Boston, Massachusetts – United States.
On one of the most marginalized streets of this great old city, a two-story building could be seen in very poor condition.
Near the entrance of this old and dilapidated building, there was a simple old wooden sign that read: “Orphanage Always Happy,”
In one of the rooms of this building, you could see many bunks and beds side by side. In each bunk bed slept one child on the bottom and one on the top. There were also mattresses on the floor where there were more children.
The children ranged in age from four years old to a maximum of eighteen years old. As the sun had already risen and there were no curtains on the windows, the room was already fully illuminated.
Suddenly the door of the room opened with a dreadful creaking sound that woke up several children, others did not, as they were used to it and were still sleeping.
“Wake up you brats! If you don’t wake up, you won’t have breakfast, and you’ll go to school on an empty stomach!” shouted a middle-aged woman.
The woman had black hair with some gray, some wrinkles, and dark circles under her eyes. She was wearing a white apron that protected her blouse and other clothing.
“And hurry up or the others will steal your food!” the woman exclaimed as she slammed the door shut.
The shout and the slamming of the door woke all the children, who began to get up from their beds and quickly change. Many were talking to their friends, and a hubbub was created in the
room.
“How noisy…” muttered a boy, who was sleeping on top of one of the bunk beds. Not only was the sun shining on his face since there was no curtain to intercept the light, but now he had to put up with the bustle of all the kids.
“Wake up, Luke! We can’t miss breakfast!” shouted a lanky boy, who was sleeping on the underside of the bunk bed.
“Don’t bother Tom,” Luke said lazily. With a nimble movement, he pulled his pillow over his face covering himself from the annoying sunlight and shielding himself a bit from the annoying bustle.
Tom was used to how sleepy Luke was, so he didn’t think anything of it, quickly changed, and left the room. He didn’t want to miss breakfast.
In ten minutes, all the boys were out of the room, except Luke, who was still sleeping. Now more peacefully since the place was silent.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, Luke stirred. He pulled the pillow away from his face and sat staring around the room, which was mess as more than ten kids were sleeping, and they weren’t tidy at all.
Luke had light brown hair that looked almost blond. He had blue eyes and prominent eyebrows that would give him an attractive appearance if he didn’t have messy hair and a sleepy face.
‘Thirteen years old… Well, almost fourteen…’ thought Luke with a blank stare.
Luke was a reincarnated person. In his previous life, his name was also Luke, and he died at the young age of thirteen.
‘I wonder if I’ll make it to fourteen… Only a couple of weeks away,’ Luke thought. He wondered if he would die again at thirteen and if it would be some sort of curse and endless cycle of reincarnation. It would be funny and painful.
In his past life, he was a big reader of novels of all sorts of genres, even fanfiction. He also watched series, and anime and read manga. So, when he was reincarnated, he was very excited. He had thought he would be reincarnated into a world of epic battles and incredible powers.
However, his expectations were not met. Well, part of it did. The powers part.
Luke, who was sitting on the edge of the bed looked down at his old worn-out shoes. He stared at them, and after a second the shoes began to levitate and float towards him.
The shoes slid smoothly over his bare feet. The laces, untouched by anyone physically touching them, began to braid and tie deftly. Then an old jean jacket flew towards him.
Luke discovered at the age of six that he possessed telekinesis. He could move objects towards him or throw them to another place at an incredible speed.
At first, he could lift very light objects and had a hard time, but after a lot of practice, he could move heavier objects and more numbers at the same time.
As a kind of muscle, if you practice with X weight for a while you can move to the next weight, i.e. X + 1.
Also, just looking at the objects was enough. He did not have to use his hands to move the objects. Another advantage was that he did not feel much fatigue compared to the beginning. So, he could use his telekinesis without getting tired, if he moved objects of weights he was used to.
The bad thing was that he could not find other people with powers just like him. At first, he thought he might be in the Marvel Universe, but it was 2019, and he never saw news of alien attacks. Nor news of Iron Man, Spiderman, or any other famous superhero.
No black man with an eye patch came to the door of the orphanage telling him if he wanted to belong to a select group of superheroes. Nor did a bald old man in a wheelchair come to invite him to a school for children with strange and powerful powers.
Nor was he in the world of Harry Potter since no letter came to him at the age of 11. Although Hogwarts was not in the United States there was supposed to be a magical school in the Harry Potter universe in the U.S., although he couldn’t quite remember its name.
He didn’t mind the idea of possessing superpowers in a world of normal people, but he knew the possibility of this was low. It would be strange if he was the only person with a superpower.
It wasn’t pleasant at all to go so many years without knowing what world he was in specifically.
‘I’ll leave that topic aside. Now I must go to school…’ Luke thought with a grimace as he landed on the ground softly and walked towards the door. He opened the door and began to make his way to the dining room which was on the 1st floor.
Living in an orphanage was not the best thing in the world. According to what Luke was told, his parents died a few days after he was born. He has very few memories of them, as when he was a baby. He was not yet fully aware that he had been reborn.
He arrived in the dining room. In the center of the room was a long table with numerous chairs where all the children were seated. The table was dirty, as the children in the orphanages were not the cleanest.
