Hello to Nobody

Sirens and gunshots always sound louder from the edge of sleep. That’s about as profound as I get – and the number one thing I’ve learned in the three years I’ve been living on the street.

It all started when I was ten years old. I’d always known something was different about me. I mean, it’s not like I have wings or anything, but I always felt different, somehow out of place in normal society. Like I was meant to do more than play with My Little Ponies and watch Garfield cartoons. My dad had decided to remarry and I suddenly found myself with a new stepmom and two slightly older stepsisters. Quite frankly, I was surprised it had taken my dad that long to marry again, but I guess he wanted to see how my condition developed as I grew older. Unfortunately for him, it only got worse – starting at his wedding and ending with a blown up 3-tiered cake and my new stepmother screaming that I was a complete freak who needed to be locked up. I couldn’t have agreed more; I’d been feeling that way since birth. It was my arrival that killed my mom.

So here I am, sixteen now and living on the streets of downtown Chicago. It’s not so bad – if you don’t mind sleeping on park benches, digging in dumpsters for food that’s not quite spoiled, or freezing your butt off huddled around a fire in a garbage can in the middle of winter. I’ve experienced it all in my three years on the streets and I still wouldn’t give it up to move back home.

The morning sun was just starting to crest over the horizon when I stepped up to the back door of Luigi’s. Luigi is a pretty good guy. He helps me out sometimes by letting me sleep on a cot in his kitchen and makes me work for food by washing dishes and bussing tables. The other bussers don’t seem to like me so much – maybe they resent Luigi for giving me what they feel is a free hand out – so he usually doesn’t have any work for me unless he’s shorthanded. He was at the back door this morning when I stepped into the alley and greeted me with a hearty smile. Everything about Luigi was hearty, from his round stomach that strained against his white chef’s coat to the twirly mustache on his face and the mop of black curls on his head. He had three grown daughters and he said I remind him of them when they were my age.

“Ah, Nobody, so glad to see you today,” he boomed and I grinned. Truth be told, I was glad to see him, too. My t-shirt and jeans were ratty and smelly and my brown hair fell in lank chunks around my dirty face. I probably smelled as bad as I looked. None of this seemed to matter to Luigi, though. He held out an arm and pulled me into a hard hug, squishing me against the front of his white chef’s coat. Already, I could smell the sauces he had cooking and fresh bread in the oven. My stomach growled and Luigi chuckled.

“Come in, come in,” he told me. “I have work for you today. Two of my servers called off sick.”

I grinned as I sat down at a small square wooden table he’d set up shortly after I started visiting him. My stomach growled again, the pain of hunger almost physical, as he set several plates in front of me. A sausage calzone, side salad with Italian dressing, three canolis, a large square of lasagna; I devoured them all while Luigi bustled around the kitchen preparing the day’s meals. I was scraping the last plate clean, tempted to lick it clean, when his son-in-law, David, walked in to the kitchen. David was married to Luigi’s middle daughter, Clara. He tolerated me but was with the wait staff in his views of Luigi’s charity. His mouth turned down in a frown when he saw me in the corner and my nicely full stomach clenched. I prayed he wouldn’t do anything to make me throw up everything I’d just eaten; this was the best meal I’d gotten since stopping in here last week.

“You working today?” David growled at me and my eyes narrowed. He wore the typical wait staff uniform of white shirt and black slacks, but his air of self-importance was sickening. Luigi turned away from the pot of spaghetti noodles he was stirring at the industrial sized stove, his spatula in hand as he glared at his son-in-law.

“You leave her be, David,” Luigi warned. “Nobody is a respectable girl who’s fallen on hard times. She works twice as hard as any of those girls out there.”

David’s cheeks flushed and so did mine. I hated having anyone stick up for me, like I couldn’t talk for myself; it was so embarrassing. I cleared my throat and stood up.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be here today,” I told Luigi, the words sticking in my throat because I really needed this. The money he’d slip me under the counter would pay for a new backpack and maybe a change of clothes, both of which had been stolen last night while I slept in the park.

“No. You stay.” Luigi turned on David, his face livid. “If you don’t want to work with her today, you can find the door.”

“No, Luigi, don’t worry about it. I’m good. I can go,” I argued inching towards the door. The truth was that I needed to go – now. I could feel the stirrings of my condition, the heat in my hands that warned of devastation to come. The last thing I needed was to burn down Luigi’s restaurant; that was not how I wanted to repay him. Sweat beaded on my forehead as Luigi turned his searing gaze on me.

