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Chapter Six
It took every fiber of my being to keep me from checking my phone as we stood in line, waiting to be walked out to our seats for the commencement ceremony. It didn't matter if I did; we were allowed to use our phones until we stepped into the auditorium as was apparent by all of my schoolmates taking selfies and texting excitedly around me. But it wasn't graduation that had me so nervous. Sure I was about to be on a stage in front of the whole town and everyone's family and friends. I was more focused on the stat counter for my game release. The beta had been well received so far, but that didn't stop my nerves from almost getting the better of me. And if yesterday had been any sort of significance to me, getting anxious was the last thing I needed to have happen to me today. My fingers twitched against my side. I could feel tingling start to take form in my finger tips but this time it didn't feel like it was growing; it was just there. Maybe this was what excitement did to me? It was a good kind of anxious I was feeling, so it would make sense that positive emotions would spur more controllable flares, and if I was at home I'm certain I would be playing with the sparks as they danced between the tips of my fingers. I heard a familiar, yet annoying voice approach the spot in line where I was standing; Eric fucking Cartman. “Oh, hey, Lucy~” I heard him cry out. He always shouted that at me in school and whenever he saw me in town, but I wasn't letting him know how pissed off he made me, especially not today. He continued to taunt me and just when I whipped around to tell him to shut up, I saw Kenny smack him, “Dude, knock it off. You know he doesn't like that, what's your problem?”
I could feel my face turn pink but I couldn't say anything out of shock. Kenny glanced over and met eyes with me briefly before Kyle started talking to him. But not before he flashed me a smile that had the slightest hint of his tongue sticking out between his teeth. God, he's such a dork, I rolled my eyes as I turned back around. Another monotonous tone surprised me, Oh, Craig... Craig Tucker was glaring in Cartman's direction, no doubt there'd been some sort of spat between them again, when he said, “When will that fatass learn to just shut up for once?”
“You okay?” his boyfriend Tweek peered around him to look at me. I rarely talked to them these days so it came as kind of a shock that they were speaking to me in that moment. I realized I needed to say something and shook myself out of my dumbfounded stupor to answer, “Y-yeah, I'm just fine.”
Tweek smiled, “That's great! You look pretty excited. I'm just ready for this to be over.”
Craig smirked slightly – ever the stone cold poker face – before nodding towards my phone in my hand, “Waiting for a girl to text you or something?”
I looked down at my phone in surprise, I hadn't even realized I'd taken it back out of my pocket, “Oh, n-no, nothing like that. I'd have to be into girls to get excited over that.”
They both looked surprised; Oh shit, I thought they'd remember at least that much about me. I resumed speaking to prevent things from getting awkward, “I've got a thing going live online today and I've been checking the status.”
“Oh?” Craig asked, “ A thing? Not, like, a porn thing is it?”
“Nope!” I nearly jumped out of my skin as Kenny snuck up behind me and answered for me rather loudly. “He has a game going live on Steam and shit today.”
“Oh, wow!” Tweek mused, “Th-that's really cool! I didn't know you were making video games, Lucien.”
“Yeah,” I answered sheepishly. I wasn't sure why I suddenly felt so shy over this, it wasn't like it was some big secret, “I've been working on this for about a year and a half now.”
“So that's where you disappeared to after school? I was wondering why you stopped hanging around after class,” Craig mused. Our conversation got cut short though as the teachers announced for us to line up and walk out to our seats in the auditorium. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and follow suit behind the people in front of me.
I stepped through the curtain and saw all the parents and families cheering in the seats surrounding the auditorium floor. I scanned the crowd for my parents, but only found my mom. She looked uneasy, though I couldn't quite place why. She made eye contact with me and nodded up towards the back of the parents' seating. I scanned my eyes towards the crowd until I made out my father standing up at the back with another guy. He was wearing a black suit and tie, and was standing rather close to my dad to look like they were casually chit chatting. As I walked to my seat on the floor, I caught the glint of a metal barrel pressed firmly into my father's side. As much as he got on my nerves, this could not be good. The commencement ceremony started and it appeared I was the only person to notice the man with the gun. As the speeches commenced I tried to not be obvious as I scanned the rest of the crowd of parents. Sure enough I found four more men in suits that stood out from everyone else. This was not normal. Did they find us? Though I wasn't entirely sure who “they” were asides from most likely the government. I thought quickly on anything and everything I could've done to catch their attention and my stomach dropped when the possibility crossed my mind: my game release. Panic began to form in my stomach as I tasted bile in the back of my throat. This needed to get over fast. As soon as the ceremony was over, I was sure that these people would collect my parents and I and take us off to who knows where. To be killed? To be experimented on? Who could say, but I was not ready to find out.
