• I vaguely remember the night I was saved my Mitchell. He saved me on a cold winter night in the streets of Brooklyn, much like tonight. He then became the figure I knew as a father, and I never asked for anything else.

    At the time I was three years old, and barely knew how to talk. Mitchell asked my name, and all I could remember was Corrissa. A name I remembered well, along with Brandon and Brandi, but they were strangers to me, people I didn’t know well, but knew they were close to me.

    The cold winter breeze brought me back to my first memories. There was no choice in it, they came at random.

    My coat fluttered In the wind and my hair stung my face. The streets were deserted and the street lights were my only light source. I guess there isn’t much activity in the neighborhood at two in the morning. I stared up at the sky wishing I were somewhere else, and in the blink of an eye I was in a cozy little living room with a blazing fire warm and comforting in front of me. The soft glow of the fire lit the room and caste of my father’s young face. He was thirty-two and a single loving man. He had a temper, but that was easily avoidable.

    “Corrissa, darling.” His elegant German accent filled the room. His grin was soft and hansom, and his shaggy black hair made me feel uncomfortable. It seemed as if he were ready to make me go through another test. I wondered if that was why he was being charming…

    “Father,” I said with no expression, but with a nod of my head. His smile got wider.

    “Brighten up, child. I will not harm you.” He’d say that often to me when I was young. But he always said it right before a ‘test’.

    My body tensed and my breathing became uneven. Father let out an amused chuckle, and stood up with graceful ease. “A--test, Father?”

    A slight nod of his head confirmed what I was hoping to avoid tonight. Father began walking down the hallway without another word. I quickly stood up and followed. He stopped in front of the gold painted door, and slipped a large old looking key into the slot. He gently pushed open the door and walked inside, and I followed with almost no choice. I could feel his mind tugging he along

    “Go, Corrissa.” I stepped over to the X in the middle of the room and took a deep breath trying to calm my nerves. No matter how many times I do the tests, the uneasiness never seizes.

    Without warning, and in a blink of an eye, Mitchell flung a fire ball from his left hand and it hurled toward me. Inches from my face, I blew a breath of cold air from my mouth and instantly the fire was gone. I could feel the heat on my face as if the fire were still there. I let out a chilly breath in relief.

    In another moment, there were spikes coming up from the ground. As easy as blinking, I flung myself in the air, and hovered towards the red button on the wall across the room without touching the deadly spikes. With a push of the button, all hell was gone.

    Apparently satisfied for today, Father stepped closer to me as I landed gracefully on my feet.

    “Well done.” Father clapped his hands once and turned on his heals and walked away, through a different door leading to the study; leaving me in the big empty room. There were no signs that there was ever any activity in this room. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this was a ball room, meant for big fancy Royal parties. But no. This was the ‘Testing room’. I suppose I could have once been a ball room in a different century.

    I blinked and thought of my room two floor above where I stood. When I opened my eyes again, there I was, Sitting on my white sheets of my bed. I kicked off my shoes and socks, and felt the cool feeling of tile under my bear feet. I leaned back on my bed and stared at the ceiling, making shapes and picture out of the speckles.

    My head spun rapidly, exhausted from teleporting so much today. First X-teens, then the library, home, than my room… Then the tests.

    My room was the only place to get away from Father and life. I loved him with all my heart, but when he makes me do things, much more terrifying than tonight, I don’t even know who he is; the word monster comes to mind.
    I wished Brandon were here.

    Over the years I began making Brandon up. Even though I had no idea who he really was, He had a personality that I couldn’t quite figure out how he got. My imagination runs wild. I imagined him with fine pale blond hair as mine, and his skin a crisp tan. He had the body of an athlete, he looked like an Abercrombie model. He was a good half a foot taller than me and was perfect in every way.

    But there was always a part of me that said I loved him. A part of me said he was a part of me.

    Brandi on the other hand… I always thought of her as myself, but more courageous. She would be the kind who wouldn’t take crap from Father like I do. She looked like me and sometimes I caught myself pretending to be her. Key scratching a convertible, stealing a candy bar from the grocery store, setting fire to a tree or plant, or even flipping off a wall. All the things Brandi would do.

    But who were these people?

    Familiar stranger, I told myself again for the millionth time since I began making up these people.

    My train of thought was caught off by the sound of police cars zooming by outside the loft. Life always went on, there was no stopping it.

    I must have fallen asleep because my phone suddenly rang, and I checked the time, I‘d been asleep for only ten minutes. The ringer was the course to Tomorrow by SR71.

    “Hello?”

    “Corri? Hey what’s up?” It was Maxine. What was she calling my at two thirty in the morning.

    “Do you have a life,” I said jokingly.

    “Naw. so what’s up?” What’s up…? I wanted to tell her the horrible events leading up to this moment, but I knew Father was ease dropping in my mind. He was probably waiting for me to tell her so he can test me till I’m paralyzed.

    “I’m a little tired, Maxine. Is there something you called for?”

    “Actually…” her voice trailed off, and it wounded like she moved away from the phone for a moment.

    “Maxine?”

    “Yes, I’m here. What I called for was… I wanted to tell you something, but I’m not sure if I should.” She sounded nervous to tell me what she was longing to say. She was always open with me, something must have been really bothering her.

    “You can tell me anything Maxine.” My voice was soothing and Maxine had no clue I was calming her mood over the phone.

    After a long pause, she let out a sad sigh. “I’m moving.”
    I shot up in my bed and stared out the window, almost In a daze. My stomach felt like someone punched me in the gut.

    “Moving…?” I lost hold of Maxine emotions, and she began breaking down on the other end. I felt like crying too, but I held back, because I didn’t want to cry with my contacts in, I wasn’t sure what would happen.

    “Why…?”

    “we’re leaving now. I was told not to tell anyone where we are going. We’re being followed and now we’re being placed in witness protection. I can’t even tell you why, But I wanted to let you know, I’m leaving, but I will be back.

    “Maxine…” I couldn’t even speak, my throat tightened. “I have to go,” I managed to say barely a whisper. And with that the line was dead. No goodbye, no good lucks…

    I ran to the bathroom and waiting outside the door was Mitchell, “Hope she does well.” a half smile crossed his face.

    I made a disgusted look and ran into the bathroom slamming the door shut. I removed my contacts, instantly making my eyes go from hazel to clear blue. The only reason I had contacts, was because Father wanted people to think we were blood related. His eyes were a darker Hazel, but all in all, he looked like he could pass as my biological father.

    I splashed cold water on my face and used a cleanser, then dried it. There was no point for a shower, there’d be no where to go tomorrow since Maxine was… Leaving.

    I took off my watch and the variety of colored bracelets. I was surprised it was already three-thirty.

    My night gown was draped over the tub. I slipped it on and hurried back to my room.

    The moment I hit my soft bed, I was out. Drifting off to dreamless sleep. I had so many things on my mind, but I felt at peace, like time stopped and I could rest without being nervous about what was Lurking in the shadows…