1

Prologue

Many things happen by chance and one event can change the very course of one's

life. Take Christopher Kirby for instance. A year ago from this moment he had decided

that his life had become too hectic and stressful. Chris, in some ways very much by

chance, is a natural leader. His coach made him captain of the football team his junior

year of high school. He was quickly promoted to floor manager at the local retail store

where he worked. After his friends talked him into running for a position for Student

Council he was overwhelmingly elected. But his responsibilities became too much for

him. Too many people looked up to him and expected too much out of him. He didn't

want to be a leader. When he came to college he decided that this would be four years

with minimal responsibilities. He would enjoy what he had left of adolescence care-free.

Yet, now he finds himself barking orders like he used to back on the football field

or in his store as he yells, "Ron!! Try and cut Dave off before he gets across the hall!!!

I'll create an opening for you! Lee!! Keep Delauney contained!!!" The only difference

is that now the peers that he's leading have their lives at stake. Chris fires off a beam of

energy in between Ron Werden and Kenneth Jones, disrupting the hand-to-hand combat

they were engaged in.

Chris looks around him, trying to analyze everything that is happening and decide

what is best to do. He has found himself leading a group of college kids who have all

acquired some sort of supernatural ability. Mike Lee’s ability is one of the strangest, as

he is able to produce duplicates of himself that he can reabsorb at will. The number of

duplicates he has are the only thing holding down Bill Delauney, whose powers to move

at super speed make him a priority for Chris if he and his friends are to accomplish their

goal.

Ever since Mike’s accident with his superpowers he's been afraid to use them

again. It had gotten to the point where he no longer knew who he really was. It was the

worst kind of identity crisis to have. But he got over it. Chris had shown him that life

was worth living and, despite the danger of their mission, he was enjoying himself.

2

Assured that Mike is holding his own, Chris turns to see another member of his

group in an indomitable battle of wills with another one of the students. Amanda Zemen,

who has the amazing ability of telekinesis, is using it with all of her might to hold back

the flames produced by the pyrokinetic Veronica Levafuoco. Amanda is here for her

own personal reasons. She has a score to settle with Dave, a vendetta that she doesn't

want to be robbed from. She wishes she were using her telekinesis against him instead of

this other girl that she barely knows. But her desire for vengeance keeps her fighting and

pushes her towards victory in this duel. Slowly and steadily she pushes back the flames

that Veronica conjures. Each effort Amanda exerts gives her a clearer view of her

revenge, and the more she fights back the more power Veronica drains.

Happy to see that Amanda seems to be on the winning side of that confrontation

Chris looks back to see if Ron Werden has followed Dave, and if he needs any help.

Instead, Chris finds that Ron is still engaged in hand to hand combat with Kenneth Jones.

Chris demonstrates his own special ability once more, firing a beam of energy at Ken.

Surprisingly, Ken does not fly back from the beam and so Chris continues to pour out

energy towards him to hold him in place.

“Ron, go see where Dave ran off to! I’ll keep this other guy here!” Chris

commands. Without reply, Ron follows his orders. As Chris continues to fire his beam

of energy at Ken he unexpectedly feels the gentle touch of a woman’s hands against his

shoulder. “No more o’ that, now, ok?” Tanya Meyers sweetly whispers in his ear. And

before Chris knows it he and Tanya are gone, her ability to teleport instantly transporting

them outside of the museum.

Ron catches sight of Dave running down a different corridor of the museum and

follows him, without any knowledge of Chris’s current problems. For David Shaw it has

always been about power. Dave has always struggled to be the best at everything he's

ever done. And when he does become the best he revels in his own power and

superiority above others. Tonight he's reveling in his powers more than he's been given

the chance to since he first received them.

Ron, on the other hand, is very hesitant about having to use his power and

3

deplores how he currently has to use them in. Ron was always a man of thought, not of

action. The ability to reason was what separated man from animal, and giving into the

emotions that arise during battle was tantamount to devolution. Now Ron struggles to

restrain those emotions and retain his reason as he battles in a way his body never would

have been able to a year ago.

That becomes particularly difficult to do when Dave, using his powers to

manipulate metal, causes the metal grating that holds the floor up to erupt out of the floor.

The metal melds together, and before Ron can think enough to react he is encapsulated in

a metal sphere. Dave taunts, "I hope your strength can get you free from there...before

you suffocate!!"

The sphere crashes to the ground and rolls into the hole that Dave made in the

floor to create it. The ball falls three stories, and with his foe disposed of, Dave continues

towards his goal, under the impression that no one is left to stop him. He is totally

unaware that someone is slowly and silently following him. Lilia Coolwater's powers

may blind her from Dave's sense of sight, but not from his sense of sound. She has to be

careful and make sure that he cannot hear the scuffling of her feet or the sound of her

breathing. She has to follow Dave because he can get into the room they have all been

trying to get into. His special powers can get past the museum’s security, while Lilia’s

can’t. It only makes sense that all ten of the students who received their powers are here

tonight. That's the reason Lilia is here, because she wants to get to the source of her

powers. In the room that they are heading towards is a moonstone that in some way gave

all of them their powers back in what seems like a totally different time to Lilia.

Everything changed on the first of October. It was a normal enough day, but it

being the first of October seemed reason enough for Professor Stuart Jorley to come to

his 10:00 a.m. Freshman Chemistry class dressed in bright orange. He strode down the

aisle of the lecture hall, towards the table where he had already placed a couple beakers

filled with liquid, a couple of rocks and his lecture notes, seemingly proud of the fact that

4

he was wearing a bright orange shirt featuring cartoon pumpkins to class. Once he

reached the table, he turned around with a sudden expression of anger and shouted,

"ATTENTION CLASS!!!" It was like a clarion call for the entire room to awaken. His

facial expression changed just as suddenly again, towards the gentle goofy-looking face

of an eccentric old man that the class was used to as he whispered, "It is exactly 10

o'clock and class is scheduled to begin." He resumed his normal speaking voice as he

continued, "As most of you should be aware, today is the first of October. This has

always been a special day for me, because at our house it means we get to put up

Halloween decorations. For me, this day is even more significant because it's the first

day I'm wearing-" Jorley paused as he stepped up on the chair near his table, swung his

left leg across it and set his foot down on it for the entire class to see. "-My new orange

tennis shoes."

A few people giggled at the professor. Many others were unimpressed; they had

sat through antics like this for over a month now. Jorley continued, "But even more

important, probably, for all of you is that your mid-term examination is next week! That

means we need to wrap up all the material covered in that mid-term so you can wrap your

minds around it, completely absorb it and be able to spit it back out to me in your tests!"

With that preface that lecture began: "We left off yesterday talking about Oxidation-

Reduction reactions. These are reactions in which the oxidation number of the atoms

involved changes. What's an oxidation number you may ask? Well, you shouldn't be

asking that question if you've been paying attention the past few days, so LOOK AT

YOUR NOTES! I can't be bothered re-explaining things every day.

"More specifically, last class period we discussed Metal Displacement Reactions.

In this type of oxidation-reduction reaction you have, in aqueous solution, one metal and

one salt compound, and during the reaction the anion and the metal switch creating a new

metal and new salt compound with different oxidation numbers.

"Yesterday we went over the example of Chromium and Nickel sulfate in aqueous

solution. Today I have a special treat for you, a live demonstration of that example.

Before us in this beaker there is sulfuric acid. Now watch as I mix in nickel hydroxide to

5

form nickel sulfate in aqueous solution. But first I must put on my safety goggles. "

Professor Jorley performed the task and, while doing so went over the steps of the

chemical equation on the board. He then continued as he held up one of the small rocks,

"Here is a small piece of chromium. Watch what happens as I place it in the beaker of

nickel sulfate."

The reaction took place, to the amazement to some of the students and to the

boredom of others. After going over the steps of that chemical equation the professor

then picked up one of the larger rocks set on the table. "This," he stated, "is armalcolite.

It is a moon rock named after the three Apollo 11 astronauts who discovered it;

Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. It was later discovered to exist on Earth as well.

Specimens of armalcolite are currently being exhibited in the Gracchi Natural History

Museum downtown and they have lent us this piece for a lecture I'm giving later this

afternoon. But I thought it'd be nice to experiment with it while I have it."

To the shock of some of the students who were paying attention, Jorley then

dropped the armalcolite in the other beaker, supposedly also filled with sulfuric acid.

However, nothing happened. Noticing the looks on many of the students' faces (at least

of those in the front row) Jorley burst out into hysterical laughter. He exclaimed, "You

guys didn't actually think I would have put a precious artifact that was only on loan to me

from a museum into sulfuric acid, did you?! AhHA! It was just water!!"

Before the professor could continue he heard a sizzling sound. Soon, the students

in the front row could hear it. It was faint, but it was clearly coming from the beaker

containing the armalcolite. The professor paused and stared at it, knowing that nothing

should be happening. Then a flash of light emitted from the armalcolite. Jorley had to

cover his eyes and most of the students in the hall were forced to do so as well or look

away. The light continued to emit for about thirty seconds. Jorley considered grabbing

the armalcolite from the beaker but then decided not to as he could risk some harm to

himself. He was struck with a fear so deep that he was afraid even to think about his

options. All he could do once the light ceased to emit from the beaker was to utter, "Cl-

Class dismissed..."

6

Chapter 1

A week passed after the incident with the armalcolite in Chemistry class without

Chris Kirby thinking much about it. It caused quite a stir in the class immediately after it

happened. As soon as the class exited the lecture hall, discussion erupted. The next class

period, however, Professor Jorley made no mention of it in class and fielded few

questions over the course of the lecture, so no one could even have asked about it.

Rumor quickly spread that Jorley would be fired, but none of that mattered to Chris.

Chris enjoyed chemistry enough in high school to decide taking it to fulfill his science

credit in college, but he didn't care much for Jorley's teaching style. He understood

Jorley's goofiness was needed to reel in the attention of some students, but Chris didn't

need that, and the professor's eccentricity served only as a distraction for him. Chris

thought Jorley deserved to be fired for such a stupid practical joke.

Professor Stuart Jorley, however, was the last person on Chris' mind when his

powers began to emerge.

Chris walked into his dorm room after returning from his Freshmen English class

and he was ready for a nap. What was supposed to be a discussion period turned into a

lecture by their egocentric professor and Chris wasn't in the mood to listen to anything

else. Chris' roommate Steve Conway was sprawled out on his chair watching TV in their

small room. "Are you watching MTV?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Hey, this crap is actually pretty funny. I don't know how anyone can believe this

is 'reality TV.' You can tell it's scripted yet the poor effort these guys put into trying to

make it not seem scripted makes it hilarious!" Steve responded.

"Well, can you turn it off? I'm going to take a nap."

Steve and Chris had been friends for a long time. They had known each other

shortly before entering high school. They first met during football conditioning the

summer before freshmen year and became instant friends. They helped each other

through high school more than they still even realize. They kept each other in line in all

7

aspects of life, on the football field, in the classroom, and when they were out with their

friends. They looked after each others' backs and made sure the other never would do

anything stupid to ruin their football careers.

Their friendship only first began to strain after their high school football careers

ended. Chris became bogged down with work, planning for all of their big Senior year

events, and dozens of offers from universities, not to mention an overly needy girlfriend.

Steve tried to provide as much support as he could, but he couldn't stop Chris from

developing an increasingly negative attitude towards responsibility. Although Chris had

no further interest in playing football, Steve did and decided to enroll in Pine State

University to play there. They both decided preserving their friendship was important to

them and, after Chris decided to enroll there too, they became roommates. In their first

half semester of college everything was proceeding splendidly, except for one nagging

problem from their high school days.

"Jessie called again," Steve notified Chris.

"What?" Chris spat as he climbed on top of his bunk bed, "Did she try calling you

again?!"

"Do you think I would have answered the phone? No - she called our dorm

phone."

"We have a dorm phone...?"

"Yeah, it's that big corded thing sitting on my desk that's not a computer. I don't

think you've even noticed it since we moved in."

"How did she get that number?"

"Dude, that number is posted on the internet! You can find it by going on Pine

State's website."

"Isn't that like...a breach of privacy or something?"

"You really don't notice things that well, do you? There's a listing outside of

every dorm of every room's phone number with our names and everything! If they can

list it there why couldn't they post it on the internet?"

"Whatever...so what did Jessie have to say anyway?"

8

"Does she ever have anything to say? She just wanted to know where you were

and why you aren't answering any of her phone calls...the same thing she says every

time."

"And...?!"

"And what?"

"What did you say to her?"

"What do you expect me to say? I just said I don't know and I don't want to get

involved in whatever thing is going on between the two of you. You know I can't say

anything mean to anybody! You can't expect me to try and break it up between the two

of you..."

Chris sighed and squirmed as he tried to get comfortable on his bed. He had

wanted to take a nap but now he was becoming too frustrated to relax properly. He

complained, "I thought I had broken it off between the two of us months ago! I haven't

spoken to her in weeks! What does it take for her to get the picture?!"

"Who knows...You know how persistent she is. I still laugh every time I think

about how her and her friends all came to your grad party and how she convinced your

parents you were still dating."

"Don't remind me," Chris muttered, covering his face.

"Your great uncle thought you two were going to get married!!"

"My great uncle's a senile old coot..."

Steve began to laugh uncontrollably as he recalled, "Heheh...He got the whole

party...the whole party - Ha ha - silenced a-and...hahaha...raised a toast to your

engagement!!"

Chris groaned, "Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'd like to forget about her for just one second

and try to sleep some, ok...?"

Chris eventually fell asleep and slumbered peacefully. Suddenly he felt his

insides burning up and it spurred him out of semi-consciousness. "Aggh!" he shouted as

he shot upright in bed. It seemed to him like his body began to glow. He closed his eyes

9

and covered his face. Then he felt better. He opened his eyes again and his eyesight was

completely normal; his body no longer seemed to glow.

Chris slowly made his way down the bunk bed and muttered to himself,

"Weird..."

Steve wasn't in the room and it was already starting to get dark out. He asked

himself, "How long did I sleep...?" Chris grunted as he realized he had slept for three

hours. He turned around, curious as to where Steve had gone and touched his friend's

mouse pad, awakening his monitor. Steve had his AIM operating and his away message

read:

Getting dinner with the guys

Chris understood that to mean he was eating with the football guys.

Unfortunately, these weren't the same football guys from high school, but the ones Steve

had gotten to know over the past two months. Chris knew he couldn't feel sorry for

himself; it was his choice not to play football in college. He turned around to head

towards the door and to eat dinner in the dining hall by himself. He then heard the

familiar blooping noise that AIM makes when one receives an instant message. Chris

turned around to see what whoever had written to Steve.

CuteGurl9283758: Hey Steve have u talked to Chris

yet is he evr gonna call me back?

Chris grunted to himself. It seemed Jessie would never get the hint, and he only

hoped that he could wait it out until she finally realized that the two of them were over as

a couple. He locked his room door and made his way from his dormitory to the closest

dining hall. This dining hall didn't have the best food on campus, and it probably wasn't

the one Steve went to with his football buddies, but Chris didn't care what he had to eat or

if anyone ate with him. The meal being served that night was meat loaf and macaroni-

10

and-cheese, and Chris took his servings and tried to find a table for himself. The dining

hall was unusually crowded for that time of the night and Chris had to walk across the

room to find a seat at the end of a long table with the necessary number of empty seats

apart from the other group of people sitting there.

Chris was halfway done with his meatloaf when he looked up to see an attractive

looking brunette standing on the other side of the table who asked, "Um, excuse

me...would you mind if I sat with you? There really is nowhere else to sit right now..."

"Sure, go right ahead," Chris replied as he swallowed his food. He wiped his

mouth with his napkin to make sure he looked slightly more presentable and then

introduced himself, "My name's Chris."

"I'm Ashley, nice to meet you."

Ashley looked down to her food and paid Chris no mind as she began to eat. It

appeared as though she just wanted to eat and sat here because there was no place where

she could eat alone. Chris became interested in her and decided to try and at least start a

conversation. "So, you're here eating alone tonight as well?" he asked.

He didn't know if that would be the best question to start off with. Eating alone

usually wasn't something people would be proud of at college, but it was the only thing

that the two of them had in common at that point and what seemed to Chris a logical

place to start the conversation.

"Yeah," Ashley replied, "My Anthropology Club meeting, which is in McGregor

Hall right next to here, was cancelled tonight and I only found out after I saw the sign

saying so on the door there, so I just decided to come here and eat."

"There's an Anthropology Club here?" Chris inquired, surprised.

"There's a club for pretty much anything here," Ashley replied.

"What does an Anthropology Club do?" Chris asked.

"It's not really as boring as it sounds. We actually do a lot of interesting stuff and

go on a lot of field trips. Each of us one week usually does a little bit of research on a

specific culture and we discuss it. Sometimes we work on projects together to research

different cultural groups. Every year there's a convention we go - " Ashley began to

11

explain.

Chris inadvertently cut her off, "It sounds like a whole bunch of extra work."

"Well, it is," admitted Ashley, "But I'm an Anthropology major, and there's not

much I can do with that as an undergrad...and being in the club would look good for grad

schools. Besides, I really enjoy it and the people there are a lot of fun."

"So what made you interested in studying a whole bunch of ancient cultures that

don't matter to anybody else?" Chris asked, somewhat snidely.

"Anthropology isn't just about ancient cultures. It's technically the study of

humanity. Here, let me give you a more relevant example...uh, what are your interests?

Your activities?"

"Well, uhhh, let's see...I played football in high school."

"Football! There you go! Football players are like their own cultural unit in high

school. There have been a whole bunch of studies of youth culture and high school and

all the different types of athletes kind of form their own sort of sub-cultures. They

generally use a certain kind of vocabulary, have their own norms of behavior, and their

own customs and traditions. Anthropology is about studying that kind of stuff about

humans, and asking questions like, 'How true are the stereotypes of high school football

players?' and 'What would one player have to do or how would he have to act to become

included in the team at a certain high school?'" Ashley explained.

"Wow...I never really saw Anthropology that way," Chris stated. "So I could be

one of your projects for the Anthropology club?"

Ashley blushed slightly as she replied, "Well, you wouldn't be the project, but if I

were to have to do a project on the culture of high school football players you could

certainly help." They each took a few more bites of their meals until Ashley restarted the

conversation, "So what's your major?"

"Engineering,"

"Engineering? And you were giving me crap about Anthropology?"

"There's a lot of money to be had in that field."

"So, that's your what made you want to major in Engineering?” Ashley

12

provocatively asked with a twinkle in her eye. “ You're in it for money?"

Chris shook his head with a smile on his face, enjoying the banter, "No, no, no,

I'm not in it for the money. It's a factor but...really, I like putting things together. I don't

know how to explain it. I mean, I like problem solving, which helps me enjoy math...it's

like putting a puzzle together. I don't know exactly which field of engineering I want to

get into, but I still have a while to figure that out since I'm taking a bunch of my basic

graduation requirements."

"You're a freshmen too?!" Ashley blurted out, surprised.

"Yeah...you didn't think I was?"

"You just seem...I don't know, you look older."

"Thanks...I guess," Chris said as he stared into Ashley's eyes. He was really glad

he took that nap and allowed Steve to leave for dinner without him. He was really glad

he decided to come to this dining hall, even though the meatloaf was disgusting. At the

same time he was dreading the odds of he and Ashley ever meeting again after this

dinner. He was wondering how he would be able to see her again.

Ashley's eyes then traversed the clock hanging on the wall on the other side of the

room. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, suddenly standing up. "What is it?" Chris asked,

slightly worried. Ashley said, "Oh, it's...not too much of a big deal. I didn't notice what

the time was. I have to get back to my room; my roommates and the other girls in my

hall have a little 'Laguna Beach Party' each night Laguna Beach is on and I said I'd make

brownies for tonight, so I gotta go." Chris got up from his seat as well and said

somewhat awkwardly, "It was really nice meeting you."

Ashley went to turn to leave but stopped half-step. She turned back towards Chris

and asked, "Hey...can I, um, have your number? You know, just in case I decide to do an

anthropology project on football players."

Chris' face flushed red and he could not help but smile as he said, "Yeah, sure...it's

555-928-0307." Ashley programmed the number into her phone and turned and started

walking away. She looked back and said, "Thanks, bye!"

Chris found himself frozen to the ground. He called out, stuttering slightly, "W-

13

Wait! C-Can I have you number too?" Ashley looked back again and called back so he

could hear her over the noise from the overcrowded dining hall, "I'll call you sometime

and you can save my number in your phone!" She waved goodbye and walked away.

Chris became ecstatic.

Chris felt jubilant as he walked from the dining hall to his dormitory. He felt his

conversation with Ashley went extremely well and that Ashley was obviously interested

in him. This was the first time since arriving at Pine State that he felt there were

reciprocal feelings involved between himself and a girl. He had met many girls living in

his dormitory who gave off hints of their attraction to him, but those were girls he wasn't

attracted to. He and Steve had gone to a few house parties where there were many

attractive looking girls, but Chris didn't want to start a relationship with a drunken roust.

This conversation felt right though, as if it could lead to something good. There was a

chance that Ashley would forget about it and never call Chris back, but Chris had a

feeling that she was interested.

That thought became confirmed in Chris' mind when his cell phone rang. In his

excitement Chris dug in his pocket for his phone and answered the call without looking at

his Caller ID, supposing that it would be Ashley calling as she promised. Chris' jaw

dropped as he heard the voice on the other end, a voice he recognized very well.

"Chris?! HI!!! You picked up!!"

It was Chris' ex-girlfriend, Jessie.

"Jessie..? Wah-What...What are you doing calling me?!" Chris uttered, still in

shock, but with anger beginning to set in.

"Chriiiss, I've been trying to call you for, like, months, but you never get back to

me! What's your problem, anyway?"

"What's my problem? What's your problem?! Jessie, I broke up with you months

ago...and I've told you a million times, it wasn't working out between us and it never

will," Chris stated, with a tinge of anger at first, but tried to sound polite and reasonable.

Maybe that's the problem, Chris thought to himself, he's been too nice.

14

"If you don't think we'll work out than why did you take this phone call?" Jessie

asked.

"Ugh...because I was expecting somebody else to call me, all right?"

"Oh, what's going on? Are you, like, in the middle of something? Gawd, we've

both experienced so much since we really last spoke to each other. You must be doing so

many things in college - met so many different people. So, like, what's going on? Who

are you expecting to call?" Jessie asked, rambling on.

"I'm...I'm not getting into this with you."

"Not getting into what with me?"

"This thing where you try and trick me into having a conversation like we never

broke up."

"But we didn't break up. Not really. We've just been taking a break...but we'll

never break up. We love each other, we're meant for each other...this thing you’re going

through right now is going to pass-" Jessie tried to explain.

"I'm not going through any thing" Chris protested.

"Don't tell me that- I know you're going through some maturing, emotional kind

of something right now! I've been talking to Steve-"

"You've been talking to Steve?!"

"Yes, I have! You can't control who I do or don't talk to."

"Goddam it, Steve," Chris muttered under his breath.

Jessie continued, "And he says you've been, like, doing nothing all semester so

far. Sure, you guys may have gone out a couple times, but it seems like you're not doing

anything else but going to class. You haven't joined any clubs, played any sports or done

anything that, y'know, you used to do in high school and everything. And I think it's all

because of me and I'm really worried and I love you so much and I want to do everything

to help you-"

Chris could feel his anger over the entire course of the conversation rising in his

stomach. It felt as though his anger was a tangible thing, growing inside his abdomen

and spreading out across his entire body. He could feel it spread from his mid-section to

15

his chest, to his arms and into the hand that was holding his cell phone.

Suddenly, his cell phone exploded. Chris yelped as he felt the explosion on the

side of his face.

The remains of his cell phone flew out in separate directions and landed scattered

on the ground. Chris was in a state of shock and had no idea how that had just happened.

"What the hell?!" he wondered aloud, "What just happened?"

He looked around to see that nobody else was there. He bent down and just stared

at what was left of his cell phone dispersed throughout the grass next to the sidewalk that

connected the dining hall with his dormitory. Chris had the uncanny feeling that he

somehow caused his cell phone to explode. He could still feel the energy that he thought

was his anger within him; could it somehow have been the cause?

"That's impossible..." Chris muttered to himself.

He picked himself up and sighed. Something was just wrong with his phone, he

told himself. He resolved that the next day he would call the phone company and

complain. For now he could return to the dorm and try to forget about Jessie.

Chris returned to his room to find that Steve had not yet returned. Trying to

forget about everything that had happened that day, Chris turned on the TV and started

watching a movie. Afterward, he attempted to work on some schoolwork, but couldn't

concentrate, so he went to bed. Steve still hadn't come back and Chris heard him come in

at some point in the middle of the night. At that point, in between realms of

consciousness, Chris turned over, trying to fall back asleep, and could sense that feeling

of energy emanating from his stomach.

Chris awoke the following morning feeling groggy and miserable. He rolled over

in bed and stared at his alarm clock. It was 10:53 a.m. His Chemistry class had just

ended. Chris sat up in bed. He looked at the alarm clock again and could not believe

what he was seeing. Had he slept through his alarm, he wondered, or had he even set it

last night? He quickly scampered out of bed; he had an eleven o'clock class that he could

still make on time. He threw on some clothes and stuffed his books and notebooks in his

16

backpack.

"A pen! I don't have pen!!" Chris shouted to himself.

He scrounged about his desk but he only found one pen that was out of ink and a

broken pencil. He decided to borrow one from Steve, who was at class himself, and

opened one of the drawers of his desk. He found a pen, but what else he saw deeply

disturbed him. He saw a bag of weed along with a lighter and a packet of rolling papers.

"Steve, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?" Chris muttered to himself.

He picked up the small bag to make sure it was cannabis and smelled it. He was

certain it was marijuana and felt a sudden urge of anger again. He was angry about being

late, he was angry about his conversation with Jessie last night, he was angry that his

phone had broken, and he was angry that Steve had apparently taken up the habit of

smoking joints after they had each resisted the temptation to throughout high school. He

felt the same strange sensation building up in his stomach and extending through his

body. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the bag of weed in his hand caught fire.

Chris let out a yelp and dropped the burning bag to the ground. He stepped on it

several times to extinguish the fire but he could already smell the distinct smoke of the

cannabis from inside the bag. Without realizing what he was doing he reached out

towards the smoke detector in the room. A flash of light emitted from his hands and

destroyed the smoke detector.

Chris screamed out again, afraid of what his body was doing. He stared out at his

hands, amazed at what had just happened. As he took in another breath, he realized that

the odor of marijuana was permeating throughout the room and would soon leak out into

the hallways. He knew his RA would have to investigate and would call the campus

police if he smelled it, and, acting quickly, leaped towards the window to open it up, then

quickly turned both of the fans that he and Steve had brought on high. He scooped up the

remains of the cannabis and shoved it in his pockets and then sprinted out of the room.

Chris ran out of his dormitory and continued running, not entirely sure where he

was going. He needed to go to class but that was the last thing on his mind. His body

was doing things that he couldn't control or explain. It was his own body that had

17

destroyed his cell phone last night. His body had caused that weed to explode and in

some way his subconscious had forced him to destroy the smoke detector.

What Chris needed to do was not go to class but to go someplace where he could

figure out what was happening to him. Should he go to the student health center, he

asked himself. No, he concluded, this was not something normal and it was something he

should discover about himself on his own. So he changed direction and sprinted into the

woods that surrounded the usually quaint campus.

* * *

Bill Delauney had woken up that morning a week and two days after the incident

in his Chemistry class feeling weird. When he woke up he sprang out of bed. It was the

first time he had ever woken up so energized since he was a little kid. His roommate,

Gary, was still asleep and snoring very loudly. Bill looked over to his alarm clock to see

that it was seven o'clock in the morning. He had never gotten up this early since he

started college, which is why the earliest class he signed up for was Chemistry at ten,

with all of his other classes being in the afternoon. So Bill shrugged his shoulders and

climbed back into bed. Unfortunately, he found that he could not fall asleep.

Bill picked himself out of bed again and decided to get an early start to his day.

He had never had an actual breakfast yet, since he slept in so often, so it was an

opportunity for Bill to feast on eggs and pancakes at the local dining hall. When Bill

arrived he found the dining hall largely empty and he felt as though he was the first one

there. The cafeteria lady there was stereotypically old, short, and pudgy and offered Bill

a warm smile, asking, "Good morning. What would you like?"

"I'll have some scrambled eggs and a couple slices of pancakes," Bill responded.

The cafeteria lady scooped up some of the scrambled eggs and appeared to be taking a

painstakingly long amount of time in transferring them unto Bill's plate. Bill began to

feel agitated at how slowly the cafeteria lady was taking.

"Could you hurry up?!" Bill suddenly demanded.

18

The cafeteria lady gave Bill a look of offense, and he added, "Please...?" The

cafeteria lady slowly handed him his plate and Bill took it and quickly made his way to a

table. He found that he wasn't the first person there that morning, as one solitary female

was studying as she breakfasted. Bill sat himself at a table near her and began to eat his

food at what was, as it seemed to him, his normal pace. Halfway through his meal he

looked up to see the girl staring at him with her mouth ajar. Bill shouted out at her,

"What are you staring at?!" The girl didn't respond, but quickly looked down and

continued to stare at her textbook.

When Bill arrived back in his room his roommate was still in bed snoring, and

Bill glanced at the clock to see how much time had elapsed. He was shocked to find that

it was only quarter after seven. He could not believe that he had showered, gotten

dressed and eaten a full breakfast in about ten minutes. It felt to him more like a half

hour. "What is going on here?" he asked himself.

He sat down on his bean bag and turned on the TV. He flipped through the

channels and finally landed on an Animal Planet special about flying squirrels. What

seemed like hours later Gary Greenburg's alarm went off and Bill's roommate woke up.

"Agh" he moaned as he rolled over to shut his alarm off.

"Did you set your alarm late this morning?" Bill asked.

That question shot Gary out of bed. "No, why?! What time is it?" he asked,

startled. Bill looked over at the clock, which he hadn't looked at since he sat down to

watch TV. Only forty-five minutes had elapsed. "Oh, it's only eight," Bill stated.

"What are you on, man?! Don't freak me out like that! Christ, I thought I had

slept in..." Gary grumbled as he brought himself out of bed.

"I don't know...I feel like I've been awake for hours already...maybe I ate

something bad last night."

Gary picked up a pair of pants from the floor and put them on. He probably had

not washed the pair in weeks, but that was the lifestyle Gary lived and Bill did not mind.

Their whole room was a mess with clothes and books and other miscellaneous items

strewn all over the floor. There were posters of Che Guevara and Bob Marley on the

19

wall. Gary picked up a dirty shirt with a large stain on it from the mess and tossed it

away, and it landed on Bill's long, black, greasy hair. "Dude, gross!" Bill grunted and

threw the shirt back at Gary.

"Dude!" Gary shouted as he narrowly dodged the shirt.

"What?" Bill questioned.

"I didn't even see you do that!"

"What do you mean?"

Before Gary could answer there was a knock on the door. "Who the hell is that?!

This early in the morning?" Bill exclaimed.

"It's probably Charlene," Gary responded as he turned to open the door. Gary's

short, pudgy girlfriend walked into the room as he did so and was stunned to see Bill

awake sitting in the beanie bag. "What are you doing up so early?" She asked.

"What are you doing here so early?" Bill retorted.

"I come here at this time every morning so Gary and I can have breakfast

together. You're too busy passed out to notice."

"You guys...don't do anything else while I'm sleeping...do you...?" Bill hesitantly

asked. Charlene just rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, Gary," she stated, "Let's go." Gary led her out the door and turned

around to wave goodbye to his roommate. Bill didn't wave back. He felt agitated and

continued to feel more and more so as the day went on.

At first Bill was relieved once it was time to leave for Chemistry class, but once

the lecture started it was much worse. Bill felt like his whole body was on fire, his urge

for moving and action was so strong. Class seemed to drag on and on, and Professor

Jorley's pathetic attempts at humor were only more nauseating.

Shortly before class was about to end Bill heard a beeping noise to the right of

him. He looked over and noticed the person sitting next to him was sleeping and had set

the alarm on his phone. The kid turned the alarm off and, noticing Bill was staring at

him, apologized, "Sorry, dude."

Bill replied, "Don't worry about it. I'm out of here."

20

The guy started to say, "I can never stay awake in this class so I always set my

alarm for five-" but Bill was gone. The guy looked around to see if anyone else had

noticed that Bill had seemingly vanished, but no one else seemed to pay any attention.

Bill had left, without even realizing the speed at which he was walking, and

started to head for his dormitory, which was on the complete opposite side of campus.

"Hey, Billy!!" He heard someone call out towards him. He stopped walking and

suddenly his head began to pound. He looked up to see who had called him and saw

Gary walking towards him.

"Hey," Gary greeted as he got closer, "You usually don't get back this early."

"I walked out of Chem early...I couldn't take it anymore," Bill admitted.

"I think I might have a solution for that," Gary stated.

He leaned in close to Bill and whispered, "That guy I was telling you about, he

agreed to meet me on the Hepburn wood trail on the west side of campus." Bill nodded

his head. Gary straightened himself and asked, "You wanna come with me?"

"Are you gonna go right now?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, I got nothing else to do. It's not like I'm gonna do homework."

"I'll definitely come then. I've got to do something to chill out."

Gary led Bill to the woods that encompassed the campus and to Hepburn trail.

About a quarter of a mile in where there was a bench they veered off the path and walked

towards a large oak tree. A man in a trench coat who looked to be a few years out of

college stood there, whistling. When he noticed Gary and Bill approach he stopped

whistling and waved them over. Gary introduced, "Bill, this is-"

"You can just call me 'Joe,' all right," the young man interrupted.

"Hey, Joe," Bill greeted.

"So, you got the stuff?" Gary asked.

"You got the cash?" Joe asked in reply.

Simultaneously, Gary pulled out a wad of bills from his pocket as Joe reached

into the inside pocket of his trench coat and retrieved a bag of marijuana. Bill's eyes lit

up. His condition was becoming progressively worse. His head was pounding, he could

21

feel his heart rate racing and all his muscles were tense. "Nice doing business with you,

fellas," Joe said, and started to walk away, beginning to whistle once more.

"You want some of this now?" Gary asked his roommate.

"Ofcourse!" Bill answered.

"What?"

"Ofcourse!"

"I can't understand what you're saying, you're talking to fast,"

"OF COURSE!!"

"Jeez, you don't have to yell," Gary said, jokingly. He reached into his other

pocket and pulled out a pack of rolling paper. He handed it over to Bill, saying, "You're

better at rolling a joint than I am." Bill grabbed the pack and immediately began to

prepare his cigarette. Gary began to search his backpack for a lighter, grumbling to

himself, "And I thought I had my lighter somewhere in here..."

Within a moment he found it and pulled it out, facing Bill, stating, "Here it is!"

He was shocked to see that Bill had already rolled his joint and had it in his mouth.

"How did you do that so quickly?" he asked, partially stunned.

"Do what?"

"Roll your joint!"

"I just...did it...now, c'mon, give me your lighter!"

Bill was feeling more and more agitated as it seemed Gary was intentionally

handing the lighter over to him slowly. Bill grabbed the lighter from out of Gary's hands

and lit his cigarette. Gary gave Bill a look of shock and awe but it didn't matter to Bill.

He inhaled the fumes of marijuana and he soon was starting to feel better. After just a

few inhalations his muscles began to relax, his head stopped pounding, and his heart rate

felt more regulated. He hoped that whatever was happening to his body was temporary

and that good feeling he felt at that moment would last forever.

Only a few hundred yards away Chris Kirby was on his knees, staring in

fascination at his hands. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate as he had earlier,

22

feeling a mysterious energy flow from his body into his arms, and when he opened his

eyes again his hands were glowing. He closed his eyes again and tried to focus on his

hands, but it felt like he couldn't control whatever energy was there, and as he opened his

eyes he witnessed two beams of light shoot out from his palms. "Oh!" he exclaimed and

fell on his buttocks.

He picked himself up, reassuring himself, "Ok, Chris...you can do this...whatever

this is..." He closed his eyes and concentrated as he had before. This time, when he felt

the energy within him reach his hands, he reopened his eyes and aimed one arm at a

nearby tree branch. He focused on the energy within his other hand and attempted to

reign it in. In his first hand he let the energy loose and a beam of light shot out and struck

the tree branch. "Yes!!" Chris exclaimed.

However, he lost control of the energy he was retaining in his other hand and it

was released, shooting down towards the ground right next to his feet. There was a small

explosion as the energy beam hit the ground and Chris was knocked back. "Whoa!"

Chris yelled as he attempted to regain his balance.

"Maybe, I don't quite have a hold on this yet," he told himself.

He began to pace around that area of the woods, preparing himself mentally.

When he finally felt sure of himself again he stood still, and honed in on the energies

within him. He let the energy expand into his hands and reigned them in. He picked two

branches on another nearby tree, aimed with one arm and let the energy go, continuing to

concentrate on retaining the energy in the other hand. As his aim proved true and the

energy beam shattered the one branch, Chris aimed his other hand at the other branch and

fired at it. That energy beam as well hit its mark. Chris continued his target practice

until he felt confidently in control of the strange energies that he had discovered within

him.

"Wow," he said aloud to himself, "I...I can't believe I can do this. How did this

happen? Can other people do this? Is this, like...some kind of martial art I've

unknowingly tapped into?" Chris continued to muse the extent of his powers. He began

to wonder if the energy had to be expelled from his hands, or if he could release it from

23

other parts of his body. Once more, he concentrated on the energy within his mid-

section, and instead of bringing it up through his chest and through his arms, he forced it

through his legs. The energy suddenly exploded beneath his feet and he was shot up into

the air.

"Whhoooooaaaaa!!!" Chris screamed as he flew through the air, with the energy

continuing to flow through his legs and out his feet, propelling him upwards. He soared

up and up until his head collided with a tree branch above him. His concentration

broken, the energy dissipated and he plummeted towards the ground. His body

ricocheted on another branch before crashing into the earth.

After a moment just lying there, unmoving, Chris uttered, "Ouch." He forced

himself up off the ground, slowly and with some effort. His body was in too much pain

and he let himself fall back on his buttocks. "I'm...definitely going to need some more

practice," he told himself.

A few hours later Chris returned to his dorm room content with himself. He no

longer was in fear or worried about the strange powers that had suddenly manifested

within him. In fact, he was a little excited about them and looked forward to practicing

using them again. He didn't want to think that something was wrong with his body or

that he was some kind of mutant and, for the time being, had no intention in finding out

how and why these powers materialized. He decided he would keep his powers a secret

until they became a problem, which he hoped they wouldn't.

Chris walked into his room to see Steve sitting on his desk doing something on

his laptop. Chris had completely forgotten about the circumstances that had driven him

out of the room hours ago and merrily sat himself down in front of the TV. Steve

immediately got up and demanded, “What the hell is the matter with you?!”

Chris turned around in his chair, confused, and asked, “What are you talking

about?”

Steve retorted, “You know what I’m talking about. I come back from class to

find the window open and both of our fans on. One of the RAs from upstairs then comes

24

knocking on our door, tellin’ me that a cop was in the dorm earlier on checking people

for pot and to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. I check my desk and see that

the weed I had was gone. So, Chris, c’mon, be up front with me…did you smoke my

weed in our room?”

Chris turned back around in his chair and sighed. He pressed his palms against

his face as he remembered that morning and that state of panic he was in as he discovered

his best friend’s vice while he was also discovering his new powers. “I didn’t smoke

your weed. I thought you knew me better than that…I thought you were better than that.

I’d never smoke weed,” Chris answered.

“Then what the hell happened to it?! It didn’t just disappear…did you give it to

someone else?”

“No…I destroyed it…”

Steve cackled. Chris was used to hearing Steve cackle like that. It was similar to

how Steve would cackle at a really funny, unexpected joke that would catch him off

guard. But this time was slightly different. It was as if there was a meanness behind it.

He retorted, “There’s no way you can expect me to believe that. What…I mean,

unless you think I’ll believe you’re stupid enough to think that marijuana by itself smells

so that, even when it’s hidden here you’d have to turn the fans on to mask to smell. No

way…otherwise, the RA wouldn’t have called the cops. Either you smoked it or

somebody else did.”

Chris agonized over what to say next. He had decided that he would keep his new

abilities a secret, but there was no other way to explain how the bag of marijuana was

destroyed. And Chris didn’t want to lie to his friend either. A part of him, however, was

angry at Steve for this. He felt that he shouldn’t be the one on the spot, but Steve should

be. So he turned the conversation around by saying, “Hey, I don’t need to be taking any

of this from you. You shouldn’t even be having this stuff. What about football here?!

You could be kicked off the team!”

By this point Chris was on his feet and Steve was the one on the defensive. Steve

proclaimed, “Don’t worry about me. Weed isn’t a big deal, ok. Half of the football team

25

does it, the coach kind of knows about it. The league’s rules are pretty lenient so it’s not

that we really have ‘random’ drug testing. We pretty much know about it beforehand-”

“That’s not the point! We-….We resolved in high school not to get into any of

this stuff. I mean…I thought we were better than this,” Chris interrupted.

Steve defended, “C’mon, Chris! It’s not like marijuana is a bad drug. I mean, it’s

not like people smoke pot and then go out and kill somebody or anything. If anything, it

makes you just want to stay and home and eat a sandwich. Sure, it’d impair my ability if

I smoked a joint right before a game, but not if I did so the night before. If you compare

it to alcohol, alcohol’s much worse. Weed doesn’t hurt anybody. When I smoke it, it

doesn’t hurt me, and it’s just a nice way to chill with my football buddies, y’know. It’s

nothing to be worried or upset about.”

“That…that doesn’t make it right! It’s still illegal! It can still get you in trouble!

It’s still something you promised me you would never do!”

“What’s your deal, man? Why are you so upset about this?”

Chris countered, “What’s your deal?! You’re like a different person!”

Steve’s face flushed. It was as if a whole bunch of pent up opinions began to sore

out from his lips as he said, “Me, the different person?! Look at yourself in the mirror,

dude! You’re nothing like the friend I knew in high school! That guy was happy, fun to

be around. He enjoyed everything he did! And he did things! He was involved! We

were on top of the world together, living life to the fullest! And now?! Now you’re like

a hermit! You don’t do anything, you don’t have any other friends! You just sit here,

going on the internet, facebooking or whatever, and watching TV. You’re insulated!

And now you’re going through my things, stealing my weed and trying to take me on a

guilt trip about it! Is that what you’re really upset about, huh? Are you upset because I

have friends and a life outside this room? Don’t be upset about the weed, man, be upset

with yourself…”

Steve shoved his way past Chris and leaned out the window which was still open.

He took a deep breath, recovering from the fury he felt about what he said, as Chris stood

there, almost petrified. After a moment of shock, Chris left the room, leaving Steve

26

alone.

* * *

Bill Delauney stood smoking a joint underneath the oak tree he first visited to

obtain marijuana weeks ago. He slowly inhaled the smoke of the cannabis in and slowly

exhaled out. He was relaxed and calm. He had found that weed was the only thing that

could keep him relaxed and calm anymore. Whenever he wasn’t high he always felt

agitated, nervous, and fidgety. It was as if he had all of this energy inside of him while

the rest of the world moved lethargically slow. When he was high, though, it was as if

his pent up energy dissipated and everyone else returned to normal speed. For the past

few weeks being high was the only way he could go on living. He went to classes high,

did his homework high, ate meals high, and so on. If Bill wasn’t high constantly he was

convinced he would go insane.

“I should’a known you’d be here!” Bill heard. He turned around to see Gary

lumbering towards him. Gary demanded to know, “Are you smoking more of my

weed?!”

Bill took another deep inhalation and calmly responded, “Yes.”

“Bill!! How much weed have you been smoking, man?! It’s, like, all you ever

do!!”

“Yeah…”

“You’re baked all the time, dude! Now, in any other circumstance, I’d admire

that, but Bill…weed doesn’t just grow on trees…”

“Well, it is a plant. It grows out of the ground, not on trees.”

“You know what I’m getting at…it costs money. And most of the time I’m the

one paying for it. I know we agreed to share the stuff, but you’re smoking it constantly!

I’ll buy a bag one day, want to smoke it the next, but by that time it’s all gone!”

Bill inhaled deeply once more. He paused a few seconds before exhaling, leaving

Gary in suspense. Bill then turned around to face his friend and said, “I…you don’t

27

understand, man. I gotta have this stuff…I have like…”

“What do you have? What are you talking about? It had better be a damn good

reason for smoking all of my pot!”

Bill hesitated. He explained, “It’s like I have ADD or something, man. I get

all…agitated when I’m not baked. It’s like I have all this energy inside me, but the rest

of the world is moving too slow. I can’t live like that, man. Like, class was bad enough

before this started happening, but now…if I go to class without being high it’s like

torture, as though the professor is speaking one word a minute and all I want to do is

bounce all over the walls and I have to sit through it! I can’t live without this stuff!!”

Bill then turned around and walked a few paces and plopped himself on the

ground. He sat there, cross-legged just staring off. Gary walked over to him and tried to

sound concerned as he stated, “Dude, I didn’t know you had it so bad. Maybe you

should, like, see a doctor. Maybe you do have ADD or ADHD or whatever they’re

calling it nowadays. Just wait until your high wears off and I’ll talk you to the student

health center.”

“I’m not goin’ to any doctors,” Bill stated firmly.

“But maybe this is something that you shouldn’t leave unchecked!!”

“I have it checked dude…with this joint. Marijuana is a drug used for medicinal

purposes and I just self-prescribed myself.”

Gary felt frustrated. He railed, “Stop giving me this shit, man! You had me all

worried for a second…really! If this was really a problem with you, you’d go seek help

for it, but I think you’re just using this as an excuse for being baked all the time! I’m not

buying it!! This is it, bro, ultimatum time…no more arrangement for shared weed. You

have to pay me back for all the weed you’ve been smoking the past couple weeks, and

then, maybe we can reconsider our arrangement. I’m gonna go back to our dorm and try

to figure out how much you owe me.” Gary stormed off. Bill continued to sit there and

inhaled once more.

Chris Kirby sailed through the air a few hundred yards away from where Bill

28

Delauney was smoking. He had been coming to this area on almost a daily basis,

practicing his new ability. He usually had nothing better to do. What Steve had told him

a couple weeks ago had been true, he usually would do nothing except homework, TV

watching and internet surfing. And for the past week or so he has had even less to do as

his relationship with Steve had turned cold. No longer did they go out together on

weekend nights. Steve would continue to hang out with his friends from football, but

would no longer invite Chris along. They were still cordial with each other, they would

greet each other and ask about each other’s day. However, when they were both in the

room, most of their time together would be spent in silence. Practicing using his power

brought his mind away from Steve and all of his other problems.

By this time Chris had learned to maneuver slightly while propelling himself in

the air. Yet, it was still quite difficult as Chris was so painfully reminded when he

collided with a tree. Chris free-fell back towards the ground and landed in a bush.

“Ow,” he grunted.

Chris attempted to pick himself up and noticed that his arms and legs were all cut

into from the broken branches of the bush. “Aw, crap. And this was one of my favorite

sweatshirts, too,” he murmured. He wrestled himself from out of the bush and told

himself, “I guess that’s all the practicing I’ll do today. I may never perfect flight…I

guess I’ll have to settle with being able to throw blasts of energy from my hands. I still

can’t believe I’m talking about that kind of stuff.”

Shortly thereafter Chris emerged from the woods back on Pine State’s campus

and began to make his way across the campus to his dormitory. As he walked along

many students stared at his scraggly and beat up appearance, but Chris just ignored them.

As he turned onto one of the campus’ busier streets during the day he saw two girls

directly in front of him, and as the one turned to talk to her friend Chris noticed the face

looked familiar.

In an instant Chris recognized her: she was the girl he spoke to at the dining hall

that one day, the day before he discovered his powers. Chris remembered that she had

promised to call him back but never had. Well, Chris thought, she could have but he

29

wouldn’t have known it since he destroyed his phone and he was still waiting for a new

one to be mailed to him.

As if he were in a daze, Chris kept his eyes on Ashley and her friend as they

continued walking, and he followed them. Suddenly, the two girls stopped in front of an

academic building, paused to say goodbye to each other, and the one girl Chris didn’t

know entered the building. Ashley, however, turned around and walked right into Chris.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!!” she squealed as she bumped into him.

“Oh, no problem…I, uh…wasn’t looking at where I was going, I should

apologize,” Chris responded.

Ashley gazed into Chris’ eyes and said, “Hey…I know you! We had dinner

together once!”

“Yeah, we did. You’re…Ashley, right?” Chris replied.

“You got it. And you’re Chris? I tried calling you once, but you didn’t pick up.”

“Um, yeah, funny story…my cell phone was…lost. Still haven’t gotten another

one.”

Ashley stepped back and as she broke her contact with Chris’ eyes she noticed

how cut up all of Chris’ body was. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, “What happened to

you?”

“I, uh…was riding my friend’s bike…started goofing around, and I fell off,”

Chris fibbed.

“Are you all right?!”

“Yeah, kind of embarrassed, though.”

“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!!”

Chris looked down, following Ashley’s stare and noticed there was a deep gash

across his left arm. He had been feeling its pain for a while now, but had ignored it.

Ashley observed, “My God, that’s deep. It’s probably infected…follow me!” Ashley

grabbed Chris’ arm and pulled him along as she started walking away.

“What- wait – uh, where are we going?” Chris asked.

“Back to my dorm room. My mom’s, like, a germ and accident freak and gave

30

me all this first aid stuff. I’ve probably got tons of stuff that could help.”

Chris wasn’t about to start complaining as Ashley dragged him towards her

dormitory. This only convinced him that Ashley must be attracted to him. It seemed that

his wound was only an excuse for her to bring him to her dorm room. And even if it was

not, she was certainly showing that she cared for him by trying to help him. Ashley led

him to her dormitory, up three flights of stairs and finally to her room. “Forgive the state

of my room. My roommate’s kind of a mess,” she said as she picked up a shirt and threw

it onto her roommate’s chair.

“Hey, but archeologists probably have to sort through messes all the time to find

what they’re looking for, right?” Chris asked, trying to be funny.

“I’m an anthropology major – that doesn’t mean I’ll be an archeologist. But,

brownie points for trying.”

Chris blushed and smiled. She went straight to the corner of the room where a

small mirror and a small chest full of make-up rested on a plastic set of drawers. She

pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and a hand towel from one of the drawers.

“This might sting a little,” she said and she poured some of the disinfectant on the

towel, pressing it against Chris’ wound. She sat him down on her bed and told him,

“Keep that pressed against the cut, ok.”

Chris did as he was told and replied, “Thanks.” Ashley’s bed was bunked below

her roommate’s and Ashley leaned herself against the bunk. She sighed, “I can’t believe

your friends didn’t notice or do anything. Boys are so…agh, I don’t even know the word

I’m looking for!”

“Inconsiderate?” Chris guessed.

“That wasn’t the word I was thinking of. More like being too darn stupid to

notice a friend is hurt.”

“Yeah, boys can be stupid too. But… girls can sure be considerate. You really

didn’t have to do this, bringing me here and healing me all up.”

“It was the least I could do. Otherwise I probably won’t use any of this stuff my

mom brought for me. When you’re done, I have some gauze I can have tapped to your

31

arm.” Ashley turned around and began digging through the rest of her first aid supplies.

