Growing up as the only child without superpowers in my family shouldn’t have been a big deal. You’d think, if anything, they’d be protective of me. That’s what family is for, right? To look out for each other? To be there and support each other? Andrew’s super strength should’ve kept me safe from bullies. Emily’s directional shrieks should’ve taken down paparazzi that hounded me, a powerless kid in a famous family of superheroes. But that wasn’t how it went.

It’s a horrible feeling, to feel less than a person. To feel, to know, that your family’s love is conditional and you’ll never be able to reach the bar they set to earn it. Those feelings were etched deep in me, written on my bones, despite the therapy I got when I was older to push past the worst of it. So, when my daughter Felicia gained the ability of flight at thirteen, I was ready. Even though I didn’t know I would need to be.

The knock at the door came at 7:30 a.m., just as I was getting Felicia and her brother Anthony, who was two years younger than her, ready for school. Anthony was in an incredibly buoyant mood these days, because finding out that her sister now had a power meant he was likely to inherit something. It meant my lack of powers was just a fluke, having skipped a generation but still there in recessive genes. Though it was no guarantee.

Of course, I’d never based my love for them on the prerequisite of having a superpower, so that would’ve cushioned the blow of meeting my parents, but also I never wanted to subject them to my family. My father had passed away ten years earlier, but even then my parents and siblings showed no interest in meeting them. The kids acclimated to that without too much trouble, probably since they had two parents who loved them unconditionally and grandparents on my husband’s side who adored them. I spoke to my mother once a month on the phone, feeling some familial obligation. I suppose that’s why she felt it was her right to just show up on my doorstep.

Glancing through the peephole, I was shocked, and the emotion was clear on my face, I’m sure, when I opened the door. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

“Gracie, is that any way to greet me?” she exclaimed. “I thought I’d stop by and see how little Felicia is doing with her new power.”

“Mom, who is it?” spoke Felicia, coming out from the kitchen, an Eggo in her hand. Anthony, per usual, was dragging his heels. “…Grandma?” I had a moment of confusion but then realized we did have one photo of my family in the living room, so of course she’d recognize her.

My mother grinned. “Felicia, how are you?” she gushed, taking a step forward in an attempt a hug. My daughter took a step back immediately and my mother flinched. “Come give me a hug! It’s been so long.”

Felicia scoffed. “Yeah, who’s fault is that? What are you doing here? Come to ask me to join the club you call a family now that I’ve got a superpower?” She took a bite of her Eggo, scowling in a way only a teenager can. I smiled. My skin had prickled like a predator was nearby when I’d seen my mother, but my daughter had no reaction but scorn. She made me so proud.

“Don’t be rude, young lady,” she said, her voice strangely soft. “I’m here to congratulate you, yes.”

“All right. You could’ve just sent flowers,” Felicia said with a shrug. “Thanks for the congrats. Bye!”

My mother shifted her eyes to glare at me. “Is this your doing? Setting your children against me?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that a joke? You had no interest in me or my family until I mentioned Felicia’s new power on our last phone call. I couldn’t have said it better myself: you want her for your club, not because she’s family.”

“Just because we drifted apart-”

“We didn’t drift,” I snapped. “It wasn’t something that just happened. Maybe that’s how you see it, but this started when I was twelve and got tested and we found out I’d never get a power. Your love was conditional, and Felicia is learning that firsthand right now. You couldn’t have done a better job of illustrating that if you’d tried.”

Her mouth opened and closed, looking like an offended fish. “I have always loved you, Gracie,” she whispered.

“Then we have different definitions of ‘love’,” I told her. “Listen, we don’t have time for this. Felicia, go eat your breakfast at the table.”

“Fine,” she sighed, turning and heading back down the hall.

“Mom, I have a life now,” I told her. “One without you or my so-called siblings. And you lost the right to claim you cared about any of us a long time ago. So, good-bye.”

“Wait, Gracie-” The door closed in her face and I locked it instinctively. There were a few knocks and she called my name again, but I ignored her, heading back to the kitchen, where Anthony had finally made an appearance, slumped over a bowl of cereal.

“What’s going on?” he asked tiredly, glancing in the direction of the front door.

“My mother wanted to congratulate Felicia on her new superpower,” I said, putting two Eggos for myself in the toaster.

Anthony snorted. “Wow, that is so transparent it’s hilarious,” he remarked. “You think she’ll give me an invitation to their club when I get mine?”

“If,” I corrected him, putting no emotion behind the word. “You might, you might not.” He shrugged carelessly, which made me smile again. “You and your sister, you both call it a club. Is that a thing?”

“Yeah,” he replied, dragging the word out. “You probably don’t want to know the full name of the club.”

I bit my lower lip to stop from grinning.

Republished with permission from the author, karenvideoeditor. Image created using ChatGPT.