The Supers - Prologue

Title: The Supers

Genre: Young adult, supernatural

Rating: T (for some language)

Story Type: Novel - incomplete

Word count: (chapter) 654

Summary:  Some people are just born different.  That's always been the way of the species, but different then, and different now are nowhere near the same.  Now, the different ones are born with special powers, and instead of being ostracized, like those in the past, they are envied, they are the cool kids, the hip parents, the cream of the crop, but most importantly, they are envied.  There are those out there who will do anything to harness this power, and they are looking at the children to get it.  A group of teens must stop their generation from being used and, eventually, destroyed, by those who think they are more worthy to hold such power.

From the Video Diary of Lora St. James

The television static suddenly becomes a light brown face.  Her cheeks are round and full, her cheekbones high, the kind that would be sharp if her face wasn’t so full.  Her dark brown hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail.  The ponytail itself is a curly mass.  Her eyes droop and she stares down at the keyboard before she begins.  Her head rises slowly, then she turns quickly and looks behind her.  The bedroom door is locked.  Her shoulders droop as she turns back to the screen.  She looks directly into the camera, lowers her head to look at the keyboard again, then finally pulls her head up and looks once more into the camera.

“I’ll never tell him this to his face, and he’s promised that he won’t peek into my head if it’s not, like, really life or death necessary, so he won’t know that I said this unless he gets his hands on these files.”

She takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly.  “Connor was right.”  She sighs.  She pulls at her ponytail, loops a thick, curling piece around her index finger, then lets both hands drop back into her lap.

“So, yeah, that was hard to say because I really didn’t want to believe it.  And, because I hate when someone makes me wrong.  Besides, it was just paranoia, right?  Like, who’s mother is really a psycho?  Well, Connor’s mother is.  She’s a power hungry, hateful woman.  Nothing like my mom at all, ‘cause she’s just awesome.  I’m just sayin’.  My mom rules.

“Connor’s mother, though… Dr. Alterman is screwed in the head, and what’s worse is that part of her really believes that she’s doing the right thing.  She thinks that this is the way we have to do things, and it’s not.  We don’t have to be used.  We don’t—“

She stops and turns again, stares at the door.  The voice on the other side of the door is muffled, but she answers, “In a minute, mom!  I swear!”  The muffled voice says something else, then the girl turns back to the camera.

“I don’t know how many more entries I’ll get to do.  If we can make it through this, then I’ll have all sorts of stories to tell and all kinds of time to tell them.  If we don’t, then, this might be my last one.  We’re supposed to meet tonight and then we decide.  We fight, or we run away.  I want to just tell Mom and Dad what’s going on, but the others don’t trust parents.  I keep telling them that Mom and Dad are nothing like Dr. Alterman, but they don’t want to hear it.  I may tell Mom, anyway, especially if tonight’s decision is fight.  We’ll need their help.

“Anyway, Connor was right, and I just needed to say it somewhere without him being around.  He’s not the ‘I told you so’ kind, not to say it, at least, but it’d be all over his face, and I don’t want to see it.  Connor always said our lives were too easy.  There were too many people who loved us.  I kept telling him that this wasn’t a comic book and there wasn’t going to be a registration act.  On that part, I guess I was right, but this is worse than a registration act.  This…  This is stealing.  This could kill us.  And, there are just some people that can’t handle the kinds of powers that we were born with. 

“Connor always said that it’s not possible that everyone loves us, that someone has to hate us.  This is worse than someone hating us, though.  This is a whole bunch of people jealous of us, and jealousy is…  Jealousy is dangerous.”

She reaches forward, her arm stretching past the camera lens.  The camera clicks off and the screen goes black.