“You really don’t have to-” Chris started to say, but then Ashley grabbed the gauze and

tape, sat down next to Chris, rolled up his sleeve, and began to tend to his cut. He

enjoyed Ashley’s gentle touch as she placed the gauze on his wound and began to gently

wrap the tape around his arm. “Th-Thanks,” Chris stuttered.

“No problem,” Ashley replied with a wink, “So, do you not have enough

homework to keep you from doing stupid stunts on a bike?”

“Homework only takes up so much time. To tell the truth…I was kinda surprised

by how much free time I have now that I’m in college.”

“Really?”

“Well, in high school I was doing so many things. Like I told you, I played

football, and I was captain of the football team. I was student body president. I had a job

at a local retail store and I was promoted to floor manager,” Chris explained.

“Wow…that’s a pretty impressive resume you have there.”

“Yeah, but now I have…nothing,” Chris admitted.

“So you decided not to play football here, or…?”

“Yeah…I just…I couldn’t take it all, y’know?” Chris answered. “All the pressure

from all the responsibility. I just wanted to relax a little bit, live my college days carefree

– be like everybody else. And it’s not like I was going to make quarterback as a

freshman.” Ashley asked, “What do you mean, ‘Like everybody else’?”

“I don’t know…it just always seemed that I was too busy to enjoy anything that I

was doing while everyone else seemed to be having fun all the time. I wanted to be the

guy out there having fun again.”

“By tossing yourself from a bike?” Ashley joked. Chris laughed, wondering how

Ashley would react if she knew these cuts were really from a bush he landed into after

falling from who knew how many feet high in the air. Ashley said, “But, in all serious,

trying to have less responsibility doesn’t mean you have to do absolutely nothing.

You’re not involved in other clubs at all?”

“Nope,” Chris replied, now feeling somewhat shameful.

32

Ashley insisted, “You still like football, right? Just because you’re not playing on

the school’s team doesn’t mean you can’t get involved in club sports. You could play

club football, or basketball, hockey, whatever! A sport that you might never have played

before but are interested in. I mean, I thought that that was what club sports are supposed

to be all about, the fun of the sport without the commitment of being on the real thing.”

“I guess you have a point there,” Chris conceded.

Ashley continued, “And you should really consider getting involved in an

academic club. I know your resume from high school sounds impressive, but if you’re

thinking about your career, what you do in college matters so much more. I mean, I’ve

been told that you should pick just one club to get heavily involved in and try and get a

leadership position in that. You’re an engineering major, right? You should probably get

involved with the campus’ Engineering Society or whatever they call it here.”

“I probably should.”

“But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get involved in any other clubs either, just

concentrate on one. You should see what other clubs Pine State offers. Hey, you could

even join me at our next Anthropology Club meeting!”

Chris smiled and replied, “I…I think I’d kind of like that.” Ashley informed him,

“Well, if you ever do want to take me up on that offer, we meet Tuesdays at Seven in

McGregor Hall.”

The two of them just sat there, staring at each other’s eyes. Chris hesitated, then

broke the silence and said, “Well, I’d better go. I have stuff I gotta do.”

“More goofing off?”

“Yeah,” Chris replied with a large smile, “Thanks again for everything. And…I

mean everything. The help with this cut…and all the advice. It was a real help.”

“It was my pleasure,” Ashley said.

Chris left her dorm, pondering all the things she said. It seemed as though she

was right, Chris could become more involved without losing the ability to enjoy life and

have fun. This free time gave him the ability to practice using his powers, but he’d still

have time to do that otherwise. Most of the time he was just sitting in his room, being

33

more or less depressed. It was Chris’s own problem with responsibility that ruined his

friendship with Steve, much more so that Steve’s use of marijuana.

Now Chris had nothing to do and no friends to do anything with. He looked

down at his arm, where Ashley had wrapped up his cut. He stared at his bicep and

noticed how much smaller it was than when he was playing football last year. He had not

even been working out at all, which he had enjoyed doing so much with Steve during

high school. He wanted to start doing other things again, and he wanted his friendship

with Steve back. He resolved that he would apologize and start things anew.

* * *

Bill sat at his desk and impatiently listened as his Aunt Betty droned on and on on

the phone over her day at work. He was feeling that agitated feeling he had whenever he

wasn’t high, but it was worse that it had ever been before. Gary had refused to supply

him with more weed until Bill could pay him $630, and that was money that Bill simply

didn’t have. He was desperate, and when he was desperate he did things like call his

Aunt Betty.

“That’s very nice, Aunt Betty. But, uh, the reason for my call was…I’m kind of

having a hard time here at college, and I was wondering if you could wire me some

money.”

Bill paused as he listened to his aunt’s response.

“No, the people here aren’t treating me poorly. No, they’re not making fun of my

hair, at least not to my face. It’s more of a…financial hard time, that’s why I’m asking

for money.”

Bill listened as his aunt asked for an explanation of his financial problem and tried

to think up a good enough fib to tell her other than having to pay his roommate back for a

whole bunch of smoked marijuana.

“It’s the costs of books and everything. I…uh, didn’t really anticipate the prices

being so high. And, uh, one of my classes, um, requires that we do some work with this

34

computer program that I didn’t have that I had to go out and buy. And that was a couple

hundred dollars so I was wondering if you could give me $630.”

Bill’s head dropped down to his desk as he heard his aunt’s answer.

“I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you wouldn’t have it. Yeah, I’ll appreciate it as

a Christmas present, but I’d kind of prefer it now…I guess I understand. Nice talking to

you Aunt Betty…ok, bye.”

Bill hung up the phone and pounded his hands on his desk. His desk shook

violently and his books all fell to the floor. He cursed under his breath as he went to pick

them up, and he heard his door being unlocked and opened. He looked up to see, not

Gary, but his girlfriend Charlene. “What are you doing here?!” Bill demanded.

Charlene replied, “I just dropped in for a minute. Gary gave me his key and asked

me to get his American Cultures notebook for him.” Since the end of their

“arrangement” Gary had been spending less and less time in his dorm and more time with

Charlene, and Bill did not appreciate that Gary wanted to see so little of him that he

would send his girlfriend there instead of coming himself. Charlene bent down to pick up

the notebook where Gary had told her it would be on the floor and when she straightened

herself up Bill was suddenly standing right in front of her.

“Whoa,” she uttered.

“What’s Gary’s deal?!” Bill demanded.

Charlene scoffed, “He has a deadbeat roommate who mooches all his pot.” She

turned around to leave but Bill was standing in front of her again. “What?!” she

exclaimed. Bill stated, “This is not cool, what he’s doing, it’s not cool. I need weed. It’s

not like I have a choice in the matter. It’s just the way things are. I deserve that weed!”

“I don’t think you deserve much of anything. And if you need it so much, why

don’t you get it yourself?”

“Because I don’t have the money for it, otherwise I would’ve paid Gary back by

now! And besides he has the contact with this ‘Joe’ guy who deals it to him. I only

know where they would meet if he were to be contacted.”

Charlene stepped back and had a look of confusion about her face. She said, “I

35

couldn’t even understand what you just said. You’re speaking too quickly.” Bill

explained, trying to speak more slowly, “Listen, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.

Something’s happening to me, something I can’t control. I can’t fight it ,and I don’t

believe I should fight. You know, it’s our philosophy, what happens in life happens and

you do what you have to do. But I need the weed in order to function, I don’t have a

choice in that either. So Gary’s just gotta be a pal and just let me use some of his weed.”

Charlene pushed herself past Bill and brusquely replied, “I don’t know what your

idea of a ‘pal’ is, but you made no sense just now. I think you need to find yourself some

serious help…pal.” And then she left. All Bill could do was stare after her. He sat back

at his desk and thought. He felt that marijuana was owed to him, and that he shouldn’t

have to pay anything if it was something he needed. All he had to do was explain that to

Gary and he should understand. After several minutes debating with himself over what

he should do he decided that he’d go to Charlene’s dorm now and straighten everything

out.

He quickly went out the door, down the hallway and exited his dormitory. He

found himself sprinting down the street to Charlene’s dorm, which was only three

buildings away. As he approached it, another girl was heading in and was taking an

awfully long time in walking through the door. Bill found himself able to shove himself

past her without her even noticing. He continued sprinting down the hall, although he

didn’t know which room was Charlene’s.

He stopped at a corner and thought about what he should do. He didn’t think

about searching the internet for her dorm room beforehand. He turned to look down the

other hallway and saw Gary exiting the bathroom at the other end of the hall and walking

into the stairwell across the hall from it. Bill sprinted towards that end of the hallway,

and before heading into the stairwell himself, he happened to glance into the bathroom.

He stopped as he noticed a cell phone set on one of the sinks. Out of curiosity he walked

into the bathroom and discovered that it was Gary’s. He picked it up and then looked at

his contact list and saw the name ‘Joe.’ Bill decided that perhaps he wasn’t meant to talk

to Gary after all and that, perhaps, he was meant to go straight to the source.

36

* * *

Chris Kirby found himself in the same area of the woods where for weeks he had

been practicing using his newfound powers. He concentrated some of his energy into his

right hand and expelled to the ground in anger. For the past few days he had been

wanting to apologize to Steve for his behavior, talk to him, restart their friendship, and

then look into ways of being more involved on campus. Yet, he couldn’t find the inner

strength to do so. Each time he would encounter Steve in their dorm room he would

weaken up and be unable to find the right words to say. Despite all of Ashley’s

encouragement, he couldn’t do it. What he really wanted to do was be with Ashley right

now, but he felt he couldn’t approach her without first fulfilling all of his resolutions.

Chris focused on his energy and set it coursing through his legs and out from his

feet. If he couldn’t do anything else he had resolved to do he would at least perfect

landing. He shot straight up in the air and, once he was past the trees, he contorted his

body so that he was flying straight across the sky. He spotted the field he had been trying

to land in for weeks and that he always flew past. He concentrated on the amount of

energy he had coursing through his legs and pulled back on it. He began to slow down

and descend. He looked down and noticed he was about to overshoot the field again and

that he was heading for the same tree that he knocked himself into three days ago. Chris

then threw his hand straight up into the air and expelled enough energy to force him

straight downward. Chris managed to land on both feet, but harder than he expected, and

he fell over.

He allowed himself to catch his breath before stating to himself, “Well, I have to

work on my form a little bit…but I think that counts as a success.” He began laughing at

himself as he picked himself up. “You can manage to throw blasts of energy, use energy

blasts from your feet to rocket yourself into the air, manage to land, and yet you still can’t

apologize to your best friend,” he self-criticized.

Chris made his way back to Hepburn trail and began walking towards campus.

37

He had a couple miles to walk, but as he got closer he saw in the distance ahead of him

who he thought was Steve walking towards him with one of his football buddies. Chris

wondered if Steve somehow found out about Chris’s little trips to the forest. He was

suddenly struck with fear as he pondered whether or not Steve had discovered his special

abilities. Steve would think he was a freak, he feared. Did Steve bring his football friend

to beat him up?

Before Steve was close enough to see him, he and his friend turned into

the woods, right near where there was a bench. This surprised Chris, as it meant they

might not be there for him. He decided to investigate and ran to catch up with them.

Once he reached the bench he turned into the woods and quietly followed them. He

followed them until they reached a large oak tree where a young man in a trench coat

stood waiting for them.

“You guys are early,” the mysterious man greeted.

“Yeah, well, I ran into Steve here beforehand and I thought I might bring him

with me, so we left a little early,” Steve’s friend said.

Chris hid himself behind some brush as Steve’s friend introduced Steve to this

guy who referred to himself as ‘Joe.’ Joe stated that another client was coming and as

soon as he arrived they could make their “transaction.” Chris tried to understand what

this character meant by that. After considering it for a few moments he realized that this

must be how Steve had gotten that weed Chris had destroyed. Suddenly, he felt a gust of

wind flow past him, as if a car had driven right next to where he was hiding. Chris

looked up and out of nowhere a third person was standing there, a tall, thin guy with long,

greasy, black hair, a thin beard and glasses.

“Bill, I presume?” Joe asked.

Bill wasted no time and grabbed Joe by the collar of his trench coat. “Just give

me all the weed you have right now,” Bill demanded, “No questions, no money, nothing!

Just give it to me!!”

“Hey!” Steve exclaimed.

Steve’s friend, however, saw no need for words and just grabbed Bill and threw

38

him to the ground. He threatened, “You touch anyone here one more time and I’ll beat

the shit out of you! Now why don’t you get yer scrawny ass up and just walk away, ok?

You’re not getting anything here.”

This other football player was only slightly shorter than Bill and was much more

muscular. But all these days without any marijuana to keep him feeling at peace made

Bill look at things a little bit differently. He got up and uttered, “I’m not afraid of you.”

The football player laughed and Steve laughed along with him. He jested,

“Oooooh, man! Now I’m afraid of you. Someone stupid enough to try and challenge

two stars of Pine State’s football team. Someone you have to run away from for being

that ignorant, right Steve?”

Bill whispered in a menacing fashion, “Oh, I’m not stupid. I have

problems…but…they seem to make me move faster than other people. I’m like the

charged atom that’s about to start a nuclear explosion.” The football player had a

quizzical look on his face and scoffed, “What’d you say, man? You’re speaking too

quickly and softly. Why don’t you just go back to wherever you came from, ok? We

don’t want to cause any more problems for J-”

Before he could finish his statement, Bill was standing right in front of him and he

felt as though he were hit several times in the face. “Jim!” Steve shouted out. It was as if

Bill had just raised his arm and Jim had fallen over. Steve rushed to his friend’s aid, but

Bill was too quick. Steve was jabbed several times in succession in the gut and then

elbowed in the back of the head. He fell on top of Jim, in what seemed to Joe, only a

moment after Jim stumbled back from being hit in the face. And then Bill was there,

standing right in front of Joe again.

“You’ve seen what I can do now. Just give me all the weed you have,” Bill

demanded. Joe gasped, “Y-You’re a freak!” He turned around to run, but to Bill it was

as if Joe were slowly practicing some sort of dance maneuver. Instead of forcing Joe to

give up the weed, Bill saw the opportunity to take it for himself. As Joe turned, Bill

grabbed his trench coat and reached into one of the inside pockets, pulling out a bag of

marijuana. Wondering if Joe had more in other pockets, as the drug dealer began to run,

39

Bill forced the trench coat off of him.

With his peripheral vision, Bill then noticed that Steve and Jim had both gotten

up. He turned around to see them both charging towards him, but to Bill it looked more

like a prance. He zipped behind them, grabbed both of their heads and clunked them

together a couple of times. His two aggressors fell down, groaning.

“Hey, what happened to my coat?!” Joe exclaimed, bewildered.

“I have it,” Bill calmly stated as he extracted all the other bags of marijuana Joe

had, “You can have it back in a moment.”

Joe yelped and continued to run away in fear. With all the marijuana that Joe had

on him now in his hands, Bill dropped the trench coat and prepared to leave. Bill noticed

a flash of light and suddenly something hit him right in the chest and he was thrown back

into the oak tree. He looked up and saw another guy their age standing there with his

right hand lifted up and outstretched.

“I don’t know who you are, but you hurt my best friend and I’m not going to let

you get away with that,” Chris said, choosing to come out of hiding to protect Steve.

Steve recognized Chris’s voice and looked up in bewilderment to see that Chris had

found him here. “Chris…?” he croaked, still feeling the pain from Bill’s numerous hits.

Chris tried to say as calmly as he could, “I don’t want this to get even more out of hand.

Why don’t you just let me take those bags of marijuana, and I’ll hand them over to the

police as evidence.”

Bill wasn’t willing to give up that easy. He was not going to live his life of

torture anymore. He didn’t know how this guy had hit him the way he did, so Bill

decided not to try to fight him too. Instead he quickly grabbed the bags of marijuana he

dropped and sprinted off into the forest as fast as he could. To Chris’ eyesight, as Bill

bent down to pick up the bags he looked like a blur, and then suddenly he was gone. Yet

Chris could deduce which way he had gone, so he concentrated on his inner energy. He

lunged forward and then released that energy from his feet, propelling himself forward at

high velocity in the same direction Bill had fled.

Bill continued to run in a straight line westward. He would run a few miles out,

40

find a nice area to smoke some of the weed he had absconded with, and afterwards return

to his dorm. Unexpectedly, he was tackled from behind. Chris had caught up with Bill

more quickly than he thought he would and didn’t concentrate on slowly lowering the

amount of energy he was expelling and hit Bill full force. As soon as he hit Bill he cut

the energy off, but they still flew a hundred feet forward. Bill dropped all the weed he

had as he flew forward and was slammed into a small tree, breaking it in half. Chris once

again was thrown into some bushes, cutting himself up all over again.

“Aw, shoot! Another good pair of clothes ruined!” Chris remorsed. Bill threw

the broken branches of the tree off of him and yelled out, “NO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!” Bill

was furious. He had dropped all the marijuana he had taken, and now it was near

impossible to find it. He realized how far he had flown forward, and it could be

anywhere. He turned towards Chris and watched as he picked himself up from the

bushes he landed in. Bill felt a type of fury he had never felt before. He couldn’t control

it, and he wasn’t about to choose to if he could. He deserved to let his fury out on this

guy who was helping to ruin his life.

Bill charged towards Chris. Almost on instinct, Chris raised his hand slightly and

let loose a huge burst of energy. Bill was thrown back into another tree, and the force of

the blast even threw Chris backward into the bushes.

“Wh-…What are you? How do you do that…?” Bill trembled as he got up. Chris

shrugged his shoulder as he got up and asked in reply, “I don’t know…how do you do

what you do?” Bill continued to stare at Chris in awe. Finally, he decided it was true

that discretion is, at times, the better part of valor, and he ran away.

Chris let himself fall to his knees and then fall over to rest peacefully on the soft

forest soil and fallen autumn leaves. He felt he had met some kind of limit. Between his

practicing before, the amount of energy it took to catch up with Bill, and all the force that

he instinctively let out in that final blast, he felt like he had no more of that inner energy

left. After resting for a few minutes, he picked himself up and began to walk back to

where he left Steve and his friend.

On the way he noticed the few bags of marijuana that Bill had dropped when he

41

was tackled. Chris considered picking them up and bringing them into the police station,

and telling the police the story of the guy trying to sell his friend the marijuana and the

strange guy who could move at super speed stealing it. He concluded that the police

would never believe him, and would suspect him or Steve or that other football player of

smoking weed. So, he found that energy still inside of him and threw out a few small

blasts with enough energy to destroy the weed.

When he finally made it back to the area he had left Steve and his friend

near the oak tree he found they were not there. So he decided to return to his dorm room.

When he entered he found Steve sitting in front of the TV, with the TV turned off, as if

he was deep in thought. Hearing the door open, Steve looked up and was relieved the see

Chris.

“Chris!” He exclaimed.

Steve got up, but didn’t know exactly how to react from there. “A-Are you all

right?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just cut up a little bit is all.”

“Wh-Who was that guy? What did he do to you?”

“He didn’t do anything to me. He ended up just running away.”

Chris sat himself next to Steve as Steve asked, “What…exactly happened? That

guy hit me…but I didn’t even see it coming. And then you were there…and then the

both of you were gone.” Chris decided that he couldn’t really tell Steve the truth. He

didn’t want anyone to know about his special abilities, and now it was if this other guy

had some sort of special power too. He would have to find out if his power really was

something special; something only he had. Or did other people have powers too? Until

he discovered those answers he would have to be discreet with them.

He explained to Steve, “Not that much happened. I was actually just taking a

walk in the woods by myself. I…I’ve been doing that a lot lately. And I noticed you and

your friend entering the woods, and I followed you. When I caught up to you I saw that

guy beating on you and he ran away. I ran after him, we scuffled a little bit. In the

scuffle, the bags of marijuana he took got destroyed so he ran away. And that was it.”

42

“I’m sorry,” Steve stated, covering his face in shame.

“What?”

Chris at that moment was expecting to apologize to Steve himself, but not receive

an apology from Steve. Steve said, “You were right…you were right all along. About

the weed. I…I only realized it now. But, you saw how that guy acted, right? He was

crazy! I mean, I always heard that pot wasn’t that addictive…but that guy was obviously

having some addiction problems. I just never want to turn into that. And…it was just so

shady being there. I had never been there when Jim bought pot before..but being

there…even without that guy showing up and attacking us…it felt wrong. I felt…slimy.”

“Steve…I feel like I should be the one to say sorry,” Chris apologized, “I’ve been

an ass all semester so far. You were the one that was right…about me. It’s true, I

developed some responsibility problems. And so I’ve been doing nothing, but instead of

feeling carefree I’ve felt bored out of my mind. And I was kind of jealous seeing you

always hanging out with your football buddies. I missed it…that kind of stuff we would

do in high school with the whole team. And…I missed you.”

Steve laughed. It was that same sort of cackle as before, but it wasn’t the mean,

vindictive cackle Chris heard when they got into their fight a couple of weeks ago. It was

the heartfelt, joyous cackle that Chris enjoyed hearing when the two of them would joke

around. “What?” Chris asked. “Aw, nothing,” Steve stated as he wrapped his arm around

his friend and nudged him in the shoulder with his free hand, “I just never thought you’d

go all sentimental on me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who started going sentimental first,” Chris reminded, “So

are you really going to stop smoking pot?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m going to try and get involved around campus more. And you

better promise to get involved in some things with me or else I won’t stick with them.”

“Sure, sure…hey, you wanna go down to Ben’s room and play his X-Box?”

“Of course,” Chris affirmed. “Race ya’ there,” Steve challenged and the two

friends sprinted out of the door and raced down the hall.

43

Chapter 2

Ron Werden rushed out of Chemistry class. It was the same every week; despite

how hard Ron tried, nothing ever changed. He would trek across campus and always

arrive late to his Formal Logic class. When signing up for classes in the summer it never

occurred to Ron that he should look at a map to see how far his classes would be from

each other. The only thing he considered was grouping his classes together so that he

could get them over with at one time in a day, instead of having hours to do nothing in

between classes. He had considered switching to a different section once he discovered

how long a walk it was, but then he found out that the professor class was also the faculty

advisor on the debate team. So, wanting to make a good impression and develop a

relationship, Ron decided to stay in his class, despite having to be late so often.

He checked his watch. Five minutes had passed since Chemistry ended. Now he

was at the part of his journey he hated the most; the set of stairs that led towards

Academic Quad proper. Ron groaned as he asked himself why Pine State had to be built

on such hilly terrain. Ron stared at the daunting task before him. He understood that

even contemplating the task was taking up his precious time. Yet, he wanted to do it. He

wanted to prove to himself that he could do it. He looked around at all the other students

minding their own business walking to and from class. They wouldn’t matter to Ron

anymore. Ron made up his mind and began to sprint up the stairs.

Immediately he felt as though everyone was staring at him and the blood of shame

rushed to his face. He could feel the fat in his gut, his arms and his legs, flop back and

forth and up and down as he surged upward one step at a time. He was too conscious of

it, and he told himself to ignore it so that he could get to class on time. But soon his body

began to tire. He became short of breath. Sweat broke out across his face. He was

almost at the top, though, maybe just a dozen more steps.

“Arghh!!” Ron moaned. He threw himself against the railing and began gasping

for breath. Many of the students that passed by him couldn’t help but look or stare.

44

Some stoically ignored him, walking by with a cold stone straight face that one only

assumes while trying to ignore something. Ron could guess what they were thinking,

“Who’s the fat kid who’s dying over there?” or “What’s wrong with the fat kid? Have a

heart attack walking up the stairs?”

After regaining his breath, Ron slowly made his way up the rest of the stairs and

shamefully trudged towards class. At that point he no longer cared how late he was. He

chastised himself for his action. “What were you thinking? How could you not become

embarrassed? How would you be able to sprint up the stairs when each time you’ve tried

before you’ve only run up two steps at a time and have had to quit before you felt any

strain before, fearing embarrassment?” were questions that raced through his mind.

When Ron arrived at class he did not even bother looking at his watch to see how

late he was. He walked into his class as Professor Ringwald was explaining, “Here’s

another example of a premise that isn’t in standard form, when you have a subject that’s

singular. For example, Professor Ringwald is a genius-” The professor was interrupted

by the sound of Ron opening and closing the door. Ringwald smiled at his tardy student

and said, “Ah, Ron, so nice of you to join us. Have a seat.”

Ron sat down at an empty desk near the door as Ringwald turned and began to

write on the board, explaining as he went. Ron barely paid attention to him, feeling so

ashamed. He glanced over at the opposite end of the room and saw Jill MacDonald

attentively listening to the professor and carefully taking notes. A fellow freshman and

debate team member, Ron recognized in her a sort of aesthetic perfection. But Ron

understood that he had no chance of getting anywhere past friendship with her. He knew

he was overweight, and that a girl who looked as good as Jill did would only date a guy

who looked a certain way as well.

When class ended Ron packed his things up and realized he had probably been

paying more attention to Jill than to Professor Ringwald. Ron let all of the other students

file out of the classroom before him, and when he finally got up to leave, Ringwald

walked over to him and gently placed his hand on Ron’s shoulder. “You seemed

particularly late to class today,” the professor commented.

45

“Yeah, uh…I must apologize, professor. I egregiously-” Ron started to apologize.

“You don’t have to explain yourself. You’ve told me about how far you have to

walk. Just promise to make it up to me with a stellar performance at next week’s debate

club.”

“Of course, sir.”

Ron and his professor exited the class simultaneously, and Ron was surprised to

see that Jill had waited for him “Hey,” she greeted.

“Hay is for horses,” Ron replied.

Jill laughed as she walked along beside him and asked, “Looking forward to next

week’s meeting?”

“To the greatest degree. It seems our debates are the highlight of my week.”

“Have you researched our topic at all? It’s a pretty hot one, the Texas

Minutemen.”

“I think it’s a thrilling topic. I aspire that the debate does not degrade into simple

charges of racism. It would be much more interesting to analyze, perhaps, the impact the

Minutemen Project has had on the immigrant debate or relations the Hispanic community

has had with society at large. Personally, I would prefer to debate the legality of the

Minutemen’s actions,” Ron answered.

Jill giggled. “What?” Ron questioned, blushing.

“Oh, nothing… just the way you talk, you’re so funny.”

“What’s funny about the way I talk?”

Before Jill could reply, a voice unfamiliar to Ron called out, “Hey!” Ron and Jill

turned to see a tall, fashionable young man, whose whole look had an aura of confidence,

approach them. Jill skipped over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Ron’s blush

reddened and he looked to the ground. He should have expected this. Jill introduced

them. “Ron, I don’t think you’ve met my boyfriend. This is Todd. Todd, this is Ron, we

have class and do debate club together.”

Ron looked up to met Todd’s outstretched hand and shook it. “Hey, Ron, nice to

meet you,” Todd said.

46

“A pl-pleasure,” Ron replied. Todd then turned to Jill and said, “I have my car

here. You wanna go grab some lunch?”

“Of course!” Jill declared.

Turning to Ron, Jill stated, “Well, I guess I’ll see ya later.”

“Nice meeting you, man,” Todd added, as they turned to walk away together.

“Good-bye” Ron said, tardily.

Ron returned to his room and throughout the day thought over what Jill said about

the way he spoke. He knew many found his manner of speech to be strange. He had

always enjoyed that. His speech made him different from other people. He loved words,

and he loved the English language for its variety of words. He could fondly remember

passing hours as a child trying to memorize the dictionary. There were so many words

that most people never would recognize and have never heard of that Ron had always

strived to use in his colloquial speech. He firmly believed that the way in which people

in a society spoke displayed the quota of that society’s intellect. He naively hoped that,

perhaps, by using a higher vocabulary it could catch on with some people and help make

society at larger smarter in an age when technology was helping to dumb everything in

society down.

Before going to bed that night Ron turned to his roommate and asked, “Jon, do I

‘talk funny’?” Jon answered, “Yeah, you do.” Disgruntled, Ron turned over in bed and

attempted to fall asleep.

It was a very uneasy rest for Ron. He dreamt that he kept running up that set of

stairs leading to academic quad, over and over again. He would never stop running, even

though he was continually out of breath and felt as though he could no longer run. He

would get to a certain point and then, all of a sudden, he would be back at the bottom of

the stairs and would continue to run up. No matter how hard he tried to stop his body

would continue running as if it was not listening to him. He continually would hear the

jeering of his fellow students. He felt hot, clammy and sweaty and, despite his shortness

of breath, was screaming out for it to all end.

47

Then his alarm went off and Ron shot upright in bed. Ron felt his own forehead,

and it did indeed feel hot and sweaty. “Oh, no…” Ron groaned to himself, “I hope I’m

not getting sick.” Ron climbed out of bed and went about his normal routine regardless,

putting on his shower sandals, and grabbing his towel and shower caddy before heading

into the bathroom. As usual, he left his glasses on his desk, as his vision was not so bad

that he needed them to get to and from the bathroom to shower. So, although Ron was

not able to see an immediate difference in him, he felt slightly different. He noticed that

he felt lighter and more energized. Ron paid little attention to that, however.

Ron didn’t notice that he had lost any weight until later that day as he was

undressing to go to bed. As he looked at himself in the mirror he noticed that there was

not as much fat around his midsection as he always remembered there being. The

difference was not substantial, but it was there.

“Well, I’ll be darned…” Ron mumbled to himself.

“What’s that?” Jon asked, turning around from his laptop to see Ron staring at

himself topless in the mirror.

“Oh, nothing…just tittle-tattle,” Ron said, suddenly scrambling to put his pajamas

on.

He climbed into bed and pondered over whether or not he was losing weight. He

considered that he may be improving his diet, but then realized that he had not changed it

in any meaningful way over the past week. He considered that running up those steps the

previous day had done something, but knew that that was impossible. Thinking of that,

however, reminded him of his dream and how hot and sweaty he had first felt when he

had woken up that morning. He remembered his conclusion that he was sick and thought

that if that were the case he could be losing weight. His final thought before falling

asleep was that he hoped his sickness was not anything serious that he would have to

worry about.

“The Minutemen are paying a valuable service to our country,” a young man and

48

friend of Ron’s, Eric Huekstan, argued five days later at the debate club meeting. “They

are not there to hurt aliens crossing into our borders. As I just argued they are not racist

or anti-Hispanic. They just make up for the lack of the federal government enforcing its

own laws concerning border security and they simply watch the border and report any

illegal border crossings they might witness,”

“Is this not an instance of vigilante justice?” Ron questioned in response, “This is

a case of armed men getting themselves involved in an area of law enforcement, which,

according to our law, is denied to them. It is illegal to interfere with law enforcement,

and is that not what this people are doing?”

Eric retorted: “The Minuteman Project is not ‘interfering’ with law enforcement.

If there were to be a case of that, it would be on an individual level, with an individual

crossing over the limits the Project sets, and that individual should, and I believe would,

be prosecuted. But, if anything, the minutemen are volunteers who assist the U.S. Border

Patrol. More often than not, the Border Patrol has shown its gratefulness for the hard

work the Minutemen have done. This is what one Border Patrol union from Arizona

posted on its website not too long ago, ‘We have not had one single complaint from a

rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen. Every report we've received

indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents, they're courteous,

many of them are retired firefighters, cops and other professionals, and they're not

causing us any problems whatsoever.’ How then, can you argue that these guys are

vigilantes?”

“Just because they are supported by local Border Patrol agents does not make

their actions just or legal. What the United States Constitution represents is a contract, a

social contract. Within that contract ‘We the People’ give up some of our own individual

rights to govern ourselves to a government which is then vested with the authority to

govern over all of us. The Minuteman Project proudly proclaims that it’s executing the

federal government’s immigration laws, which the federal government they claim has

failed to do. Whenever anyone tries to execute any laws, which they have given up their

right to do to the government, they are taking the law into their own hands, and that, by

49

definition, is vigilantism. While the Minutemen may not be doing anything illegal by

necessarily interfering with law enforcement, their behavior is unethical and unjust

simply because it is a breach of the social contract that is so precious to our democratic

republic,” Ron asserted.

“That’s time,” Professor Ringwald announced, “Each side present your closing

arguments.”

Jill, who was on Ron’s team that evening, stood up to present their side’s closing

argument. Ron hardly paid attention to what she was saying, paying more attention to

how she looked and fantasizing about the relationship they could have. Within the past

five days Ron had started to feel great. His weight loss had continued inexplicably. He

had never gotten sick, so as far as he could tell it was no cause for alarm. He debated

whether or not some gene within his body that was always supposed to aid in digesting

fat was suddenly turned on or something of that nature. When pondering those sorts of

things, Ron wondered if he should have gone into biology or chemistry instead of

philosophy, and then remembered that he was better at constructing arguments with

words than equations with numbers.

After Jill and Eric made their closing arguments, Professor Ringwald turned to the

debate team members who were not participating in that night’s debate and instructed,

“Ok, you guys, it’s time for you to judge our debaters. Fill our your evaluation forms and

remember, try to forget your individual biases regarding the Minuteman Project and

judge based on the arguments and the presentation of those arguments.”

Ron did not usually care whether his side won or not as he always assured himself

that he was a splendid debater, and if his team were to lose it would be because of factors

outside of his control, such as his teammate’s poor debating skills or that, simply, the

position he was advocating was logically inferior to that of his opponents’. That night,

however, Ron had wanted to win so that Jill would become proud of their work together.

Ron looked at Amy Dinh, the small, sophomore Vietnamese student who was on their

team and sitting between them. Dinh was a very dedicated student who wanted to

become president of the debate team and use her experiences her as a means of preparing

50

her for law school. Ron knew she would not accept defeat.

Professor Ringwald collected the evaluation sheets from the other debate team

members and after flipping through them quickly, counting which forms had nominated

which team the winner, he declared, “The Argument against the Minuteman Project is the

winner! Congratulations Ron, Jill and Amy.” Ron could tell how overjoyed Amy was,

even though she made no outward sign of being so, and then Ron turned his gaze from

her to Jill. Jill, as well, did not flinch at the news of their team being the winner and was

much harder for Ron to read. She was smiling, and Ron imagined that it was a proud

smile, and possibly that source of pride was in him as a teammate.

Ringwald continued, “ As is procedure I’ll make copies of these critiques, as well

as my own, for all of you so that you can enhance your debating skills. That means

you’re all free to go now. But…don’t forget! All of you joining us at our regional debate

conference in Chicago need to have your checks into me at our meeting next week. At

that time we’ll also go over all of our arrangements for that trip and what debates you’ll

need to prepare for. Because of that you have no debate assignments for our own group.

See you all then!”

As everyone was getting up and ready to leave Amy turned to both Ron and Jill

and congratulated, “Very well done, both of you. That was quite a debate. See you both

next week!” Ron and Jill waved goodbye to her, and then Amy scurried off to talk to the

Professor and the president of the debate team. Ron was left standing alone next to Jill.

He turned to her, waiting for her to say something first, because he didn’t know how to

express what he was feeling. He wanted to hear that Jill was proud of him for their win

that evening.

“Nice job,” was all Jill said

“I thought you had a fantastic performance,” Ron responded. “You confuted their

arguments marvelously in your closing statements. I think our teamwork showed a level

of preponderancy that the other team couldn’t compare to.” If she did not respond as he

fantasized she would, maybe he could coax her into admitting what a great team they

were.

51

Jill lightly laughed as the two of them proceeded to leave the room together. It

appeared she still thought that Ron talked funny, but it appeared to Ron to be genuine so

he did not mind. She replied, “Yeah, I think you’re right. Maybe Ringwald should team

us up for the conference.”

That was exactly the validation Ron was waiting for. He secretly became elated.

As the two of them walked out of the building Ron asked, without thinking, “Would you

like to join me for a cup of coffee?”

Ron could not believe that he had asked that. Usually he would be too frightened

by a negative answer or a period of awkwardness to ask such a question. He feared that it

would come off as asking Jill, who, he reminded himself, had a boyfriend, out on a date

rather than a friendly, platonic outing. Yet that evening he asked without a second

thought. It was totally out of character for him, and he wondered if his unexplainable

weight loss was beginning to go to his head.

“Of course, that sounds like a good idea. I could really go for some java,” Jill

replied. Ron could not believe his ears. He almost did not even react when Jill playfully

pushed him, joking, “Is java a fancy enough word for you? I’m sorry I don’t know

enough synonyms for coffee.”

Ron croaked out a laugh and, once his mind was able to process the reality of his

situation, managed to reply, “That was a fair attempt. I’m just sorry that your vocabulary

is not as much of a cornucopia of variegated words as mine.”

“You’ll have to teach me some.”

“I could, but it would be simpler for you to go out and buy a thesaurus.”

At that moment Ron heard a buzzing noise of a cell phone going off that was on

vibrate. Jill quickly dug through her purse, saying, “Excuse me, let me see if I need to

get that.” She looked at her caller ID and signaled to Ron with a hand gesture to wait as

she answered it.

She stepped a few paces away from Ron to conduct her phone conversation even

though Ron could still hear her saying, “Yeah, I just got out of it now…uh-huh…Well,

yeah, if you need me to…Sure, hon, I’ll be right there.” Before Jill even said anything,

52

Ron hung his head low. “I’m sorry, Ron, but I’ll need a rain check on the coffee,” Jill

apologized, “But Todd has this big test tomorrow and I forgot I promised to help him

study for it.”

“That’s ok. We’ll just have to do so later,” Ron replied, looking back up at her

and offering her a half-hearted smile. Jill smiled back and waved goodbye, “See you

later.”

Ron waved back and watched as she turned and walked away into the night. He

leaned back on the railing that lead to the entrance of Durmand Hall where they had their

debate meeting. Ron felt so frustrated with himself. He did not understand why he

allowed himself to become so overjoyed at the prospect of Jill thinking they made a good

team or of going to get coffee with her. He had let his emotions get the better of him. He

understood that he reacted that way because his feelings for Jill were so strong so that it

felt so good to have them reciprocated in any manner. However, Ron told himself, they

were not fully reciprocated, not on the same level. It was unreasonable to believe

otherwise.

He suddenly felt a wave of anger overtake him, and he tightened his grip on the

railing. The railing felt more like a roll of cardboard than metal and was crushed in

between his fingers. It took Ron a moment to realize that that was not the sensation he

was expecting. He turned around and, looking down in the dark, realized that the railing

had indeed become deformed and now looked as though someone had carved out a full

two inches of metal where he hands had laid.

Ron heard some commotion coming from inside the building and Eric’s

distinctive laughter. Moments later Eric emerged with four of the other guys on their

debate team, all carrying gym bags. Ron moved over to cover the vandalized area of the

railing, even though he was sure the others would not notice it in the dark, and inquired,

“Hey guys, where are you off to?”

“Broomball game,” Eric replied. Ron had forgotten that most of the guys from

the debate club had formed a team for club broomball, a popular club sport at Pine State.

Ron had hardly considered Eric’s initial offer to join the team. For one, Ron used to be

53

overweight and out of shape and he still feared the imminent return of his once corpulent

form. Additionally, Ron was unbalanced and poorly coordinated. He could scarcely

imagine playing a game in which one had to compete on an ice rink, wearing tennis

shoes, running around trying to hit a small ball into a net with a stick.

“You should come and watch us. We barely ever have anyone in the crowd

cheering us on,” Eric invited. Ron declined, “I’m, uh, very sorry, Eric. I just can’t do it

tonight. Maybe next time…”

“All right man, our next game is in four nights. Hopefully we’ll see you there.”

“Indubitably,” Ron affirmed.

Eric and the others left, and Ron quickly turned around to check the railing again,

to make sure he was not imagining things. He was not; the railing was still disfigured

from where he apparently smashed it. Ron shook his head, trying to rationalize what had

happened and concluding there was no rational explanation. He decided it would be best

for him to return to his dorm and rest. As he walked back, as if to prove to himself that

crushing the railing was a fluke, he threw his arm out to strike at a strong looking tree

branch looming above his head. Nothing appeared to happen and Ron continued

walking. He was completely unaware when a few moments later the branch, unable to

resist gravity through the thin area where it was still connected to the trunk, fell to the

ground.

Ron is sitting next to Jill, teamed up with her for the debate team. Jill suddenly

gets a phone call from Todd and runs out of the room to answer it. Ron becomes

illogically worried that she will never come back and runs after her. Ron begins to chase

Jill all around the building, through hallways, up and down stairs and around corridors.

Ron becomes extremely hot and sweaty. Ron hears the sound of an alarm clock and is

sucked out of that world.

Ron awoke from that dream feeling as though his body were on fire and very

clammy. He turned over and shut off his alarm and then wiped some of the sweat off of

his forehead. “What a peculiar dream…” He muttered to himself, “I can’t even recall

54

most of it now.”

He climbed out of bed and remembered the last time he had such a dream, waking

up as hot and sweaty as he was. He had wondered if he had been sick, but never became

sick. Maybe he was wrong and has been sick the whole time, he thought. He decided

that he needed to take a shower right away and wash off all of his sweat. As he passed by

his mirror he noticed something different, even with his poor eyesight. He glanced back

at the mirror and wondered if it was really his image that was being reflected back at him.

The man he saw in the mirror had a totally different outline and form than he had. Ron

grabbed his glasses and was astonished to see what had happened to his body in the

course of the night.

It was if his body had been stolen from him and replaced with that of a body

builder. His neck was thicker and his deltoids appeared to be bursting from his

shoulders. Instead of the sagging chest that he had become accustomed to having, his

pectorals were firm and defined. Equally defining were his abdomen and obliques which

together formed, as known colloquially, a perfect “twelve pack.” Ron held out his arms

in front of him and witnessed that they too were perfectly muscular, from his bulging

biceps to his terrific looking triceps. Ron still was not particularly big, but lean and

defined.

Ron could not believe what he was perceiving and flexed his arm and felt his

bicep. He began to pose in front of the mirror, still wondering if this was real or if he had

never really woken up and that this was all a part of his strange dream. Jon tossed in bed

and sat up. Not wanting his roommate to notice that he had inexplicably changed, Ron

grabbed his towel to cover himself and darted out of the room to take his shower.

After showering, getting dressed and preparing for his day, Ron left for Chemistry

class. During class, however, Ron could hardly pay attention to what Professor Jorley

was trying to teach. While he would take down notes he would look at his arm and flex it

once or twice. A couple of times he could not help but look down into his shirt to see if

his chest had not reverted back to its former state. While doing so he discovered that he

could flex his pectorals as well and watched in amazement as he did so. He did not stop

55

until he noticed the girl sitting next to him looking at him strangely, and after that,

flushed with embarrassment, he tried to pay more attention to Jorley’s lecture.

After Chemistry it was time for his Formal Logic class and the long trek to its

classroom. Ron walked at a brisk pace and noticed that he was walking a lot faster than

he usually had to. When he reached the stairs that led to academic quad he looked up at

them and considered how he should face them. His body was different now, even though

he did not have a reason for this difference. He felt stronger, lighter and quicker. He

wondered if could finally make up these stairs.

He sprinted forward and began taking the steps two, and sometimes three, at a

time. He felt none of the strain that he used to felt. He was breathing fine, if not

normally. He hardly broke a sweat. He made it to the top of the stairs and felt like he

could keep going. Ignoring the looks of all the other students walking by, Ron decided to

continue running all the way to class.

He felt great. He had not felt this way before, so active, alert, and alive. It was as

if his whole life he had been trapped in a blanket of lethargy that only now had been torn

off him. He did not think at all about why his body had changed in such a way to allow

him to do this. He did not want to.

He arrived outside of his classroom without a drop of sweat on his brow and his

breathing only slightly deregulated. As he was about to open the door Professor

Ringwald turned the corner to walk towards the classroom and looked at Ron with shock.

“Ron! Is that really you?! Here, five minutes before class starts?” Ringwald

exclaimed.

“You don’t have to give me that much credit sir. I’m only four minutes and

twenty seconds early.”

“Don’t tell me you skipped your other morning class,” Ringwald joked.

“Then I won’t tell you,” Ron said with a smile, not wanting to have to explain his

sudden change.

Ron and Ringwald walked into class together, and Ron took his seat as Ringwald

started to map out logical equations on the board. Ron watched as Jill walked into the

56

room, waving to him as she approached her seat. Ron waved back and began to fantasize

about her again. Once more, he hardly paid attention to what was taking place during

class. All he could think about was Jill as another realization suddenly occurred to him.

He had always had a shy, introverted personality, but the reason that he was always so

hesitant in pursuing a relationship with Jill, even a friendship, was because of how he felt

about his body image.

Now, however, his body and changed, and Ron had discovered a new confidence.

There was nothing to hold him back from pursuing Jill now. He was very much attracted

to her and she had shown that she liked him, at least as a friend. Ron asked himself why

it could not be something more. Of course, Jill was dating Todd, but what did that really

matter. Todd was just a boy Jill had been dating for a few weeks into the first half of her

first semester at college, and there was no guarantee that it, either, would evolve into

anything else. Ron would just have to prove that he cared about Jill more and that they

could have a truer relationship.

Once class ended Ron walked up to her and reminded, “You still own me a rain

check on getting some of that ‘java’ you profess to like.”

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot,” Jill said as she took leave of her seat and made for the

door. Ron walked alongside her as she continued, “When would you like to go? Would

tomorrow night be good?”

“Tomorrow evening would be excellent for me. Do you prefer Starbucks?”

“Actually, I kinda like the coffee from Pine Café better. Plus, it has a better

atmosphere.”

“Pine Café it is then! Would eight o’clock be a preferable time?”

“Eight works. See you then?”

“It’s a date.”

By that point in the conversation they had exited the building and were at the

juncture where they usually parted ways after class. They paused and stood there, facing

each other. Jill looked intently at Ron. Ron still felt self-confident, more so than he ever

had before. He did wonder if his intentional use of the phrase “it’s a date,” was ill-

57

considered. Jill then concluded aloud, “You look…different today.”

Ron lightheartedly shrugged his shoulders. He said, somewhat sarcastically,

“Maybe I just had a really good night’s sleep.”

Jill smiled and waved good-bye to him, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ciao for now.”

The two turned around and went their separate ways. He passed Durmand Hall

and glanced over at the railing that led to its entrance. He remembered what had

happened four nights ago and how he had crushed the railing. He went over to it and saw

that it was still disfigured in the shape of his hands. He stepped back and looked back

down at this arms, which were now transformed into something superhuman. Ron finally

realized that there was a connection. He really had crushed the railing, and his body was

changing in a way unnatural, perhaps even supernatural.

He decided that he had to test himself, to make sure he was not going crazy or

imagining things. He needed something that would be incredibly tough to break, but was

unneeded. Ron suddenly started running, across campus and across town, towards an old

building, long abandoned, that at one point used to be a restaurant. Behind it was an old

dumpster that was no longer used. Once he arrived, once again, hardly fatigued, he

stared up at the dumpster and determined that nobody would complain if it were to be

destroyed. Hw looked down at his hands and doubted whether he was up to the task.

He bent down, placing one hand on the side of the dumpster, the other hand below

it. He grabbed hold and, bearing the expectation that he would be unable to do it, exerted

a great amount of effort to lift the dumpster up. Ron lifted the dumpster extraordinarily

easily and, having used too much power, lost his grip on the dumpster and accidently

threw it towards the building. The dumpster crashed into the building and ricocheted

back unto the ground. The crash created a great deal of noise, startling Ron.

Ron looked at the dumpster that was now lying on its side on the ground and was

amazed with what he had done. “Did I…really…just do that?” he asked himself.

He had to test himself further. He climbed up unto the dumpster and took hold of

its one side. He then pried loose the front side of the dumpster from its right side. Ron

58

was dumbfounded. Tearing off the one side of the dumpster felt only slightly more

difficult than tearing off a piece of paper from a notebook. Ron then went over to the

other side and ripped that part off from the dumpster’s left side. He held the torn off

portion of the dumpster above his head and compressed it inward, deforming it into a u

shape. Ron then dropped it, and, almost afraid of the power he now possessed,

stammered, “Wow…”

Later that evening Ron walked into the practice arena for their ice hockey team

where club broomball was usually played. He had promised Eric that he would attend the

debate team’s next broomball game and had intended to keep that promise. The rest of

the day he had sought to keep himself distracted from the thought about his new abilities.

The consequences of the new strength he had were too vast for him to contemplate. At

that moment he would rather ignore it until he had a firmer grasp of what these changes

meant, how they came about, and what to do with them.

He looked about the arena, Eric, his teammates and the other team were one the

other side of the ice rink preparing, and on his side was one set of stands. Sitting on the

stands Ron was surprised to see Jill. He sprang up the stands to her side and greeted,

“My fair lady, what an unexpected pleasure to find you here this lovely evening. Have

you come to redound support for our debate teammates?”

Ron’s language brought a smile to Jill’s lips and she replied, “No, actually, I’d

like to redound defeat for our teammates.” Jill could not help but laugh at the look on

Ron’s face when she admitted that. She chortled, “Don’t be so shocked. My boyfriend

Todd is on the opposing team.”

Ron sat down next to her and challenged, “Just because he’s your boyfriend does

not mean you have to support him in a friendly game of sport. Look at it this way: on a

scale your boyfriend means about this much to you.” Ron raised his right hand to his

midsection to illustrate. He continued, “But on the debate club’s team you know five of

the guys who you are all good friends with, so collectively they end up meaning more to

you.” Ron illustrated by raising his left hand above his right.

59

He added, “Plus, you have my own feelings to consider, raising the collective

worth of the debate team to about here.” Ron raised his left hand to about his shoulder in

an almost subversive way to show how much more he cared for her than he believed

Todd did.

Jill laughed once again, grabbed Ron’s hand and shoved them away, telling him,

“Stop that! Don’t go tempting me like that. I’m not going to openly root against my

boyfriend, even if I do know the other team better than his.”

Ron shrugged, “Well, I tried. I guess now I’ll just have to drown out your cheers

for his team with my cheers for ours.”

At that moment Eric stormed up the stands towards them. He seemed to be in a

state and approached Ron and Jill very anxiously. “Thank God you’re here, Ron,” he

gasped. “Eric, what’s the cause of your perturbation?” Ron inquired.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Three of our guys haven’t shown up. We’re

supposed to start playing in two minutes and we can’t play with only five guys. No other

guy is here, and if we can’t get someone to play with us we’ll have to forfeit.

Ron…would you like to play for us?” Eric explained.

Ron turned from Eric to Jill and back. He was not sure what to do. The voice in

his head that belonged to his old self told him not to. He had never played sports before,

at least, not since he was a little kid. He had always been awkward and uncoordinated,

even as a kid. He could still hear kids teasing him on the playground and coaches from

youth baseball and soccer chastising him. His failure at sports drove him towards

literature, history, and philosophy. Instead of coming back from school and playing

outside with friends, Ron would close himself up in his room with a book in his lap. That

is what caused his extensive vocabulary, and works of philosophers like Plato and

Aristotle convinced him that the contemplative life was more fulfilling than the active

one.

The new voice in his head, the one that began developing that morning with the

discovery of Ron’s newfound strength, told him differently. This new voice reminded

him of how great it felt to be running around without any strain and performing feats of

60

power without any effort. He had developed a new sense of self-confidence that had

erased all of his previous doubts and anxieties. Now he had an opportunity to

demonstrate his new self to Jill who would be watching. People did not know what Plato

and Aristotle stood for, but idolized athletes and those with power.

“Come on, Ron, I know broomball seems, like, dangerous or something, but it’s

not that bad. The rest of us are really good and we’ll support you. You don’t need to

worry about how well you are, just be there,” Eric pleaded, interrupting Ron’s train of

thought. Ron looked back at Jill. Her beauty overwhelmed him and he desired so

strongly in that moment to prove himself to her. “Yeah, Eric, I’ll play,” Ron affirmed.

