Beyond Limits

Never before have I been this... Alone. It's like... You're in a group, yet you are the only one who is different. And forever that's the way it shall be. Well, this life is not a first choice; and there never was one to begin with. As the first leaves fall in autumn, I run faster. It's these games of cat and mouse that I hate. And I have no clue why I, Marcus Johnson, am the prey in this maze.

I can't believe my ears. He's really dead. I lie speechless on the old black couch in my families living room. My oldest and only brother. In my family, I'm the second son. Now the only son. As I silently weep over the loss, glimpses of his destroyed, pitiful form flash before me. And the last words were only fully understood after his passing. Forever will they be burned in my mind. As he, my beloved brother, lie dying, Andrew pulled me close for the final time. His blood soaked into my white shirt as I embrace him, and he makes me promise these few lines:

"The greatest story ever made is only what you make it. Be an angel among demons; protect those who you care for to the end. "

He murmured something about asking for forgiveness and repentance for his sins, then finally left. As I kneel beside his gory, bloody form I rise. I look to the dark skies and utter few words.

"Dearest brother, I'm no saint. I'm no angel either."
Three weeks later.

"Depression hurts. We can help. Contact us at..."

I shut the tv off before it can continue. "Depression hurts, hmm? You have no clue," I mutter.
I rise from the couch and step towards the doorway. It's 8:30am on a crisp fall morning. As I hang my head low and walk, a fallen maple leaf flutters by. I watch as more float by in the same direction. I pay no attention to how fast they are moving. "Passing leaves," I mutter, "passing people. I don't see the difference everyone should move... on." Saying the last word hurts more than anything. Well, someone has it worse. Yup. Worse when your parents died in 9/11, worse when your 20 year old brother is dead. But, I can take care of myself. I quicken my pace as the hour arm on the analog clock on the lamp post moves ever so closer to 9:00.

As I enter St.Luke's high school, the bell rings. I avoid crowds of people moving to and for from class to class, or people trying to get to their locker. I finally make it to my locker, number 279. I reach and grab my algebra and English language arts books....
.... Only to have them knocked out of my hands by James Bates, ( or as I "fondly" call him Master Bates...) and as he does that he shoves in to me on purpose.
"Hey wise guy, just who do you think you are?" He demands in "rage." The inner kid in me had the extreme urge to say in a deep growling voice: IM BATMAN! But, when your in high school, it will just make you look like a retard.

"I'm Marcus Johnson, you know, the kid you picked on for the last 4 years because you can't find anyone else to bother?" James was in the 11th grade as I was in the 9th. To me, he was pathetic because he was scared of the 12th graders, so he would stereotypically pick on kids younger than him. Mind you, never would he say that aloud.

"Don't get smart with me, punk. You are just a twerp and I can and WILL squash you like a bug," he snarled in my face, "why you shoved me is unknown, but you should always apologize and make things as right as possible, right?" He said smugly.

"Then, James, you have one hell to pay," I say as I walk towards my first class. Outside, dark clouds were gathering. A storm was brewing, and this one would differ from every other one before it.

As I fall onto the couch in the living room, exhausted from the days tiring events, I open my book back to study for the upcoming tests. I know I am prepared;
I study and review every week. Now, I know what you're thinking. NERD. Not really... But I do pretty well in school compared to James. You know, like 80s, 90s, and if I'm lucky, slightly higher. I open my science textbook and review on the lesson of "how an ecosystem works." Yay.
After a dreadful two hours, ( well I may be over dramatizing it a bit but....) I attend to my daily chores. I go to fold the laundry, but I realize that it was still stormy outside. The rain pelted down like a symphony of bullets as they fell and make contact with the glass table that rested just outside the door. The wind blew so hard that the way the trees were moving, it looked like they were constantly being slapped back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. I snap myself out of that daze and return to my work.

After some time, I sit down to eat supper as the clock strikes 6. I dig into the lukewarm meal of spaghetti; I'm ravenous. I stop myself and listen. All I hear is the sound of my deep breathing, and the sound of the rain falling.
I feel utterly alone. Which I am. I cannot contain myself from shedding a tear as I remember the days when we, my family, would sit together and talk about the day, the things bad and good that happened. But as long as we were together, everything was fine.
As long as we were together....
...together...

"Move on," my thoughts whisper inside my head , "there is nothing you can do. They're gone. Dead."
"No," I pant angrily, "no..NOO!" I scream as I rise, grab my plate and bash my on the floor. The sauce, a crimson red, splatters in every direction, bringing even more bad memories to mind. Innocent blood spilt... Mom, dad, the. Andrew... Gone...
"NOOOOOO!" I cry in agony and grief. I lean against a wall and wearily slide down until I am in a sitting position. "Gone...." I croak in a hoarse, raspy voice. Tears spill down my cheeks like a waterfall; they never seem to end. I lay there until the clock struck midnight. "Gone.." I say before falling into the depths of sleep. "Gone.."

And outside, the storm raged on.

