"Bittersweet Memories (part 1)" by Rhianon fairycheese gill

Bittersweet Memories

“Bennie! Bennie, wake up!”

He sleepily opened his eyes, looking up at the impatient six year old towering over him.

“Do you ever stay awake for more than five seconds? Come on. Play!”

She ran off down the garden, away from him and the adults, towards the sunlit house. Her hair shone like liquid rubies in the sunlight... No, not rubies, nothing so poetic as that. Her hair was more like the blood of her victims flowing down her back. He hated this dream. It came every night. His own memories haunted him and no matter how many times he told himself it was just another of his nightmares, he still knew in the back of his mind that it was real. It had happened and one day, soon, he would have his revenge.

“Charr...”

His five year old self crawled after her as she darted into the shadows behind a tree. He tried to shut his eyes, block out the images that polluted his vision, but his eyes were already shut and he could still see her as she emerged from behind the tree, could still see the knife shining in her hand, eager to fulfil its duty. He could still see her as she ran towards the adults, his parents and her parents. Still had to watch them fall, one by one, to the ground, lifeless.

But now Mike was here, picking him up, protecting him, shielding him from her evil. He still felt the fear he had felt that day, only now it was more than that - it was hatred. She had killed his parents, her own parents and countless unknown people after them. As she came towards them the memory went silent, thanks to Mike who had done his best to destroy this memory. Still muted, she walked over to another man lying, seemingly lifeless, on the ground. She brushed her fingertips lightly across his forehead and he stirred but never got a chance to wake as she slaughtered him too. Then she turned back to him and Mike as the sound returned.

“Bennie, I’ll find you! I promise [...] I’ll kill you!-“

She was cut off as she continued to shout and Mike backed away towards the house, to safety...

“You look bad. You had that dream again?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, he was fourteen now, she would be sixteen. Now that he was old enough he could officially start his training but he would only have to put up with that for a few weeks before he was assigned to one of the squads as he had already completed his training with Mike. The war had been open for about ten years now but the conflict had started long before that. The conflict that his parents had been trying to prevent before... But that wouldn’t matter for much longer; soon he would have his revenge...

“Stop thinking about revenge, you need to concentrate, your training starts today.”

He sighed. Sometimes Mike’s ability to read his mind, to read anybody’s mind, annoyed him.

“Are you still taking me to the house on Saturday?”

“You still want to go? It might stir up some more memories,” he paused, listening to Bennie’s thoughts, “I see. You understand how risky it is being so near to... okay. I guess you’re right. We’ll go.”

“We’re here.”

Bennie looked up at the house. It wasn’t what he had expected; he had no memories of the house, only the one in the garden. It might have been easier if the house had been a darkened shell, isolated from civilization, with boarded up or broken windows, the glass like teeth, each window a gaping mouth ready to tear apart whoever dared to enter. The front garden should be dead and lifeless, the bare ground hard and cracked. He would have preferred it that way, so he could hate it, but it looked so ordinary, so perfect, reminding him of the life he wished he had, living at home in a peaceful neighbourhood with his parents and no war to worry about. He wondered what the house had been like when he had lived there with his parents. Had his mum planted the bulbs that still flowered in the garden? Or had someone else? Did anyone still live there now or anywhere down this street? Not many people lived in ordinary places like this anymore, it was far too dangerous even before the war and since it had started everyone who could had moved into one of the camps or an old compound like where he lived with Mike.

As he walked through the door he ran his fingers over the wood, fascinated, the only doors in the compound were steel and he had never seen a genuine wooden door in all his time living there. Mike had had one of their doors painted with wood effect but it was still cold steel underneath. Everything seemed to be made of steel, aluminium, plastic; everything was dead, cold and lifeless like so many of the people living in the compound. Now, as he entered the house he noticed all the small, seemingly insignificant things that made it seem more like a home - bookshelves, photo frames, a pile of toys lying in the corner... Had those been his? He would probably never know. A fly buzzed somewhere in the house, startling him. He stilled, listening, sure he could hear muffled footsteps in the next room, but that was impossible, Mike would be able to hear... He glanced at him, silently asking if he had heard anyone’s thoughts. Mike shook his head; it must have just been his imagination. Nothing to worry about...

 The horsefly landed on the ground in front of the teenagers and paused, as if to catch its breath before its next move.

“Don’t bother, I already know. I told you they would come. I thought perhaps it might have been sooner, his birthday was almost a week ago... Ah well, at least he’s here now.”

The boy next to her idly stroked the tiny black kitten that strolled up to them; it hissed at his touch and shook out its fur as if he could have tainted it with his fingers. The girl grinned, and, addressing the cat this time asked if they had been noticed. The cat shook its head then lay down and started to clean itself.

“I guess he can’t read animals minds then...” -at this the cat looked at her sharply, “what? You’re in animal form and that’s pretty much the same thing.”

“Unless he can’t really read people’s minds...” the boy added.

“Of course he can, unless he has a worse power up his sleeve like controlling people’s thoughts or something but I doubt he’s that powerful. If he was that powerful he probably wouldn’t be looking after Bennie”

“Unless he changed their minds so that he could look after the boy”

“That’s stupid.” The girl retorted, tucking a strand of her long red hair behind her ear and glancing up at the house, waiting for Bennie to return to the garden where his parents had been murdered...

Bennie glanced around the upstairs rooms, they were cleaner and not as stuffy with no dust and seemed much more lived in and homely. The furniture was less old fashioned too- all steel and aluminium beds and cupboards, this house must have been used as additional accommodation by them recently. As he passed the window he glimpsed a flash of silver in the garden below and as he peered out he saw two figures at the end of the garden- a boy and a girl. A girl with red hair… “Be-“ Mike started, reading Bennies thoughts but he was already gone. His power was speed and not like some weaker people he could easily control it as his senses kept up with him, allowing him to use his power effectively and with little effort.

A hand suddenly clamped down on Mikes shoulder as the strangers thoughts burst into his head. The fact that Mike had only just ‘heard’ him indicated that he was a shape-shifter as Mike found it hard to read an animals thoughts and this particular man was a fly, a horsefly to be exact, who nicknamed himself "Horse" in an attempt to sound more impressive. He was mainly used as a spy because although insects were a common form for shape shifters to adopt most found it hard to stay in control and few had a qualifiable sense of hearing. Horse was in the most powerful squad from his side which, not in like the other squads which were chosen for similar and complementary abilities but for uniqueness and a range of abilities within the team. Anyone from this squad could demand whatever they wanted and were likely to get it as they were powerful allies to lose and formidable enemies to gain. He however was shunned by the rest of his squad as they found him annoying and petty, particularly the other shape shifter of the group who openly detested him.

All this Mike could tell in a split second as he too possessed one of the more superior powers which enabled him not only to read peoples minds but their past memories that he could then edit and delete or ‘photoshop’ as Bennie termed it. Mike turned his attentions back to the present and to reading the thoughts of those in the garden to find out what fate had befallen Bennie while he was none too gently being dragged out into the garden.