Eric shouted out in excitement, grabbed Ron by his hand and dragged him down

from the stands before he could say anything to Jill. “Are there any rules I have to be

familiar with?” Ron asked.

“No, it’s all pretty simple, just get the ball into the opposing team’s net. Um, only

thing I can think of its that you can’t raise your stick about your shoulders, can’t use your

hands, and you can’t go off-sides.”

“Off-sides?”

“Going into the offensive zone, that blue line there on the ice, before the ball.”

“I’m confused…”

“You’ll get it quickly enough. Just watch us and play along.”

Eric threw a jersey over his shoulders and a helmet upon his head. He gave him a

broomball stick and then shoved him unto the ice.

“Wait!” Ron shouted, “How do I run around the ice on tennis shoes?”

“That’s half the point of the game,” Eric stated as he joined Ron on the ice,

buckling up his helmet. Ron’s other four debate club teammates cheered his arrival and

they all greeted him one by one. The ref asked Eric and the other team’s captain if both

were ready and each replied in the affirmative. Eric told Ron, “Just play center; that way

you don’t have to worry about scoring or staying on defense. Just try and stay open and

when you get the ball pass it to whoever else is open.”

Ron made his way to the center of his team’s side of the rink. He watched his

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opponents get into formation. He saw Todd and understood that he must be playing right

wing. Ron glanced back towards the stands and saw Jill watching, and he wondered what

was going through her mind and if she really was questioning which side she should be

rooting for.

The ref blew his whistle and dropped the ball into the center of the rink. Eric was

the first to wrestle control of it and passed it to Tim, another one of Ron’s teammates.

They both pressed forward into the opposing team’s side of the rink. Ron decided to

follow the answer and followed them. He found that he had little difficulty walking on

the ice. Even though it was slippery Ron discovered a new sense of equilibrium that

discounted his sense of imbalance.

Jim lost control of the ball to one of the opponents, but Eric gained it back.

Unable to get a shot and with Jim covered, Eric was forced to pass the ball over to Ron.

Ron became the child he once was, always striking out in baseball, unable to dribble in

soccer, unable to shoot a basket in basketball, and quickly passed the ball back to Ben,

their right defenseman. The opposing offense plus Eric and Tim rushed past Ron to join

the action on their side of the court. Ron stood there bewildered at his own lack of

courage. Within a matter of moments Todd, of all their adversaries, had scored.

Ron looked back towards the stands and witnessed Jill going crazy. She was

hollering her applause, jumping up in the stands and clapping. Ron’s teammates sullenly

got back in position and Ron felt as though he had to apologize. “Sorry,” he said quietly.

Eric replied, “You have nothing to be sorry about. You did exactly what you had to do.

We’ll just get back in there and win this thing.”

The game started again and was immediately more intense as Ron’s team tried to

make up for their lost point. The action moved quickly, going from one side of the rink

to the other and Ron followed the action pass for pass and missed shot for missed shot.

Ron, however, did not take part in any of the action. He concluded that his teammates

needed him there just so that they could play and were fine in executing their plays and

maneuvers without him. Ron understood that, but wished it were not the case. He

strongly desired to play now, conquer his own fears, and show himself off to Jill.

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He finally found his opportunity when Todd lost control of the ball sending it

flying in Ron’s direction. Ron managed to take hold of it and charged towards the

opposing team’s net. With uncanny grace and maneuverability Ron sidestepped both of

the other team’s defensemen and took his shot. To Ron’s astonishment, as that of the

goalie, he had scored.

“Wooohoooo!!!” Ron heard Eric scream. Ron turned around to see Eric running

towards him and before Ron could react Eric tackle-hugged him. Ron was then soon

surrounded by his other teammates, all congratulating him. “That was a great shot, Ron!”

Eric said, “I didn’t expect you to be so good!”

“Neither did I,” Ron admitted.

Ron looked over towards the stands to see that Jill was no longer seated there.

Instead, she was right up next to the rink, standing and watching in anticipation. He had

not heard her applaud or cheer at all when he had made his shot, at least, not in the same

way she had when Todd had scored.

When the game continued, Todd’s team had clear domination of the ball. Ron’s

teammates were starting to tire, which was not the case with the opposing team as they

had enough players to substitute into the game. Ron generally hung back and tried to

understand both team’s strategies. By the time he felt he had a good enough

understanding of each to play a more vital part in the game it was too late in the first half

to make a difference. With just a few seconds left in play one of their other opponents

scored, giving them the one point lead again.

“It’s not fair…I’m getting too tired out there,” Tim complained as they all sat and

tried to catch their breath during halftime. Ron was not feeling tired at all and decided he

could use that to his advantage. Ben commented, “I just can’t hold back their offense.

They control the ball too well. The only time we scored was when that one guy lost

control of the ball. If we could get them to do that again, you guys’d probably be able to

score again.”

“I think I know a way of doing so,” Ron affirmed and began to explain his game

strategy.

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When play started again Ron and his teammates executed his plan perfectly.

After just a few minutes of play their defensemen managed to cause their offense to lose

control of the ball and Ron was able to steal it. Ron passed the ball to Eric and he

successfully scored. After a brief celebration by Ron’s team the match continued and

Todd’s team was resolute in regaining their lead.

Because of Ron’s new unrelenting stamina he found himself being a pivotal

defensive player. He successfully helped his teammates prevent their adversaries from

scoring for most of the remainder of the second half. But finally he found himself face to

face with Todd who was leading the ball towards his goal. He distinctly heard Jill

encourage, “C’mon, Todd!! You can do it!! Blow right past him and score!! Go, go,

go!!!”

Ron did not know why only then he paid attention to Jill’s cheering. She had

been throughout the game, but Ron had immersed himself into the game and all outside

sensations had been muted. But the phrase “blow right past him and score” had struck

him and Ron had to turn and look incredulously at Jill. That gave Todd the opportunity

to do just as Jill had instructed, and he shoved himself past Ron and took the shot. Frank,

Ron’s goalie, was unable to catch the ball and it soared into the net.

Dejected and upset Ron was unable to ignore the joyful cheers of enthusiasm

from Jill. He returned to his center position and waited for the ref to start the game again.

Eric got the ball and passed it back to Ron. Ron took aim and fired his shot, not realizing

how angry he was feeling and how much strength he put into it. The ball flew across the

rink and the opposing players instinctively ducked out of the way of it, including the

goalie. The ball was hit with such force that it broke through the net.

Ron’s team cheered in unison. A few of the opposing players, including Todd,

began to argue with the ref over whether or not the shot was legal. “That was amazing!”

Eric told Ron, putting his arm around Ron’s shoulders. Ron replied, “Yeah, but now we

have to make sure we can score again in the remaining two minutes so we can win.”

After convincing the opposing team that the shot was valid, the ref started the

game over again and Todd took control of the ball. Ignoring Jill’s shouting, Ron went

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after him. Coming up from Todd’s side Ron jutted his stick between Todd’s and the ball,

stealing it from him. With agility unnatural for playing on an ice rink in tennis shoes,

Ron took control of the ball and whipped himself around Todd, without touching him at

all, and made his way towards the other side of the rink. Ron saw Tim open and passed,

but Todd miraculously recovered in time to steal the ball before it reached Tim.

Todd made his way towards Ron’s team’s goal, but Ron got in his way, tempting

him to try to shove past him once again. Todd took the bait and charged Ron. Ron did

not move and tried to steal the ball from Todd again. The two scuffled for the ball

ferociously. Without realizing it, Ron intertwined his arm his Todd’s and then attempted

to hit the ball towards Ben. Losing control of his strength, Ron did so in such a way to

pull Todd’s arm with him and Ron thought he heard a cracking sound coming from

Todd’s shoulder.

Todd screamed out tremendously in pain. Ron jumped back, dropping his stick

and unlocking his arm from Todd’s. Todd fell to the ground, clutching his arm and it was

clearly dislocated from his shoulder.

“Oh, my God, Todd!!!” Ron heard Jill cry out.

In lighting speed the ref arrived by Todd’s side and his teammates were soon

crowded around him as Todd lay on the ice, writhing and moaning. Ron heard a

multitude of voices speak at once as everyone tried to tend to Todd’s injury.

“Are you all right?”

“Where does it hurt?”

“My arm!! My arm!!”

“I think it’s dislocated!”

“It-…It hurts!!”

“My God, I think it’s broken too!”

“Somebody call 911!!!”

“Oh, Todd, no…oh, my God, nooo…”

Ron found himself in a state of shock. He took a few steps backwards, unable to

comprehend the situation unfolding around him. He had totally forgotten about his new

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strength. He never considered that he would be unconsciously using it in this game and

that there was the possibility that he could hurt somebody. He had let his emotions take

control over him. Playing that way, so aggressively, was a new experience for him. He

had never felt adrenaline pumping in his body like that or the excitement of going up one

on one against someone. But in doing so, he hardly used his intellect. If he had, he

would have been able to control himself and would have tried to hold back his strength.

Only at that moment, in his bewilderment, did his powers give way, and he slipped on the

ice and fell on his butt.

The next three weeks were painful ones for Ron. Jill had stopped speaking to

him. She stood him up on their coffee date, and it was not until later that he learned that

she had spent that time bedside with Todd in the hospital. Not only had Ron dislocated

Todd’s shoulder, but his ulna was broken as well.

Ron had been kicked out of the game by the ref and prohibited from being a

substitute player for the debate club’s team. Eric was very supportive. He sympathized

with Ron, applauded his broomball abilities and regretted that he could not join the team.

Broomball, however, was the furthest thing from Ron’s mind. He had become afraid of

himself and his strength. He proceeded in his day to day activities with extreme caution

and prudence. He no longer tested the limits of his strength as he had that day. He

viewed his new muscular body with disgust and continued to hide his form with baggy

clothing.

Ron was even more upset with Jill’s avoidance of him. He had let his cockiness

get in the way of his reason and fooled himself into believing that he could impress

himself upon Jill over Todd. By that notion, Ron should have been assured a victory in

claiming Jill’s heart by outperforming Todd in broomball, but instead the opposite

occurred. Ron had hoped that Jill would choose to be his teammate at the upcoming

debate conference in Chicago where each of the debate club members would be split into

groups of two and debate different groups separately. Instead, Jill hardly interacted with

him in the following debate club meetings and choose to team up with Eric, while Ron

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was left to team up with Amy. Additionally, Jill would no longer wait to talk to him after

their Formal Logic class.

Ron had been pondering all of this as he stared out the window of the tour bus

that was bringing his debate team to Chicago. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted

when Amy poked her head out from the seat in front of him to ask, “So, how much

consideration have you given to what our first debate topic is going to be?”

Ron glanced up at Amy and replied lackadaisically, “Not too much…we’re

supposed to be debating ethics in regards to scientific issues? Probably stem cell

research…”

“Have you done a lot of research into the stem cell debate? I think I know enough

about it to make an argument either way. What about cloning? Have you done enough

research into cloning?”

“I think my current knowledge is sufficient and my understanding of the

conference is that there is substantial time for research throughout the weekend.”

“All right, I just don’t want either of us to slack off in this, you know? It’s a big

deal and I really think with your mastery of rhetoric and my general debating skills we

can rack up enough points to guarantee our team wins. And, oh, I would die if I won the

best debater award!”

Amy finally turned around and sat back in her seat and Ron sighed in relief. Eric,

who was seated next to him but engaged in livid discussion with some of the other guys,

turned to him, clasped his hands on Ron’s shoulders, and shook him. “C’mon, Ron, get

excited!! We’re going to Chicago!!” he exclaimed.

“I’m excited, I’m excited! You don’t have to kill me!” Ron protested.

“You don’t look it.”

“Perhaps I am heavy in contemplation about all the excitement that will ensue

upon our arrival.”

Eric scuffled Ron’s hair up and noted, “Man, you’re way too much into this

competition. Relax, you’re gonna whop those other schools’ teams. You have absolutely

nothing to worry about. This is a chance for you to get outta your shell and have some

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fun with us.”

Eric could not have been further off the mark. He cared nothing for the

competition involved in this conference. He did not care if Pine State’s team won or lost

or did fair enough. He did not care if his duo with Amy scored the most points for his

team or not. Amy was right to question him, because he was not committed on the same

level as she was. For that, he felt slightly guilty, but not enough to encourage him to

have done more preliminary research or become excited about the conference. Ron could

follow Eric’s advice and use this as an opportunity to loosen up and have fun, but that is

what he feared most. The last time he “loosened up” to experience enjoyment he broke

someone’s arm.

Their arrival at the hotel where the conference was taking place was like a

whirlwind. They had to unload all their things, make their way through throngs of

students, find their separate hotel rooms and unload their things, make their way through

more students, and go through the lengthy and convoluted registration process. Amy was

by Ron’s side the entire time, mothering him in terms of going through registration in the

proper way. Ron found it very annoying and cursed his fortune. Why did Jill have to be

treating him so poorly and why could she have not been his partner?

“You were right, Ron! Our first debate is going to be about stem cell research

tomorrow morning at eight. We should start researching together right away!” Amy

stated, looking over their schedule.

“Whatever you want to do,” Ron dourly replied.

Amy grabbed him by the arm and led him to where their rooms were, insisting,

“Yeah, let’s start right now. Go get your laptop and join me back in my room.” Amy

pushed him towards his own room, ran into hers and propped her door open to let Ron

easily come inside as well. Ron found Eric in his room, already on his own computer.

“You researching?” Ron asked, not expecting Eric to be doing so.

“Well, I am researching, just not doing the research you’re thinking of. I’m

looking at all the nearby bar’s websites, looking for specials. You are coming out

drinking with us?” Eric answered.

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Ron ignored Eric’s question and responded, “I’m going into Amy’s room. She’s

really committed to winning this competition. I do not know if I’ll have a free second to

breath this weekend if she keeps hassling me as she has.”

“Well, Ringwald wants to take us all out to dinner. It’ll be on the university’s

budget so he wants to take us to kind of a fancy restaurant, but he hasn’t decided which

place yet. We were thinking of going out immediately after that.”

“Ok…well…I’ll be seeing you.”

Ron left Eric to join Amy in research. They spent the rest of the day doing so,

and Amy felt confident that they would have the best argument. Ron had not been

looking forward to the dinner. The entire club would be together and that meant Jill

would be there, reminding Ron of everything that was causing his depression.

Their hotel was near the lake front, so the group went to a nice seafood restaurant

near the pier. The entire group, including the professor, was raucous and alive with

frivolity. Ron attempted to partake in the joy of the situation but could not help

remaining dejected. Jill had sat on the other side of the table from him; he constantly was

looking in her direction. She seemed happy as she interacted with all of the other girls

from their club. Why could she not share that happiness with him?

Once everyone had eaten and the check had been paid, Ringwald commanded his

wards to go out and have a good time, cautioning, “You all be careful and don’t get

yourself hurt. Drink and be merry, but remember, most of you have early morning

debates tomorrow!”

“You coming?” Eric asked Ron before joining the others.

Ron looked down and sighed. He imagined becoming intoxicated and causing a

bunch of property damage, or injuring someone or somehow getting the whole group in

trouble. He said, “I…I’m afraid I’ll have to be abstemious and decline. My debate

tomorrow is at eight in the morning and Amy would become atrabilious if I were to show

up inebriated.”

“All right, I understand. Just promise me you’ll go out with us one night this

weekend.”

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“I hope I can…” Ron lied.

Before Ron knew it everyone had left, even Professor Ringwald. He did not even

notice if Jill had gone out with some of the girls or drinking with the other girls and most

of the guys, or if she had returned to the hotel with the studious ones such as Amy. Ron

walked over towards a nearby dock and just stood there looking out at Lake Michigan,

leaning against a lamppost. His meditation ended at the sound of female laughter. He

looked over and saw a young adult couple strolling the dock together. The young man

was leaning over whispering into his lover’s ear, causing her to giggle. Their hands were

interlocked tenderly. They found a bench on the dock and sat down, the young lady

leaning into her boyfriend as he wrapped his arms gently around her. They continued

speaking to each other and soon they began kissing passionately.

Ron became locked into the scene as it unfolded and, jealous of what they had

that he had not, momentarily lost control of his strength and knocked over the lamppost.

Ron just looked at the damage he had incurred. He was not even drunk. All he was was

angry and envious. He did not know what to do, the couple had not noticed what he did

and no one else was around. He decided to just return to the hotel.

“Maledictions…” he uttered, shamefully.

Ron gave an unenthusiastic performance at his debate the following morning, and

once it was finished Amy started berating him for it. “I don’t understand what’s wrong

with you, Ron. You’ve always been an excellent debater, throwing out facts in an instant

and always being able to point out the fallacies in the opposing arguments – today I felt

like I was the only one debating,” she was complaining.

“Sorry,” Ron uttered as he walked down the hallways towards his room, hoping

that Amy would stop pestering him.

“I’m hoping you’re just tired from last night. We have three hours until our next

debate. You better rest up and be ready,” She commanded. She walked into her room

and slammed the door. Ron went to open his own door, but it opened on its own and Ron

found himself face to face with Eric. “Hey, buddy, back from your debate?” Eric

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greeted.

“Yeah…aren’t you supposed to be at yours?”

“No, mine was at eight too. Did you guys advance?”

“Yes, did you?”

“Yeah, me and some of the other guys are going to grab some lunch, you

interested?”

“I suppose so.”

Eric led Ron downstairs and into the lobby where Ben and Frank, the other group

with an eight o’clock scheduled debate, were waiting. Also with them was Jill. “You

guys all right with eating at Dick’s? It’s right nearby,” Ben asked. Everyone assented,

including Jill, whose inclusion Ron was unaware of. Jill hardly had acknowledged his

presence, and Ron began to have second thoughts of following the others as they began to

leave the hotel.

Eric turned back and chided, “C’mon, Ron, hurry up.” Ron could not think of an

excuse to give to not join. He quickly caught up with the others and they walked over to

the pier where the restaurant Dick’s Last Resort was. The hostess led them to a circular

table and Ron was the last to sit down, taking the empty seat that was between Jill and

Frank. Jill continued to give him the cold shoulder and none of the others seemed to

notice, they had already started a conversation pertaining to their experiences the

previous night.

The waiter arrived and explained the special treatment customers receive at

Dick’s, creating special paper hats with inappropriate phrases on them. The phrase

written on Ron’s hat would have been ironically appropriate at a different time; it read “I

have a hard on for her” with an arrow pointing towards where Jill was seated next to him.

After the waiter left, Eric opened up a new conversation, one Ron had been

dreading: “So is Todd feeling any better?” Ron could not believe that Eric had asked

that, but it made sense for him to. Eric had no knowledge that Ron had not yet broached

the subject with Jill because she had been avoiding him. The rest of them had all been

there and they were probably all concerned for Todd, and like Ron, probably felt partly

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guilty for his condition.

“He’s feeling fine. He’s arm’s still in a cast and a sling. The sling won’t come

off for another two weeks, and he’ll have to keep his cast for at least another two months.

After that the doctor will say if he can get it off or if he’ll need it for longer. They still

don’t know if he’ll be able to use his arm the same way ever again,” Jill answered,

maintaining and appearance of calm and nonchalance.

“That’s actually pretty bad,” Ben commented.

“Yeah…” Frank agreed

“You know we all feel really about this. I mean, we all really got into that game.

It was pretty intense right from the beginning. We kind of…all forgot that it was just a

game. No one should have gotten hurt,” Eric apologized, and Ron felt as though Eric

was apologizing for his behavior. Ron looked over at Jill and found that she was still

avoiding eye contact with him. The situation was too tense. Ron believed that he should

say something but he did not know what, and he felt that it was neither the time nor the

place. He had to leave.

“If you will all excuse me a moment, I’m going to look for this establishment’s

lavoratories. I’m sure they’re decorated with the same sort of infantile humor that adorns

our hats,” with that he quickly made for the restroom. He did not actually have to go, but

he forced himself to anyway. When he returned he found that Jill was no longer at their

table. He looked over toward the windows facing the lake and saw that she was standing

out on the dock, which was supposed to be closed for renovations.

Ron gathered up his courage and decided it was time to face her and all of the

anxieties and frustrations that came with that. Ron walked right up to the door with the

“Do Not Enter” sign, ignoring the confused looks of an employee he passed by, pushed it

open and found himself face-to-face with Jill, who was crying. She immediately turned

away from him and went to sit down on one of the scattered seats that we out there.

“Please…j-just go away…” She muttered.

“Jill…” Ron gasped, flabbergasted.

He had not expected this, although perhaps he should have. Once more he was

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faced with the decision to back down or open up to her. He decided on the later.

“Jill…I-I…think we need to talk,” Ron said and sat down next to her.

“I don’t think I can really talk right now,” Jill replied, still not looking at him.

“Then when are you going to? The…the other guys were right. We all feel sorry

for what happened to Todd…and they don’t even have to. I…I’m the one who did it.

I’m the one who got…too violent…and hurt him. I’m the only one who should have to

apologize,” Ron explained. Jill still was not facing him, her whole body was turned away

and she continued to sniffle and sigh. Ron gulped as he awaited her reply.

She finally turned around and wiped the tears from her eyes and brushed her hair

out of her face. She stammered, “N-No, I…I don’t even know what I expect you to

do…”

“I can understand if you’re angry with me,” Ron interjected, “I was wrong and I

should have apologized right away. I just couldn’t bring myself to face you…I just hope

you can forgive me.” Ron left it at that. He wanted to admit his feelings for her and be

honest and tell her that he felt as though out on that ice rink he was literally battling Todd

for her heart. He knew that would only upset her more and it would deepen the rift

between them, but it was the truth and he had to remain committed to the truth.

“You don’t understand,” Jill stated, before Ron could admit his feelings.

“D-Don’t understand…don’t understand what?”

“Well…I guess that means Todd or his parents haven’t contacted you or your

parents yet.”

“What…?”

Jill turned away from Ron, unable to look at him as she explained, “Todd’s family

has never been well off. He shouldn’t even be in college with his family’s expenses.

He’s only at Pine State because of a scholarship, and that’s tenuous, at best, which is why

I have to help him study all the time. But now this…with these medical bills…no good

insurance…it’s too much for them. His parents…they want to sue you, Ron.”

“Oh…” Ron uttered.

Ron was not expecting that, but realized he possibly should have. They lived in a

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litigious society where McDonald’s was sued for not stating that its coffee would be hot

and where one guy successfully sued an RV manufacturer for not stating that cruise

control did not mean one could get up from behind the wheel and go hang out in the back

of the RV. He should have accepted that Todd would have wanted to find Ron legally

responsible for his injuries, even though they were done in sport.

Jill continued, “And…I feel like I’ve been caught in between the two of you.

He…he has nothing but disdain for you, Ron. He thinks that you owe him all the money

for his expenses. I think the only reason they haven’t gone forward with it yet is because

his parents are still trying to decide whether the legal expenses would overshadow the

medical expenses they’d get back. But, every time I see Todd with his arm like that, I

think back to what happened. And…And I just thought you knew about the whole suing

thing and that you’d be just as upset with me as I was upset with you for hurting Todd the

way you did.”

“Wait…you used the past tense there…does that mean…that you’re not as upset

with me?” Ron asked, hopefully.

Jill smiled and then tried to force back a giggle, which only caused her to hiccup.

“Whoa, you ok?” Ron asked.

“Yeah…just all the crying and…hic!” Jill hiccupped.

“Maybe I should do something to frighten them out of you,” Ron offered.

They then heard a round of gunshots, which were terrifying close, and Jill

screamed. Ron jolted around and saw that inside of the restaurant five or six masked men

were spread across the building and some were forcing the diners to put all their

valuables in their bags. There was a man laying by the door, who was apparently shot in

the leg trying to flee. Ron and Jill instinctively ducked underneath the seat they were

seated on. “I think someone’s been inspired by Pulp Fiction,” Ron commented.

“I think my hiccups are gone,” Jill noted.

Ron felt the sudden urge to charge into the building and use his super strength to

help stop the criminals. His reason overpowered him, however, and he realized how

foolish that was. The men inside had guns, something he was not sure his strength could

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handle; undoubtedly none of the civilians inside could handle either. If he gave into his

emotions to fight, he would only be guilty for more people getting hurt.

He also knew this was a situation only the police could handle, which is what the

state of Illinois has authorized the Chicago police force to do. If Ron were to do anything

it would be vigilantism, which would break the solemn social contract between people

and state that holds society together. It would be best for Ron to just call the police, and

he pulled out his cell phone to do so.

Ron then heard the creaking noise of a door opening and both he and Jill froze.

Ron looked over and saw somebody walk through the door that led to the deck they were

on and heard that person’s voice complain, “ ‘Check the back deck’ he says, like

anyone’s actually back here.”

The thoughts Ron had of using his super strength returned and he cursed his

immediate decision to turn to vigilantism as he threw the seat he and Jill were hiding

under at the villain. “Run, Jill, call the police!!” Ron commanded.

“What about you?” Jill protested.

Ron ignored her as he leaped towards the burglar and attempted to wrestle the gun

out of his hands, which he had shot off as he fell from the seat hitting him. Ron knew the

guy’s buddies heard the shot and would be outside momentarily. He thought back to his

debate with Eric about the Minutemen and Eric’s argument that they were simply

assisting law enforcement. Ron assuaged his concerns about his actions by telling

himself he too was assisting law enforcement and that in this instance where law

enforcement did not exist he had the right to defend himself.

He pulled the gun from the criminal’s hands and crushed it in front of his face.

Ron could see the fear in the man’s eyes; the man screamed out and tried to scamper

away. Ron followed after him, which did not result in a chase; the villain turned the

corner of the building and ran into a dumpster. Ron grabbed him and threw him in.

Ron looked back around the corner to see if Jill was still there, but, thankfully, she

had listened to Ron and fled. Instead, another one of the masked men was there, looking

for his buddy. “O’Malley, where’d you go? We heard you shoot at somebody, where are

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ya?”

Ron looked down and noticed that the paper hat he was wearing had flown off

when he tackled the other burglar and was laying on the ground. The masked man in

front of him soon noticed it, too, and Ron knew he had to get back in the action again.

He jumped forward, grabbing the hat, and swung his body around, kicking the thief’s legs

out from underneath him. The robber fell in such a way to make it look like he slipped

and then Ron was on top of him. He shoved the paper hat in the man’s month to silence

him with one hand and with the other grabbed the man’s gun.

“I hope Jill has called the police and I hope I’m not about to make the dumbest

error of my life,” Ron muttered. Ron then held the gun to the criminal’s head and forced

him up. “Don’t do anything unless I tell you to do it,” Ron commanded. The villain

grunted his assent. Ron then took him and entered back into the restaurant.

Everyone inside was shocked to see a young kid, holding a gun to one of the

criminal’s head, walk right into the restaurant. One of the gunmen was at the door,

standing over the man that was previously shot, who was still alive by the sound of his

groaning. Another gunman was harassing a table directly across from him on the other

side of the restaurant. A third gunman was standing by the door to the kitchen, pointing

two guns at all the cooks and busboys who he had dragged out of the kitchen and were

now all crowded around on the ground. The last gunman was standing right by Eric and

Ron’s other teammates.

Ron asserted, “Ok you guys give it up. I’ve got your friend here and I’m not

afraid to kill him. I’ve already disposed of one of your other cronies. Now, all of you

drop your weapons and I’ll let him go. The police have already been called so you have

no hope out of here. How about we just sit back and wait for them to arrive?”

The masked thug by the door, who appeared to be their leader scoffed, “’Ey, guys,

we got ourselves a hero here, ah? Whatcha’ think we gonna do? Just listen to what yer

tellin’ us?” He laughed, and the other masked men joined him. “No, I think what’s

gonna happen is this. You let our guy go and I promise not to kill you, or put this guy I

already shot out of his misery. You got three seconds.” The villain pointed his gun at the

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man at his feet and his cronies all pointed their guns at Ron.

“1…

2….”

It was action time, Ron thought, and hopefully his rash actions would not get

anyone else hurt, including himself. He threw the man he held at the thief directly in

front of him and then fired his own gun at the leader, shooting him in the arm. The two

remaining gunmen shot at Ron and Ron dived towards the ground. He reached back and

ripped the door leading to the deck off its hinges and yelled, “Guys, get under the table!!”

Eric, Ben, and Frank immediately obeyed their teammate’s command, while the

gunman that was threatening them remained stupefied. Ron chucked the door at him,

knocking the criminal out. The criminal who was standing about the chefs jumped on top

of a table to get better aim at Ron. Ron instinctively jumped up and kicked him in the

chest, causing the villain to fly back and crash through the wall, landing outside of the

restaurant.

The leader was still writhing in pain over his arm wound. Ron walked over to

him, knowing that he needed to be taken out so he would not harm any more of the

customers there. The criminal held his gun with his good hand and raised it to point it at

Ron. “I-I-I’ll kill you,” he threatened. But he was shaking so violently he could barely

hold the gun straight.

Ron cautiously took a step forward, but the thief did not shoot. So he continued

to walk towards the robber, and the robber cautiously took a step back. Once Ron got

close enough, he lunged his body forward, throwing out his arms, and cried, “BOO!!”

The villain shrieked like a girl, threw his gun up into the air, and fell backwards,

having tripped over the man he shot previously. Ron looked over at the two remaining

thieves, who were cowering in the corner. “You going to be good boys and wait for the

police to arrive?” Ron asked. The two criminals nervously nodded their heads.

Within two minutes the police arrived, and the following ten minutes became one

of the craziest moments in Ron Werden’s life. Immediately he was questioned by the

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police and had to stretch parts of the truth to make it seem realistic without having to

explain his strength. He explained how he and his friend were out on the back deck when

one of the thugs arrived and Ron was forced to scuffle with him and once Ron defeated

him and the other thug that joined him, Ron saw no other choice but to play the hero so

that no other person was threatened. After a complicated process of going through all of

the hostages and attending to all those wounded, Ron and his friends were finally allowed

to leave.

“That was awesome, Ron, I didn’t know you could do that!!” Eric exclaimed as

they walked back to the hotel.

“I-It was nothing. It was just one of those things that happens when one’s life is

threatened and they have their adrenaline going,” Ron attempted to explicate. He looked

over at Jill as he said, “When I thought that Jill…or any of you guys…could have gotten

hurt, something inside me burst and I kind of became a different person.”

“Like the Hulk!” Eric compared, “You ripped off a door!”

“The door was already coming off of its hinges. I had noticed that when I first

went outside to check on Jill.”

“Yeah, but that shot! You shot a guy in the arm!!”

“What else could I have done? I couldn’t let him kill that other guy and I needed

to shoot him someplace that would prevent him from firing his own gun.”

“But to have that kind of aim.”

“Actually, it was a lot of good luck. The whole situation was.”

“Man, the others won’t believe us at all!! This is going to be an experience I’ll

never forget!! Ladies and gentlemen, Ron Werden, the super hero!!”

“Stop that!” Ron objected, blushing. Eric continued to talk about what had just

happened with Ben and Frank and Ron slowly backed out of the conversation. Jill had

not been participating at all and was walking behind them. So Ron hung back and began

to walk alongside her. He finally asked, “Are you ok?”

“I don’t know…that was all pretty traumatic,” she replied.

“Yeah, I, uh, do not know what got into me back there. I expressed a lack of

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temerity that is unusual for me.”

Jill finally looked up and for the first time looked at him straight in the eyes,

“That’s right. You’re like a different person now. I don’t know why I felt I had to

defend you against Todd. Maybe he’s right…maybe you are really violent.”

It was as if Ron was struck by a bolt of lightning. By that point they had reached

the hotel and Jill followed the others inside. Ron stayed outside, unsure of what to do

with himself and unsure of what to make of this new strength he possessed that had

turned the woman he would have liked to love against him.

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Chapter 3

David Shaw found himself, once again, staring out the window of the bus that was

taking the Pine State football team back from an away game full of disappointment.

Everyone else around him felt the exact opposite, they were all elated after the first

victory away in three weeks. David was disappointed because he had taken no active

effort in securing that win. As a freshman he was not high on the totem poll compared to

the rest of his team, which had made this a disappointing season from the very beginning.

He had been a star quarterback for his high school team, leading them to a regional

championship for the first time in decades. He was awarded a scholarship to play

quarterback for Pine State, but after summer conditioning was relegated to third string.

“What’s with the sour face, Dave? Aren’t you still excited about our big win?”

Steve Conway turned away from his conversation to ask him.

“Oh, no…it’s just that we’re almost back at school,” Dave lied, pointing out the

window to the sign stating that Pine State University was only two miles away.

Dave then remembered that he had a tutoring appointment that day. As an athlete,

he was offered special tutoring because of all the time he had to spend away from school.

He found the only class he was struggling in to justify the tutoring was Chemistry with

Dr. Jorley. It’s not that the material was that much more difficult than the chemistry he

learned in high school, but it was graded that much harder. It did not help that Dave

viewed Jorley as a nut. He laughed to himself as he thought of the little accident Jorley

had in front of the class a couple of weeks back when he caused that moon rock to light

up the whole classroom. It was the most exciting class he had been to and then it ended

immediately, broadcasting to the entire class that Jorley had made some sort of mistake.

Before Dave knew it he was heading towards the tutoring center. He touched the

doorknob and felt a surge of static electricity flow into his body. He yelped, pulling his

hand back. The same thing happened when he exited the bus earlier that day. He figured

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his body must be that open that day to electrical discharges or something. He shrugged

and walked in to see his tutor, George Waterby chatting with the receptionist.

“Hey, Dave, there you are!” George greeted, “Great win the other day!”

Dave offered a fake smile and replied, “Yeah, pretty awesome, all right.” George

offered his hand in a congratulating handshake, saying, “You guys are really going to

start turning this season around. It’s about time someone gave Pine State football a good

name.” Dave thought that he could give Pine State football a good name, if he was

allowed to. He took George’s hand and George suddenly threw himself backwards.

“Hey!” he shouted.

“What is it?” Dave asked, genuinely concerned.

The student receptionist had a look of shock on her face, equally as confused as

Dave was. George just shook his hand out and answered, “Oh, ah, sorry, you just gave

me an electric shock.”

“Sorry,” Dave apologized, “I just got a shock from the door as I walked in, I must

have just given it off to you.”

“The game must have gotten you all riled up or something, huh? Well, I guess we

should go over to our table and start looking over this chemistry.”

Dave followed George to their little table and they each sat down and began going

over the Chemistry lesson Professor Jorley had offered earlier that day while Dave was

still traveling with his teammates. Dave found it increasingly difficult to pay attention.

He had suddenly begun to feel quite sick. His head started pounding and his entire body

felt itchy all over. He felt as though thousand of worms or insects were traveling

throughout his body underneath his skin. It was an almost nauseating feeling.

Dave was relieved when the hour-long tutoring session ended, and he quickly left

the tutoring center. His dorm, where most of the student athletes who did not live off-

campus lived, was on the opposite side of campus, near the football stadium. He thought

that he could walk the entire way there, as he had walked from there earlier, but he had

started to feel worse.

“Arghhhh…” he uttered as he suddenly keeled over.

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He felt tiny pinches all across his body. He looked down and noticed that static

electricity was coming out of his and traveling between his fingers. He glanced at his

arms and saw all his hair was on end and the same thing was happening as static

electricity leapt from hair to hair.

“Ahh!” Dave yelped in fright as to what he was experiencing.

He did not know what to do. He wanted to panic, to run, to scream for help. But

he found himself grounded, unable to move. Realizing this, he thought of how lightning

was more attracted to something that was grounded. He saw a tall oak tree near the

tutoring building and wondered if he could discharge all this electricity towards that. He

focused on the prickly feeling across his body and tried to gather it towards his hands.

“Ha!” he yelled as he lifted his arms up, pointing them towards the tree. A stream

of lighting erupted from his hands and streaked towards the tree. All of the electricity

flowed out of his body and struck the tree with a large cracking noise.

That noise caused a few students walking around to look over, but nobody seemed

to notice that the electricity came from Dave. He himself almost did not believe it if not

for the large black burn mark on the tree’s trunk. Someone emerged from the tutoring

building behind him, accidently hitting Dave with the door as he opened it.

“Oh, sorry, dude,” the stranger said. He looked at Dave’s head and sarcastically

said, “Like what you’ve done with your hair.”

Dave looked at his reflection from the glass doorway and realized his hair was all

sticking up, standing on end. His face was as white as a ghost’s and he realized that for

the first time in his life he actually felt afraid. Something was happening to his body that

was not normal and he did not even know who he could go to for help.

* * *

Amanda Zemen twirled her pen as she listened to her History professor drone on.

The professor was going on a tangent and there was nothing for her to write down. She

began fantasizing about what she would be doing the coming weekend. Maybe she

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would go out again with the new girlfriends she has met since starting at Pine State. She

had become best friends with her roommate Katie Garman in the six weeks or so of living

together. They enjoyed many of the same things and were able to relate to each other in a

way Amanda had not with many girls in high school. She could really connect with

Katie and she had become great support for her.

One area in particular that Katie had been a great help in was in Amanda’s boy

troubles. Amanda had had a really bad break-up with her boyfriend of two years in high

school. For months she had gone through a real bad straight of depression. She felt

worthless and that she could not keep a relationship and that she was not good enough for

any guy. Katie helped her through that and now was working to hook her up with a

dreamy guy named Dan who lived on the floor below them in their dorm.

Amanda fantasized about Dan asking her out on a date for this weekend. She

imagined them going out and hitting it off. She imagined the perfect romance and the

two of them falling in love, creating a relationship that would be nothing like the one she

was in during high school. With her mind worlds away Amanda did not realize that the

professor had gotten back on topic and subconsciously continued to twiddle her pen in

her hands as her fellow students began earnestly taking notes again. She only snapped

back into reality as her pen slipped through her fingers and skidded across the floor, three

rows in front of her.

Amanda cursed under her breath. She looked up at the overhead, realizing that

the information the professor was going over was probably important. She quickly

shifted through her purse to find another pen, but could only find a broken pencil. She

looked about the room and saw that there was no pencil sharpener in sight. “Damn,”

Amanda thought, “This school spends millions on new technology and computers and

everything and can’t afford to have a pencil sharpener in each classroom.”

Amanda threw the broken pencil down and stared at the pen that lay on the floor a

few feet in front of her. She did not want to get up and embarrass herself to pick it up.

She wished the pen would just float back over to her. If only she could reach out with

just her mind and cause it to return to her desk. Once again Amanda was not paying

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attention to her professor and instead was concentrating on the pen, wishing for the

impossible. Suddenly, the pen floated off of the ground and shot towards her, striking her

in the eye.

“OW!!” Amanda yelled out.

Everyone in the class heard her, and most looked over to see what had happened.

Amanda’s face flushed red as she grabbed hold of her eye. “Is everything all right?” the

professor inquired of her.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Amanda replied.

With her good eye she looked down in disbelief at the pen that was now in her

lap.

By the time Amanda found herself walking from class to her dorm she had

convinced herself that a gust of wind had blown her pen towards her eye, or when she

was not looking another student kicked it up towards her. Her thoughts were once again

centered on the upcoming weekend when they were interrupted by a volleyball landing in

front of her on the sidewalk. She wished for it to be out of her way, and before a request

from the nearby volleyball court, “Hey! Could you kick that over towards us!” could be

completed the ball flew up into the air.

Amanda continued walking a dozen paces before realizing what she had done.

She turned around and saw a group of the kids that we playing volleyball staring up into

the sky where the volleyball had been. All of a sudden the ball came crashing down

towards them.

Amanda quietly yelped as the students moved out of the way and attempted to

follow the ball as it bounced away. She wondered whether or not it was she who really

caused it to soar up into the air. As with the pen she came up with other explanations,

such as it had just bounced there before, not landed there. But that only created the

question of why and how it bounced so high, which Amanda preferred to explain by a

really strong volley from one of players.

Amanda tried to push those thoughts from her mind as she continued to walk

towards her dorm. Another girl several paces in front of her was walking inside.

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Amanda ran to catch up with her so that she would not have to take out her card to unlock

the door. She was too late, however; the girl did not notice Amanda behind her and did

not hold the door open for her. Amanda reached out to try and grab the door in time but

as she did so she could hear the door lock. An instant afterward the door was blown off

of its hinges and thrown into the dorm.

Both Amanda and the girl who proceeded Amanda inside let out a shriek. “Oh

my God, what happened?!” the girl exclaimed. Amanda just gaped. The girl approached

Amanda and asked, “Wh-What did you do?”

“Nothing!!” Amanda yelled and as she extended her arm to keep the girl from

coming any nearer, the girl was thrown back, as if pushed, and fell to the ground.

In a state of hysteria Amanda ran up the stairs, down the hall and into her room.

She ran in and slammed the door shut behind her. Katie was laying on her bed with her

cell phone in her hand. She got up to walk toward Amanda, “Hey, Mandi, I just got a call

from-“

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!!” Amanda commanded.

Katie stopped in her tracks. Amanda had never acted like this before and she

looked totally distraught. “A-are you okay?” She asked nervously. Amanda slid down

the door until she sat on the floor, covering her face to hide the tears that were welling in

her eyes. She gagged as she tried to hold back any sobs.

Katie stooped down and asked again, “Hey, is everything all right? What’s

wrong?”

“I-I’m sick…th-that’s all,” Amanda lied, “I-I just threw up in the bathroom. I-I

don’t want you to get sick…and I really need to lie down.”

Amanda got up, still trying to cover her face from Katie and went to go climb up

their bunked beds to hers on the top. Katie offered, “Hey, just sleep on my bed, all right?

I don’t want you rolling over and puking all over the floor. Here, we’ll keep the trash can

right there.”

Katie moved the trash can next to her bed as Amanda lay down on top of it. She

leaned against her desk chair and asked, “You sure there’s nothing else wrong? Anything

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you want to talk about?”

“No,” Amanda firmly answered as she stared at the bottom of her own bed above

her. She wanted to tell Katie about everything that happened. She wanted Katie to

reassure her that everything was a coincidence, that none of it was her fault. But how

could she tell her roommate and best friend that she was a freak?

Katie turned around and sat down at her desk, saying, “Well, uh, I’m just gonna

be here on Facebook. If you need to talk, just speak up.” Katie turned to her laptop and

began typing and then turned back to Amanda to say, “Oh, yeah! What I wanted to tell

you before…I was just talking to my sister and Rick’s frat is having a big party to

celebrate the football team’s win. They’re having it Thursday night before the team has

to go out of town again, and she invited us to come! Isn’t that awesome?!”

“Yeah…” Amanda groaned.

“Hey, you’ll get over this bug by then, so don’t worry about it. We’re gonna have

a fun time and I bet there will be a bunch of hot upperclassmen there!” Katie assured.

Amanda did not care, not at the moment. Her mind was concentrated on other

thoughts. She wondered if she could ever leave the room again. She feared that any time

she moved she would cause something to fly off somewhere. She thought of the door she

caused to blow off its hinges; what if that girl was not further away? Would she have

hurt her? No, she told herself, she had not done that. It had all been a coincidence.

* * *

Dave had had an interesting past couple of days. His body had continued to act

strangely. All of a sudden he would get the strange feeling he had experienced after his

last tutoring session. That feeling that something was crawling through his whole body.

And then, as if he were supercharged, his body would burst with electricity until he let it

out on something. After a certain point he got used to it, and when he felt that feeling he

would excuse himself from whatever he was doing so no one could know.

One of the first times it happened again he grabbed hold of a railing and let all the

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electricity out on it. When this happened it felt like his arms extended and melded into

the railing, becoming a part of it. He felt there was a part of the railing where the metal

was more concentrated. He looked down and noticed a part of the railing had been

smashed together, almost as if someone was strong enough to smash it in between his

fingertips. Dave concentrated and found that he could expand the metal so that it

regained his original shape. At that moment all the electricity had traveled out of his

body and he let go.

“Wow…” he uttered, staring at his hands.

He began to think about what else he could do with this new ability and began to

think of it as such instead as of some kind of disorder. He wondered to what extent he

could control it. He discovered that he did not have to wait until the feeling of the

electricity traveling all over his body underneath his skins to discharge it. It was always

there, and as soon as he learned to sense it he found that he could cause bolts of

electricity to shoot between his fingertips. If he concentrated even more he could shoot

those bolts out from his hands.

The world became a different place to Dave after this discovery. He learned of a

variety of means to use this power of electricity. If he directed his bolts to metal and

continued to pour electricity in it he could control the metal, as if the electricity was a

part of himself. He could also short-circuit the electric lock of the dormitory. That

discovery was made accidently.

After only four days he learned that he could control his keyboard by pouring

electricity into it. He made this discovery as his roommate and teammate, Pat O’Malley,

was showering before the big Sigma Alpha Chi party that night. Sitting back in his chair

with one hand slightly outstretched he focused a small amount of electricity out of his

body and towards the keyboard. As if the electricity was his own fingertip underneath

the keys he was able to strike each, typing a message unto AIM.

FootballPro0607: Yo Steve you ready for the party

tonit?

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Jokerman555: Yeah it should be a lot of fun

Jokerman555: there should be a lot of girls there

FootballPro0607: wat you think your gonna get sum?

Jokerman555: hey after the plays I made this weekend I think I deserve it. I mean this is a party for our

victory right? What’s a better sign of gratitude?

FootballPro0607: at least you got to make some plays

Jokerman555: I cant help that ol’ Chuck got injured. Just wait, you’ll have your turn.

FootballPro0607: yeah but I got two people to wait on

Jokerman555: hey we’re just freshmen. By our senior year you’ll probably be star qb and team captain.

At that moment Pat walked in. Dave, who at that point was leaning back with his

chair halfway in the air with neither of his hands anywhere near the keyboard, sat back up

and reached out to type with his hands once again. Typing the normal way felt like going

back to using a horse and carriage to travel after having just driven a car. Yet he could

not let anyone else know about his special abilities. They were his secret. They gave

him a special advantage over everyone else and the less people knew of it the more of an

advantage he had over them.

“Hey, when did you wanna leave?” Pat asked as he got dressed, interrupting

Dave’s thoughts.

“The party isn’t supposed to start for another hour, and we don’t want to be there

too early. Fashionably late, you know?”

“So what? Like an hour and a half from now?”

“That’s fine……looks like that’s when Steve’s planning on being there too.”

“Great, so all the freshmen’ll show up at the same time.”

“We can try and be there in an hour and forty-five minutes then if it means that

much to you,” Dave scoffed. Dave found that Pat could be very annoying sometimes.

He was one of those guys some would consider to be “preppy.” It was more that Pat was

very concerned with how other people viewed him. He always had to fit in, he always

had to do things the right way, and he always had to make sure that he conformed to

society’s view of perfection.

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Dave saw himself as being Pat’s opposite. Pat was a follower, while Dave was a

leader. As Pat tried to be perfect, he never could be. Perfection required a certain

superiority, a quality that was one of a kind that no one else could achieve. By trying to

fit in with everyone else, Pat guaranteed that perfection was an impossibility. Dave’s

superiority was something that was natural, that he did not have to work on. When

Dave’s superiority was not noticed, as the Pine State football staff had not noticed, it did

not mean that Dave had to try to be better, only that he needed to show off his superiority

more.

* * *

At that same moment, Amanda and Katie were getting ready for the exact same

party. Amanda was actually excited for this moment, and a lot of that was thanks to

Katie. She still had not told Katie about the paranormal situation that had become her

life. But Amanda had become less frightened of it than she had been earlier. With

Katie’s encouragement she was able to get up and go to class the following day which

was when she realized it was she who had caused all those objects to fly away from her

the previous day when it happened several times again. But that realization was coupled

with the one that she could control the movements of those objects. Knowing that she

could control, at least to a certain extent, what was happening to her erased some of her

fears. She still thought of herself as a freak, and worried that some X-Files types would

end up showing up at her dorm one day to conduct experiments on her.

She tried to force that thought out of her mind as he put on her make-up. This

was the beginning to the exciting weekend she had been fantasizing about since the

beginning of the week. No one knew that she was a freak and no one was going to find

out. This was her opportunity to be normal.

“Red dress or blue?” Katie asked she held both in front of her as she stared into

her mirror.

“Blue,” Amanda answered.

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As Katie began to put her dress on she said, “Um, so, I think I’m probably gonna

get really drunk tonight…so I may spend the night at my sister’s.”

“Wait…so how am I gonna get back to the dorm?”

“I’m sure we can drop you off. My sister’s probably not going to drink at all.”

“How can she not drink?”

“I don’t know…she’s been to so many parties like these now, I guess it’s not as

much of a big deal for her.”

“Her boyfriend’s the quarterback, how can it not be a big deal for her? Isn’t he,

like, gonna expect her to drink with him?”

“I guess not…that must be the kind’a relationship they have. Hey, should we

pregame before we leave?”

“Sure,” Amanda replied getting up. She walked over towards their small

refrigerator and looked back to see that Katie was focused on doing her hair in front of

the mirror. She looked back towards the refrigerator and concentrated. She lifted up her

hand and the refrigerator door opened up on its own. She opened up her hand and the

bottle of vodka Katie’s sister bought for them flew into it.

“Hey, can you help me with this really quick?” Katie asked.

Amanda fell over as she went to close the refrigerator door without using her

telepathy. She hoped Katie did not realize how far away she had been standing away

from the refrigerator and that she would not suspect anything.

“You ok?” Katie asked.

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Amanda blurted out as she picked herself up. She set the

bottle down and helped Katie fix her hair. They finished getting ready and had a few

shots each before heading out. They each had enough of a buzz to make them not worry

how others perceived them as they pranced across campus, holding each other’s hands,

laughing and singing, towards the Sigma Alpha Chi party.

The Sig house was one of the oldest and most historic sites off campus. Many of

Pine State’s most distinguished alumni were Sigs and donated a lot to the school and just

as much to keep up their former home. Sigma parties, naturally, then, were distinguished

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affairs as far as college parties go. The list of attendees was very selective, and Katie and

Amanda considered themselves very fortunate to be on that list. As they got closer they

settled down a little bit since they didn’t want to appear to be drunken bimbos as their

first impression.

A tall, burly fraternity brother whom the girls recognized as a linebacker for the

football team was standing at the door letting people in. “Hi!” Katie exuberantly greeted,

“I’m Jenny Garman’s sister, you know Jenny, right, Rick’s girlfriend, and you know

Rick, obviously.”

“I, uh, just need your names” the brother said.

Katie flushed with red. She knew how important it was to make the right

impression and now she worried that in her excitement she may have already blown it.

“I’m, um, Katie Garman and this is Amanda Zemen. We should both be on the list…”

she informed him.

“All right, you ladies are good, just walk on in.”

Amanda and Katie walked in, relieved they did not embarrass themselves too

much, but both had a hidden fear that they would throughout the night. “Maybe it wasn’t

such a good idea to pregame,” Amanda whispered.

“What are you talking about?! I’m not drunk yet! Shut up!!”

They walked down the hallway and admired all the Pine State regalia that they

knew Jenny had most likely put up. The hallway emptied out into a large foyer that was

complete with a big screen TV and a surround sound system blasting rap music. There

were tables set up for pool, air hockey, ping pong, and, of course, beer pong. On the one

end of the foyer was a bar where two of the bigger brothers protected the hard liquor and

made sure people drank only from the coolers containing cheap beer.

The girls heard a scream from that side of the room. They looked over and saw

Katie’s sister Jenny hurdling towards them. “You guys made it!! Aaaah!!!” Jenny

exclaimed.

She embraced her sister and looked towards Amanda and yelled, “Omigoood!

You look so cute!”

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“Thanks,” Amanda replied.

