No. 18: Clear Skies...For now

No. 18: Clear Skies...For now

Venn didn't know where he was going, all he knew was that he was running. Fast and far.
Two things were unbelievable. Out of his whole, messed up life, only two things could he find completely unbelievable. The fact that he somehow controlled those vines scared him enough, but the fact that he had used them to choke the living daylights out of his sister only scared him more. He hated himself for what he did. He'd never forgive himself if he had killed her. He'd probably kill himself.
No. She would be angry at me if I took my own life. He decided.

A melody stopped him cold in his tracks.
He glanced around and realized he was in the deserted wing of the mansion. Another glanced through the door, reveled Terra playing at the piano with no sheet music or anything.
He always found it a little unnerving how she could play such beautiful music and not see anything.

Venn stood at the doorway for a long time, his head resting against the doorway, with his arms crossed over his chest. Listening quietly to the music, that seemed to sooth him down to the bone.
When the song ended, he wasn't surprised when Terra turned her head slightly and addressed him.
"What's wrong Venn? Did something happen?"
He didn't answer for a moment, trying to figure things out in his head, how to tell her, if he should tell her.
"What makes you think something's happened?" He asked, with a surprisingly steady tone.
Terra's mouth twitched before answering, telling him she was hiding something immediately.
"I uh...I have this knack for figuring stuff out."
"Hmm....I just tried to kill my sister." There was always something about Terra that set off alarms in his head. He wanted to know what was up, and how she'd respond to what he had just said.
However her reaction only confused him more. She looked almost...relieved.
"So you figured it out huh?" She asked, turning around fully on the bench, her skirt flaring out around her. His eyes narrowed and she let out another sigh.
"Yeah you did. Your energy's different."
"My what?"
"Alright Venn. We need to go for a walk. A very, very long walk." Terra got up and walked over to him, taking his hand with out even searching for it. Sometimes he wondered if she was really blind or if she just had contacts and liked to make everyone else think that.
He shook his head at the absurd idea and allowed the small girl to pull him out of the building.

Outside Terra took a deep breath and let it out slowly, swinging their linked hands back and forth, as if nothing could be better, as if Venn hadn't just tried to kill his sister. But he also knew that there was something she wasn't telling him. Something that he knew he'd go crazy if she didn't spill it soon.
"What are you hiding from me Terra?" He finally spoke up.
Terra stopped walking and wiggled her toes in the soft grass.
"So how'd you do it?" She asked. "How'd you almost kill your sister?"
Venn glanced at her, wide-eyed.
"You actually believed me."
She nodded, her long brown hair blew all around her in the wind.
"Yup. I know you weren't lying if that's what you mean. Plus I could kind of...-"
"Tell right?" He jumped in.
"Yeah. I'll explain it all in a minute but first tell me what you did."
Venn shook his head and let go of her hand, running his fingers through his short brown hair.
"It's not what I did do Terra, it's what I didn't do."
"Okay, and what didn't you do?"
He starred at her for a long moment before answering.
"It's going to sound really far fetched Terra."
Terra took a deep breath, as if she was bracing herself.
"Let me guess, it goes along the lines of something like this, you were angry, really angry because your sister is hanging out with Brandon and all. You don't like him much and therefore you were upset that your sister was going out with him. When she tried to reason with you your anger got to be too much and....things moved for you. Probably the trees, plants, that kind of thing. They responded to your anger and therefore, almost killed your sister."
Venn looked at her, his jaw hanging open by it's hinges.
"How did you - ?"
"Venn do you remember that night your sister came in talking about lightening, and men trying to grab her in the alley?"
He nodded. But remembered she was blind.
"Yeah..." He spoke aloud.
"That was all true. All of it. That's why electricity reacts the way it does around Kaleigh. Just like the plants react the way they do around you. It's because you can control them. And all that Kaleigh told you about the Elementals, and how they can control the four Elements is all true."
He was about to argue when she cut him off.
"Don't believe me? Ask your sister to show you what she can do with that silver necklace of hers, or ask what Brandon can do with his knives - "
"Whoa! What the heck are you talking about Terra? How do you even know about this stuff? And why would you believe any of it? It's all a load of bull!"
Terra's reaction wasn't one of anger like he had expected, but one of pity, as if she couldn't believe he wasn't with it yet.
"Venn. I know all this, because I'm one too. I am an Elemental. I can control part of an Element. That's how I can 'see', I mean how else do you think I can go around with out hitting every person in the room?"
Venn's brow furled.
"What do you mean Terra?"
"I control Life. Yeah I know, sounds sketchy, but I don't mean I can say 'oh yeah this dude's going to die, and I'll spare him because he's cute' kind of thing. I mean I can control something's life energy. Usually just plants, if I concentrate really, really hard I can control a small animal's energy but not for long and it's a big strain on me."
Venn was shocked. She was talking about this whole thing as if she was deciding on what color to paint her nails! He didn't know how to handle it.
"Life is part of Earth. Which is what you control, the more....thought of element of it but yeah. You know the plants, trees that kind of thing."
Venn gripped his head and collapsed on the ground.
"So you're telling me everything my sister told me is real? And on top of that I'm part of it all? An...Elemental?" He spat the word out, cringing as if it tasted bad.
Terra knelt on the grass beside him and rested a hand on his comfortingly.
"I know it's a culture shock, and you'll work through it. I promise. And I'll be there if you ever need a hand to pick you up okay?"
Venn scoffed and looked out at the dying grass and blue sky.
"Usually it's the guy that's suppose to say that."
Terra rolled her eyes and waved the comment away with a flick of her wrist.
"Yeah but that's script and old school."
She turned back into the kind and worried friend.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked, still touching his hand. Venn let out a deep sigh and turned his hand so he was holding hers.
"If what Kaleigh said was true, about the whole Guardian thing and what we have to do. No Terra. I'm not going to be alright. None of us are."