Kapitel 10: The conversation.
Well, a year has passed since I escaped from the facility, and some things have happened. Now, I've been staying at the January's house for a while, and I've been able to enjoy many things I never had the chance to experience in either of my lives, like being part of a real family, even though I always feel like I'm intruding on their lives.
I have my own room, which I chose to keep simply decorated with a bookshelf on every subject. It's incredible how much a child can learn, and with my accelerated thinking, I can learn everything I want at an extremely fast pace.
I can now speak 5 languages besides English: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, and Japanese. I'm still far from my goal; I want to learn every language in the world if I can. Annie's parents don't know about this; I think it would be quite strange for a child to learn all this at once.
I've also returned to my passion for Robotics Engineering. I managed to get some more advanced books from a library nearby, but most of the material I already knew from my past life.
Annie's parents were puzzled when I started asking for broken electronics they were about to throw away, but because of this, I achieved my first creation!
"The Spider." Okay, I admit the name isn't the best, but we're still in the testing phase. "The Spider" is a small, remotely controlled spy robot that can capture images and sounds in places where humans can't reach. It still looks pretty rough, but I plan to improve it in the future.
I've also started to delve deeper into programming. Since we're in the early 2000s, information on the subject is still scarce, but I do my best to learn everything I can.
One thing I've also started doing is writing books. It began as a hobby; I rewrote the books I liked most from my past life so that I could read them again. Since they were my favorites, I knew all the events and most of the dialogues. They didn't turn out 100% like the originals, but they were still great.
I showed this to Annie's parents, and they were very excited about my "talent" and creativity. Richard, after reading one of my books, said he would look to see if there was anything similar in the literary market, and if not, he would help me publish them. I was obviously excited about the idea. Before, it was just something for fun, but if I could make money from it, I wouldn't refuse.
So if everything goes well, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and the "Inheritance Cycle" will soon be published.
However, something happened a few months ago. We were having dinner normally when something occurred.
Flashback
We were all sitting at the dinner table; everything was going smoothly, except for Annie who didn't want to eat and was demanding ice cream instead of her meal.
" I want ice cream ! " the little girl shouted angrily, banging her fists on the table.
" Annie, I've already told you, ice cream only after dinner! Eat your food first, " Donna said, sitting next to her daughter, while I was sitting next to Richard to the left of them.
"No ! I want ice cream !! " Annie continued insisting.
" Dear, your mother has already said... " But before Richard could finish his sentence, the lights above our heads began to flicker, and soon all the lights in the house did the same.
Confused by all this, my eyes fell on Annie. Her eyes had a golden glow, and her hands were shining slightly.
Watching all of this, I immediately knew what had happened. She had just awakened her powers, and this is terrible!
" Annie ! " I called out, and the girl seemed to snap out of her angry trance upon hearing me. The lights in the house returned to normal.
Annie looked confused at her hands, which were losing their slight glow.
Donna and Richard exchanged glances that said they knew what had happened. Donna immediately ran excitedly towards her daughter, but Richard, on the other hand, seemed numb in his place. He had a look of regret, and his hands were clenched and trembling.
End of Flashback
Since then, Donna has been filling her daughter's head with how she could become a superhero, like the ones she saw on TV. But Richard, since that day, has kept a regretful look on his face, always speaking in a monotone voice and with a disheveled appearance.
It pained me to see him in this state; he was such a kind and loving man, now just a shadow of what he once was.
One night, I left my room and found Richard sitting at the kitchen counter, silently sipping a glass of whiskey.
" Hi, " I said, entering the kitchen and serving myself a glass of water.
" It's a bit late, don't you think ? " he said without looking at me, sipping the liquid from the glass.
" I could say the same about you, " I said, sitting on the stool next to him with my glass of water in hand.
In response to my comment, he gave a soft laugh and shifted his attention away from me.
" You're not okay. Do you want to talk about it ? " I asked, looking at him despite knowing the reason.
" Don't worry, John, it's not something a child should be concerned about, " he said, looking at me.
" Well, you clearly aren't okay; we all see that, even Annie, " I said to him, which is true; Annie had started to notice that her father wasn't well some time ago.
" You don't understand, John. I've done something that...is unforgivable. I don't know how to deal with it, " he said, rubbing his forehead with one hand.
" Can I try to give you some advice ? " I asked hesitantly.
" Go ahead. At this point, I'm all ears, " he said, turning his attention to me.
" You said you've done something unforgivable. I don't know if there's anything you can do to change it, but if you can't change anything, it's already beyond your control. " I said.
" You can't change the past, but you can choose how to live the future. I think it's a matter of knowing how to hold your head up and face the consequences the right way. We're here for you, whatever it is, you don't have to face it alone, " I said to the man who was listening to me attentively.
We sat in silence for a few seconds, with Richard processing everything I had said, and then he broke the silence with a soft laugh and ruffled my hair.
" Sometimes you sound like an old man, " he said, smiling at me.
" Thank you, son... I think I needed to hear that, " he said affectionately to me, while seeming to regain a bit of composure.
" I'm always here, " I said, smiling back at him as I got off the stool and walked towards my room with my water.
" Good night, " I said to him as I turned slightly at the door to my room.
" Good night, son, " he responded warmly to me.
And as I waited for the night to end, I went into my room.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein