Aurora
At the age of 6 she discovered she could move objects with her mind. Her birthday was during the summer when school was out. Her family sang happy birthday as any family would and she blew out the candles on her cake. Her one wish was simple; ‘I wish I was wearing grannies summer hat with the flowers and bow’. Her granny’s hat flew across the table and landed on her head gently. The reactions around the table were diverse. Her older sister, age 10, cheered and wowed. Her Mom and Dad both looked at each other in disbelief and laughed, brushing the phenomenon off as the wind. Granny looked at her with a cheeky smile, as if she knew something everyone else didn’t.
Later that night when Granny had to leave and head back home, -Granny lived in Australia- she called her granddaughter over and whispered in her ear. “This is the last time we’ll see each other, use your powers wisely my love”. The little girl began to cry and Granny gave her a big strong hug. This wasn’t an unusual sight, but both Mom and Dad felt their daughters sorrow this time and quickly picked her up, taking her to bed after the front door closed.
“Aurora! You wanna come to my place after school?”
“Sure, I’ll text my mom and dad.”
“I’m coming too!”
Aurora turned twelve in the summer of that year, it was fall now and Halloween was around the corner. On her twelfth birthday she gained a power called Request. She was also sent a journal in the mail. It was in her grannie’s will that she would receive the package on her twelfth birthday and it was where she learned the names of the powers she would receive. The journal included a small description of each power and basic instructions on how to use them. Request was a power she used often. Once a day she could make a request of each individual person and they would have to do it, the power reset everyday at midnight. She used Request to get the breakfast she wanted from her parents each morning. At school she would use it to get her teacher to let their class out early. The other kids tried asking with no success which made her popular as the teacher’s pet. With her friends she would use it sparingly, never to win games on the playground, she was fair in that sense. Notably she used it to completely eradicate bullying at her school.
“SURPISE!”
She had asked for a surprise party for her 18th birthday. It wasn’t really a surprise but she didn’t use her power to make the 82 people who showed up show up. That was a surprise. 18 was a fun birthday for her because she gained the power of flight. During her party she drank a little too much and almost began to float in front of everyone but quickly got it under control, thanks to her grannies basic flight tips. ‘Point your toes down to stay grounded in uncontrollable situations’, “thanks granny” she thought. When the party was over, Aurora, her sister Emerald, and her best friend Morgan, walked to the cliffs at the edge of town. The cliffs fell 200ft to a large lake that looked more like an ocean. Even at the top of the cliff you couldn’t see to the other side.
Aurora decided a year before that she would share her gifts with her sister and best friend when she turned 18. It was becoming unbearable to have to hide from everyone.
“So, I brought you guys here because I have a secret I want to share.”
“Oh my god, you have a boyfriend!”
“No she’s obviously going to jump and traumatize us for the rest of our lives for not telling her about the surprise party”
They all shared a loud laugh that scared some birds from their nest. Then Aurora smiled and jumped. Emerald and Morgan were too shocked to move, staring at each other for a moment then finding their breath. Aurora floated up, as if stepping on air, laughing. Emerald’s eyes widened, “I knew it!” she shouted. Morgan fell to her butt in panic and Aurora flew over to her and landed, crouching next to her.
“Are you alright Morgan?”
Morgan stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. Aurora asked her to calm herself then respond. That was the first time she used Request on Morgan.
“What are you?”
“Still me, Aurora. I’m a witch.” Aurora laughed. “I’m joking”
The 3 of them sat in a circle while Aurora filled them in on everything she knew about her powers, her and Emerald’s granny, and why she kept it a secret.
They stayed out late that night, as one does on their 18th birthday.
On her 24th birthday she decided to take Emerald and Morgan on a trip to Hawaii. Everything was free of course, thanks to Request. Her new power, teleportation, could be used twice a day. Her granny named it Jump. According to the description her granny left it was the only power that had to be worked like a muscle. At present she could only Jump 6 feet. When they got to the presidential hotel room on the top floor of the hotel they were staying at, she made Emerald and Morgan stand back to back and gave them an apple to hold each.
“Ok I want you two to drop them at the same time and I’m going to jump twice and catch them before they hit the ground”
“This is what she wants to use her powers for..”
“I know right”
“C’mon guys I have to train this one”
Emerald and Morgan did what she asked.
“Hey you better not have used Request on us”
“I promise, I didn’t”
Her 30th birthday was the birthday she was most anticipating. It was the last power in her grannies journal and marked as The Final Power. It was a toss up of multiple powers she would inherit. There was a note as well that gave the instruction: 'It’s time to start your own journal. It’s tradition. You’ll know who to give it to, trust me. Love Granny'.
Aurora spent her 30th alone because one of the powers was Firestarter. Emerald and Morgan were more than happy to not be around for that one. She informed the rest of her family she was stuck in Thailand due to a hurricane. She Jumped there from Australia and stayed 1km away from a remote village. Her power came in a bit late at 3am instead of 12am central time. This was normal but not noted in the journal. Her final power was duplication, named: Copy. It manifested in a mysterious and quite frightening way. She sat in a clearing within a forest of tropical trees and began meditating. When the time came, her thoughts went from none to some, to out loud but she wasn’t speaking. When she opened her eyes 2 of her duplications sat in front of her, mimicking her movements and expressing her thoughts. She Jumped away to the edge of the clearing and they did the same. That’s when she realized what power she had received. ‘I’m so relieved’, she thought.
“WE’RE so relieved”, Copy 1 yelled across the clearing.
“Too bad you’ve already used Jump twice”, Copy 2 laughed.
That was it, the next 6 years went by and she sulked for 4 of them. Emerald and Morgan kept Aurora’s mood afloat for those 4 years and were relieved to see her mood begin to support itself thereafter.
On her 36th birthday, Aurora decided she just wanted something simple. She didn’t ask for anything or take anyone anywhere. It was a bittersweet birthday. Morgan came to see her at her apartment in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She decided to live there for the mountains. She kept the city safe as a vigilante that everyone called Stalker, never revealing her powers but always being in the right place at the right time thanks to Copy. The mountains became her training grounds and she would often play with the more dangerous animals; moose and bears.
Aurora and Morgan sat and ate cake in the afternoon of her birthday. They were watching the news -which was now more popular than ever thanks to her- when a new Non-Stalker related story came on. It was about a criminal group that terrorized a shopping mall earlier that morning, destroying and stealing while everyone slept. Aurora’s eyes lit up, it was a new challenge, and how exciting it happened on her 36th birthday.
“Looks like you got some work to do”
“If I must”
