One of Us

There’s a place from my nightmares. A place where bad things hide. The memories kept me awake for most of my life. But it’s not what keeps me awake anymore. It’s her. She calls me, desperate and pleading. Like a shining star I can’t quite find. I feel those men from my nightmares coming for her. Only, she can’t sense them. She can’t see. Not the past. Or the future. Unlike me. Until one day, as I stood in a doorway in the barren wasteland in Afghanistan with my squad at my back. My star dimmed and sputtered out. 

In a world filled with terror they needed a hero...so, they became one themselves. They’ll fight for survival - and they’ll fight even harder for love. There’s a place from my nightmares. A place where bad things hide. The memories kept me awake for most of my life. But it’s not what keeps me awake anymore. It’s her. She calls me, desperate and pleading. Like a shining star I can’t quite find. I feel those men from my nightmares coming for her. Only she can’t sense them - she can’t see. 

I'm not like you. Not good. Not human. They call me Oleander. Toxic and deadly. I killed my first human when I was nine years old...and I'll kill many more. Because, humans just won't leave me alone. I'm scared. I'm scared of their hate...scared of their ignorance. But most of all, I'm scared when they come with their guns and their armies...and they will come. I never wanted this dark power inside me. Never wanted to be anything more than good.  

The ticking in my head won’t stop. Like a bomb ready to explode. My dad has called me Spark since the day they found me wandering down a dark country road when I was nine years old. I was raised with questions. But my parents aren’t just any parents. My mother becomes a senator, and starts asking questions.