“I don’t look cute?!” Katie asked.

“Jeez, sister, do I even have to tell you? I mean, come on!!” Jenny gesticulated,

adding, “Come on, follow me. You don’t want any of the beer they’re giving out, it’s

disgusting, I’ve got some of the good stuff upstairs.” Jenny grabbed the two freshmen

girls by the hands and lead them back into the hallway, where the stairs were located.

“Oh my God, it stinks up here,” Amanda noted as the walked reached the top of

the stairs.

“Well, duh, this is a frat house. A whole bunch of stinky, sweaty football players

who don’t know how to clean anything for themselves live here. What do you expect?”

Jenny retorted.

They walked into Jenny’s boyfriend’s room and found him lying on his bed

tossing a football to himself. Rick was the quarterback and team captain for the Pine

State Eagles, and the party that night would not have taken place if it were not for his

leadership and abilities on the field. “Rick! What are you doing just laying around up

here still?! Everyone downstairs has been asking about you!” Jenny demanded as she

walked in and headed towards the mini-refrigerator on the opposite side of the room.

“I just don’t feel like going down yet” Rick replied.

“Well, when are you going to then?”

“I don’t know…when I feel like it.”

Jenny pulled the Puckers out of the refrigerator and turned to find her sister and

Amanda huddled in the door way as if they were afraid to come into the room. “Come in

and let me pour you some of this,” Jenny insisted.

The two girls approached timidly. Jenny got out two plastic cups and poured

Amanda and Katie a reasonable amount. As she told her sister she would not, Jenny

didn’t pour herself anything. The three of them went to exit the room and Jenny

reprimanded a final time, “Well you better come down at some point. I went through all

this trouble to throw this party for you and now you can’t expect me to allow you to just

sit it out.”

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The girls walked back downstairs and as they headed back into the foyer Dave

and Pat walked through the front door. Dave noticed the girls had come from upstairs

and questioned, “Hey, where do those girls think they’re coming from?”

“Isn’t the one chick Rick’s girlfriend?” Pat noticed.

“Yeah…yeah, maybe, I think so. So who are those other two?”

“How am I supposed to know, dude?”

Dave and Pat went into the foyer themselves and greeted the party. Dave

immediately noticed Steve Conway near one of the tables set up for beer pong, watching

as four others played. “Steve!!!! There you are!!” He greeted.

The two teammates clasped hands and shoulders. “Nice of you to show up,”

Steve commented, “The two of us have winners here.”

“Good stuff,” Dave said, “I’m gonna go help myself to a drink, be right back.”

Dave went and grabbed a beer and returned to Steve and the two of them

continued a conversation struck earlier in the evening when they were on instant

messenger. Soon their turn at beer pong arrived and they psyched each other up for it.

“Here we go, Stevie!!” Dave roared.

“Let’s show ‘em what we’re made of, Dave. Beer pong champions of the

world!!”

“Champiooooons!!!”

Dave and Steve easily trashed the first team they played and celebrated with shots

that Pat brought over to them. Their next opponents lined themselves up on the other

side of the table. “C’mon, Dave, let’s show these guys for real this time!!” Steve

challenged.

“Let’s do this!!” Dave affirmed.

The looked across the table and saw their opponents were none other than their

captain and his fellow senior Jim. “Look at these two, Rick,” Jim chided, “They think

they’re all hot because they win one lousy game of pong.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll show these freshmen how to really play,” Rick answered.

“So you finally decided to come down?!”

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Rick turned around to see Jenny approaching him. “Hey, baby, good to see you

too,” he greeted.

“All I want is a little appreciation, are you going to tell me what’s the matter?”

“Not now.”

“Obviously, not now.”

“Can you shush a moment, babe, I’m trying to concentrate here.”

At that moment Rick was taking part in the integral first challenge of beer pong as

they determined who was to shoot first. Rick and Dave had to stare into each other’s

eyes and throw the ball at the same time, and whichever side made it in would shoot first.

Rick’s ball hit the rim of the center cup and bounced away from the table. Dave’s ball,

on the other hand, landed in the front cup of the triangle with a plop.

Rick cursed under his breath and Steve and Dave celebrated. “It’s ok, Rick, it’s

just the first shot, it doesn’t count for nothin’,” Jim consoled as he rolled the ball across

the table. Steve heard him and counseled Dave, “All right, let’s not get too cocky. I’ll

take the first shot…where’ the other ball?”

“Here it is,” Dave heard a female voice say.

He turned around to face Amanda, who was holding out the ball for him to take.

“Thanks,” Dave said as he took the ball from her.

“No problem, it, like, nearly hit me in the face,” Amanda responded.

“Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize. Good luck.”

Dave thanked Amanda for the good wishes with a smile and turned back to his

game. Steve had taken his shot and missed. Dave felt a surge of confidence and made

his shot. Amanda stood next to him and watched as the game proceeded. The match

rapidly became intense. Rick and Dave were perfectly on par with each other when it

came to shooting, which put the games into the hands of their respective teammates.

Since Dave and Rick made most of their shots, the game took place relatively quickly.

Soon it came down to one cup, and it was Dave and Steve’s turn. Steve shot and

missed. “You can do it!” Amanda encouraged. She blushed as Dave turned around to

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see who had wished his support. She did not know why she felt like she had to speak out.

She did not even know the guy and she was rooting for him despite him playing against

her best friend’s sister’s boyfriend. But she found him very attractive and she wanted

him to win.

Dave smiled back at her and turned back to the table. He suddenly felt nervous

and did not know why. He knew what he was feeling was not from one of his electrical

attacks, as he had those perfectly under control. It was almost as if the shot mattered

more to him because he wanted to make it to show off to the girl who had just wished

him luck.

Ironically, that was causing him to be nervous and increased his chances of

missing. Dave scoffed at that idea; he knew he did not miss. But as he went to release

the ball it seemed to slip through his fingers. His mind screamed out “NO!!” as he knew

it was going to miss before it even flew over half of the table. His face, however,

remained emotionless, as he hoped against hope the ball would go in.

It did not. With the very next shot Rick nearly clinched the game by making his

shot. This time Dave could not help but yell out loud, “NO!!”

“Hey, it’s not over yet. If Jim doesn’t make this shot we get a chance at rebuttle,”

Steve reminded him.

“You better not miss this,” Rick cautioned Jim.

“I know! I know!! Geez!”

“Noonan!! Noonan!!” Steve shouted from across the table to distract his opponent

as he threw the ball. It is to no avail as the ball falls right into the cup. “NO WAY!!!”

Steve exclaimed.

“Dammit,” Dave declared turning hastily from the table.

Steve took the ball out of the cup and drank the beer from it. “Hey, you gotta

drink this one too, freshman,” Jim taunted, putting the remaining cup on their side. Steve

turned to tell Dave it was his to drink, but he already had left to grab himself a beer to

soothe his frustration. “I’ll just take it,” Steve said complacently.

Amanda, without any explanation, found herself following Dave toward the

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coolers near the bar. He picked himself up a beer, opened it, and began to chug it.

“Hey,” Amanda greeted.

Dave had not expected her, or anyone else, to come up to talk to him and nearly

choked as he tried to stop drinking his beer. “Uh, hi,” he replied.

“Good game.”

Dave shrugged, “Eh, not good enough.” He looked down at the beer he had just

tried chugging and then back at the beautiful girl in front of him. Feeling somewhat

embarrassed all of a sudden he added, “I’m, um, usually not that much of a poor loser.”

“Really?”

“Yeah….it’s, uh, just a guy thing tonight, y’know? I mean, I was playing against

the quarterback and captain, senior, pretty influential guy in this frat…and I’m the third-

string freshman quarterback who’s looking to eventually rush here, so…I don’t know…it

made me really want to beat him,” Dave explained.

“You’re a freshman too?!” Amanda exclaimed, realizing how thrilled she felt to

realized that this cute guy standing in front of her was her age and not some older guy

who might not pay as much attention to her otherwise.

“Yeah, I guess that makes you a freshman too.”

“Yeah- ommigod,” Amanda said, interrupting herself after she realized her

rudeness, “I’m Amanda.”

She extended her hand. Dave gently took it, “My name’s Dave. You can find my

name at the bottom of our football player’s list.”

“Wow…you must feel pretty bitter about that.”

“N-No…it’s just…aah, well, I guess I must be if I brought it up twice already.

It’s just that I chose Pine State University because of the football scholarship they gave

me and I thought that I’d see more action on the field, y’know,” Dave said, trying not to

sound too upset.

He could not believe he was embarrassing himself in front of this girl he found

himself so attracted to. His famed confidence was faltering, and he could not help but put

the blame on the Pine State football program. If it had only recognized his abilities, he

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would not be so upset about his situation and would not be embarrassing himself.

“Well, yeah, that’s pretty sucky, but…hey, you got a scholarship!! I mean, they

must see potential in you or else they wouldn’t have, right? Don’t you think you just

have to, like, wait until next year or something and you’ll have another shot to show ‘em

how good you are?” Amanda opined. Dave was about to offer a retort when a guy

violently brushed past Amanda to get at the cooler full of beer. She squeaked, “Ow!”

“Let’s go somewhere else to talk. This seems to be a high-traffic area,” Dave

offered. He gently rubbed her shoulder where she had been hit, took her by the arms and

walked with her to a nearby corner. As they walked Amanda asked, “So, what’s your

major, anyways?”

“I’m a business major.”

“Really?! What do you want to do with that?”

“Well…eventually, I’d like to own my own company.”

“Wow, that’s awesome!”

Taking a gulp of his beer Dave asked, “So, what about yourself? I mean…what’s

your major, I mean.”

“I’m an education major. I’ve always wanted to teach little kids, ever since I was

little myself. I always imagined myself as being the teacher and everything.”

“So, like little kids? Like kindergarten and grade school?”

“I think so, but I haven’t really decided yet. I mean, like, that’s the age that

everyone wants to teach, y’know? I hear it’s easier to get a job teaching high school

where it become more specialized, but I’m thinking of sticking with early childhood

education.” Amanda went on explaining, but felt as though she was losing focus as she

lost herself in Dave’s eyes.

“That’s pretty neat,” Dave said, “I don’t think I could handle little kids though. I

think high school kids would be fun.”

“Yeah…yeah…” Amanda uttered without even paying attention to what Dave

was saying.

“So, how did you get into this party?” Dave asked, “I didn’t expect a lot of

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freshmen girls to be here.”

It took Amanda a moment to process the question Dave asked before responding,

“Oh! Yeah, well…you know that Rick, who you were playing against, the quarterback.”

“Yeah, I think I know him,” Dave joked with a laugh.

Amanda blushed as she realized she embarrassed herself again. She did not

realize how silly she sounded. She continued, “Well, his girlfriend is my roommate’s

sister. She was the one who I think put a lot of this party together and so she was able to

put me an’ her on the list.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

Both of them were standing particularly close to each other and had come to be

pushed up against the corner by the crowd around them. Dave felt like wrapping his

arms around her but didn’t know if it was the right time. They weren’t talking about

anything romantic, but, then again, their conversation was deadening anyway. What

seemed to be enlivening was a reciprocity of attraction. They both leaned in towards

each other, almost as if they were going to kiss, although neither had the conscious

intention to when they heard someone call out, “Daaaaaave!!!”

They turned around to see Steve heading towards them. “Hey, you still not upset

about the beer pong game?” He asked.

“No…I had almost forgotten about it,” Dave answered.

“Go grab yourself another beer and come play pool with me,” Steve commanded.

Dave looked down at Amanda with a look that was meant to convey, “I’m sorry I

have a jackass friend who’s interrupting us right now.”

Steve tugged and Dave’s arm and demanded, “Come on, let’s go! Now!” Steve

finally walked off with him and Amanda could hear Dave whine, “Who the hell plays

pool at a frat party anyway?!” and Steve answer, “I do!”

At that moment Katie came stumbling through the crowd toward Amanda.

“There you are!! I’ve been looking all over for you!” Katie cried. “Where have you been

this whole time?!”

“Just…standing here…” Amanda admitted.

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“I’ve been playing flip-cup over there and I’m horrible at it,” Katie stated.

“C’mon! Come and play with me! I need someone to share in my suckiness!”

A couple hours and many more drinks later, Dave and Amanda literally bumped

into each other. “Hey!! I didn’t see you there!” Dave apologized.

“Ah! Fucker! You made me spill my drink!”

“Woah…I’m sorry.”

“It’s no problem, just joking! I didn’t want the rest of it anyways…I should be

thanking you.”

The two of them found themselves staring into each other’s eyes again.

Suddenly, Amanda wrapped her arms around Dave’s neck and after pulling him into her

passionately kissed him. Dave returned the kiss and it was only after a good moment that

they unlocked lips.

“Wow…” Dave uttered.

Amanda immediately unwrapped herself from Dave and covered her reddening

face. She gasped, “Oh my God, did I just do that? I’m, like, so sorry. It’s just that,

well…I thought we were gonna kiss before, and it’s been, like, all I’ve been thinking

about and so I, uh, guess that I just kinda did it.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize for that, I kinda liked it.”

“Yeah, but in front of all these people, and…urgh, I feel so drunk.”

Dave took her arm and led her away from the crowd that by that time of the

evening had begun to dwindle. “Would you like to be somewhere more private?”

She stopped him and kissed him again. Once more their lips interlocked, and

everything that was happening around them ceased to matter. Amanda broke the kiss, “I

like you. You wanna exchange numbers or something?”

“Sure,” Dave answered.

He took out his cell phone and, after programming Amanda’s number, called her

so that she would have his number. Then Amanda said, “Ah, I think I drank too much. I

better get going back to my dorm. Arrggh…I think my roommate left already with her

sister.” She looked up at Dave and asked, “Hey, would you mind walking me home?”

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“Not a problem,” Dave answered her.

He took her by the hand and led her into the hallway, out of the Sigma Alpha Chi

house, across campus and towards her dorm. When they arrived he noticed that there

was caution tape all over the front door. “What happened here?” he asked.

“Some idiot broke down the door,” Amanda replied, “We have to go to the door

on the other side.”

Amanda led Dave there, and as she unlocked and opened the door she turned back

to him and asked, “Hey, um, would you like to come in and, like, have a water or a

Gatorade or something? I’m so sorry, but…it’s hard for me to fall asleep when I feel like

this. Usually I’ll just talk to Katie, but since she’s not here.”

“Sure,” Dave responded, “I have to sober up anyways.”

She lead him up to her room and then sat down on Katie’s bed, clutching her

head. “This is a nice place,” Dave observed, “Almost exactly the same as my own dorm.

Pine State is really innovative, isn’t it?”

Amanda motioned towards her mini-fridge, saying, “There’s stuff to drink in

there. Could you get me a water please?” Dave pulled out a water for her and a Gatorade

for himself. He sat next to Amanda on the bed, handing her the water and taking a few

sips of his Gatorade. “You feeling ok?” he asked.

“Yeah, I was just thinking…of something else.”

“What’re you thinking?”

“I just…I just want somebody to be there for me, you know?”

“I’m here for you.”

Amanda leaned over towards Dave and began to kiss him again. He slowly

leaned back until he was laying on the bed and Amanda was on top of him, continuing to

kiss him. Without even thinking about what he was doing Dave began to feel Amanda’s

breasts. At that moment Amanda stopped kissing him and sat up. She then reached back

and undid her dress.

“You mean…you want to…?” Dave began to ask, feeling slightly stunned.

“Yeah…” Amanda whispered in reply.

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Within a sort period of time the two young students had taken off all of their

clothes and their entire bodies became interlocked. Neither felt as if they were under the

influence of anything but their own passions for each other. This is what they wanted,

what they had been craving for since they first laid eyes on each other. And it was an

experience neither of them could match. Both of them had had sex before, but there was

something about their experience then that made it different. There was something

rhythmic about their movements as if one was perfectly in tune with the other, reading

the other’s body language. Amanda’s boyfriend in high school had always been

awkward in bed. Amanda always felt like she was just a receptacle to be used and not

another living being to be in communion with. With him she was never able to reach the

pinnacle of sexual pleasure that she was experiencing then with Dave.

That moment to Amanda felt so fantastic, as if she was floating off of the bed. It

was as though everything around her was sharing in her enjoyment, floating in the air.

Then she realized as she looked up, that the bunk above her really was floating in the air.

She looked over and noticed the desks, chairs and dressers were all floating in the air as

well.

“Woah!!!!” Dave screamed as the bed suddenly tossed up and Dave was flung

away from her and thrown to the floor. Amanda screamed as the top bunk crashed into

their closet, breaking the closet door down. Amanda then fell back onto the bed and the

bed and everything else came crashing down as well.

“Wah-wah-wh-what th-?” Dave stuttered, unable to comprehend what was going

on. One moment he was having the best experience of his life and the next he felt as

though he was living in the movie Poltergeist. Amanda rolled into a ball and began to

bawl out tears.

“H-Hey, don’t cry…” Dave tried to comfort. As he got up, however, he felt

incredibly awkward and naked. He reached down and grabbed his shirt to cover himself

and then went over to Amanda’s side. “D-Do you know what happened?” he asked,

almost afraid to find out the answer.

“I’M A FREAK!!!!” Amanda shouted out. That was not the answer Dave

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expected.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“I just did that!!” Amanda yelled, “Tossed everything around the room!! It was

me!!”

“You mean…it was the both of us. I mean, we were just getting kind of rowdy.”

After a few more dry heaves Amanda managed to wipe some of her tears and look

up at Dave. She stated, “No…it wasn’t that. Lord, I wish it was, but it wasn’t that. It was

me, just me. I’m a freak and I can…I can do things with my mind…watch…”

She concentrated on the top half of the bunk which was on the other side of the

room. Even though she was still drunk and traumatized over what had just happened she

found enough focus to lift up the bunk and place it back on top of its stand above Katie’s

bed.

“Y-You…just did that?” Dave gaped.

“Yeah, I’m a freak,” Amanda gasped, renewing her sobs.

“Well, then I’m a freak too.”

“Wah-?”

Dave looked down at his hands. He didn’t need to display the electricity to do

what he was about to do, but he chose to so that Amanda would know it was he who was

doing it. Within a few seconds sparks shot out of hands. Amanda heard the sparks and

drew her hands from he face to she to her astonishment that something weird was

happening to David. It looked as though sparks of electricity were shooting out of his

hands, but Amanda knew that that would mean that Dave was being electrocuted. But he

obviously wasn’t.

Dave then tried to do something new. He attempted to make the electric sparks

form shapes in the air for Amanda. He first tried to create a flower, but that proved too

difficult. He then formed a heart for her. At that point Amanda realized what was really

happening in front of her, Dave had some strange type of ability too. Apparently he had

control over electric currents. However, that was not all and Dave then focused on the

metal grating of the bunk above them, that had been bent when Amanda had used her

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telekinesis to throw it towards the closet. The electric beam shot up into the metal,

connecting Dave to it. Dave felt inside the metal for the anomalies causing its disfigured

shaped and corrected them. The metal metamorphosed in front of Amanda’s eyes, much

to her shock and, also, to her delight.

“How did you do that?!” She begged to know.

“I don’t know,” Dave answered, “Last week after I got back to Pine State after

our big game I felt really sick. I became a big conductor of electricity and found that I

had to shoot it all out of my body every now and then. Then, I realized I could control it.

Not only that, but I realized that I could control the electric currents within metal to

control metal too.”

“Oh my God, we’re, like, the same! We’re both some kind of mutants with

powers! It was, like, the same thing with me. Last week all of a sudden things would

move when I kind of thought about them moving. Only problem is…I still can’t control

it that well…as you just saw,” Amanda explained.

“Well, it’s difficult. It took me a lot of practice to get to where I’m at with this.”

“Do you think you could help me practice?”

Dave suddenly stopped before he said anything else, as what was really

happening slowly dawned on him. He could not believe he had met somebody else who

had developed abilities. For the few days he had had his powers he believed that it was

something he alone had, something that made him special and superior. He wondered

what it meant now that he met someone else with similar powers. Did that mean there

were other people throughout the world with powers? Did that mean they were some sort

of mutants?

More immediately, Dave was still drunk, it did not seem like Amanda was open to

further sex, and Dave felt tired. He could not think of the consequences of showing his

powers to Amanda or what agreeing to help her would entail. He still, however,

answered, “Yeah, sure. Whenever…I mean, I’m pretty busy with football and school and

such, but…you have my number, we’ll work something out.”

Amanda went to hug Dave but, realizing how naked she was, wrapped her arms

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across her chest and bent over to give Dave a kiss. “I’m so grateful for this, Dave,” she

said, “You’re saving my life. I feel like I can’t talk to anybody about this. It’s so

wonderful I have someone to talk to about this stuff now. And someone who can help me

so that I don’t hurt anybody.”

Dave got off the bed and began redressing himself. He stated, “I’m…uh, glad to

help. Really, I am. But now I gotta go, it’s getting late.” Dave walked towards the door,

but before leaving turned back around to face Amanda, who had wrapped herself in the

blankets left on the bed. “I’m really glad I met you tonight, Amanda…I think what we

have is something special,” He said. The smile Amanda returned to him as he walked out

the door was the strongest smile she had ever given. For the first time in a long time she

felt all right with herself.

* * *

Dave could not watch as the Pine State Eagles had the ball in the fourth quarter,

losing by six points, with four minutes left in the game. All the other players huddled up

near the sideline, watching eagerly in anticipation. Dave stayed sitting on the away team

bench. He found it hard to care whether or not his team won or lost when he could not

even play. Instead his thoughts continued to center on Amanda Zemen and everything

that had happened that Thursday night. It seemed like one of those wild party stories he

would like to share with his friends, but he knew he could not share it. He wished

Amanda could have only been a one night stand, and that he could tell all of his buddies

that it awkwardly ended only because of how rough they were doing it.

Dave’s thoughts were interrupted by a unison “OOOOOHHHHH!!!!!” erupting

from both his fellow teammates and the crowd in the stands. Dave brought himself to his

feet and joined the others along the sidelines to see what had happened. The players on

the field were circled around where a referee was attending to a player from Pine State,

but Dave couldn’t tell which. A couple of health attendants raced to the scene with a

stretcher and propped the player unto it. As the player was lifted up and carried off of the

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field Dave saw that it was Rick.

“John!!! What’re ya’ doin’ just standin’ there!!! We don’t have any timeouts

left!! Ya’ gotta get out on the field!!” Dave heard his coach command their second-string

quarterback.

Dave realized what was happening around him; he was getting closer to becoming

Pine State’s quarterback. Now only one man stood in his way. Dave lined up with his

other teammates to watch as soon as the game went back into play. Everyone else was

nervous with anxiety over what would happen next, hoping that John would be able to

make the touchdown and secure an easy win after kicking for the extra point. Dave

watched, nervous with anticipation, hoping that John would mess up in such a way as to

force their coach to put Dave in instead.

The Eagle’s offense got into position and John called the play. The ball was

snapped to him and John lost control of the ball as it was tossed backwards into his

hands. The ball was fumbled!! Dave could feel a sense of ecstasy within him over his

teammate’s failure. Even better, one of the opposing team’s defensive linemen was able

to leap forward and recover the ball, causing a turnover. Dave was confidant that this

sealed the fate of John. He would be made the new quarterback and finally have his

chance to show how great of a player he was.

The defense and offense switched and to avoid the shame of causing the team to

lose, as the Eagles had little opportunity for another turnover in enough time to score,

John sat down on the same bench Dave was sitting on previously, furthest away from the

line of action. Dave walked over and sat next to him. John apologized, “Lord…I’m so

sorry….I just got so nervous, all the pressure to tie the game up an’ all…I can’t believe

that happened!! My first snap!!”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Dave consoled, placing his hand on John’s back. “It

happens to the best of us.”

“All right, men, there’s nothing else to say here. Go on and get aboard the bus.

We don’t want to be late,” the coach instructed after giving his post-game speech. The

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spirits of the Pine State Eagles were low. Instead of winning by one point as they

expected to, they lost by eleven. Their quarterback and a dear friend to many of them

had, in fact, broken his leg and would unable to finish out the season. Dave hung back as

his dispirited teammates piled out of the locker room. He noticed the coach approach

John as he was getting his things together. He wondered what the coach would say to the

current quarterback and what it would portend for himself.

Dave could tell that his coach was waiting for everyone else to leave before

speaking with John, so Dave hid behind the locker to hear their talk. “Have a seat, John,”

the coach instructed.

“Coach, I can’t say I’m sorry more than enough times. I don’t know what

happened there…I chocked. I know I won’t do that again, if you’ll just give me a chance

- !”

John was interrupted, “Don’t worry about that, boy. I know enough as any coach

the first game jitters. But that is what I wanted to talk to you about, John. This is going

to be a hard time for the team. Losing Rick…well, it’s the worst thing that could’a

happened to us. We can’t afford another loss like that.”

“I know, sir.”

“So there’s going to be a lot of pressure on you. You have a lot of potential to be

a great quarterback, and we’ve been trying to draw that out of you in case something like

this happened. We need to utilize all of that potential if we’re going to make conference.

We can’t have you crack under the pressure because…well, because…Dave is a great

player too, but…he’s not ready for college ball.”

Dave was stunned to hear these words coming out of his coach’s mouth. He was

not ready for college ball?! How would he know? Dave was never given the right kind

of opportunity to show how good he was!

The coach continued, “There’s a certain maturity needed to play college

quarterback. You have to be a leader, to make the tough calls on the field and be able to

take all the praise and criticism that comes your way afterward. You’re going to have

people all over the country watching you, rating you, and wanting to tell you what to do.

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I can tell you have the kind of maturity to take all that. Dave isn’t…he hasn’t

experienced enough of college football to know what it’s really about. There’s nothing

that scares me more right now than seeing him out on the field with no experience. You

have had that experience in the past and I know today was a one day fluke. You better

not prove me wrong.”

Dave was flabbergasted by his coach’s criticisms of him. Dave was convinced

that his coach was only talking bullshit. What did he mean, Dave was not experienced

enough in college football to know what it was really about?! Was that not his staff’s job

to prepare him as third-string quarterback to eventually take that mantle if he had to?

Dave knew he had the requirements to be a great quarterback; he was a great leader and

knew when to make the right calls and handle the consequences of his decisions on and

off the field. Had he not proved that by making his high school team regional

champions?

“Yes, sir, I understand. You can count on me,” John replied.

Dave heard his coach pat John on the knee, saying, “I knew I could, son.” He

heard the coach get up, and peeking his head out from behind the locker, watched as the

coach left the locker room. He could hardly contain his fury. He was angry enough to

blow something up.

That anger gave him an idea. He knew the perfect way to get back at his coach

for his negative assessment of him. Dave would give his coach exactly what he feared

most. He made sure the locker was still concealing him from John. He could hear John

as he continued to pack things from his locker. Dave pressed his palms against the locker

and in an instant was connected to the entire metal frame working of it. He could feel the

electric current that flowed through the atomic particles constituting the metal. He was at

once in control of the metal and as soon as John closed the door of his locker Dave

commanded that the door reopen itself.

As soon as it did it connected with John’s right arm as he turned to leave.

“Aargh,” the quarterback uttered, “What’s wrong with this thing?” Dave felt as John

tried forcing the locker door shut, but Dave’s power kept it ajar. A malicious smile

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formed on Dave’s face as he made the locker door suddenly come lose and shoved itself

into John. Dave heard John get thrown back and fall over one of the benches there.

Dave then made the whole locker begin to tremble. “What the hell is going on?!”

John exclaimed to himself. Dave caused the two locker doors adjacent to John’s to fly

off as well. He heard one of them connect as John screamed, “AAARRGH!!”

Dave decided to make sure there was no way that John would recover enough

from this experience to play. He caused the whole row of lockers to lift up into the air

and come crashing down on John. John screamed out in pain and agony as the entire

weight of twenty lockers fell on top of him. For good measure Dave lifted the locker up

and let it fall on John three more times. John yelled and cried out as if he were being

tortured each time. The last time Dave could barely hear John as he whimpered in pain.

He snuck towards the stairs leading out of the locker room and then stomped down, as if

he were coming back in a hurry to recover something he forgot. Dave then shouted, “OH

MY GOD!!”

John’s whimpering became slightly louder and Dave shouted in fake disbelief,

“My God, is someone underneath there?!” He went to lift the huge locker off of John’s

disheveled and broken body as he cried out, “HELP!! HELP!! WE NEED HELP DOWN

HERE!!” The whole time Dave could imagine the headline in Monday’s student paper

that the nervous second string quarterback fumbles ball and causes locker to fumble on

him.

* * *

EAGLES LOSE TWO QUATERBACKS AFTER

DEVASTATING LOSS

ONCE BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR SEASON TURNS TO DESPAIR

Amanda read that headline for the following Monday’s Pine State Gazette as she

sat down to eat her breakfast. She took in a couple spoonfuls of cereal as she glanced

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through the article. She read with regret that Rick had broken his leg and would be

unable to play for the rest of the season. She wondered how Jenny would take this and

how it would affect her relationship with Rick. She hoped that Katie and she would still

be able to attend some of the parties hosted by the football team or Rick’s fraternity.

Even more sorrowful and bizarre was the accident that the student paper reported

befell the team’s second string quarterback. The paper had it written that a locker in the

visitor’s locker room had collapsed on him, but failed to report the extent of the damages.

All that it reported was that John would be unable to play in that coming Friday’s home

game and that third-string freshman quarterback David Shaw would have to step up.

Amanda realized what a huge moment this would be for Dave, even if it came at

the horrible expense of his two teammates. She wondered how Dave was taking this, and

if the combined grief from what happened to his teammates plus the tremendous pressure

on him to perform well on Friday would be too much for him to handle. The tone of the

article made it seem like expectations were not high that Dave would be a successful

quarterback and that the hope for the Eagles to become conference champions was

squandered.

Amanda also wondered why Dave had not mentioned all of this to her when she

had called him the previous day. She had wanted to practice using her powers with him

right away. The day after they had met everything was fine and she did not use her

powers at all. But the day after that her thoughts kept turning to Dave, and each time she

would fantasize about him too much and cease paying attention to what she was doing

she would end up using her powers unconsciously. Fortunately they were never used in

such a way that it become apparent to those around her that something was amiss, not

like the accident that happened that night with Dave. She knew, however, that she could

not keep lucking out and that soon, if she did not learn to control her powers, she would

be revealed in front of other people as a freak.

Desperate, Sunday she had called Dave, pleading with him to help her with her

powers as soon as possible. They discovered that they were in the same Chemistry class

and decided to meet up and practice together after class. Amanda concluded that Dave

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did not tell her about becoming quarterback because he was obviously still nervous about

it. She realized that maybe what Dave needed most was someone to be there for him and

support him through this, and help him have confidence in himself when everyone else

seemed to think he was not up to the job. Amanda thought that she could now fulfill the

same role for Dave in football as he was fulfilling for her in controlling her powers.

Amanda finished these thoughts as she took her last bite of the apple she had with

breakfast. She folded the student newspaper and thought that she may as well leave early

for Chemistry class. That way she could meet with Dave before class and have the

opportunity to talk with him a little bit, and then enjoy sitting through Chemistry class

with him.

She arrived a little less than fifteen minutes before class was supposed to start and

waited by the doorway as more of her classmates filed into the classroom. After waiting

about ten minutes Amanda saw Dave approach her with some other guy. As Dave got

closer he told his buddy goodbye as the other guy turned to go down a different hallway.

Dave then noticed her and greeted, “Amanda! Hey!!”

“Hi,” Amanda meekly replied.

“You looking forward to ‘practice’ after class?” Dave asked as he led her into the

classroom.

“Yes and no. I’m kind of worried about it…but I’m hopeful that you can really

help me with it.”

“It’s really not that hard. You just have to learn to focus, is all. That’s what I

think we’ll end up practicing.”

Dave and Amanda found seats next to each other and sat down. At that moment

Professor Jorley strolled into the class and made his way to the podium to prepare his

lecture. Amanda turned to Dave and whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday that

you had been moved up to play quarterback?”

Dave was not expecting Amanda to ask him this and managed to reply,

“Well…uuh…I don’t know. I mean…I think I was still getting used to the thought,

myself. I mean…I don’t think anyone was expecting that the third-string quarterback

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would be seeing any action this season. And then what happened with John…”

“I know! What a freak accident!! Do you know what really happened…?”

Dave replied, “I…was actually the first one to see him. It was…horrible…”

Dave did his best to look discomforted. He stared down at his feet as he ruffled his hands

through his hair. Amanda covered her gaping mouth with her hands. “So you saw…?”

She asked, “What happened to him…?”

Dave explained, “I had left something in the locker room, and I went back to get

it. The whole locker, which had taken up the whole side of the room, y’know, had fallen

in on top of John. He was moaning in pain, more so that you would think if it had just

fallen on him. So I called for help and a couple other guys came down and lifted the

thing off of him, and he was all beaten up and bruised. I think his arm may have been

broken. The football program is kind of being ‘hush-hush’ about it all, so I don’t know

the true extent of his injuries. It seems, well, it seems to me at least, that he got all angry

with himself over how he choked and fumbled the ball, losing the game for us. He

probably started taking out all his anger on the locker and lost control of himself…”

“My God…” Amanda uttered.

“GOOD MORNING, CLASS!! YOU CAN STOP TALKING NOW

AND OPEN YOUR NOTEBOOKS TO WHERE WE LEFT OFF LAST

TIME, SO WE CAN FINISH THIS CHEMICAL EQUATION I HAVE

WRITTEN ON THE BOARD!” Jorley announced, and class began.

Fifty minutes painstakingly went by as Amanda waited for class to finish so that

she could start practicing controlling her powers and finish her earlier conversation with

Dave. As they exited the classroom together Dave suggested, “I know a good place

where we can go near my dorm. No one will notice us there.”

“Sounds perfect,” Amanda consented.

Dave led Amanda towards Brach Hall, which was nestled in the far corner of the

university against the woods and situated right by a lake. The lake used to be a great

gathering spot for Pine State students, but Dave found that it was often deserted. They

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walked to the opposite bank of the lake, just to be sure, and there Dave began to empty

out his backpack. “I think it best if we start out with the small stuff and work our way

up,” he said.

He took out a couple of books, notebooks, folders, and pens and laid them out on

the ground, all on top of each other. “Start with just one of those pens there,” Dave

instructed.

Amanda looked down at the pens and thought of when she first used her powers

in History class. “Don’t be nervous. Look at the object that you’re trying to

move…visualize it in your mind. Visualize it moving up in the air. You can do this,”

Dave urged.

Amanda attempted to take Dave’s advice and, as she stared at the pen she

visualized it floating up in the air. At first nothing happened, but she continued to

concentrate on it. She reminded herself of what Dave said earlier, that what she needed

was focus. So she focused on the pen, and it almost felt like her mind was wrapped

around the object, like she could feel it as though she was grabbing it, but the sensation

was entirely within her brain. This was the first time using her powers felt this way, and

she rejoiced because she just knew that this was the way in which her powers were

supposed to be used. With a confident smile forming on her face she commanded the pen

to rise in the air. The pen did so and she maintained it floating in front of Dave’s face.

“Great job! You did it!!” Dave congratulated. “Now…I want you to try to move

the other pens here…all at the same time. Try it with as many as you can.”

The smile that had formed on Amanda’s face quickly faded. She wondered how

she would be able to control multiple objects at once when she had just learned how to

actually control one. She knew, however, that she could move multiple objects at once,

so the question was whether or not she had the focus to control them. Amanda lifted her

arm and outstretched her hand as she mentally reached out to feel for the other pens.

Miraculously, it seemed to her, she could feel each of the other five pens.

“Woah!” Dave shouted to warn, “You’re losing this one! Keep focusing on this

one, too. Try and maintain this one in the air as you pick up as many of the other ones as

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you can. Do it one at a time, if you have to.”

Amanda did not even notice that she had lost control of the first pen and saw that

it had begun to fall back to the ground. Just as it was about to land she reached for it with

her mind and kept it from touching the ground. She raised it back to where it was,

floating in front of Dave’s face. She reached out again, keeping a solid hold on the first

pen, and felt for the other five. She felt as though she were a baby, learning that while

holding a toy in one hand, she could reach out with the other to grab something else. One

by one she could feel the other five, as if tendrils were extending from her hand to feel

each one. While maintaining the one in the air she took hold of the other five. All at

once she was able to lift each of them into the air to join the first one.

“Ah!” Amanda squealed with excitement.

“Yes!! You see?! It’s not that hard! You didn’t even need to take them one at a

time! You’re mastering this!!” Dave encouraged.

“I…I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

“Try the two folders…keep hold of the six pens and try the folders!!”

“I don’t know…even this much is a lot.”

“You can do it! I know you can!!”

With Dave’s encouragement and her own astonishment with her progress,

Amanda felt confident that she could, in fact, add to what she had already done. As if

another two tendrils were extending from her mind she felt the two folders, one on top of

the other. She slipped the top one next to the bottom, took hold of them both, and had

them slowly float towards the pens.

“Great job! Now, let’s practice setting them down,” Dave commanded, “I want

you to try something else too. Nice and steady, set the folders down on top of each other

next to the notebooks there, and set the pens on top of them, except this first one, keep

that floating here.”

Amanda did as she was told and found it was much simpler than she expected.

She did not lose any control over the objects and was able to keep the first pen floating as

it was as she lightly placed the folders down and gently placed the pens on top of them.

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“All right, so now what do you want me to do?” Amanda asked as she felt sweat

beginning to form on her forehead.

“Ok, this is probably going to seem a lot more difficult, but from how quickly

you’ve managed to take hold of your powers so far it shouldn’t actually be that hard for

you. This is going to be practice in fine motor control, if you will. I want you to pick up

that notebook first, ok?” Dave instructed.

“No problem.”

Nervous more about what Dave would eventually tell her to do than the task at

hand, Amanda slowly levitated the notebook and brought it over towards where the first

pen was still floating in front of Dave.

“Ok, now what I want you to do is try to open up the pages of the notebook.”

“You think I can do that?”

“If you can telekinetically move the notebook into the air, what’s the prevent you

from utilizing it further? It’s simply the flip of a page.”

Amanda concentrated as hard as she could. She found that inside of her mind she

could feel all over the notebook, the cardboard cover, the ruffling pages and the metallic

coils holding it all together. Without even realizing that she was doing it, the front page

flipped open and the pages began to shuffle forward and backward.

“All right, keep it on one page,” Dave stated.

Amanda regained her focus and kept the notebook open right in the middle as

Dave further instructed, “Ok, this is going to be what seems difficult. I want you to try

and take the pen and write something on the notebook.”

“What?!”

“Try and take the pen and write something in the notebook.”

“You think I can do that?!”

“Look at what you’ve been able to do now, with just a few minutes of practice!!

Telekinesis is more than just levitating things up and down. You can move things around

and manipulate them into doing anything you want. Using a pen to write something on a

notebook while each is floating in the air is nothing!” Dave explained.

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“Ok, if you think I can do it,” Amanda assented. She went to move the pen closer

to the notebook and realized that it still had its cap on. Using extreme concentration she

felt where the cap was different from the actual pen and managed to slip it off. She then

floated the pen cap around the pen and slipped it unto the pen’s back end. Amanda then

refocused on getting the pen to write on the notebook. She managed to move the pen up

to the notebook to touch it, but as she went to write she began to lose control of the pen

and it merely scratched a line across the page.

“C’mon, Amanda, focus. Don’t lose control. Expand your mind. Feel the pen

and use it as if you were holding it in your hand and actually writing,” Dave advised.

Amanda found that her whole body was breaking out in sweat. She was

becoming really nervous, not only because of how difficult she found that this was

becoming, but from the pressure she was putting on herself to impress Dave to show him

that he was right in believing in her. She tried to follow his advise and expand her mind,

whatever he meant by that. She could feel both the pen and the notebook as if they

existed solely in her mind. Using her mind like a hand she grabbed hold of the pen in the

same way that she would grip a pen to write. Now, not only did she move the pen

towards the notebook, but she set it to the page with the same amount of pressure one

would place on a writing utensil with ones hand to begin to write. In big letters that took

up the entire page she wrote out:

My Name is Amanda

Marveling at what she was able to do, she lifted her hands up into the air and

shouted, “I DID IT!!!!” Doing so caused her to drop both the pen and the notebook and

she squeeked, “Oops.”

Dave consoled, “Don’t worry about that…it looks like you are getting

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used to the finer aspects of your telekinesis. You see? I told you that you could do it!!”

Amanda was so giddy that she began to jump up and down for joy, clapping her

hands. She felt like a little kid who just made a great impression on one’s parents by

making the football team or cheerleading squad. Dave interrupted her moment of

jubilance, saying, “Ok, I just want to confirm one other thing and then I think that’ll be

enough for today. You see that huge rock near the bank of the river? Can you lift that?”

“I think so,” Amanda responded.

She had lifted heaver things before, without even realizing it, but as Amanda

reached out with her mind to touch the rock she was suddenly aware of how heavy it was.

She suddenly tensed up as the very real fear that she could not lift it dawned on her. She

became anxious as she thought of how her joy would suddenly disappear and all of her

accomplishments from today would suddenly amount to nothing. She closed her eyes

and her whole body clenched. She suddenly became very angry with herself and in that

moment of anger the boulder flew out from the side of the water.

“NO!” Amanda shouted out loud, without realizing it.

It finally dawned on her why she had been having such a difficult time using her

powers. Whenever she lost control of her emotions, she also lost control of her powers.

She remembered each time after when she first learned of her paranormal ability when

she used it without realizing it was when she was afraid of what her powers meant, sad

about something, angry with herself, or when she was overcome with her infatuation for

Dave.

This realization brought about a new confidence in Amanda and she sought out

the boulder with her mind as it went soaring above the lake. She mentally took hold of

the boulder and, without any regard to its weight, gently set it back down next to the lake.

“Great job!” Dave commended, lightly clapping for Amanda.

Amanda ran towards Dave and tackle-hugged him. Dave accepted Amanda’s

embrace, swung her around, and set her back down on the ground. Amanda could not

help herself when she kissed Dave on the cheek, and both of them flushed red.

Dave still did not know how he felt about reciprocating Amanda’s feelings for

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him. He seriously questioned coming over to help Amanda, but he felt she deserved it.

He understood how scary it could be to realize that one was special, and teaching

Amanda made Dave feel even more of a master of his own abilities. Dave genuinely

wanted to help Amanda, and he was still strongly attracted to her. He knew, however,

that the night they spent together was traumatizing for Amanda because of how she lost

control of her powers and it would be some time before they would be that physically

close again. The question for Dave was whether or not he wanted to develop an actual

relationship at that time.

“Well, I have a bunch of work to do before my next class, so I’m going to head

back to my dorm,” Dave said, letting go of Amanda and ending their embrace.

“When do you think we can do this again?” Amanda asked.

“I don’t know how the rest of my week looks, but I’ll call you.”

The two of them hesitated a moment and then Dave began walking back to his

dorm. Amanda followed and inquired, “Hey…um, do you…I mean…would you like to

hang out at all this weekend?”

Dave answered, “Uh…maybe. I mean, sure! Well…I’ll see how this Friday’s

game goes.” Amanda suddenly yipped.

“Oh, yeah!! You’re going to be quarterback!! Dave you have to know that you

can do this! I mean…if you can teach me to control my powers, you can do anything!”

Amanda stepped in front of Dave and rested her hands on his shoulders.

“Seriously,” she stated, “I have my utmost confidence in you. You’re going to go on and

be one of the best quarterbacks Pine State’s ever seen.” Amanda leaned forward and

kissed Dave’s lips. Dave returned the kiss and they continued to passionately kiss each

other for several seconds. While Dave was not reassured that he would want to start

dating Amanda, he could not help but think that he would like to share a few mores kisses

like that.

* * *

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Amanda watched in eager anticipation as the Pine State Eagles offense was

brought back to the line of scrimmage as the game neared its finish with three minutes

remaining in the fourth quarter and the score tied. Amanda knew that Dave had already

proved all his naysayers wrong by keeping the Eagles in the game and now was his

chance to win them all over by winning the game.

“So, what do you think he’s going to do? Try and get close enough to score a

field goal and win the game?” Katie asked as she and a couple of other friends munched

on concession popcorn while watching the game in the stands with Amanda.

Amanda answered, “I guess so. I don’t know football strategy, but what else

could he do with the little time he has?” Amanda stared down at the field and saw that

Dave was huddled with his teammates, most likely plotting the strategy she and Katie

were wondering about. Amanda only hoped that Dave was thinking of her and

remembering that he could win this because of her confidence in him.

In reality, Amanda was the furthest thing from Dave’s mind. He found himself

concentrating much more on the thick mass of sweat accumulating on his forehead, the

pounding of his heart or the feeling of a heavy weight in his stomach. He had not felt this

much pressure since the last football game he quarterbacked in high school. He had

forgotten how much he missed being in control, leading men on the field and making or

breaking a game with his own power. Except in high school he had the relationships with

and confidence of his teammates that allowed him to wield that power properly. Now,

none of his teammates but a very few thought he was good enough to take the place of

Rick, or even John. Dave believed that if his teammates had been more cooperative they

would be leading by one touchdown at this point of the game instead of tied.

“Ok, here’s what we’re going to do…Dowd, I want you to run around behind me

after about five seconds and I’ll fake a hand off to you. By that point, Tiffin, I want you

to get at least thirty-five yards out,” Dave directed.

“The Over-Hang maneuver?!” Tiffin questioned, “You think that’s going to

work?!”

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“It’ll be the last thing they’re expecting; they’re probably thinking I’ll throw a

pump fake to you and then throw to Harding,” Dave explained and then commanded,

“BREAK!!”

The Eagles offense lined up across the line. Dave breathed heavily as he stared

down his opposition across the line. Before Dave knew it the ball was hiked back to him

and he was in the zone; everything else around him, the screaming crowd, the officials,

the coaches, everything but the players that matter to his play all melted into a

background that he was unconscious of. He counted down five seconds and in his

peripheral vision noticed Dowd dashing behind him. Dave leaned backwards, moving

towards Dowd extending his arm to hand the ball back to him.

Dave then swiftly changed his footing, looked out, and saw that Tiffin was wide

open. It was just as Dave anticipated: his opponents were so busy covering Harding that

Tiffin was able to slip right past them. Dave threw the ball out, looking forward to Tiffin

apologizing for questioning Dave’s call. An uproar of “Oooooohhh….!!” erupted from

the crowd. Dave’s internal organs all seemed to collapse as he heard the announcer state,

“Incomplete pass meant for Number 36 Mark Tiffin. Second down!”

Dave’s teammates soon huddled around him again and Dave racked his brain for

a new strategy. He had to think – what did his team have that the other team could not

counter against? Tiffin broke his concentration by sardonically asking, “Yeah, nice play

there, frosh!”

Dave shot Tiffin an evil stare and replied, “Yeah, you better think it’s a good play

because we’re doing it again!”

“What?!” Tiffin exclaimed in astonishment.

“Yeah, we’re doing it again! Dowd, this time I want you to wait the full ten

seconds!”

“B-But…then they could sack you…!” Dowd squawked.

“I’m counting on it…BREAK!”

The team got back in formation, and even though this same plan had just failed,

Dave felt a surge of confidence. As the ball fell back into his hands he felt that old sense

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of power returning. He has going to win this game singlehandedly. He counted to ten in

his mind and he knew the defensive line of the other team was doing the same. Once

again he saw Dowd fall back to run behind him again. Just as he expected a member of

the opposing team’s defensive line broke rank for a QB sack, determined to kill the ball

before it could be passed off.

Dave reeled the ball back in, keeping it snug and close to his body as the opposing

lineman charged toward him. Dave lifted his other arm up and released an invisible line

of electricity with enough power to knock the lineman off of his feet as it hit him. As the

lineman fell back Dave sprinted forward. He set his mind free from the burden of

concentrating in all of his electrical energy so that, in a sense, he became surrounded by

an electrical force field. Every single person he brushed past as he raced across the field

experienced a strong dose of static shock, both teammate and opponent alike.

Before Dave even realized it he was running through an open football field and a

touchdown was in plain sight. As he crossed the opponent’s goal line the crowd roared in

acclamation. He turned around and several of his teammates were sprinting towards him.

They all converged on him and nearly tackled him as they hugged him in gratitude.

“HE DID IT!!!” Amanda exclaimed, joining with the rest of the crowd on her

feet. She turned over and hugged Katie so strongly she forced her friend to drop the

contents of her remaining popcorn. Katie utterd, “Oh my god…I can’t believe they did!

They won!!”

“I knew they would do it” Amanda said.

“Yeah…but even with the freshmen quarterback..?”

“I had faith in him from the start.”

“FROSH KING!! FROSH KING!! FROSH KING!!” Dave’s teammates chanted

as they carried him on their shoulders in Harwood’s uptown area where the streets were

lined with bars and restaurants for Pine State students to attend. The past few hours for

Dave had all been a blur. In his mind he returned to the moment that he had crossed that

goal line and the excitement and enthusiasm he had been greeted with. Then, his team

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had scored the extra point, securing their win. They paraded back into the locker room,

where the coach delivered a speech congratulating the team for the victory after

everything that had happened to them last week. Then the coach had taken him to the

side and told him that he had Dave underestimated and was proud with Dave’s quick

thinking on the field.

The next thing he recalled was being invited to a house party by one of his older

teammates, who had a house off campus. It was not as big as the Sigma Alpha Chi party

from the previous week and was comprised of just a few of the Pine State football team.

After some raucous drinking the party split as everyone clamored to go uptown. They

went going from bar to bar, and it seemed to be all in Dave’s honor. It was only natural

that it was, Dave believed, because it was Dave and Dave himself who had won the game

for the Eagles that day.

“Whitey’s!!!” one of Dave’s drunken compatriots exclaimed as they passed the

bar of that name.

“Yeah, Whitey’s!! Let’s go!!”

The four guys who were holding Dave up dropped him to his feet and all they

stumbled into Whitey’s. Whitey’s was a twenty-one and up bar, but the bouncer was a

good friend of many of the football players and did not card any of them. In fact, he

shook Dave’s hand and congratulated him on a spectacular performance on the football

field. After a couple of rounds of drinks, the different football players were soon

dispersed around the entire bar. Dave found himself sitting beside a familiar face who he

could not quite recall. One thing was certain though: she did not look like she was

enjoying herself as much as everybody else in the place.

“I’ll have another vodka and tonic,” she asked of the bartender.

Dave finally decided to turn to her and ask, “Don’t I know you?” The girl gave

him a furtive glance. She noticed who Dave was and looked away. Dave continued,

“C’mon…I know I’ve seen you before, what’s your name?”

The girl sighed and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. At that moment the

bartender gave her her drink and she quickly took a swig before she turned back to Dave.

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She answered, “My name is Jenny…you probably recognize me as Rick’s girlfriend.”

“Oh yeah!!!” Dave exclaimed, “I knew it!! I just wasn’t completely sure!

Yeah…shoot, what’s he doing tonight? I was thinking he would come out and celebrate

with us, y’know…I mean a broken leg doesn’t keep a guy from having some fun.”

“Yeah, well, for some people it does,” Jenny replied curtly.

“So, what? You decided to come out without him?”

“Something like that…”

They each turned away from each other. Jenny stared blankly out at the wall.

Dave began to look around to see where each of his buddies was. Then piercing through

the noise of the crowd Dave thought he heard a sob coming from right next to him. He

turned back to Jenny and noticed a tiny amount of light that was being reflected from

underneath Jenny’s eye. It was from a teardrop.

