I breathed in the icy air and pulled my hood closer to my forehead concealing my white hair. My fingers curled around the locket that hung around my neck; the cold metal somehow actually made me feel more comfortable. My skin was so pale it was almost as white as the snow around me. The wind picked up making my entire body shiver and I wrapped my sweatshirt tighter. I edged to the side of the alleys trying to walk down the street unseen. Keeping a distance from…people. I came around the corner of Woodward Rd, and I saw my apartment 104 waiting for me to bring cold, snowy, winter air inside.
I looked down at my hands and thought of what a nightmare I was. My parents never wanted me to talk about what happened to me. But I want to know. What happened to me as a baby? All I do know is that every part of my body has electricity running through it and when I get claustrophobic or scared lightning comes out of my hands. It's always very unexpected and that's why I conceal myself from the world,  trying to hide in my own shadow. 
I quickly walked up the steps and to the front door, yanking at the ice covered door clasp. The door didn’t budge. I felt the lock click, reminding me I needed a key to get in.

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“Dang, Jodi.” I cursed my sister for getting home early from school. She always locked the door and would run to her room, put her earplugs in, and be gone, stuck in her own selfish little world.
I quickly sucked in my breath, took a step back from the door and walked back down the steps to the side walk. The icy breath of the wind whipped swiftly into my hood and down my spine. I stepped into the cold, dark, and creepy alleyway right in between the apartment buildings. I quickly walked around all the trash cans, bags, and recycled bottles. The liquids oozed from the bags and stuck to the cement causing a horrible odor to waft into my nose, and make me gag. At this point I ran to the back door that leads into our kitchen. I slammed against the door handle turning it with such a force that when I opened it, I fell flat onto the hard tile floor in the kitchen. I quickly took in a breath of warm air and let my body find its feeling again. I swiftly kicked the door shut as I got up and let in a warm breath of fresh air as my body seemed to finally come to life. I grabbed my backpack which had, of course, fallen to the floor spilling its contents.
“ UUUHHHHHH!!” I let out a long and loud groan as I bent to pick up everything. My pencils, calculator, binders, math book, two history books, and my phone spewed across the floor. I grabbed everything and shoved it into my backpack then threw my bag onto the countertop.
Ding, Ding, Ding. My phone buzzed as I realized I had forgotten to pick it up. I crouched down and let gravity take over falling against the cabinet and grabbing my phone. I looked at the screen and it reminded me that tomorrow we were going on a field trip to visit the LO. Putting the phone down I decided to go talk to Jodi about her locking the front door.
I stomped through the living room, past the front door, which reminded me of how mad I was at her. I took a quick calm breath, counted to ten, and stopped in front of her door.
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Her room was in the attic which sounds like it should be a dump but actually it's the opposite. She has everything you could imagine in there. My parents love her so much more than me. They never said it but you could always tell. The way they acted, talked, and spent money on us made it obvious. They re-did the entire attic spending over 3, 000 dollars on it. Renovating and painting, they gave her everything she asked for which included a king sized bed, a basic living room with a TV, carpet, professionally painted walls, and a complete bathroom. They actually hired builders to come build walls and insert a water system for the bathroom.
Whereas they gave me a tiny bedroom in the basement, with the furnace, dryer, washer and all the electrical noises that are in a house. I have cement walls painted gray, a small bed with plain coverings, and a desk and a dresser. There was no closet, no window, and no door. That’s right, they didn't even give me a door, just an empty doorway.
Anyways back to me getting mad at her. I slowly knocked on the door, and without waiting for an answer walked into the room.  Or should I say climbed into the room. She also got my parents to move the stairway and take it out so that she could have a ladder leading into the room instead of stairs.
“Jodi!!” I said loudly and looked around. Seeing her on the couch covered with a blanket, watching her favorite gossip show, and listening to music made me feel angry. I walked in front of her and grabbed the button turning off the TV.  
