What's wrong with being weird?

The morning came upon the couple quicker then they'd thought. They had been up all night trying to figure out why their bathroom door couldn't close all the way. They had figured it out eventually, after relentless cutting and sanding the sides of the door. They had clumsily climbed into bed together, not even bothering with saying their "good nights". The mustiness and blankness of the new house didn't bother them, since they knew they could fill it up with many memories and make it be their sanctuary. They enjoyed the problem solving. The man, whose name was Micah, was a carpenter, and had built the house that they'd lived in. Previously, they had lived in a tent underneath another canopy tent, and every day he would go out and continue his work. He loved his house, he made it customarily for them; just how they both wanted it. The female, named Jinora, said she would be thankful enough to have a safe roof over their heads, with a place to sleep and to cook food for a possible future family. Jinora had never asked for much, for she was never used to much. She had always been struggling for the necessities.

Born in the slums of Mexico, she had never been given the chance of living a luxurious life. She never minded helping Micah with building their future home, but couldn't always help on the scale as Micah's friends. You see, she had a special gift. Jinora was blessed with the powers of telekinesis. Since she was a little girl, she had been isolated from everyone else because of her strange gift. She was taught at home by her grandmother, who had her learn the sciences of life and history of literature. Her grandmother may not have had a solution to Jinora's powers, but she never made Jinora feel like her gifts were a curse. Her grandmother was the only one who willingly went near her. Whenever she got emotional, things would start to move on their own. Beds would slam into the walls, lamps would shatter on the floor, lights would explode like fireworks. When things got really emotional for Jinora, the telephone poles outside her home would break and float. Jinora was a very paranoid and scared person up until college, when the knowledge from her grandmother paid off. She had been given an important scholarship at the University of New England for becoming a writer. Jinora had always loved to write; it was a way to express herself in a non-dangerous way. Her studies at the University led her to Micah. He had just gotten there himself to start his career as a carpenter, and he couldn't help but tripping over his feet at the mysterious woman who typed on her computer in the library every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

One day, Micah got the guts to introduce himself. He had been practicing for weeks on how to seem knowledgeable and professional, but he ended up rambling and stumbling over his words. Jinora didn't mind. He was treating her like a human. He wasn't scared of her. He never seemed like he was scared of her, and it let Jinora put her guards down a little. They ended up talking for hours. Micah told his story on how he came to New England from Ohio. Everything seemed to be going great for both parties, until Micah asked about Jinora's story. She couldn't handle the fear that held her heart like a cage. She didn't want to lose a friend she had just made. But, why would he stay if he knew her secret? Would he tell everyone? Could she bluff her way out of it?

Micah reached out to touch her hand, telling her that she doesn't have to share it with him, but she yanked her arm to the side, accidentally using her power to knock an entire row of books off the wall. Micah retreated his outstretched arm. He was astounded. He couldn't even process what had happened, it felt like his eyes were playing tricks on him. Jinora saw that astonishment, and interpreted it exactly as she had feared. She stumbled out of her chair, and started to walk quickly towards the door. She didn't want to see Micah's face again. He must've been terrified. He must’ve thought that she was a monster. 

She ran the whole way back to her dorm, her hands closely tucked into her chest. She couldn’t breathe, even when she was curled up on her bed, she couldn’t breathe. She looked down at her shaking hands, and she started to cry. Way to go, she had thought, right when you thought you could get it right, you had to ruin it. She didn’t think about anything else but that. She tried moving small things around the room as a sense of gaining control of herself, but it always ended up with something getting broken. But the thing that was most broken, she thought, was herself.

There was a knock on the door several hours later. She had gained composure by then, and was watching a reality TV show while eating her instant noodles. She thought nothing of it, only classmates would visit her, and that’s only if they wanted something from her. But it wasn’t a sleep-deprived student this time, but the man who she talked to in the library. She didn’t know what to do, so she slammed the door shut. She heard cries of complaint from him, and after trying the doorknob, he swung the door open and welcomed himself inside. 

