Run

Chapter 18

Dr. Cameron Walker.

One-half of the duo that put me in my misery.

And that lady is the mother to probably my only close friend.

While sitting on a rock with my wet clothes and damp hair, I realize why Aidan was hesitant to reveal his past to me. Having a mother that evil must be hard.

Now only if I knew who my mom was.

Did she work for the Institute? Was she as evil? Did she care about me at all?

It seems like I ask those questions to myself a lot.

I dip my toes in the water, making ripples on the still water. I look up at the horizon, at the paradise this place was. I wanted to stay in this part of the forest forever, but I knew that we'd either a) run out of supplies or couldn't find any or b) be found by them.

I was so drowned in thought that the only thing that snapped me out of it landed on my head.

"Hey!" I said, removing the... towel from my head. I look up to see Aidan above me, smiling. "What was that for?"

"I thought you might want a towel." He replied, sitting next to me. He takes the towel back, dries his hair a bit, then wraps it around my shoulders.

"You're letting me use a towel you already used. Great." I say. Sarcastically.

"Well, did you bring a towel you can use?" He asks. I stay silent. "I thought so."

I lay my head on Aidan's shoulder. We sat in silence, with the sound of birds chirping in the background.

"So," I say, breaking the silence. "What now?"

"What do you mean?"

"We can't stay here - in the forest - forever. We have to get to some city or something." I say, lifting my head from his shoulder. "Plus, what about our weird superhuman abilities? What do we do about those?"

"What do we do about them?" Aidan repeats. "It's not like we can do anything about them. They are a part of us. We either have to find a way to remove them or learn how to use them."

"I vote to get rid of them!" I stand up. "I don't want to be a mutant freak."

"Why do you can yourself a mutant freak when you aren't a mix of anything?" Aidan asks.

"Because... why not?"

"It's not proper."

"Whatever."

"Anyway," Aidan says, steering the conversation back to it's original topic. "We can't get rid of it without, like, proper equipment. And we're in the middle of a forest."

"So I guess we have to learn to control our powers?"

"I guess. I mean, we can't just forget about them." Aidan explains. "What if something bad happens because of our abilities. Or maybe we need to use our powers to get out of something bad."

I take a deep breath in. "Alright, I guess you're right. But I still think it would be better to forget about this whole power thing."

"You know, there are kids who dream about having super powers. And we have them. Why are you so against them?" Aidan asks, his hands on my shoulders.

Oh, god. He's so close to my face. Was my first reaction.

What the hell, Lauren. Don't say you're falling for this guy. A voice said.

A voice. The voice from before.

Who the hell are you, voice? I ask.

Someone. It replied.