“What gives jerk?” She said, not hiding her emotions or annoyance.
“What gives? Are you kidding me!!! You locked the front door again!! You knew I wasn't home yet!! Did you lock it on purpose??!” I raved, so angry I thought I would explode.
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“ Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t.” She taunted. “What are you going to do about it? Mom and Dad don't care and won't believe you. All they will feel is disappointment because you tried to get me into trouble. Plus they always believe me. I’m their little angel!” She said with a dramatic flare and put her hand under her chin to show she was an angel.
My anger burned and I almost lunged at her!  “ Why you little…” I writhed only seeing a devil not an angel.
*****
The next morning, I went to a normal day of boring old school, riding the bus as usual. I held my breath as much as I could because the bus smelled like morning breath and barf. Getting to school reminded me that I would be back on the bus during 4th period. We were going to visit the LO: The Life Observer. By the time we got on the bus again, I was already telling myself I wanted to be home in my nice “comfy” bed, sleeping. I sat in the back where I didn't have to look at anyone, talk to anyone, or sit by anyone. I was confined to my own little bubble, my own isolation.  
As New York City passed by outside my bus window it looked like a blur, which seemed to be my life. We never talked about our childhoods and well...I barely remember anything from my childhood. I only have one distinct memory from before I was five. There was a crash, a car crash, electric bursts and then blackness. But I'm pretty sure that it was an important part of my life. I know it happened even though my parents told me it was a dream of mine.
The bus halted and we all walked in a straight line from the bus and into the museum. We apparently had “partners” and my partner was Miss Clavell.
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“So Alek, you're awfully quiet. Is anything wrong? Aren't you excited to see the LO? The whole class has been looking forward to this trip the entire year; haven't you?” She questioned me like I had committed a crime and I felt like a murderer being drilled. All I did was lift my shoulders to shrug it off.
“Well, if you need anything my eyes and ears are open.” She gave me a weird look and seemed disturbed and unsatisfied with my answer. Then she added as she hurried away towards the students who were already in the building, “We had better hurry before we lose the class.”
I didn’t really want to race to the door so I slowly walked, dragging my feet. Before I got inside I quickly pulled my hat down, and looked at myself in the reflection of the door. Then I scowled at the image that looked back at me. 
*****
An hour later after following the class around looking at the “fascinating” exhibits. The teacher gathered us all around at the entrance of the museum, quieting us all down.
“ Ok guys, it's time to go see...drumroll please…the LO.” She said this with a slight excitement even though she did this every boring year. Everyone started to talk at once. Of course me, being me I didn't say anything. I just stood there.
The LO is this machine that protects the world from disasters. It controls the diseases of the world so that no one gets sick and there are no epidemics. The LO also controls the weather and natural disasters, such as how moist the air is and how cold/ hot it gets. My parents told me there used to be

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flooding from rain and people would freeze to death in the winter.  Also there are now no earthquakes because it controls the tectonics plates of the earth. There's is much more it controls but those are the basics. 
“Everyone settle down and follow me,” she said, with her authority voice which was annoying. We all went in a single file side by side with our partners. I had to stand in the front of the line right next to Miss Clavell. We reached a different part of the museum that seemed to be underground. When we apparently arrived at our destination we turned and started walking down a really long hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. It was dark and had a weird haze to it. All of a sudden we turned a corner and there were hundreds of  blue lasers shooting out of the walls.
“Oh my gosh!” I let out a particularly loud gasp which to my surprise silenced the entire class. Then they all turned the corner and saw the lasers, each letting out their own gasps of surprise. 
“Everyone be quiet please, this is a silent matter. No talking as we walk down this hallway.” Miss Clavell silenced us, and she didn't seem at all deterred by the lasers. She simply walked towards them not flinching as she passed through them.
