Marvelon

Sophia was braced against one of the rocky sides of the cave. Alex leaned against her while he spoke to her in a language known by couples behind closed doors. 

My eyes bulged; all air rushed from my lungs. My nostrils struggled to pull in oxygen. My mind went blank. 

No, this was not supposed to happen. 

I asked her to wait for me. She told me she would. Then, why? How? I didn't understand? Wasn't I enough? Was it because I wasn't normal? 

I was only absent for a few weeks. A few weeks. Not long enough for her to move on with someone else. And, Alex at that. 

Alex, my brother. My best friend. He knew there was something between us. Yet, here he was with her. He chose to betray me. 

Sirens rang in my eardrum. My face heated. My veins started buzzing like millions of ants crawling over me. I became light-headed. Energy soared through me. At first, I wanted to jump, walk, run at the same time, but then it settled, I wanted to do something else. 

He should suffer. Suffer as how I was.

The thought swirled in my mind and curled around my heart. 

The swishing sound of water found my ears. His body fluids. Listening to the sound, I imagined it moving from other parts of his body to his chest. My mind ran away with the thought of the body fluids filling his lungs as it would an empty cup. 

He should drown in his betrayal. 

Joy washed over me at the sound of him choking and coughing. His fingers scraped at his chest. When the pressure hit his lungs, he fell to his knees. He held his chest for dear life.

A smile tugged on my lips as he cried out in pain. 

His voice petered out as the pain grew. Fingers clawed the sand beneath his knees. He collapsed on the ground before rolling on his side and curled into a ball. 

In the same breath, Sophia screamed concerned words at him. 

His gaze met mine. "Marv," he gasped. "Marv, stop." 

That was when Sophie noticed me. The wheels turned in her head as her gaze flickered from him to me. Then she solved the riddle: I was the cause of his torment. Hazel green eyes grew wide for a short second before Sophie stepped towards me. Stopping short, she fell to her knees, tears running down rosy cheeks. Quavering lips moved in slow motions, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. Her words would be of no use to me. It was the way she looked that held my interest.  

She was begging for him when she promised to be with me. Wow. She promised. 

My gaze strayed from Sophie to Alex. The image of the flowing body fluid slowed, creeping to its destination. Alex's suffering should be slow and painful. I waited weeks, weeks for Sophie. Weeks. Yet, here she was with him.  

Alex clawed at his neck and gasped for air. His eyes turned red. 

At that moment, the scene before me began flickering as if lights going on and off. Within the next breath, I was no longer in the cave. Instead, a sparkling blue ocean spread out before me. There was no sun. Yet, its heat bathed my skin, and the brightness it offered illuminated the shoreline. Land covered by white sand stretched out behind me. 

The place seemed familiar.

A man appeared to my left. He seemed in his mid-fifties but looked much younger. The man was taller than I was with a muscular built. Blue and green scales covered his legs and feet. Webs connected his toes. Or they weren't toes. They didn't appear to be toes, but something else. However, from his waist upwards was tan smooth skin. Red hair fell to his shoulders. 

"You know," he spoke in a raspy voice, "there are other ways of using those powers rather than killing your friend, there." 

I didn't respond. 

He raised an eyebrow. "I get it. They hurt you, but is that worth killing him for?" He paused for a second before, "You will never find love in the one you seek. Love lays ahead. I persist that this course of action will go in vain."

Too confused, I stayed silent, which caused an exaggerating breath to escape from his lips. 

"Fine, kill him. What will happen to your parents when you do? What about his parents? How disappointed your father will be. And, most importantly, what are you doing to that poor girl?"

My eyes snapped to his. "I don't wanna kill him. I never wanted to hurt her, but they chose their fate."

He nodded in understanding, then waved his hand over the vast ocean. As he did, the ocean vanished, and the scene in the cave appeared. Alex laid on the ground covered in sweat. 

Sophie...Sophie's face was puffy from crying, but the most frightening of all was that she was scared. 

Scared of me. Like the nightmares. I would destroy them all. She said it and now...now...

I stepped back. 

Looking at me, the man beside me stated in the calmest voice known to man, "Ahh, looks worse than it seems, doesn't it?"

Noticing my discomfort, he waved back his hand, and the awful scene was gone. "You can stop this before it gets worse, you know."

"How?" My voice was low. "There's too much liquid in his lungs by now. He's pretty much dead even if we take him to a hospital."

Saying it out loud, the realization hit me. 

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Panic started to suffocate me.

I killed him! He was my best friend. My brother. How could I have killed him? 

A hand nestled on my back. " Don't worry, young lad. We're family for a reason. Come."

Before I could comprehend what he said, I was back at the horrible scene. Once we were there, I rushed to my friend's side. The man from the shoreline stooped on Alex's opposite side. The man grabbed a hold of my hand and rested it on Alex's chest, guiding me with his own.

"Imagine your power going into him." The man guided my hand by having it wavering over Alex's chest.  "While it does, think of everything being repaired." 

I closed my eyes and did as instructed. The fluid was dispersed to its rightful places. Alex's lungs were repaired, and taking in air. His blood flow regulated.

I almost cried in relief when he coughed. When he did the man gave me one last smile and disappeared. 

"Marv," Alex choked.

My heart sank. What I did dawned on me. This was not normal. She was right. I was a monster. 

I pushed from Alex and ran home. My room couldn't save me from what was to come, but it could save the world from me.