“Hey, are you ok?” Dave asked.

“No…I…augh…” Jenny gasped, feeling exasperated. She leaned over on top of

the bar, resting her head on top of her arms. She explained, “I just…I’m at a loss, you

know? I mean, you start your senior year of college thinking that your whole life is about

to fold out in front of you. You think you have the perfect boyfriend, the perfect

major…and you think the rest will work itself out…the perfect major will lead to the

perfect job, the perfect boyfriend will propose to you and you’ll have the perfect

husband.”

Jenny lifted her head up, turned to look at Dave and continued, “But, now,

Rick…arrrggh…I don’t even know where to start with him. It…It started a while back,

actually. He became more distant…aloof, I don’t know. He got this idea in his head that

he wasn’t worth anything anymore…he started to think about life after this football

season ended and..I don’t know, it wasn’t worth as much anymore. As if his whole life

had been committed to football and he sensed that it was all coming to an end. And he

retreated…and with him acting the way he was acting…it made me feel worthless.”

Jenny choked back a few tears. “Hey, that’s understandable,” Dave consoled,

“Let me order you a water…you shouldn’t be drinking anymore.”

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Jenny accepted the water Dave ordered for her and went on, “Th-Thanks…so, this

has been going on for a while and now that he broke his leg last week it’s been a

thousand times worse! It seems like every moment that we spend together is just the two

of us arguing! And…I don’t even know if we’re still together right now. The last time

we argued, it got really heated and we said something along the lines of it being over

between us…but then he sent me a text later that same day saying we needed to talk. I

saw him again today, but that was after the game. I went to see him at the Sig house and

as soon as I walked into his room he gruffly told me to leave. H-he…He didn’t even look

at me. I’ve never heard him talk so…meanly before. A-And…I think part of it is your

fault…how well you did today…i-it, like, got to him. N-Now he probably thinks that

even the years he committed to football w-were worthless.”

Jenny began to cry again and leaned into towards Dave. Dave placed his arm

around her and said, “Hey…that doesn’t mean that you’re worthless. So, he has a few

hang-ups, what you have to ask yourself is, y’know, what was keeping your relationship

together beforehand? Was it the idea that he was the perfect boyfriend, or was it how he

actually treated you? Is he gonna treat you this way each time something goes wrong in

his life? If he does, well..then he is worthless…and he’s not worthy of you.”

“Thanks…”Jenny sniffed.

“Jeez, you look like a mess…I mean, you’re beautiful, but you have mascara

running all down your face. Let’s get you out of here. C’mon, I’ll walk you home,”

Dave offered.

* * *

Katie knocked on the off-campus house that her sister shared with five other girls.

It was ten o’clock in the morning and Jenny had agreed to pick Katie up an hour earlier to

go shopping in the city. But Jenny had not showed up and was ignoring all of Katie’s

phone calls. One of Jenny’s roommates, Claire, answered the door and Katie asked,

“Hey, what’s going on with my sister?”

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Claire responded, “I don’t know…I haven’t seen her in a while. I suppose she’s

still in bed.” Katie brushed past her, muttering, “Lord, she can be lazy. I’m gonna go

wake her up. She promised to go shopping with me this morning.”

Katie strode up the stairs and knocked on the door, demanding, “Hey, Jenny, get

your ass out of bed!” Without waiting a moment for Jenny’s response she opened the

door and nearly screamed. Jenny was lying naked in bed with some other guy. And

Katie thought she recognized that other guy…he was the freshmen quarterback who

Amanda was always talking about. “Oh my god…” she uttered.

She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, slumping down to the ground.

She could not believe that she caught her sister cheating on her boyfriend, and with

someone from her grade no less. After she caught her breath she got up and decided to

leave. As she walked down the hallway she heard her sister’s door open and her sister try

to explain, “Hey, this…this isn’t what it seems.”

Katie just ignored her and walked down the stairs and straight out of the door.

She continued walking all the way to her dorm. She walked up to the front door and was

so frustrated that she forgot that it was still unusable because it needed to be repaired.

She walked around to the side door and stormed up to her room. There she found

Amanda, who had just gotten dressed and was fixing up her hair. Katie walked across the

room and collapsed on her bed.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Amanda asked, “I thought you and your sister were

supposed to go shopping this morning. I got up and you weren’t here…I thought you had

left.”

Katie answered, “Well….when you got up I was waiting in the parking lot for my

sister to pick me up…for, like, an entire hour. And then…now…gawd…I saw the most

disturbing thing in my life.”

“What’s that?” Amanda inquired.

“My sister…argh..Jenny…she…” Katie stuttered, struggling with herself as to

whether or not she should divulge this information. She decided that Amanda was her

best friend, and she knew Amanda would not keep anything from her, so she might as

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well tell her and get it all of her chest. Katie admitted, “I found her cheating on Rick…I

mean, not, in the act…but she was asleep naked with some other guy.”

“What? Really?!” Amanda asked, slightly surprised, “I thought things were

working out for them.”

Katie said, “I thought so, but apparently not. I just hope…well…I don’t want to

think of this, but the word slut keeps flashing across my mind when I think of her now.

It’s like she’s attracted to whoever’s quarterback now.”

Amanda felt like she was hit with a bolt of lightning. She dropped her hairbrush

and sat straight up. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, almost accusingly.

“She was…or I guess I should say had slept with…that new quarterback. You

know, the guy you kept talking about the other day, how he was gonna prove everyone

wrong and would be underestimated and everything. Well, it’s like he won the game for

us last night and now my sister has to hook up with him,” Katie told.

Amanda got up and turned around, staring daggers at her roommate. “How do

you know it was him?!” she demanded.

Katie answered, “I saw him at the Sig party last week. Come to think of

it…weren’t you hanging around with him a lot then, too? Hey, how big of a sleazeball is

this guy?”

Amanda turned back around and staggered to her desk. She felt sick, as though

she was about to throw up all over the place. And then, all at once, her entire being was

flooded with rage. She replied to Katie, “Apparently, much more of a sleazeball than I

thought.”

Amanda marched towards the doorway and Katie asked, “Hey, where are you

going?” Amanda didn’t answer her, opened the door and left, slamming the door shut

behind her. She stormed outside of her dorm and stopped herself. She asked herself

what she was doing and where she was going. Except that Amanda could not answer

herself. She did not want to think. She wanted to act, just on instinct. She stumbled over

to a bench near her dorm and sat down. She sat there, stone-cold as a statue, trying to

comprehend the situation she was in. Instead of thinking and trying to rationalize her

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situation she fought to keep her mind silent, all the while her rage continued to build.

After about twenty minutes of sitting down, thinking of nothing, and staring out

blankly at nothing, Amanda got up. She could not keep it in any longer. It all had to be

let out. She marched away, out across campus. The campus as this point was slowly

stirring with activity. Students were beginning to get out of their dorms, going to the

dining hall for brunch. It was a beautiful fall day and many students were sitting outside

on blankets studying. Amanda paid no attention to any of that though, as her mind was

focused on one thing.

At that moment Dave was climbing down the stairs of his dorm with his

roommate, Pat. Pat yawned, “Aaaaah, thanks for waking me up, Dave. It woulda been

horrible if I had missed lunch.”

“Yeah, well, it was the least I could do,” Dave replied.

“But what happened last night man? I blacked out or something…last thing I

remember was goin’ into Whitey’s,” Pat stated.

Dave answered with a smirk, “Oh yeah? I don’t remember much that

happened after that either.”

They exited the dorm and Dave saw Amanda coming straight towards them. And

he could already feel her rage. “Oh no…” he uttered.

“Oh no, what?” Pat asked.

Dave froze in place and as Amanda approached she screamed, “How could

you?!” She threw her arm up into the air and suddenly Dave was flung into the sky and

tossed over behind Brach Hall.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-…” Pat stuttered.

“Go to sleep,” Amanda commanded and as she raised her other arm, Pat was

thrown back towards the door and hit the back of his head so hard that he passed out.

Dave, meanwhile, found himself flying through the sky and felt like Amanda lost

control of him as, all of a sudden, he started plummeting to the ground. He landed right

into the lake near which only a few days ago he had been teaching Amanda to use her

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powers. He never thought that she would be using them against him. Dave swam back

up to the surface of the water and gasped for breath. He wondered how far ahead

Amanda had thought this through. If she had planned this, she did so ingeniously since

by throwing him in the lake she effectively neutralized his powers. Dave had never tried

using his powers while being wet before, and he did not dare to, as they may backfire on

him.

He looked up and saw something he was not expecting to see at all. Amanda was

flying through the air herself, right towards him. Dave did not think that Amanda could

use her powers that way. However, it was he who had told her previously that telekinesis

could be used in more ways that one.

Amanda herself did not know she could do some of the things she was doing at

that moment. She concluded that she was wrong in believing it was her emotions that

caused her to lose control of her powers. Her emotions gave her access to her powers,

and it was only through giving her emotions free reign over her that she was able to

access her powers most fully. Now, with her anger at Dave controlling every action of

her body she felt more in control and confident in the use of her powers as she never had

before.

Amanda reached out and telekinetically grabbed the huge boulder that rested on

the one side of the lake. She remembered how she had struggled with herself in order to

move it days before and now she did so effortlessly as she hurled it towards Dave.

“Amanda! NO!!!” Dave shouted as the boulder was thrown towards him. He

desperately tried to swim out of the boulder’s reach, but even though the boulder did not

hit him, it hit the water with such force to throw him forward. Dave became lost in the

torrent of waves caused by the boulder’s crash into the lake. He lost all sense of

equilibrium and direction until he felt his body drag along the floor of the lake and

suddenly he felt himself pushed to the surface.

Once more he gasped for breath and spat out the lake water he had accidently

swallowed. He got up and looked desperately around for Amanda. As he turned to look

behind him he was knocked in the face with a thick branch that Amanda must have

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ripped out from a nearby tree. Dave fell back in the shallow water and yelled,

“Amanda!!”

“That’s not the name you were shouting last night!!” he heard.

Dave realized that he had guessed right and that somehow Amanda had

discovered that he had slept with Jenny. It then struck him who the girl was that woke

him up that morning. Jenny’s sister was the girl that Amanda had come to the Sig party

with last week and she must have blabbed it to Amanda right away. Before Dave could

take this thought any further once more he was thrown up into the air and landed roughly

on the ground a yard or two away from the lake.

He looked up and saw Amanda standing over him, her arms crossed and her face

twisted in fury. Dave quickly brought himself to his feet and stammered, “I-I can

explain…!”

“Save it!” Amanda commanded.

She uncrossed her arms and threw her hands out towards Dave and with that

motion dozens of pebbles came flying from the ground at him. He looked down and

noticed that Amanda had amassed together hundreds of pebbles at her feet. They all flew

towards Dave and he felt as though he was being shot at with hundreds of pellets from a

pellet gun.

“I-It was a mistake!” Dave begged, “I was drunk!!”

“You were drunk when you slept with me too!” Amanda countered.

She kept her one hand steady as she continued to fire pebbles at Dave while she

stretched her other hand out at a huge oak that was standing a few feet behind Dave. She

felt the tree with her mind, all the way down to its roots. She severed the tree’s trunk

from those roots and lifted it into the air.

As she did so she continued to lambast Dave, “What does that mean, huh? That

you’ll sleep with anyone when you’re drunk?!! I thought we shared something special!!

I thought that…these powers…they connected us somehow! I thought you were the one

and only person I could connect with, that I could share anything with…but I guess I’m

just another one of your floozies you can sleep with whenever you have a little too much

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to drink!!!”

As she finished her condemnation she threw the tree trunk down towards Dave.

Dave noticed a huge shadow enveloping him and he looked up in horror as the trunk

approached him. With uncanny ability he dove out of the way, crying out, “What are you

trying to do?! Kill me?!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Amanda murmured, realizing that she was becoming an

empty shell being used only to vent out her emotions, “I already feel dead.”

She swatted her hand out and the trunk, within milliseconds, picked up

tremendous speed and rolled towards Dave. Dave knew he had to risk it and held his

hand out. He concentrated on a dry spot of his hand and let a bolt of electricity shoot out

towards the wooden trunk. The trunk broke apart and fragments of woods flew around

Dave. A few sparks of electricity found their way back to Dave’s wet body and he felt

several painful stings and he shouted, “Aaggh!”

Gasping for breath he turned back towards Amanda and growled, “You forced me

to this…!!” He held his arm up and poured several streams of electricity towards

Amanda. The streams connected and Amanda cried out in pain as she was being

electrocuted. Several of the streams connected back to Dave’s body, and he felt his own

body electrocuted too, only to a much greater degree as his body became a much nicer

conductor. He cried out in extreme pain.

He forced himself to stop and the last of the electricity hit Amanda with a blast

and she was thrown backwards several feet before landing to the ground with a thud.

Dave allowed his body to fall to the ground too. He felt his skin simmering and he could

see that his body was exuding steam. He allowed his body to rest for a few minutes and

then forced himself to his feet. He trudged over towards Amanda and knelt next to her.

He checked to make sure she was still alive and her body showed no sign of injury. He

then leaned down and whispered in her ear, “If you ever try something like that again….I

won’t hold back. I will kill you.”

Dave brought himself to his feet and, showing no emotion, walked back to his

dorm, leaving Amanda behind.

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Chapter 4

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“Hey!! Lee!!! C’mon, we’re gonna be late for class, buddy!”

Mike Lee moaned as he rolled over in bed and looked at his alarm clock. There

were only fifteen minutes before Chemistry class started. Mike grasped his head as the

pounding headache that had plagued him all night had still not gone away.

“Lee?! Are you even in there, man?!” Joshua Hall called out as he continued to

knock on Mike’s door.

Mike managed to yell back, “Yeah…I’m here. I’m, uh…not sure I’m gonna be

able to make it to Chem, though. Feelin’ kind of out of it.”

“Hey, that’s ok. I’ll take notes for you,” Josh responded and, soon Mike could

hear his classmate, dorm mate, and fellow honors student walk away. Mike groaned

again and lay flat on his back, still clutching his head. He had never had a headache quite

like this one before, and he had no other symptoms with which he could classify his

ailment. He wanted to stay in bed, but he had already overslept by two hours. He knew

sooner or later he would have to get up, and he figured a light meal with a lot of liquids

could help him feel better.

He rolled out of bed, slowly put on a change of clothes, and placed his glasses on.

He counted himself fortunate that just after a few weeks of school his old roommate

decided that Pine State University was not for him and transferred. Now he could do

whatever he wanted in his room at his leisure without having to consider the wishes or

feelings of someone else living there. He sat down on his old roommate’s bed, which he

now used as a couch positioned in front of his TV. He reached over and grabbed a

Gatorade out of his mini refrigerator and slowly sipped at it.

“Aarrrgh, c’mon, don’t do this to me,” he uttered to himself in frustration as his

headache only seemed to get worse. He finally dragged himself up and made his way out

of his dormitory and towards the closest dining hall. Once there he picked up a copy of

the student newspaper, ordered a plate of eggs over easy and distributed himself a glass

of orange juice. He sat down and nibbled at his eggs. He tried reading an article on

genetic research one of Pine State’s professors was conducting but he could not

concentrate. Getting even more frustrated with himself, Mike crumpled the newspaper

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up and tossed it to the side of the table.

After about fifteen minutes Mike had not been able to finish all of his eggs and

felt that it was useless. He would return to his dormitory and go back to bed. As he went

to leave the building he could feel as his headache began to worsen. He stumbled over to

the side of the building and leaned against the wall, clutching his head.

Mike’s migraine had become so bad that he felt as though his entire body was

paralyzed. He closed his eyes and softly moaned as he wished the pain would just go

away. He preferred to die than continue agonizing like this, without any knowledge of

what he could do to make it better. He imagined a giant axe materializing out of nowhere

and striking him in the head, cutting his brain in half and ending his misery.

As he did so he could almost feel as though it was actually happening. And then

something strange happened. He felt as though his entire body was morphing into a

strange shape. It was almost as though his body turned into jelly, began to jiggle around,

and then stopped. And at that moment his headache was gone too.

“Huh…that was strange,” he commented as he opened his eyes. He thought he

heard an echo and looked to his left and saw what appeared to be a mirror image of

himself.

“Oh!” he exclaimed and fell backwards with surprise. As if there actually was a

mirror there, he saw a mirror image of himself fall back the same way. However, unlike

a mirror Mike swore that he heard an additional exclamation of “Oh!” coming from this

mirror image.

Mike scampered to his feet, and the mirror image did the same. Mike reached out

to feel, to make sure that there was not an actual mirror that somehow got there to know

whether or not he was hallucinating. The mirror image did the same, and instead of

feeling the touch of glass, Mike felt the extended fingers of another human being. “Ah!”

he gasped, recoiling his hand back and the mirror image reacted the same way.

Mike and his mirror image then began to circle around each other, both of them

muttering, “This…can’t be…” They both pointed to each other and asked at the same

time, “Are you….me…?”

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Not believing that the one could have said the exact same thing as the other, both

of them clasped their hands over their mouths. Noticing that the other did this exactly the

same way as well they both commanded, “STOP THAT!!”

“No, YOU STOP!” they both rebuked each other.

At that moment they each heard the door for the dining hall open and they both

dived towards the edge of the building, hoping that whoever was exiting did not notice

that there were two duplicate people standing there. “Ah, that was close…I don’t think

they saw us,” they both commented.

Both Mikes turned to each other and said, “Ok, this is too freaky. Stop talking

whenever I’m about to talk.” They paused, then continued, “Ok, here’s what we’ll do,

you stop talking and then not talk until I say something first. Stop that!! Ok, I’ll let you

go first…no….”

As they both paused again, the original Mike asked really quickly, “How did this

happen?!” The first quandary ended, the second Mike was able to reply, “I don’t know. I

had this massive headache and I just thought about ending it by, like, splitting my head

open…then I opened my eyes and you were there.”

“Wait…how did you get all of my memories?”

“What do you mean by that? How do I know you went through the same thing?

How do I know that you’re not the duplicate?”

Both of the Mikes looked at each other angrily. How dare the other one be

implying that the other was a duplicate, they both thought. The original Mike answered,

“Because I can still remember my whole life. If it’s true that I developed the power to

reproduce asexually, then you would be an entirely new person without any memories.”

The second Mike countered, “If that’s the case you’re lying about remembering

your entire life, because I can remember my entire life. You’re most likely my spawn

and you plan on confusing me and taking my place in my own life!”

“You’re crazy!!” the original Mike jeered and then challenged, “If you remember

every aspect of my life what did my parents get me for my fifth birthday?!”

“A Super Nintendo!”

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“Anyone could guess that one. How long did it take me to beat Super Mario

World?!”

“One week!” the second Mike answered, but then charged: “Wait…I know what

you’re trying to do. You don’t know these answers at all and you’re going to try and get

me to give them to you so that you can impersonate me better!! Well, I’m not falling for

that! You’re the one who has to prove himself to me! Who was my first crush in second

grade?!”

“Susie Liu!” the original replied and confidently stated, “And that proves I’m the

original because I’ve never confided that with anybody else in my life!!”

“Then how do I know that she was the first girl I ever kissed?” the second Mike

asked, with a hint of desperation in his tone of voice. Then both of them realized that the

other must have his own complete set of memories. They both sighed, leaned against the

wall of the building, sat down, cupped their hand underneath their chins and rested their

elbows on their knees. “So you really think that I’ve become asexual? How does that

happen?” the second Mike inquired.

The original said, “I don’t know…I can’t think up any other explanation. I mean,

this is like something out of a sci-fi movie – and I would be the one who was asexual as

you’re my spawn.”

“But, this is not like any type of asexual reproduction I’ve read about. I mean,

you didn’t come from a spore, and what happened wasn’t strictly speaking budding…it

was more like binary fusion on a multi-cellular level – and we never established you as

the original so you could still be my spawn,” the second observed.

They both sighed again and said simultaneously, “That still doesn’t explain how

we have each other’s memories…I wonder if it’s something other than asexual

reproduction.” They looked at each other angrily again and shouted, “STOP THAT!!”

At that moment a back door opened and one of the custodians came lumbering out

with a bag of trash to take to the dumpster outside of the building. “Do you think he saw

us?” they both squeaked to each other.

The original Mike got up and stated, “All right, that’s it. I’m going back to my

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dorm. You just stay here until I figure out what to do with you!” The second Mike got

up and rebuked, “Hold on!! I was about to say the same thing myself…but why do you

get to go?! We should both go! I’ll go first and leave the dorm door open for you. When

the coast is clear you come to the dorm by going around Phlegar Hall.”

The original assented, “Fine…but I get to go first.” The original Mike made to

start walking away, but then the second Mike grabbed hold of his arm. “Hey, let’s decide

this by a coin toss or something,” he suggested. The original found his mouth hanging

ajar and was stopped in his tracks. “What’s wrong?” the second Mike asked.

The duplicate’s hand was still grasping the original’s arm, and at that spot Mike

felt the same sensation he originally felt when he first split. It felt like his arm was

wobbling up and down like jell-o, even though he knew it was perfectly still. He could

also tell the duplicate was not feeling the same sensation, or he would have been reacting

in a similar way. The original Mike closed his eyes and focused on that area. In an

instant he could feel his entire arm feel that strange shaking sensation and it spread across

his entire body. As it stopped a new sensation was felt as Mike’s mind instantaneously

gained the memories of the existence of his duplicate; from the moment he first opened

his eyes to when he circled around the original Mike, to his responses and questions to

the original.

Mike opened his eyes and the duplicate was no longer there, it had been

reabsorbed into his body. Mike felt all jittery and did not know what to do, how to

respond. He did not know if what happened actually happened or if it was a trick of his

mind. All he could do was mutter, “I…I need to lie down.”

* * *

Mike was drawn out of a disquieted sleep by a knock on the door. He heard

Josh’s voice call out, “Mike, you there?” Mike fumbled out of bed very confused. For a

moment he thought that it was the morning and that Josh was coming to go to Chemistry

class with him. He then remembered that he lived through that already, but instead of

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going to Chemistry class he skipped because of having a massive headache. Then he

could have sworn he lived through the experience of forming a duplicate of himself that

he later reabsorbed, but it must have all been a strange dream.

“Lee!! It’s Josh!” Josh announced again.

“C’mon in, door’s open,” Mike instructed groggily.

Joshi walked in and greeted, “Hey…you, ok there? You’re not going to get me

sick are you?”

Mike put on his glasses and responded, “Huh? What do you mean I’m sick?”

Josh took off his backpack, placed it on the other bed and took a seat himself. As

he ruffled through his backpack he answered, “Dude, you just slept through half the day

and you skipped Chemistry class because of it. That either means you’re sick or you

have one hell of a hangover.”

The realization that Mike had actually skipped Chemistry class sent a shock

through his system. He wondered if what he supposed was a dream was not really a

dream. Maybe he had really created a duplicate of himself earlier. Josh pulled a

notebook from his backpack and reached over to hand it to Mike, saying, “Here are my

notes from class today. Would you be able to give me the notebook later tonight? Are

we still gonna have dinner and then take part in that Halo tournament?”

Mike took the notebook from Josh and, not really listening to what he had to say,

as his mind was distracted as he tried to recall what had truly happened to him that day,

muttered, “Sure.” Then he remembered, “Oh! I don’t think I can do it! I have a dinner

with my Chinese American group tonight!”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Josh said, “We would have had a lot of fun tonight.” He got

up from the bed, pulling his backpack up with him and continued, “Say, do you think you

could have that notebook back to me before you left for your dinner then?”

“I should be able to do that,” Mike answered.

Josh walked to the door and said, “Ok, sounds good. I’ll see you later then.”

They waved each other goodbye and Josh walked out of the room.

“Damn,” Mike uttered, “I really wanted to play in that Halo tournament too…”

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The rest of the day continued for Mike Lee as usual. He went to his next class,

took some time out to copy Josh’s notes from Chemistry, and even was able to reserve a

half hour to play World of Warcraft on his computer. He ignored the strange events or

the imagination of those strange events that had happened earlier in the day. As the time

for him to leave to meet up with his Chinese American Association members, however,

he began to think more and more about how he would prefer to play in the Halo

tournament.

An idea suddenly occurred to him about fifteen minutes before he had to leave.

“No, no, no,” he told himself as he closed out of his World of Warcraft game and opened

up Facebook on his web browser to check to make sure the CAA dinner was going

forward, “That’s ridiculous, that didn’t even happen.”

Despite telling himself out loud that the events of that morning did not really

happen, a part of Mike believed that it did, that it was not just a dream and that he could

somehow form a duplicate of himself. If he could do this he could go to both the CAA

dinner and have dinner with his friends and play Halo with them afterwards.

Mike leaned back in his chair and chastised himself: “Ah! I can’t even believe

I’m talking to myself right now! I think I’ve gone crazy…believing that I can form

duplicates of myself. The only thing that happened today is that I was unable to wake up

for Chem class, slept in and had a bizarre dream about splitting in two.”

Mike sat back up and focused. He decided that the only way to prove to himself

that what had happened was only a dream was to try and repeat the duplication. If he

could not do it, then the matter would be laid to rest and he could forget about his silly

dream. He was almost assured that that was the case, as when he tried to simply imagine

himself splitting in two, nothing happened. When he had done it before, whether it was

dream or reality, he had imagined a giant axe slicing his brain in two. He closed his eyes

and imagined the same thing, but still nothing happened. He seemed to recall that he was

in dire pain from his headache, and he was ferociously thinking about cutting his head in

half to get rid of the pain. Perhaps he was not thinking about it with the same emotional

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vigor.

Mike clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he thought about how stupid he

was for even believing that he could do this. He angrily imagined ripping his own brain

apart for being so foolish to waste time attempting such a stupid feat. Suddenly the same

tingling sensation erupted throughout his body. Without realizing it, Mike lost his sense

of equilibrium as his right buttocks was no longer resting on his seat and he fell over.

“Ow!” he exclaimed as he hit the ground, and he heard another “Ow!” as he did so.

Mike quickly got up and, once more, was face-to-face with a mirror image of

himself. “Oh my god, I did it!” he and the duplicate shouted simultaneously, both of

them clasping the sides of their face with both hands.

“Ok, first things first,” they both instructed each other, speaking at the same time,

“We have to avoid the same kind of argument that happened last time. Since we both

have the exact same memories we can’t be sure which is the original and which is the

duplicate. We’ll have to touch each other and whoever is able to feel the sensation that

causes the duplicate to be reabsorbed is the original.”

The two Mikes took hold of each other and the original felt his arm tingling as the

duplicate touched him and he concentrated on rejecting him so that he would not be

reabsorbed. After a couple moments of not feeling anything the duplicate admitted,

“Aw…I must be the duplicate. What does that mean for me?”

The original Mike replied, “It means that I’m in control of your re-absorption into

me, so you’re going to have to be extra careful of not getting caught.”

“So we’re actually going to do this? You’re going to let me go out at the same

time you’re going out?!” the duplicate asked excitedly.

“Yeah…I mean, I want to…or I should say we want to go both to the Chinese

American dinner and play in the Halo tournament…this is how we get to do both at the

same time.”

“Who’s going to do what then?”

Both the original and the duplicate took a moment to think through their

possibilities for decision-making. They both exclaimed, “Rock, Paper, Scissors!” They

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both faced each other and chanted, “Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!!” They both set

their hands towards each other, keeping them in a fist to symbolize rock. They repeated

the chant and both released their hands in the shape of a pair of scissors. They played the

game once more and when they both released their hands with all their fingers extended

to symbolize paper they groaned, “That was a stupid idea! We’re going to do the exact

same thing every time!”

The original Mike sat down on his bed as the duplicate sat down on the couch-

bed. After a few moments of thinking they both exclaimed, “Coin toss!” They both got

up and reached down into their back pockets to get out their wallets. The original Mike

was shocked to see that his duplicate also seemed to have a copy of his wallet.

“Wait…how did you get that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” the duplicate responded, “It’s…uh…been there the whole time

I’ve been here.” The original Mike opened up his wallet and checked to make sure that

everything he had in there was there. There was a twenty dollar bill, a five and two ones

along with a couple dimes and a few pennies. All of his cards seemed to be there,

including his credit card, student ID and driver’s license. The original looked up to see

his duplicate shifting through the faux wallet in a similar manner.

The duplicate walked over to him and showed him his wallet, which also had a

twenty dollar bill, a five and two ones along with the same number of coins. They both

pulled out their driver’s licenses to show each other and the original was amazed to see

that the duplicate’s was exactly the same.

“Oh my god,” he uttered, “It’s…it’s almost as if anything that’s on my person

when I duplicate gets duplicated too!” The duplicate replied, “Well, yeah, that makes

sense. Otherwise I’d be standing here naked now…right?”

“Do you know what that means?!”

“It means we just gained an extra twenty seven dollars and thirty-three cents. But

we’re running short on time, if we wanna go to both the Chinese American dinner and

have dinner with the guys one of us will have to meet at the student center in five minutes

and the other will have to stop by Josh’s room before six,” the duplicate reminded the

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original.

“Right, right, right, right, right,” the original agreed, slipping a dime out of his

wallet. He then asked, “Ok, how should we do this coin toss? How about heads I get to

choose where to go, tails you get to choose where to go?”

“But I wanted to choose heads as where I get to choose where to go. You – I –

We – Whatever does a coin toss it usually comes up heads,” the duplicate complained.

“Ok, ok, ok…we’ll do it this way,” the original decided, “I’ll just toss it up and let

it land on the floor, you call it in the air and if you call it right you get to choose…and

I’m supposing you would choose to play Halo?”

“Yeah,” the dupe affirmed, “which I guess it what you really wanted, too.”

The original Mike Lee tossed the dime up into the air. He watched intently as it

swirled and flipped upwards. Once it reached the apex of its upward trajectory the

duplicated called out heads, and both anxiously watched it flip downwards. The dime

landed on its edge and bounced off of the wooden floor, landing underneath Mike’s old

roommate’s bed. The original and duplicate dived to stick their heads underneath the

bed, both screaming at each other, “Don’t touch it!! Don’t touch it!!”

They both stuck their entire front half of their bodies under the bed, lifting it up.

The duplicate’s face lightened with joy. “It’s heads!! It’s heads!!” he proclaimed. He

lifted himself out from underneath the futon, which incidentally caused one of the bed’s

metal bars to hit the original in the head, and yelled, “I get to play Halo! I get to play

Halo!”

The original Mike lifted himself out from under the bed as well, having grabbed

the dime and now rubbing his head. He stated, “I’m going to have to leave now. Damn

it…I’m gonna be late as it is. You’re going to have to be extra careful, ok? We can’t let

anyone suspect that we’re really at two places at the same time. Don’t leave for Josh’s

room until about twenty minutes after I leave, that way if anyone sees me walking to the

student center and then sees you later tonight they may figure I walked back without

going to the dinner. And make sure you do nothing else but play Halo with Josh and the

others.”

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“No problem, no problem,” the duplicate assured the original. “I’ll be off then,”

the original Mike said and ran out the door, hoping that neither he nor his duplicate

would screw things up.

* * *

Mike Lee slowly awoke from another restless sleep as his alarm went off. As he

regained consciousness the events of the past day were remembered and terror shot

through his body. He quickly sat up in his bed, exclaiming, “Oh my god! I never met up

with my clone!!” As he said so he noticed a slumping mass on his old roommate’s bed.

He grabbed his glasses and noticed that mass was his duplicate, snoring away. He turned

off his alarm and pounced on his duplicate.

Mike grabbed his dupe by the collar of his shirt and, shaking him awake,

castigating, “How dare you?! You kept me up half the night waiting for you!! I had no

idea if you were caught, if we’d been found out, if-!!”

Mike was not allowed to continue his rampage; as his duplicate woke up he

shoved the original off of him, uttering, “Hey…what are you doing…?”

Mike got up off from his duplicate and swore, “Dammit!! You listen to me!

You’re going to get up and tell me what happened last night! Why did you stay out so

late?!” The duplicate rolled over and murmured, “The only reason I’ll get up is to sleep

in the comfy bed.”

“Enough of this,” Mike decided. He grabbed his duplicate by the arm and felt

that tingling sensation of re-absorption. Instead of fighting it like he did last time he let it

happen, and closed his eyes as the duplicate’s body meshed with his and was absorbed

back into it. In that instant Mike relived every single moment of his duplicate’s separate

existence. He relived the time he spent with himself, arguing over who would do what

that night, going to Josh’s room and then going to eat at the dining hall with Josh and a

few other buddies. He relived the joy of playing Halo with them for five hours straight

and then staying up even later just having stupid conversations about other video games,

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school and girls. He relived walking into his room and seeing himself laying in bed with

the light still on and a notebook in his lap, and then proceeding to place the notebook

away, cover his other self with his blanket and turn off the lights before going to bed on

the other bed. He also relived being thrown out of his sleep by his angry self, chastising

him for his actions when he went out of his way to make his other self comfortable the

previous night. Surprisingly, Mike found himself angry with himself. “Woah…” he

uttered.

Mike turned to look at the clock. Even though he felt like he had lived an extra

half of a day only a couple of minutes had elapsed since his alarm went off. And then a

realization occurred to him, “Ack! I have to get to class!!”

Mike frantically began to pack his things into his book bag when another

realization was brought to his attention. The bickering he had with the duplicate of

himself he created the other day was pointless. He realized that as soon as he had

absorbed his duplicate back into him it was just as if he had lived his duplicate’s life.

The memories of him hanging out and playing Halo with his dorm buddies were just as

real and vivid as those of him going to the Chinese American Association’s dinner

outing. It did not matter whether or not the original had done one and the duplicate had

done the other. What did matter was the authority the original had over the duplicate,

since the original had the sole power of uniting the two back together.

Mike realized that he never had to personally do anything that he had to do.

Whenever an obligation would come up to prevent him from doing something he had to

do, like the previous evening, he could create a duplicate and make the duplicate do it for

him. That would include him going to the lab class he had to go to that morning.

“Ok,” Mike told himself as he readied to split again, “I should be able to avoid

arguing with myself this time. My clone – dupe – whatever I want to call him should

have the same memories as me, should have come to the same realization I did and be

understanding of what I want to do. He should just follow what I tell him to do.”

Mike closed his eyes and concentrated on splitting. This time he had a much

better understanding of how to do it, and it came easier for him. Before he knew it, he

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was once again standing there staring at a carbon copy of himself. He quickly reached

out and clasped his duplicate by the hand. After a moment the duplicate realized what

the original was doing and stated, “Oh…I guess you’re the original then.”

“Yep,” the original asserted, “So you know what you have to do?”

The copy bent down, grabbed Mike’s book bag and, slinging it around his

shoulders, complained, “It means I have to go to class. Damn…but I guess even if I

didn’t, I – as a part of you – would be going to class anyway. Man, and I hate labs…”

“I do too,” the original agreed as the duplicate walked over to the door. Before he

left, the dupe turned around and asked, “Say, what are you going to do? Play World of

Warcraft?”

The original scratched his head and replied, “I hadn’t really thought of that…but

you’re probably right. I’ll probably end up playing World of Warcraft.” The duplicate of

Mike left and the original stood in his room for a minute or two, considering his other

options, and then decided that he would go ahead and play World of Warcraft.

After about fifteen minutes of game play the original Mike felt the familiar pangs

of hunger. “Oh man,” he muttered to himself, “I’m hungry. And class won’t end for

another forty minutes…I shouldn’t risk leaving my room while my copy’s in class for

me…plus, I’m in the middle of a really important quest.”

As Mike continued to play another thought crossed his mind. He wondered if he

could create more than one duplicate. If he could, then he could continue to finish his

quest and play World of Warcraft, go to class, and satiate his hunger at the same time.

He felt he could risk sending another duplicate outside while he was at class since, after

all, he did not get caught when he went out to two different places at the same time the

previous night.

“Ok,” he told himself, “I’m going to try it.” He paused his game and got up from

his chair, so he would not make the same mistake causing both he and his new duplicate

to fall off of it once split. He concentrated on splitting, and as he feared that it would not

work he became angry with himself, adding the emotional intensity needed for the

duplication to work. “I did it!!” both he and his duplicate rejoiced.

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The original Mike clasped the hand of the second duplicate. “Go have breakfast,”

he commanded. “All right,” the third Mike replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll be extra cautious.

You just make sure you don’t leave the room at all.”

Mike’s second duplicate soon left, very much excited to be getting something to

eat, and the original returned to his video game. Mike became so absorbed in his game

he did not realize the passing of time. When he heard the sound of his door opening he

supposed it was his second duplicate coming back from breakfast. He was shocked to

hear his duplicate proclaim, “Aarrgh, the class was so boring…!!”

Any thought that Mike momentarily entertained that his second duplicate was

playing a joke on him was erased when he looked over and saw the duplicate throw his

book bag on the ground. The duplicate sighed and asked, “Please let me get reabsorbed

back into you so I can feel as if I was the one to sit around playing Warcraft all day.”

“Dupe Number 1?! That is you, right?” the original inquired.

The duplicate looked extremely confused. “Huh? What do you mean by ‘Dupe

Number 1’?” he asked. The original explained, “I got hungry and instead of quitting

Warcraft I discovered I could make more than one duplicate so I sent him to eat for me.

But I never thought he would take so long. I wonder if he got caught by someone…”

“Wh-Wh-What are we gonna do if he gets caught?!” the dupe exclaimed.

“Th-This is horrible!! What if he ran into somebody we know…somebody who

knows that I have class right now?! What if that person runs into somebody else who

shares that class with us and they both realize that while I was sitting in class I was also

eating breakfast?! Or worse…what if the dupe tells whatever person he’s ran into that

he’s really a duplicate?! Would he do that?! What would happen to us – me-

whatever…?! I don’t even know why or how I’m able to do this! I could be a mutant or

something!! Wh-What if the government comes to find us and conduct a whole bunch of

experiments on us!!” the original Mike started screaming more or less to himself.

He heard the scrapping of feet and the noise of one of the beds banging against

the wall. He looked over and saw that his duplicate was trying to get underneath the

extra bed. “What are you doing?!” he demanded to know.

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The duplicate answered, “I’m trying to hide under the bed. If the other

duplicate’s been caught he might be brought back here. If we hide he can claim that he

really is the one and only Mike Lee.”

The original grabbed the duplicate by his belt and tried to pull him out from under

the bed, claiming, “That’s such a stupid idea. Get out of there! Come on! We have to

think smart here!!”

At that moment they both heard the door creek as it was slowly opened. The

original started pushing his duplicate back under the bed, whispering madly, “Get under

there! Hide!! Hide!! We don’t know who it could be!!” Then the head of another Mike

Lee popped from behind the door.

The second duplicate looked dumbfounded as he saw two forms of himself, one

pushing another under the bed. “Uh…what are you guys doing?” the wayward duplicate

asked.

The original straightened up and the first duplicate cautiously stayed where he

was as the original demanded, “Are you alone?!”

“Of course,” was the dupe’s answer as he entered and closed the door behind him.

“Then why did you take so long to come back?!”

“’Cause I saw Andy leading a whole bunch of other kids from the dorm into the

dining hall from the window where I was sitting. So I ran out from the other entrance

before they came in and saw me…and I thought other people might see me walking back,

so I decided to wait until the other me in class returned from class to come back,” the

second duplicate explained.

“Does that mean I can stop hiding now?” the first duplicate shyly asked from

under the bed.

“Yeah, yeah, come on out,” the original permitted the first duplicate. Mike then

directed to the other dupe, “And you…you scared us half to death! You should have

come back right away or notified me somehow that you were going to wait!”

“How was I supposed to do that?!” the second dupe argued, “It’s not like we’re

psychically linked or anything. I couldn’t telepathically tell you!”

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“You could have texted me!”

“With what phone?!” the dupe retorted, emptying his pockets for the original,

“You didn’t have our cell phone on your person when you split, so I didn’t get a

copy of that to use.”

“Oh, uh…well then,” the original uttered, knowing that his duplicate had proved

him wrong. The first duplicate interrupted and said, “Hey, uh…this is really weird,

watching me argue with myself, but, uh…I was kinda wondering, how many duplicates

can you think we can make?”

The original Mike stopped and considered his duplicate’s question. He answered,

“I don’t know…I originally thought I’d only be able to make one, but both of you are

evident of the fact that I can make multiples.” “Try it!! See how many you can make!!”

the two duplicates both begged.

“All right…I guess I’ll try,” the original said hesitantly. He closed his eyes,

concentrated on splitting and, easily, another copy of Mike Lee was created. “Hey!! I

can make more than one duplicate easily!!” he and the third duplicate both shouted. “Do

it again!! Do it again!!” the two other duplicate chanted.

The original and third duplicate clasped hands to double-check who the original

was and then the original tried it again. He made a fourth duplicate and the other three

cheered. Mike Lee continued to create a fifth and sixth duplicate, though he noticed that

after both of those time he felt weak and tired. As he concentrated on splitting a seventh

time he lost consciousness, and his six copies watched in awe as the original Mike Lee

fell over, passed out.

“AAAAHHH!!” the six duplicate cried out simultaneously, “ME!!!” They all

crowded around the original Mike and lifted him up and laid him on the extra bed. With

all the yelling and screaming the original slowly regained his consciousness. The six

copies all whooped, “Yeah!!! I’m ok!!!” The original muttered, “Ugh…I’m never doing

that again…”

* * *

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Three weeks passed since Mike Lee first discovered his duplicating powers. In

the interim he had been using them extensively. While the fear of becoming caught was

always there, Mike could not resist the temptation to be able to do more than one thing at

a time. He also discovered how his powers affected him in amazing ways. For example,

the day when he split six times he was still starving when he passed out. After he

regained consciousness his duplicates unanimously decided to let him rest before

reabsorbing all of them. To pass the time they decided to play a game of Risk, but it soon

devolved into a huge argument as each of them knew exactly what the other was planning

to do and the game came down to the luck of the die, which infuriated all of them. The

original Mike could not rest as they argued and the first dupe he reabsorbed was the one

he had sent to eat breakfast, and not only did he gain the dupe’s memories but his appetite

was suddenly satiated.

Another interesting benefit of his powers was his ability to duplicate not only

himself, but everything on his person. He found this advantageous especially when he

needed extra money, as he would split into a certain number to multiply what he had, and

then have his duplicates empty their pockets before they were reabsorbed. The most

beneficial aspect of his powers, of course, was the ability to send a duplicate to

something he had to go to while he wanted to do something else. He would send

duplicates not only to class, but to eat meals for him, to go to CAA meetings or his Pre-

Med group meetings and when he felt more like staying in and playing video games he

would send a duplicate to hang out or party with his friends.

Mike found that more and more it was difficult to take himself away from the

computer and World of Warcraft. Part of him wondered why he ever should. Because of

the nature of his duplicating power it was as if he was experiencing every single thing his

copies experienced, even when his original body was sitting in front of the computer

screen. It did not matter that he himself was out even having a good time, because as

soon as the duplicate that had been was reabsorbed it was as if he himself had been out

instead.

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That was exactly the case the next night that Mike’s R.A. Andy was able to hold a

drinking party in his room. Mike opted to stay in and play World of Warcraft as he sent a

duplicate to have a good time for him. It was not until shortly after three in the morning

that his duplicate stumbled drunkenly into the room.

“Hey there, Mikey,” he greeted once the door was shut.

“How much did you drink?” Mike demanded, his eyes not leaving the computer

screen.

The duplicate plopped unto the extra bed and drooled, “Ah….not too much.

About six or seven shots and a couple beers.” The dupe complemented his statements

with a loud burp. The original sighed, “I guess I’ll know for sure once I reabsorb you.”

The duplicate sat up slightly and charged, “Y’know what, Mikey, you’ve become

such a stickler. All you do is sit around and play that stupid game all day and all night.”

The original retorted, “Hey! This game is amazing!! I’ve become one of the

greatest players in all the World of Warcraft! I can’t even play on the American network

anymore because no one can rival me…I’ve been playing solely on the Asian network for

the past few weeks, where only a few are worthy of playing with me. That’s something

to be proud of!!”

“S’yeah, proud of being a loser,” the duplicate ridiculed, trying to make an ‘L’

sign for loser with his hand, but using his left instead of his right hand, making it

inverted. He continued to jab, “If it weren’t for me an’ whatever other dupe you make

you’d have a huge reputation for bein’ a loser. You’re already known as a fatso.”

“Fatso?!” the original exclaimed, for the first time taking his eyes off the screen.

The duplicate explained, “Yeah, I was gettin’ made fun of all night for being a

fatso. It turned into a whole thing. We started talking about all these fat girls in the

dorms, and then Josh said that I was getting fat too. That ‘stead of the ‘freshmen fifteen’

I got the ‘freshmen fifty’.”

The original Mike’s face flushed red. He returned to his computer game, but

found he could no longer concentrate as his duplicate continued, “I mean, it makes sense.

All you do is sit around and play that stupid game and usually your dupes are just sitting

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around too when you send them out, either at class or at the dining hall or somewhere

else. And, like, you know what I thought of too? Sometimes when you send multiple

dupes out, each one will, like, eat a meal…so when you reabsorb them, won’t you end up

absorbing both meals? Doesn’t that make you fat?”

The original countered, “All right, all right!! I get your point! So maybe I have

gained a little weight! Maybe I haven’t been as discreet with my dupes and maybe I’ve

let them eat more than they should. And maybe…maybe I’ve played World of Warcraft

just a little too much and I haven’t exercised at all. That’s ok…because my tremendous

abilities offer a solution. Tomorrow I’ll wake up relatively early and send a dupe to the

rec center, and he’ll work out for me, lose some of my weight, and once he’s reabsorbed,

his fitness will become mine!!” Instead of receiving a response from his duplicate, the

original Mike heard a snore.

He turned around in his seat to see his copy slouched on his old roommate’s bed

sound asleep. He asked himself rhetorically, “Am I really like that when I’m drunk?” He

found that he could not continue concentrating on World of Warcraft and decided to turn

his computer off and go to bed himself, and reabsorb his duplicate in the morning.

Mike was pulled out of his slumber the following day by the loud snoring of his

duplicate. He rolled over in bed, trying to fall back asleep, but his duplicate kept at it.

He told himself, “God, I hope I usually don’t snore like that.” He sat up in bed, took his

pillow and threw it at his dupe, which didn’t faze the dupe at all.

Mike then got up and decided, “Well, I might as well reabsorb him back into me

now.” He placed his hand on his duplicate’s shoulder and felt the now very familiar

tingling sensation. He closed his eyes as his duplicate’s body became one with his and

all that his duplicate was became downloaded into his own brain. This time, it was

different though. Mike was not able to relive all of his duplicate’s memories, as the night

went on and the more he remembered having to drink the memories became more fuzzy,

in a sense. It seemed as though there were blank spots in the memories he was reliving.

At no point did he relive from his duplicate’s perspective, for example, walking in after

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three in the morning, having a short conversation with the original and falling asleep on

the couch-bed. And as soon as the re-absorption process was complete Mike had a

massive headache, the consequence of a hangover.

Mike collapsed on the couch-bed. He groaned, “Lord….I think I blacked out last

night. Geez…I hope I didn’t do anything stupid.” Mike lay down and wished that the

pain would go away. He then wondered if perhaps the amount of pain would be divided

if he himself was divided. “Well, I might as well try and test it out,” he said aloud.

Mike concentrated on dividing himself and found it quite easy to imagine him

slicing his brain apart since it was in so much pain. Remembering how much strain he

endured splitting into seven, Mike decided instead to create only five other duplicates.

Mike’s theory, however, did not work so well. He was still suffering the affects of a

hangover and now he had five other copies of himself moaning and groaning from the

affects of their own hangovers.

“Ok,” he said simultaneously with his duplicates as they each came to the same

conclusion as the original, “This can still turn out to be a good thing. The more of us

there are, the more liquids we can consume before remerging together, completely

hydrating the original.” All six of the Mikes then converged on his mini-refrigerator and

all tried to grab a Gatorade at the same time. After a bit of pushing, shoving, and

wrestling, all six of the Mike Lees had grabbed a Gatorade and sat around his dorm room

trying to keep themselves hydrated. After all of them had finished, the original

reabsorbed them all, only to find that his headache was now only slightly diminished and

he felt totally bloated. “Maybe that wasn’t the greatest of ideas,” he moaned and fell

back on the couch-bed.

A couple of hours later once Mike was feeling somewhat better and had gotten

something to eat he remembered his promise to himself that he would send a duplicate to

the recreational center. He looked at himself in the mirror and realized that over the past

few weeks he had gotten significantly pudgy. He castigated himself for not seeing it

sooner and for allowing it to happen.

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“I wonder how long Josh and the others have seen me as fat. Geez, I’m never

gonna get a girlfriend looking like this.” He closed his eyes and focused on creating a

new duplicate. Once the duplicate was created and realized he was the duplicate, he

whined, “Oh, I don’t wanna be the one to work out. I’ve – you’ve – no one who is Mike

Lee was ever worked out before! I don’t know what to do!!”

The original responded, “What am I supposed to tell you? Look how fat you – I-

we have gotten. We have to do something about this! I don’t know – just go there and

start running on the track. Look at what other people are doing and do that!”

“I still don’t wanna. Get another dupe to do it,” the dupe asserted, crossing his

arms and facing away from the original. The original stated, “Dude, another dupe is

probably just going to act the same way as you. Obviously I and no other form of me

wants to do this, so one of us just has to go do it!”

“I’ll go only if you nor any other dupe plays World or Warcraft or Halo or any

other game. I don’t want to be the only Mike Lee to suffer today,” the dupe challenged.

The original conceded, “Ok, ok…I promise to be Homework Mike today if you be

Workout Mike.”

To show his sincerity the original started to go through all the schoolwork he had

to do that weekend as his duplicate got into some workout clothes. Although he was still

feeling some mild affects of his hangover, he thought he would be fine working out. He

left the original to do homework and set off for the recreational center. He was taken

aback by the amount of people that were there and felt slightly intimidated.

“Geez,” he asked himself, “Don’t any of these people play videogames on a

Saturday afternoon?” He walked in and made his way to the indoor track. “I guess I

should stretch” he said, noticing the number of people stretching. Taking his own advice

he followed the stretching exercises of those around him and noticed how inflexible he

was.

“Ack, I think I pulled something, and I should just go back,” he said to himself,

trying to come up with excuses as he finished stretching. After thinking it over he

realized that if he just went back now, once the original reabsorbed him, he would realize

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he didn’t do anything and just send another dupe back another day to work out, so he

might as well do it now.

“Ok, let’s do this,” he told himself and slowly starting jogging. Almost

immediately he became self-conscious of his flab as if flopped up and down and around

as he jogged. He nervously looked around to see if anyone else noticed or was making

fun of him in any way. He was glad to see there were a fair number of other Asians

there, but they were all buff, well-toned Asians, not fat Asians like he was.

Worse yet, the more he jogged the more pronounced the effects of his hangover

became. And he realized how truly out of shape he was by how strained his whole body

felt only after a lap and a half. He began sweating profusely and breathing heavily and

his heart was pounding. With the added affects of his hangover it felt like something was

beating constantly on his brain. Then, after about the fifth lap, Workout Mike tripped and

skidded across the indoor track. In that moment, he felt powerless. His head pounded, he

could hardly breath regularly, he was soaked in sweat, his arms and legs were all

scrapped up and he could not summon the strength to pull himself up.

“Hey, all you all right?” a friendly voice asked. His face bright red and sullen

with embarrassment, Workout Mike looked up to see a hand extended to help him up.

Mike swallowed his pride and took it, and the blonde-haired, friendly guy pulled him up.

