The Fuck, I duck out of the way. It was crowded in the kitchen but I had room to slip around behind my attacker. I then pulled the frying pan out of their hands and calmly put it on the counter. “Why did you try to club me with a frying pan.” The would-be attacker was actually a small frail looking girl I think I saw in the back of the crowd of freshmen. Instead of answering like a normal person she screamed monster and ran away into the hall. I groaned and realized my mistake. There were no lights on in the kitchen. So she saw a dimly lit tall man with pointed teeth and black eyes move like a shadow into the house. Whoops partially my fault I guess. I barely had the chance to move when a storm of women flooded into the kitchen. Thankfully Kalie/Katie turned on the light switch when they came in. They all froze in surprise. I took advantage of the situation to be a dick. “Hey, I’m going to bed now, mind keeping it down. Thanks roomie.” I strode past them up the stairs to my room where a yellow package was sitting on my desk. I evaluated my room for a moment. One window center of wall overlooking street. Small plain desk in the corner. Wardrobe in corner to my right. Draped across the room from corner to corner. Was a large net like device that pulled out to make an over sized hammock. I went to the desk. And awkwardly scooped up the package and opened it. Inside were a series of sheet stabled together. And one loose one. I read it first. Mr Hartley along with reading through the material, I was hoping you could create a small essay on the heritage of your people, purely out of academic curiosity. While it is not required I would greatly appreciate it. Hmm curious. I wonder. Then I froze and decided to treat him as I would someone who came to study under my family. I quickly extracted a black engraved pen and wrote a quick note outlining the proper procedure. And traditions for an outsider to join. After that I went through the rest of the packet and completed a series of small questions like, who was the first recorded super. It took an hour or so to complete. But I was happy when it was done. I had also slowly finished my bottle of Jack Daniels, so I was slightly buzzed. I decided I’d get some dinner then go to be. So I calmly and quietly went down the stairs to the kitchen. They were still in the living room but the movie was off. I out of instinct opened the fridge to find my Jack Daniels were all gone, that’s around four bottles between eight people. Half a bottle each if shared evenly, but it probably wasn’t so I decided to make my meal quickly. I opened the larder to check what I’d brought to eat. No food either. The hell I could have sworn that it was half full this morning. I then remembered the eight people who helped themselves to my drink as well. Those dirty bastards. I heard some serious laughing going on in the living room and then I heard someone shout out. “Hey Scary Man come in here.” I assumed they were talking to me, so I carefully ducked my head in. “Me?” They all laughed and nodded. People are assholes when their drunk. I notice some of my food still sitting on the small table and my drink lying empty on the floor. “So you lot are the thieves who stole my stuff.” I said it accusingly, trying to get a semi-serious reaction out of them, but they laughed anyway. “Hey scary man, why you so ugly.” The person who said this was the one who’d ran screaming earlier. “Well as I’m sure you know some people are born with unique appearances along with their powers, I’m one of those people, except my appearance only became this at the same time my power developed. Also if any of you have other questions please call me by my name not your personal opinion of me.” I said it calmly, because I was to tired to be playful or mess around or be theatrical. Now I can see irony in my situation, I’m in a room with a bunch of drunk women my age, but I’m acting annoyed rather than trying to take advantage of the situation, because simply my appearance, I spent the majority of my life causing fear and disgust in people so my self confidence in my body or chances are incredibly low. Kalie/Katie (can’t tell difference for the life of me right now.) asked rather meanly. “Your ugly, leave please.” I got incredibly angry at this and physically growled like a wild animal. Those closest to me jumped back, those farthest away flinched, one person started to cry. “I’m sorry I lost control for a second, twins you owe me a small fee for taking all my food and drink. I’m serious people in my land take serious offence to this.” I turned and left not feeling like eating any more. I went to bed set my alarm to six as usual. And went to bed feeling pathetic. One thing I was raised to do was never lose control, and first day I nearly slipped up. Disgraceful.
I opened my eyes to see I was home again, dreaming again. I look up to see great uncle looking down at me with sadness in his eyes. “young one, you came close. Too close, are you sure it is wise for you to stay there too long. You are tired and weak already. Maybe you should come home, you are not yet ready.” I nod at his words. Standing up I look down at the wise old man. “Great uncle, how will I learn if I quit, how do I grow if I refuse to lay roots. I cannot stay in one place forever, I will smother and become weaker. No, I thank you for your advice but I will stay. I bow down. And follow great uncle to the same table from earlier and sit down and sip my tea. We spoke for a while I told him about the request for knowledge. Great uncle laughed when I told him what I put down on page. Before I woke up Great uncle muttered the words. “Faith in Shadow.” I opened my eyes looked at the clock and muttered back. “Faith in Shadows.”
