I huddled underneath the blanket as the winds picked up around me. I was so cold and I hated being out here. Seth and I lived in a tent we had found ever since the discovery of powers were made. According to scientists, the purple haze affected some people in ways that had them gain powers. When word got out, the normal people grew frightened and demanded the people with powers to be exiled. There was a revolt that caused every type of law enforcement to come down on the country in order to keep society from collapsing once again. The end result was that the majority (normal people) voted that people with powers be exiled or worse, eliminated. Since only one out of every 1,000 people had a power we were easily pushed to live on the other side of the wall that was built to stop people from getting too close to the meteor.

It didn’t take long for Seth’s power of controlling darkness and shadows to get out. The woman that ran the orphanage was going to turn him in, but I wouldn’t let that happen. We snuck out and have since been homeless. The initial hunting of people with powers was done and they were all pushed towards the abandoned towns closest to the wall. We were relatively safe in this area, but if we were to try to return to a more populated area, then we’d be hunted once again. Here the raids that the military did were easy to avoid since we knew the terrain. The biggest problem we had was finding adequate shelter since a lot of these houses were barely standing from having been abandoned for the past two years.

Seth returned from gathering supplies holding bags of snacks. He dropped them in front of me before crawling underneath the blanket beside me. It was winter and hadn’t been able to find a house with electricity yet so we usually huddled together for warmth. Seth would go out to gather supplies every couple of days and I usually stayed behind to watch our belongings. I would raid houses with him sometimes, but I wasn’t very good at it and usually caused more trouble than not.

“This was all that was left in the vending machine down the street,” he stated.

“I haven’t had Cheetos in forever!” I smiled and opened the bag of chips. I looked over at Seth and saw the sad expression on his face. It had been days since we had been able to have a bath so his brown hair was starting to get greasy and stick to his face. His hazel eyes held so much pain in them that I began to get worried. For some reason, I could feel his emotions with a strange clarity, almost like it was frequency coming off of him. “What’s wrong? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m sorry, Ash. I’m supposed to take care of you and this is the best I can do. You should go back to a city since you don’t have a power. You’ll have a better life without me around.”

“Don’t say things like that!” I screamed getting angry. “You’re my only brother and I’m never going to leave you. We’re in this together.”

“It’s not fair to you, though.”

I threw the Cheetos on the ground and huffed. My anger was rising and it seemed like I wasn’t controlling it. It was coming off of me in waves, almost like the frequency I felt from Seth. He looked at me in shock, not understanding what was happening. I didn’t like when Seth talked about us being separated. I never wanted that to happen and I refused to listen to him talk about it.

“Calm down, Ash!” He gripped my shoulders, but then released me instantly as if I’d burned him. “I can feel your anger. It’s not normal to feel it this much.”

I calmed down, getting nervous. “Not normal? Could it be a power?”

“Maybe. It might be too soon to tell. It took me a long time to control mine so maybe yours is just emerging.” Seth reached over to grab my hand. “I can feel that you’re anxious now. This is definitely a power. It’s too strong and clear for it not to be.”

“I guess you telling me to go back would’ve been a bad idea,” I sighed. “So I can project feelings. That seems like a useless power.”

“There’s always more to them than what they seem. You’ll probably have some use for it once it’s under control.”

I picked up the bag of chips and began eating again. Looks like I was a freak like my brother. We were in this together and always would be. I just hoped it would get easier in time.