The terminal

I ’m not sure why I remembered the image of the star now, but the pin the man wore looked almost identical to the one I saw when I probed one of the guard’s minds. 

After I had finished my flashback, I pulled out my mom’s letter and the envelope from Zen Academy. On the back, I saw a thin button. 

I pressed it and a blue virtual map appeared before me. 

“Whoa,” I whispered. My jaw stayed open for about twenty seconds. Would I finally get some answers? 

I found Mom’s car and drove toward the railroad. The virtual envelope showed me the way. 

I figured it might be the only place I would be safe from this Vanity crap. Forty-five minutes later, I arrived at my destination, an old, abandoned train station on the outskirts of downtown Seattle. The city left it vacant due to an electrical fire that occurred when Mom was my age. 

I parked the car, grabbed my duffle bag, and walked into the terminal that looked like part of a ghost story. Spider webs and burned debris were all around me. 

“Hello? Anybody here?” 

I waited for a response, but nothing happened. I had an uncomfortable feeling about this. 

 This was a stupid idea. There was no way it would work. I pulled out the envelope. I tossed the envelope in the trash and walked away. 

Then something odd happened. 

The envelope opened itself. It released a bright green light and split into two. 

At first, it blinded me, but after the light faded, I saw that there was a hidden staircase that looked like it went on forever. 

I jumped back in shock. This day was getting weirder and ominous.

I was tempted to flee right then and there out of fear. Who could I trust? Should I stay to search for answers? 

I clutched my duffle bag and I walked inside the cavern following the glow of the green light. I felt an uncanny attraction to it. 

I had to persevere to solve this mystery. 

The closer I got to the light, the less resistance I felt. The doorway that brought me to the strange tunnel gradually closed as I traveled to the end of the cavern, eager for the next adventure. 

As I walked further within the cavern, the green light expanded. The steps in the cavern wrapped around the tunnel like a medieval castle.

What was that sound?

I approached the end of the cavern, discovering it led to an impasse. I saw nothing but a door shield made of tough metal. There was a slab on the middle of the door that had a handprint carved on it. 

When I placed my left hand on the slab, my hand glowed like an X-ray. I could see the bones in my hand glowing. I tried pulling it off, but it was glued on the slab. 

I pulled with all my strength and used my leg to push against the door. Finally, the slab emitted a blue glow and released my hand, causing me to fall back on the steps. 

The hand thing was advanced but because the door creaked loudly, it seems like it is old.  

I stared at the highly advanced underground railroad inside the tunnel. Maybe the super-advanced terminal and the bullet train inside it came from extraterrestrial origins like mine. 

“Hello? Is anyone there?” 

Suddenly alarms went off, the doors of the bullet train opened. A purple mist floated through the doors. 

I had come this far. I had to see this through.

I carried my bag and walked on board. The doors shut themselves and the train started to move. 

“Next destination: Zen Academy,” a mysterious voice said eerily. I did not see anyone else on the train. 

“Why weren’t there other hybrids in Seattle?” 

I began gathering different thoughts that were not my own. Maybe I was not the only person on this train. 

“Who’s there?” I asked. I did not hear a response so I tried reaching with my mind for who it could be on the other side of the train. 

I heard two different voices: one boy and one girl, both around my age. 

What the hell was I thinking getting on this damn train? The boy’s thoughts echoed. How is McKenzie going to get along without me? She is only 12 years old, and she is with that damn foster agency. 

I stopped the probing when I heard a thump outside the cart, I sat in. It sounded like a basketball bouncing against the door of the cart next to mine. Filled with curiosity, I walked to the other area to check out who was there. 

Aye’s memos, I never asked for any this, the girl thought. I did not want a monster for a mother, or to grow up without a Dad. I did not request this damn invitation or even these stupid powers. 

The girl angrily clutched her basketball with one hand while the other hand turned into ruby quartz. She punched the wall of the train, creating a hole in the wall.  

That is when I realized I saw her in my dream while I was in a coma. She was the girl with beautiful black hair, shielding the bystanders from the debris. 

The young man on the other side of the train was in my vision too. He was the one blasting away the robots. 

I could not believe these two were real. But I sensed they were scared teenagers who recently learned they were hybrids like me with nowhere else to go.        

Misery indeed loves company. I could not be the only hybrid in the world, right? I looked deep into the teen’s mind to find out more about him and the abilities he had. 

I learned his name was Eric Isaac from Detroit, Michigan. He came from an abusive household where his dad worked as a retired fireman who struggled to support him and his half-sister, McKenzie. 

Eric’s mom died soon after he was born, and his father married McKenzie’s mother. 

Eric stepped in as a father figure for McKenzie when her mom left her and their dad. McKenzie’s mom could not cope with the drinking issues her husband had. 

Despite his abusive Father, Eric was an all-star student at his high school. He maintained an A/B average while holding the enviable position of the captain of the lacrosse and basketball teams. 

Plus, he would work double shifts on weekends to save up for his place for McKenzie. She would often visit with Eric after school. Even at only thirteen years old, McKenzie was quite accomplished with computers. Eric always knew she was smarter than he was, but he never said it to her face, worried that it would get to her ego. 

McKenzie always felt safe when Eric was in the house with her. Their dad would have a sporadic outburst and lash out at them for no reason and without warning. 

One day after work, Eric went to pick up McKenzie from her friend’s house. When he got there, he saw her speaking to a director of a child protection agency in the area. 

It seemed the director had known Eric’s mother and was keeping tabs on him and his sister after their mom had passed away. 

At first, he felt skeptical. Why would she show up now, during his junior year in high school? 

The director offered to drive him and his sister home. Eric refused, feeling it would be a trap to find out how abusive their dad was. He knew his sister could be placed in a group home or foster care. 

They became engaged in a heated argument over what McKenzie was hiding.  

Before they finished arguing, Eric’s mind and body went through the same change I went through when I first got my powers, although he was only unconscious for three to four hours instead of six months. 

McKenzie panicked and the director took him to the hospital. 

They kept him overnight, but he seemed to have recovered quickly. The doctors could not find out anything wrong with him.

When his dad got the hospital bill, he became furious about the hospital costs. He threatened to kick Eric out. Tensions rose further when Eric’s dad found a letter addressed to Eric in McKenzie’s jacket. 

He was going to throw it out along with all of Eric’s stuff. McKenzie tried to stop him, but her father grabbed her, shoving her to the floor only seconds before Eric and the director entered.   

When Eric entered the house, he found his father yanking McKenzie off the floor by her hair. Eric tried pushing him away from her, but his father turned his attention to Eric, beating him relentlessly. 

Still battling his dad, Eric mistakenly blasted him with an energy beam made of dark matter shooting from his hands. Eric’s father flew and slammed into the wall.

That is how he learned that he was like me. It was also the final day spent with their dad. 

Fearful of his new powers with no knowledge of how he got them, Eric felt compelled to leave McKenzie with the director while he sorted things out. But before he left, his sister gave him the letter she tried to protect because she felt it would be of value to Eric. 

It was just like the letter I had gotten from Zen Academy. 

After hugging his sister goodbye and leaving her with the agency, Eric used the envelope to guide him to his destination: an abandoned gas station in Detroit. 

When he put the envelope down, it opened into four sections, revealing a staircase that led to a terminal like the one I found in Seattle. 

He found the train and boarded through a door that gave off that mysterious green light. As the doors closed behind him, the thought of leaving his sister behind tortured him.