The class all stared at her. None of the lasers seemed to affect her.  None of us, of course, moved to follow her, but eventually she turned around and told us to follow her. I was very hesitant as I walked towards the lasers. I saw my classmates following me a couple feet behind as they  inched forward. I stepped through the first couple of lasers and flinched. Nothing happened. Then I relaxed and followed the teacher as I heard the gasps and exhales as my class made their way through the lasers.
*****
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We finally made it to the room where the LO (Life Observer) was kept. It was a huge room and it was very dark. There were lasers everywhere and the LO was in the dead center glowing a strange blue.  It was some kind of circular energy  and there were a bunch of what looked like tiny robots all over it and in the air around it. I felt the electricity vibrate all over the room and I could feel the hairs on my arms rising as the static electricity hit me. I was always afraid my own electricity would get out of hand. I was never able to control it. I never actually shot electricity when I wanted to, not that I ever did want to. With all the electricity in this room, so many things could go wrong.  Then I felt myself getting shoved towards the LO as the class pushed to get a better view of it. All of a sudden about 5 feet into the room I hit a huge force field. It felt like we had hit glass. We all stopped and looked at the LO. The electricity feeling was growing and I wanted to get out of there, I needed to get out of there. 
All of a sudden I felt breathing on my neck and bodies getting really close. I heard rapid breathing next to me and I slowly turned. I came face to face with two glowing white eyes. The tiny pupils seemed like black holes that seemed to be sucking me in. The face was dark and the eyes seemed bodiless. I screamed as they seemed to be staring right through my very being. My scream and my fear made my adrenaline go wild, setting off my electricity. It shot from my hands and I gasped. I turned and stared at the now ordinary looking boy named Nelson next to me. His face was pure white. He stammered and pointed at my hands. I realized he had seen my electricity and I looked at him horrified.
My sparks flew and I saw the glass dome light up as the electric vibes raced through it. The LO seemed to be getting electrocuted and I knew that wouldn't be good. There was a bright flash of light and I quickly pulled the people next to me down on the ground so fast we fell on top of each other. Then what I had been dreading happened, a crack sounded and a sort of rumbling. Then there was a loud explosion and the glass dome shattered. I covered my head and silently prayed. But a force so strong, I
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couldn't even describe it, hit us and there was so many crashes and cracks and screaming. It was like my whole world was turning upside down. Everything went dark.
               When my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw the mess before me. There was a huge hole in the middle of the room where the LO had been. Oh my gosh what did I do???  I started to panic. What was I going to do? The world had no control on natural disasters or diseases without the LO! We were all going to die! I got up seeing everyone on the floor moaning or passed out. I felt like everyone was staring at me and I panicked. I ran even though I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I needed to get away. There were lots of police running towards the explosion and I passed them on my way out. Breathing heavily I ran past them expecting them to all of a sudden turn and shoot me or tackle me or even turn around to question me. I ran faster than ever.
I ran past the guards into the middle of downtown New York. I ran down the busiest places on the block, finally running out of breath. I stopped about a block away from my house. I walked the rest of the way still thinking the same thing over and over in my head. What am I going to do?!
My family was all gone, busy at work or school.  I walked to the front door, yes it was unlocked. Mom usually left the front door unlocked for when Jodi came home, of course she never did it for me. I locked the door behind me with a grin. I knew Jodi would be coming home from high school in about an hour and I wanted her to know how I felt.
All of a sudden I heard this low rumbling sound. Then I felt it. The house slowly started to shake, I didn't know what to do, so I held on to our kitchen countertop. I heard things breaking upstairs and loud crashes. I didn't know when it would end and I started to freak out, but then it was all over. I walked into the living room and a couple things had fallen over. My mom's favorite lamp had broken.
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“What the heck is going on?” I muttered knowing nobody would answer. I turned on the television, but all I got was a fuzzy screen. Then I heard this strange distant sound... pitter patter pitter patter….then it changed and sounded more like little pebbles... pink ponk pink ponk. I turned the TV off and went to the window.
