SkyKnight117

Reform

"Hell, I'll take a smoke!" Ryan chimed, as he reached for the cigarette that hung out from the box in the mans hand. He hadn't had a cigarette in days. He hadn't so much as thought of them, what with all that was happening as of late, and the idea of one now became almost a need more than a want. The rather homely looking man in front of them seemed to observe him closely as Ryan instinctively searched his pocket for a lighter, and for some reason everyone seemed to turn their attention to him. When Ryan realized this he quit fumbling in his pockets and just let the cigarette hang, unlit, from his lips. The attention of the group switched back to the stranger before them, who flicked open a zippo and struck the flint.

"Jesus," the man growled, "You want me to smoke it for ya too?!"

He held the flame out and Ryan shrugged and leaned in to light his cigarette, and nodded a 'thank you'. The man closed the zippo and stuffed it back in his pocket. Leaning back against the hood of his car, he turned back to Louis.

"Camping huh?"

Reform

"Your getting pretty good at this," Ryan laughed, as he grabbed one of the bags from Issac, "Hope your equally good at guessing sizes."

"There's over six hundred dollars worth of clothes here," Issac snorted, "If you can't find your size you can go bare assed."

"Ha-Ha." He replied, monotone, as he began digging through the bag. "What the fuck is this?" Ryan pulled out a pale pink shirt with a large print of a Kitten wearing sunglasses, popping a wheelie on a crotch rocket.

Issac smiled, "Yeah I thought you might like that."

Ryan rolled his eyes as his two friends laughed hysterically. "Funny."

He had started stuffing the shirt back into the bag when he noticed a crummy looking car stopped a short distance from there campsite. He turned to Issac.

"What did you have that one bring?"

Reform

Ryan sighed, "It'll still be pretty bad but I've got to replace the plastics from the crash anyways. Just, watch out for rocks?" He groaned. In any other circumstance this would be unacceptable, but they needed to keep moving and he wasn't leaving His bike behind.

Sorry Grace, he thought as he climbed into the truck, It won't be anything I can't fix.

He watched as the truck pulled his bike along the sand, leaving plumes of dust as it trudged along. He settled into his seat and started a mental checklist of motorcycle parts and conversions. If this is the way they're going to be living, Grace was going to need a few changes.

"So where exactly are we going?" He asked, leaning forward between the front seats.

Reform

Ryan was unsure where to begin. His ability seemed to be a little more focused on specific targets, and there was only the three of them at the edge of the parking lot. It wouldn't be right for him to use his ability on Issac or Lou, especially when he was still learning to control it.

He heard a short honk in the distance, someone locking their car in the lot before going in to shop. He saw the headlights flash once, which showed him what vehicle it had come from, and a young woman in a pink sweater throwing her purse over her shoulder as she walked toward the shopping center.

Well that would just be mean. he told himself.

As he watched though a man walked toward her, an acoustic guitar across his back. He looked her up and down as he approached, the woman unaware as she stared at her cellphone while she walked. Just as the two passed each other the man turned and pinched her ass, and muttered something Ryan couldn't hear from this distance. The woman shook her head in disgust and and flipped him off, then marched toward the shopping center while the man laughed.

Sorry Guitar.

The man continued walking backwards toward his vehicle, admiring the woman's rear end. Ryan directed his focus on him, trying to recreate the feeling he had at school. He imagined the man collapsing, and tried to bend reality to his will.

Before the man could turn back around there was a loud crash as he fell on top of his guitar and onto the pavement, leaving the guitar in pieces. The man lay still in the parking lot, sound asleep.

He probably couldn't play anyway.

Reform

Ryan sat in amazement at the explanation at his friends abilities. The more he thought about it, the more his ability seemed somewhat...useless. He almost didn't want to discuss it since his seemed so feeble in comparison to making things explode or controlling people. But as Lou and Issac finished their explanations, Ryan realized they were both staring at him, waiting to hear some grand ability.

"Well....uh...I think i might be able to.....sorta....make people sleep?" He said, fiddling awkwardly with his hands, though it sounded more like a question than a declaration.

The others were quiet as he said it, then again, Ryan didn't give them much time to speak before recanting, "I don't know it may just have been coincidence, i mean its only happened like....three times....since this morning so maybe I'm just being dumb." Ryan picked up his beer and started drinking hoping someone would speak before he put it back down. He felt like the three of them were small children in a clubhouse, pretending they could be superheroes. Yeah....but what kid would think up a super power that made people drowsy?

Reform

Ryan sighed with relief when he heard Issac's voice through the window. At least he was starting to grasp some form of control over this ability. An ability that was becoming harder and harder for him to deny. He stood up and dusted himself off from the rust on the fire escape, then climbed through the window.

Shutting the window and shaking off the cold, Ryan breathed in the scent of Issac's dinner. It was a blissful smell. Simply the thought of a warm meal was the most comforting idea after the day he'd been through, and he couldn't help but feel like he needed to here.

"Smells good." He said, looking over Issac's shoulder at the burgers he'd prepared. "Thank you."