“You’re not the problem,” he told me. I bit my lower lip, praying for control as Luigi turned back to David and started yelling at him in Italian, his arms flailing around. I began to shake with the effort it took to keep from torching the place; I was sure steam would pour out of my ears at any minute. My eyes watered and tears ran down my cheeks, streaking through the dirt.

“See how you’ve upset her,” Luigi suddenly exclaimed. He moved across the room to stand with me, effectively trapping me in the corner. I shrunk away from the arm he tried to put around my shoulders.

“You go get cleaned up, cara; I’ll make sure this allocco doesn’t bother you anymore today,” he added and I nodded. I inched passed him and dashed down a short hallway to the employee bathroom. I locked the door and leaned against the porcelain sink, my knuckles white as I stared at my reflection in the mirror on the wall. Tiny white flames danced where my pupils should have been. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood. I jumped when someone knocked on the door.

“Cara, are you okay?” Luigi asked.

“I’m fine,” I squeaked, my voice strangled by the effort it took for me to keep it together. I silently begged him to go away and let out a breath when I heard his heavy footsteps retreat a moment later. I sagged forward, leaning my forehead against the mirror, and turned on the cold water as hard as it would go. I splashed my face and wasn’t surprised by the steam that rolled off my skin. I stripped out of my grungy clothes before they could accidentally catch on fire and turned on the shower, another concession Luigi had made to taking care of me. The cold water felt great against my overheated skin and I let it beat down on me until I actually started to shiver. Deciding I was calmed down enough to face other people, I quickly washed my body and hair, scrubbing away a week’s worth of grime. When I stepped out of the shower, I found clean clothes folded neatly on the closed toilet lid. I smiled, my heart swelling at Luigi’s kindness. He claimed they were old clothes once belonging to his daughters, but I’d once found the tags still attached to a pair of jeans. Neither of us remarked on it. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would be so generous if he knew what I was, what I was really capable of. Today had been a close call – way too close.

Once I was dressed, I opened the door a crack and listened. I only heard Luigi moving around in the kitchen and slipped out of the small room. Luigi glanced up when I walked in and nodded towards the dining area. I bent down to look through the pass-thru window and saw Cicely and Ramona, two local girls who helped out most days, filling salt shakers and napkin holders.

“You got a visitor out there,” Luigi told me and my eyes widened. For a moment, I wondered if my dad had finally come for me. But I knew that was just a fantasy; my dad would never leave Daria and her wicked daughters. Still, I looked through the window again but couldn’t see anyone sitting out there while the girls worked.

“I don’t see anyone,” I replied hesitantly. My heart pounded against my ribs. I couldn’t imagine who would be looking for me, or even who would know to look here for me; it wasn’t like I had friends living out on the streets. Most nights it was every man for himself; first come, first served for the prime sleeping spots in town. I shuddered as a feeling of foreboding shot down my spine. I shook my head as my hands started to heat up. I balled them into fists and shoved them into the pockets of my new jeans, praying I wouldn’t burn the pants off of me.

“You must be mistaken; he must’ve had it wrong. Nobody knows I’m here,” I told Luigi and he shook his head.

“No, he asked for the girl who calls herself Nobody. Unless there is another Nobody on the streets?” He made it into a question and I shook my head. No, I was the only Nobody around. My palms sweated in my pockets as I straightened my shoulders and walked through the swinging door into the dining area. Cicely and Ramona smiled at me as I looked around; I didn’t smile back. At first I didn’t see anyone waiting, but then the shadows shifted in the corner to my left and he was suddenly there. His abrupt appearance sent red flags screaming in my mind and my eyes narrowed as he closed the distance between us. He looked to be a little shy of six-feet tall and had sandy blond hair and blue eyes. His t-shirt and jeans didn’t look new but definitely didn’t mark him as one of the kids from the streets. He walked slowly and held his hands up, palms out like you would to show a scared animal you meant no harm. The analogy angered me and I glared at him. There must have been something with my face because he stopped the moment my expression changed.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice low. Even though we stood six feet apart I knew he heard me. The corners of his mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile.

“This isn’t funny, you know,” I added and continued to glare at him, taking my hands out of my pockets and folding my arms across my chest. Who did he think he was? He comes in here looking for me like he knows me? He didn’t know me; nobody knew me. That was the whole point of being out on the streets.

“I know it’s not funny. I’m not here to hurt you,” he told me, his hands still up, his blue eyes like calming pools compared to the fire raging inside of me. I felt some of my fire ebbing away as I continued to gaze into his eyes. When I realized what was happening, I looked away, shaking my head. This was ridiculous.

