text: Every Halloween this happens. Some of the family believe it’s a gift and leaves treats for it, although others think it’s a bad omen or a curse. I’m the last of this family generation to get their “gift”. None of my family knows about Her. I don’t want them to, but I can’t even blame the stupid Black Cat because it had never shown up for me. Anyway, my mom hurried me out the door so I wouldn’t be late for school. My mom’s ability was one that people called a blessing, she can change the color of anything she touches. I walk out the door with my younger sister, Lilian, even though she is younger than me she had been given her gift by the Cat before me. Her gift was a lot like our mother's where it involved colors. She could add color to things that were black and white and take color from things too. I was terrified to be given a gift. Everyone had to do something or some kinda test before they could use their hidden power. My sister skipped ahead of me. We walked past the Kinder home, in front of the spookily decorated house sat a black cat with glowing yellow eyes. It sat so still I thought it was a statue, then it moved, its head tilted and tail flicked almost as to say “Your next”. I blinked and it was gone. Shuddering I raced to catch up to my sister. The principal had wanted the small middle school of Rhaninege to be “spooky, fun, and festive” as she put it. One of the blow-ups was a man in a black hood with flashing red eyes, it looked to be on the verge of falling over in the wind. “That one’s new,” I said to Lilian, pointing to the man. We had made it a game, seeing who could find each new decoration that continued to appear each day. “I wonder why everyone thinks red eyes are so creepy?” I heard my voice say. Lilian looked at me with a curious face, one that was surely panted on my own. Someone behind me sneezed, causing both of us to look. It was one of my only friends, Neveah, who was almost always sick or with allergies. She was one of the few people who even noticed me let alone talked to me. I was seen as strange even though I was more normal than the rest of my family, but since I would say things like I did just now no one knew what to do with me. Everyone in my family had gone through training when they were young on how to conceal their powers. Yet I’m the odd one out even when some of my relatives go to the same school as me because I, the oldest one without powers have a hard time acting normal. No one knows about Her and they can’t, not even my family would understand. If I started talking about another world or a different life I would be exiled from home and seen as a psycho. “Go on.” Said Lillian as she rolled her eyes and walked off to go be with her “popular girl”, friends. We stood there awkwardly for a few minutes until I broke the silence “Do you want to go to class?” As soon as I said it I knew how ridiculous it sounded, but Neveah just nodded and started to walk to the front of the school. I had to run to catch up. I loved English class it was one of the only times I could be myself. My teacher Mrs, Bill encouraged my stories and told me to put my creative imagination into them. From a valiant knight fighting an evil sorcerer to a humble youth pastor named Bert Rand. It was the only reason that I wanted to go to school. It was also the last class of the day and I could never believe how fast it went. I walked home alone. About halfway from school to home I started to get dizzy. Tripping on my own feet I fell, but I never hit the ground. After several seconds of black, I stood up and blinked as nausea faded. Shaking slightly I looked around taking in the large glass dome above me and the rows of children my age standing next to me. I was in the third row from the front. I didn’t understand, even if this was the doing of the Black Cat it wouldn’t have happened now, the tests have only ever happened on Halloween. A woman in a silvery dress walked up on a platform. She must be someone important because guards flanked where she was standing. “Welcome, children,” She said speaking into a microphone, “My name is Aadya,” Aadya beamed at the crowd, she looked harmless but the way she held herself, it gave her a powerful feeling, like this woman was the one in charge. “We are looking for someone, someone to help us advance our kind and give us new talents and abilities.” She paused as if expecting us to cheer but when no one did she continued. “I know that some of you have these extraordinary talents but some of you need to be... returned. Speak up now or,” She waved her hand and soldiers grabbed the front row and pulled the kids forward. They then raised their weapons, I recognized one of the kids in the front on the far left, it was Neveah. I had to do something It didn’t matter if I exposed myself. Just as the soldier pulled his sword back readying to impale her, I flashed teleporting in front of her and taking the sword. A fierce pain erupted out of my chest. No matter how many times I have been stabbed it still hurt. When I didn’t fall over dead but instead