The Eclipse II

Claire and I were walking along an abandoned train track. It was wide and covered with green and brown moss, thick roots, and sticks and bones.

On our sides, trees, and sh rubs provided shade for the track and us also, the buzzing of insects sounding all over.

It'd been a little more than five minutes since we left the school and arrived on this train track.

We'd been walking side by side in comfortable silence but I'd seen the eyes of Claire dart around the place everyone in a while unconsciously.

She still had a little bit of wariness in her about me, especially since we were in a private location, and that was understandable.

I was sure she had something for protection in her bag and together with her ability, she had the confidence to protect herself if I tried to do something to her. Well, at least that was what she thought...

She had some trust for me due to our unique sense of camaraderie, otherwise, she wouldn't have called me here. It was normal for her to react that way but it getting awkward for me so I decided to take the initiative...

"Where did you say we were going again?" I asked casually as I used my left hand to move away an extended branch.

"I didn't. I told you it was a surprise. Not a fan of surprises Mr. Andersen?" She turned to look at me and inquired with a smile, her voice a little softer than usual, as if whispering.

"It sounds weird being called that. It makes me feel old. Please don't say that again." I begged jokingly and sighed, a smile on my face.

"Alright, I'll respect your wishes and not call you that again...Mr. Andersen." Her shoulders rose a little as she chuckled.

I just looked down and shook my head, sighing helplessly with a faint smile. I never thought she would be this fun to talk to when she wasn't projecting her insecurities and anxiety as I remembered in the show.

If this was a butterfly effect I had created because of my existence then it sure was a good one. Sometimes, in life, all that someone needed was someone you could talk to or relate to...

She looked down at her bag and opened it to put her hand inside, taking out a modern camcorder, for this century at least.

"I want to show you something today, something special. And I would like to record it when it happens. I hope you won't mind doing that for me?" She looked at me and asked politely, her grey eyes hoping I'd agree.

I took it from her hands and examined it with curiosity since I hadn't used that model before, and when I was done in a few seconds, I looked at her and smiled.

It seemed I had taken that guy's place. In the show, it was a nerdy guy Claire asked to film her, and in exchange, she'd talk to him at school or something like that. They ended up becoming best friends later on but maybe, that wouldn't be the case this time around...

"Sure why not? I'll gladly record whatever you want me to. I just hope whatever it is won't be wacky, otherwise, I'll quit." I nodded and smirked slyly.

She quirked an eyebrow in amusement.

"Trust me, it'll be cool. But you've got to promise to also surprise me when I'm done with mine." She assured me with a confident smile and suggested.

"...I can't make promises Claire. Let's just see how it goes." I smiled, my tone mysterious and she beamed at me.

The conversation ended and once again silent, we continued walking. She was visibly more relaxed this time...

"Say, what do you know about other people like us? And do you have any idea why we are like this?" She broke the silence and asked seriously, her voice laced with curiosity.

"Hmm not much, my power only makes me know a little about them. Their names, abilities, and some other facts," I lied, pausing, and she nodded in understanding. "I don't know why exactly we are like this but my best guess is that it has something to do with evolution."

"Evolution? As in you think we are like a new species?" She asked in surprise, her eyes flashing with an unknown emotion.

"Yeah probably, it's more like a mutation in our DNA. Every species evolves at some point, even humans. It's a natural phenomenon. We aren't freaks.

"Personally, I think we are just something nature devised to deal help with the current situation on the planet.

"You know, with the pollution problem, greenhouse effect, and all those things that are making it hard to live in this world." I shrugged and explained, adding my two cents on the matter neutrally.

I just explained what was in my mind with some vague info I could recall from the show mixed with it. In the show, they based everything on a mutation in the human genome.

A particular mutated gene was the source of our powers, like the X-gene in X-men, only without that gene being the creation of a cosmic race that could sneeze the planet to dust...

Hearing nothing in response, I turned my head to the side and saw Claire gawking at me like I'd just grown a second head. Did I say something wrong?

