Read Or Die Fan Fiction ❯ Paper Roses ❯ Slip-ups ( Chapter 1 )

No had had known about my “uniqueness” until the shooting at school today. I've only let it slip every now and then. I'm Briar Kast. I'm fifteen, a tad-bit tall, have medium length brown hair, and I'm gay. But that's not the uniqueness. No, it's the fact that I'm a paper-user. Being a paper-user means I can telekinetically manipulate and influence paper in any shape and form that I want. I developed this ability at the age of seven when I became a huge bibliophile.

I remember when I first discovered my abilities. I was in the office of my house looking at the bookcase. There was a certain children's book that I wanted but it was on a shelf too high for me to reach. And I had only started intense book reading only two weeks before. So I tried reaching for on the tips of my toes, not good enough. I then started really pining for the book, when it suddenly flew of the shelf and into my hand. I was appalled. I was so freaked out, but that didn't stop me from reading it.

Then I really started embracing this strange ability. I was making books and papers fly into my hands. But there was the incident in third grade. Some bully was harassing me in a secluded corner of the school. He was teasing me about being a book worm and “thinking boys are cute.” He was pushing me around and poking me. I thankfully had a book in my hand -as I always do now- and my anger was getting the best of me. Now, I knew that a small kid like me could never take this taller, bigger kid down. So, I did nothing as the anger built up. I eventually let out by yelling. That's when the book practically exploded and the papers flew out in small radius. The bully jumped a couple of steps back, yelling in pain. The papers cut hundreds of slashes on his skin, left his shirt shredded, but leaving me unharmed. He ran crying at the top of his lungs as I also made my escape. Apparently the paramedics came and he told the principal what happened. He was then sent to trauma therapy, because the principal his mother didn't buy the “delusional” story.

Then there was the other incident in eighth grade. I was in a public library looking at a book. I was so enthralled; it was about a pack wolves look for a wounded stray. While I was reading, some random person must've been looking for the same book, because he tapped my shoulder and asked me a question. I was so focused on the story that I didn't expect anything, so I was completely caught off guard. So, I jumped and yelped as I turned around. That's when the paper from several books flew out and coalesced to form a life-like wolf in front of me in a defensive crouch. Now, I'd rather not get into the events that happened afterwards. I'll just say there was some legal action and a life-long exile from that public library.

Since then I started practicing to keep my abilities in control. I came to a conclusion about a few months later: my paper abilities are limited by my imagination. When I use paper as a weapon or shield it loses all of its flexibility, and becomes flat and hard like a sheet of metal, if I want it to that is. I could make pieces of paper as sharp and diamond-cut blades and make it withstand a punch from a person who makes a religion out of working out - and bullets, I figured out today.