When I was born, my parents argued about what to name me. My mother wanted my name to be Bridget, but my father wanted it to be Astrid. Eventually, they agreed on Astrid. When I was two, I wrestled a pink and purple monkey that my parents kept in the basement. When I was five, my parents put me in school. Nobody in school liked me because I was different. I was the laughing stalk, always getting picked on because I was stronger than the rest of them.
When I was seven, something happened. I had a severe headache and my vision started to blur. I blacked out for a few minutes, but when I woke up everything looked different. Everything I looked at, I could see what was inside it. I was a little worried so I hopped into the shower. When I jumped out of the shower, I looked into the mirror and saw that my eyes had changed from deep blue to deep and clear purple. I then realized I would be made fun of even more. When I told my father, he started pushing me out the door but as we were walking outside, the sunlight burned my eyes and I could not see. He handed me his sunglasses and hat and we left to go to Wal-Mart. I got a pair of sunglasses and a walking cane to make it seem as if I were blind. When I went to school a few weeks later, everyone wanted to know what had happened to me. My parent had come up with a lie about a car wreck and how my spine had been damaged. Then everyone changed. I grew angry because they had been making fun of me my whole life and now they wanted to be sympathetic. It was not fair. Two months later, everyone had forgotten about the accident. Instead of being made fun of, I was never spoken to.
I was eleven years old with no friends, my mother had disappeared over a week ago, and my father had fallen ill. I decided to take the week off to take care of him. During that week, I had another strange change. As I was giving my father his medicine, I started to feel sick and started trembling. I went to the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror, I saw my eyes change from purple to the color of gold. When I went to tell my father about the change, he told me he needed to tell me something. He told me “Every few years, you will gain another power until you have reached your full potential. I am not sure what power you have gained this day, because everyone is different in this changing.” He then told me “Your great grandparents came from a planet far from Earth, called Dalena, but an invader had attacked it. The invader wanted the powers that our people had possessed, and when they could not get it, they killed everyone. Your great grandparents had escaped. They landed here on Earth, taking refuge and had your grandmother. Your grandmother had me and I found your mother here on Earth. They are not sure if you are able to reach your full potential because you are half human, but as far as your progress has come, you are coming along nicely as a Dalenian.” I was shocked to hear all of this. I finished giving him his medication and went to my room.
Everything seemed unimportant but the knowledge I now contained. I felt relieved that I was not a freak everywhere in the galaxy. When I went back down stairs, my father was wearing his boots and was getting his old black coat on. When I asked him where he was going, he told me “I am going to go look for your mother. We Dalenians, only fall in love once in our lifetime. Your mother left a note telling me that she went to go see Grandma Valeen. I’m afraid that something has happened to her. Mr. Greenlon will come over here to check on you every day. Please be careful and stay out of trouble. I love you.” I was angry. My own father was leaving me all alone. I was crying so I ran to my room, slammed my door, and fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I could smell bacon and eggs. It must be Mr. Greenlon. I grabbed my shoes off of their hook and cut myself. When I grabbed my finger to look at it, my finger glowed a bright golden glow and then the light, along with the cut, was gone. I had healing powers. A little freaked out, I went downstairs, ate breakfast, told Mr. Greenlon thank you, and went to school.
I was now in sixth grade and I no longer wore my glasses. Everyone that asked about my eyes was told that they were colored contacts and that I was temporarily blinded in my childhood. As I was walking to class, I bumped into a boy. He was mad for a moment then asked me what my name was. I found out that his name was Tyler and he had recently moved into town. He was my first friend. We sat together at lunch and he asked me why I had no friends, but I told him it was complicated.
We have been friends for almost four years. I have fallen in love with him but I do not know if he feels the same way about me. I was in the shower thinking about Tyler. When I came to my senses, hurried out of the shower, prepared for school, and went outside to wait for Tyler. When he arrived there he, he was acting strange and when I went to put my bag in the trunk, he told me not to. When I went around to the passenger side of the car, I used my vision to see what he was hiding. He had a few bags of drugs. When I asked him why he did not want me to put my bag in the trunk, he told me it was already full. I was mad because he was lying to me.
We did not talk for the rest of the way. When I arrived in class, my teacher handed me a packet of homework. As I walked out of class, I saw a man I had never seen before. He had short, peppered hair, a serious face, tall, and there was something about him that made me feel worried. As I was trying to focus on my homework, I caught a few words of the conversation he was having with the principal. “I’m here to pick up Tyler Longton.” said the man.
“Are you his father?” the principal asked. I could not hear anything else they were saying because they were walking away from where I was sitting. The man was not Tyler’s father, so I pulled my phone out and asked Tyler if someone was picking him up from school. He never answered. Then the man and the principal came back around the corner. I caught a glimpse of the suitcase that the man was carrying and saw that it had loads of money inside. Tyler came around the corner with his bag and walked out of school. I was worried about Tyler, so I followed them in Tyler’s car. Tyler and the man pulled into an old highway that was not used anymore. They hurried out of the car and the man asked Tyler had his load. Tyler hesitated, and as he pulled out the bags, he told the man that he did not have it all. The man got angry and reached for a gun that was hidden underneath his seat. I did not know what to do. I ended up running toward the man as fast as I could and tackled him with enough force to knock him down. I told Tyler to run but he was frozen to the spot.
The man picked himself up and reached for the gun again. I ran back at the man and wrestled him for what seemed like ages. He hit me in the head with the gun, causing me to go blind for a few seconds. I heard a gunshot as my vision started to return. I jumped at the sight of Tyler on the ground. He was clutching his hand over his stomach, with an expression of shock and pain. I was crying now. I was enraged. I stood up, ran straight at the man, pushed him as hard as I could. He hit a tree three feet behind him, which knocked him out.
I then ran over to Tyler, tears streaming down my face. I put my head on his chest and listened for a heart beat. He was barely breathing but he was alive. I had to make a choice then. I could either let him die and keep my secret like I had been doing since I was young, or I could save him and he would know my secret, making him think I was a freak and lose the only friend I had ever had and my love of my life.
I could not bear to lose him, so I placed my hand gently on his wound. A bright golden light glowed out from under my hand. It grew brighter as his would healed. Tyler gasped for air. When his wound was healed, I jerked back and walked as fast as I could to leave him, so that I did not have to face him telling me I was a freak. He sat up, looking after me as I walked away. He called me name as he pushed himself up. I stopped for a moment and watched him stumble a little as he started to walk my way. I did not want to hear the words that were bound to come from his mouth, so I continued to walk.
When I arrived home, Mr. Greenlon was making supper. There had still been no sign of my fathers return. I was not hungry, so I laid down. There was a knock on my door, so I opened it to see Mr. Greenlon. “What’s wrong, Astrid?” he asked.
He knew me well enough that there was no point in lying to him, so I told him everything.
He sat there for a moment in silence. He looked me in the eye and said “Sometimes being different is the best thing to be in a world full of people that are all the same.” He left and went home.
I did not go to school for three days after the incident with the man. Tyler brought my homework to me on the third day and asked if we could talk. I decided to talk to him. He sat down and asked me “What happened that day, on the old highway?”
I told him what had happened, who I was and waited for his response. He stood up, walked toward me, looked me in the eyes, and said, “I knew those weren’t really colored contacts!” Then he told me how he fell in love with me the moment he laid eyes on me for the first time.