Franklin

A large hand grasped my shoulder firmly, shaking me with greater force than necessary. "Wake up, little girl, wake up," a deep voice said. I awoke suddenly and a deep, pained noise escaped my throat. The hand let go. My eyes opened.

"Where am I?" I blurted out, sitting up in fear.

"Passed out on my doorstep, it would see. Who are you?" A man was kneeling next to me, looking nearly as confused as me. He was balding, possibly in his late 40s. I felt as if I recognized him, as if from a picture or something. Suddenly, the previous night's events flooded my memory. I looked at the black numbers on the door. They were the same as the one's Luna's mom had told me.

"My name's Emma. I was sent to you by a friend," I said. It seemed to make something in his mind click. Curiosity replaced the confusion on his face and then a grin spread across his face.

"The Sun to her moon," he whispered. "Get up. We can't have you sitting around on the doorstep and getting passer-by wondering all day. In." He stood up and opened the door. I looked at him carefully. How was I supposed to know if I should actually trust him? After all, he was a complete stranger to me. Luna's mom trusted him though. But she could be wrong about him. I shook the thought from my head; I had no where else to go. I stood up and walked nervously through the doorway. He followed me and closed the door.

Sunlight streamed in the windows, lighting up a small, messy room. There were papers spread out everywhere. Sketches, drawings, strange models covered every surface. "Sorry 'bout the mess," he said casually. "Would you like something to eat? I'm going to make myself eggs. Want some?" I wasn't sure if I should take food from a stranger and hesitated to answer. "Tell you what, I'll make extra anyway and if you get hungry, you can have some." He smiled and walked off into another room which I took to be the kitchen.

I looked closer at some of the papers near me. There were strange symbols I didn't know all over all of them. I saw a pile of photographs on the coffee table and picked them up. Each of them had red ink on them, circling faces, details, things deemed important. There was writing on some, but the handwriting was too hard for me to make out. I wasn't really looking very closely at the pictures though. The man came back into the room with two plates of scrambled eggs as I was glancing at the pictures.

"Breakfast, sunshine!" he said, smiling like it was Christmas. I gave him a confused look, and he merely laughed lightly. He handed me a plate and a fork. "Sit. Eat." He pushed a bunch of papers off the couch to clear a spot for me. He then threw some stuff off of a chair and sat in the chair. I sat down as he had told me to and nervously began eating. I hadn't realised how hungry I was until I had cleaned my plate and saw that he had only eaten about half of his food. "There's fruit on the counter if you're still hungry. Help yourself. Just put your plate in the sink." I blushed slightly and walked into the kitchen. I set my plate in the sink where there was already a large pile of dishes. There were some apples on the counter so I decided to grab one and go back into the entry room.

"Er, I didn't catch your name," I said.

"Franklin," he said. "Why don't you get some rest though? You must be tired." He stood up and motioned for me to follow him. He took me to a small room with just a mattress and some blankets laid out on the floor with a digital clock beside it. In the corner, was the backpack I had brought with me. "Sorry I don't have a better place for you to sleep. This is the best I can do." He smiled weakly."

"It's great," I smiled too. "Thank you." He blushed a bit then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, but laid down anyway. I fell asleep almost immediately.



It was late in the afternoon when I awoke. I didn't get up immediately. I was thinking about how my life was going to be while I was here. Luna's mom told me not to expect him to be a very good parent and to watch for when the time would come that I had to leave, so I knew better than to think I'd have a perfect life or something. Despite her many warnings about Franklin, Luna's mom had also told me to trust him. He seemed okay. He didn't seem very capable of attacking anyone, just a bit irresponsible, if anything, judging by the mess that covered his home.

"Emma? You awake?" Franklin knocked softly on the door.

"Yeah, just woke up."

"What kind of pizza do you like? I'm about to order some."

"Er, I'm not picky," I muttered truthfully.

"I'll get cheese then." I heard his footsteps walk away then heard the beep of him dialing the phone. I fell back asleep again until there was another knock on my door.

"Emma? The pizza's here." His footsteps took him away, back to the front of the house. I got up and followed his footsteps and the smell of pizza to the entry room.

He had cleared off a small table in the corner with three chairs next to it. The pizza was on the table and he gestured toward one of the chairs. "Sit and eat." I did as instructed and he followed suit. "So, uh, school."

"What?"

"You're a kid. You're supposed to go to school." I gaped at him. I hadn't thought about school at all. "I was told not to let you out of this house until you leave here for good, so I can't send you to school." I couldn't think what to say. He seemed to be thinking out loud, rather than asking me. "You'll have to be homeschooled. Do you think you could teach yourself? I don't know much about school stuff. The only teaching I can do is helping you with your powers." My heart jumped. Luna's mom must've told him. I guess I should have expected she would tell him since it was the reason I had left in the first place, but it just caught me off guard. He noticed too. "Of course I know you have powers. She sent you to me because she thought you needed someone who could understand your powers." He gave me an odd look.

"You . . . ?"

"You're not the only one in the world with powers." He pointed at the TV at the other side of the TV and sparks shot from his hand at the power cord. The screen turned on suddenly. "I've never paid a single electric bill in my life." He smiled. "You shouldn't have to pay for air conditioning when you get older if you can control your power."

"And you're going to teach me how?"

"Yes. We can start tomorrow, if you want. I can go to the library and get you some school books. If you make sure to still learn school stuff, I can teach you about your powers. Agreed?" I nodded. "Put your plate in the sink when you're done. I've got some work to do." He got up, turned the TV off, and walked out of the room. I finished my pizza, left my plate in the sink, then went back to my new room. I was awake for a few hours, just thinking about everything that had happened recently, trying to make sense of it all. I finally went to sleep with excitement for learning more about my powers the next day.