“Oh my gosh! What in the world!” I said with such surprise, and put my hand to my mouth. Water was coming out of the sky so hard it sounded like a roaring sound, the water was collecting on the street. I remembered at one time when the LO was non existent, it rained all the time. We talked about rain as well but since the LO had moisture control, we didn't need rain. And there were these things called earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and tornadoes. We learned about them in history class.
“That had to have been an earthquake,” I scratched my head. 
All of a sudden the house creaked and I heard another faint rumble.
“ Oh my gosh!! Not again! No! No! No! No!” I started to panic. I didn't want another earthquake. Before it started I ran down to the basement; worst decision ever!
I ran into my room and sat down on my bed hoping the cement walls would protect me. The shaking started and I heard so many things falling over and breaking. My dresser all of a sudden flipped and fell on its side. I screamed, really wishing I wasn't alone. Then I got up slowly as the ground shook, making me wonder if it ever would stop. I looked out of my bedroom doorway just in time to see the basement catch on fire. The furnace had fallen over and set the carpet on fire.
“Oh God, help me!” I prayed fearing my life would end today and it would be my fault. I raced through the room as the shaking seemed to get worse and a piece of cement fell out of the wall. I
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coughed as smoke filled my lungs. I tripped and fell, the smoke burning my eyes. I was laying there feeling like my body was vibrating. Then I heard a scream upstairs.
“Oh my gosh! Jodi’s home.” I knew even though she drove me nuts I couldn't just let her die alone.  With all the energy I could conjure up I stood and tried to keep my balance as much as I could.
There came another scream and this time I felt extreme fear; I had no idea how I would get to her. I looked at the cement hole in the wall, and then at the fire that blocked my way. There was dirt in the hole so I walked towards the hole grappling with each step I took, in agonizing pain I looked down at my leg and I had a large gash. But for some reason the pain seemed to go numb and all I cared about was getting to Jodi.
“I'm coming Jodi, please don’t leave me.” A small tear went down my cheek as I said this, realizing I didn't know what I would do without her. I ran to the hole coughing and fighting the smoke. I collapsed against the wall, the smell of dirt hitting me. I tried to suck in a breath of air from the dirt and got a tiny bit of fresh air. Having slightly new energy I clawed at the dirt prying it from the wall. Quickly it started to collapse and the dirt fell on top of me. Brushing it away I realized how close the fire was and how close I was to being dead.
I shrieked as I turned around and saw the licks of fire almost at my heel. I quickly and agonizingly started clawing the dirt away with all the energy  I could muster. I heard another scream and then I joined her in the screaming. I didn't know if she could hear me but I desperately needed to get to her. With one last stroke I tore the dirt down and saw light from the surface. I grinned so wide that it hurt; tackling the dirt mound I trekked through the dirt and rocks.When I made it through I looked one last time at my basement, my home. Then when I looked up I saw the devastation all around me; I cried
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out with fear. Not more than five feet in front of me was a huge chasm. The earth was still rumbling. I didn't know how long this quake would last. All I knew was that the chasm was growing by the second.
“Oh my…” I didn't finish my sentence for I heard Jodi’s scream again. I whirled around and ran to the front door which to my shock was actually locked again.
“UH, I don't have time for this!!” Tears were now streaming down my face as I realized she was trapped. I didn't realize I was crying, all I knew was that I couldn't get inside. I didn't know how but full of anger and fear I lifted my leg and kicked the front door as hard as I could and it actually fell open. Then all of a sudden there was a jolt in all the shaking and I fell forward. Suddenly the earthquake stopped. I looked up and there was Jodi on the stair well with fallen debris on her.
“Jodi!” I shrieked with a choking sound, and finally realized I was crying. I ran to her tripping over the debris and coughing up smoke. The fire was coming up the basement stairs; I pushed the debris off her. I was afraid she was going to die, she seemed so pale. I couldn't just let her die! 
“Everything is  going to be ok. You’re going to be ok. Just stay with me. Keep going. Don't stop breathing. I never hated you deep down. I've always loved you and I'm glad I am your sister. You were the best sister you could be and that is all that matters. But what I need you to do for me is to keep breathing. Keep fighting. You'll be alright. I promise.” Cradling her in my arms, I was weeping, feeling as though I had lost her forever. I looked at her calm face so peaceful and yet she was still warm I realized.  I looked and her chest did a tiny heave.
“JODI!!?” I shrieked with a such a force that my voice cracked.
“When did you last brush your teeth?” Jodi smiled up at me with a joking smirk.
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“Oh my gosh! Jodi I'm so happy you’re ok!!” I basically tackled her, then was reminded of the fire as I went into a coughing fit. I bent down struggling as I picked her up and carried her out the door and onto the sidewalk. I hadn't realized how strong I was.
I saw her shocked face and smirked. “ What? I'm fourteen. You think I couldn't carry a sixteen year old?” Then her expression changed as she saw the chasm. She gasped and then shut her mouth, which was hanging wide open.
“Alek, we need to get out of here, it's too dangerous! And I wanted to thank you for what you said inside, I did hear you. And I'm sorry for being such a horrible sister. I was just jealous because when you were a toddler, mom and dad were obsessed about you. They wanted to be the best parents ever since...since...your real parents….got killed.” She said it with such pain and a tear slipped out of her eye. Her face looked sincere but hearing the words out loud hurt.
“So I really wasn't dreaming? There was something that happened to my real parents? What happened?” I was so confused and curious.
“We don't actually know. The place that we got you from was extremely confidential and didn't even tell mom and dad what happened.” She confessed like she was slightly embarrassed.
Smiling, I stood up to her level and looked her straight in the eye, “I couldn't be happier with a different family. I love you and I'm glad you're my sister. “ I said this and realized I really meant it. I reached towards her and pulled her into our first embrace ever.

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“Oh Alek, I’m glad you're my sister too. And I love you, too.” She leaned back and looked at me, smiling. I felt such joy and peace in my heart, as if there was nothing else in the world that could ruin this moment.
As we stood there hugging, another tremor went through the ground. We looked around, unsure of what to do. Then I looked down and the chasm was right there almost underneath me. I screamed and Jodi tried to jerk me back. I lost my footing and I slipped. I was still holding onto her but I didn't want to drag her down with me. I didn't want to be the cause of her death. I let go and she shrieked.
“ALEK!!!! NO NO NO!!!!! AAALLLLEEEEKKKK!!!” As she screamed my name I closed my eyes waiting for impact. I waited and waited feeling nothing. Looking down I saw the rocks rushing towards me.
I felt a jolt and an agonizing pain shot through my body. I screamed. My heart seemed to stop and a very strange peace came over me. I looked at everything around me, sad that it had to end this way.  My body seemed to glow, as the pain seemed to almost disappear. I felt a burst of energy and electricity coursed through my body. Feeling the fear disappear, I knew it was time to let go. I looked up at the sky as the rain poured down on my face and body. I smiled knowing deep in my heart I loved my family and Jodi. A feeling overwhelmed me, of not physical pain, but emotional. I felt so passionate, beyond anything I had ever felt and I realized that was the truth. A small tear went down my face as I thought of my family. I heard someone call my name but it was so distant I didn't really hear it. It sounded more like a melody then a voice. But the melody went on and never stopped. I felt as though someone was embracing me as a last goodbye as  I my closed eyes. They  were so heavy I didn't want
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them to open...and...I let go, not really fighting anymore. I let the rain seem to wash me away.  I slowly tried to take a breath but I didn't feel anything. Nothing seemed to happen, so I just let a faint whisper get through, and I let out one more word.
“Sorry…” I murmured as the light enveloped me and I let it take me. Even though I had no feeling or any sense at all, I felt like the light was taking me and I went towards it with open arms.