“Where do you think you’re going!” Grabbing the back of Asher’s pajama shirt, his father had stopped him in his tracks. ” I know you are excited for your shot today, but do you really need to run out the door in your underwear?”
Asher realized what he was wearing and turned redder than a tomato, his thoughts were again jumbled while he looked at the father he only knew in this world. His slicked back dirty blond hair was the same as his own. His father was a bit taller than him with a fairly muscular build. The suit he wore was very high end, it was even monogrammed with their last name; Ronan.
“Umm, just excited yeah that’s it…” Asher slipped his father’s grasp and ran back upstairs putting on his school’s blue button down shirt and black pants. Combing his hair back a bit he looked presentable. Still running short on time he made it to the kitchen, noticing all the lavish furnishings and nick nacks. They had nick nacks now! They had barely even afforded wood chairs but here he had couches, a tv, and nick nacks.
He was moving through the house like it was some fancy museum he couldn’t touch for fear it would break. “Good morning Asher, your father said you are pretty excited to get your evo shot.” the sweet voice and soft giggle was enough to almost kill him again. The beating of his heart fluttered as he laid eyes on his mother. She wore a pink apron, and a matching pink dress. Her face showed eyes full of light and a brilliant smile. If he did not have memories of her from this world he would swear this was not his mother at all.
“Why do you look so lost? I know it is a lot to take in, even I was nervous about my sixteenth birthday. But don’t you worry, even if you grow a second head as your superpower we will still love you.” Asher spat his orange juice on the table.
“What are you doing, you weirdo!” Cara threw her napkin at him while he tried to make sense of what his mother just told him. Asher had not even considered that he could grow an extra head. But now that he had heard this he did find that in his new memories he had seen people with tentacles, tails, even bat wings. Anything was possible when someone got their evo shot.
Cara ran out of the kitchen slamming the front door shut, she had left Asher in the dust on her way to school. Throwing napkins over the orange juice and tossing them at the trash can, Asher jumped up with an apple in hand. “I’m off too! I can’t wait to tell you guys about my superpowers later!”
Leaving the home there were significant differences, the small front garden wasn’t just a pile of half rotted mulch and sand. Instead there was a well kept rose bush. Asher was looking all around him finding more and more things that were different between his two sets of memories. The larger office buildings he passed had open sections that people with powers that gave them flight capabilities could land in. Doors seemed extra large, a man the size of a grizzly bear showed him that there were justified reasons.
He only lived about five minutes from Warren high school and there were many students in similar uniforms wandering the streets. Some of the older looking students had strange additions to their uniforms, One such student was covered in full winter gear and seemed to be radiating steam. Another seemed to be surrounded by house flies, they landed on him everywhere. There was one girl with pure white hair that had pure white wings to match, she could easily sum up the definition of an angel. One such person that walked in to view made Asher’s blood run cold, Darren.
Darren was waiting at the gates with his three ugly as all else friends, they seemed to be on the lookout. “I knew it” Asher mumbled to himself. They were looking for him, he let himself get caught up on how much better this world seemed. He couldn’t find any memories of beatings or harassment in his new set of memories but maybe they had mixed together with his previous set. Or maybe he had just been beaten so badly that he couldn’t remember.
Clenching his jaw he tried to move as quickly as possible through the gate. “Asher! Wait right there.” There it was Darren had seen him. Prepared for the worst Asher closed his eyes and turned. “Is your sister around? She borrowed my biology notes yesterday and I need them for our quiz.”
“Huh, notes?” Asher was stuck. Darren had just asked him something, nicely?
“UGGHHH no dice, I knew she beat me here, Let’s go guys we might be able to catch her before first bell.” Darren and his friends had just run off no punches, nothing.
Asher walked inside the front doors in a daze only to be more shocked to find his locker looking spotless. “Attention, those with birthdays this month are to report to the nurse at first bell. Attention, Those who have birthdays this month are to report to the nurse at first bell.” Their principal’s voice echoed through the halls snapping Asher back to reality.
With an extra pep in his step he pushed his shock away much in the same way he would his bad days. The nurses office was on the second floor, however it was easily triple the size from what Asher remembered from his previous stays. The nurse had always forgotten about him which left him to treat his own wounds.
There were already fifteen other students lined up waiting outside. They all held their student ID in their hands. Some bounced around impatiently while others seemed to be praying. The familiar face of the nurse called in the next person in line, Asher took his spot dead last to wait for his turn. The girl leaving the nurses office made his jaw drop.