The year was 2009 or more commonly known as the year of the storms and the year that John gained his powers. That year, he gained the power to use telekinesis and the ability to read minds. Unfortunately for John, with great gain comes great loss. For the young boy at the time, this meant his parents. They died in the fire that had given him his powers.

Chapter One

Ten years later

When Benjamin got out of bed the first thing the young Hispano did was look in the bathroom mirror.  He did this often enough that he could reach the medicine cabinet for the special pills blindfolded. As he looked in the mirror and took those pills he thought about what people noticed about him. For starters, the first thing they noticed was not the dirty blonde hair, nor the pimple-filled left side of his face.  They were more likely to stare at the right side of his face, the side that was badly scarred from a fire that took both the young boy's parents and his left arm. He had been living under the city in a subway for years since the incident. That is, until he found an abandoned RV at an abandoned RV park right outside of town.

The meds he took helped control his PTSD and his RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder). After the fire that took his parents when he was three years old, he bounced from household to household. Though you probably couldn't call them households because “households” sounds to civilised and the places Benjamin stayed were not civilised at all. This caused him to gain “RAD”, as his old head shrink called it. “‘Cause all those abusive parents aren't good for someone's head’”.   

He swallowed the pills and then put on his jacket. He started to walk into the street when he saw it - a truck full of spilled watermelon. He wanted the watermelon but he wanted the truck more. Getting this truck ment he didn't have to walk everywhere anymore. Then there's the problem about gas, he thought, but he was sure he'd figure it out.But in order to get to the truck and the melons, he had to jump a road block and dodge a police officer - the same one that wanted to take him to the orphanage. Of course, he could just take him back to a foster home.

 Benjamin knew what he had to do. He set out on foot and quickly got around the barrier to the truck and loaded up the melons. He slammed the tailgate shut, got in, and sped of. Which was hard because the road was flooded. He was able to get out of there safely. He got the truck and the melons were a bonus, so he was overjoyed with his bounty and wanted to get back the the old RV park to siphon gas from the old RVs with his power of telekinesis.

His powers came in handy most of the time. When he got back to the old RV park, he went to his camper and put the melons in the food safe. He had to put food in there so the animals wouldn't get to it, though this seems like common sense. He once lost five pounds of sirloin steak to a bear. Once he put his food in the safe, he went to the nearest camper and put a hose in the gas tank.  Using his powers, he made the gas go up the hose and into the bright, red plastic gas tank. He had many of these tanks because he had raided abandoned stores for the jugs to collect gas that would help him set fires in the frigid winter. What used to be the State of Wisconsin in the United States is now the Republic. So anything outside city limits is abandoned. After he filled up ten of those plastic jugs, he was tired and hungry. Using his powers drained his strength. Then he feasted on his melons. After his feast on watermelon he took his pills and went to sleep.   

Chapter 2

There he was, back in the year 2009. It was the night of the fire. He was three years old  and the fire was just starting. His parents come running into his room to grab him. He wished he could warn his dad about the steel beam that was going to decapitate him. Without any warning, there was a heavy, wet, sticky liquid on his cheek. He didn't have to feel it to know that it belonged to his father. Both Benjamin and his mother are able to make it out alive. But just as the lighting comes down, his mother throws him out of the way. In a freaky way, the lightning bent and hit him. Suddenly, he felt the electricity through his veins and then BOOM! The lightning surges out and hits his mother. He hears the sicking pop as his mother's body burns and blows up. He screams.

Epilogue

With great power comes great responsibility. Whoever said this was smart? thought Benjamin. He was still fighting with himself about whether to get rid of his powers and push Emily away or to keep them and bring her closer to him, closer to danger. He is thinking this as he walks down the hallway, his hand in Emily’s. He knew what he was going to do. He was going to bring Emily closer.