pulled the sword out, the soldier started to panic. Something flew through the air and hit my neck, once again the world went dark. I woke up in what looked like a hospitable room thinking that maybe I had fallen and hit my head on the sidewalk but when my eyes came into focus I noticed Aadya and she looked mad. Once she saw that I was awake she put on a sugary sweet smile. “Good, you're awake. Let's begin,” I drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like weeks, every time I opened my eyes a new doctor was there. They were draining my blood I could see the tubes coming out of my arms. One time Aadya came in she wasn’t happy, she yanked me up and screamed at me, the doctors had to hold her back or I think she would have tried to kill me. Once she had settled down a bit she walked stiffly over to the bed, so close I could smell her perfume. “What did you do to the blood, you witch.” She snarled, I was confused I had no idea what she was talking about. She must have noticed the look on my face because she continued. “Our machines are of the highest technology and yet they can’t read your blood. Why?” It took me a minute, probably from the loss of blood, to realize what she was talking about. “I don’t know.” I lied, before she could question me further and discover my bluff the doctor came in and told her that she needed to leave. After giving me one last glare she walked out, slamming the door behind her. Not long after she left I passed out again. The next time I woke up there was a commotion that sounded like fighting. I wondered if Aadya was getting into a fight with the doctor. That idea was dismissed as soon as someone came crashing through the door. In my drowsiness, I didn’t know who it was but they pulled the tubes from my arms and yanked me up. I don’t know what happened next because I slipped back into uneasy unconsciousness but I got the feeling that I was teleporting and suddenly someplace place sunny. Not too long after maybe ten minutes I regained enough consciousness to sit up somewhat. Blinking as my eyes adjusted to the bright light I saw five people all with worried faces. I tried to get up but stumbled someone caught me. “Here, drink this,” the voice said handing me a bottle, I took it eyeing it suspiciously. The liquid was a reddish pink and shimmered slightly. Even though I hadn’t seen the person who gave it to me, something told me to trust them, so I drank it. It tasted so bad, like spoiled milk but worst, I almost spit it out. Thankfully I didn’t because whatever it was after I drank it my head started to clear and the pain faded. “Thank you,” I said turning to look at them. I froze, in complete shock. “You didn’t think I would just let you die, now did you?” Said the stranger. I knew them, but I didn’t even know what to say. I kinda just stared at him. The other people there watched me to see what I would do. “Stella, are you okay?” It was Nevaeh who spoke as she put her hand on my shoulder. I still didn’t know what to do. On one hand, is people who know me as Stella, kids who I go to school with, Nevaeh, Ella, who I was friends with, Chris, Preston, and Logan, who I didn’t really like but had classes with, and then on the other is Uriko who knows me as Star what am I supposed to do. If I say I know Uriko who is clearly not from our world with his red eyes and what people would consider strange clothing, I would expose myself in front of everyone and who knows what they do. What if when we get home they tell everyone? Not even my family will be able to protect me. So instead I cover it up. “Ya, I’m just still a little dizzy, but we should get going so no one finds us.” I put on a smile and started walking toward a line of trees not far from where we started. “Wait,” I turned It was Uriko who had spoken, for half a second I was afraid he was going to say something like ‘don’t you recognize me?’ or call me Star, but instead he pointed in a different direction and said, “There is an abandoned house that way we can stay there until we find a way to send everyone home.” He started walking and everyone followed. “He’s so creepy, right?” Nevaeh said once she thought we were out of earshot. Some of the others were talking to each other it was clear that no one knew what to do other than follow the person they were all terrified of. “What do you mean? He saved you right?” I asked giving her a confused look she nodded. “I’m going to go talk to him” Now it was her turn to look at me with curiosity. “What he’s so strange, he just appeared right after they took you away and teleported all of us away. He hasn’t really said much.” She sounded concerned for me but she also gave the impression that she wasn’t going to stop me and when I walked ahead to talk to him she didn’t follow. It was a good thing that she didn’t because there were some things that I wanted to talk to him about. “Uriko,” I started he looked at me but kept walking “Do you know why we’re here?” I asked he shook his head. I felt bad because he’s normally more talkative but I maybe I hurt his feelings by not