I awake to the steady beeping of my alarm clock. I can just hear it, even though I am a floor down from it. Sighing, I rise and attend to my morning routine. As I rinse myself off in the shower, I cast yet another glance outside. "Damn," I think to myself, "this must be a big storm." It seemed like the storm only intensified, like someone added fuel to the fire. And one thought kept bothering me. "Why are there faint swirls of colour in the clouds?" Setting that oddity aside, I get dressed in black jeans, a grey t-shirt and a blue Aeropostale sweater/hoodie. I tie my black shoes, (if you have not guessed already, my favourite colour is black. Thought others argued that black was a shade.. Which is partially true.) I open the door with my backpack and step outside. The chill hits me like a slap in the face. After locking the door, I set out to school. As I pace towards the school, I hear thunder. "Just my luck," I growled. The rain fell like bombs in World War Two; hard and fast. Now jogging, I feel wind flow through my hair, pushing me back. Yet I refused. Now soaked and running, the wind is howling like a pack of wolves, and I snap my head back to see..
... A tornado.
Panicked, I push harder and harder against the force of the wind. I don't stop until I'm securely behind a brick wall. Peeking around the corner, I saw the least strangest thing that day. Swirling and blending with the tornado were vibrant colours. Ducking as a mailbox flew over my head. I then saw what REALLY creeped me out. The colournado began to glow. That's right. Freaking. Glow. It grew brighter, almost as bright as the sun... well I wouldn't go that far. But is was still glowing very bright gold now. I said the most logical hong to say.
"OH CRAP!"

I ran like my life depended on it. Oh fuck it, it did. Then I ran from my spot and bolted. Directly behind me the tornado followed. "Nononononononononono!" I screamed. I ran with all my strength, but it was faster. I dove for cover in an abandoned building. The windows were shattered and it was very old. It was due for demolition a week later, but things could be rescheduled. I gazed around, looking at the wasteland I called home. Trees were uprooted, houses were demolished. A block or so away the tornado drew closer and then... Stopped moving. It started pulsing a golden light. Then it exploded. Then it imploded. Shielding my eyes, I look away. After a few seconds, a boom is heard, shattering windows everywhere. Pieces of glass fly by quickly. A small piece cuts deep into my forehead, diagonally across my face. Luckily, it misses my actual eye. But it still is a wound; it gushes blood onto my face and clothes. Pain ripples through my face, but I try to ignore it. There is a bigger task at hand. I rise above the table I was taking shelter from, and duck down again. To make sure that I'm not dreaming, I pinch myself. It's real. And no, I'm not on drugs. I rise again to hear the stomping of feet. I was wrong. Trying not to laugh, I look upon what was in the tornado. Ponies. Ridiculous, right? What appeared to be the guards were surrounding a golden carriage. In front were 6 or 7 brightly coloured ponies. The leading one, coloured lavender or very light purple with a dark purple tail, mane and... Wings? What the fuck? I then noticed a protrusion on its head. It was wearing what looked like a crown. The others were wearing things like that around their necks. They all had different marks on their flanks, which confused me. The orange one was wearing a straw hat. Her butt tattoo was a picture of three apples in the shape of a triangle. A blue.. Pegasus? Yes, that's it. the Pegasus had rainbow hair, and her tattoo was a rainbow lightning bolt. There was a pink one that was clearly happy considering the stupid grin on its face, and it was hopping. The others were walking... She must be crazy or something. The next one was yellow with a pink mane; it looked quite timid. It had pink butterflies for her tattoo. Next to her was a white pony with purple hair. By first looking at her you could tell you did not want to mess with her. And she looked snobby, too. They appeared to be looking for something.

All of a sudden, I heard one of them say, "he must be here somewhere. We traced him to this spot."

Not taking any chances, I decided to move. As I moved from my spot, I stepped on a few pieces of glass. As soon as it made that sound, I cringed and looked behind me. All 6 of them were staring me dead in the eyes. The purple one said these few words that made my choice to run brilliant.
"Oh, there you are. Guards, SIEZE HIM!"

Dammit.

I ran towards the backdoor as hoofs stampeded in my direction. I flew out the back door, only to fall 6 feet to the ground. Great, more injuries. But I had to keep moving. A guard in golden armour yelled "HALT!" In my direction, but I ignored it and kept moving. I turned onto Winchester street, which was covered in garbage and fauna. I then make a left...

... To see those six ponies with necklaces/crowns staring at me with determined looks. I turned and ran in the other direction. Now I heard even more hoofs beating against the ground. As I snap my head back to see how far away they are, the purple one's horn lights up a bright purple...

.. And she fires lasers at me. In fact, so many lasers that it looks kinda like when the Millennium Falcon goes into hyper speed. I duck into an alleyway and hide. I wait for the stampede to pass me by. It almost worked.. Until I moved at the very last second. The blue Pegasus flies toward me at incredible speed. It hits be square in the back, the impact causing me to go flying. Pain makes its way to my central back and hips. I crash into a black Lexus, and the front windows shatter. I barely manage to get up before they reach me. Why did they want me anyway? There was no time to think. The purple one was going to fire more lasers at me, this time with the help of the white one. I duck the wave of lasers and try to out run them. Clearly, I can't. So I make my way home, and hope they don't see me. It works. I am overjoyed that I can rest. As I lock the door, I sluggishly make my way back to the couch and fall down. My heart is pounding in my ears. One thought keeps pestering me as I fall asleep.
"Why?"

The ponies searched house after house, not knowing that the human they were looking for was already in the house they first checked; his current residence. The blue one asked the purple one a question. "Twilight, why haven't we found him yet?"

The purple one, twilight, responded, "Because, Rainbow, he's hiding. If we knew where he was, then we would have found him already."

The blue one, also called Rainbow pondered over this. "Weeellllllll...."

"Well what, Rainbow?"

"Could he be somewhere we already checked? I mean, if we are faster than him, he should be tired and he couldn't have gone far."

Author's Note

Sorry about my absence. Been quite busy... Anyway, here you go.