Paranormal Twins: The New Beginning

I woke up to the feeling of hard pressure pushing on my chest. I sat up and took a few deep breaths. I glanced over and saw Sage reading a book. Dad was leaning back, sleeping. I yawned, feeling both of my ears pop. I grimaced and took a piece of gum out of Sage’s purse without her noticing. A flight attendant offered us a pillow, which Sage took, but I declined. I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep now that I was awake. It’ll take a while for me to fall asleep again.

I stared out the small plane window, staring at the lights of the cities below. The sight was amazing- I haven’t been on a plane since I was five or six. I looked over at Sage, who was staring at her phone, the light glowing across her face. I leaned over casually and saw her texting someone.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to use your phones while on plane rides.” I said to her. She just shrugged.

“It honestly doesn’t do anything. Safety precaution more than anything.” She sent her text and looked over at me.

“Who were you texting?” I asked. I glanced at who it was but I couldn’t make out the name.

She smiled. ”My boyfriend, Corey. I told him I was coming back and I needed, well, wanted, him to meet us at the airport.” She smiled and gave me a hug, awkward from the plane seats in our way. “I can’t wait to show you around the facility.” She pulled away and bit her lip, glancing at my sleeping father. “It depends on what he wants, though.”

I nodded slowly. My mind went back to what he said earlier. I’m not your real father. She wasn’t your real mother. I looked down at the bracelet on my wrist, the one my mother gave to me on my 8th birthday. It had my name engraved and a shark tooth on it.

I’m not your real father. She wasn’t your real mother repeated in my head. If that’s true, then… I didn’t have a family. Just… Me.

I bit my lip. “How did we even get plane tickets? It’s not like this was planned or anything.”

Sage bit her lip. “You’re father has… Connections.” She looked back down at her phone and pretended to find something interesting.

I leaned the chair back and sighed. A flight attendant came around again and this time I accepted the pillow- I need to at least try to get some sleep. I looked out the window again to the ground below. All the lights. The people working the night shift or stumbling home from bars. The dads sleeping and the moms reading good night stories to their kids. The teachers grading papers while the students study until one in the morning.

I wish that was me. Studying for chemistry. Eating my mom’s cooking. Worrying about my grades. I didn’t want to be on a plane to God knows where to be protected by “Rogue Supernaturals,” or whatever my father said.

I closed my eyes. I just wanted to be normal…

“We did it! We beat them!” My teammate Robby yelled when we all piled into coach’s house. Coach laughed and slapped him on the back. We just beat the last team of the season.

“Yes, we did. Come on, my wife cooked a lot of food. You don’t want to wait until it gets cold, do you?” Coach said. Everyone went into the dining room. I was about to follow them when coach clapped me on the shoulder. “You pitched real good out there.”

My face went hot and I shrugged. “No big deal.”

He laughed. “No big deal? It was amazing!” He smiled at me. “I have a proposition for you.”

“What is it, coach?” I asked.

“I want you to be the pitcher for the Varsity team next year.” He said. Our school was small, and he coached both the middle school and the high school teams.

My eyes widened. “But… I’m only going to be a freshman.” Freshman and Sophomores usually end up on the Junior Varsity team.

He stared at me, a look of pride in his eyes. “You’re good. You’re really good. That arm will get you far in your future.” He clapped me on the back. “Come on, the food’s getting cold. The wife won’t like that.” He smiled and we both went into the dining room. My smile wouldn’t leave my face. Varsity team. Varsity!

I watched the guy Sage was talking to. Corey. He looked almost 25 years old. There was no way he was her boyfriend- he was way too old to be dating a high school girl. He looked around, expecting us to have bags or something, but since we went straight to the airport the only thing we had was whatever was in Sage’s purse.

Sage grabbed the guy’s hand and dragged him over to me. “Corey, this is my best friend Jay. Jay, this is my boyfriend Corey.” She smiled, head moving to look at us. I looked him up and down. Six feet tall, maybe? At least four inches taller than I was. There were three scars on the left side of his face, almost like an animal had scratched him. The deepest one ran from about the corner of his right eye to the corner of his mouth. He didn’t look any younger up close. Sage watched me before giggling.

“What’s so funny?” I asked. She shook her head, still giggling.

Corey scrunched his eyebrows together before he caught onto what was happening and smiled. “I’m only 18, I promise.” He chuckled. “I’m a Werewolf, that’s why I look older. Werewolves grow quickly, so we generally look older than our actual age.” He shrugged like it was a normal thing for him. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. I looked away, pretending to search for my dad.

I saw his face through the crowd, holding a small bag and a drink carrier. He made his way over to us, trying not to knock into anyone.

“Iced caramel mocha.” He handed Sage her coffee. “Mocha frappe.” He handed to me. “Cinnamon Dolce Latte and banana bread,” he said, handing Corey his drink and food. “And a regular Dark Roast for the one with all the money.” He smirked, took his drink out of the carrier, and sipped it before motioning us to follow him. He put his arm over Corey’s shoulders and brought him to the front ahead of the rest of us. They talked for a moment, Sage and I trailing behind them silently.

When we got to the parking lot Corey took Sage’s hand and started walking to the left side of the lot. I started to follow them, but my dad grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“We’re going to meet up with them later. I wanted to have some alone time to talk with you.” He gently pulled me over to the other side of the lot to a nice looking car. He got into the driver’s side, and I stared at the sleek black car for a few moments before getting in the passenger side. I looked at him, confused.

“Someone from the facility brought it.” He said, noting my confusion. I didn’t understand how someone could bring the car to us but not be here with it when we came here, but I decided not to question it. I had a feeling I would have a lot of questions before we met up with Corey and Sage. I pulled the door closed as dad revved the engine and backed out.