He suggested, “We better get out of the way of the other runners.” The stranger

helped - more or less carried - Workout Mike across the track and helped sit him down

against the wall.

“Th-…Thanks, buddy,” Mike wheezed.

“No problem,” the stranger said, taking a seat next to him, “Name’s Chris, Chris

Kirby.”

“M-…Mike…Mike Lee”

Workout Mike continued to sit there and waited for his breathing and heart rate to

regulate. He was surprised when Chris did not get up to continue running but instead

continued to sit by his side. Chris offered, “Hey, would you like for me to get you a

drink or something?”

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“N-No,” Mike protested, “I-I’ll…I’ll go get one myself. I-I…I think I’m done

here. Coming here was a waste of time. I’ll never get into shape.”

Chris replied, “Aw, don’t say that. You just have to know your own body and

understand what you want and how to get it. People they - they don’t understand the

mechanics of working out – of exercising. It’s not just, I’ll go to the rec and get up to

running three miles or lifting two hundred pounds. It’s about developing a regimen that

fits your own physiology and helps you attain the fitness you want to achieve.”

“You seem pretty buff,” Mike commented. “How do you stay in shape?”

“I’m not in the greatest of shape…at all,” Chris admitted, “Over the past year I

totally neglected working out. I used to play football in high school and that kept me in

shape, but now I can’t even run a mile, myself. I’m…well, I’m trying to get back into

shape now. I’m…ha – I’m trying to impress a girl.”

“If I may ask…how would you suggest I get into shape?” Mike inquired, adding,

“I’m trying to just lose weight so at some point I can impress a girl.”

Chris took a good look at Mike and after a moment said, “Well…I could probably

develop a training regimen for you. I could help you get into shape in no time.” Mike

was shocked at what Chris was saying. This was a complete stranger, and now he was

offering to help Mike stay in shape. “You’d really do that?!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Chris answered. “I mean…it’s pretty hard for me to get myself to come

here every day. If I had someone else to come with me I’d be here more often. You

know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, I know exactly. You’re awesome, man!” Mike exalted.

Chris helped Mike get up and then offered, “Come on, let’s get you something to

drink and then I’ll give you an intro course to bodybuilding.”

* * *

“Eight…!

Nine…...!

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Ten…….!”

Mike Lee, or as should be noted, another duplicate of Mike Lee, let Chris Kirby

take the handlebars of the weights he was lifting from him and could not even speak as he

was breathing so hard. “Ok, you’ll need just one more set of those,” Chris instructed.

“I just….can’t…do it…anymore…” Mike wheezed.

“Just let yourself catch your breath, you’ll be fine. You’ve been doing great so

far.” Chris added weights to the bar so that he could take his turn at the bench.

Ten days had passed since the duplicate Mike originally sent to work out met

Chris and the two rapidly became friends. Chris’ initial warmth and generosity made it

easy for Mike to trust him and Chris’ skills as an instructor encouraged Mike to learn

from him instead of being intimidated by him. Chris found that Mike was the first person

after Ashley that he had connected with at Pine State. With Mike he found the same sort

of camaraderie that he used to experience with his old high school football buddies when

they would practice. And even though Chris was always interacting with a duplicate, the

original Mike experienced all of those interactions and began to feel like Chris was one

of his best friends.

“I still don’t know how you do it, man,” Mike complained. “This is so effortless

for you and you’re lifting an extra fifty pounds.”

“I’ve been lifting for over five years. I used to be able to lift so much more than

this, but over the past six months or so I’ve majorly slacked off,” Chris replied as he

effortlessly completed his set.

“But…still…I feel so useless compared to you,” Mike sighed. Chris got up and

slapped Mike on the shoulder, reassuring, “You need to give it more time. You’ve only

been at it a week and a half. And look, you’re already showing some extra muscle mass.”

“I guess you’re right.” Mike lay down on the bench to finish his last set.

After both Mike and Chris finished their last sets and began to walk out of the

recreational center, Chris stopped them in mid-conversation as he noticed something.

“What is it?” Mike inquired. Chris had been looking at a poster advertising an event for

the Recreational Sports League, a student organization run through the Pine State rec

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center. “Think you’d be interested in doing that tomorrow?” Chris asked.

Mike took a look at the poster. It was for a bike trip through the Pine Lake

National Forest that was to leave at nine in the morning and take all day. “I don’t

know…” Mike groaned. “I don’t have a bike.”

“Look here,” Chris showed, pointing to the poster. “There’s a bike rental shop

that we start at. We can both rent bikes there. I don’t have too much homework to do

this weekend and I’d be all for doing that tomorrow instead of coming back here to work

out. We can still register today…you wanna do it?”

Mike considered it for a moment. Part of him really did not want to spend all day

riding a bike and wanted to rest from all the working out he had done that day. Another

part of him realized that his body would be reabsorbed into the original Mike Lee’s body,

immediately reducing the strain of working out, which killed that excuse. And since

Mike could create up to five duplicates, no matter what else he had to do that day he

could send a dupe off to join Chris in bike-riding.

“I’ll do it,” Mike said.

“That’s the spirit!” Chris stated joyfully, excited to be doing something more than

just laying around his dorm room waiting for a moment when Steve was not busy to play

video games. The two of them then went to the Recreational Sports League office to sign

up.

“You signed us up for what tomorrow?!” Mike demanded, turning his attention

away from World of Warcraft to face his work-out duplicate. The duplicate answered,

“An all-day bike outing with Chris. It should be fun.”

“Fun…? It sounds like a pain. How am I supposed to ride a bike all day? I’d

hardly ride a bike even as a kid,” the original complained, returning to his game.

The dupe replied, “Yeah, that’s what I thought at first too but…it should be fun.

And it’s not like you’re going to be the one doing it. One of us will…”

The duplicate had noticed that whenever he formed a separate consciousness as a

duplicate apart from the original the original seemed to change. He seemed to be much

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more lazy and stubborn, dead-set on having nothing else distract him from his game. If

something distracted him too long, it appeared, he would form another duplicate to deal

with it. The original seemed to lose a part of him, a part of his fun and outgoing side that

appeared to be manifested only within the duplicate.

The original Mike’s thoughts echoed that precisely of his duplicates as his

duplicate’s criticism of him struck him deeply. He briefly considered reabsorbing all of

his duplicates and going with Chris himself for the bike-riding trip and forgetting about

his powers of duplication and all the temptations that came with them. Then he thought

about everything he had done and gotten done because of his duplication powers, such as

how much he had progressed in World of Warcraft and Halo, and he dismissed the

thought. Still, there was something about his abilities that scared him and always had.

“Yeah, yeah….you’re right. I’ll probably just create a new dupe to do it for me,”

the original sighed. The work-out duplicate lay on the coach-bed, trying to relax his

strained muscles, and asked, “You going to send a duplicate to that party tomorrow night

too? Or are you going to go out yourself?”

“Maybe I’ll prove you wrong and just go myself. Maybe I’ve played enough

video games for the past couple weeks,” the original haughtily replied, though both he

and his duplicate knew that he was probably, more or less, lying to himself.

* * *

Mike Lee lay across his desk with a coin in one hand as his eyes were affixed on

the icon on his desktop for World of Warcraft. He had already sent out one duplicate

earlier that morning for the bike trip his duplicate from the previous day had signed up

for. The duplicate had not returned yet, and Mike had no idea when he would be back.

Now he had another decision to make. He had been invited to a big online Warcraft

tournament that night when he thought he had decided to forego playing videogames and

attend the off-campus party that Andy had invited him, Josh, and a few others to. The

temptation to do both was too great, and he had became wrecked with indecision.

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“Ok,” he muttered to himself. “Heads I go with my original plan and go to the

party myself, tails I send a dupe to the party and play in the Warcraft tourney.” Mike

flipped the coin and let it land on the desk. He glanced at it and noticed it was heads.

“Ok, best out of three.”

He flipped the coin again, resulting in a tails-side land. He braced himself for the

tie-breaking flip, reassuring himself, “You can do this, you can do this…!” He flipped

the coin and it landed on its head. In despair, Mike picked up the coin and tossed it

behind him. “Aaaarrgggh, I know what I’m going to do anyway…my dupe yesterday

was right…I can’t argue with myself! I’m just going to create another duplicate to go to

the party and play Warcraft!”

The anger he felt at himself for his decision made forming a duplicate easy and

after establishing which of the two was the original, the duplicate began to prepare

himself to go out. “Oh boy, this is gonna be a good one. Andy said there are gonna be a

lot of girls there,” the duplicate said, more to himself than to the original, as he changed

his attire, “I wonder if maybe I’ll pick a girl up for myself?”

“Pssh,” the original ridiculed, still feeling bitter at himself. “You would be so

lucky.”

The copy turned to him and said, “Hey, you should be feeling happy for me. If I

bring a girl back here, you might be able to quit playing video games and have a little fun

with us. What would you say about a little ménage trios with two Mike Lees, the sexiest

person on the planet?”

“You are right about us being sexy,” the original managed to joke as he uploaded

World of Warcraft on his computer. He knew that while playing Warcraft that evening

would be fun for him, it was rather predictable. What his duplicate would be doing that

night at the party was anybody’s guess, but the original reassured himself that he would

live through it all when he reabsorbed the duplicate in the morning.

“DRINK OFF!!

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DRINK OFF!!

DRINK OFF!!

DRINK OFF!!”

The crowd roared, drowning out the noise of the music, whose vibrations shook

the house, as the party-duplicate of Mike Lee finished another shot. His opponent,

however, was unable to and spit it out, choking over the burning sensation in his

esophagus. Mike pumped his fists in victory and the crowd cheered. “Is there anyone in

this room who can defeat me?!!” he exclaimed.

“Holy crap, man…did that just happen?” the astounded host of the party asked

Andy.

“Yeah, Lee is a drinking machine,” Andy commented.

“Yeah, but, Burt there is, like, a hundred pounds heavier than him. A-A-

And…An’ I thought Asians, like, couldn’t drink…that they didn’t have some enzyme or

something…”

“Maybe Lee’s a mutant…so, you think you’re gonna take him on next?”

“No way, man…no way, I don’t want to kill myself.”

Andy turned away from his friend and host of the party to see what Mike Lee

would be putting himself through next, but he found that the drinking machine had

disappeared into the crowd.

Josh knew his friend better and knew right where to find him. He made his way

through the crowds towards the bathroom and found Mike crouching over the toilet

vomiting out straight alcohol. “Christ, Lee…you ok?” Josh inquired.

“I’m fine,” Mike croaked before having to throw up some more.

“You are not fine,” Josh jabbed back, “I’m taking you home, dude.”

“No way!” Mike forced himself to stand up straight before wobbling back to lean

against the wall. The party duplicate countered, “I know what I’m doing here, man…I’m

fine…right now I’m just getting some of the stuff outta’ my system so I can put some

more back in, y’know? I’m a star out there. Everyone wants to see me drink more. I’m

just giving my public what they’re askin’.”

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“Yeah, well, they’re not asking for you to have to go to the hospital to have your

stomach pumped. I’m taking you back home,” Josh asserted more aggressively, taking

Mike by the arm and dragging him out of the bathroom.

“Hey, what’re you doing, man?!” Mike protested.

Josh managed to drag Mike through the crowd and halfway through the room

before Mike wrangled himself free. As if somehow through his drunken state of delirium

he knew it was best to listen to Josh he announced to whoever was willing to listen, “Hey

everybody!! I just wanted to tell you, I, the Champ, have to leave. Ladies and

gentlemen, Elvis is leaving the building!!”

Some clapped and cheered, other jeered, while many just ignored Mike. What

Mike did hear was enough to satisfy him and he stumbled out of the building. Josh

warily followed him, hoping they would be able to make it across town, unto campus and

into their dormitory without any incident. “Hey, Mike, what do you say to us taking a

bus?” Josh suggested.

“Psshff, I don’t need any bus.”

They made it out of the neighborhood where the house party was unto one of the

main streets of Harwood. Josh grabbed Mike by the back of his shirt and attempted to

gently nudge him towards the direction of the nearest bus stop, but Mike grunted,

“What’re you doin’, man? C’mon, let’s go.”

Mike turned to go the other direction with enough force to loosen Josh’s grip.

Mike suddenly stopped and turned to Josh with a look of childlike glee. “You know what

I’ve always wanted to do?” he asked.

“No,” Josh responded, afraid of what Mike would say.

“Let’s go streaking!!!” Mike proclaimed and took off with alarming speed for

how drunk he was.

Josh ran after him and was only able to catch up because of the difficulty Mike

encountered in taking off his shirt while running. When Josh came close enough to stop

him, Mike threw his shirt in Josh’s face and began sprinting again. Josh took off after

him again, picking up Mike’s shoes and undershirt as he went.

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Pine State University’s campus, when it was first founded, was separated from

Harwood by a river. Since that time the river had dried up, but the southern part of the

campus was still separated from the college town by a large ravine. Three bridges

connected the south side of campus with Harwood and the party duplicate of Mike Lee

was able to make it to one of those bridges before collapsing from the strain of running

while intoxicated. Josh caught up to him, totally out of breath and sat down next to him

on the bridge.

“Give up on the streaking idea?” Josh asked in between breathes.

“Yeah…” Mike murmured. “I’m getting…all dizzy an’ stuff…”

After a short break Mike got back on his feet. “Hey, what are you doing?” Josh

asked, “Shouldn’t we just sit down and rest a while?”

“No, no, no. Got to…got to keep moving…just keep moving…” Mike stumbled

back and forth, walking in semi-circles from one side of the bridge to the other. Mike

walked into the side of the bridge, opposite of where Josh was sitting and stared down

into the ravine. He said, “Hey, Josh, watch this!”

“What’re you-?” Josh began, but was struck with fear as he realized the answered

when Mike climbed up unto the side of the bridge. “MIKE!! NO!!!” Josh screamed. His

body became full of adrenaline, bringing him to his feet in an instant. But it was too late.

The duplicate of Mike Lee had already fallen off the edge.

The bus transporting the students that took part in the Recreational Sports League

bike outing arrived late due to heavy traffic. It parked in the parking lot for the recreation

center and as Chris Kirby and the bike-riding duplicate of Mike Lee got out they decided

to take the path that looped down around the south side of campus, going through the

ravine and leading up to the quad where both Chris and Mike’s dorms were located.

Both Mike and Chris had had a blast and spent the whole walk back reliving their

experience. They recounted the stories they had created that day, the jokes they had

made, and the things they had seen.

“The look on your face when you had fallen- !” Chris started before breaking out

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into laughter.

“Yeah, well, you had to suggest going off the path!” Mike protested.

“You know it was way more fun going that way!”

“Yeah, especially when you went out of control trying to stop after almost going

over that cliff!!”

The pair had just traversed under the first bridge connecting the campus to

Harwood. They approached the second, where there was a set of stairs that would lead

them back up to campus and right near Mike’s dorm. “That Linda was kind of hot,”

Mike commented.

“You going to ask her out?”

“How am I gonna do that? I barely know the girl! All I did was say ‘hi’!”

“Just grow a pair and ask her out.”

“If I ever see her again!”

The duo’s conversation was cut off as they both caught sight of a mass that was

flung from the bridge in front of them and landed a few yards in front of them with a loud

whomp. “Oh my god…” Chris uttered in a voice hardly above a whisper, “Was that a

body?!”

Chris rushed over to investigate, while the bike-riding duplicate of Mike froze

when he heard a familiar voice cry out, “MIKE!!! OH MY GOD, MIKE!!! ARE YOU

OK DOWN THERE?!!”

“I’m fine!!” the bike-riding duplicate called out, almost instinctively, “I’m, uh, a

little beaten up…but, uh, I’m ok!!!”

“I’m coming right down there, buddy!! I’m gonna help you out!” Josh shouted

back in reply.

“N-N-N-N-No..Pl-Please don’t…I, uh, another kid is here…!! He’s, uh, helping

me on my feet!!”

“No, I gotta help you man!!”

The bike-riding duplicate saw Josh dash across the bridge towards the stairs that

led to the ravine. He then looked down at Chris who was crouched next to the broken

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body of the duplicate Mike Lee had sent to the party. Chris’ face was pale white.

“Uh…uhm…ehm…” he stuttered, trying to gain his composure. He finally managed to

sputter out, “Th-This kid is dead…! His neck’s broken, a-and I think he’s dead…! And,

Mike….he looks exactly like you…”

Mike confessed, “He is me!! I don’t have time to explain…b-but we have to get

out of here with that body before that other kid gets down here. Pl-Please, help me!!”

Chris sensed the desperation in Mike’s voice, and even though he didn’t understand what

was going on, decided to listen to him.

The bike-riding duplicate took the partying-duplicate by the legs, and Chris

heaved the body up by his shoulders. Somehow the two managed to scamper off and up

the side of the ravine into the woods by the time Josh made it down there. Josh cried out,

“Mike?!! Mike are you there?! Where are you?!!”

Waiting, quietly in the woods Chris whispered, “Why do I have a feeling what

we’re doing is illegal?”

“Shhh!” Mike commanded, “We have to stay quiet until Josh leaves.”

Josh wandered about the woods for a while, continually calling out Mike’s name,

before continuing on towards their dorm. Chris finally turned to Mike and asked,

somewhat forcefully, “Ok, are you going to tell me what’s going on and why we’re

sitting here in the middle of the woods with a dead body that looks exactly like you?!”

“I-I-I….I don’t know where to start. I never thought this would happen.

Everything was going fine for so long…th-this…I think…it’s the real me,” Mike

stammered.

“The real you…what do you mean?”

“I’m not the real Mike Lee. Somehow…I don’t know how…I think he-I-we-

…were a mutant or something…but…the real Mike Lee found out he had some really

weird powers…he could duplicate himself! And…so…well, I’m one of his

duplicates…he created me to go on that bike trip so he wouldn’t have to…and all the

different times you spent with me…they were all with a different duplicate because the

real Mike Lee didn’t want to work out. W-W-W-W-We were tr-trying to k-keep in a

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secret…y’know…because of the way you’re reacting right now….it was working so well

for us…I don’t know what to do now…the real me is…dead!!” Mike explained, breaking

down into tears halfway through.

Chris tried to absorb everything that the duplicate had said. He stared down at the

corpse laying at his feet, the corpse that looked exactly like the person who was crying in

front of him.

“What do you mean…that that’s the real you…?”

“I think it is…” the bike-riding duplicate sobbed, “The real me created me to go

on that bike trip…a-a-and he s-said that he himself would be going to that party with that

Josh kid you saw. I-I don’t know what just happened…I-I-I don’t know how I died…and

I’ll never know what’s to become of me…since us duplicates have always been

reabsorbed into the original…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Th-The original…the real Mike Lee…he was the one with all the power. H-H-

He could create duplicates…a-and he could reabsorb them back. A-A-An’ it was really

neat…b-because each time he’d r-reabsorb one of us…he’d get all of our memories…l-

like right now I have memories of what the original and all the different duplicates from

over the past four or five weeks until the moment I was created…b-but now…oh my god,

now…”

Mike let himself fall back unto the ground and started tossing and turning, kicking

his feet up madly in the air. “Oh my god!” he cried, “I’m dead…I-I’m really dead…!! I

just saw myself die!! Augh-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu…”

Chris was overcome with such emotion that it was indescribable. He did not

know what to do. His whole body started to shake. He got up, covered his face with his

hands and paced around a little bit. The duplicate that had spent all day with him

continued to madly pout and seeing him like that put Chris in such agony. He said,

“Mike…Mike, please… stop. I-I…I don’t know if this helps any, but…but, please look

at me.”

Mike stopped momentarily and sat up. He looked over at Chris, almost

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whimsically, and asked, “What…?”

Chris replied, “I…I have powers too.”

Chris lifted his arm and his hand started to glow. A beam of light shot out of his

hand and hit a tree branch several yards away. With a whack the tree branch broke off

from its trunk and crashed to the ground.

“What…? You…too…?” Mike uttered. Chris solemnly nodded.

Mike turned unto his knees and asked simply, “How…?”

“I don’t know,” Chris answered, “Your guess as to how you got your powers is as

good as my guess as to how I got mine. I know…I know this doesn’t change the situation

we’re in at all. What I’m trying to say is…well, I understand what it’s like to have an

ability you don’t understand that no one else has…and I understand your desire to keep it

a secret.”

“What are you going to do?” Mike pleaded.

Chris looked down at the corpse of Mike’s other duplicate. He said, “There’s not

much we can do. He- you- the original here…he’s already dead. There’s nothing we can

do to help him. But we can help keep your secret safe. No one else knows about your

power…and you’re still alive. We have to get rid of the body.”

“How are we going to do that?”

Chris looked back down at the corpse and then looked at his arm. A shiver went

down his spine. He did not know if he had the guts or stamina to do what he thought

about doing. “There’s only one way to be sure nobody finds this in any condition to trace

it back to you,” he stated.

He lifted his right arm up and held it with his left hand to steady it. He

concentrated on all the energy he felt through his body. With all of the emotional turmoil

he had been through in the past several minutes he felt the chaotic nature of that energy.

He could harness it much more easily and he felt that it was so endless that he could

accomplish his task. He aimed at the corpse of the Mike duplicate and shot all the energy

out at it.

Mike saw a flash of light pour out of Chris’ hand and a stream of energy flew out

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from him, enrapturing the body of the duplicate and it slowly began to incinerate. Chris

continued to shoot out the energy and looked away, not being able to watch as he

destroyed the body of his friend, duplicate or not. Mike found that he could not draw his

eyes away. He was mystically drawn to the sight of his own body decomposing in front

of him.

After several minutes Chris’ body began to feel the strain. His whole body broke

out into sweat, and he found it harder to breathe. It appeared what he thought was a

bottomless pit of energy was not the case. The sound of Chris’ strained breathing broke

Mike’s gaze and Mike could see from the glow of Chris’ energy the effect of the strain on

Chris. “Hey, are you all right?” Mike asked.

“Yeah…I think so…I can keep going…” Chris answered.

Mike looked back at the body and it was almost completely gone. There were

only the more durable parts of the skeleton left. “That’s good enough, Chris. Break it

off!” Mike demanded.

Chris relented and stopped pouring out the energy. Doing so caused him to lose

his equilibrium and he fell back. Mike leaped to his side and caught him, helping him

stand straight. “You all right?” he asked.

“Y-Yeah…” Chris replied, “I’ve just…never used so much energy.”

“Let’s go…I never want to come back here again…” Mike said.

They helped each other back to Mike’s dormitory, which was the closest. They

were particularly careful entering, sneaking in to make sure Josh, Andy, nor any of

Mike’s other friends saw them. They quickly entered Mike’s room and they were both

astonished to see the original Mike Lee standing there.

The original stood there, his arms crossed with an angry look on his face.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“You’re alive!!!” the duplicate shouted jubilantly.

He ran over to the original and embraced him strongly. He started muttering, “Oh

my god, oh my god, oh my god! I can’t believe you’re alive!! I thought I was the only

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one! I thought I was the only one!”

The original was extremely confused. He looked up at Chris, upset that Chris

obviously was now in on their secret. The original pushed the duplicate off of him and

yelled, “I have no idea what’s going on here! What happened tonight?! Why is Chris

here with both of us here? And where is the other duplicate?”

“He’s dead,” Chris said, looking away as he could not say it to Mike’s face.

“What…?”

The original stepped back until he fell against the wall. “Wh-What do you mean?

What happened?” he asked. Before the duplicate or Chris could answer, he continued:

“I-…I thought they were just going to that party. I couldn’t make up my mind…and I

decided to send a dupe so I could play Warcraft..I-I…I know I said I wouldn’t…b-but,

c’mon…a-and…and then a lil’ bit ago…Josh comes pounding on my door. The dupe

hadn’t returned so I…I freaked out you know. Josh started asking if I was all right…if I

was hurt…I had to pretend to be drunk, thinking that he might be worried about

that…and said I had already gone to bed….I never thought anything would happen…”

Chris answered, “Your…your, uh, duplicate then…he fell off of the bridge over

the ravine, just behind the dorm here. His neck was broken…I think he died instantly.”

“Did you see all of this?” the original asked the duplicate.

The duplicate nodded. The original reached out and touched the duplicate. Chris

witnessed an amazing sight as the duplicate seemed to suddenly become fuzzy. The two

bodies seemed to join together at where they met. It was if the duplicates body began to

pump itself into the original’s until the duplicate was no more and only the original, the

real Mike Lee stood there.

“Oh my god,” Mike uttered. He had relieved the all of his duplicate’s memories

in that brief instant, the joys of the bike trip, the terror of watching his own body fall to

its death, the agony of realizing what had happened, and the fascination of watching it

disintegrate before him. “Mike…?” Chris called.

“I…I…” Mike started. He got up, but could not bear to look at Chris. He said,

“I….I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me today, Chris. But right now…I

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just need to be alone for a while.”

“I understand,” Chris said and turned to leave. When he got to the door he turned

back to see Mike staring blankly at his computer screen.

“If you ever want to talk about it,” he assured, “I’ll be there.” He opened the door

and left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Chapter 5

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Ken Jones scratched his head as he stared frustratingly down at his Chemistry

homework. He could not get his chemical equations to come out right. He double-

checked all of his math and it still was not working. He grunted in frustration and threw

his pencil in the air as his roommate entered the room. Ryan having left the door open,

the room was infiltrated by the hip hop music being played loudly down the hall. Ryan

seemed to enjoy it as he swayed his body back and forth as he made his way towards his

own desk.

“Yo, Ken! You comin’ to the BSA meeting tonight?” Ryan inquired.

Ken leaned over the back of his chair to pick up his thrown away pencil. He

answered, “I…I don’t know. I’ve got to get through this Chemistry homework first.”

“Screw your Chem homework, bro. It just sounds like you’re makin’ excuses,”

Ryan retorted as he fell in his seat. Ken got up and closed their dorm room door to block

out the music that would be distracting him further from his homework. By the time he

returned to his seat, however, Ryan had opened up his ITunes and started playing his own

hip hop music. Ken just stood over his desk and sighed loudly.

“So, come on, what do you say, my man? You’ve been blowin’ us guys off all

year. You keep promisin’ you gonna do something wit’ us an’ you haven’t. We only

have a couple more o’ these meetings left in the semester.”

Ken closed his Chemistry textbook and notebook and gathered them in his arms.

“I’m gonna go to the library and finish this work. I’ll…I’ll see you later.” Ryan

protested, “Hey, don’t leave a brotha’ hangin’ like this. C’mon!” It was to no avail; Ken

had already left the room.

Ken shivered as he walked across campus from Knight Hall to the library in the

middle of campus. He had not thought of taking his jacket, and it was getting colder out.

It was also getting darker earlier, as Ken was reminded when he looked to see the sun

setting in the sky. He felt bad for blowing Ryan off, but he did not know how else to

react. Ryan was trying to be his friend, trying hard, and he was trying to include Ken into

their group. Ryan had been trying to get Ken to come to a Black Student Association

meeting since the beginning of the year, but Ken felt awkward going to one. He had

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gone out with Ryan and their other dorm mates to hip hop nights and a couple of the bars

in town and had felt even more awkward there.

Ken never thought that the one group he would have trouble fitting in with when

he went off to college was with his fellow blacks. When he thought about it, though, it

made sense. His father was a very successful doctor and when he was little they moved

to a wealthy area that was overwhelmingly white. All the kids in his neighborhood had

been white. All the kids in his grade school and high school were white. There were

only two other African Americans in his graduating class, both of whom were girls.

Ken had never been brought up with a sense of “black culture.” His only

exposure to it was through the television and other cultural media. Ken did not even like

the aspects of black culture that were presented to him through those media. He did not

enjoy hip hop and he did not watch MTV or BET. He did think that many black

comedians were funny.

As Ken entered the library he thought back to high school. All of his friends

would pick on him because they would know more about black culture that he did. He

remembered the look of shock on many people’s faces upon the revelation that he did not

like black music. He remembered how teachers in high school would always approach

issues important to African Americans with timidity and always solicit his opinions as the

authoritative opinion of all other African Americans when he would have none.

He had gotten used to the reactions of white people towards blacks and how

uncomfortable many of them were with the issue of race. It never mattered to him

because he felt he always fit right in with white people and the all-white environment he

grew up with. He always believed that there were never any major differences between

himself and his white peers. The concept of having a “black identity” separate from other

Americans always confused him.

Since he came to Pine State University, however, he saw that in action. Even

though a large majority of the student population was white, for the first time in his life

he was surrounded by other African Americans. His dormitory was housed with a

majority of minorities, though not of African Americans. It almost seemed to him like

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the university had sequestered all of Pine States’ African American students to the quad

where his dorm was. It also seemed that his fellow black students were always only

hanging out with other blacks. They always seemed to congregate in large groups and go

to the cafeteria together, or go to the bars together, or go to a sporting event together.

Ken did not know how to act in that kind of scenario. He found that other black

students had different expectations out of him than the white people he had known his

whole life. He felt that he could not relate to his roommate or the other people in his

dorm and all the people they hung out with. Over the course of the semester he

continually withdrew further into himself, creating no new friendships, with either blacks

or whites.

These thoughts plagued Ken as he continued with his Chemistry homework,

skipping the problem he had been working on earlier. He found these thoughts to be just

as distracting as his roommate’s hip hop music. The realization that he had not formed

any friendships while at Pine State really started to get under his skin. He looked around

the library and saw that most of the students there that night were white. Most of them

were most likely no different from his friends in high school. But, suddenly, he felt

completely alone in the room.

He looked at his watch. He had been at the library for about forty-five minutes,

and the BSA meeting was supposed to start in about five. If he went back to his dorm

room he would probably get some peace and quiet. Instead he started considering going

to the BSA meeting. It might be awkward and he might now know how to interact with

the black students there. He considered the possibility, however, of making friends.

Maybe a part of growing up was learning how to get along with people who are different,

and it was time for Ken to grow up. He just never thought he would classify his own

people as those that were different from him.

“An’ I was like, ‘Yo, dawg, you gotta get some new moves’,” Ryan joked,

finishing a story in front of a group of friends at the Black Student Association meeting.

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Tanya Meyers cracked up laughing, almost spitting out the pretzels she was snacking on.

She and her friends were gathered around the table where the BSA was providing snacks

and appetizers for their meeting that night in one of the rooms for such meeting in Pine

State’s student center.

“Oh, Ryan, you can be so funny,” she said.

“Hey, baby, I can be much more than that,” Ryan flirted.

“Oh please,” Nicki, Tanya’s friend and roommate, sighed, “You two should just

get a room.” She playfully shoved herself between Tanya and Ryan as she went to take a

handful of pretzels from the pretzel bowl Tanya had been picking on. At that moment

Ryan noticed someone walking in the room and shouted, “Yo!! Ken!! My man!!”

Ken slowly made his way over to Ryan and the group he was standing around

with. Ryan lifted his hands for a high fie and Ken responded by opening his palms up.

Ryan slapped Ken’s hands with a surprising amount of force exclaiming, “I never thought

you would come, brother! Haha!”

Ryan wrapped his arm around Ken’s shoulders and faced the others. “Gang, this

is my roomie Ken Jones. He’s a bit of a shy one, but we don’ judge a brother,” Ryan

went around and person by person introduced Ken to each of those present. When Ryan

got to Tanya, Ken blushed and he felt his whole body go weak when he took her hand.

“So what do you do?” Tanya inquired of Ken.

“Hm?” Ken responded, not understanding the question.

“What do you do?” Tanya asked again, clarifying, “You do sports? What do you

study? Y’know, what are you majoring in, all that?”

“Um, ah, I don’t play sports much, myself. I, uhm, really like watching, though.

I’m pretty big into football and basketball. As far as school goes, I’m undecided. I don’t

really know-”

Before Ken could continue Ryan interrupted, leaning against Ken and embracing

him. “Man, Ken here, he knows everything about sports. He’s a freakin’ genius, man.

Like a thesaurus!”

“I think you mean almanac,” Ken corrected.

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“Whatever!” Ryan scoffed, “Go ahead, Tanya, ask my man a question. Any

question about sports.”

Tanya gave Ryan an ugly look and replied, “I don’t know a thang about sports.

What am I supposed to ask him?”

Ryan sighed, “C’mon, Tanya! It doesn’t matter what. Here, here, I’ll ask one for

you, who were the Super Bowl champs in 1972?”

“The sixth Super Bowl pitted National Football Conference champion Dallas

Cowboys against the American Football Conference champion Miami Dolphins in which

the Cowboys received their first of five Super Bowl championships, winning 24 to 3, and

making records for the most rushing yards, the most first downs, the least total yards

allowed, and the least points allowed,” Ken answered.

“See?!” Ryan whopped. “Haha!!”

Before the conversation could continue the president of BSA went to the podium

at the front of the room and asked everyone to take their seats so that the meeting could

begin. Tanya followed Ryan and her other friends, upset that Ryan embarrassed her by

asking of her to ask a sports question. She did not know anything about sports and Ryan

expected her to ask a question like, “Who won the Super Bowl in 1972?” She did not

know why, but she wanted to present the best of herself to Ken. On top of it all she was

developing a major headache.

Ken maneuvered himself so that he could sit next to Tanya. They both listened

intently as the president talked about BSA’s most recent event and the details of their

next. There was a smattering of applause and cheering when the president announced

that in March of next year they would bring Akon to campus.

All the noise seemed to make Tanya’s headache worse. She got up to leave and

Ryan asked, “Hey, babe, where you goin’?”

“Uh, bathroom,” she answered.

Ken stared longingly after her as she slid through the row and slowly made her

way out of the room. As she closed the door behind her Tanya felt her headache get

worse. She closed her eyes and started to massage her temples, whispering to herself for

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the headache to go away. The headache seemed to lessen and at the moment she felt a

cold wind pass through her. She opened her eyes and no longer was she in the hallway of

the student center, but in the middle of the quad in which her dormitory was located.

“Ah!” she squeaked.

She looked around her to make sure she was really where she was. “H-How..?”

she began to ask herself but could not find the words to finish her sentence. She closed

her eyes again, telling herself, “This isn’t happening to me right now…this is some sort’a

dream.”

She no longer felt the chill of being outside. Now, however, she could not sense

the same light of the street lights that surrounded her dormitory. She opened her eyes and

this time found herself in the dark classroom where she had Sociology. She opened her

mouth and let out a scream.

She found herself experiencing a massive panic attack. She did not know how

she got there. She thought she was suddenly going crazy and experiencing

hallucinations. She must still be sitting next to Ryan and Ken at the BSA meeting. For

some reason her mind must have been playing tricks on her, making her believe she was

in different areas.

Tanya fell back, leaning against one of the desks. She found her breathing

constrained and her heart rate rising. “Help me!!” she managed to scream. She expected

Ryan or possibly Ken to suddenly jerk her awake and get her out of her living nightmare.

But it did not happen. She ran to the door of the classroom and tried to open it, but it was

locked. “Help me!!!” she screamed, banging on the door. The hallway was completely

dark and she knew no one else was there, especially if all of this was just occurring in her

head.

She began to fall back. She kept thinking to herself, “I just want to wake up from

this in my bed, I just want to wake up from this on my bed.” As she fell back it was as

though reality was warping around her. The door in front of her began to shrink as if she

was suddenly thrown away from it. As it continued to disappear in the background light

coalesced from behind her. It was as if another image, one that looked like her dorm

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room, was putting itself together in front of her as she continued to fall backwards.

Her fall completed as she felt her body sink into a mattress. She was shocked to

see that now she was in her dorm room. “Ah!!” she squealed again. She grabbed her

pillow, and holding it close to her she huddled in the corner of her bed, in the corner of

the room. She did not know what happened, but she braced for it to happen again. She

continued breathing hard, but then she suddenly realized that her headache was gone.

Her heavy breathing abated and she settled down. She let herself lay down in her bed,

still clutching her pillow. She continued to stare at the wall, afraid of what would happen

next, afraid that she would never wake up.

* * *

Tanya Meyers was suddenly and violently shaken awake. “Ryan…?” she asked

as she opened her eyes, expecting to find herself seated back between Ryan and Ken at

the BSA meeting. Instead she found herself face to face with Nicki, basked in the light of

the sun rising behind their window. “Girl, I don’t know what you find in that boy that

you’re dreaming about him,” Nicki commented.

“Huh?” Tanya uttered.

“Are you ok? You look pale…”

“I, um,” was all Tanya could say. She was in the same position, laying on her

side, on top of her blankets, with her pillow in her arms. Nicki was standing in front of

her, with her hands still on Tanya’s shoulders. “What happened to you last night? We all

thought you had gone to the bathroom, but you disappeared. I didn’t see you until when I

got back last night, sleeping like this.”

Tanya felt the strength to sit up and did so, allowing Nicki to back away and sit on

her own bed. Tanya answered, “I, uh….yeah, I didn’t feel good. I, um, don’t exactly

remember what happened…but I needed to get back here and sleep.”

“How do you feel now? You gonna go to class?”

“I feel…better. I should be able to go to class.”

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“Well, you have class in ten minutes, sorry I couldn’t wake you up sooner.”

Tanya forgave Nicki for not getting her up sooner, although she did not say so.

She got up and walked over to their mirror. She looked and felt horrible. She did not

feel sick per se, but felt as though her whole body was drained after living through that

horrible experience from the other night. She still did not know if it was real or a dream.

She wanted to forget that it ever happened.

She then went to the bathroom to quickly refresh by washing her face. She

changed her clothes, got her things together for the rest of the day and left for class,

scarred by what she believed to be just a dream.

* * *

Ken started packing his bag with all of his Chemistry material when Ryan walked

in from his earlier morning class. “Mornin’, dawg,” Ryan greeted.

“Hey, Ryan.”

“You have a good time last night?”

“Uh…yeah,” Ken replied.

Ken thought back to the previous night. It was true it was not as awkward as he

imagined it would be. The BSA meeting itself was quite nice. He learned a lot about the

organization and the work it did. Afterwards Ken had joined Ryan and a group from the

meeting to hang out at one of the cafeterias. He had braced himself for the same type of

awkwardness he had experienced before when hanging out solely with other blacks. This

time, however, was not as bad. Ryan brought up Ken’s knowledge of sports trivia and

they had spent most of the evening quizzing Ken on it. For once, Ken had felt accepted.

“I had a really good time last night,” Ken continued, “Thanks for inviting me.”

Ryan replied, “Hey, man, I been tryin’ to get you to come with us for a long time.

I told you, you didn’t know what you was missing.” Ken slung his backpack strap across

his shoulder and waved Ryan goodbye. “Well, now I better be going to class.”

Ken went to Chemistry and tried to take diligent notes. He still did not know

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what he wanted to study, and he had to do well in that class in case he wanted to go into

the medical profession, as his parents had encouraged him. As he walked out of class

that day he heard a familiar voice behind him, “Hey! Ken, isn’t it?”

He turned around and he felt his body go limb and his face blush red as he faced

Tanya making her way through the crowd of students exiting the classroom to greet him.

“Yeah,” Ken answered, “And you’re…Tanya, right?”

“You remembered my name, how sweet.”

“Well, you remembered my name too.”

“I thought you looked familiar when we met last night,” Tanya commented as she

walked down the hallway, Ken following her without any thought of where he actually

needed to go, “I think I had noticed you the first day of class.”

“R-Really…?”

“Yeah, I mean…there are only so many of us on campus,” Tanya replied.

“ ‘Of us’….?” Ken asked, “What do you mean?”

Tanya gave Ken a bemused look and answered, “Of blacks, you dope. When you

look across a class of a couple hundred faces all shades of vanilla and then you suddenly

see a chocolate, it stands out, you know?”

“Yeah…” Ken said, although he could not help but feel offended. Tanya did not

catch any sign of Ken taking offense, but suddenly the headache from the previous night

began to come back.

She froze. Ken noticed her look of shock and asked, “Hey, are you all right?”

Tanya replied, “I, uh…just remembered something. It was, uh, nice talking to

you. Maybe we should, I don’ know, get together and do some Chem homework some

time.”

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Ken stated, a bright smile manifesting on his face.

Tanya waved goodbye, “See you around.” Before Ken could wave goodbye, Tanya had

bolted around the corner and into the ladies’ bathroom.

She dove into one of the stalls, all of which were empty as the bathroom was

completely unoccupied. She sat down on the seat of the toilet, rubbing her temples,

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praying that whatever was happening to her would go away.

“What’s with me?” she asked herself, “Why am I getting these headaches? Why

did I trip like I was on acid last night?” She sat there, praying that nothing would happen

like what happened last night. She was hoping against hope that nothing actually did

happen last night and that it was all some sort of weird dream. She asked God to be close

to her and not let it happen again.

As she prayed that she suddenly lost all sense of balance. She did not fall over on

the toilet, though. It was as if gravity ceased to exist and that she was just floating. All

of reality seemed to separate from her. The stall door seemed to stretch away from her.

Looking up, the light fixture above the stall seemed to rise up and disappear into the sky.

As that reality slowly seeped away, a new one was rebuilding itself around it.

The walls of her stall stretched away and were replaced with walls that seemed further

away and were painted white and brown. Reality around her seemed to darken and she

saw light coming from various places above her and smaller specks of light appear in

various spots in front of her. The toilet she had been sitting on had stretched out and

turned wooden.

She suddenly felt the hard wooden seat on her buttocks. Reality had reshaped

itself around her and she realized where she was. She found herself sitting in a pew of

one of the Baptist churches in town. The church was mostly dark, with its ceiling lights

deemed and several candles having been lit at the front of the church. She was the only

person seated there.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “Wh-…What’s goin’ on? Is…Is this some sort of

sign?” She got up, relieved that she was not suffering another panic attack. She had to

make sure that this was real, that it was not a part of some perverse dream. She ran out of

the pew, down the aisle of the church towards the back door, hoping that she would not

be locked in her nightmare as she was the other night.

She pushed against the church doors with all of her might and almost fell over as

they opened with ease and she met the steps leading up to the church. She found herself

on Church Street of Harwood and there were several people walking about, including

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several groups of students who had come to town for lunch. Tanya still had to make sure

that this was real and not all part of some dream sequence which had begun from what

she thought was the previous night.

She made her way down the couple of steps and stepped right in front of an old

lady who had just walked out of a small boutique store right next to the church. “ ’Scuse

me, ma’am,” Tanya stated.

“Yes, my dear?” the lady answered, with a slightly confused look on her face,

surprised to be stopped in the middle of the sidewalk like this.

“I need to know that this is all real,” Tanya said bluntly.

The look of slight confusion of the lady transformed into one of sheer confusion.

“I beg your pardon?” she gaped.

“I…I don’ know how to explain this well,” Tanya blurted as she tried to find the

right words, “I..I’ve…um…lost track of time y’see -…”

“Well, if you just wanted to know the time you should have just asked,” the lady

said, somewhat defiantly. She held up her arm so that her watch was far enough away for

her to read it and said, “It is 11:54, dear.”

Tanya thought about it and realized that her Chemistry class was supposed to end

at 11:50, but Jorley usually kept them a couple minutes over. That would mean that if

this was all real she had not blacked out and reawakened hours later, but was actually

instantaneously brought to the church from the bathroom. If this was all part of a strange

dream sequence, however, it just meant her imagination had a great sense of time.

“Thanks, ma’am,” Tanya said. The old lady brushed past her and as she walked

away Tanya heard her mutter to herself, “Why of all the nerve, asking such strange

questions.” Tanya wondered if the woman would have said that if Tanya had been white.

She wondered if that in itself proved that this was reality.

She wandered into the alleyway between the church and the boutique shop the

woman had exited. She still felt that she had to prove that this was reality and if it was,

what was happening to her. The other night, when she was locked in that classroom, she

had wished that she was in her bed, and suddenly she was there. Just then, she had asked

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to be with God, and she was suddenly in a church. There had to be something to this.

She closed her eyes and whispered to herself, “Take me back to my room, take

me back to my room.” In that instant her headache vanished. She opened her eyes and

found herself standing in the middle of her dorm room. “Ok…” she uttered to herself,

“What am I, Dorothy with her magic slippers?”

At that moment Nicki opened the door and squealed. After catching her breath,

with her hand on her hand, Nicki gasped, “Oh my god, Tanya. I didn’t expect you to be

there. You scared me half to death.”

“I, uh, got back from class early,” Tanya replied.

“Don’t you usually go to lunch at this time?” Nicki asked, walking over to her

desk.

“Oh…yeah…I usually do…”

“You sure you feelin’ ok?”

Tanya flopped down on her bed. She rested her forehead in the cup of her heads

and replied, “I…uh…I’m not really sure…t’be exact. I’ve been…feelin’ really strange.

It’s like…I don’ even know how to explain it, Nicki. I’m, like…havin’ visions or

something. These strange things keep happenin’ to me….”

“Are you sure you don’t have a fever?”

“I don’ know what I have…but I don’t think I have a fever.”

Nicki sat down next to Tanya and felt her forehead. “It doesn’t feel like you have

a fever,” Nicki stated, “Now why don’t you tell me what’s buggin’ you.”

Tanya sighed. She didn’t know what to tell Nicki. They had gotten very close

over the course of the semester, and Tanya thought she could tell Nicki anything. But she

did not know if she could tell Nicki this. She was afraid she was going crazy, and a part

of her told her Nicki was not even sitting there in front of her at that moment. But if she

was crazy, wouldn’t Nicki be the one who would be able to tell her if she was or not,

Tanya asked herself.

“I…” Tanya started, “I’ve been goin’ through…some really strange things. Last

night…all of a sudden…I got this really bad headache…an’…” Tanya took a deep

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breath. Here we go, she told herself.

She continued, “I would close my eyes….an’ suddenly, when I opened them…I

wasn’t in the student center anymore. I know that sounds crazy…that’s why I think I

may have just been hallucinatin’. The…the same thing happened today. I got the same

headache…and so I started prayin’ to God…an’ all of a sudden I was in a church! And it

was really weird the way it happened…it was…psychedelic…I don’ know how else to

describe it. That’s the way it was last night too. And the reason, I’m here right

now…’stead of goin’ to lunch…is because the same thing happened. I wished that I was

back in this room…an’ I appeared here. I know it sounds crazy…but please, just tell me

you’re real. Tell me I’m not living some sort of dream or that I’m takin’ some sort of bad

trip.”

There was silence for a moment. Nicki had a look of astonishment on her face.

She took a deep breath and said, “Well…I know I’m real. I don’t know about right now

though…I feel like this conversation is coming out of the Sci-Fi channel. You sure

you’re feeling ok? That all that stuff really happened to you? That you didn’t just

imagine it happening?”

“Yes…well, I don’t know! That’s why I’m askin’ you!” Tanya claimed,

exasperated. “If…If you’re real…you saw me go to class today, right?”

“But you could have come back before your Chemistry class,” Nicki pointed out.

“I didn’t…unless I imagined having that conversation with Ken.”

“Ken…wasn’t he the fella at the BSA meeting last night? The friend of Ryan’s?”

“Yeah! And that really did happen…didn’t it?”

Nicki got up and paced around the room a little bit. She admitted, “I don’t know

what to think about this. You’re acting really strange, Tanya. Have you been taking any

sleeping pills or anything?”

“No,” Tanya answered, “And you know I haven’t been doin’ anything else.”

“So how do we explain all this?”

“I was hopin’ you would be able to tell me.”

Nicki sat back down next to Tanya. She turned to her, looking at her in the eyes,

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and Tanya could read off of her friend a sense of hopelessness. Nicki gently took Tanya

by the hand and said, “Tanya…I don’t know what I can tell you to help you. I don’t

know if you should go and see a doctor or-”

“Agh…!” Tanya uttered, interrupting her friend and roommate.

“Tanya, what is it?” Nicki gasped, as Tanya strengthened her grip on Nicki’s

hands.

Tanya pressed her free hand against her forehead and groaned, “It’s comin’

back…that headache.” She closed her eyes and once again wished for someone to come

and take all of this away from her. All she wanted was for someone strong and calm to

wrap their arms around her, assuring her that everything was going to be all right; that

she was normal and that this was not really happening to her. She imagined Ken Jones as

that person.

Tanya then heard Nicki scream. She opened her eyes and she was standing in the

hallway outside of her Chemistry class, where she had last left Ken. If her sense of time

was right it was right after a new class period had begun, and there were only a few

people in the hallway, none of which seemed to notice her and Nicki’s sudden

appearance.

She let Nicki’s hands fall off of hers. She looked down at her friend who has

keeling over. “I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Nicki blurted. She backed up and

leaned against the wall. She turned the corner and saw the ladies bathroom that Tanya

had gone to only several minutes before, which she then stumbled into.

It took Tanya a couple moments to realize what had happened and that Nicki was

brought here with her and she exclaimed, “Oh my god! Nicki!!” Tanya entered the

restroom and found Nicki crouched over one of the sinks, dry-heaving. “Nicki…are you

real?” Tanya demanded.

Nicki turned to Tanya and screeched, “Tanya…oh my god!! What the hell just

happened?! We were…we were sitting on your bed…and then…my god…I don’t even

know how to describe…what just happened, but…we were suddenly here. An’ I feel

sick as all hell.”

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Tanya was almost brought to tears. She cried, “I don’t know…I don’t know what

to tell you. But this is what I’ve been talking about. This is what’s been happenin’ to me

all day…and I don’t know how to control it…I don’t even know if it’s real.”

Nicki did not know what to say. She turned on the faucet for cool water and wet

her face. Tanya leaned against one of the stalls, covering her face as she tried to fight

back tears. Before either of them could say anything, an older gentle lady, most likely a

professor entered the restroom. The white woman gave each of the two black girls a

strange passing glance before entering one of the stalls.

Nicki was dying to say something to Tanya, but she did not know what, and she

didn’t want to say anything with another person around. She felt so afraid and confused

as to what was going on, and she could not believe what had just happened to her. Tanya

still was not assured that what was happening to her was real, and doubted that it was

really Nicki that was standing before her and not a figment of her imagination.

The professor flushed, exited her stall, washed her hands and left the room

without giving the girls another look. Tanya could not hold it in any longer and started

sobbing. Nicki, not feeling as sick any longer, rushed to Tanya’s side and held her,

soothing, “Hey baby, c’mon, it’s ok…it’s going to be ok…”

“No, it’s not!” Tanya shrieked, “I don’ know what’s going on…what’s happening

to me…what’s real and not real! I’m goin’ crazy, Nicki!!”

Nicki, suddenly filled with a strong sense of courage, said sternly, “You are not

going crazy, Tanya! You are letting yourself become crazy. There’s a difference. I

don’t know what just happened, an’ I don’t know how to explain it…but you’re not

imagining it. I know I’m real, I know you’re real, and I know we used to be in our room

and a lil’ after I took your hand and you said you was feeling a headache again,

everything for me got all dizzy and we wound up here. I know by how sick I was feeling

that that was real.”

“But what does it all mean?! What just happened to us?!” Tanya sobbed into

Nicki’s chest, as her friend continued to hold her tight. They stood there like that for a

few minutes until Tanya’s crying lessened. “Come on, let’s get out of this bathroom,”

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Nicki urged.

She helped Tanya walk out and asked, “So, how does this thing happen? Do you

imagine a place or what?” Tanya responded, “It’s weird…the way it works. Sometimes

it’s almost, like, random. Other times I’ll imagine a person, like….”

Tanya cut herself off. She was about to say Ken, but decided against that

example and continued, “Like today I thought about God…and I wound up in a church.

Only a couple times…the two times I suddenly appeared in our room…I felt I was able to

control it at all by picturing a place.”

“Do you think you could do that again?”

