Just one file. That is all we are given. ‘Truth’.
“Well nimrod, are you gonna keep staring at the screen or are you gonna play the video?” Jake asked sarcastically. When I looked at him I could see he was grasping for just as many answers as I was.
“Let’s do it.” I clicked the file and we were met with a pale face, veiled, with sun glasses covered eyes. Me and Jake looked at each other and gulped simultaneously
“Green, orange,” the veiled man said, “you have been chosen as the next two recruits into the Human Individual Power Experiment, a.k.a HIPE.” The man on the screen pulled up a box like the one the USB had been. It was glowing with every colour of the rainbow. “The two of you have been bestowed with a power greater than a normal human. You may notice that you have grown, become strong, if you are weak. You are also near impervious to disease. You have become a human with perfect health. Perhaps you have even had a quality about you change.”
“What the heck does he mean!?” I exclaimed, then I looked at Jake. I mean, REALLY looked at him. His normally dirty blond hair was now much darker, and his clear face covered in freckles. Then I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were a deep blue and my dark hair looked like it had been lightly bleached. Jake had also noticed this.
“This is weird.” He stated lamely. I decided to start the video again.
“However, you are not immortal. You may still die in combat. Diseases can still infect you, although the will do nothing. Make note, as of now, everyone that you two know, every document you have, and every account you have ever made will now register you as twenty-five. This is so that you are able to create bank accounts, apply for credit cards, and drive, among other things. However, the most important part of this, the powers. You, along with the other seven recruits have each been given a special power. Something that will make you an asset in combat or espionage. It is up to you, green and orange, to discover your powers and fine the HIPE complex. You have one week. I suggest you do not waste time.” And with that sombre ending, the window closed. I ejected the USB and set it on my desk. It turned back into the box.
“What does he mean?” Jake asked quickly, “Powers, aging, mind melting?”
“Where did it mention mind melting?” I asked him
“My mind is melting.” He said “Still, what does he mean by us being twenty-five? We are sixteen!”
“Mom!” I called, “Could you come here please?”
“I’m on my way.” She shouted back. When she walked into my room she was carrying a large laundry basket, proceeding as if her youngest child and his best friend had always been a six foot muscle monster.
“Mom, how old is Jake?”
“Why do you ask, hon?”
“Please, just answer the question,” I begged, “How old is he?”
“Sweetie, he’s twenty-five, just like you. Has been for the past five months.”
“Are you sure? Could I see my birth certificate?” I asked. My mother nodded her head and went to the closet across the hall where we kept our records.
“It’s weird to look down at her” I whispered to Jake beside me. My mom was a mere five-five. I had only recently had a growth spurt, aside from the one because of the box, and hadn’t really noticed how short she was until now. Then she walked back into the room.
“Here you go,” she said with a grin. With that brief moment, she asked me to put away my laundry (none of which I had ever seen before) and kissed me on the cheek. I had to lean down to receive it. I took the usually heavy basket into my muscular arms as if it was a tissue box and tossed it into the corner of my room. Then I looked down at my birth card. May 15th, 1991. What! I thought to myself, the day is right but I was born in 2000, not 1991. Jake finished a call put his cellphone back in the pocket of his now small pants.
“That was my mom. She also thinks I’m twenty-five. This is very, very weird.” He panicked, “What do we do?”
“For now, we do nothing.” I stated, “Tomorrow, we will research if anyone else has found one of these boxes, or knows anything about them. I’ll put an ad on Kajiiji or something.” I proceeded to my computer and did exactly that.
Help wanted: Found a strange box in the woods, anyone with information please send a message to me.
Green
I added a picture of the box and inserted a link to my email and posted it.
“Perfect! Tonight, you crash here. Then we can see if anyone has messaged us in the morning.” I said ecstatically. I really hoped someone would message us. With a sigh, Jake nodded and called his mom back to tell her the plans. Once we fell onto my bed, we did our best to sleep, but we were only plagued by thoughts of possibilities of the future.
ns 18.68.41.147da2