“Do you do that with everyone who comes by your door?” He said, taking off his sneakers at the door. “You’re lucky I like you.”

She finally had the strength to speak. “You like me?” 

He chuckled. “Well, yeah. You think I would’ve come all the way here to bring you this?” He held up a small black bag, which she immediately recognized as her computer bag. She had completely forgotten about it. 

“Oh,” she mumbled, and reached out to grab it. Suddenly, she brought her hand back, remembering the incident at the library. Her throat started to close up. “I-I think you should go, it’s probably against the rules for a male to be in a female dorm, besides, it’s getting late you probably have a lot of work to do, but it’s not a good idea for you to be here, so you should probably leave-”

She was rendered utterly speechless as Micah grabbed her hand and gently placed the handle of the bag to her fingers. “Was that so hard?” he said softly. Jinora just blankly stared at the bag. “I know this must be awkward and all, with what happened. But rest assured, I’m not scared of you.” He bent down to meet her eyes. “I think what you have is pretty awesome.” 

She wrinkled her face in disgust. “It’s weird, and it doesn’t do anyone any good.”

He chuckled again. “What’s wrong with being a little weird?” He took her other hand and put it in between his own. “Also, imagine being able to get some milk from your fridge by only lifting your finger?”

She smiled. It was only slight, but Micah felt something in his chest release once he saw it. “I never thought about it that way,” she said. After a moment of thinking, she added, “did you want to help me learn what I can do?”

And that was the beginning of their relationship. After freshman year, they moved into an apartment, and after they graduated they moved out to the countryside and started building their future home. Over the years, they learned more and more about Jinora’s powers. By the time they’d graduated, she was able to comfortably move things around and was able to control herself sometimes whenever she became emotional. 

That morning, Jinora woke up to the smell of the fresh eggs. She tugged on her slippers, since the floors still weren’t entirely safe to walk on, and sluggishly walked downstairs. Micah was down by the “kitchen”, which consisted of a propane lit camping stovetop and a bucket of water, cooking eggs for the both of them. 

“Good morning sunshine,” he said sarcastically, eyeing her messy hair. She patted it down and sat down next to him, stealing all the extra heat from the stovetop. 

“Good morning,” she replied, using her power to get a paper plate from one of their bags and putting a finished egg on it. She tore it apart with her power as well, and munched happily, looking at Micah.

“Not fair,” he retorted, standing up with a grunt to get a plate. Giggling, Jinora had another plate come out of the bag and hurtled it towards Micah. He stepped back, yelling something vulgar, and Jinora rolled on her back laughing. “Not cool, Jinora!” He shouted, laughing along with her. 

They ate breakfast mostly in silence, only saying anything when they felt like they had to comment on the weather, or what the other planned on doing that day, etc. When the couple was done, Micah turned off the propane and put the stovetop in the corner along with the plastic cups, plates, bowls, and utensils. He went back upstairs to go get dressed, while Jinora went outside to the half-finished front porch. She had wanted it like a farm porch, extending all around the house. Eventually, she would’ve liked to have rocking chairs and a bench swing, maybe even a grill. The property they bought had so much potential. They had a big yard, with a small dirt road as a driveway, so they usually parked their cars on the grass at the side of the house where Micah’s workshop was. There was an oak tree Northwest of the front of the house. Nothing but trees. Exactly how they wanted it to be. Living at college taught them exactly what they didn’t want in a living environment. They wanted peace, quiet, and space. It didn’t take long once they left college; they had researched for years about the perfect piece of land. 

Jinora sat on the steps of the porch, looking out to their yard. She examined the wooden boards that made up the stairs, remembering when Micah was there nailing those exact nails into the wood. She was happy, more happy than she’d ever been in her entire life. She finally felt like she belonged somewhere, with someone who actually loved her and wasn’t scared of her. She smiled at the sun that was still kissing the treetops, the dew on the grass glistening. She could’ve stared at that view all day. And as that image sunk into her head, she realized that she could stare at it for as long as she wanted to. It was a part of her home, so she could stare at the view forever. And she would never want it to change.