For fourteen years, I dealt with the scorn. For eleven, the limitations. I understood what I had done, and what the consequences were. I didn't care much for not being allowed to take trips to the mall, or watch the latest movies with my friends. Even the chance that I may be forbidden from entering college once I was old enough didn't bother me.

As for why these limitations occurred, I had always done my best to brush off the curse my genes gave to me. The curse of being a Superhuman. A curse in which, as I was told, even a small change in emotion could end in the death of others. Not that I always believed that, of course.

But, during my freshman year of high school, that changed. It was an event that was never meant to affect me directly, that ended up in a journey down a dark path that was impossible to return from. After years of thinking I had figured out my niche in life, I suddenly was thrust into the sea of the unknown. All alone.

Welcome to Albany, New York; January 24th.

The day when disaster struck.

The mess of it all began as I was walking home from school, down the three blocks to my apartment building. There was supposed to be a blizzard starting that night, but the snow had already begun to drift down from the sky. It bothered me that I had to use my own feet to get home instead of the school bus, but that was the luck of being within the half-a-mile zone in which there were no school busses supplied for us.

And it's not even like I could talk to people, it's almost like everyone just teleported home today, I thought to myself as I looked across the street at a couple of cats, who were running to hide from the snow. I had already looked around multiple times to try and find some source of human activity, but it seemed as if the snow was a deadly poison that everyone felt like they had to run away from.

So, I walked. All alone.

When I got to the apartment building, I could feel the snow soaking through my sneakers, which I had worn without thinking of the impending blizzard that day. Brushing the snow off of my beanie, I stepped inside, taking a deep breath as I felt the hot air hit my face. It stung my cold skin, and I knew that my face was turning a burning shade of red. Looking back, I saw that the snow was beginning to fall heavier.

"Out of all the places I have to live, it had to be in the cold," I muttered to myself, wiping my feet on the worn, grey mat, that was very likely not actually doing anything to stop me from tracking a whole lot of water around the apartment building. "Guess I'm carrying my sneakers."

I kneeled down and busied myself with ripping my sneakers off of my feet, being careful not to get any more water on my socks. After all, I was trying not to have anyone slip and break their neck because of me.

"Hey, Artsy!" I looked up as a girl called out to me, with a nickname that made me know exactly who it was.

"Nadia, fancy seeing you here." I waved to the energetic girl who was running down the stairs, her crimson red hijab slightly unraveled around her neck. "You here to bother me or Adriana?"

"Is both a good answer, Artsy?"

"As long as you call me by my name in front of her, and not just call me by one of my defining traits." I stood back up, holding my sneakers in my arms as I carefully walked across the tile floor. Adriana was one of Nadia's friends, and she lived the floor above me, but the two of us never really talked. I felt most comfortable when people didn't call me nicknames quickly.

"What? You don't like that she proclaims to the world how good of an artist you are?" I looked past Nadia and saw a much calmer girl, who I knew was Adriana. It was then that I realized the two didn't have their backpacks or coats on, which must have meant that they got to the building a decent amount before me. "Trust me, Giovanna, she's shown me some pictures of your stuff while we were waiting for you to get here."

Well, at least finally someone decided to call me by my name.

"Let me take some of your stuff." Nadia grabbed my sneakers out of my arms and my beanie off of my head, before sprinting past Adriana and running up the stairs. "Last one up's a rotten egg!"

"I feel so bad that you have to deal with her for your therapy stuff." Adriana walked over to me, giving me a small smile. "Do you need some help not slipping, since Miss Chaos took your sneakers?" Her smile grew a bit bigger, and I couldn't help but grin back.

"I think I'm fine, but there's no way I'm running up those stairs," I laughed softly as I spoke, beginning to move my way towards the stairs. Adriana moved with me, where we slipped into as comfortable of a silence as possible, with the knowledge that Nadia was waiting quite impatiently for us upstairs.

When we arrived at Adriana's fourth floor apartment, we found Nadia dramatically lying on the floor, acting as if she was a dog that had been waiting for her owners after a long day of them working.

"You took soooo long," Nadia said in a half-groan, rolling from her back to her stomach, but not getting up just yet. "Like, really? How slow do you two walk?"

"I'm pretty sure we just walk like normal human beings." Adriana looked down at Nadia as she stepped over her, pulling her keys out of her pocket to unlock her door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Five minutes later, I had been forced inside Adriana's apartment, and was sitting on her couch, me on one side, Adriana on the other. Nadia was laying across the two of us, her feet on top of my lap. Adriana had turned the television on to some kind of "teen drama" show, which I had no clue if I was actually allowed to watch, and we had been sitting in relative silence.

That is, until, Nadia decided to break it with political gossip.

"Did you guys hear that they're planning on passing a law that makes it illegal for Superhumans to live in Albany?" She messed with Adriana's long hair, looking up at her. "Something about national security, or whatever."

"I don't care." I fiddled with the strap on my backpack as I spoke, feeling my stomach start to sit a little heavier in my body.

"Why not? This stuff does affect you, you know." Nadia sat up, sounding optimistic as she put her hand on my shoulder. "Maybe we can write a letter to the government, saying why the law makes it harder--"

"I just don't want to think about it, okay?" I tried to shift away from Nadia, but it was hard since her feet were still on my lap, somehow.

Nadia didn't respond to that, but just slid her feet off of my lap quietly, and I could feel the heaviness that was in my stomach settle all over me.

