I wake up abruptly short of breath and in a pool of sweat. “Another nightmare?” My best friend Tess asks. 

I give an empty reply. “Yeah.” 

“The same one?”

I nod while I reach for my bottle of water. “Sorry if I woke you up. You can go back to sleep now.” 

She comes and sits beside me and leans on my shoulder. Tess was my best friend for as long as I can remember. We were next door neighbors when we were younger, we always played together after school, and she was even my first kiss. She's also an unbelievably talented hacker. 

Things aren’t like that between us though. We are nothing more than friends, it was just in the heat of the moment. That’s what she said at least. Although I’m not sure if those words were meant for myself or her. 

“Don’t worry about me, just relax,” she whispers softly. “Can I get you anything?”

“That’s okay Tess, thank you.”

She just sighs as I take a few moments to gather my thoughts and then stare emptily at my phone after checking the date. Tess notices what my phone says and immediately tries to comfort me.

Today’s date is February 2nd, 2094. This day marks the 3 year anniversary of my brother Jaxon being kidnapped by the military for “medical testing”.  Ever since then, I’ve had only one thing on my mind at all times, to get him back. We lost our parents to a drunk driver 5 years ago when I was 16 and he was 12, and it had been just the two of us and on our own for the longest 2 years of our lives until that point.  No matter how hard times have gotten for us, from being homeless to being beaten by a group of grown ups for trying to steal a bite, the uplifting caring voice of my brother always gave me strength to keep surviving. I cannot afford to lose him. 

After he went missing was when I reached out to Tess. She was the one person left in this world I trusted, and I needed her hacking skills.

Most people would have given up by now, assuming he was gone, but I know he’s alive. As a matter of fact, I’m absolutely sure of it. That’s because the military didn’t shove themselves into our lives and rip him away from me because he was sick. It’s because he had the ability to move things with his mind. We discovered this ability after him and I were arguing over something ridiculous as children, and he lost his temper. But this was no mere temper tantrum. He let out an ear piercing scream and lifted everything in our kitchen from the ground, then passed out. He was in a coma for 8 days.

After he woke up, we made absolutely sure he knew how important it was that nobody ever found out about this ability. We did not tell a single soul ever, for his safety. I didn’t even tell Tess, whom I had a pact with about keeping secrets. The reason we were so secretive  is we feared that the evil of this world would do anything to get their hands on him. ,However, we never expected our own government would be the one to take him.

After Tess and I had lived together for a while, I decided I would tell her the real reason my brother was stolen. I had contemplated this for some time, and I still don’t know if it was because I didn’t trust her yet, or if I was too scared she’d flip off and I’d lose the best help I’d ever had in finding him.

Regardless, her response to me telling her was something I did not expect at all. 

I sat there in a mix of confusion and anger after telling her my biggest secret. I knew I was wrong about her. I had just opened up to her the most important thing in my entire life, and she laughed at me? I was ready to storm out of the room when what she said next froze me in my tracks.

“What did you just say?” I ask her sternly.

“I already knew, I’ve always known.”

“Who else knows?”

“Just me.”

At that moment all I could do was hug Tess. The fact she had known something like that so insane at such a young age and not once ever told another soul gave me a brand new form of respect for her. From that day on I completely trusted her with my life.

We talk to each other for a couple minutes before trying to catch a few hours of sleep before we leave to go get my brother. Except this time, she insists I sleep in her bed because my sheets were still wet with my sweat. I wasn’t complaining though. The warm feeling of her presence could have put me to sleep with a bullet in my leg.

We checkout of the hotel at 6 am, grab a bagel from the store across the street, and set course for the military base. We were both dead silent, nervous about what was coming. We had no idea what to expect, but that was not going to stop us. 

Tess stares out of the passenger seat window as we drive in silence through the dark for about an hour and a half, until we notice a gate a couple hundred yards away. We decided we would park there and sneak in. We sat there for a couple minutes in silence, unsure of what to say to each other. I turn to her as I’m finally about to open my mouth to say we should move, when her lips press against mine. This was not a peck like our first kiss all those years ago. This kiss had meaning. Real meaning. The sheer tension from her lips to mine was enough to make my entire body hot, even on this cold Alaskan plain. She pulls away from me and smiles a little. “Time to go.” She says.

With the thoughts of what just happened speeding through my mind like lightning, we sneak up to the fence quietly. We hop it, and see a hatch. We pass through without causing any disturbances. I thought it was strange that there were no guards, but decided not to say anything. We snuck through this fortress searching endlessly for him but with no luck. But the strange thing was we also hadn’t seen anyone else. It was a fully functional fortress with no guards in sight. What was going on?

As if on cue, Tess whispers to me, “I don’t feel very good about this.” I nod my head in agreement. We continue walking when we wear a loud bang below us. We glance at each other and dash to find the nearest stairs. 

Soon, we find stairs, and make our way below. I hear something at the end of the hall that takes all the breath out of me at once. It was the screams of my little brother. Without a second thought, I sprinted down the hall. I was so consumed with rage that I didn’t even notice the lights flickering as I moved by them. Tess was following me, trying to keep up.

