction problem. During their senior year, Gary was at a local gig one day and after their set, they dispersed for refreshments and a cigarette. Jayce went into the bathroom and found Gary with a f**king needle in his arm with his studded belt as a tourniquet.
Jayce couldn't take this piece of shit dealer anymore. He's had enough.
"Which way did they go?"
His whole demeanor changed from playful, to concerned and now to being pissed.
"I saw him go to the alley between the comic shop and that cafe."
Without another word, Jayce walked out the door, checked to see if anyone was looking and he poofed to the alley. Within an instant, he was standing behind the dealer. Gary was on the ground in front of him with a busted lip and his left eye swelling up.
"Where's my money, you little bitch?!", The dealer yelled through gritted teeth.
"I don't have it, man. I-I... I promise I'll get it to you by the morning. Just... please... don't, man.", Gary forced through tears only to notice Jayce standing behind the dealer. Jayce lightly tapped on the dealer's shoulder. The dealer spun around red faced and pissed.
"What the hell do you want, you f**kin loser?"
Jayce didn't say a damn word to the dealer, but he did slam the dealer against the wall and told Gary to get back to the party. When Gary was out of sight, Jayce turned his attention back to the dealer.
"Damn! You're a strong little pin cushion."
Jayce had two pet peeves. One, don't mess with his friends. Two, don't talk shit about his body art whether it be his tattoos, piercings or his dark blue hair. The dealer just stepped over the line with Jayce twice in one go.
He didn't say a word, but thought real hard about an Egyptian pyramid he remembered from a ninth grade textbook. A little concentration and... poof. The two were in the desert. The dealer looked distraught. Jayce tossed him aside and transported back to the alley where he proceeded to walk back to the party. Next order of business was another "fun filled" talk with Gary and Tina. This would be an issue his powers wouldn't be able to solve.
Eion finished up his paperwork and leaned back in his chair. He was stuck doing secretary work in an effort to put himself through college. It was the price of slacking off while still in high school. Sighing, he fiddled with his pencil, floating it about an inch off his hand and spinning it as fast as he could. "Boring," he muttered under his breath before tossing it back into his pencil holder. He looked at the clock, noticing he was supposed to leave an hour ago, but not finding it in himself to go back to his shoddy one bedroom apartment. Maybe he'd stop by the diner and bug Sue until she kicked him out, he thought, before rising from his office chair.
Grabbing his coat, he made his way out of the tiny office building, shrugging into his jacket to ward against the cold. He amused himself with the little puffs of steam his breath made as he started the walk towards the diner. It stayed open until midnight, boasting hot coffee and some of the best damn pecan pie he'd ever tasted. Smiling to himself, he picked up the pace, mentally calculating how much money he had left. He really wanted that pie.
The tiny bell rang as he walked into the diner, alerting Sue to his presence. "I'll be with you in a minute, hun, just let me put the coffee on and I'll get you your pie," Sue said, busying herself with the coffee maker.
"You know me so well, Sue," Eion smiled warmly at her, taking his usual seat at the counter.
"You just get yourself comfortable, the coffee will be done in just a minute," she said, setting down a plate with a slice of pie on it. "You just let me know if you want anything else, hun. You're skinny enough as it is. You need some meat on your bones."
Eion chuckled, tucking into his pie, "Thanks, Sue, you're the best."
The bell to the diner rang, signalling the occupants of the diner to new arrivals. The two men walked up to the register, their hands in pockets.
"What can I get you boys?" Sue asked, walking over to the register.
"How about all your money?" One of the men growled out, pulling his hands out of his pockets, revealing his gun. He pointed it at her while the other took out a bag, handing it to Sue. "You, guy!" he yelled at Eion, the other robber pulling out a gun as well. "Down on the ground, now! And keep your hands where I can see them! You try anything, and you'll get a bullet for your efforts, understand?" the first gunman growled out.
Eion's heart was pounding in his chest, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He thought frantically, trying to come up with a plan. None of them sounded good to him, though. He couldn't outrun a bullet, and the other gun was pointing at Sue. 'Is this exciting enough for you?' a small part of his brain snidely commented. 'Exciting enough,' he muttered to himself. Taking a deep breath, he made his decision. Slowly he raised his hands, looking the first gunman in the eyes. Steeling himself, he pushed and the rubber band snapped.
The sound of a gunshot rang through the night.
The party was over, Tina walked Gary home. Jayce had talked to Gary about the dealer and Gary's addiction among other things.
"You need to cut that shit out, man. If you don't OD, then a dealer's going to off you. Wise up and get some help.", Jayce snarled. He was angry that he had to reveal his secret to yet another lowlife on his friend's behalf. Jayce wasn't the only one perturbed. Tina was pretty pissed at Jayce for being an "insensitive a*****e", so that left Jayce to walk home by himself.
Jayce eventually made it to an alleyway where he teleported on top of a building.
"Shit, man. People suck. You save a life and get mad because of personal reasons and you get shit on... whatever.", Jayce mumbled to himself as he was teleporting from roof to roof on the way to his parents' house. Being on the rooftops were always a great alternative of travel when he wanted to be left alone for a while.
