"SOMEONE LIKE ME" - 1x02

The fire was still burning in her hands but no longer extending from them. Ruby spun around, her eyes wide when she saw Jake behind her. She couldn't believe it - she had let her emotions get the best of her. Ruby swallowed, her voice suddenly gone.
"Ja-Jake... I-I... We should call 911." Ruby finally settled on, her body shaking with fear. She fumbled through her pockets dumbly, unable to find her phone which was in her purse which was in Jake's apartment.
How could I let this happen?! Ruby thought to herself, trying to make the shaking not so visible. She wasn't upset about what she did, she firmly believed Jack deserved it. She regretted that Jake saw it.

"What happened?!?" Jake exclaimed. His brother's entire left side of his face was burnt almost to the third degree. Jake felt a sick pang of happiness at that he was now the better looking brother, then shook the feeling away and ran to his brother's phone. He dialed 911 quickly.

Ruby opened her mouth to explain but no words seemed good enough. She ran her hands through her hair, taking huge heaving breaths as she attempted to calm herself, all she wanted was to run away right at that moment and never have to face them again but this was her fault.
"Do you want the truth or a damn good lie?" She asked, her voice small and afraid. She was afraid of what Jake would do to her.

"I definitely don't like liars. I get that from my mom." Jake replied, quickly. As the police answered the phone, he told them specific details about his brother's address, and they told him they would be there soon, and to hold tight.

Ruby looked around anxiously.
"I should probably tell you later... Not now..." She felt her confidence dwindling slowly.

The police officers and paramedics entered the room, cutting the two off. As they loaded Jack into the stretcher, they asked Jake and Ruby who they were. "This is my friend Ruby. And I'm Jack's brother, Jake." Jake answered. When they asked what had happened, Jake looked at Ruby.

Ruby clenched and unclenched her hand when Jake looked at her, a fire springing up from the stove. "When I came in he was on the floor, something must have happened. The fire was going and I would have stopped it if I had known how." Ruby bit her lip, looking between Jake and the paramedics nervously.

That was all the explanation the paramedics needed. They informed Jake of where they would be taking him, and left. Jake looked at Ruby. "That is so not the truth." Jake said, looking at her. "We'd better get back to Aurora, but you owe me an explanation." Jake turned to turn off the fire, but it was already gone.

Ruby nodded silently. She stood, brushing her hands off on her pants and followed Jake out of the apartment, back to his.
"I'll explain later, I swear." She whispered, her face pale.

Jake sat next to Aurora. "Are you okay?" He asked, speaking to the silent girl.

She rubbed her arm, looking up at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. No biggie, I guess." Aurora said, putting a fake smile on her face. "Don't worry about it. So, what's going on?" She asked.

"Something," Jake said, with grittiness in his voice, "Happened to my brother and he's headed to the ER. But I do have a question for you, if you'd like to answer it." Jake said.

"Oh. What's the question? I might be able to answer it." She said, not lingering long on his brother, she cared that he was somehow harmed but not enough to voice it outloud.

"What happened?" He asked, hoping he wasn't overstepping any boundaries. "What kind of accident was it?" He asked gingerly.

She blinked, her brow furrowing slightly. "Oh, uhm well," Aurora began, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. "I was kind of dumb, well okay maybe I was kind of stupidly brave? I don't know, you can tell me when you hear it." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes momentarily before opening them to look at him.
"First off, no matter how lovable and cute and funny my brother is, he has no common sense," she said flatly before continuing, "Anyway, he was in the middle of crossing the street, didn't have the sense in him to look both ways, and a car was coming fast. And before I knew it, I had pushed him out of the way and stood in his place. I was positive that I would die right there and then but something happened." She said, speeding up in the last sentence.
"I, obviously, lived." She shrugged, not entirely minding telling the story. Usually no one asked about it, so she never really had to. "Any other questions?" Aurora asked, looking to Jake and Ruby.

Jake felt goosebumps on the word "something." "Something?" He asked, looking for an answer but not totally sure if he was going to get one.

"Uhm, yeah." She said, looking to the floor. "It was kind of like something, like an invisible brick wall, stopped the car in the nick of time." She said, trying to laugh it off. "It's probably just me being silly, I did bump my head." She hoped she didn't let too much slip out, no matter how much she wanted to tell them, she knew that at the same time it could ruin her new friendship. She didn't really have much more to say on the subject though, she hadn't tried to replicate what she had done since then so she really had no real proof that that's how it had happened at all.

"Brick wall?" Jake asked. He looked at the girl, confused, and then wondered. Could she be like him? Could she do the kind of things that he could? Could she fly? He looked away from her, down towards his wrists. The thought if what he had done that day flashed through his mind. Why hadn't he died? Why hadn't Aurora died? Did the two serve some greater purpose? He looked again at the girl, wondering if she too had power.

"I- I don't know how to describe it. There was something there that stopped the car, I couldn't see it but it was there. I just remember putting my hands up and-" She mimed the action of putting her hands up as she spoke, her eyes still focused on the ground "and screaming, and then. I was safe." She moved her hands to sit in her lap.
After a short pause she spoke again, her voice barely above a whisper."I think I did it. I think I stopped the car." Her gray blue eyes flicking up to look at them both.

"You controlled it?" Jake said, his eyes open, his feelings incredulous. "You have super powers?" Jake said, his mouth now widening just like his eyes. The fact that he had powers too was right on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't say anything get, so he could hear what Ruby, who had been silent up until now, had to say.

Ruby's eyes were wide when she listened to Aurora's story. Jake looked stunned. Ruby figured this was probably the best time to go about explaining what had happened to Jack, since it was the result of her own powers.
"Heh.. funny that you say that Aurora..." Ruby trailed off, fidgeting awkwardly. "That's kinda what happened to Jack... I'm like Aurora." Ruby squeaked.

Jake looked at the two girls. "You two have super powers!" Jake said, and then he began to laugh. The laughter rippled from his chest, making him giddy with excitement. As be laughed, he floated up towards the ceiling. "I'm not alone." He said, with a huge smile.

Ruby broke out into a grin, feeling much better about herself and everything that had happened. "Of course you're not Jake." She smiled and stood, no longer feeling awkward.
"I control fire, and that's kind of what happened to Jack." ruby explained, quiet because she knew she overreacted.

Aurora looked to Ruby and then back at Jake as he was floating to the ceiling. Her lips curved into a smile and she laughed a little as well, hand covering her mouth.
She looked back to Ruby, paying attention to the girl's words and nodded.

"So I can fly-well, float, Ruby can control fire, and Aurora has what? Telekinesis?" Jake asked. "Or does she have something different?" He questioned.