The Few

Countdown to Eighteen

Over the next two days the pair were working non-stop to find a way to be seen by the Few. Jet had bought 4 double white bed sheets, heavy duty canvas paint in many colors, high quality paint brushes, strong string and strangely three bricks. Abi didn't understand the thought process behind his artistic mind and she didn't intend to. He was a genius in his own way, no one in the world had a mind that worked like his. But at the same time Jet didn't see how her brain worked either. She was much more technical and thought things through logically and almost mechanically. She was shut in her room on three different computers, hers, Jet's and her phone tapping away routeing her way though the internet and radio waves to see if there was any trace to "The Few" in the webs on online. Nothing. How could there be nothing? She was awake almost all night. She would go to 'sleep' at 10pm and finally fall asleep at 3-4am before waking up at 6:30 the next morning for school. But Jet was not slacking either, he would also go to 'sleep' at 10pm work in his room until midnight, when he knew his mom and dad would be asleep, he'd then climb out of his window and sneak the 20 minuet walk away to where the school was and broke into the studio of the art department and continue to work. He would climb back in his bedroom window at the same time Abi was getting out bed herself. Both worked for two nights solid. And then at school they didn't stop either.

Abi routed everything to her laptop and phone when she was at school, when she was in a class she was allowed to use her laptop she was, hacking away at the back of the class as best she could. In classes where she couldn't she was on her phone hidden away looking through radio waves finding a link. Jet in art and design class where he spent half his days working away at the project, he locked himself in a part of the studio where he could work without being seen. When he was in other classes such as Math and English he sat at the back of the class and well, he slept. He sat next to Abi and she would nudge him when the teacher would walk past or look their way. When school was finished at 3:30 Abi would go with Jet to the studio and sit in a corner of the room, laptop out, phone next to it hacking while he worked on his masterpiece. They would stay there until 6 then head home, eat with their mom and dad make up things that they had learnt that day and create drama that was happening with kids in their classes. Then the whole wheel would go on again.

The night before their birthday at 7pm the twins were in their rooms waiting for the clock to hit 8pm. They had told their parents they were going to meet there friends to have an early celebration with them before the next day. They promised them they would be home by 10:30pm at the latest. Jet had packed his art into a large duffel bag with string and the three bricks. It was heavy, really heavy. Abi had packed her tablet with the program she had written into her black bag in the shed after dinner that night. Abi was pacing her room almost terrified of sneaking out this time. This could either be the night it all ended or the night before they lost who they were. In the room next door Jet was sat on his bed. Back against the wall, feet on the cover looking out of the window and back to the clock almost every minuet. Strangely there was a knock on his door at 7:15. "Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" Mr Moss said from behind the door. Jet checked the bag was covered up with a blanket so his dad wouldn't see it. 

"Yeah?" He replied pulling his phone out to look like he was texting when his father walked in. He stood at the door looking in. 

"Can we talk?" He asked. Jet just nodded and put his phone down as his dad walked in and sat on the end of the bed near his son. He looked around the room and then met his sons eyes. "I know that tomorrow may seem scary." Jet sat up and sighed. "I know you think that everything about yourself is going to change but that's not what is going to happen. I know Ira changed a lot but that's rare. She was so crazy as a teenager that when she was switched it was such a huge change. You have only been acting out over the last year to year and a half and that's all down to the hormones of being a young teenage boy."Jet nodded. Acting out, funny Jet thought, by acting out his father meant being a teenager. "But something that we need to talk about before tomorrow is..." His dad shuffled awkwardly. 

"Dad we are not having 'the talk' I know where babies come from dad." Mr Moss cleared his throat almost nervously. "Oh my god. Dad, I know what s*x is, I know that's how babies are made, I know to wear a condom, I know not to have babies until I am married and I know that m**********n is totally normal. Now can we say we have had this talk and not." Mr Moss shuffled in his seat.

"Have you...?"

"Dad can we not." Jet said putting his head in his hands. "No I have not had sex." He said, "If you wanna have this chat then lets, you know Bex down the street, we've not had s*x but we have gotten as close to..."

"Stop." Mr Moss said and Jet started to smile trying to make his dad as uncomfortable. 