He receded out of the kitchen to allow his friends to make their plates first, the least he could do after they had saved his life. He looked back and forth between Issac and Lou. He was unable to explain it to even himself, but something told him he was right where he needed to be. Whatever came next, he knew that somehow the three of them would get through it together.

He just needed to find a way to discuss his own predicament over dinner. But would they even believe him? Would they be angry that he had clumsily allowed his ability to affect them? He debated in his head while Issac and Lou prepared their plates, but was worried about getting lost in though again. The last time he let his thoughts run wild, his friends passed out.

"Lou I...." he started, but as he spoke his friends both looked at him, and now he'd lingered so long between sentences he didn't know how to put it. He stopped trying to think and finally just blurted it out. "I think I'm like you....."

Reform

Ryan stood perfectly still as his eyes shifted from Issac's collapsed body, to Lou, sound asleep in the recliner. He was thriving with energy, and his mind was racing even faster now, his heart was slamming into his chest like a hammer, so fast it felt like it was humming. He lifted his beer up to the light and inspected it closely.

Maybe there's something in the beer. Could be a side affect from the gas leak. Maybe they breathed something enough in to make them all sick. But I'm not sick. I feel Fine. I feel great! Dude you totally did this. Well that's terrible! AND AWESOME!

He couldn't shut his brain off, and the thoughts were coming so fast he could barely pick one out from the others. He had to slow down if he was going to figure out a solution. Slow down.

Ryan thought back to school, and how everyone seemed to liven up as he relaxed. How the hell am I supposed to relax NOW?

He leaned over to try and shake Lou awake again, but he just lay there, his long deep breaths filling his chest. Ryan was struck with an idea. Fresh air works wonders.

Trying to calm himself, Ryan intentionally walked as casually as he could over to the window, and slid it open. He noticed a fire escape on the other side, a good thing to have with Lou around and climbed through the window with his beer and sat on the hard steel grate. He took a deep breath in, and a long swig of his beer and waited. He tried not to think about anything, just stared out at the city and watched the lights as his heart rate began to slow to a normal pace, and his thoughts almost dissipated.

Reform

Ryan listened as Lou explained, he seemed so regretful and no homo it touched him. He knew these people couldn't be bad. Such a hard life Lou had been through and Ryan connected with that. As he explained some of the strange things that had been happening around him, Ryan's mind began racing. He surged with energy, maybe he wasn't crazy. He started to connect the dots. These events were very similar to Ryan's....minus the....fire....and explosions....

Ryan leaned forward to pick up his beer and took a long swig. There was definitely gonna be some drunken conversation tonight over life and whatever these strange things had to do with them. The silence broke his train of thought. His brain and his heart were racing, and as he looked back to Lou to hear the rest of the story, he realized Lou had passed out.

One too many. Ryan thought.

or was it.....no. Nope. No. Uh uh.

Ryan realized his surge of energy. The same he'd felt in class, that seemed so out of place while everyone around him drooled on their desks. Could he really be....? Ryan shook his head and stood up. He reached out to shake Lou awake, "Hey man....you alright?"

Reform

"My name is Ryan," he answered, suddenly feeling out of place. Explosions, fires, and fugitives....the day wasn't over yet. He was sure something else beyond credibility was just waiting to find its way into his day before sunset.

Whatever the case, he was done trying to understand his recent eventful hours and had come to one conclusion. Whatever these people may have done, or are accused of doing, they saved his life, stitched him up, gave him shelter, a beer, and now are offering him food. How bad could they possibly be?

"Thanks for letting me crash-" The one called Lou snapped his attention at Ryan. "...on the couch....thanks for letting me crash on the couch." Ryan let out a small chuckle, but Lou and Issac remained silent.

"....cause.....crash....has dual mean-" Ryan looked down at his shoes. Yes Ryan. Puns. This situation needed puns. Idiot.

Reform

Ryan grunted as the hook pierced is skin. Luckily he wasn't hurt too badly, his gear had done its job and taken most of the slide for him. He thought back to his bike, and how they'd stashed it in a desolate alleyway under a tarp and some miscellaneous crates an trash. The man currently sewing Ryan's stuffing back in was oddly well versed in making something disappear in plain sight.

Suddenly Ryan realized he didn't know either of his rescuers names. He turned back to see the other man was shuffling awkwardly around the apartment, fidgeting with things here and there as he went. He seemed uncomfortable, which made Ryan uncomfortable. This WAS a very peculiar situation that he only now payed attention to. There was just an explosion that knocked him off his bike, yet his rescuers seemed unscathed....so why were THEY in such a hurry to make themselves scarce?

He remembered the awkward explanation they gave him when he'd asked what happened. Gas Leak. But how would they know? Maybe they just didn't want to be mixed up in whatever happened, it is very easy to catch blame out of innocence, by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The sound of a glass bottle hitting the floor shook Ryan out of his thoughts.

"Sorry." Said the pacing man as he picked the bottle up and placed it in the trash.

The jolt seemed to wake Ryan up a bit, his heart was pounding.

As the man plopped into a recliner, the room became quiet again.

"I never got a chance to thank you for pulling me out of the street," Ryan said, breaking the silence. He looked back and forth at each of the men, "Thank You."