11

Chapter 11

Filiberto sighed deeply. It was the fifth day since he had woken up. The first day he slept all day, which was strange, considering how often he woke up during the night he would normally sleep all day. Filiberto had tried sleeping all day but he couldn't seem to keep his eyes shut for more than five minutes, at one point he even fell asleep, and the last time he checked he was awake, but now he could barely keep his eyes opened;

He groaned and closed his eyes, letting his head fall sideways onto the pillow and burying his face deep into the blanket. His eyes fluttered open again, a sudden thought popping into Filiberto's head.

A flash of pain shot through Filiberto, his body tensing and causing him to gasp loudly and sit straight up, he reached over to grab his phone that lay beside his head and pressed the home button. There was no missed calls, and Filiberto let out a sigh of relief.

When the doctor had come by yesterday he explained why he was acting different, and Filiberto had gotten a shock,

the doctors diagnosis had been wrong,

and Filiberto had spent the whole day thinking about what was wrong with him,

"I can't explain everything right now but I promise when I get home I'll try explaining it to you!" He had promised. And Filiberto believed him, although he was not sure why exactly he did,

All of these thoughts flashed through Filiberto's mind in seconds and he shook his head slightly, trying to clear the fuzziness from his brain,

He was tired of thinking about it. He wanted it gone! The thoughts about his condition made his head hurt and now it felt worse than ever, he could only imagine how it would feel if those thoughts were driving him crazy everyday,

Filiberto decided to change his channel to something else that might help him relax, he scrolled through his Netflix queue and picked a random movie, he set the volume to low and lay down on the bed waiting for his TV to load.

Fifteen minutes later Filiberto heard a knock at the door,

"Come in" He responded. The door was opened and his uncle walked in followed closely by a small blonde girl who was wearing a black hoodie and black jeans,

"Uncle Sergio, this is Kara" said Filiberto gesturing to the little girl.

"Hello!" Said Kara cheerfully, sticking her hand out towards his uncle, who looked a bit shocked to see her there,

"Uh, hello..." He stammered looking nervously from Kara to Filiberto,

Filiberto noticed and chuckled softly, this girl was very nice to everyone she met, even when she got scared or shy she kept smiling brightly and saying the kindest things she could think of.

Filiberto had always loved spending time with his sister because she was always so cheerful, she wasn't shy in public at all and she had very warm and friendly personalities, and so did Filiberto. However he knew that there was something a little off with both Kara and him, he guessed that it was because they didn't share the same parent, unlike their mother, Kara had neither male nor female DNA but only human DNA. This caused her to be able to understand and accept many things differently than the children of other families which resulted in her being quite different than other children her age. For example she loved books and playing sports, she found joy in doing things such as reading a book aloud and watching cartoons, she also found it amusing that many people thought she could read and watch tv at the same time, though she claimed that she had learned how to read and watched the videos online so that they were more interesting and more entertaining than watching them yourself. And yet her favourite thing to do was to go hiking, although she didn't admit it to anyone but she enjoyed being out in nature and seeing other animals and plants around her. Her biggest weakness was water because of the fact that she could not swim and she would cry easily,

Kara and Filiberto had both lost their mothers at early ages, and ever since she had become separated from her twin brother they hadn't seen eye to eye, Kara was jealous and angry whenever she saw him with someone else and Filiberto was scared that when Kara would meet someone special it would break her heart.

Kara had only recently met a girl, but Filiberto knew that Kara was too young to date right now and wouldn't want to be with anyone until she was older; this scared Filiberto to his core. He couldn't lose Kara.

The three of them sat in silence whilst eating their ice cream, the three siblings were enjoying a quiet breakfast together,

"Are you ready for your test today?" Asked Filiberto breaking the silence.

"Umm yeah I suppose" He replied looking unsure. He then gave Filiberto a quick side glance, "do I really have to go?" He added almost immediately after the question left his mouth.

"Yeah, I think you should." Said Filiberto as he took another spoonful of ice cream

"But, um I don'

Filiberto then went to school when he saw Awerkok surrounded by girls wanting him,Filiberto also wanted the attention of girls for him too. It wasn't much trouble for him but Awerkok wasn't the most popular guy in school, Filiberto wasn't exactly known to talk much or be popular either but Awerkok liked to hang out with people and make friends rather than staying by himself. He was a bit awkward with new situations, especially social ones. As for Filiberto? Well, he was pretty outgoing and liked making friends, but he wasn't exactly social in other aspects of life either, and so this situation definitely made him uncomfortable.

when it was time to leave when everyone was leaving Filiberto saw students gather to watch a fight, Filiberto went to where the students were, Filiberto saw Awerkok defeat all the bullies, it's after a beating it's jack the bully leader, Filiberto saw that Awerkok was not human, Filiberto saw that Awerkok had super strength and super agility and Awerkok's eyes had yellow animal eyes, which meant that Awerkok was technically a hybrid, Filiberto watched the whole scene amazed. When the fight was over and Filiberto turned around, he came across Kara and Theo, both sitting near Filiberto's old desk chatting to each other.

Suddenly all the sound in the classroom disappeared and Filiberto looked up to notice that every single person in the class was staring at him. Filiberto stood awkwardly, unsure of what was happening. After a couple of seconds the room returned to its noisy and chaotic self once again. Filiberto suddenly found that all of the sudden he felt extremely uncomfortable and uneasy.

After the entire class had finally gone home, Filiberto slowly made his way outside and to the parking lot, he climbed into his van and drove back home.