saying I know him. Just as I was about to apologize he stopped and looked at something in the distance. “There it is.” He said pointing to a small structure. It was getting dark and everyone was a little on edge. We walked up to it and everyone went inside except me and Uriko. “Are you ok?” He asked I did something between a nod and a shake. “Sorry,” I said looking at the ground. He gave me a confused look, almost as if to ask why. “I didn’t want them to know.” I stammered. He rolled his eyes. Even though his eyes are solid red I could always tell when he was rolling them because he would make a huffing noise at the end. “Really? Do you really not think I know you by now? Literally every time you tell me about these kids you make it so obvious that you don’t want them to know.” He said pulling his hood over his head making him almost blend into the darkness that was deepening around us. “Good night Star,” He said retreating into the woods, the moon reflected off the sword strapped to his back. I walked into the house. Everyone was already settled and didn't see me make my way across the room. I fell asleep to the sound of someone snoring. I woke up late and everyone was in what looked like it used to be a kitchen crowded around something. I got up and walked over trying to see what everyone was looking at. It was Logan, he was holding what looked to be a dairy. When he saw me he shoved it into my hands, “Read this, out loud,” He said I gave him a look but I started at the top anyway. “‘September 15, it comes every night and for two nights it just stands there looking through the window and won’t go away. Some of the men had gone out to try to kill it but they didn’t come back. It is taller than my dad and he’s 6' and all you can see is its outline and glowing red eyes. Even though it's terrifying to have it just stand there it’s the third night that everyone fears. That's when it comes in and destroys everything. We hide in the attic and lock the door.’” I read aloud and looked at them. “Do you know who they're referring to?” Asked Logan they all looked at me like the answer was obvious. When I didn’t answer, Logan garbed the book back and started reading “‘It is taller than my dad and he’s 6' and all you can see is its outline and glowing red eyes.’ Who does that sound like?” I finally realized who he was talking about. “You think it's talking about Uriko,” I asked afraid of what the answer would be. He nodded “But that doesn’t make any sense,” How could they think he would kill people for no reason? I started getting mad and confused. He saved them and they still think he’s a bad person. I spent most of that day avoiding everyone. I did find Uriko and had a conversation with him. I wasn’t accusing him, I didn’t even bring up the idea that it could be him but I did tell him about the diary. He wasn’t mad at them for thinking it was him but he did look confused and said that he was only in this realm a week before we all showed up. He asked me why I cared what they thought about him and I had to explain once again that if they thought he was terrifying then they would think the same of me. He only laughed. That night everyone ate fruit they had found and even though they were terrified they still ended up sleeping. I woke up in the middle of the night, figuring that I wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon I walked to the front room and sat down on the torn-up couch. I heard something, it sounded like breathing and it was coming from behind me. I turned, standing outside of the window was a creature that matched the description of the thing in the diary but it was a lot more horrifying in person. Even though the window was broken and it could easily come in, it just stood there. I slowly got up and walked into the other room. The closest person to me was Preston. I said a quiet apology and woke him up. He murmured as I pulled him into the room. Turning him around to face the window he spotted the creature, unlike me, he couldn’t see in the dark but it was light enough that he was able to see it. Instead of screaming or fainting like I thought he was going to do he just sat down and started crying. I felt really bad but I needed someone else to see it because no one would believe me. He eventually cried himself to sleep but I just sat there staring at it for the rest of the night until it turned around a left. That morning Uriko woke everyone up saying that he had found a way home. Everyone still thought that he was the monster. That didn’t change when I told them what happened of course no one believed me but Preston backed me up. “Why do you still defend him?” Chris asked me. At this time I was done. “Wouldn’t you defend your Father?” I yelled at them turning my eyes red and standing next to Uriko. At that moment everything went dark. When I could see again, I was in some sort of throne room. Sitting on the throne was the Black Cat, it jumped off and shifted mid-air into a black-haired woman in a black dress. She smiled at me. “Congratulations, you’ve completed the test.”