I slammed through the door at the end of the hallway to find my brother tied to a chair, face bloody and nearly unconscious. I sob into him and untie him, ready to leave. But it wasn’t that simple. I had also found every guard this place had to offer. We were completely surrounded with nowhere to go, when a gunshot rang out. I thought they had missed us, but I soon felt something wet on my side. It was my brother's blood. This could not be happening. I was so close. So, so close.

I had spent 3 years chasing my brother down, just for his life to be mercilessly taken right before me.

“What a shame, isn't it?” I whip my body around to face the man speaking, the man that murdered Jaxon. “That our need for that little runt ceased to exist only a couple days before you found him. A shame it is.” He says calmly as he chuckles.

I lay my brother on the floor, and let my emotions control me. I let out a scream in a fit of rage and all the glass around us shatters. I stare at the man who shot my brother with nothing but hatred in me, and his neck snaps before my eyes. This is when it occurred to me that my brother was not the only one with powers. Now that he was gone, both Jess and I had nothing left to do. We relentlessly fought each and every soldier in the fortress until our very last breath. But we were not upset when our time had come. 

“Thank you Tess. For everything. I’m so sorry I got you involved in this. I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

“Shut up.” She says sternly. “No time for that. We came here today to free Jaxon. I think, in a way, we did.”

“What do you mean?” I say distraughtly.

She gives me that warm laugh of hers. “We freed him from this place, and now we are going to get to be with him again.” Was she right? Will I finally be with him in the next life? She moves to bring her lips to mine one last time as more of the military storms into the room, surrounding us. 

While I turn to watch them move into their formation, a hand grabs my ankle. I look down at the face of my little brother, staring into my eyes.

¨We aren't done yet,¨ he gives me a weak smile ¨I don´t look that dead do I?¨

With tears filling my eyes, I just shake my head and laugh. I didn't have a clue what to say. I guess I never thought about this part.

I stand up to face the room full of soldiers moving to kill us, then look at Tess. ¨I guess we aren't done yet after all.¨ I look around, syncing with the newfound power coursing through my veins.

The commanding officer steps forward to make himself known. ¨You know how this is going to end. Just stand down. Haven't you seen enough blood?¨

I thought about this question for a couple seconds. I look him in the eye, and say with a low voice. ¨No, I don't think I have,¨ I take a step closer ¨not even close.¨ The rage starts to build back up inside me when I look down at my barely conscious brother. ¨Someone's paying for this. Let's see how this goes.¨

Before he can finish saying the command to fire, I squeeze my fist. His voice cuts out. He starts to grasp for air, more desperately by the second. While his men are frantically trying to help, I turn his head towards mine with a brush of a finger. I watch him struggle, while I tighten my grip a little more. He tried to plead with me, but I couldn't hear him. I´m not sure if it was his vocal chords being crushed or the clouds in my head blocking the noise, but it didn't matter to me. I was enjoying this.

Soon enough, he stopped squirming. His helpless expression turned to a lifeless one, and his arms dropped. I unclenched my fist, letting his body slump to the floor. Turning to the rest of the men, I crack a  smile. ¨Your turn now.¨ They try to recover and point their guns at me to fire, but not in time. I raise both of my arms, along with every gun in the room. When I throw them back down, the overhanging lights come with them. The men stand there in shock, not even trying to move. I think it may have just dawned upon them what they had gotten themselves into.

The lights crash into about half of the men, leaving them unconscious or dead, it didn't matter to me. The rest stared at me in terror, unarmed and helpless. I knew in my head I didn't need to kill them but I wanted to. Anyone involved in any of this deserves nothing less than death. With one swift glance and a flick of my wrist, I end them all, without a trace of remorse. 

After the guards are dealt with, I turn to Tess and Jaxon. ¨We need to go.¨ She nods and begins to get up while I pick up my brother to carry him.  

While we made our way through the halls, something big occurred to me. How in the hell are we getting out of here? I called up to Tess about my worries, but per usual, she was prepared. 

¨I left a GPS tracker in the vent we came in, just follow me.¨ I don´t know what I'd do without her. 

After darting through halls and ducking corners for a few minutes, we made it to the vent. Tess climbed in first, then after handing her Jaxon I followed, replacing the vent door behind me. We made our way through the compact tunnel for what felt like an eternity, until we made it to a light. 

We climbed through the vent, and out into the cold Alaskan air. We sneak back over the gate and to the car. Although the fighting was over, we weren't done yet. We needed to get Jaxon to a hospital. 

I rushed to the nearest one and carried him inside. Thankfully, they were able to begin operating on him immediately. 

After hours of restless waiting, a doctor came into the waiting room Tess and I were in.

The doctor began to explain what was wrong with him, but I was too anxious and had to cut him off. ¨Is he going to be ok or not.¨ I asked sternly.

He takes a second to gather his answer, making me even more nervous. But that's all taken away when he begins his answer with a smile. ¨He's going to be ok.¨

I let out the heaviest sigh of relief I ever breathed, and sank into my chair, closing my eyes. I couldn't help but smile when i thought to myself, It wasn't for nothing, we did it.