Filiberto was thinking all day that Awerkok is a very powerful hybrid, it's just that he wasn't human. That's why he is so strong, so powerful, it's hard to explain. It's like he is part of our world, he's more aware of us then others which makes him much more dangerous and powerful; it has to do with how he senses emotions, it seems like Awerkok can sense anger, pain, sadness, confusion, jealousy, disgust, hate, and love. So, for that reason it doesn't surprise us that he's capable of sensing any emotion that we're having, it's amazing! It means that he's able to control humans like an animal.

Filiberto was fascinated by the power of Awerk, Filiberto wanted that power of Awerkok, Filiberto wanted to be respected, Filiberto was never respected, it's never all his life for people it's his back and front and he didn't like it! But when the power is given to Awerkok, he'd become stronger, stronger, and stronger. So what if he's just one person who has superpowers. He'd still be powerful.

But Filiberto was also concerned for his own safety, he's not sure whether or not he'd feel safe around Awerkok, he doesn't know if he could stand up against him without hurting himself. If his powers had any negative effects on his physical appearance and his behaviour then his family will definitely find out and they'd tell the police about his condition, and then he'll get sent to jail!

But if he can use Awerkok's powers, then maybe that means that...

His thoughts were cut short when his van came to a complete stop. Filiberto jumped slightly and quickly grabbed hold of the steering wheel, he glanced down at the screen in the dashboard and saw that the lights were red. He sighed and started the engine, starting the van once again and speeding away from the building. Filiberto glanced in the rear view mirror and could clearly see that the school building had already vanished behind him, but he was unaware of this.

Filiberto sighed as the thoughts continued to bombard his mind,Filiberto think is to create an injection to send in Awerkok's neck is to get some of his powers is to inject the injection in him even so gaining the powers of Awerkok was the first option and if he injected Awerkok, it would help him control his powers better so that he could protect himself, but that was assuming that he could actually inject the injection into Awerkok's neck. If he succeeded injecting Awerkok would be dead for good.

But if he failed? Then what? Would Awerkok kill him in retaliation? Will that mean he would no longer be a student of P.E.? Would he die in prison like the rest of those he murdered? Filiberto shuddered at the thought.

There were too many questions that remained unanswered.

Filiberto parked his car in front of his house and climbed out. Just then, he could hear screaming coming from inside the house and he hurriedly went to investigate.

Inside the house he could see the kids standing around the kitchen while their mother paced in agitation.

"I told you not to let them stay overnight here again!" She said to the two boys.

They looked upset as they lowered their heads.

"It's not like he asked to stay over, we've been over there several times before". Explained Alex.

She glared in Filiberto's direction as he stood frozen on the doorstep watching the argument, "And why aren't you in bed?" She demanded sternly

Filiberto says I wanted to drink water, Filiberto lied, he just didn't want to deal with the confrontation in the living room right now. He decided that it wouldn't be wise to start explaining himself, so instead he shrugged his shoulders and replied nonchalantly, "I'm thirsty".

Alex scoffed loudly and continued to yell at Filiberto and the other kids as she left the kitchen and walked upstairs, and Filiberto followed her reluctantly.

"Mom please". Pleaded Alex as soon as Alex had gotten to the top of the stairs "We just need one more night...".

"And you need a job, Alex!". Replied Alex. "Why don't you ask Mr. Olsen for money for school fees?" she suggested and Alex shook her head vigorously in protest "That will never work".

Filiberto stared at Alex and the other kids in the kitchen and wondered if this is the kind of life he would have preferred. He couldn't understand how Alex could enjoy spending time with these three children everyday, all four of them were quite different in their personalities; the eldest boy had short brown hair, blue eyes and glasses, he wore baggy clothes and was quite rude and sarcastic, the middle boy seemed shy and nervous, and the youngest boy had long dark brown hair, freckles and had a big gap in between his two front teeth, he was always smiling and had a nice personality.

Filiberto Long thought that if he uses Awerkok's powers, he and his family will never be wronged again. They will never starve or ever get hurt because he has powers that he could keep under control, they'll all have food to eat and they'll all be together.

He thought that using Awerkok's abilities would allow them to live a normal life. He thought that using his super strength would grant them all peace, prosperity and happiness...

He knew that he shouldn't do this, he knows that this plan would probably fail anyway. He was only seventeen, he didn't have enough confidence in his own abilities and the only thing he wanted was to escape this hell that they call 'home'. He didn't even realize he had started crying until a cold hand rested lightly upon his shoulder.

The hand belonged to Alex who looked sympathetic and sympathetic looks all over her face. She sat down beside Filiberto, wrapped an arm around him and held him. The other two children joined them and they laid down in a circle, with Alex being the one to hold Filiberto. All of them cuddled up against Filiberto, with the older boy holding the younger one in his arms and the little girl lying on her brother and sister.

After a few moments silence fell upon the group, Filiberto's sniffling and crying slowly died down as did their breathing. Finally Alex broke the silence that filled the air

"Can you promise me something?" she asked quietly. "You will protect them." She whispered as Filiberto nodded slightly in response. "Promise me". She repeated.

"Yes". He mumbled softly.

"Good". Said Alex as she pulled away from Filiberto and stood up. The six children got up off the floor. "I'm going upstairs to sleep". Alex smiled sadly.

"Okay". She kissed Filiberto's forehead, gave him a quick hug, then exited the living room to go to her bedroom.

When Alex had left, Filiberto felt empty. He felt as though he'd lost the person most important to him in the world, his mum and dad.

He looked around the room and sighed heavily, he was tired. It was getting late and he had school tomorrow, Filiberto didn't want to be alone in his house so he decided that he might as well take a shower and try to relax.

Filiberto lay in bed and thought I'm going to get these Awerkok powers no matter the consequences I'm going to have these powers and protect my family at all costs

.

Filiberto closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of home and hope.