Luke found a place next to his friend Tom and sat squeezed in with the others, as there wasn’t much space. The wooden chair he sat in made a strange creaking sound, and he could swear a
splinter went up his butt.
Luke was among the middle kids at thirteen, almost fourteen. The older ones were seventeen and eighteen. When you turned sixteen you were sent to work, since that’s the basic minimum age for work if it wasn’t a dangerous job.
It was already impossible for him to get a family. Who in their right mind would adopt a fourteen-year-old? The same was true for his friend Tom and his children over the ten-year-
old barrier.
“I protected your food,” Tom said with his mouth full.
“You’re very thoughtful…” said Luke sarcastically, looking down at his plate of food without much appetite. A bowl of oatmeal and hard bread was his breakfast. Luke hated oatmeal. Life at the orphanage was not at all appealing. He shared a room with many noisy children, the facilities were falling apart and bordering on illegal. The food was scarce and tasted bad. On top of that the clothes he had belonged to kids older than him, so they were all used. His shoes were in tatters, his white T-shirt looked yellowish because it was so old, and his jeans looked like they were of that fashion that had holes in them.
This was Luke’s least favorite thing about being reborn, being in an orphanage. In his past life, he had parents and was an only child. His parents were always on the road for work, so he had the whole house to himself and money to eat whatever he wanted or buy whatever novel, or manga he pleased.
‘It’s better to have powers…’ thought Luke, who didn’t want to think about depressing things.
One of his goals was to get out of the orphanage as soon as possible and survive on his own. With his powers it was possible. He was still working on that plan. He didn’t want to wait until he was sixteen or eighteen.
The only friend he had was Tom, and he was no big deal either. They would get into some mischief together, like picking on the orphanage caretaker or other kids his age, who were
looking for trouble.
They got along a little well, but he wouldn’t tell Tom his secrets either, no matter how simple they were. He didn’t fully trust him.
Both in this life and in his previous life he was a loner with no trusted friends. He wasn’t proud of this, but it wasn’t something that plagued him either. He liked solitude and, in the orphanage, he had no solitude at any time.
Another curious thing was his full name in this new life, which was as follows: Luke Poe. The same surname as the famous writer and literary master of horror: Edgar Allan Poe. Luke as a geek of all kinds of novels, and short stories, among others, knew the master of
horror, Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous tales are The Black Cat; The Golden Beetle; The Masque of the Red Death, and several others.
When he learned his last name and that Edgar Allan Poe was his ancestor, he was excited. Not just anyone is a descendant of someone considered a literary master of horror, and his legend
continues to persist through the years.
Because of this, he thought he would have a large inheritance, but he did not. He didn’t have a single dollar of inheritance. The only inheritance he had was from his parents. It was an old house on a forgotten street in Boston. Even older than the orphanage.
Again, reality hit him, as he could not claim the house and the items left to him by his parents. Claiming and managing an inheritance is a very complex legal process, and is subject to many laws. Since he is a minor, he cannot get his inheritance yet. He must wait until he comes of
age.
While he was thinking about all these things he finished his bowl of oatmeal, although he hated oatmeal, if your only food is oatmeal, you get used to digest it or you will starve to
death.
“The bus is coming! Get out!” shouted the middle-aged woman.
The children began to file out without much order. Luke quickly ate the stale bread while helping to digest it with water. Then he grabbed his backpack and started to follow the others.
“Luke, come here,” said the middle-aged woman.
Luke turned slowly with a frown. The middle-aged woman was the caretaker of all the
children. Her name was Bethany Miller. She was strict, but she wasn’t mean like they show
them in the movies and series.
“Yes?” asked Luke dryly. “You be good. The year is almost over. I don’t want you to cause any more trouble at school
and get expelled. It won’t be any good for a kid in an orphanage to have on his record that he was expelled from three schools,” said Bethany, looking sternly at Luke.
Luke had been expelled from two schools before. The reason? He played a practical joke on the bullies who were picking on him. Even though the school had no evidence against him, he was charged and expelled from school. Since the bullies said it was him and since one of his
parents was rich, he was kicked out with a kick in the butt. In the second one, it was similar, just a different joke.
At this new school, he already had some minor problems, but so far nothing serious. Again,
there was a group of bullies who picked on him for being from an orphanage, having old clothes and supplies, and being attractive (the latter he thought).
Luke with psychic powers would not be easily intimidated and always ended up clashing with
the bullies. He wouldn’t use the powers to sweep the floor with them though, as it would be
bad for the government to do experiments on him. He still wasn’t strong enough to take on multiple people with guns.
This time Luke had a very big practical joke prepared. He was waiting for the right moment to
execute it.
“As you say, Mrs. Miller. I won’t do anything…” replied Luke, lying through his teeth. He already had all the preparations ready. This time it would be impossible for them to accuse him of the prank. He had planned everything.
“Mm… You better keep calm, go,” said Bethany with a frown, not believing Luke’s words
much.
Luke turned and left in a hurry. He didn’t want to miss the bus and had to walk to school.
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