Yellow
“Are you ready?”
Whizzer shook his head violently, the grimace on his face twisting knots into his own stomach.”what if I just don’t sleep?” He asked, hope in his eyes.
“Honey, it doesn’t work like that.” His mom replied as she sat on the floor of his bedroom. The tiny attic room was cozy and Whizzer lay in his single bed, curled up to the side slightly so that he could see his mom. “Even if you don’t fall asleep it will happen.” She shook her head slightly, a comforting look on her face.
“Mama, what’s your power?” He asked, trying to steal time that she could sit with him.
“I’ve told you before Whizzer, now get to sleep, it’s your Birthday tomorrow!” She kissed his forehead and got up to leave, but whizzer grabbed her hand, her worn yet soft fingers closing around his own.
She turned to see his large brown eyes open as though he was a puppy, but deep down she could see the terror they held,” please mama. I’m scared.”
She sighed,”alright-“ she placed her hand on his forehead, brushing away tiny strands of hair that had fallen. “- you never know what your real biggest fear is until your power comes. I always thought I was afraid of spiders.”
“I’m afraid of spiders!” Whizzer interjected, fear in his face.
A sympathetic look crossed his Mother’s face,” well that may not be your true fear.” She added,” I was afraid of being alone, so I have the power to see those around me who have gone.”
Whizzer smiled slightly,” so that means that you’re never alone?”
“No whizzer-“ she said, a pained look on her face”- in theory I should never be alone, in reality I’m surrounded by too many people for me to ever feel as though I’m not alone. People who I’ve never met, people who I never wanted to see again. The only people who are missing are the ones I want there to be.” Her head snapped to the side.
A terrified look crossed Whizzers face as he saw his mother’s dead eye stare at the corner of the room, tilting her head as though she was listening.
“Mama?“ he asked “mom?”
She snapped out of her daze, a nauseating smile adorning her face, “look whizzer, you need to sleep, good luck for tomorrow.”
She stayed with him until he fell asleep, clutching at him as he slept, scared of what might happen to him.
The next day he went to school like usual, everyone wishing him a happy fifteenth birthday as he waited for 2:27pm. The exact moment he was born, nausea setting in.
He closed his eyes as the clock struck, terrified of what was going to happen to him, his breath was shallow and shaky. It was the one time everyone would treat people with respect, when they were getting their power. The ones who already had theirs, looking on with sympathy, the others with fear.
Then he opened his eyes. The faces of those around him lit up yellow. His eyebrows knitted together as he stared at them, he saw a girl whisper something to her friend and suddenly her face was pulsating yellow, like the sun.
Cruel. He had heard cruel tales of how people’s powers affected them, but he never once thought how bad it would really be. Seeing the happiness on other people’s faces when he himself did not have it. Knowing exactly how to make people happy, when no one would ever know how to make him happy.
His power was to make people happy, when he himself must suffer in silence.
And that was how he lived for years.
-
“Does anyone understand, all I want’s a kiss! anyone understand?” Marvin yelled at Whizzer, the yellow flickering.
“Oh, don’t start explaining-“ whizzer retorted, his jaw set hard”- I’m sick of explaining!”
Their voices overlapped as the volume increased.
“This had better come to a stop Marvin.”
“Now whizzer.”
“Ciao Marvin bend”
“This had better come.”
“This had better come to a.”
“This, this, this.”
Whizzer pushed over his suitcase, “this” moving Marvin’s hand away from him.
Together they made it final,” this had better come to an end.” And Whizzer picked up his suitcase, slamming into Marvin as he left.
“This had better come to an end!”
He ran down the stairs out of the apartment, reaching the street as he stood under the porch, the rain pouring from the sky. “Fuck prophetic fallacy!” He muttered to the man standing next to him, then he noticed it.
No more yellow.
From upstairs he heard the window fly open and his now ex boyfriend yelling, a glass bottle smashing on the pavement in front of him.
“Fuck you whizzer!” He yelled down at the Man with the suitcase.
Whizzers voice was so powerful it brought fear to Marvin, icy as though a thousand icicles were ramming into his heart.
“Leave me alone Marvin.”
He was quiet as he said it, intimidating Marvin even more.
“This is all your fucking fault Whizzer.” He responded
Whizzer threw a hand up in the air “I said leave me the fuck alone.”
As he said it the ice flew from his hand, hitting Marvin straight in the chest, he flailed slightly, his head spinning and he cursed in pain before falling away from the window out of Whizzers sight.
A lump formed in Whizzers throat as he realised his new fear. Being so scared he would end up alone that he had become icy, frozen everyone out from his heart and purposely messed up all his relationships, so he would not feel the pain of losing someone.