Children of the Plague [NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE]

Later, after breakfast and being led back to our room, Sergeant Michel came and got us one at a time for what he called “counseling”. I sat on a cot and kept to myself, running over everything in my mind. It was so much to take in, and it took a lot of processing for me to understand it.

After a few other kids, Sgt. Michel called my name and he led me to a small, sparsely furnished room; it actually only had two chairs. “So, Aidren,” he said.

I just sat there apprehensively, I was scared about what he was going to tell me. I kept hearing my dad’s voice repeatedly in my head, and I was afraid he was going to say I injured or killed him. He just sat in the seat opposite me, silently staring and it didn’t make me feel any better. His silence actually made me feel a whole lot worse.

Finally, I guess he realized I wasn’t going to say anything, so he continued.

“How are you adjusting so far?” His question stunned me for a moment.

“Fine, I guess. It’s just a lot to take in,” I finally managed to spit out. “I’m sorry about what happened in the white room,” I added as an afterthought.

“The white room? Oh, the infirmary.” He sighed deeply and then took a breath. “I accept your apology and I apologize too. I didn’t have to take you down so brutally, that’s probably from my training.”

“Thank you,” I quietly said while nodding.

After another moment of silence, Sergeant Michel started to tell me about why I was in the camp.

“So,” he began. “As you know, we are going into the specific reasoning of why everyone is in Camp Walker. The night before you were brought in, the police were called to your residence due to a disturbance. By the time they arrived, the house was already in shambles.”

“What does that mean?”

“I was completely collapsed in on itself and destroyed. According to the report, the police and other rescue workers worked late into the early hours of the morning sifting through the rubble. Miraculously, they were able to pull you from the rubble unharmed. Your parents were not so fortunate. Our local taskforce was alerted due to the abnormal nature of the events. It appeared that the collapse of your house was caused by multiple and simultaneous breaks of the wooden support beams. It’s with this information that we brought you here and deduced you were most likely a Carpenter.

I placed my head in my hands as my worst fears came true. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, just staring at my hands, my hands that caused the death of my parents. Was my dad’s voice that I had been hearing the last thing he said to me before my powers went berserk and destroyed everything? How could Sergeant Michel be so calm when he was sitting just across from me? I didn’t want to believe him so I grasp at anything to help the illusion.

“You’re lying,” I said with vehemence. I had no basis for this statement, I was just unable to comprehend what I was told.

Sgt. Michel didn’t say anything at first, he just looked at me. “Aidren, you were brought here to ensure the safety of others and to give you a place where you might feel normal. I understand that you might feel upset, and I can only imagine your pain. But why would I lie? I have no reason.”

“You lie!” I yelled and jumped to my feet.

My only thought was that I had to get out and find out the truth for myself. Sergeant Michel’s cold stare as I leaped up brought me to my senses and I sat back down. The meeting didn’t last much longer. I didn’t have anything else to say. Sergeant Michel went over some additional rules and scheduling, which I didn’t bother to remember, and then he dismissed me from the room. The rest of the day went by in a blur. The last thing I remembered was laying down in bed. Unfortunately, the nightmare involving my father’s voice only became worse. That night I dreamed that he woke me up and I grabbed his head and changed it into a tree.

I woke up in a cold sweat in the dark and I focused my eyes. As I did, the world around me became blurry, colors burst from all the objects in my line of sight, and everything Sgt. Michel told me became crystal clear. He said the house was in ruins, and I used my power to change all the wood around the house, making it cave in on itself. But as I sat in my bed, I realized that he must be lying.

I could clearly see everything’s energy in the room around me. When I focused on an object, I could literally see down to its molecules and manipulate it in different ways. It didn’t matter what I was looking at either; it wasn’t just wood. If I had the power to change anything that I wanted and my power went out of control, why would I only manipulate the wood in the house? It didn’t make any sense to me. Either they didn’t know what really happened, or they were lying to me. I needed to find out the answer because I refused to believe that I killed my parents and even if I did, I knew it had to be in a different manner than how they said it happened.