"Who know's maybe tonight I may get an 18th birthday present if you get what I mean."

"Really, really stop." Jet started to chuckle. "Jet, I know you're not a kid and you have things going on that you can't control. Being a teenage boy is hard, your are emotionally charged, you're angry, you're always..."

"Horny?" 

"Yes Jet." His dad said not looking at him. "But tomorrow after everything is on, you will have more control over yourself. You still will feel those urges but it will be much more manageable."

"Are you or mom having this talk with Abi?" He asked.

"Well..."

"Girls can be horny too dad." Jet said. "Girls masturbate too." Mr Moss blushed and started to sweat at the notion that his baby girl would do such a thing. 

"JET!" He said coldly. "I am not having this conversation with you. If your mom wants to have this talk with her then she can." Jet laughed.

"Pretty sure she watches porn too."

"JET!" His father almost yelled. "Look, I don't know how you, or maybe your sister are finding porn, underground porn sites should not come through our internet provider but somehow you get it." Jet nodded.

"Yes dad 'I' keep finding the underground lesbian porn websites, yeah its me. Not your gay 17 year old, computer genius daughter." Jet said glancing to the door. Mr Moss looked at the door like the world had shattered around him. "If she offers me links to sexy ladies I am of cause going to say yes...but I am not finding it." Jet smirked. "Look dad I have to get ready to meet my friends can we cut this conversation short?" 

"There's one more thing something not as... well. I know that you two think that Ira is the favorite child but that's not true. And I know the baby has come as a surprise to all of us."

"Dad I get it. We're not who we are meant to be yet we're still free-willed and maybe when we are on you will be able to show us fully what we mean, I get that. And when it comes to the baby, you're going to be a grandfather that's big news. And look, I have always been vocal about how I don't think I want kids, and when I do its going to be later in life I want to focus on my training and my career. People with three letter names have to work hard to get into the propaganda market dad you know." Mr Moss laughed, Jet stopped and went over the stream of lies that were coming out of his mouth and made sure they made sense. "And I know that any kid that Abi has will come from an unknown background. Gay people can only adopt babies that have come from non-married parents or sperm donated by specific channels. This could be your only biological grandchild I get it." Jet said.

"I know you would understand. Anyway I wanted to give you your birthday present a day early." He handed him a velvet box. "This is something my dad did for me on the evening of my 18th birthday and I want to carry this on." Jet opened the box to see a wrist watch. "Look on the back." Jet turned it over in his hand and on the back was an inscription, 'Jet be the man you were born to be, Dad.' Jet looked at the watch again. Be the man you were born to be. His father was unaware of the man he was meant to be. 

"Dad..." He said simply. 

"Jet, you are my only son and I love you. You have a bright future ahead of you. I know that things seem confusing now but tomorrow when you wake up you will feel so much more clear and you can work towards being exactly who you are meant to be." Jet nodded. 

"Thanks dad." He wrapped his arms around his dad. "I love you too." He said holding back the tears in his eyes. He knew that this could and hopefully be the last time he saw his dad. Last time he got to feel his dad on his skin. The last time he would smell his dad's smell. And that out of everything good that would come from finding the "Few" this would be the only bad thing. He loved his mom but he and his dad were close. His dad was an artist, he had spent his life working to be in government propaganda and was still very low down in the pecking order. He had managed once to get his work in a magazine that was sold nation wide. Once... only once. "And no matter what happens dad I can promise you that I will always do my best to be the best man I was meant to be. I will do all I can to be the man that makes me proud to be who I am." His dad smiles.

"That's all I want for you and your sister. You two were the biggest surprises of our lives, but you have never disappointed me. And I don't think you ever could." I doubt that, Jet thought to himself. "I will let you get ready, you should be heading out its nearly half after. If you are meeting your friends at 8 you need to get ready." Jet nodded. 

"Thanks dad." His dad stood and walked to the door. They smiled at each other as he walked out the door and shut the door behind him. "I'll miss you." He said under his breath and stood throwing the large bad out of the window of his bedroom and into the garbage can bellow the window. He pulled his phone out and checked it. One text.

        "Ready to go?" -Abi

        "Lets do this!"

He replied.