Great job, idiot, I thought, trying not to show anything in my face, you just made this all awkward. This is why you don't hang out with the both of them. Things just get awkward, every time.

"Does anyone want food?" Adriana finally spoke after what felt like forever, standing up and already starting to head to the kitchen. I gave a small nod, trying to force my brain to steady my heartbeat. Adriana walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Nadia and my thoughts.

"Gi." I felt Nadia's hand on my shoulder again, but this time she forced me to turn around and face her. "You aren't supposed to be blowing up like that." She kept her voice low, in order to not let Adriana hear.

"I know how to repress that stuff, don't worry. You should know that I don't like talking about that stuff, though." I knew that reminding her for the millionth first time wasn't going to change her ways on it, but I had to try.

"But you need to face it. What happens if we get kicked out of Albany?" Nadia paused to fix something with her hijab. "What happens if we lose each other?"

"Fighting's just going to make it more plausible, though." I could feel my voice starting to crack, and I knew tears were starting to come out of my eyes.

Please don't come back in the room, please don't come back in the room, I repeated in my head, closing my eyes to try and calm myself.

"Gi, I--" Nadia started to speak, and I felt her brushing away a tear from my eye. Before she could say much, though, a sharp ring cut her off, and made me fall off of the couch. "Shit, that's Greenstein. I, I have to go."

I didn't look at her as she shoved all of her stuff together, not wanting to hear another word of that conversation. I didn't want to hear what she had to say. It wasn't going to help me, and I just didn't want to listen anymore.

But, I couldn't help but feel wrong. Nadia was good at that; she always found a way to make me realize I was making a mistake.

I can't be making a mistake here, though. This is how I've been taught. That way has to have some right to it, right?

"Hey, Artsy." I looked up as I felt Nadia ruffle my hair, though she seemed disappointed when I didn't complain about the nickname. "Just relax. I'm going to keep us together, okay? I don't want you to be scared." She then pulled me into a tight hug, but I couldn't find the will to hug her back. It wasn't even as if she said anything mean, but there was something stabbing at my heart. I just shut my eyes, not wanting to make eye contact with her.

"Bye." I forced my voice to come out of my throat, though I could feel it crack with even the little bit that I spoke.

"See you later."

I didn't need to look to know that Nadia was going to use her powers in a reckless manner. Jump out of a window, surround herself in ink, perfectly normal things for her. Not like I had the luxury to do anything like that.

"She's always rushing out like that, isn't she?" I opened my eyes in time to see Adriana walk back into the room, holding a large plate that had nine fried dough balls on it, though I didn't know what they were. She didn't act like she noticed anything from before, but I wasn't going to take chances with it. I made sure to change the subject. Fast.

"So, um, I know we don't talk much in school, but maybe I'd though, I mean, I'd thought maybe--" I stumbled over my words, probably making it very obvious that I was trying to hide something.

Can you actually function for five seconds? Please? I thought to myself, trying to slow everything down.

"Don't you have some art in the art case?" I looked at Adriana as she picked up one of the dough balls, feeling my face flush slightly at her question. When people ask about me doing art, the conversations never seem to end well.

"Yeah, the art teachers try to fit everybody's stuff in there, though. You know, trying to promote people's confidence and all that," I said, leaning back and trying to get myself to relax.

"Well, Nadia shows me one of yours in there. It's good. Really good. I mean it." She picked up another dough ball and held it out to me. "Want one? It's like a cheese fritter thing, called a buñuelo."

"Sure, uh, thanks." I took the buñuelo from her, not sure what to say to her next. Maybe I should've talked to her more at school. "For the compliment, too."

"I only tell the truth." And with that, Adriana turned on the television, allowing me to stop talking. We sat in silence for a while, some show I had never heard of before playing on the television. Not that I cared. What was happening was decently interesting, and I hadn't realized how warm and comfortable it felt in Adriana's apartment. I leaned back a bit more into the couch, thinking about how cold it was outside, how lonely. I started thinking a bit too much, for I knew it was safest to think.

Until I stopped thinking.

I don't know when I fell asleep. How long I slept for. The next thing I knew, my phone was ringing. It was dark when my eyes snapped open, fumbling through a soft layer that was not there before I was able to pick up my phone, not looking at who the caller was before I answered.

Something seemed to move out of the corner of my eye. Something not fully solid.

"Gi. Something's wrong." Nadia's voice came through the phone, sounding more serious than what I preferred.

"What? Are you okay?" I stood up, looking around. Adriana wasn't on the couch anymore, and the television was off.

"They're going to come for us, Gi. We need to get out of here, now." She started to speak faster, and it wasn't helping to calm my heartbeat.

"Where are you? Are you in danger or something?"

I saw the thing move again, but this time, I knew it wasn't the trick of the light.

"I can't explain much now, but someone's killed my parents and-"

"Nadia." I felt my heart drop, and I forced out the only advice that had been shoved in my face throughout my life. "You need to call the police, you don't want to end up like me, I won't let you end up like me."

"I'm getting you somewhere safe, Gi." Something slimy started to wrap around my wrist, and I knew what was going on. Ink. I tried to shake it off, but the more I moved, the more my arm, and then the rest of my body, became surrounded by the stuff. I closed my eyes, not knowing at this point to scream or to just let it happen.

"I'm doing this for us."