“I don’t know.”

The two girls paused, stopping right outside the classroom where Tanya’s

Chemistry class was held. Nicki asked again, “Do you want to try it? See if it works?”

Tanya assented, almost begrudgingly, “Ok…”

She held on tightly to Nicki, closing her eyes. She imagined their dorm room and

wished with a great emotional intensity for that to be where she was. All of a sudden,

from Nicki’s perspective, reality itself began to reshape around her. She was so

distracted by all of that that she could not notice the sight, nor hear the sound of the door

of the Chemistry classroom opening next to her.

Reality had changed, and she was suddenly in the dorm room she shared with

Tanya and the nausea she had experienced before came back full-force. She threw

herself away from Tanya and huddled over to her bed.

“Nicki!” Tanya screamed after having been shoved and opening her eyes to see

her roommate on her knees next to her bed. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Just… remind me…” Nicki gasped, “Never to do that with you again…”

“So that really happened?”

“That really…happened, girl. I think…somehow…someway…you can teleport.”

* * *

Three days had passed since Ken joined Ryan at the BSA meeting. Two days

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after that Ryan notified Ken that a friend of his from home would be visiting for the

weekend. This was Ryan’s best friend from back home and Ryan let Ken know of some

of their plans to have good time. Whereas Ken might have been disinterested if Ryan’s

friend, Jamal, had arrived a week ago, after having experienced a little bit of the

camaraderie Ryan had with his other friends, Ken became excited at the prospect of

Jamal’s visit. He very much wanted to impress Jamal and also saw this as an opportunity

to fit in more with Ryan’s other friends.

Ken was doing a little bit of studying, working ahead so that he would not have to

worry about homework for the rest of the weekend, when Jamal arrived on Friday

afternoon. Ryan had been waiting for him outside and led Jamal into the room. Ken was

shocked at how much older Jamal looked. He had a goatee and braids that fell to his

shoulders from underneath a snow cap he was wearing.

“Jamal, this is my roommate Ken. Ken, Jamal,” Ryan introduced.

“Hey, brotha’,” Jamal greeted.

He raised his hand to give Ken a high five as Ken rose from his seat. They

clasped hands and Jamal quickly flicked his hand back. Ken had noticed this type of

handshake was popular, amongst both blacks and whites, but was still awkward at it, and

his release caused Jamal to laugh.

“Where’d you pick this guy up, bro?” Jamal asked Ryan.

“Hey, I didn’t pick ‘im, we were assigned, but Ken’s a real cool dude. He’s just a

little shy,” Ryan explained.

Jamal looked Ken up and down and joked, “You get pulled outta a JCPenny

catalogue or something. You a definition a’ preppy, brotha’.”

Ken blushed with embarrassment. He had thought nothing of what he was

wearing, which is what he considered his standard attire; a button-up, collared, long

sleeve shirt with a pair of form-fitting jeans. That was compared to Jamal’s hooded

sweatshirt, which seemed a size too large for him, with baggy jeans that were sagged

halfway down his waist.

“Yeah, he has a different taste in style is all,” Ryan said.

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He gave Ken a playful punch in the shoulder, adding, “His momma still picks out

all his clothes. Ain’t that right, Kenny?”

Ken shrugged his shoulders and tried to joke, “Yeah…when you get down to it,

I’m still a momma’s boy.”

Jamal laughed rowdily. He suggested, “Maybe tomorrow you an’ me can go out

an’ I’ll help you pick out some new clothes.”

Ken couldn’t tell if Jamal was joking or not and his face lit up. “Really?” he

asked.

“Why not? Won’t got nothin’ better to do…’cept maybe recovering from a

hangover,” Jamal replied. Jamal and Ryan began howling with laughter. Ken sensed a

connection between the two of them that communicated a really deep friendship. Ken

wished that he had a buddy that he was that close to.

“Well, I’m going to show Jamal around campus a little bit,” Ryan said. “You’re

gonna join us for dinner, right, Ken?”

Ken nodded. “Yeah, I’m gonna finish up some of this homework and then meet

you guys at the dining hall at eight o’clock.”

“What’s with you, man? Doin’ homework on a Friday night?” Jamal asked.

“What did he say? He’s a momma’s boy?” Ryan answered for Ken.

“That’s all going to change after this weekend, brotha’,” Jamal told Ken as Ryan

escorted him out of the room. Ken smiled weakly as the two left. He craved to be more

like the both of them, but wondered if he could actually ever change.

Ken became caught up in his own work and did not leave to meet up with the

others until about quarter after eight. He rushed over to the cafeteria where they would

be meeting at, one of the only ones that stayed open late for Friday nights. When he

arrived he almost literally ran into Tanya Meyers.

“Hey, there you are,” she greeted.

“Hi,” Ken managed to say. He had ran to the cafeteria and his heart was pumping

blood furiously throughout his body and he was a little out of breath. He fumbled with

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the handle of the door to the cafeteria and awkwardly opened it for Tanya and Nicki, who

was there with her.

“I thought you might be here tonight,” Tanya said to Ken as he followed them

through the door. She then turned to Nicki and asked, “You remember Ken, right?”

“Yeah, you’re the sports know-it-all, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…I, uh…I like sports a lot.”

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one! You were rattling off facts and

figures the other night that I don’t even think John Madden knows,” Nicki

complemented, “Maybe that’s what you should do! Be a sports broadcaster!! Have you

ever thought of doing that?”

“No, not really,” Ken shyly stated, looking at Tanya for guidance.

Tanya smiled and shrugged her shoulders as Nicki went on: “Well, maybe that’s

what you should do. Take a couple journalism classes, see how you like it. I can just see

you on TV some day.”

Ken replied, “I don’t think I could do TV. I’m not really good at speaking in

front of people.”

“Then what about writing then? You could be a sports columnist. You know

what you should do? You should try writing for the school paper. You know, put out a

column about Pine State sports. I bet you have all kinds of opinions on that new

freshman quarterback.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t think I’m that good of a writer,” Ken sighed.

Tanya took this as the perfect opportunity to interrupt and asked, “Ok, what are all

y’all going to eat? I’m thinkin’ about some pizza.”

Nicki said, “Nah, I’m going to make myself a salad.” She left the two to make

her way to the salad bar and then Tanya walked over to the line for pizza, and Ken

followed her.

Noticing that Ken followed her, Tanya turned around to face him as they walked

and apologized: “Sorry for Nicki getting all up in your business. She can be like that

sometimes.”

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“Yeah, it was kind of ….embarrassing.”

“Well, you did mention that you were undecided-”

“I did?” Ken asked, interrupting, being unable to remember ever mentioning that.

“Yeah, when he first met,” Tanya answered. “And now she’s just trying to help.”

They waited in line for a minute and during that time Ken was consumed by his

own thoughts. He was surprised that Tanya was able to remember something like Ken

having said he was undecided. He wondered if that meant something. Then he recalled

that Nicki must have remembered it too, since she had steered the conversation in that

direction.

Ken’s thoughts were interrupted when it came his turn to order. Both he and

Tanya made their orders, received their slices, and made their way through the cafeteria

to meet up with their friends. They saw them all in the corner and they were the only

other black kids there. Ken looked around the cafeteria and felt the same feeling that had

been plaguing him for weeks; that he did not belong either with the African American or

the other students at Pine State.

Tanya took a seat next to Ryan, and Jamal, who had been sitting on the other side

of him, immediately got up. “What do we have here?” Jamal asked.

Ryan answered, “Jamal, this is Tanya. Tanya, this here is my buddy from back

home, Jamal.”

“Damn, you fine, woman,” Jamal commented.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Tanya replied and took her seat.

Ken was forced to take the only seat available, one at the end of the table and next

to Nicki. He felt removed from the conversation and focused almost entirely on

consuming his food. At one point Ryan called out to him, “Hey, Ken! Did I tell you we

was gonna go to Leon’s after this?”

“No,” Ken simply answered. Leon was an older friend of Ryan’s, who was in his

junior year and had a house off-campus with a few other guys.

“Yeah,” Ryan told him, “We’re gonna go over there, pregame some, and then hit

the bars.”

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“Sounds cool to me,” Ken stated.

Throughout the rest of the dinner Jamal continued to hit on Tanya, much to

Tanya’s chagrin. She took note that neither Ryan nor Nicki seemed to notice or care that

Jamal was annoying her. She wanted to just teleport out of there. Over the past couple of

days she had gotten used to her teleporting power. With Nicki standing by her through it

all she was able to settle down and realize that she was not going crazy and had actually

developed the ability to teleport herself and anything on her person. The previous day

she had even been able to practice it a little bit and felt perfectly comfortable doing it.

She had become so grateful to Nicki for everything that she had done. She did

not know if she could ever show Nicki’s character or courage. She had accepted Tanya

and her ability as being completely normal. Tanya wondered if the roles had been

reversed if she would have been there for Nicki, or if she would have been too afraid and

labeled Nicki a freak and an outsider.

About an hour later everyone had finished eating and was ready to leave the

cafeteria and go to Leon’s house. The group of ten made their way there, Ken finding

himself walking more or less by himself behind then group and Tanya continuously

trying to keep Nicki in between herself and Jamal.

When they made it to the house Tanya and Nicki found another group of older

girls to converse with while Jamal made the rounds with Ken of being introduced by

Ryan to the other guys there. Ken was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. He was the

most well-dressed guy there, and Jamal continued to poke fun at him for his clothes. He

felt intimidated by all the other guys there who were mostly older. The room in which

they were hanging out had surround sound, and it was blasting hip hop music.

Relatively soon into the outing someone shoved a can of beer into Ken’s hand.

Ken realized that this was the first time he was put in a situation where he would have to

choose whether to drink while underage. The few other times he had gone out with Ryan

and his buddies some of them had drank, but he did not. Now he felt intimidated to do

so, even though no one was actually intimidating him to in the traditional sense of the

term. He took a sip of it and found it disgusting. He then made his way silently to the

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corner of the room, beer in hand, without drinking it and quietly watched everyone else

around him.

Jamal and Ryan soon joined in a game of beer pong and seemed to forget Ken

was even there. Even after they had finished playing they had split up and entered into

conversations with other people. Tanya and Nicki had continued conversing with the

other girls. At one point after a certain song started Ken heard Tanya scream, “Aaaah!! I

love this song!”

She grabbed Nicki and dragged her into the middle of the room. They both began

to dance, and Ken became entranced by the movements of Tanya’s body. Everything

about her in that moment seemed perfect, her skin, her hair, her legs, her chest. The way

she moved seemed to be completely synchronous with the music. Suddenly she stopped

and looked straight at Ken. Ken froze and felt as though both his heart and his breathing

had stopped.

Tanya leaped towards him and grabbed him by the hand. She pulled him towards

the middle of the room and urged, “C’mon and dance with us.”

“I-I don’t dance,” Ken stammered.

“Sure you do,” Tanya reassured.

She took the beer out of Ken’s hand and put it on a nearby coffee table. She then

turned around and began to dance, moving her body back and forth and pressing her

backside against Ken. Ken found himself unable to move. His brain kept telling his

body to react, to just react to Tanya’s movements subtly, enough to tell her that he was

responding to her advances. However, he found his body unable to move.

She turned around and face him with a disapproving look on her face. She

commanded, “Come on and stop being so shy! Move those hips a lil’ bit!” She placed

her hands on Ken’s sides and forced him to sway back and forth.

“Heeeey,” Ken uttered, backing up a little bit, surprised by Tanya’s forwardness.

“Come on, Ken!” Tanya continued, “You need to loosen up a little bit.” She

placed her hands on Ken’s shoulders and rolled them back and forth. She instructed,

“Come on, I’ll show you how to dance. It’s all in the hips, ok. Just start simple, sway

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them back and forth. Try an’ keep the tempo of the music.” Tanya slowly moved her

hips to the left and to the right, the sight of which was mesmerizing for Ken. “Come on,

do it with me,” Tanya urged.

At that moment a voice that Ken recognized as Leon’s called out, “Come

everybody!! We’re going to hit the bars!” Many of the people there started cheering.

Tanya lightly caressed Ken’s check and said, “Promise me you’ll dance with me

at one of the bars?”

Before Ken found the courage to answer, Nicki had taken Tanya by the arm and

dragged her to catch up with the other girls who were among the first to leave. With

Tanya gone, Ken finally felt he could breathe easily.

He followed the others, once again trailing them from some distance from behind.

As he walked he thought about the opportunity that laid before him. Tanya now had

actually shown real interest in him. He now had to respond to that interest and in such a

way that conveyed his own interest in her and his desire for it to be more than something

just one night. He thought that over; did he want it to be more than just one night?

Certainly, he thought, Tanya was the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered in a

long time, but he wondered if he really knew her. He could not say he did, as he had only

met her three days previously, but what he did know of her and her personality he liked

and he greatly desired to know her more.

His train of thought veered as he began to consider if he was deluding himself.

He wondered if Tanya wanted to dance with him and if that was it. He wondered if there

was no desire beyond that which was equivalent to his own. He also considered the

possibility of Tanya having had too much to drink and if that is what made Tanya so

playful. He wondered if Tanya was just the way she was tonight because she was drunk

and if the signals she was giving him before meant anything else other than that.

Ken’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard, “Hey man! You have a good

time back there?” Ken turned around and saw Jamal approaching him from behind, with

Ryan and Leon a few paces behind him. Obviously, they had left Leon’s house after Ken

did.

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Jamal placed his arm around Ken’s shoulder and walked step by step with him,

saying, “I don’ think I say you drinkin’ anything back there.”

“Well, I, uh, had a beer,” Ken stammered.

Jamal laughed, “One beer? That’s all?! Remind me to buy you somethin’ once

we get to the bar.”

“Um…all right…” Ken half-heartedly agreed.

By that time Ryan and Leon had caught up, and Jamal took his arm from Ken’s

shoulders and joined the two of them in conversation. Ken was unsure about Jamal’s

offer. He did not want to get in trouble for underage drinking, but he still looked up to

Jamal and was glad that Jamal had wanted to offer him a drink.

Once they reached the bar they had to wait in line to get in. Jamal took out his

wallet and removed his ID. “Hey, Ryan, check out my fake ID,” he said, giving Ryan a

nudge.

“Hey, nice,” Ryan commented. “Does this thing work?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jamal replied, “It’s perfect. Hasn’t failed me yet. Besides, all these

guys think I’m old enough anyway. Most white people can’t tell with blacks.” Jamal

took a look at Ken and added, “’Cept for Babyface here, but there’s an exception to every

rule.” He playfully slapped Ken in the face a couple of time.

They went through the line and Jamal passed for a twenty-two year old, while

Ken and Ryan both had their hands stamped, signaling their status of being under-age.

After that, Ken made his way through the crowd to try and find Tanya and take her up on

her offer.

Tanya and Nicki, along with a couple other girls, had already made their way to

the dance floor. Tanya had had a few drinks, only enough to get her a little buzzed. She

looked forward to Friday nights more than anything else; it was the time for her dance

away all the cares, worries and frustrations she had built up throughout the week. And

this particular week, with her ability suddenly manifesting, she had a lot to vent. She

danced more vigorously than she usually did and delighted in it.

She then felt a body come up and press itself against her. She turned around to

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see Jamal, who then wrapped his arms around her and began to grind with her. She felt

uncomfortable around Jamal. When she was first introduced to him at dinner and had to

withstand his come-ons she was only mildly annoyed. But as the night went on and he

tried to hit on her a few more times at Leon’s house and even as she just overheard him

talking with other people, she was able to conclude that he was both rude and vulgar.

As per their usual strategy, Tanya and Nicki were supposed to stay together and

ward off unwanted guys from trying to do anything with them, but at that moment Nicki

had turned around and began to follow one of the other girls to the bar. Tanya didn’t feel

comfortable trying to reject Jamal, who was still a friend of Ryan’s. She gave in and

allowed Jamal to dance with her.

Ken saw this and felt downhearted. He saw that Jamal was not just dancing with

Tanya, but was grinding with her. He knew there was no way Jamal could have known

about his own feelings for Tanya, but he still felt betrayed.

Ken made his way through the crowd towards the edge of the bar where there

were several tables. A few of them were occupied by groups of people having a good

time and chatting with each other. Ken found one where no one was seated and took a

seat himself, no drink in hand, hands folded in his lap, and he looked out at the crowd.

Once again he found himself alone amidst a crowd of dozens.

By that time the DJ had transitioned to another song with a quicker tempo. Tanya

felt Jamal become more aggressive. She felt extremely uncomfortable and decided to

break off from him. She walked away, making her way through the crowd, without even

a glance back at Jamal or any of the others.

Ken was lost in his own thoughts and was surprised to hear someone greet,

“Hey!” He turned around and much to his surprise and delight saw Tanya standing there.

All Ken could think about was how beautiful she was, and he was unable to reply. She

asked, “Mind if I sit next to ya?”

“Oh…uh, go ahead,” Ken managed to say.

Tanya took a seat and peered out at the crowd. She sighed in relief to see that

Jamal had not followed her. She then turned back to Ken and asked. “So why you sittin’

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here all by yourself?”

“I…uh, as I said, I’m not much of a dancer.”

“Still don’t explain why you’re here by yourself,” Tanya prodded.

Ken looked away. He didn’t know how to respond to that. How could he tell her

the truth, he wondered. How could he explain how he didn’t feel accepted by their group

and that he had not made any of friends at Pine State? How could he explain that he felt

he was boxed in by the label “black,” by those in their group, by other students and even

by the university?

Tanya slid her hand over where Ken’s rested on his lap and gripped them tightly.

She sweetly stated, “Hey…I’m not tryin’ to make fun o’ you or nothin’. You’re so

quiet…an’…I’m just trying ta’ find out a lil’ bit more about you.”

Ken looked at her and he sensed that she genuinely cared. The words that she

used harkened him back to his concern that she may have just been drunk and that she

didn’t want to get to know him the way he wanted to get to know her. But she did; why

else would she stop enjoying herself dancing and come to find him when he was all

alone?

“I guess….I haven’t had such a great time making friends so far here,” Ken

admitted.

“Why would you say that? Ain’t you an’ Ryan good friends?” Tanya inquired

further.

“We are…in a sense. I mean, we’re roommates, we’re pretty close, and Ryan’s

only been nice to me and he’s always been trying to get me to come along and hang out

with you guys-” Ken tried to explain. Tanya finished for him, “But yer’ shy, huh?”

“That’s what people say about me,” Ken concluded.

Tanya scooted her chair over closer to Ken, brushed up against him, and rested

her head against his shoulder. She sighed, “I don’ care…I like a shy guy.” Ken could

not believe that this was happening to him. Tanya’s words and actions displayed a

certain kind of closeness and Ken wondered if they were in fact forming a relationship.

Ken knew he would regret his words as soon as they came out of his mouth and

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that his questions could ruin any possible chance of him getting together with Tanya, but

since he had started to open up to her he wanted to relieve this thought from his mind.

“This…this is gonna sound strange…and a little insensitive…” Ken started to ask,

“But…what’s it like to really be black?”

“What…?!” Tanya asked incredulously, jerking her head back and giving Ken a

strange look.

Ken continued, “I…I think that’s part of the reason I haven’t fit in with you guys

that well. I…I didn’t grow up in a black area. I grew up with whites, y’know. All my

friends in high school were whites. There weren’t any other black guys in my school. I

mean, Jamal referred to me as preppy.”

“Don’t you give any credence to that Jamal!” Tanya instructed, sounding furious

suddenly, “He’s just a jerk, ok! A rude, egotistical jerk! He doesn’t know anything more

‘bout being black than I do! I mean…who can explain what being black means. It’s like,

even a field of study, y’know. Don’t you worry about that. You’re just shy, is all, and

when you get to know the rest of us you’ll become friends with us…an’ it’ll have nothing

to do with how ‘black’ you are.”

Before Ken could respond they both turned towards where they had left the rest of

their group. A commotion had erupted on that side of the bar and over the noise of the

quieting crowd and music they heard shouts of “HEY!” “C’MON MAN!!” and

“THAT’S RACIST!!!”

Almost instinctively they both got up and made their way through the crowd to

see what was going on. They found the rest of their group standing face to face with an

older gentleman, who must have been the bar’s proprietor, flanked by two of the

establishment’s muscular ushers. The gentleman said, appearing to repeat his point, “I’m

sorry, but we have a dress code. No baggy articles of clothing are allowed. You’re going

to have to leave and your friends may join you if they wish. This is our policy. It’s

posted at the entrance, and we can’t have it violated.”

The owner was obviously referring to Jamal, who was the only one wearing

clothing that matched the bar’s violations. Ryan protested, “C’mon, he’s not from here,

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he’s visiting from out of town. He didn’t know the rules, and I didn’t think to tell ‘em to

him. He’s already in here, can’t you give him a pass?”

The owner repeated, “The dress code is posted at the door. He shouldn’t have

been allowed in in the first place. But we can’t have our rules violated, or else we’ll have

to let them go for everybody. Those rules are to protect my clients.”

“Protect them from black people?!” Leon roared, enraged.

The owner said sternly, “The dress code is applied to everyone, regardless of

race.” He motioned to his ushers, “Escort these gentlemen out of here before I call the

police.” The ushers motioned for them to leave, at least for Jamal, Ryan and Leon to

leave since they were the ones directly in front of them, calmly saying things such as,

“C’mon, people, let’s move,” and “All right, let’s everyone leave.”

When one of the usher’s arms brushed against Leon slightly he demanded, “Don’t

you touch me!”

Ryan already had Jamal by the arm to try and take him to leave and he turned to

Leon and said, “C’mon, let’s just listen to them and go somewhere else.”

Nicki made her way through the crowd to meet up with Tanya and Ken. She

exclaimed, “Can you believe these bastards? Kicking us out ‘cause of how Jamal’s

dressed. Let’s get out of this place, and remind me never to come here again.” She took

Tanya by the arm and went to walk with the other girls from their group who had gotten

ahead of Ryan, Jamal, Leon and the ushers. Jamal and Leon seemed to be taking their

time and a crowd had formed around them, anticipating something, forcing themselves

between Ken and the rest of his group.

If the crowd had been wishing for a fight, they got one. Leon had stalled at the

doorway to the bar and one of the ushers pushed him outside. Both Tanya and Ken heard

him declare, “All right, that’s enough, man!” He decked the guy in the face. When he

went to follow up with another punch, the usher instinctively pushed him away. Leon

fell back into Nicki and Tanya.

Nicki lost her hold of Tanya, and Tanya fell to the ground. A crowd converged

around the fight, chanting, rooting, and hollering. Tanya felt two strong hands take her

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by the arms and pull her up. She imagined seeing Ken’s face as she was brought to her

feet, but instead was brought face to face with Jamal. “C’mon, let’s get out of here,” he

said.

He dragged Tanya away from the crowd and into the deserted alleyway adjacent

to the bar. “Where are we going?” Tanya demanded.

Jamal didn’t answer. Tanya knew that Jamal was drunk but when he turned

around to look at her she noticed something else. His eyes were bloodshot red, and she

wondered if he had taken anything else while they were at Leon’s house. She

commanded, “Let go of me!”

Jamal whipped her around and forced her against the side of the building. He

pressed his body against hers and whispered in her ear, “C’mon now, girl. Don’t fight

this. How ‘bout you just lead me to your dorm an’ we’ll just be alone, ok?”

Tanya tried to push Jamal off of her, threatening, “Get off of me Jamal or-” But

Jamal only pushed back harder and replied, “Let’s have none of that, ok.” Tanya thought

about teleporting; she didn’t care if Jamal witnessed her ability, he was drunk, possibly

high and might not remember it anyway. Even if he did, he would be gone in a couple

days and Tanya would never see him again. She only was concerned that it wouldn’t

work. Jamal’s body was pressed forcefully against hers, and he might teleport along with

her. And if that were to happen she didn’t know where they should teleport to that would

force Jamal to get away from her.

Meanwhile, Ken was pushed further and further away from the fight. He had no

idea what was going on, but from what he could see it seemed that Ryan and a few of the

others had joined in the fight, as well as the other usher. He heard police sirens and the

only thing he was concerned about was Tanya’s welfare. “Tanya!” he called out, but he

could not see her anywhere. The police arrived and the crowd began to back up and a

large group of them began to disperse. A guy in front of Ken pushed him back and he

fell towards the alley next to the bar.

Ken turned around and saw Tanya and Jamal near the other end of the alley, with

Jamal pressed against her, looking as though he was necking her. “Tanya!” he called out.

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“Ken…” Ken could see Tanya mouth.

Jamal grabbed Tanya with both arms and forced her to walk with him down the

rest of the alley to the other street. “Tanya!” Ken called again. He found himself running

down the alley towards them. He didn’t really know what he was doing, or what he

would do once he reached them. He didn’t think he could fight Jamal if it came to it, but

with the police nearby and everything else going on, maybe Jamal could be reasoned

with.

Jamal suddenly stopped and Ken almost ran into him, stopping within arm’s reach

of him. Jamal threw Tanya to the ground and Tanya grunted as she hit the pavement.

“Ta- ” Ken uttered as Jamal whipped around, pulling out a knife from his pocket, and

plunged the knife towards Ken’s chest.

“Oh my God!! KEN!!!!” Tanya screamed.

A look of shock came upon Jamal’s face. He pulled the knife back and saw that it

was bent perfectly backward. Ken’s mouth was ajar. He looked down and saw that the

knife had cut through his collared shirt and well as his undershirt. His chest though

showed no signs of being hit, no cut, no scar, no blemish.

Jamal stepped back and dropped the knife. “What the fuck, man,” he uttered, his

voice filled with fear. Suddenly a streak of electricity flew through the air from out of

nowhere and struck Jamal. He cried out in pain. Streams of electricity could be seen

flowing through and outside of his body. He then fell over, knocked out.

Ken and Tanya looked over to where the electricity had come from. They saw a

white, college-aged guy walking towards them, sparks of electricity flying up from his

fingertips. “So, you must have some kind of special ability too, huh?” he asked, looking

at Ken. “Who…are you?” Ken asked.

“My name is David Shaw,” he replied, “And I think I have answers to a lot of the

questions both of you have right now.”

Chapter 6

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Veronica Levafuoco strode down Main Street, twirling her shopping bag between

her fingertips. She felt positively thrilled at the moment. She had gotten an A on her

latest Statistics exam and decided to reward herself with a little bit of shopping. Then she

found the perfect winter coat that she desperately needed as temperatures had begun to

drop the past several days. The only dilemma on her hands was what the get for lunch.

She did not feel like going to a dining hall, and since she was right in the middle of town,

it made sense for her to eat something there. Then she remembered that she had an

article for her English class that afternoon that she still had to read. So, she would have

to get something fast and bring it to her dorm room to eat while she was reading.

She went to a local deli, ordered a small sandwich and salad to go, and made her

way back to her dormitory. When she arrived in her room she was slightly surprised that

her roommate wasn’t there and supposed that she had gone to lunch herself. She went

through her folder for English and pulled out the article she was supposed to read, one on

religious life in America.

She read through it at her desk while she ate, and as she did so she could not help

but think about her roommate. Her roommate Sarah was a very conservative girl, in

every sense of the word. Not only was she conservative politically, which Veronica

thought she could live with as the two never discussed politics, but she lived

conservatively. She dressed conservatively and was frugal with her money, never taking

Veronica up on her numerous offers to go shopping. She and her friends never drank.

They liked to go to the bars to dance at times, but more often spent their free nights in,

watching movies or playing games.

And Sarah was extremely religious. Her friends were as well, and their religion

connected them and played a vital role in their pastimes. They all belonged to the various

Christian organizations on campus. They all went to bible studies and other religious

activities. And, oftentimes, their conversations were either dominated by religion or

subtly influenced by it. Religion had never had such as central place in Veronica’s life,

and she found it hard to relate to Sarah because of that. Veronica had tried her utmost to

get along with Sarah and spend time with her and her friends, but too often she felt left

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out of the conversation and uninterested in what they wanted to do.

Sarah arrived just as Veronica prepared to pack up her things for class. Veronica

heard her say to whoever had been with her, “Sounds great you guys. See you at Bible

study tonight!” Veronica turned to greet her roommate as Sarah said, “Hey!”

“Hi,” Veronica replied.

“Going to class?”

“Yeah, English.”

“Well, have fun.” Sarah waved goodbye. Before Veronica could walk out the

door, Sarah called out, “Hey, are you going to come to dinner with us?” Veronica

quickly thought it over. She didn’t want to spend the entire evening having the kind of

dull conversation that just ensued between her and Sarah, but she couldn’t think of

anyone else whom she could have dinner with that night.

“Yeah, I probably will,” she answered.

“All right! Well, at the very latest, I’ll see you then!” Sarah replied. Veronica

smiled goodbye and walked out the door.

“I think the most interesting thing the article had to say about religion in America

is how spiritual it’s become. Y’know, it talked about how people who don’t go to church

and aren’t into organized religion are increasingly participating in things like meditation

or just doing things like camping and finding God in nature…I think it’s opened up

religion to people who don’t like the organizational part to it,” a student commented as

Veronica looked at her watch and saw her English class was almost coming to a close.

“That’s true…and I think it’s interesting, but I think the challenge of that is what

that does to society. I mean, one of the most important things that religion does is draw

people together. I think that’s a major part of the evangelical movement. That kind of

spirituality is really…individual. And it’s great for people who have never gotten in

touch with God before, but religion is supposed to teach us how to get along with other

human beings, not how to escape from reality,” another student said.

Professor Mallard turned to Veronica as she said, “That’s a very interesting

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thought. Veronica, you haven’t spoken up much in this discussion today. What do you

think of that?”

Veronica sat up, thought over what she may have wanted to say really quickly.

She had always enjoyed English class because Professor Mallard had created an

environment in which all the students didn’t feel intimidated and were able to express

themselves openly. So even though they were dealing with a topic Veronica was not the

most comfortable with, she only briefly hesitated before she answered.

Veronica responded, “Well, yeah, I think it’s important that people know how to

treat one another well and all of that, but is religion really the best way to do that? I

mean, it just seems that religion isn’t that important nowadays. I think people get more

of the rules of how they should and shouldn’t behave from school, even more than their

parents. Or…maybe…maybe I just feel that way because I’ve never been a religious

person. My parents are Catholic and I was baptized and went through First Holy

Communion and stuff, but other than that we only went to church for Christmas and

Easter…if that on some years. And it isn’t just organized religion with me either; even

the spiritual stuff we were talking about just seems weird to me. I mean, I love nature,

but I don’t feel that God ever communicates with me through it. The article had

something in it about scientists thinking they’ve discovered a gene that makes some

people more…open to religious experiences. I don’t think I have that gene.”

“Um, if I may ask…does that mean you’re an atheist, agnostic or…?” One of the

more curious students in the class asked of Veronica.

Veronica turned away from the student, but still answered, claiming, “I don’t

know. It’s not that I don’t believe in God…Something in me wants to believe in God, so

that this world can make some sense. I just don’t see the point of religion. I think God

wants us to just live our own lives as we choose to. I don’t know what that makes me..a

deist, maybe?”

The look Veronica gave Professor Mallard was one the professor recognized as

one asking for help out of an uncomfortable discussion. Recognizing the time as well,

she stated, “Ok, well class is about to end and I haven’t given you your journal

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assignments yet. This was a really good discussion though and I hope we can continue it

when we reconvene, and hopefully this journal assignment will create some new areas of

discussion. What I want you to do for next week is take part in a religious activity

you’ve never experienced before and then comment on it. This may include going to a

service of a different denomination than you, or going to a meeting of one of the campus-

based religious organizations. Or you can sit in one of the talks about different religions

that the Religion Department is hosting this week. All of those are listed on the

Blackboard site, as well as all the addresses and service times of the churches in the

area.”

At that point everybody was packing up their things to leave, so the professor

said, “If you have any questions you may stay after class or just send me an e-mail. You

all have a good evening.” Veronica stuffed her things in her backpack and made her way

through the door. She pondered for a moment stopping to talk to Professor Mallard, but

another student had gone up to ask her questions about their journal assignment.

Veronica just wanted to get out of the room. She thought she was safe expressing her

feelings about religion, but she wasn’t expecting to be asked if she was an atheist or

agnostic. It seemed the whole room was torn between die-hard atheists and firm

believers and she didn’t feel like she was in either category. Now she had to have dinner

with her firm believer roommate.

* * *

Lilia Coolwater stretched out on the couch in her dormitory common room as she

flipped through the pages of her psychology book. So far that semester she found

Psychology fascinating, but the current chapter had begun to bore her. She just wanted

time to go by so she and her friends could go to dinner and she could then go to Bible

Study. She decided to lay her textbook gently over her eyes and take a nap.

After about twenty minutes she regained consciousness, realizing that she needed

to go to the bathroom. She laid her textbook unto the table next to the couch, got up and

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stretched. She slowly walked down the hallway towards the women’s restroom. One of

the other girls in the corridor walked by her. Lilia faintly smiled and waved, but the girl

paid no sign to her. Lilia grimaced and wondered why the girl gave her the cold

shoulder.

Lilia walked into the bathroom, and as she turned to go into one of the stalls she

noticed something strange. For a moment, she thought she did not see her reflection in

the mirror as she entered the bathroom. She turned around and a shiver went down her

spine when she saw that the mirror showed no reflection of her. Everything else in the

bathroom was there, most immediately the sinks and faucets, then the stalls and over to

Lilia’s right the showers. But the mirror did not show Lilia standing there at all.

Lilia walked slowly over to the faucet counter and leaned over and touched the

mirror. Nothing changed. She still could not see herself. However, when she let go of

the glass she did notice that her finger had left a smudge.

At that moment another girl entered the restroom. Lilia recognized her as being a

friend one of the girl’s across the hall from her and believed that her name was Sammy.

Lilia knew Sammy would know how she was, and Lilia was clearly in the her spectrum

of vision, but Sammy did not acknowledge her at all. Lilia was too afraid to say

something as Sammy went into a stall. She wondered if somehow she had actually

become invisible.

Lilia always considered herself to be a logical person and tried to think about how

this could happen, if it in fact really were happening. She decided she would have to test

this out first. Sammy would become an unknown participant in her experiment.

Lilia entered into her own stall, which was separated by Sammy’s by just one

other stall. Lilia then proceeded to fulfill her objective in coming to the bathroom in the

first place, and she wondered if Sammy could tell that someone else was in the bathroom

with her. Lilia heard Sammy flush, open her stall door and walk over to one of the sinks.

Lilia peered underneath her stall door and saw that Sammy was at the sink directly in

front of her.

Lilia then flushed her own toilet. She could tell that Sammy had paused. She saw

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Sammy’s feet turn around and face Lilia’s stall. Lilia then quickly got up, pulled up her

pants, and pulled open her stall door. Sammy whelped and backed up against the

counter.

Once again, Lilia wanted to say something, but did not know if she should or not.

Sammy asked, almost in a whisper, “Is somebody there?”

Lilia didn’t reply. Sammy once again said, “If somebody’s there and trying to

pull a prank on me, this is so not funny!” Sammy paused then called out, “Lisa? Katie?

Is that you?”

Sammy sighed and leaned back against the countertop. She turned around and

started washing her hands, muttering to herself, “I think I’m going crazy…”

Lilia wanted for her to finish and leave the room before washing her own hands.

She did not want to scare Sammy further and she wanted to maintain good hygiene. She

had already confirmed what she feared; she had somehow become invisible. Lilia was

surprised that she was not more freaked out by this occurrence, although while washing

her hands she was unable to look at herself in the mirror was unsettling.

She dried her hands and decided to walk back to her room. She would be alone

there, since her roommate was working at that time, and she would not have to worry

about frightening anyone else. She wondered how this had happened to her and if she

would stay invisible forever. She wondered if there was some sort of medical

explanation for what was happening to her. She resolved to look her conditions up

online, but feared no search engine would find “invisibility” as a condition to any disease.

She saw Sammy in her friend’s doorway, which was right across the hall from

Lilia’s room. Lilia decided to walk as close to her room’s side of the hallway as possible,

so if Sammy backed out she wouldn’t back into Lilia’s invisible body. Lilia tried to

focus on getting to her own room and not tempt fate by looking at Sammy, or Lisa or

Katie, the two girls who lived in the room.

“Hey, Lilia!” she heard as she walked by.

Lilia was startled and fell back into the wall bumping her head. “Oh geez, are you

all right?” Sammy asked. Lilia rubbed the back of her head and looked in amazement at

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the three girls, who were all now in the doorway.

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine…” Lilia uttered, “You can see me?”

“Of course I can see you,” Sammy replied.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Lisa asked.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” Lilia answered, “I just remembered some work I have to do

before I get dinner. See you all later!” Lilia nearly sprinted into her room and slammed

the door shut. She looked into the full length mirror she and her roommate had affixed to

their closet door and saw her full body reflected on it. Lilia circled around and saw that

the images of her sides and back were also fully reflected. She stepped back to about the

distance she thought she had been from the mirror in the bathroom and still saw herself.

“Ok, this is just really weird,” Lilia commented to herself.

Lilia sat down on her bed and took a moment to collect her thoughts. She was

sure that she had become invisible. Otherwise her image would have been reflected in

the bathroom mirror and Sammy would not have reacted the way she had in the

bathroom. But then Sammy saw her in the hallway and she saw her reflection in her own

mirror. Perhaps there was a scientific explanation for what happened to her. Lilia

decided to do whatever research she could online before dinner.

* * *

Veronica was surprised. She had actually enjoyed having dinner with Sarah and

her friends. She had expected the worst out of it. Not only was she anticipating being

excluded from their conversation, but she also was still feeling sore about the experience

she had in English class that day. She feared Sarah and her friends would make it worse

by talking about religion. Instead, they had an interesting and welcoming conversation

that Veronica was able to participate in fully. It was not over any type of controversial

subject, and for the first time Veronica found Sarah and her friends intriguing and

engaging.

As she and Sarah left the dining hall to return to their dorm, Veronica found

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herself thinking about her journal assignment for English class. She had originally

thought that she would look on their Blackboard site and go to one of those talks the

Religion department was hosting. She never considered going to an actual church

service; she never liked Catholic services, so, she thought, why would any other

denomination, Christian or otherwise, be different? She also thought that she would not

go to any of the student religious group activities. She knew they were filled of

characters just like Sarah and other “Jesus freaks,” as their critics would jeer. She had

thought she would have a horrible time and did not want to involve herself in anything

like that if she did not have to. After having a good time that evening though, she was

beginning to change her mind.

“You have your Bible Study tonight, right?” Veronica asked as they walked

along.

“Yep, at eight o’clock,” Sarah answered.

“Do you think it would be all right if I came along?”

Sarah suddenly stopped. She turned to Veronica, beaming. She almost squeaked

as she proclaimed, “Oh my God, are you kidding?! It would be great if you came along!!

I’ve been hoping you would come along for months!!”

Veronica backed up a little bit and explained, “Well, it’s – don’t get too excited –

I have this assignment for my English class, and we’re in this section about ‘Religion in

America’ and we’re supposed to take part in a religious activity that we’ve never done

before…and so I thought I’d do this. I mean…I guess I want to anyway, because it’s so

important to you and…”

As if she understood that she overreacted, Sarah backed down and started walking

again, saying, “It’s ok, I understand. But seriously, you should come. It would be the

perfect thing for your assignment. Bible Study isn’t really…like, ‘this is what the Lord

say, you shouldn’t do this and you shouldn’t do that,’ as some people think it may be.

This one is an all-woman’s one for the girls in our dorm. So, it’s all our friends. And

really it’s just about talking about our everyday lives…and looking to the Bible for

guidance. It really is a lot of fun. I think you’ll be surprised.”

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“No, of course I’m going to come,” Veronica replied. “I’m, uh, really looking

forward to it.” The girls walked into their dormitory and to their room. Veronica

wondered if Sarah would take this as some sort of opportunity to evangelize her. She

thought she had established that she was going to be there more as an observer than

participant, but Sarah might still be hoping that Veronica’s attitude towards religion

would change.

In the time between when they returned to their room and when Bible Study was

supposed to start Sarah did some of her homework and Veronica watched TV. Veronica

had lost track of the time when Sarah stated, “All right, well I’m done here. You ready to

go?”

“Yeah,” Veronica replied and turned off the TV. Sarah said, “You should know

everybody there. Heather will be leading it. Brittany and Heather will probably be there.

Megan might be there. I think the only girl you may not know is Lilia.”

“Lilia? We have a girl named Lilia in our dorm?”

“Yeah,” Sarah answered. “She’s a very quiet girl. She spends a lot of time in the

common room. She’s a little Hispanic-looking. She lives with that Chinese girl. As I

said, she doesn’t talk a lot, but I think she’s very spiritual. She comes to every Bible

Study and always has, like, this really insightful and provocative view into whatever we

talk about.”

She used that word, “spiritual,” Veronica noticed. Veronica still did not

understand exactly what that was supposed to mean. She expected once again that she

would be out of her element at this Bible Study. She thought everyone else there would

be experiencing all these “spiritual” feelings, while she would feel nothing. She

imagined all of them suddenly speaking in tongues, leaving her to freak out.

Before she left the room, Veronica remembered, “Oh! I don’t have a Bible of my

own!!” Sarah laughed lightly and said, “Oh, that’s ok. You can read off of mine.” She

led Veronica down the hallway to the room of their R.A., Heather. They entered the

room and Veronica waved to the three girls she recognized there, who were all friends of

Sarah’s - Heather, Stephanie and Brittany. Stephanie and Brittany had a look of pleasant

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surprise to see Veronica there. Veronica noticed the one girl she did not recognize and

concluded that it must be Lilia.

They had all been sitting cross-legged in a circle, and Heather got up and greeted

them. “Hey! So glad you guys could make it!!”

Sarah motioned towards Veronica and said, “Veronica has decided to join us all

tonight.”

“That’s great,” Heather responded, “Thanks so much for coming. Go ahead and

take a seat.” Veronica followed Sarah and took a seat between her and Lilia. She sat

close enough to Sarah to read her Bible, but not close enough to feel uncomfortable.

Heather sat back down and declared, “Well, I think that’s all of us for tonight, so

we may as well get started.” She looked up to Veronica and asked, “Veronica, you know

everybody here, right?”

Veronica looked to her right at Lilia and admitted, blushing slightly, “Um,

actually I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Lilia extended her hand and introduced herself, “My name is Lilia Coolwater. I

live downstairs, in the Western corridor.”

Veronica shook her hand and replied, “I’m Veronica Levafuoco. I’m Sarah’s

roommate.” Veronica thought she should clarify that she was there for an English project

and not because she really wanted to study the Bible, but reconsidered, thinking that it

might just make everyone else uncomfortable along with her.

Heather flipped her Bible open to where they were to begin that day. She said,

“All right, let’s start where we left off last week in our study of the First Letter to the

Corinthians. It looks like we left off at Chapter 12.” She waited for everyone to open up

to that point. Veronica waited anxiously, wondering why she was nervous. She had

probably heard whatever they were about to read at some point during one of the times

she had went to church with her family.

Lilia closed her eyes once she opened up to the right page. She was really

confused about what had happened to her earlier that day. Her research that afternoon

had been fruitless. She found no human condition of being able to turn invisible. She did

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learn a lot about invisibility, which still failed to help her at all, and the most she learned

was how people in movies and TV are able to be made to look invisible on camera. Now

she was afraid that what happened before would happen again and she offered a quick

prayer to God asking for guidance and assistance.

Heather asked, “Who would like to do the reading today? We’re going to read up

to verse 11, and, um, let’s start at verse 4.”

Stephanie raised her hand and said, “I will, if that’s all right.” She looked at

Veronica and asked, “Unless you’d like to do it?”

Veronica shook her head and replied, “Oh, no…you can go ahead.”

“All right,” Stephanie cleared her throat and began: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of

ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who

works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for

the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to

another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same

Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of

miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another

various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the

same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”

As Lilia heard these words, ones she had heard many times, they took on a new

meaning. She felt as though God was speaking directly to her and answering her prayer.

“And to another the effecting of miracles;” was not what she was able to do today a

miracle? “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good;”

was this phenomena that happened to her today a manifestation of the Spirit and was

there some way that she was supposed to use what happened to her to help other people?

The words of the reading did not have the same impact on Veronica. She barely

paid attention as Stephanie read the verses aloud and tried to read on her own over

Sarah’s shoulder. She instantly became frustrated since she not only was behind where

Stephanie was at as she read, but Sarah’s Bible was of a different translation than the one

Stephanie was reading from.

“Who would like to summarize what this passage was all about?” Heather asked,

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after pausing a moment to give everyone a moment of private reflection.

Brittany answered, “Well, this passage is talking about the gifts God has blessed

each of us with. Here Paul is explaining that everything that we’re able to do, all of our

talents, they’re all manifestations of the Spirit, and that even though we all have different

gifts and abilities, each of them come from the same God and we’re all supposed to use

them the way God wants us too.”

“Well, I think you covered everything there, Brittany,” Heather commented,

“Does anyone want to add anything?” Veronica looked around and hoped no one would

speak up so things would proceed quickly.

Fortunately for her no one did, so Heather continued, “Ok, let’s talk about this a

little bit then. I thought we could have each of you talk a little bit about your own

abilities, your own spiritual gifts, and say how you use them, how you misuse them, why

you think God gave them to you and how you can use them according to God’s will.”

Sarah raised her hand slightly and offered, “I’ll go first.” Heather gestured

towards her in a way to convey that she could go ahead. Sarah went on: “I’ve always

thought my greatest gift has been the way I can connect with animals. And it’s because

of that that I’ve chosen to major in Zoology and pursue veterinary medicine. I think that

animals, pets in particular, play a special role in revealing God’s grace to humans.

Sometimes, when we fail to see God’s love in other people, we can see it in animals.

There’ve been some studies done, particularly with people whose spouses have died, on

animal companionship and it can really help make people happy. So, I think, by using

my gift of being able to work with animals I can spread God’s love to other people and

help make other people happy.”

“Very nice, Sarah,” Heather affirmed. “I like how you brought it back to

spreading God’s love to other people. That’s the most important thing, after all.” Sarah

motioned to Veronica and suggested, “Why don’t you go next?”

“Oh, n-no,” Veronica declined, “No, that’s all right, I’m fine.”

“Go on, Veronica,” Heather urged. “Please, don’t feel shy or intimated.

Everything said here stays in this room. Scout’s honor.” The other girls also began to

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compel Veronica into speaking next. The only one not the do so was Lilia, who remained

silent.

“I don’t have anything to say!” Veronica protested. “I don’t think I have any

spiritual gifts or special talents.”

“They don’t have to be special,” Heather clarified. “They’re usually just

ordinary. God works through each of us in different ways, like the Scripture stated.

Most of the time God works through us in small ways that make big differences to other

people.”

“That’s right, what I said wasn’t special at all,” Sarah added, “I just really like

animals. That…preference, I guess, was a gift from God. And I think God allowed me

to like animals the way I do so that by working with animals I can make other people

happy. Look at it the same way I look at it. Tell everyone what your major is.”

“My major?” Veronica replied, “It’s accounting.”

“And why did you choose accounting?”

“Because I’m good with numbers.”

“There you go!” Sarah proclaimed. “That’s one of your gifts, right there! God

gave you a gift of being able to think logically and use the left side of your brain. Just

like Scripture says, ‘and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit.’

And if you go forward with that, it’s probably because God wants to use you to help other

people. You could end up saving somebody’s life, their entire family, by being able to

put their affairs in order as an accountant, y’know? If that’s what you end up doing, I

mean…”

“Y-Yeah…I guess,” Veronica assented. This is exactly what she had been afraid

of. She thought she had made it clear to Sarah that she did not want to take part in the

Bible Study as much as observe it, and Sarah was making her the center of attention. It

was as if Sarah was more concerned with evangelizing Veronica than with Veronica’s

feelings. She hoped that by agreeing with what Sarah said they would be able to move on

to one of the others.

As if she sensed how uncomfortable Veronica was, Lilia spoke up and offered, “I

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would like to say something, if I can have my turn next.”

Heather agreed and said, “That’s fine, Lilia, please do.”

Lilia took a deep breath. She tried to sense the Spirit within her and asked of it to

speak through her. She was unsure of how exactly to proceed, because she did not know

if it was wise to explicitly talk about the gift she discovered.

She began, “ Recently I..discovered a new gift I never thought I had before. Out

of the examples Paul gives in the Scripture passage we read today, it can only be

described as that of the ‘effecting of miracles.’ I don’t know how else to explain it. And

at first…I was afraid of it. I didn’t know how to use it and I was afraid that it would be

used the wrong way. But…listening to this passage, I really felt God was speaking

directly to me. I understand now that this ability…it is a spiritual gift. And I think…I

hope…I can use it for the good of others. I pray that I can act as God wills.”

As Lilia ceased speaking silence followed. No one was quite expecting Lilia to

say what she did in the way she did it. Veronica began to understand what Sarah meant

when she said that when Lilia spoke she usually said something profound.

“Wow,” Brittany uttered, “That was so beautiful, Lilia. I…I never thought of our

individuals gifts or abilities that way. I mean, being honest and talking about how you

were afraid of it. I mean, how many of us are afraid of using our abilities. Sometimes I

think we are without even being aware of it. It’s like as you admitted…you just recently

found out you even had that gift. How many of us keep our gifts hidden from ourselves?

Can you imagine God just shaking His head as He watches us not use the gifts He made

for us?”

Veronica felt nauseated by what Brittany was saying. This was the reason she

was turned off by religion. It was either boring or completely self-gratifying, as Veronica

saw Brittany’s statement to be.

The discussion continued in that vein, with the girls transitioning to Brittany,

Stephanie and Heather talking about their gifts without anyone asking Lilia to further

elaborate on what her gift specifically was. Veronica was grateful that she wasn’t pulled

into the conversation again, and Lilia kept silent throughout the rest of the night.

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When they finished Veronica was tempted to bolt out the door. She wished she

had because before she could leave Heather pulled her the side. “I’m really glad you

came tonight, Veronica. What did you think?”

“Um…it was more of less what I expected,” Veronica replied, not knowing what

else to say.

“So do you think tonight helped?”

“Helped…? What do you mean?”

“Well,” Heather explained, “Most people come to these sorts of things because

they want help. They want help in their relationship with God, with friends or family. Or

because they need help in the formation or strengthening of their faith. I hope tonight

you were able to feel God’s grace and receive His help in whatever you were seeking.”

“I was only seeking help in an English assignment in which I was supposed to

participate in a religious event I’d never been to before,” Veronica retorted. “So yeah, I

got that, and I guess I’m thankful for that. You’re all nice girls, and don’t get the wrong

impression, but I’m probably not going to come to one of these again.”

Veronica stormed off to her room, hoping Sarah would not start a conversation

about how the Bible Study went. As Veronica turned left to go to her room, Lilia

followed behind her out the door and took a right to her own room. When Lilia entered

her room she noticed the dry erase board she and her roommate use to leave messages for

each other was written on. Her roommate was taking part in a study group, leaving Lilia

with the perfect opportunity to be alone.

She felt genuinely inspired by the Bible Study that night. She no longer feared

her ability and that night she vowed, with the help of God’s grace, to confront it. She sat,

cross-legged on her bed, facing the mirror hanging on her closet door. She closed her

eyes and tried to enter a state of meditation. She prayed for God to show her how to

control her gift.

