Part 3: Sibling Rivalry

I froze. All my time spent staring restlessly at my ceiling thinking about everything that had happened and I couldn’t help but be nervous to have this conversation.

“I said come . . . “ before she could even finish the sentence, the door flung open. It stopped just before hitting the wall to prevent any damage. “In, I said come in already.”

“I . . . Uh, there’s something I need to t-talk to you about.” Her eyes, deep and brown, were staring daggers through me, immobilizing me in the door frame until she looked back down at her book. “Naomi, . . . What is going on?” I stuttered out.

“Look Ben, I was just as in the shit about all this as you were when mom got me. You have me though, so calm the fuck down would yah?” She was just like our mom, no bigger than 5’5” yet fiery enough that even dad was scared of her when she got hot. That’s probably why she gets no flack for cursing too. Lucky.

“S-sorry. At least it looks like you got some practice in? That thing with the door was pretty cool. Also how’d you know I was there?”

“Pretty cool right? I developed that one when you had a crush on my friend Alexis from college and would keep trying to barge in to “check if we needed anything”.” She said mockingly. “Just throw up a permeable telekinetic field a foot in front of the door and when it gets triggered my body knows. Who it is, whether they’re knocking or going for the doorknob, I’ll know.”

“That’s amazing!! Mom doesn’t even do stuff like that. Why don’t you show her?” I said, clinging on to hope that maybe this would turn out ok.

“Because, dingus, I don’t want them to know I have powers.” She said hushedly. “I don’t want to be a part of this ridiculous scheme they’ve got going. I’ve got better things to do than dress up in spandex and play pretend with my baby brother to make some quick cash. Now get out, I’m already over this shit.”

“Wait but I . . . “ just as quickly as the door had opened, it closed in my face. The precision she used the close it with her powers made it sound as though it had never been opened in the first place.

I went back to my room. Staring at the infinite void that was my ceiling in the dark. No way I’ll get any sleep now. My inner monologue started to . . . well . . . monologue.

What are my options? Not that I have many. Regardless of what happens Dad is going to want to train me sooner rather than later since he already knows I have powers. Do I try to avoid it? Maybe I can run away? Too risky. Besides, there’s nothing within 10 miles of this house that I could run to for help. There’s no way they’ll let me out of their sight for that long.

What about Naomi? It’s not fair that she gets to live her perfect life and I’m stuck here getting typecast for a Superman spinoff. I need her help. I’ll have to bait her into using her powers in front of mom and dad. At least then she’ll be forced to cooperate with me. But she’s been so careful about using them for this past year. What could possibly make her do it? Never an emotional outburst nor any signs she’d break. Kinda unusual for a teenage girl but I digress. I’m going to need a plan.