The Boy at the Barn

The sound of Tanya's footsteps downstairs woke her mom from her sleep. It was a Saturday in the wee hours of the morning and not having any early morning errands she had decided to sleep in.

"Do you always have to get up this early?" She said yawning as she joined her daughter in the kitchen.

"Sorry mom you know I always get up early on match days," she replied.

"Oh your big game is today? Sorry hun I thought it was another friendly," she moved over to the table and sat with her, "when is the game starting I want to get a front row seat,"

Despite the fact that Tanya had been playing soccer since she was little her mom never really got the rules of the game. Whenever there was a game her mom would either be shouting her name at the stands or asking a random stranger nearby why they keep cancelling goals because of an offside decision.

"You can come at around 8 because the game starts at 8:30, it's the state championship qualifier." Tanya said.

"Well I know you've been training hard but I think you should take things a little slow, you've been spending long hours at the library and a lot of time with this boy, Tim,"

Tanya looked away and curled a lock of her hair with her finger to hide her blush. "He's actually helping me with my soccer practice, fitness training and all,"

Tanya stood up and put her boots in her bag before heading outside.

"Don't you want a ride to school?" her mom called after her.

"Chris is going to walk me there," she said.

"Tell him to save me a seat, love you!"

Tanya closed the door behind her and crossed the street to Chris' house. Within two minutes they were walking down the road.

"So what are the match predictions from everyone's favourite wing back," said Chris after taking out his phone to record a video of her.

"Well," she said, straightening her bag, "it's going to be a high flying performance with no bounds held back," she was imitating their school's commentator's voice, " the coaches have put all their stars in the mix, we're gonna see a lot of goals today, mate," she laughed after saying that and Chris put his phone back in his pocket afterwards.

" Wait till Mike sees this," he said trying his hardest to not break into laughter.

"I actually nailed his southern accent," she said proudly.

"Yeah you did, anyway are you two serious about going to that place?"

"Yes we have to," she said, "I saw that boy in my dreams he could be in big trouble,"

"Yeah I know but I made some research on that place and it was abandoned years ago by the family that lived there, after someone was murdered there, it's practically empty, Tanya,"

"All the more reasons for me to go there, it's not just about the boy though. Something tells me I'll find the answers I need in there," she said.

"Answers like why you're into creepy boys?"

She glared at him and he met her glare with a blank smirk.

"Tim isn't creepy he's just paranoid," she said.

"Speak of the devil," Chris muttered under his breath. He was looking at Tim, who was moving in their direction. They paused when he met them.

"Good morning guys," he said.

Chris replied weakly while Tanya greeted him back.

"You guys going to the game?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Tanya. She could feel the discomfort Chris had whenever Tim was around.

"Good morning everybody, it's a lovely morning today, perfect conditions for soccer. It's your boy Mike and I'll be commentating with the lovely lady by my side, Claire Sullivan, tell me Claire what are your predictions for today's clash?"

"Well, Mike," said Claire, " both teams are up to speed in the fitness department and the coaches have been at it tirelessly, we could see a lot of goals today, Mike,"

Mike went on to crack a few jokes about the principal reducing the audience to laughter as the principal himself sat among his deputies with an insipid expression on his face.

Tanya looked at her mom at the stands for good luck as the game began. Next to her mom Chris and Tim were actually having a conversation much to her surprise. They weren't bickering as they normally would.

The game was going on smoothly until a centre back on Tanya's team caused a penalty in the 8th minute.

" Ooh the coach is not going to be happy about that, Claire. The game resumes at one nil with the home side trailing due to a penalty," said Mike as Tanya's team kicked off once again.

"The strike has been broken down and the home side should expect a counter attack any minute now. Ooh nice ball in to the wing, will we see a cross from here, she gets past one defender and another!" tensions rose in the stands because a forward from the other side had just dismantled Tanya's defence.

" What a stop from the keeper!"

The forward grunted in dismay as the keeper threw the ball to Tanya who was making a run forward.

"Tanya with the ball, she's going forward, the break could be on here"

Tanya kept advancing into the patches of green space ahead of her then sent the ball flying to their lead striker, Olivia. Olivia dribbled past her marker. The swish of wind filled her ear as she took a shot. The whole crowd cried in dismay as the keeper parried it back into the box. Unfortunately for her (the keeper) Tanya hadn't ended her run yet and the ball landed gracefully onto her leg. She could feel the footsteps of the retreating defenders as she fired the ball past the fallen keeper and into net. The crowd went berserk.

"Would you believe her luck, the ball was punched back into play and straight at the feet of the wonderful left back who shot it at point blank range and scored the equaliser," shouted Mike as he turned the microphone to Claire

"One question here Mike is," she said, "where were all the defenders, she wasn't even contested for that ball,"

Tanya ran to celebrate her goal with her team as her mom shouted her name at the top voice hoping her daughter would hear it through the hooting from the crowd.

Tanya's team went on to win the game by 3-1 and after the post game talk from the coach Tanya run towards her mom and have her a hug.

"Oh you're so sweaty, darling," her mom said laughing.

"Nice game Tanya," Claire said as she passed by them with Mike.

Tanya's humongous smile turned dry when her mind was taken over by another flash of the barn. She zoned out for a split second before her mom shook her to reality.

"Are you okay, hun? You look a little tired,"

"Umm yes, mom I'm alright," she said, " I'll uh meet you at the car," she ran off to meet Tim and his new friend, Chris.

"Tim we need to go today I think we've still got time I just got another flash and they'll just keep on coming," she said with a tone of urgency in her voice.

Tim nodded and she made her way to her mom's car.

