Extraordinary Mistakes

The park in which Rachel stops the car is known for headlining the news now and then with some violent crime. Most people wouldn’t dare to go there, and Rachel thought it would be the best place to get rid of the body.

She gets out of the car, takes her wig off, and drags the body out. It’s a chilly night in early September, the moon is nowhere to be seen, covered by dark clouds. It’s the perfect scenario to get rid of the body, she concludes. Abigail joins her, dressed in an oversize hoodie she found.

“When does the Angel of Death arrive?”

“Megan...” Rachel scoffs, “why would she come?”

“For you two to save his life.”

“She’s talented, that’s for sure. But not even her can bring someone back. It’s impossible. Once they are dead-”

“Maybe he’s still alive!” Abigail’s voice gets louder.

“He isn’t,” Rachel whispers.

“We haven’t checked!” She kicks some dirt in Rachel’s direction.

“I don’t need to. For me to absorb a power, I have to identify it first. If he was alive, I’d know. I’m getting rid of the body, and if this is too much for you to handle, go away!” she softens her tone of voice, “but stay close enough so I can see you.”

“You have done this so many times that you know the drill already.”

Rachel takes a deep breath and is going to burn the body when Abigail laughs. First, timidly but it keeps getting louder.

“Are you insane? Stop it! We can’t attract attention!”

She covers Abigail’s mouth with her hand and the girl bites her.

“Leave me alone!” Abigail pushes her. “What? Nothing?”

Abigail pushes Rachel again and makes her trip and fall. Rachel cuts her leg on a broken branch. Abigail goes over to help her get up, but Rachel slaps her hand instead.

“What the hell?!” Rachel slowly gets up in pain. “Just use your stupid power to control your emotions.”

“No.”

“Okay, then, you leave me no choice. I’ll do it for you. I’ll make you all happy and fluffy. One second.”

“Don’t you dare!” Abigail closes her fists.

Rachel backs off.

“What do you need, Abigail? Because I need you to control yourself... we can’t attract unwanted attention for obvious reasons. I’m here to help. You’ve already shot me once, now you make me trip and hurt my other leg. Will you stop making my life harder than it already is?” She takes several short breaths. “Please.”

“Just another day on the job for you, right? Dealing with dead bodies... they keep piling up. How many have you got on your record? One thousand?”

Rachel rolls her eyes, turns around and drags the body to an open area. She forms flames on the body and creates a bubble with wind around it to keep the fire contained.

She grabs a bottle of vodka from the car, sits nearby on a trench and nurses her wound. Abigail asks her for the bottle to drink and Rachel refuses.

“I’m genuinely curious. What’s your number? Is your goal to reach the body count of daddy dearest? Or the entire Five? Rachel Moore, no one can say that you aren’t ambitious!” Abigail shakes her head.

Rachel focuses on her wound, ripping part of her t-shirt to use as a bandage.

“So many you can’t even remember, right? I don’t think I’ll ever forget this person.” Her voice gets weaker.

“What about his victims?” Rachel looks briefly to Abigail. “He’s responsible for wiping out the memories of rapes, murders, and whatnot. All for the highest bidder. He’s not exactly talented, so you can imagine the sort of consequences that he left on those poor souls.”

She holds her wound and disguises her pain.

“And for your information, not that you’ll believe it. You have made up your mind already about us. But I killed three people in my life, and I remember it. Wish I didn’t...” Rachel’s voice trembles for a moment.

I don’t believe you.

“If this deviant was such a piece of work. Why haven’t you got rid of him? You are powerful enough! The world’s most powerful!” Abigail’s voice raises several pitches.

“We’re not vigilantes. We just want equal rights.”

“You’re a hypocrite. That’s what you are.”

“Sure, whatever you say. I’m curious too. How did you kill him? No signs of suicide, so I’m ruling out emotional control.”

“I put him on a mental loop, he killed himself there and that gave him a heart attack or something like it on real life.”

“You forced him to kill himself there?”

“No, I can only define the sort of scenario of the mental loop. The rest is the subconscious that takes control over it.”

“Abigail, you didn’t kill him. This death is not on you.”

Abigail looks away and tears stream through her face.

“It’ll strengthen me, no?” She wipes her tears on the hoodie.

“What do you mean?”

“What doesn’t kill you-”

“Doesn’t make us stronger. Pain never does. Trauma just leaves you traumatized. Dealing with the aftershocks for what feels like forever. Shadowing the glimpses of happiness that we can have. We make ourselves stronger despite it all, not because of it.”

They sit quietly for a bit. Rachel focuses now on the body to stop feeling the pain, not from her leg, but the burning sensation she has inside. Her entire body burns.

“Can I ask you something?” Abigail looks at her and Rachel nods. “Did you break your connection with Emily?”

Rachel laughs immediately and tries to contain it.

“You are the one who self-entitles as ‘the most powerful deviant in the world’,” Abigail uses air quotes.

“And I am. But not even I am powerful enough to break that connection. It was the fatal flaw, after I did it, I stopped feeling her. The same thing happened to my aunt. She told me.”

“Of course, they were twins... The fatal flaw was my theory too!” Abigail’s entire body vibrates, and she tells herself to be serious. “There’s so little that we know about it.”

“Deviants with powers are already a minority, two or more being born on the same day is a rarity. Also, there’s no interest in studying it. I don’t know why it broke the connection, I guess someone who commits the fatal flaw doesn’t deserve anything. Such a deep sense of understanding and empathy.”

“Forget I asked,” Abigail shakes her head and bits her lower lip. Can’t believe that I considered for a second that you could actually be decent. You’re so manipulative. “There’s always an angle with you, isn’t it?”

“One second with me and you have it all figured out.” Rachel pushes her wound.

“You know I committed the fatal flaw, and now you’re using it against me.”

“I know that you have two powers. If it’s because of the fatal flaw or not, I wouldn’t know.”

“It’s the logical assumption.”

“Some of us learned to read on the run, Parker. Logical thinking may be a class on the institutes, but not everyone has the chance to learn it.”

Abigail scoffs.

“Of course it isn’t getting you lot anywhere, is it? The logic that is being taught there is deeply flawed.”

“How dare you?!”

“I don’t believe that I deserve a deep connection because of my fatal flaw. That doesn’t mean that you don’t. Committing the fatal flaw is a matter of circumstances, not of character. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Who would tell me otherwise? Other than my parents, no one knows about it. My parents took care of it. Which always means the same. Throwing money to whoever knew about it. They moved me away from Belgium to France for a fresh start and that was it. Made me promise that I’d tell no one. But that isn’t why I didn’t tell Emily, for example. I didn’t because she wouldn’t understand. And Ánh and Aminu I didn’t tell them because I was...” she stops talking and looks down.

“You are ashamed of it. I could tell when you thought I’d say abilit-ies.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“It’s not my place. In my world, it’s also a source of shame, Abigail. But we accept it as a part of ourselves. In yours, everyone is too afraid of being an outcast. I wasn’t sure if there was anyone around listening to us. I wouldn’t risk exposing your secret.”

“If you expect a thank you for doing the bare minimum of humanity,” she faces her, “look someplace else.”

The body’s finally in ashes. It’s time to leave. When Abigail gets up, she remembers where she saw one of the assassins before. In a bonfire on the Roberts’ house. It was on Emily’s eighteenth birthday. The boy and his father oversaw the bonfire, they worked there in the garden.