“What do you want?” I demanded. I didn’t want to play games. I had things to do and if this guy wasn’t here for something serious, then he needed to leave. He took another step towards me and I frowned, unable to summon the rage from a moment ago. This puzzled me enough that I didn’t react when he took one more step, now leaving a comfortable gap of about four feet between us.

“I know you won’t believe me, but I’m not here to hurt you,” he continued, his voice soothing my frayed nerves. “I’m your friend.”

I scoffed at him. “I don’t have friends.”

“No, you just don’t know you have friends. But you do. I know about you and I want to help you.”

I shifted uncomfortably and glanced passed him to where Ramona and Cicely had stopped by one of the tables behind him, openly watching us instead of doing their work. I wanted to scream at them to get back to work; and I wanted to scream at this guy to shut the hell up.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I spat at him. He arched an eyebrow that almost made me jealous. I sneered at him, my top lip curling up over my teeth. I wanted to lunge forward and claw his eyes out. A hot flush slammed through my body and I gasped as white flames suddenly engulfed my hands. I held my hands out in front of me, praying I hadn't scorched my new shirt. My eyes widened as Cicely and Ramona screamed. The girls clung to each other as they scrambled towards the kitchen, keeping a healthy distance away from me in case I suddenly combusted. I felt like I could. The guy took two quick steps towards me and reached for my hands. I tried to pull them away but he was too quick. Then the most amazing thing happened; the moment his hands covered mine, the flames went away. I stared at him, my eyes the size of saucers and my heart pounding in triple time.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly, and he chuckled. His eyes twinkled as he let go of my hands. They fell lamely to my sides, now as cool as they’d been when I stepped out of the shower.

“That’s nothing,” he told me. “You should see what some of the others can do.”

“Others?” My face scrunched up in concentration. Had he just said there were others like him and me? “Like the X-Men?” I blurted out and he laughed. He had a great laugh, deep and melodious. I wanted to keep him laughing; it didn’t even matter if he was kind of laughing at me.

“We’re not quite as sophisticated and we don’t get to wear the cool suits, but otherwise we’re practically the same,” he conceded grinning and I felt my lips lift in an answering smile. It was a little rusty and felt a little wrong on my face; I guess I spent too much time frowning.

“What’s going on out here? The girls said he set you on fire,” Luigi boomed as he came through the swinging door. I turned, my cheeks burning with embarrassment, and stopped when I saw the baseball bat in Luigi’s hand.

“No; Luigi, it wasn’t like that,” I told him, my heart sinking with the realization that I was about to find out just how giving Luigi would be once he knew the truth.

“Did he hurt you?” Luigi continued, raising the baseball bat like he meant to hurt the boy. I stepped between them and put my hands on Luigi’s chest.

“No, Luigi; stop. He didn’t do anything; he’s not the problem. It’s me.”

Luigi stopped and stared at me, his dark eyes assessing as he tried to decide whether I was lying to protect the boy or telling the truth. After a moment, he sighed and stepped back, lowering the bat back to his side.

“What do you mean, it’s you?” he asked. “What is you?”

“The fire; it was me. I can create fire with my hands.”

Luigi stared at me for a full sixty seconds, the time agonizing as I waited to see what he would say next. “You mean, like the girl in the Stephen King book?” he finally asked and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I couldn’t help but grin.

“Yeah, something like that,” I admitted and saw the boy shake his head. He was right; it wasn’t anything like that fictional girl, but I’d let Luigi believe anything he wanted to if it meant he wouldn’t turn me away. I needed this once-a-week gig. Luigi nodded and turned back to the boy, his most menacing glare on his face.

“Who are you?” he asked the blond.

“My name’s Jack Turner, sir. I’m just trying to be a friend,” the boy replied and I frowned at him. He had a funny way of making friends. Of course, I couldn’t begrudge him stopping me from burning down Luigi’s restaurant. I shook my head. Luigi turned back to me.

“You want to be his friend?” he asked me, hiking a thumb at the boy. I shrugged one shoulder.

“I guess I could give it a try,” I replied and Luigi smiled.

“Good. You two have a seat, become friends. I’ll whip up something to eat,” Luigi declared and hustled back to the kitchen before I could object. I thought I heard him say something about teenagers these days but let it go. I glanced at the boy – Jack Turner – and my eyebrows shot up when I saw him holding out a chair for me to sit down. Okay, I was impressed; that was the first time anyone, especially a boy, had held out a chair for me. I sat down and crossed my ankles under the table while Jack sat down across from me. The smell of garlic bread and the sounds of Luigi cooking up something good filtered out to the dining area, but it didn’t bother us. I couldn’t believe I was sitting here with a boy; it was almost like a date. The thought made my palms sweat in a non-threatening kind of way and I wondered if he was nervous, too. I glanced at him and watched him wipe his hands on the legs of his jeans. Good, I wasn’t the only one.