BANG! A gunshot fired a couple of blocks down, and Jayce teleported toward the sound from building to building. He ended up on the roof of a building across the street from a diner. Jayce couldn't get a good view, so he teleported in the dark alley next to the building he was on.
"Looks like I'll get a clear view over here.", He thought to himself as he tried to see what was going on.
The diner was in shambles. Tables tipped over, the cash register embedded in the wall. The two gunmen were on the ground, lying still. A puddle of red slowly grew under the first gunman's head. Sue stood where she was in shock, her eyes wide.
"Sue? Sue, are you okay?" Eion scrambled towards her.
Slowly she turned towards him, and that's when he saw it. A red blossom on her stark white blouse. "N-no!" he gasped out as she sank to the ground. "Sue! Sue!" he clasped his hands over the bullet hole, applying pressure. "Damn it, Sue!"
"E-Eion, you need to run," she choked out. "I saw, hun. I saw," she grasped at his hands, holding as tightly as she could. "Hun, you need to run." She gasped for air, once, twice, and then stilled. Her hand fell to the side as her eyes stared into nothingness.
"No, no, damn it Sue! Damn it!" Eion screamed out.
Somewhere at the front of the diner, one of the gunmen swore, picking himself up off the ground. He looked over at his friend, noticing the blood. "You son of a bitch! You f**ker, I'll f**king kill you!" He screamed, picking up his gun.
He pointed it at Eion, screaming still and prepared to pull the trigger.
Upon noticing the diner, Jayce realized that all hell broke loose in there. It looked to him that a tornado took hold in there. A man was on the ground bleeding as well as a woman not too far away. Another man was trying to stop her bleeding, but it didn't look so good. Toward the entrance of the diner, there was another dude. He was yelling, but Jayce couldn't make out what he was saying. He sounded pissed anyway. Jayce saw that the man at the front of the diner ended up picking up a gun and pointing it at the man who was trying to save the woman.
"Ah shit! Is it going to stop today?", Jayce said and the next instant appeared next to the gunman.
Jayce, the thug not noticing him yet, ripped the gun from the gunman's hand and tossed it aside. He gave Jayce a deer-in-the-headlights look before Jayce picked him up with one hand, walked over to the trashcan and shoved him in.
"Call 9-1-1!", Jayce said to some to the man who looked the least dumbfounded. The man he saw from the alleyway was still trying to stop the bleeding. Jayce walked over to the man and asked him, "I'm here to help. What the hell happened here? Who made this place all f**ked up?".
"They killed her," Eion sobbed out, "those f**kers just shot her! She didn't do anything, and they shot her!" he screamed it out, the glass in the windows shaking with his rage. "I just wanted to help. I-I thought I could save her. I thought I-" he choked, lifting his hands from Sue's body and pressing them to his face, ignoring the blood that was on them. "I-I need to get out of here. I have to run, th-the police. They saw, I have to leave." Eion panted, fear beginning to overtake him. His mind conjured images of laboratories, of government officials observing him through thick glass, of surgical tools and blood.
Jayce was absolutely shocked at the fact that the windows shook when this dude was going aggro. Did he kill these people minus the one Jayce stuffed in the trashcan? He didn't have time to find out the details. The sounds of sirens were approaching and Jayce knew he needed questions answered.
"I'm not going to hurt you, dude. Be chill.", he said to the distraught man as he placed his hands on the dude's shoulders and thought about some picture of a forest he saw in a picture somewhere. The two were now alone.
"Now... what happened back there, bro? Don't lie. I saw what you did to those windows."
Jayce awaited the man's response.
Eion looked around him in shock. He didn't understand how he came to be in a forest. Looking at the stranger, and then back at the forest, it clicked. This guy was like him. He could do things, like Eion could. He was different, like Eion, and somehow, that made him feel better. He wasn't the only one in the world.
Taking a few deep breathes, calming rapidly, he noticed his hands. Grimacing at them, he knelt down and began to wipe them on the grass. While he was doing so, he spoke. "Two guys came in. Th-they wanted the money. I don't know why they chose the diner, it's not the most popular place. I ate there for that reason," he shook his head. He was getting off track. "A-anyways, they were demanding the money and waving their guns around. They wanted me to get down on the ground, but something inside of me wouldn't let me. I-I pushed. Uh, I'm... I guess telekinetic. I can move things just by thinking about it. And just then, I was thinking of... I was thinking of tossing those f**kers through a wall. But I wasn't fast enough, or I didn't hit them hard enough, or something, and one of them shot before he hit the wall. The.. the bullet hit Sue," Eion stopped, trying to calm himself back down.
Exodus was walking down the street when he heard gunshots from around the corner. Being a stupid teenager, he decided to investigate. He turned invisible and went to go see what the commotion was all about. Looking through the windows, he saw two people bleeding on the ground, one in a trash bin, and a blue haired guy trying to calm down some guy in a coat. He noticed the windows shake a bit and shuffled back a few feet. Then the two people disappeared into thin air.
"What the f**k just happened...?" Exodus said to himself as he ran from the sound of sirens.