It took her fifteen minutes to get changed and to refresh then she joined Tim at his place where they began their journey.

"So all of a sudden you and Chris are bros now," she said as they drove in Chris' car, which he had let them borrow.

"He was just worried that I might hurt you, you know after the shape shifting incident he doesn't really trust me." Tim said as they stopped at a red light, "but he knows I'm the only one who can help you with your powers so he doesn't have any other choice but to trust me,"

Tanya felt so attracted to his deep husky voice, she was biting down the urge to kiss him but the veins popping out of his hand and his growing moustache were not doing her good at all. She almost zoned out till the car jerked forward.

"You need to be on the lookout for Leonard," he said, " if this kid is really in danger then he must be the cause,"

She nodded obediently trying to hide the fact that she was too busy looking at his hair to listen to anything he just said. She looked away and tried to clear her mind.

It didn't take them more than 30 minutes to reach the hill on which stood a barn. The house was a smoking mess of wood and timber.

"Looks like something already went down here," said Tim. He jumped out of the car and made his way to the barn, careful not to make any noise. Tanya followed suit.

He waited for her at the entrance of the barn and they walked in together. On the ground lay the body of a young boy, he was not dead but neither was he showing any signs of breathing. The place was creaky and dilapidated. Tanya hastened towards him and to see whether she could still save him. That's when Tim noticed something fishy about the whole scene as he looked at Tanya's footsteps on the floor.

If he was attacked how come I don't see any footsteps on the floor, he thought to himself.

He had a gut feeling that something was amiss.

"Tanya could you first step away from the-"

He was interrupted by a blaring surge of energy that made them lose their footing.

He tried to speak but his voice sounded muffled and there was blood coming from his nose. He looked at Tanya and her nose was also drenched in red.

A dark presence loomed over the vicinity as a man in a black hat walked in. He had a mask covering most of his face and wore black pants, a white shirt with a his sleeves rolled up. The scene around them kept changing, the barn looked a bit refurbished and the house outside reappeared but this time in flames.

"There I lay, helpless and sad, crying over the loss, the flames, the disappointment," said the man. His voice was like a distant resonance.

The boy who once lay into Tanya had turned into a teenager, around the height of Tim with blonde hair and the same dark brown eyes that this man had. He moved through Tanya and punched a nearby wall out of anger. Anguish loomed in his eyes and he sat on the ground, tears flowing from his eyes.

"It happened so quickly, the fire, the betrayal by your father,"

Tim looked at him in confusion but the man pushed him away and moved towards Tanya, gripping her neck and pushing her against the wall.

"Yes, don't look at me like they never told you what happened," he said. Tanya's mom had never mentioned anything about her father except the fact that he had died in a car crash when she was younger.

"Marcus Morgan was the man who murdered my mother. He learnt of the power that she possessed and he decided to murder her in cold blood. And all for what? Greed. Power. Clout!" the man was now shouting, Tanya could barely hear him over the sound of her heart beat as her breathing became increasingly laboured.

"But that's not all he did," the man continued, " he went on to gift his daughter with my mother's gifts, so that every day that I live I'm reminded of that massacre. That my friend is the reason why I should kill you."

The man drained power from Tim who groaned helplessly on the floor and it formed an energy ball in his other arm.

Tanya was confused and angry at the same time but one thing she knew was that she had to fight her way out of this. She was so close to losing consciousness and Leonard was about to strike her with a fatal ball of energy. She closed her eyes and gathered all her strength, her heart was beating even faster. She felt the energy blowing up inside her and she let it fly.

An explosion blew Leonard away from her and she landed on the ground. She was hurt and there was still blood coming from her nose but she run towards Tim. He was still breathing weakly. She helped him to his feet and they stood to face Leonard who had just recovered from the blast. He produced a hankie from his pocket and used it to wipe dirt off his shoulder .

"You made my shirt dirty you imbecile, this was custom made for Pitt's sake," he spat.

He advanced to continue his attack.

Tanya hit him with a kick she'd learnt from judo club, she spun on her left leg and stretched out her right. It hit him straight in the chest and knocked him off his feet. Tim punched him twice in the face but Leonard grabbed his hand the third time around and threw him away like a ragdoll.

Tanya tried to kick him again but he dodged the kick and hit her on her head. This made her dizzy. He then formed an energy ball and hurled it at her. She was blow into the ground. He sent another one to her but she caught it with her hands, her mind at full focus and immediately sent it back where it came from. This caught him off guard and sent him flying. Tanya couldn't believe how good she'd gotten.

She was about to send a rake his way when he sent a shock wave of paralysis straight at her. She felt her body get numb and useless as the pulsating waves oscillated through her. He stood up and started draining power from her. Blood starting forming in her nostril again. She tried to move her hand to shake him off balance but the numbness exacerbated the pain. He sent a gigantic projectile at her but Tim jumped in front of her in the nick of time and formed a shield with his arms. Then he hit Leonard with a kick and pulled a knife out of his pocket which he used to sever Leonard's face. Leonard cried out in pain and strangled Tim. The two grappled at each other till Leonard knocked the knife out Tim's hand. Tim shouted as a bright light formed around them. It kept getting stronger and a loud sound erupted from Leonard.

"I'll be back for you, Morgan," he whispered in her thoughts as he disappeared into thin air. Tim was on the ground breathing heavily and looked utterly startled. Tanya regained control of her body and ran besides him. She set the locks of hair in his face aside and kissed his forehead.

"Everything is going to be fine, ok? Let's get back, you need a medic," she saw a small wound on his head, "you're losing blood come one let's go," she helped him to his feet and he limped towards the car, after her.