“Emma,” he began and I gasped.

“How do you know that?” I demanded, all good feelings fleeing with the sound of my real name on his lips. My birth certificate had been in the bag that was stolen from me last night. Did this guy have it? Had he been following me the past few days – even weeks? I narrowed my eyes at him and jumped to my feet. I didn’t remember seeing anyone following me lately, not that that meant a lot for a guy who could blend into the shadows.

“I know almost everything about you,” he explained. “I know your name is Emma Jean Reynolds. I know your birthday is April 12, 1993. I know you’re a fire starter and you have other abilities no one knows about yet. I know about your first incident at your dad’s wedding reception with the exploding cake and that your stepmom thinks you should be locked up and the key thrown away. And I know your father thinks he’s protecting you by not coming out and looking for you, but I also know he’s wrong.”

“What do you mean, he’s wrong?”

“He’s not protecting you. Your bitchy stepmother and spoiled sisters aren’t what’s out there trying to get you. They may hate you but they won’t kill you.”

“So what will?”

He opened his mouth to speak but then seemed to think better of it. I watched his eyes narrow and his lips twist in a frown before he opened his mouth and tried again. “There’s a growing number of humans who find themselves with special abilities and for each one that has one, there are two humans out there who think it’s unnatural. And they –”

He was cut off by a loud groaning that seemed to shake the windows in their frames. I covered my ears as I looked around to see what was going on. What I saw made my heart stop in my chest. Several giant trolls made out of rock and clay clambered down the street towards the restaurant. They had to be at least twenty feet tall and had large gray boulders for heads with black holes where eyes normally sat. Their movements were jerky and the ground shook with every step they took. They looked like marionettes being controlled by an invisible puppet master. I stumbled into the table we’d just been sitting at and Jack instinctively reached out to steady me. I had time to flash a grateful smile his way before the rock trolls were upon us. A large stone fist smashed the front picture window and the monster roared as its thick fingers reached out to grab me. I screamed and scrambled out of the way.

“Behind you!” Jack yelled and I spun around. Another large stone hand had come through the wall next to the kitchen. I didn’t even have time to think about Luigi as I rolled away from grasping fingers. Anger boiled my blood as I wondered who was controlling these things – because there had to be someone; these things didn’t seem intelligent enough to function on their own. I glanced at Jack in time to see large sprays of water jet out of his open fists, chipping away at the stone fingers. One of the monsters cried out and one of the hands retreated out of the restaurant.

“Emma, now; do it now!” Jack screamed at me. I rolled onto my feet and looked down at my hands, which were now engulfed by large balls of white flames. I knew my pupils had been replaced by matching flames. I didn’t know what I was doing as I lifted my hands and threw them out towards the remaining hand in the restaurant. The fireballs left my hands, covering the stone hand in flames. The monster screamed as the hand was pulled out of the building. I gasped for air as I spun towards the kitchen, praying Luigi was all right. His restaurant was a mess. Chairs and tables were destroyed, splintered pieces scattered everywhere. I didn’t know how he was going to fix the large hole in the brick wall next to the kitchen. And I knew the window would cost a small fortune to replace. I ran towards the swinging door as it swung open and Luigi appeared. His white chef’s coat was smeared with soot, his face was ashen under a layer of soot that matched his jacket and he had a cut above his right eye, but he looked to be all right. I launched myself into his arms.

“Luigi, I’m so sorry; this is all my fault,” I apologized as tears streamed down my face.

“Get your filthy hands off my father,” David’s voice suddenly boomed from behind us. I jumped back and spun around, glaring at David. What did he mean about my filthy hands? I felt anger rising within me but it was without the warmth of the matching fire. Panic gripped my insides as I wondered if I’d overused my ability against the rock trolls. I stared at my hands like they’d failed me and David laughed, his voice hard and cruel.

“Overdid it, did you?” he sneered. “You don’t even understand your own power. You’re a disgrace.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped at him. My mind whirled with questions. How had he known about my ability? When did he find out? I’d always been careful not to let it be seen – or explaining it away if something did happen. In the two years I’d been coming to Luigi’s, I’d never really slipped up.

“Oh please, don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Your fire, little girl; you create fire.” David’s dark eyes gleamed maliciously as he glared at me. His dark hair stood up all over the place making him looked a little deranged and his white shirt and jeans were smeared with dirt and mud. As I stared at him, I realized he’d been the puppet master behind the jerky rock trolls. He was the one who’d attacked me.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, proud that my voice only shook a little. I knew David hated me, but I’d never known he’d go to such an extreme.

