"Oh Levi? Yeah he can be a kind 'Chuck a tantrum in the middle of the aisle' kind of guy when pushed..." Kathryn said to Paige, whom Levi had offended.
"What does that even mean?" Paige asked curiously.
"It means like, I don't know, just in the middle of the aisle. Doesn't care who can see. In clear view of the others, you know..." She tries to explain.
"That's why your asshole friend could tell everyone what he did, he didn't care and said what he wanted."
"He's the asshole. He was so rude to my friend. He told her to eat pl*ps and choke on it." Paige retorted.
"Did you see how rude SHE was being!?" Kathryn wouldn't let Levi's name drag through the dirt. He was homeless, near friendless and was being hunted already. He didn't need more bullying, even if it was cyber.
Meanwhile...
"Hey, Alice" Levi types. He backspaces.
"Hey," He types. He backspaces it again. He begins typing once more. He was indecisive.
"Hey Alice, how are you? I hope nobody said anything mean about you today, because I think you're great."
He knew this was cheesy, but Alice was a beautiful young girl who did not deserve to be picked on. He didn't know what she looked like exactly, he'd never met her, but she was very innocent in nice from what he had gathered.
"Today a homeless guy took me in after I rode my back halfway across the suburbs. I'm staying here for now, the people that chased me might catch up and hopefully they go past or give up. I made it rain down heavy, so that would have made it harder for them."
He wasn't sure if this was the right thing to say, he didn't want her to know he was homeless.
"Even when humans don't know I'm a channel they try and abuse me. Humans, weird right? That I can't be considered one of them anymore. Their laws I never really cared for, I didn't go out of my way to break them but whether something was legal or not didn't factor into my decision making process. For example, trespassing on school grounds to shoot hoops."
He was straying from the point now.
"But now just being who we are is illegal, so I refuse to take them seriously. How did channels even come to be? Are we the result of some kind of messed up experiment? Today I had a huge fight with my mother, she said she'll 'come back' when she's ready to see me again.... I don't get it.... Leaving me out here alone? How will she even find me, I'm moving all the time. Idk... She's a channel, so I'm not worried about her. It's weird to think how rare channels are, then to have a direct relative also a channel. At least she knows what it is like to be one of us."
Levi looked up and around, he was slouching against a wall under a bridge and it was raining. He saw the homeless guy that had let him stay under his bridge on the street with a cup for money, and nobody out to give him any money. The rain slowed to a stop, and the clouds moved out of the suns way. Levi smiled.
"We don't belong in this world, Alice."
Levi was angry as he thought about his circumstances.
"I'm trying not to be noticed, but it seems everywhere that I go there's people who have it out for me. I can't just kill them. Well I could, but.... I resist. And sometimes it is so hard.
Sometimes I think I should just kill them. Kill them all. Not the people who are okay, but the discriminate protestors, the SDD and everyone who tries to pick on me. They'd do the same to me. But I'll be fine as long as there's charge in my phone, even if 90% of the time I'm alone."
Levi listened to a lot of Eminem, so occasionally he'd make up his own rhymes. In this case he got the idea of an Eminem line but completely changed it, normally it was made up on the spot. This was, but he saw the similarities.
"I seen something on the news the other day, I think there's a channel around here... I'm not sure if I should be glad or afraid of him/her. Im trying to find them but I think they're moving. I don't know.
But back to you, stay safe. Let me know about anything that happens please, and if you ever need me there I'll come for you. It may sound creepy, but I swear I'm not some 50 year old pedo. I'm only 36"
It was a really long message, Levi realized, but being homeless and having only his bag, bike and phone he didn't really have much to do. Alice encouraged him to open up, but he wasn't sure if she expected so much trouble. He was venting in as gentle way as he could, but there was a lot of complaints.
"Stay safe, sorry for the complaints. I gotta go now." Levi sends the message.
He gets up, takes his headphones out of his pants pocket. He was wearing a red shirt and cargo pants, he slung his backpack over his shoulders and picked up his bike. He had 67%, he needed to find a library or some other public place he could plug in his phone before it died. He went through his phone a bit, chose the song 'Cinderella man' by Eminem and couldn't help feel like it was relatable to himself with 1 particular line.
"There's a storm coming that the weather man couldn't predict," Eminem rapped into Levi's ears.
"You bet there is." Levi thought to himself. He always dreamed of having powers, but he can't exactly do what he thought he could do. He would rather have powers and be homeless than powerless and in a mansion, though. He bike rides through the streets for hours. He's on a huge motorway now, cars flying past at top speeds. He slows his bike to a stop and rests for roughly fifteen minutes, wishing he could just fly.
He could, but his mother couldn't, where was she? This has happened before and once she didn't show up for nearly 3 weeks, this time it had been 4 days. Levi's phone goes off and he checks it,
"Heading back to Australia to deal with some family issues. Won't be back for a long time. Love you xoxo"
"What... The fl*ff..." Levi said aloud.
"What the absolute fl*ff!?" He shouted. He got off his bike, and prepared to crush his bike with his mind. That way he could travel, fly, without having to carry his bike. But he couldn't bring himself to do it, this bike had served him for so long. Helped him get away from so many bullies, it had just done so much.
He picked it up, and flew back to the bridge he had stayed in the night before. An hour later, the bike had been donated to the homeless man. It takes him just a fraction of the time to travel compared to when he is bike riding, he was free of burdens now. He had his backpack on, but that was it. It only had 3 water bottles and a jumper in it, the rest of his possessions were in his pockets. Ultimately he left the bag with his water and jumper with the homeless man too, and went into an alleyway and flew off.
With his weather control he conjured clouds to mask his flying, so no one down below would see him. He was at peace up here, but he was still angry. He decided he would head to the airport and follow a plane heading for a Australia, hopefully he could keep up flight for that long.
He made his way to the nearest airport, receiving directions from his phone. He stopped around 15 minutes away, and made his way to the ground. He couldn't land closer as it was too high profile, he landed on a roof and made his way through the building.
As he walked the streets he was pissed off and angry, the streets were busy and the buildings tall. As he was walking he bumped into someone and the man in his mid thirties spilled his coffee all over himself.
"What the hell, you moron!?" He spat at the 17 year old.
"It was a mistake." Levi grunted, pissed off himself.
"I don't care mate, look what you've done! You've gone and done, I work 12 hour days and need this coffee-" The man started rambling on, and Levi just zoned out gazing into space as mentally rearranged this mans face.
"Oi! Oi are you listening to me? Un-freaking-believable. You people are the worst kind. You people... Just-" The man was ranting, Levi cut him off.
"You know what?" Levi snapped,
"You're making me so mad I could just..." He began, then there was a thundering sound from the sky. He was drawing in a storm, and he lifted the overweight middle aged businessman with his mind. The unnamed mans demeanor changed instantly, shifting from one of anger to one of cowardice and fear.
Levi slowly started to crush him, his eyes filled with a hatred and rage only the man on the receiving end of pain could see. Until at the back of his head his conscience came back to life, and he let the man down. He ran off shouting in fear, warning people of the dangerous channel. Levi continued toward the airport.