New Life by Lora Carlson (read e books online free TXT) 📕

was strong enough for the army. I stood in front of the window and said:

“I am Emma Moore, Daughter of Rich Moore. My Ember is Telekinesis” They nodded (in unison) and I knew they wanted me to show them what I could do. I didn’t plan anything in advance so I didn’t know what to do. So I thought about my dad. I closed my eyes and let all my anger go to my Ember. I stood there for a minute and when I opened my eyes I could tell they were shining purple. Everything that was strewn around the room was now swirling around me, some fast, some slower. When I was done looking around I looked to the judges. The woman’s mouth was wide open, the man on the right had dropped his clipboard and the man on the left was pouring his coffee on his shirt, having about to take a drink. I blinked at everything just dropped onto the ground, my eyes were normal and I was exhausted. I bowed and said with much effort:

“Thank you” then I stumbled out of the room and collapsed into Shawn's arms. The Results

“Emma! what did you do?” asked Shawn. He carried me over to a white couch and laid me down on it. I looked at the ceiling, I forgot that he asked me a question. The ceiling was going in and out of focus. I concentrated on making the ceiling clear, but that just gave me a headache.
“Emma?” Shawn said.

“What? Oh, I just used my Ember”

“But how much of it did you use?”

“I just used a little...”

“Emma, I have seen you use your Ember. If you had used only a little, you would be able to keep your eyes open” Until he had pointed it out, I didn’t realize my eyes were closed. Now that I think about it, I could see his face in my mind while he was talking. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t.

It was like my eyelids were glued shut. I passed out.

I woke up in my dad’s room. Again. I looked around but I was alone. I swung my legs over the bed and slowly set me feet on the wooden floor. I stood up and my legs decided that they didn’t want to work right now so I fell to the floor. Hanna must have heard me because she ran into my dad’s room and kneeled next to me.

“Emma! are you okay?” she asked with real concern on her face.

“Does it look like I’m okay?” Annoyance leaked into my voice. She looked me up and down as well as possible.

“I guess not. Should I get Jayson?” Can you believe her? If looks could kill.

“Right. I’ll go get him” She stood up and ran out of the room. I collapsed. I was just laying there, contemplating life, when Jayson finally came.

“Emma! why are you laying on the ground?” He asked while picking me up.

“My legs have a mind of their own, and decided that they still wanted to sleep.”

“Well, we should respect their wishes” He said with a grin, carrying me to my bed. He set me down and walked out our room. I stared at the ceiling and must have dozed off. About an hour later Jayson brought me lunch. While I was eating my sandwich, there was a knock on the front door. I heard someone running to answer it. I heard the door open and Hanna say:

“Hello, who are you?”

“My name is Shawn and I am here to see Emma”

“Um, Let me see if you can...” said Hanna with uncertainty in her voice. Jayson had been very protective of me when it came to the Rats. I heard her say that she will be right back, and then I heard her run down the hallway to my dad’s room. I stood up and walked into the hallway (my legs worked again). I came out just in time to see Jayson walk to the door.

“Hello Shawn”

“Hey, Jayson”

“So you want to see Emma?” I could tell Jay was ticked.

“Well, yeah. I mean, if that’s ok” He was stuttering. He only stutters when he’s scared. I've only heard him stutter once before. That was when his sister, Amber, yelled at him for being late. She is a very scary fourteen year old.

I walked towards the door and Shawn saw me over Jayson’s shoulder.

“Emma!” Shawn said, his face lighting up in happiness. Jayson looked surprised and spun around. I could feel a smile on my face as I hugged Shawn.

“Hi Shawn, why are you here?” I knew the answer before I asked the question. Most of the guys in the Rats had come to check in on me.

“Oh, I just wanted to check in to see that you were okay” He said, smiling.

“Thanks Shawn. I’m fine” I said. I don’t think my irritation leaked into my voice. Whatever.

I hugged Shawn again and stood in the door until he was out of sight. Then I sighed and walked into the kitchen. I don’t remember why I went into the kitchen, but I did. For some important reason. When I left the kitchen Hanna and Haylee attacked me with squeals and shouts of:

“Andy is coming!” Andy is Jayson’s best friend and The Twins absolutely love him.