I turned to look at the podium to try and not draw attention to myself as the class valedictorian came up for their speech. To my surprise, it was Wendy. I guess I hadn't really been paying that much attention to any of the announcements they'd been giving us senior year, but in the moment I was really happy that Wendy got to be the one to give the class speech. When it was over, I applauded for her, partially to blend in, but mostly because I was genuinely proud of her and impressed with her eloquence. The principle stood up and announced the start of the students walking the stage. I glanced towards my dad and the mystery man, and sure enough saw him pull my dad closer. He knew I was watching as he made sure I saw a flash of his gun before hiding it again behind my fathers figure. I couldn't attempt anything, or they would kill him and surely cause a riot. The teachers stood and released each row of kids to walk up on stage and collect their diplomas. I felt my heartbeat pick up, and all of a sudden the roar of the cheering parents was drowned out by the pounding in my head. It felt as though time was beginning to slow down. I took a deep breath, I was not going to lose myself to my nerves this time. I was going to remain in full control and not arouse suspicion from anyone. My row was finally released and I swiftly walked towards the stage. I caught Kenny's gaze as I walked up onto the stage, and saw as his expression twist into something much darker. I saw his eyes dart across the room, landing on each of the government men in the crowd before falling back on me. I saw him give me a slight nod in ackolwedgement before I tore away from him and turned to smile at the principle. That's it. Everything's normal. Smile, thank her, yes thats fine, you are in total control. Shake her hand, smile at the camera, take the diploma, and walk off stage. Then you're out of the clear. As I walked off the stage I saw my mom being ushered out of the auditorium by one of the men in suits. My anxiety began to turn to rage as I tore off my cap and gown. The only noise in my ears was the pounding of my heartbeat, which as loud as it was, was surprisingly steady given the circumstances. I could hear my parents' voices in my head now, their desperate pleas for me to get to safety and hide loud as sirens. But I couldn't just take off outside the building, no, I was not going to go down without a fight. I could feel the sparks as they trailed up and down my hands as the energy built up. I managed to step away, out of everyone's prying eyes, as I tried to look for a way to get out without being stopped. In my rush I ran into a familiar mass of blonde hair, “Woah, hey, dude, chill! It's me!”
Kenny grabbed onto me to keep me from keep going, and suddenly the pounding in my ears died down. “Are they here for you?” he asked.
I nodded, “They have my parents. Kenny, this might get ugly.”
He looked down at my hands that were still alive with electricity and he simply nodded, a look of determination washing over his expression. “I'll help you, maybe I can lure them into the auditorium. That way you won't risk hurting anyone since they'll have all cleared out. Kyle can get the principle to help with that.”
I didn't have time to argue, I simply nodded and took off back towards the auditorium, the pounding resuming in my head.
I wasn't sure how he did it, but Kenny and Kyle managed to get everyone out of the building in a matter of ten minutes and I stood in the middle of the stage alone. Focusing my breathing, and trying to centralize the buzz that was now abundant in my veins, I heard a door open. I didn't turn my attention to it until I heard my mom scream out, “Lucien!”
My eyes snapped open, and I saw my mom being held at gun point as three government men escorted her inside. Two other men followed behind, escorting my father. “Well, well, well,” the first man I'd seen shouted towards me. “You've been a tricky prize to catch. We'd thought you and you're family had been lost for good. That is, until we received an update of a massive energy signal here in South Park yesterday morning.”
Shit, I cursed inwardly, of course it'd been that. He nodded at his men and the four others let go of my parents and started walking towards me, their guns cocked. “You don't need to keep running,” the first man spoke again, “we only want to help you return home. These people, they took you away. Ripped you from your home. We have no choice but to terminate them, please don't make this more difficult than it needs to be.”
“Why should I go with you?” I screamed before I'd even realized it, my emotions starting to get the better of me. If I could only get him closer... “Tell me why I should just go with you, right here, right now.”
The man smiled, pressing the gun harder into my mother's side, “These people have only hurt you. For years they denied you the right to your own existence. They punished you with isolation. Your father bullied and diminished your emotions and abused you and your mother for seeking normalcy. Your mother took you away. She forced you into this life of secrets and hiding. We just want to show you your potential, and how much more your life could be.”
As he spoke, his men approached the center of the auditorium floor, and I could feel a rumbling form in the platform under my feet. I had to let it happen this time. Even if I died. Even if I brought the entire building down around me. The man seemed to realize something was off and ordered his men to take me down. In a flash, I let the energy consume me as my vision turned white. I raised my arms as electricity shot around me in a storm of bursts. The air churned, turning to shards of ice the faster it moved. I could feel the shards leave several cuts in my skin as it flurried around me, but I refused to let this stop. Surely if I tried to pull back at this point it would kill me, so going forward meant I didn't have anything to lose. I was sure I would die if I did, or die if I didn't. The floor cracked and shifted under me as the rumble spread into the ground. I let autopilot take over and felt this enormous energy release as the air cracked around me. The ground shot up underneath me and as it slammed back down I threw my hands onto the debris spreading around the ground near my feet, unleashing massive forms to split the ground below me. The four men that had rushed towards me were frozen in their spots as debris from the now collapsing building came crashing onto them. Right before a large piece of the ceiling fell on me, I saw a flash of purple whisk my mom and dad out of the collapsing auditorium. Is this how I die?
I wasn't done yet, apparently. A massive energy shield formed around me as debris threatened to crush me. The orb began to freeze and it felt like I might not be able to turn this off, when I swore I heard a voice call out my name. I came to my senses just as I nearly became a popsicle, and my vision begin to clear. I was in an energy field surrounded by a vortex of shards of ice and freezing air. With my last bit of energy, I crossed my arms in front of me, and cut through the air, dismissing the field, and falling onto the wreckage below me. Half conscious, I heard my mother calling for someone to help me out of the collapsed building. A rescue team worked fast to pull everyone out of the debris, the only victims being myself, and the now lifeless forms of the government men. The first man, the man who gave the orders, was however, nowhere to be seen. The rescue team got me strapped into a gurney as the paramedics tried speaking to me, anything to keep me conscious. My mom asked them how I was, but the throbbing had returned and all I could make out was “blood loss” and “concussion”. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a panicked blonde come into view, trying to say something to me. Kenny gingerly touched my face but his words were drowned out by the blood coursing through my ears. I tried to smile at him to reassure him, but I was fading, and the one thing I could make out was how scared I was. Scared of what I'd just done, and how everyone would look at me now, scared of the government guys returning, and scared ultimately of dying. They got me into the ambulance, and I heard them talking into the dispatch phone that they were bringing me in somewhere. The last thing I remembered before fading into unconsciousness was thinking two things, My dad's going to be so pissed, and, I wish Kenny was with me...