Chapter Sixteen: Timelines (Special Flashback Chapter)

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THE YEAR 1989, Swellview.
"Leave me alone," an eight-year-old Ray Manchester screamed at his daddy. They were in the living room of their compact house.

"Ray, if you quit being so stubborn, you'd realize that what we are doing is the best for you." Carl Manchester told his son.

"I don't want that. I don't. Mom said I could still go to school and make friends. You keeping me here won't help me at all." Ray answered back. His dad was trying to talk him out of going to school because of his newfound indestructibility. Carl Manchester realised that he had to play rough on this kid because he would not listen. He blamed it on his poor raising of the kid, which led to his poor self esteem.

"You are a negligent father. All you are ever focused on is your lab, where you hurt creatures. Where you hurt my puppy, Geo. You don't know me."

"Ray, you're upset. Take a nap and all..."

"No! nothing about this is O.K. You didn't know that some bullies painted my favorite playhouse and made me watch it when I was four. You don't know what it's like to have a rather irresponsible dad, who can't even show up for Career Day. The only reason you are even talking to me right now is because of the 'accident' in your lab." Ray said, as tears welled in his eyes.

"I care for you Ray, never doubt that."

"Then why, why, do you want me to drop out of school? I can make friends with my new superpower. People won't bully me anymore."

"Ray, your powers are a risk to everyone. Terrible men may come and take you to another lab far away from daddy. Do you want that?" Ray whiffed his head.

"But dad, you promised that we'd go camping, that we'd have fun together, that you'd teach me how to ride a bike. After work."Ray said.

"Yes, but we can't do that ever again."

"Mom said that..."

"ENOUGH ABOUT WHAT MOM SAID. THE CLOSEST BOND YOU'L EVER HAVE WITH YOUR MOMMY IS THROUGH A TELEPHONE. BECAUSE SHE AIN'T COMING BACK. NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM, BEFORE I GET THE SWITCH, NOW!!!" shouted Carl Manchester, who was short-tempered.
Ray ran to his room. He was more often brute and drunk and was falling into bankruptcy as no one invested in his projects again. But here was his son, a living project, a successful one as that, the first human invulnerable to physical injury, was an eight-year-old. If word got around, they would screw him as he would lose his only son to an experiment. A group he had avoided so long before. If word got around of that kid having a superpower, they would come for him. The people who had turned against him. His hopes for a quiet life with his son would fall flat on his face. He needed to hide him for now until he was safe. Not to mention that his son was a ticking time bomb, and if his powers ever got out of control, heaven knows that all hell would break loose. They would come for him again, just as they had come for his wife. They held his wife hostage and were only restricted to one phone call a month. He had failed to embrace change, and now his wife was paying the price. He hated that his son had to go through this. He did. But there was no other choice.
There was no other way. His son would have to be shut out of the world if he ever stayed safe.

That was where Carl trained his adolescent son, desperate to turn him into a fighter. To keep him safe from the dark impulses. And to protect himself in case 'they' came for him. He would not let them do it. Not if he could do anything about it. He knew that his son was miserable but he would have no choice, no say in the matter. Because if anyone had found out, they would have wiped him out. There was no way that was happening. No way.

THE YEAR 1999, Swellview.
"Come on guys, I want to show you something." an 18-year-old Ray Manchester told his recent friends sitting with him at a table. Loud music blared over the speakers at the Swellview Midnight Club, a club only for teens. He wasn't sure if he was drunk or not. In fact, he didn't know what being drunk meant. All he knew was that something wasn't right with him. Guess it was the drinks his friends had offered him. Made him feel tipsy. They had helped him escape the clutches of his old father.

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