“Girl’s. I could honestly care less about the fact that Andy is coming over”

“But, He is so cute! With his black hair” gushed Haylee.
“And brown eyes” Hanna finished. Right, Andy has black hair and brown eyes.

“You have to help us” said Haylee.

“Get his attention” finished Hanna. Again.

“Fine. you want to get his attention. I’ll dress you up in paper bags” I sneered. I was very irritated right now. I watched as their faces turned from pleading to horrified. I suppressed a smile.

“He’s coming tomorrow anyways. You know he always brings the Check-in Results. Impress him then” I grumbled. I just wanted to sleep my troubles away. Even though it sounds REALLY cheesy, I was serious. I walked into our room and collapsed onto my bed face first and instantly falling into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to a book falling on my head. It hit the back of my head and fell down the side of my face, hitting my nose. then falling onto the floor with a thud. I groaned and flung the book with my mind in the general direction of away. I heard a squeal and feet running across the floor. I smiled. I then swung my feet over the edge of my bed and stumbled to the closet. I was still wearing my Check-in outfit from yesterday. I opened the closet and grabbed the first thing that my fingers touched. It was a dark blue dress with one sleeve. I shut the door by thinking about it. I stripped and slid the dress on over my head. Right when I turned around the doorbell rang. Great, Andy was here. I groaned. He is cute and all, but he also is a total pain. I shouted: “I’ll get it!’ as I walked out of the room. I glumly walked down the hallway and opened the door with a 100% fake smile. Andy was standing there with a stupid grin plastered on his face. He stepped in and opened his arms. I sighed and gave him a hug. It’s a tradition for Andy to hug all of us. I could hear Hanna and Haylee running towards us. I let go of Andy and got out of the way right before Hanna practically tackled him with a hug.

“Woah. Hey there Hanna” He said with a chuckle. I just backed away and waited. He let her go and hugged Haylee. Then he let her go and asked me:

“Where is Jay?”

“He’s still sleeping” Hanna said before I could even open my mouth.

“Let’s go wake him up” Andy said with a grin. He walked into our kitchen and grabbed a glass on the counter, filled it up with freezing water, and walked quietly into our room. I just stood there. I could hear the twins giggle, then Jayson shouting:

“What the heck! Andy, you son of a-” Andy cut him off.

“We needed to wake you up” I could almost hear the smile in his voice. I could hear a thud, and then saw Jayson walk out of our room. The door slammed open as Andy, Hanna and Haylee ran of the room with a soaking Jayson behind them. Well, just his head and the top of his shoulders were soaked. But you get the idea.I groaned and walked over to Jayson with a towel in my hand.

“Here” I said, holding the towel out to him.

“Thanks sis” He said, glaring at Andy and Co. The Twins just giggled while Andy practically grinned his face off. I sighed.

“Andy, Just give us the stupid results” I put my hands on my hips.

“Okay, okay. Jeez Em, you need to loosen up”

“Just give me the results” I said with irritation completely masking my fake neutral voice. He just shrugged one shoulder and went around giving Jayson his, me mine, Hanna hers and Haylee last. Jayson ripped his open and unfolded the single piece of paper. Let me explain, you get your results in a envelope, with a single piece of paper. That paper always has only one word on it. Negative or Positive. If the word is Negative (it usually is), the person stays in the Cause. If the word is Positive, they have three days to pack and say their goodbyes. I’ve never known anyone who has gotten a Positive. Wait, thats a lie, I do know someone. His name is Peter. His Ember is shooting lasers out of his hands. Isn’t that awesome? I think so too. Anyway, I can never open envelopes, so I used my thoughts to bring a knife from the kitchen so I didn’t make a fool out of myself. I grabbed the floating knife and cut open the envelope. Before I unfolded my piece of paper I watched Jayson read his paper and say:

“Negative” He looked up at me, then the Twins.

“Negative” Said Hanna and Haylee in unison. It was my turn. I could feel all of their stares boring into my face as I unfolded my piece of paper. I opened my mouth to say “Negative” but my voice caught in my throat. My paper didn’t say Negative. It said the opposite. I couldn't take my eyes from the word that changed my life. So for like a minute I stared at the piece of paper in my hands with my eyes bulging out of my face and my mouth hanging