“I knew,” Luigi suddenly spoke up, his voice shaking with barely controlled anger. I jumped at his sharp tone and looked at him, but his anger wasn’t for me. He took a step towards David, his hands in fists by his sides.

“I know what you are and I let you marry my daughter anyway,” Luigi continued. “You promised you would never hurt her; you promised you would never use your ability to hurt anyone I love.”

My head whipped back and forth between father and son-in-law. What the hell was going on? How had Luigi known? David’s contemptuous glare softened into something that almost resembled self-consciousness. I took a step back as the two men neared each other and glanced beyond them to where Jack stood watching the events unfold. I wondered what he thought of everything. How had he known where to find me? Had he known something like this could happen? Had he come here to try to save me? His eyes met mine and his lips twitched in a smile. I couldn’t help it; I smiled back. No matter what reasons had brought him here, I was glad he came.

“Suocero, I never meant to hurt you; I never meant for anything like this happen,” David whimpered and then glared at me again. “Everything would have been fine if she would have stayed away.”

He pointed at me and my mouth fell open. “What did I do?” I sputtered as Jack came around to stand next to me. Jack reached for my hand and I felt a low tingling current race up my arm from where our fingers were entwined. I glanced at Jack but his eyes were on Luigi and David.

“She has done nothing!” Luigi screamed, a vein sticking out in his forehead and sweat glistening on his brow. I’d never seen him this angry before and worried he might have a heart attack if he didn’t calm down. As if sensing my thoughts, he took a deep breath and the vein receded slightly as he continued.

“She has done nothing,” he repeated. “She is a like a daughter to me and I love her. What you’ve done today is unforgivable.”

What he’s done today? Anger ignited in my stomach, a hot coal of burning lava, as I pieced it all together: David’s dirty clothes, the rock trolls’ jerky movements and the way they’d come after me. I’d been right; they were puppets – and David had been controlling them. How had he done it? Was he like me, with special abilities? I refused to think of what we had as super powers; there was nothing super about being so different.

“You ruined everything!” David shrieked and lunged at me. I reacted on instinct, raising my hands to stop him. He crashed into me and we tumbled to the debris strewn floor. He screamed the moment my hands touched his chest and rolled off of me as soon as we were on the ground. I rolled to my knees and stared in horror as fire spread from my handprints on his shirt, consuming his entire body in minutes. Strong hands grabbed both my arms and dragged me a safe distance away, keeping me out of David’s reach unless he tried one last time to hurt me. I just kept staring, the stink of burning flesh and hair searing my nostrils. I couldn’t believe what I had done. What did Luigi think of me? What must Jack think? I shook my head as tears sprang to my eyes, as much from the smoke as from my horror. I realized someone was pulling on my arm trying to get me to stand up. Soft words were being murmured in my direction but I couldn’t hear well enough to understand. A roaring flood of white noise had filled my head. And then suddenly I was wrapped in strong arms, the smell of pizza sauce and fresh bread surrounding me, and the damn inside broke. I clung to Luigi and bawled my eyes out. He smoothed my hair and murmured comforting words.

“It was either you or him, cara; you made the right choice,” he finally told me and I lifted my head.

“But he was your son-in-law,” I argued. A smirk quirked the corner of his mouth.

“I never liked him anyway,” he replied and an astonished laugh burst from my lips. I stepped out of his embrace and self-consciously ran a hand over my hair as I remembered Jack was still standing nearby. Luigi’s eyes crinkled as he knowingly smiled at me and nodded towards Jack.

“Go, cara; he’ll keep you safe. You don’t need me anymore,” Luigi told me. I shook my head, fresh tears pricking my eyes. What was it with me crying all of a sudden?

“No, I will always need you. Thank you for what you’ve done for me,” I stated. “But I do have to ask; did you know about me?”

He nodded. “I have a sense about these things. I knew about David the moment I met him and I knew about you the same way; I just never would have thought David would do something like this.”

He sadly surveyed the ruins of his restaurant and sighed. I felt bad and wanted to offer to help clean up, but a slight shake of Jack’s head kept me quiet.

“Oh well, I’ve always wanted to redecorate,” Luigi added and I smiled. He would be okay. He would rebuild and prosper once again. I looked at Jack as he moved closer to me.

“Come on, it’s time to go,” he told me, reaching for my hand.

“Where are we going?” I asked and he grinned.

“Where else; to save the world,” he declared and I laughed as he led me out of the restaurant. As long as saving the world didn’t include battling anymore rock trolls, I felt like I might be able to do anything.