"...Wow, you really are a genius," She praised with a genuine smile, her eyes shining in respect. "I have never thought of it that way. Ever since my abilities popped out of nowhere, I see myself as a freak anytime I look in the mirror, a science experiment gone wrong.

"Never once have I seen myself as special. But hearing you right now has opened my eyes. My mother has been calling me a miracle for almost as long as I can remember.

"Maybe, I just am. Maybe, I just am a gift of nature and a miracle."

She started speaking, looking down, with a wry smile but as she ended, she looked up to my face with the brightest smile I'd ever seen in my life. It was embarrassing to say but I was stunned...

"Xander? Are you still here?" She leaned close to me and waved her dainty hands all over my face.

"Huh? Yes, yes, I'm still here. Damn, Claire, that was powerful. Are you sure you aren't some kind of poetry genius or something? What else are you hiding from me?" I snapped out of my reverie and joked with a smile, trying to hide my embarrassment.

I blamed my current state on my raging teenage hormones, nothing else...

"Haha, very funny." She rolled her eyes comically and a beautiful smile settled on her face.

"Look, we are going just ahead. See that red structure over there? That's where we're headed." She stopped and when subsequently stopped, she pointed at a towering red metal structure just ahead, on the right side of the track that looked like a desert with little to no shrubs.

"Yeah, I see it. Let's speed up then." I nodded my head and suggested.

"Sure, let's go." She nodded in agreement and together, we left the train track and sped up towards the tall structure.

We reached there after a while and stopped a few meters away from it. It blocked the sun, casting a dark shade on where we stood and our surroundings. It was right in the middle of nowhere, like an island in the center of a hidden sea of white sand.

It looked almost exactly like I recalled it to be...

"It's tall. Maybe, ninety feet or more," I rose my head to look at its apex and guessed. "So, am I supposed to record that or what?" I turned to her and asked, faking my curiosity.

She just smiled at me and removed her bag, handing it over to me.

"Please hold on to it for me. And start recording, the surprise is starting." She turned and started walking towards the structure.

I slung the light bag on my shoulder and drew the screen of the camcorder from the side of it making it lie horizontally to my right.

"Is it on!?" She asked loudly as she started climbing the structure, using the fixed in red stairs.

"Yeah, we're live!" I responded as I switched it on and operated it to record.

"Good, don't miss anything!" She nodded in my direction and continued her climb clumsily.

Excited and intrigued at seeing her power firsthand, I trained the device on her and did what she said.

In minutes, she reached the top, standing on a straight ledge more than seventy feet above me, with nothing to hold her or separate her from falling, the wind blowing her long blonde hair backward.

Watching her smiling face, unmarred with fear or anything negative, through the zoomed screen, my heart raced with anticipation and nervousness as she looked down.

To be honest, if I were in her shoes, I'd be trying my possible best not to crap my pants but there she was smiling without a care in the world. I respected her for that.

Suddenly, she jumped from the building, screaming as she fell and with a loud thud and a sickening crunch, like numerous bones crushing at the same time, she hit the ground.

"Claire!" I knew she wouldn't die or anything like that but I couldn't help but shout in panic, my feet taking me off to her. It was one thing to see it on television and it was another to see it in real life.

What if something went wrong last minute and she died? How would I explain it to her parents?

I couldn't stop the fear that settled in and when I reached her and saw her lying on the ground, her arms, legs, neck, and torso bent in impossible angles with blood trailing down from her mouth, her once bright eyes dull and unfocused, I almost stumbled back in terror.

Was she dead?

"...Argh..." The next moment, she coughed up blood and moaned in pain, twisting her neck and torso back to their original positions with loud cracks.

Next, she shook her bent left arm to the side and it locked in place, using it she held her right arm and gritted blood-red teeth, she forced it back to normal with another crack.

Utterly captivated and bewildered, the device still on her, I watched as she used her arms to straighten her legs effortlessly and then stood up, massaging her shoulders as she did.

She licked her teeth and spat out a blob of blood and then looked at me and the camera with a proud smile, as if happy to see me shocked.

"This is Claire Bennet and this is attempt number six..."