She wondered how she would be able to feel if she was invisible or not. When

she was invisible before she had not been able to recognize it until she entered the

bathroom and saw that she had no reflection. She wondered if her skin would change to

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make light pass through it. If her research were correct, the whole composition of all the

cells in her body would have to change; if it were just her skin everyone would be able to

see just the muscles covering all her other organs. Whatever the case was, the brain

would have to control the gift, whether it was a conscious or unconscious action. She

now had to try and make what had been an unconscious action a purely conscious one.

Lilia simply thought about being invisible. She let go of all of her feelings, all of

her emotions, everything she had that she was holding in. She simply imagined being

invisible.

Lilia opened her eyes and did not see herself in the mirror. She had succeeded.

She willed herself to be invisible and accomplished doing so. Now she had to see if she

could just as easily make herself visible again.

She closed her eyes and tried the same meditation technique of emptying herself

of all things. She offered a quick prayer to God of thanksgiving for allowing her to

control becoming invisible and asked Him to help her become visible again. She then

imagined herself as being seen. When she opened her eyes she could see herself in the

mirror.

Lilia felt water well up in her eyes. She laughed to herself. She was successful in

being able to control this strange new ability, but now she could not control her tears.

Her emotions were overwhelming. She was both overjoyed and grateful. She conquered

what she feared would be something that would control her. And she felt she had God to

thank for it. She knew that she should not celebrate quite yet. She had decided to

dedicate this gift to the common good, as God had directed through the Scriptures. She

knew it would take her longer to understand just how that larger mission was to be

accomplished.

* * *

A few nights had passed since Veronica joined Sarah and the other girls in her

dormitory for their Bible Study, but the emotions she felt over the experience were still

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strong. Veronica had tried to sit down and type up her reflections over it in her journal

entry for English, an assignment that only had to be a page long. She was only able to

write a couple sentences and after internally wrestling with the issue she deleted

everything she had written in anger and went to bed.

Later that night, through multiple cycles of sleep and a completely fluid dream,

Veronica found herself back in Heather’s room. She was surrounded by her R.A., Sarah,

Brittany and Stephanie. They were all glaring at her and Veronica felt not just the same

feelings of discomfort she had that night, but she also felt scared. “Why don’t you admit

what you really are?” Heather demanded.

“Yeah, why’d you come here? Just to mock us?” Brittany added.

“You don’t care about God at all! Or us!!” Stephanie charged.

“No!” Veronica protested. “I do care! It’s just that I’m doing this for an English

class. I..I’m trying to learn about you guys and what you believe in, really I am!”

Veronica could feel her face suddenly covered with sweat. She felt increasingly hot, like

her body was a volcano increasingly filled with magma.

Sarah turned to her and condemned, “Face it, Veronica. You’re a bad person!

You don’t care about me, your own roommate! You think I’m weird and you don’t care

about my feelings! You don’t like religion because it means that there’s right and wrong,

good and evil. You only care about yourself and you only do what you want to do. That

makes you a bad person!!”

“N-No!” Veronica cried. “I’m not a bad person! I-I’m…I’m a good person! I

am!! I’m a good person!” It suddenly felt to Veronica like the room was set on fire. She

could feel flames fanned near her face, as if she was standing right in front of a fireplace

as a fire roared out of control. This sensation drove her out of her dream, and when she

opened her eyes she came face to face with an actual fire.

“AAAAHHH!!!” she screamed, also awakening her roommate.

Her blanket had somehow caught on fire. Veronica tossed the fiery blanket off of

her, falling from Veronica’s bed on the top bunk to the ground. Sarah was shocked to see

a blanket set aflame right next to her bed. “Oh my God, what happened?!” she

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exclaimed.

“I don’t know!!” Veronica shouted, “It’s on fire!! What do we do?!”

“I don’t know!!” Sarah admitted.

“Can you pick it up?”

“I’m not going to pick it up!! It’s on fire!!”

Veronica suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline. She jumped off of her bed, across

from where she had thrown her blanket. She felt she had to stop the fire. She had to

make sure it didn’t spread and encapsulate her entire room and spread out throughout the

dorm. She had to prove that she could do good.

She sprinted out into the hallway and ran towards the case that held the fire

extinguisher. Right next to it was a fire alarm, and Veronica pulled it. She then grabbed

the fire extinguisher and ran back towards her room. Sarah had managed to escape the

room and was at Heather’s door.

“Oh! You got the fire extinguisher!” Sarah noticed as Veronica rushed past her.

When Veronica entered the room she saw that the fire had spread from the blanket

to the carpet of their room. Beginning to panic, she fumbled around with the fire

extinguisher. She then heard Heather ask from behind her, “Do you know how to work

that?”

Veronica turned around to see both Sarah and Heather behind her.

Heather commanded, “Let me have that.” She took the fire extinguisher from

Veronica and within seconds had it started up, spraying the flames down. “W-Wow…”

Veronica uttered.

“Follow me outside. The Fire Department should be here soon, you’ll have to

explain what happened,” Heather directed. Veronica and Sarah silently followed

Heather out of their room.

Veronica had never seen her R.A. take command like that, but she guessed that

being able to do so is what allowed her to become an R.A. in the first place. The fire

alarm was still going off and girls were sleepily exiting their rooms, some of them still in

their pajamas. A couple girls had been taking showers and ran outside with just towels

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on. Veronica noticed the whole time Heather had stayed calm and swiftly directed the

other girls outside.

Within a matter of minutes the whole dormitory had been evacuated. Veronica

felt ashamed as she waited next to Sarah and Heather. She felt responsible for the whole

thing, but she had no explanation. Thinking about it made her physically sick. She felt

sweat begin to break out on her forehead. She felt her chest suddenly getting warmer.

The warmth spread to her arms. She looked down and when she opened the palm of her

hand a ball of flame appeared.

Veronica squeaked with surprise. She instinctively closed her hand and the ball

of flame suddenly dissipated. Hearing Veronica’s squeak, Sarah looked at her and asked,

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” Veronica lied, “Of course not. Just, uh, nervous about everything that

just happened and having to talk to the firemen and…all that…” Veronica turned, facing

away from her roommate. She now had to question herself; had she been the one that

started that fire? She wondered if she somehow did it unconsciously in her sleep. She

could not believe what had just happened in that moment, that she could somehow

manifest fire.

At that moment two fire trucks arrived. Heather called Sarah and Veronica over

to explain what happened. Sarah started off by saying she awoke seeing the blanket

caught on fire, which seemed to have fallen from Veronica’s bed, lofted above hers.

When questioned, Veronica explained that she had been awakened by the heat of her

blanket catching on fire and that she threw it off of her. When asked if it was an

electronic blanket, seeing a fitting excuse that was more credible than her being able to

conjure fireballs from the palm of her hands, Veronica lied and said that it was. She was

relieved when the firemen left and then dejected when she remembered she had

Chemistry class that morning.

Lilia walked to Chemistry class later that same morning feeling quite chipper. In

the days since she discovered her special gift she had been practicing with it and was able

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to completely control it. There were a few times when her ability manifested itself

without Lilia knowing about it, which freaked out Lilia’s roommate at one point. Lilia

had to leave the room while invisible, turn herself back visible, and then reenter, claiming

she had left to go to the bathroom while her roommate wasn’t looking at her. It was at

that point Lilia realized that she had to master her ability so that situations like that could

never occur again. As Lilia arrived in her Chemistry class she was completely confident

that she had done so. She had even discovered that if she touched something and turned

invisible, she could control if the thing she touched turned invisible as well.

Lilia took her seat and when she looked up she saw Veronica enter the same door

she had and take a seat across the room. Lilia never realized that Veronica was in this

class with her and became surprised that the other night at the Bible Study was the first

time they had met. Lilia noticed that Veronica looked a little frazzled. She wondered

how Veronica was feeling, it was in her room that something had caught on fire that

morning and already rumors were spreading throughout the dorm about what happened.

Veronica tried to pay attention to Professor Jorley as Chemistry class started. She

was too distracted by all of her thoughts. She was too afraid to confront the consideration

that she had somehow caused her blanket to catch fire. She did not want to acknowledge

the reality of being able to create a ball of fire in the palm of her hand. These thoughts

kept creeping into her mind, even as she remained intent on focusing on Professor

Jorley’s lecture. Chemistry was one of the classes in which she did not have an A, and

she knew if she did not get an A on the next exam she would get a B in the class and

could risk later on losing her scholarship. She told herself that she did not have the

luxury at that time of thinking about being able to create fire, whether she really could or

not.

Halfway through the class, however, Veronica felt her internal body temperature

suddenly rise. Her face once again became covered in sweat. She recognized these

symptoms as what she felt right before she woke up that morning and what happened

before she saw that ball of fire spring from her hand. She looked to each of the students

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seated next to her to see if they noticed how Veronica was feeling. Both of them were

focused on what Jorley was saying and taking notes.

Veronica felt the heat inside of her begin to concentrate in her chest. She did not

know what was going to happen and started to breath heavily as she became more

nervous. At that point the girl next to her noticed that something with Veronica was not

right. Veronica could not risk anything happening there in that classroom and she

abruptly got up and quickly exited.

Both Professor Jorley and Lilia noticed Veronica’s unexpected departure. Jorley

ignored it and went on with the lesson plan for that day. Lilia wondered if something

with Veronica was wrong and decided to check up on her. She quietly and politely made

her way through the row of students between her and the door and left the room.

Veronica had run out of the building and started running blindly through campus.

She did not know what was happening to her and only wanted to get away from other

people so nobody would know that something was wrong with her.

When Lilia left the classroom she realized that Veronica must have left the

building. When Lilia did so too she saw Veronica running away. Lilia understood that

whatever Veronica was going through she wanted to be alone. She wondered, though, if

even though Veronica may have wanted to be alone, she actually needed someone to help

her. She wondered if it was for a situation like this that she was given her gift of

invisibility. If Lilia followed her while staying invisible, she would be nonintrusive in

the sense that Veronica would still think she was alone. But if Veronica ended up

needing help of some sort, Lilia would be able to be there for her.

Lilia made up her mind. She turned invisible and ran after Veronica. Veronica

was running pretty quickly and Lilia really had to put some effort in catching up with her.

Veronica had run all the way to the forests that surrounded the campus. She could

not run any further. She was completely out of breath and she felt that heat pounding

through her chest. She felt that her body would explode if she did not stop. She had to

bend over, resting her hands on her knees, to catch her breath. In that instance she felt

the heat in her chest spread down both of her arms this time.

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She lifted her hands off her knees as she felt the heat extend into them. She

looked in wonder at her hands as the heat broke free and streams of flame sprung into the

air. Veronica screamed in fright. She could not control what was happening. She waved

her arms about, but the flames continued to emit from her hands. Unwittingly she was

allowing all the tree branches resting above her to catch on fire. She let her arms drop

and then the ground in front of her erupted in flames. Veronica screamed again and

jumped back. Flames still were pouring at of her hands and followed her as she moved

backwards, with the ground in front of her continuing to feed the blaze.

Lilia watched all of this with amazement. She was paralyzed with fear and awe as

she watched. Even though she didn’t have to be, Lilia was hidden behind a nearby tree.

She could not believe Veronica had a gift too. And just as it was with Lilia at first,

Veronica did not know how to control it. Lilia understood why she was there that day.

She had been sent here to help Veronica, but she was struck with fear. Unlike her power,

Veronica’s was powerful. It could hurt Lilia, and it was destroying the entire forest.

Lilia then heard a loud crackling noise that was louder than the sound of the

roaring fire that was developing around her. She looked up and saw that a large tree

branch had caught fire and was about the fall. She looked back down and saw that

Veronica was standing right underneath it.

This motivated Lilia to act. Without a second thought she leaped from behind her

tree. As she bounded towards Veronica she slowly turned herself visible. She looked up

to see the branch caught aflame falling towards them. Risking burning herself from the

flames coursing out from Veronica’s hands, Lilia tackled her. Fortunately for her,

possibly from the shock of being tackled without expecting it, the flames ceased pouring

out from Veronica as both girls fell to the ground.

The branch fell to the ground behind them and enveloped the immediate vicinity

with flames and amber. The two girls scrambled up and away from the roaring flames.

Veronica stared at her hands, no longer emitting flames and uttered, “I-It stopped.”

“Yeah, we have to get out of here,” Lilia urged.

Veronica looked at the girl who saved her and gave her a real good look for the

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first time. She recognized her and gasped, “You…!”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Lilia said. “But we have to leave before the fire spreads further.”

Veronica nodded in agreement and the two girls began to sprint away from the

fire. As they neared the edge of the forest, Lilia turned back to Veronica and insisted,

“Hold on to me!”

Veronica didn’t question her and grabbed hold of her. Without knowing it,

Veronica was turned invisible along with Lilia. They emerged from the forest and saw a

group of students standing around gawking at the forest fire. “Oh no-!” Veronica started

to exclaim, but Lilia clapped her hand over Veronica’s mouth.

Lilia whispered in Veronica’s ear, “Don’t say anything. This may be hard to

believe, but both of us are invisible right now. No one can see us, and if they hear one of

us, then someone might get suspicious. This way, no one will know you started that

fire.”

Lilia lead Veronica to the nearest dorm. The walked behind it to where there

were a few garbage dumpsters and sat there, away from anybody else. Lilia relaxed and

closed her eyes. She concentrated and soon Lilia and Veronica were no longer invisible.

“What…What’s going on?” Veronica questioned, “You can turn invisible?”

“And you can apparently set things on fire,” Lilia observed.

“That’s… right…” Veronica gasped.

Veronica got up and ran over to the other side of the dorm building, screaming,

“Stay away from me!!”

Lilia got up and exclaimed, “Veronica?!”

“You have to stay away from me! I-I can’t control it! I could hurt you!”

Veronica replied.

Lilia walked over to Veronica and said, “Hey…don’t be afraid. It was the same

thing with my…gift. That’s what I was talking about the other day. I don’t know how it

happened…well…actually…I now have an idea about how it happened.”

“What…? You have an idea…? What do you mean?” Veronica asked, calming

down and wiping a tear from her eye.

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Lilia explained, “Well, I started thinking about it. And today I noticed

that…we’re in the same Chemistry class. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I don’t

think these gifts were just…miraculously given to us. And I don’t think we were both

born with them and we just happened to gain them at the same time. Do you remember

that day in Chemistry class…the day with the moon rock?”

“The moon rock?” Veronica repeated, confused as to where Lilia was going with

this, “That’s the day we were let out early from class right? That was, like…apparently a

first in Jorley’s history.”

“And I think there’s a reason for that,” Lilia continued. “He did that fake

experiment, remember? Putting the moon rock in water…and then there was that

blinding light. What if…what if that was what caused us to gain these gifts?”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sirens of the fire trucks arriving to

contain the forest fire. “Good,” Lilia commented. “Someone did call 9-1-1. Now we

won’t have to and possibly implicate ourselves.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Veronica said, “Go back. You think we got these powers by

that experiment. All he did was put a moon rock in water.”

“Yeah,” Lilia argued. “And if that’s all it was, there wouldn’t have been that light,

Professor Jorley wouldn’t have freaked out and we wouldn’t have gotten out of class

early. Something’s going on here…and I’m beginning to wonder if we’re not the only

ones with gifts.”

“What’s the point even arguing about this?” Veronica sighed. “It doesn’t help

anything. Something still is happening to me and I don’t know how to control it. I could

burn the entire campus down. I don’t know what to do and…I just want to kill myself

right now!”

“But don’t you see?” Lilia lightly pressed, “You don’t have to do that. You don’t

have to worry. There’s someone out there who could help you here…who may be able to

better understand what’s going on with us, and help you in a way I can’t.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the guy who may have started all this with his little joke

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experiment,” Lilia replied, “I’m saying that I think you should go to Professor Jorley.”

Chapter 7

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It was the first of October. Professor Stuart Jorley thought that it would be a

normal day. He had Freshmen Chemistry at 10:00 am, then Freshmen Chemistry again at

noon, and then an Environmental Science class at 3:00 pm. The Geology department was

putting up an exhibit that week of space rocks and had been loaned a collection of species

of armacolite by the local metropolis’ Natural History Museum. Jorley was close friends

with the gentleman putting the exhibit together, a Professor Gerald Simonson, who

allowed Jorley to use a piece of armalcolite for his Environmental Science class.

Jorley, however, decided to use that armacolite as a prop in a practical joke during

his 10 am Freshman Chemistry class instead. And it had gone horribly wrong.

After class had been dismissed, Jorley continued to stare ludicrously at the piece

of armacolite as it rested in its beaker of water. He kept that pose, eyes wide and mouth

ajar, for what seemed to him like hours. Only a couple of minutes elapsed before Jorley

collected himself, fastened his lab gloves and reached into the beaker to pull out the space

rock. Jorley noticed that there was no sizzling noise, which had emitted from the beaker

shortly before the blinding light did. His scientific curious mind wanted to rest his

gloved hand in there longer to see if anything similar would happen, but he decided

against it.

Jorley pulled the armacolite out of the beaker and scrutinized every facet of it. He

observed that the liquid remnants from the beaker appeared to be water and nothing else.

He carefully smelled the rock and confirmed that it smelled no different. He wafted the

contents of the beaker and they were as odorless as water should be. Jorley still worried

that something other than water had gotten into the beaker and that he had somehow

damaged the armacolite.

Jorley’s scientific mind wanted to play around with the armacolite further and see

if he could replicate his prank, which now amounted in his mind to an experiment. All

his years of training and teaching in chemistry and environmental science would have led

him to believe that if a sample of armacolite was put in water nothing would happen. But

when he did it, something happened. That called for an investigation.

The practical side of Jorley, on the other hand, understood that the sample of

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armacolite was not his to play with. He understood that he could have damaged the

sample. If that was the case the Natural History Museum could sue the university and

Jorley would be out of a job with a ruined reputation, with no hope of ever finding

suitable employment. That thought terrified him, and Stuart Jorley was at the moment

more scared than he could ever recall being.

Jorley decided to lay his investigation aside in the name of discretion. He

carefully laid the armacolite in the container that Simonson had given it to him in. He

then dug through his things to find a cork that fit the beaker he had the water in.

Whatever happened he was determined to discover if something else was contained in

that water that would cause such a chemical reaction. He cleaned up his other materials

and rushed out of the room.

Shortly thereafter, Jorley found himself hiding outside the office of Gerry

Simonson, with the container of armacolite in his hands. He still wanted to test the water

first. He wanted to make sure he could keep the armacolite for the planned exposition for

his Environmental Science class. But, he felt he owed it to his friend an explanation of

what happened and he desperately needed Simonson’s advice.

Finally, Jorley stepped in front of the open door of Simonson’s office. Simonson

was hunched over his desk, filling out some paperwork. He looked up and was surprised

to see his friend standing zombie-like at his door.

“Stuart?” he asked, “What are you doing here?...Don’t you have a class right

now?”

“No…” Jorley answered.

He dragged himself into Simonson’s room, cradling the container of armacolite as

though it was a baby, and flopped into one of the more comfortable seats across from

Simonson’s desk. He stated, slurring his words together with a drawl, “I mean…I do

have a class scheduled for right now…but only when I want it…I dismissed them.”

Simonson had gotten right back to filling out the form he was working on, but he

became concerned at the manner in which Jorley was speaking. Simonson could not

recall Jorley ever speaking that way. Jorley always had a more flamboyant way of

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speaking, constantly changing the volume of his voice to draw a point, but always

speaking forcefully. There was no force in Jorley’s voice then. It was as if Jorley needed

a battery replaced and was running out of energy.

Simonson looked up and was shocked to see the look on Jorley’s face. Either

Jorley was actually depressed for the first time since they had known each other,

Simonson decided, or Jorley was playing one of his elaborate pranks on him.

Simonson then noticed the container that he had given Jorley of a sample of the

armacolite he had gotten from the Gracchi Natural History Museum. He asked,

“Stuart…isn’t that the armacolite you were going to show off in your Environmental

Science class?”

“Yes…I want it to be…” Jorley answered.

“What do you mean by that?”

Jorley hunched over to get closer to Simonson’s desk, clutching at the container

and keeping it snug in his lap. His eyes stared into Simonson’s, looking over his glasses

that had slid to the rim of his nose. He whispered, “I think I’ve done something I wasn’t

supposed to do.”

Simonson got up from his chair and slammed it underneath his desk. He

demanded, “All right, Stuart, enough with the jokes. What is this about? Why did you

bring the container of armalcolite here?”

Jorley leaned back in his chair and shoved the container between his body and the

back chair of the seat, holding it ever more tightly. He explained, “Something

happened…something that, scientifically speaking, should not happen. I don’t know how

to explain it. I want to explain it. But I can’t because I don’t own this. I don’t know

what to do with this. You’re my friend and I don’t want to get you in trouble, but

something has come up that requires scientific investigation but doing so could breach

whatever contract got us this temporarily, and I don’t want to get either of us in trouble

but figuring out what happened is way more important…and I need your advice on what

to do.”

Simonson was feeling increasingly aggravated with his friend. He decried,

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“Stuart, I didn’t understand a single thing you just said! I’m starting to get worried now,

pal. Will you please just…just tell me clearly what’s going on.”

Jorley got up from his seat to stand directly in front of Simonson. He held the

container up at chest level and asked, “You know what’s inside here, right?”

“Yes. It should be the armacolite sample I gave you.”

“I put it in water.”

Simons gave Jorley an utterly perplexing look. “Why…?” he began, but had to

step back and take an extra breath before continuing, “…would you put a sample of a

moon rock that I have loaned from the Natural History Museum, that you were just

supposed to show to your students, in water?”

“As a…kind of…I suppose…joke.”

Simonson threw his hands up in the air. Finally things were beginning to make

sense to him. It could still be that Jorley was playing some sort of prank on him now, but

it could also be that Jorley had tried to pull a prank on his students and now it had gone

horribly wrong and Jorley was coming to him for help. Simonson turned back and

walked towards his desk. He leaned against his desk and groaned loudly,

“And…what…happened…then?”

Jorley continued to explain: “Well…at first nothing happened, as, scientifically

speaking, nothing should. But then something unexpected took place, as though there

was in fact some sort of chemical reaction going on with something either inside this

sample of armacolite or with something that was dissolved in the water. There was a

sizzling sound and then…a blinding light!”

Jorley threw his right hand in the air as he finished his sentence, emphasizing

along with rising his voice the effect of the light, but kept his left hand tightly holding the

container. “And then…?” Simonson asked, not bearing to look at his friend.

“And then…nothing,” Jorley answered, “I dismissed my class. I knew that that

wasn’t supposed to happen. But now…now I don’t know what to do. I said I didn’t want

to get you in trouble, since you gave me this in confidence. I know…that I can just give

it back to you now and the Museum will never know any different…but how could we do

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that?”

Jorley walked up behind Simon and placed his right on his friend’s shoulder.

“Gerry…you and I are both scientists. We live and breath scientific exploration.

Something like this…what I just saw…it doesn’t happen every day. It is crying for

investigation. Part of me didn’t want to tell you this…it wanted me to right away start

doing a little experimentation…to see if I could copy what had just happened. But I

couldn’t break your trust, Gerry. Now…now I don’t know what to do.”

“I can tell you what to do,” they heard a voice say.

Jorley immediately recognized the voice; to him it was like fingernails on a

chalkboard. He looked over and standing in the doorway was the new chair of the

Chemistry department, with her arms folded across her chest and a look of menacing

authority.

“Hello, Judy,” Jorley sullenly greeted.

“Hello, Stuart,” she sneered in reply.

“Please, Judy, come in,” Simonson said.

Judy Kinsworth strode into the room. Jorley did not like her and knew so the

moment they had met earlier in the year. She was a very authoritative woman and began

to throw her weight around as soon as she assumed her new position. She was a highly

acclaimed research scientist at another university, but Jorley observed that that did not

make her a good administrator. She was extremely uptight and unflinchingly stringent in

executing her mandates for the department, destroying the fluidity Jorley thought

necessary in teaching. And Jorley secretly detested her for all of her previous

accomplishments. She was better than him.

“Stuart, you will give Gerry that container right now,” she demanded.

Jorley clutched the container with both hands again, holding it closely to his body.

He backed up a little bit, partly hiding himself behind Simonson. “I will not give it to

Gerry until he requests it.”

Kinsworth placed her hands on her hips and declared, “I know what happened

today in your classroom, Stuart. One of your students called my office!”

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Jorley was shocked. His mouth hung ajar and almost instinctively he asked,

“Which one was it? Which one of those goody two-shoes went and tattled on me?!”

“Well it seems you recognize it as a tattling,” Kinsworth jeered, “Do you know

how embarrassing that is for me? To get a call that one of our professors was pulling a

prank during one of his classes? And, more than that, with a piece of sensitive material

that did not even belong to this university?”

“It was just a harmless prank,” Jorley responded.

“If it was just a harmless prank why did you dismiss your class immediately after

it happened? Hmm?!” Kinsworth inquired. Jorley grasped for an answer but could not

find one without admitting the anomaly in his prank, which he did not want Kinsworth to

know about if she did not have to.

“May I have the container, Stuart…please?” Simonson asked suddenly.

Jorley took a deep breath of air and handed it over, despite how hard it was to let

it go. Now he would never be able to see what actually happened in that moment and he

may lose his job anyway.

Simonson opened the container and took out the sample of armacolite. He

observed it from every angle quickly and then noted to Kinsworth, “It does not seem that

Stuart violated the integrity of this sample in any way, Judy. I had given it to him to

display during his Environmental Science class this afternoon, but after this morning’s

events I will understand if you would wish me to keep it. I don’t mean to meddle in the

affairs of your department, but from my end I’m willing to forgive Stuart for his

indiscretion, and you should do whatever you deem appropriate.”

Kinsworth sighed and took a moment to collect her thoughts. She then said,

“Fine…that’s fine. As long as you keep hold of that sample and not let Stuart get any

more if it…and as long as what happened stays in this room…I’m fine with it. I don’t

want this information getting to the Dean because then it will be all of our heads.”

Kinsworth looked Jorley in the eyes, and Jorley became intimidated by the glare

that was like a reflection of daggers. She warned, “You’re walking on a thin line now,

Stuart. My predecessor may have given you leave to perform these sorts of pranks in the

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past and may have overlooked the previous complaints you’ve acquired, but I won’t. I

will be watching your every single move. If you do any other thing that even carries just

a faint whiff of wrongdoing I will file an official complaint against you.”

Without another word, Kinsworth whirled around and strutted out of the office.

Jorley turned to Simonson and said, “Oh, Gerry, Gerry, Gerry….thank you, thank you,

thank you. You really saved me there. What a bitch, huh?”

“Stuart?” Simonson asked, staring down at his desk. “Can you do me a favor?

As a friend?”

“Sure, Gerry, anything you ask.”

“Will you please just leave my office?”

* * *

Later that day, Stuart Jorley had a moment to himself in his office. He was tired

and frustrated over the events that transpired that day. He was tired of the performance

he had to give to his two other classes that everything was ok and he was still the goofy

Chemistry professor. He closed his eyes and lay back in his chair. He took a deep breath

to calm his nerves and let his arms go limp.

He then felt his left hand hit the ground. This confused him, because he knew his

arms were not long enough to touch the ground with how high his chair was. He opened

his eyes and glanced to his side. His eyes widened in amazement as he saw that his left

arm had somehow become elongated, as if it were stretched out until his hand could lay

on the ground. Jorley went to feel his arm with his other hand, but as he moved his right

arm to do so it stretched out as well and wrapped around his left arm.

“Oh….my….” Jorley uttered.

He stood up. He wondered if his arms were the only appendages affected. He

kicked back his left leg to hit the chair. Not only did he kick the chair, but his leg

stretched out as well until it kicked the bookshelf behind him.

Jorley then lost his sense of equilibrium and started to fall back. He jerked his

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right arm back so that he could hold something to steady himself. His right arm

unwrapped itself from his left and shot up and Jorley saw that what he had grabbed unto

to keep himself from falling was the ceiling.

“Oh…my…” Jorley repeated

He tried to do something new. He had to test the controllability of what was

happening to him. He lifted his right leg up and over his desk. He then tried to

conscientiously control the stretching of his leg as it extended across the desk. He found

he was able to do so, and stretched it out to the point where, once his foot was set down

on the ground, he would have perfect equilibrium with where his left foot was stationed.

Jorley could then let go of the ceiling and he concentrated on retracting his right arm to

its normal length.

“Oh my,” Jorley uttered once more, “It appears I have some sort of powers of

elasticity.”

Jorley paused for a moment of thought and ruminated, “I wonder what else I can

do with this…?” He focused on his abdomen and discovered that it was malleable as

well. He stretched his upper body out and then twisted himself into a corkscrew. In doing

so he twisted his left arm, which was still stretched out from when it first fell to the floor,

into the corkscrew shape of the rest of his body.

Jorley focused on his left arm and retracted it through the curves of his elongated

body and to its normal size. He then untwisted the upper half of his body and returned it

to its normal size as well. Satisfied with that, he said to himself, “This warrants further

investigation.”

A short time thereafter, Jorley was in the university laboratory where professors

and graduate students in the various fields of Chemistry and Biology perform their

research. Jorley was looking at a sample of his own skin cells under one of the

university’s specialty, high-powered microscopes.

He took notes into a voice recorder as he observed, “This is just fascinating. I’ve

never seen anything like this…I don’t know what to compare it to. The skin cells here

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have multiplied at a ludicrous rate. They’ve formed multiple, extremely thin layers…and

it appears that when the skin is stretched out these extra layers of skin are able to come to

the surface. The bizarre nature of the extracellular matrix can most likely be attributed to

the ability of elasticity. I am not a biologist, and I cannot describe with any degree of

certainty everything that is going on in this sample. I can preclude that much of what is

happening here is also happening to all the other cells of all different types. I’m going to

look into taking a sample of my bone cells to see how they’ve been affected. This is just

purely fascinating!”

* * *

Four weeks passed. Stuart Jorley continued to research into his new biochemistry

and made various discoveries concerning his new powers of elasticity. He had no

explanation for how they occurred, although he had a suspicion that the accident with the

armalcolite that same day he discovered his abilities may have played a role. But

Simonson had refused him any further access to the armalcolite specimens. Jorley could

only experiment with the beaker of water he had saved, which after numerous tests

showed no signs of any other chemicals that would not be found in an average cup of tap

water.

Jorley, of course, kept his new abilities a secret from everybody, even his own

wife. He was extremely cautious in his personal research that he conducted on university

property and made certain that no one could ever tell what he was doing. He understood

how difficult it would be to keep both his abilities and his self-testing a secret and

wondered how long it would be before somebody found out, or how long it would be

before he was forced to confide in somebody so that he could do more testing.

Jorley pondered these thoughts as he went through his planned lecture that day for

his ten o’clock Freshman Chemistry class. He was completely able to do both at the

same time, and as he turned around to write an equation on the board his eyes met with

those of a student near the back who all of a sudden disappeared. Jorley did not even

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realize it had happened until he had faced the chalkboard. He began to write something

down, but out of curiosity turned around and searched for that young man.

He recalled that the student had been wearing glasses and either had a dark-haired

beard or goatee. His eyes fell on an empty seat where he thought the student may have

been sitting and in an instant the boy was there again. He looked exactly as Jorley had

recalled, thin, bearded and with glasses. Jorley blinked, realized that he had stopped

speaking, and said before the class, “I must be going senile…where was I again? Oh

yes…that equation…”

Jorley shook his head and turned back around to face the chalkboard. He wrote

out the equation and as he turned around to explain it to the class he intentionally looked

again for the student with the beard and glasses. Once again he found the student’s seat

empty as he continued speaking. Then, in an instant, the student reappeared sitting there.

Jorley knew something was not right. He continued with his lecture, every so often

looking up at the thin, glasses-wearing, bearded student, and each time he did so the

student was either there and suddenly disappeared or wasn’t there and then suddenly

reappeared. Jorley decided that this was something worth investigating as well.

Two days later Stuart Jorley sat in his office and watched an interesting piece of

footage on his computer. Before his 10 am class started that day he set up a camcorder in

a hidden location to record the seat where the strange disappearing, reappearing kid had

sat two days before. As Jorley predicted, the same student sat there, but he did not

predict what he was watching now.

When Jorley watched the piece at normal speed it look exactly like what he had

seen the previous day; about five minutes into class the boy suddenly appeared seated

there, but in an instant he vanished and then reappeared about a second thereafter. This

phenomenon repeated itself every two minutes or so. But when Jorley slowed down the

video footage to fractions of a second, he could see that the boy was not simply fading in

and out. The student was actually getting up and exiting the room and then reentering

and sitting back down but at a super speed.

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“Now this…is fascinating,” Jorley commented.

He sat back in his seat and scratched his chin. He took out his voice recorder and

began recording. “Personal log: I’ve encountered another scientifically unexplainable

phenomenon. This time it is one of my students. He apparently has the power of super

speed. For at least the past two days he has literally been zooming in and out of my class

for the average time span of 1.003 seconds, doing so on average every 1.781 minutes. I

feel that I must look into this further. To do so, however, would require the student’s

cooperation, which may prove to be difficult.

“I cannot help but notice the timing of this discovery and the relative closeness it

is to my own…special…ability. I highly doubt that this is merely…coincidence. I also

question the effects of that sample of armalcolite…and that ‘experiment’ and that

blinding light. Could that light have been more than just light. After all, light is just a

form of energy…could that have been a different sort of energy…and could that energy

have somehow destabilized our cells…right down to our genetic structure? I don’t have

the resources to further test myself without letting others know, but I could receive more

information by even the most elementary testing of somebody else if what has happened

to me has, in fact, happened to others. I must get this student to cooperate with me and

study this further.”

The following class period for that section Stuart Jorley did something he hated

doing as a teacher, but knew he had to do it. Not only did the video he had watched

showed that the student he was tracking did not arrive in class until five minutes after it

started, he also left at precisely five minutes before class was scheduled to end. So, at

exactly six minutes and forty seconds before class was scheduled to end, Jorley’s digital

watch set off a soft alarm. Jorley wrapped up his lecture as he bounded towards the back

of the class room, towards the row where his super-speed student sat. He then declared,

“And with that, class is dismissed. You may all leave early.”

Bill Delauney was completely taken off guard by Jorley’s declaration. He knew

the kid he sat next to who napped all class would have his alarm go off and he could

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finally run out of class for good. The past few days since the incident in the woods with

the guy who could blast things out of his hands had been hell. Gary was still not talking

to him and was relying on Charlene to badger him about paying Gary back. Worst of all,

the one thing that could keep Bill in control, that could keep him sane and focused was

now denied him. Bill knew that ‘Joe’ character would most likely never be supplying

again, and even if he was, he would never supply to Bill.

Without the marijuana to slow Bill’s body down, Bill had to resort to other means

to keep himself in control. If he ever went too long without moving at a ridiculously fast

speed he would get a major migraine, and he could not live with that. So he was forced

to develop a system where every couple minutes he would run around campus at top

speed, at which no one else could see him, before returning to whatever it was he was

doing. Because of how fast he could move no one could tell that he was ever gone. This

kept him free from headaches, but was still a painstaking task to accomplish. It was

much easier to just smoke a joint, and much more satisfying.

Now Bill was discouraged because he had to wait for the rest of the students to

empty out of his row before he could exit the classroom. Bill was feeling restless just

waiting the few seconds to file out of the row. He knew this new system he created was

enough to sustain him the past few days, but he would have to figure something else out

to keep him going thereafter, for however long he suffered from this condition. He

wondered if he should have just followed Gary’s advice and gone to see a doctor. Better

yet, he thought, he would have to find a new way to get weed, maybe even look into

cultivating it himself.

Bill became even more disgruntled as Professor Jorley stepped in front of him

before he could run out of the classroom. “Excuse me, young man,” the professor stated,

“I need to have a word with you…in my office, now.”

“What?” Bill asked, stunned, “What’s this about? Can’t this wait until later?”

The last question in that series came out a bit rushed, Bill realized. He had to

strain to control even how he spoke, and since he had become so frustrated it was very

hard for him to concentrate enough to speak slowly.

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Jorley replied, “This cannot wait until later. All your questions will be answered

soon enough. Now, come. Follow me.” Jorley motioned for him to follow him out of

the classroom.

As Jorley began to walk away, Bill saw his opportunity. He ran past Jorley and

the other students out of the building and out of the room. He had to get rid of his built-

up, excess energy and he figured running around the building and a couple adjacent ones

would be enough. He then ran back into the classroom, right behind Jorley where he was

standing before.

Bill hoped that that would have been enough for a while as he followed Jorley

down the hallway into his office. He wondered how long this would last and hoped he

would not be forced to run out of Jorley’s office mid-conversation to get rid of a

headache.

Once they entered Jorley’s office, Jorley offered Bill the seat in front of his desk,

then sat in his own chair. “I know about your special…ability…”

Bill was shocked. Was his professor really referring to his condition and his

ability to move faster than anybody else? Jorley continued, “I don’t want you to lie to

me. I want you to feel like I can be trusted. I’ve seen what you can do, but I won’t

prejudge until you tell me about it yourself. Please, tell me about what you can do.”

Bill considered the consequences of both lying to him and telling the truth. Jorley

seemed pretty certain that he knew something was going on with Bill, even if he wasn’t

sure what that something was. He could make something up, but why would he? He

considered the fact that Jorley might actually be able to help him. He was a chemist, and

perhaps he had some knowledge of biochemistry and could cure his condition. But Bill

still did not want others to know, and he feared Jorley would rat him out to his scientific

colleagues who would treat him as nothing more than an experiment.

“Don’t hesitate,” Jorley urged. “Be assured what you tell me will not leave this

room.”

Bill could feel his heart rate increase, his muscles tighten and his head begin to

pound. This situation was causing him to become more and more nervous and he wanted

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more than nothing than to just run out of there. Bill said, “You know you can’t do

anything to me. I can just run away.”

“I know you can,” Jorley replied, leaning back, a coy smile springing to his face.

Bill decided to explain everything. Jorley seemed to understand the context of his

running comment, which meant he knew. So Bill began, “A couple of weeks ago I

started feeling really weird. My body started reacting to things differently…I became

really edgy, I had to always be moving, I was restless. And more than that, it seemed like

the world around me was just…moving slower. I couldn’t take it! At first I thought it

was some kind of attention deficit disorder or something, but it was much worse. I

actually do move faster than anyone else and it’s like..some sort of super speed or

something.”

Bill paused for what seemed to him to be just a moment. Jorley did not even

notice that he stopped as he continued, “And I can’t take it anymore!! I don’t know how

you figured out that something’s different with me, but I can’t be different anymore!

Before…before I was able to use pot to, kinda, treat the effects, y’know? Weed was able

to speed everything around me up to normal speed, and it wasn’t until later that I realized

it was really only slowing me down. But now…I’ve been cut off from it, and I’ve been

going crazy. If you know about what I can do, you have to help!”

Jorley hunched forward in his seat. He rested his elbows on his desk and rested

his chin on his hands, which we folded together. He uttered, “Fascinating…”

“Are you going to help me or not?!” Bill demanded, rising from his chair. He

could feel the pressure throughout his body from acting so slowly. He did not think he

could hold it in any longer.

“Settle down, settle down,” Jorley replied, “I have to think about what all you said

means.”

“I CAN’T SETTLE DOWN!!” Bill screamed.

He bolted out of the room. He ran across the entire campus up into town. He

then circled around and began running back to the chemistry building. He was acting

foolish and hasty. Professor Jorley might have had the ability to help him. Fortunately,

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he had time to go back and see what the professor had to say. And now he would be

more willing to hear with his nerves settled.

Only a few seconds transpired before Bill was standing before Jorley again.

“Where did you go?” Jorley asked.

Bill scoffed, “Why should I tell you? I still don’t even know if I can trust you.”

Jorley responded, “You’re going to have to trust me out of necessity, young man.

From what you told me it appears all of your biological functions are operating at a speed

exponentially greater than a normal human’s. I need to understand the extent of that

speed in order to help you. I can make a conjecture of that by understanding what you

were able to do in the couple of seconds you were gone.”

Bill sat down again. He rested his head in his hands and concentrated on speaking

at normal speed. He said, “I just ran. I ran all the way into town and then took the long

way back, coming around the southern side of campus back here.”

“All that in a couple seconds…impressive,” Jorley commented.

Jorley got up and circled around his desk. He said, “I thought that that may be the

case with you. I have to admit how I discovered your abilities. I noticed that you were

running in and out of my class. Seems like a few times you ran a little bit further around

campus than you should have, allowing me to catch an empty seat where you should have

been for more than a second.”

“So what do you want?” Bill questioned. “Can you help me?”

“I think I can,” Jorley answered, with a twinkle in his eye. He walked around Bill

and returned to the other side of his desk. He continued, “But not without some

cooperation from you. I’m going to need to understand the full spectrum of your

abilities. That means I’m going to have to run some tests on you.”

“I won’t be a lab rat, if that’s what you’re saying,” Bill stated bluntly.

Jorley cocked his head back and crowed a laugh. “Oh, no, no, no! It won’t be

anything like that! I may have to take a blood sample from you, but only with your

consent. I was more thinking along the lines of physical tests…you know to test your top

speed. It’s only after I have an understanding of how far your condition goes that I can

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sufficiently treat it…but in the meantime…” Jorley chortled.

Jorley sat back in his set. He hunched over his desk and waited for Bill to look up

at him in the eyes. Jorley then finished, “You said marijuana was able to keep you

sedated enough to fully function? I can get you some more marijuana.”

“You can really do that?!” Bill exclaimed.

“Yes,” Jorley answered. “But on a condition. You seem unwilling to want to

help me help you. So, if you meet me here tomorrow at noon to conduct a few trails with

your abilities, then I will supply you with the marijuana.”

Bill got up from his seat and offered Jorley his hand. “Deal,” he said.

Likewise, Jorley arose from his chair, grasped Bill’s hand and shook it. “See you

tomorrow at noon,” Jorley said, smiling a somewhat sinister smile.

Jorley followed Bill to the door and was amazed at how Bill disappeared in an

instant. Jorley stroke his chin, unable to let his grin fade. He was discovering something

monumental. Not only did he have abilities, but now at least one of his students was

developing them too. This gave him a scientific opportunity Jorley had dreamed of his

whole life.

He would, of course, also supply Bill with the marijuana he desired. Jorley

fortunately knew of a former graduate student who cultivated the drug for his own use.

This grad student had also helped Jorley out with a few pranks in years past and was on

good terms with him. He knew he could get the weed, and, with it, he understood he

would have power over Bill. With that power over Bill he would be able to gain more

knowledge about Bill’s abilities. And with that knowledge would come more power.

* * *

For the next couple weeks Stuart Jorley’s mind was constantly focused on the

tests he was running on Bill Delauney. He was even more preoccupied with his new

subject of inquiry than continuing to study his own abilities. The lure of marijuana,

probably even more than the student needed to keep his powers under control, was

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enough for Jorley to make him do almost anything. He even managed to get a blood

sample, and after numerous tests Jorley could still not deduce what had caused Bill’s

condition. He did notice numerous similarities between Bill’s cell structure and his own,

which led him to form a hypothesis that what had happened with the armacolite earlier in

the year was somehow a factor. But without that specific piece of armacolite he would

never be able to prove anything.

“Here’s your refill,” Jorley heard Gerry Simonson say, interrupting his thoughts.

Jorley looked up and took the Styrofoam cup of Pepsi from Simonson as he took

his seat in the bleachers. “I wish we could be drinking a beer, though,” Simonson

complained.

“Well, when the president says this is a dry campus he means a dry campus,”

Jorley mocked, attempting to impersonate the university president’s voice. Simonson

laughed at Jorley’s poor impersonation then asked, “What’d I miss?”

“We managed to score a first down. I don’t know what we’ll be able to do from

here,” Jorley replied.

Simonson scoffed, “You think this freshmen student of yours will be able to get

us close enough to kick a field goal?”

“I don’t know what he’s able to do. But he has managed to get us this far.”

“Yeah, but ZSU’s defense is pretty tight. They’re going to do everything in their

power to keep us where we’re at.”

Jorley and Simonson both enjoyed watching Pine State football, even though

Jorley wasn’t as much of a football enthusiast as Simonson was. There was no way,

however, that the two of them would miss this game. The entire university was in a state

over the fate of the football team. Their star quarterback was injured in the last game,

and their second string quarterback was injured under curious circumstances. It helped

that the new quarterback was a student in Jorley’s class.

Jorley and Simonson watched as David Shaw threw a pass to number thirty-six

and missed. Simonson groaned and Jorley covered his face in shame. Simonson

grumbled, “The guy was wide open! See what I was telling you, Stuart?! This kid just

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isn’t ready yet for college ball! He just doesn’t have it!!”

“Give the kid a break! It’s his first game and it’s one mistake!”

“We have less than three minutes in the game!”

“That can be a long time in football, my friend.”

The two friends braced themselves for the next play. “What’s he doing?! He’s

not doing anything! Throw the ball or something!!” Simonson screamed out as Shaw

seemed to stall. A linebacker charged towards him to sack him. All of a sudden, the

linebacker was thrown back.

“He’s going to run the ball!!” Simonson shouted, stating the obvious.

Jorley and Simonson rose to their feet in conjunction with most of the rest of the

fans in the stadium. Jorley watched with intensity as Shaw seemed to blow by everyone

he touched. It was an amazing feat, with almost everyone who ran towards him being

thrown to the ground. And by accomplishing that, it left the rest of the field free for him

to run all the way to the goal line. “YOOHOO!!!” Simonson yelled, throwing his hands

up in the air, spilling a little bit of his drink as he did so.

“HE DID IT!! THAT FRESHMEN STUDENT OF YOURS DID IT!!”

“It appears he did…” Jorley stated, almost absent mindedly.

Simons turned to hug his friend and noticed that Jorley seemed spaced out.

“What’s up with you? Didn’t you see what happened?!” Simonson asked, almost

appalled by Jorley reaction.

“Yeah…I saw exactly what happened. Did you see what that kid did? How he

trounced through all those other guys?” Jorley responded. Simonson said, “Yeah! That’s

football, my friend! That’s what they’re taught to do! Now, come on and celebrate a

little bit. And hope no miracles for the other team take place in the next couple minutes.”

No such miracles took place. Pine State went on to win the game, but Jorley

could not find in himself the same enthusiasm Simonson had. His mind was too

distracted. A sudden realization had come to him. If he had suddenly discovered new

abilities within himself, and one of his other students from his morning Chemistry class

had strange inexplicable abilities too, then it was possible that other students might

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manifest them as well. This new quarterback was such a student and there was

something unnatural about what happened on the football field. Jorley was not a

physicist but he knew how bodies should react when hit in a certain way, and the bodies

that started tumbling over as Shaw ran past them did not fall in a way they should have if

they had been pushed over. Jorley was a scientist, though, and he would not conclude

anything until he had more evidence.

Three days passed before Stuart Jorley could get his hands on some good footage

of the football game from the Athletic Department. Once again, the professor found

himself sitting alone in his office watching a piece of video of one of his students. He

waited in anticipation as he fast forwarded to the moment near the end of the game where

his student, David Shaw, first showed signs of performing uncannily. He went a little bit

over and rewound it to just the right spot.

“Ok, Mr. Shaw, let us now see if I’m just chasing ghosts here,” Jorley murmured

to himself before pressing play.

Jorley observed with strict scrutiny and he saw that as the opposing team’s

linebacker charged towards Shaw, the quarterback had lifted his arm up. And then the

linebacker just fell backward. Because of the angle of the video camera, Jorley could not

tell if the two had actually made contact. Jorley zoomed in as the video continued and

tried to see to what extent Shaw actually made contact with the other players.

He saw that in the melee of Shaw trying to break through the opposing team’s line

he did touch plenty of players. And each time that occurred, all of the players fell back,

just as Jorley remembered. However, with the video zoomed in, Jorley could see that

Shaw was not ramming into them forcefully. Shaw appeared to Jorley, even with all of

his football gear, to be scrawny compared to the massive linebackers of the other team,

and Shaw seemed to be able to just shrug them off

“This is just…peculiar to me,” Jorley noted.

He would admit to not knowing much about the intricacies of football, but the

voice of rational thought in his head was telling him what he was seeing should not be

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possible. He decided to start back at the beginning of the play, but to play the footage in

millisecond by millisecond frames, just as he had to do with the footage of Bill Delauney.

He noticed something strange. In the frames right after Shaw raised his arm and before

the linebacker fell back, the video had recorded a white streak that seemed to appear

between the two players. It was almost unnoticeable, but when Jorley zoomed in even

more it was apparent. It was a thin white streak, almost as if something had reflected off

the camera.

As Jorley continued to watch he almost missed seeing the same white streaks

again. His keen eye caught them, and to see them clearly he had to zoom in still more.

They appeared each time Dave came into physical contact with someone. Then several

of them would appear, almost sparkling around the area of contact.

“Fascinating…” Jorley whispered to himself.

He stopped the footage and leaned back in his chair. He wondered if this was

enough evidence to prove that David Shaw, like himself and Bill Delauney, had

manifested some sort of ability. The only way to confirm it would be to get Dave to talk

to him. And if a second student really had these powers, it was entirely plausible to

believe that there were more. In fact, all one hundred and eighty-seven students

registered for the course who were there that day could be developing abilities. Jorley

craved the knowledge of how this happened to all of them, who all had abilities, what

they all were, and if the process could be replicated and even brought into one’s control.

To do all of that would require that piece of armalcolite and Jorley could not arrange

himself to get it without attracting Kinsworth’s attention and possible wrath. Then,

Jorley developed what he considered a brilliant idea.

* * *

Professor Jorley arrived approximately a minute before his ten o’clock class was

supposed to start that next day. Before he made his way to the front of the room he

scoped the classroom out. Many of his 187 students by this point in the semester had

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dropped out, as was typical. Usually only three quarters of the students show up to class

from day-to-day anyway, and that was the case that day. Now he had to find himself his

quarterback.

Jorley spotted him, seated midway through the classroom and right at the end of

the row adjacent to the middle aisle. Perfect, Jorley thought and made his way down the

aisle towards him. He stopped next to where Dave was sitting, bent down next to him

and whispered, “I’m going to have to see you after class. Just stay right here, ok?” Jorley didn’t

even give him a chance to reply before continuing down the aisle to the front of the room

to start the class.

Dave felt a little angry to hear that the professor wanted to see him after class. He

hoped it did not have anything to do with his grades. He was trying his best in the class

and was even going to tutoring to get him through. Maybe it was just that Jorley was

worried about the potential for Dave slacking off now that he was officially quarterback.

In another sense, Dave was relieved because now it would save him the fear of

running into Amanda on his way out of class. He had intentionally come to class late on

Monday, fearing running into Amanda on his way in. He spent half the class looking

around the room for where Amanda was sitting so that he could avoid her on his way out.

That day he arrived just before class started and was unable to spot Amanda as he walked

towards one of the open seats he saw. It was one thing to share a class with one’s ex, it

was quite another to share a class with somebody who had tried to kill you.

Without giving further thought to Amanda, Dave did find it easier to concentrate

in class. He also hoped that if he paid well enough attention that day he would be able to

assuage Jorley of any concerns he might have over his performance. When class was

dismissed Dave waited patiently in his seat as all the other students filed out of the room.

He looked out for Amanda among the dispersing crowd, but he did not catch sight of her.

Maybe she had not come to class that day and she was trying to avoid Dave as

desperately as he was trying to avoid her.

Once everyone had left, Dave arose from his chair and sauntered towards the front

of the room where Jorley was waiting. “What’s up, Doc?” Dave asked. “You worried

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about my grades?”

“Oh, I’m not worried about your grades,” Jorley assured him with a smile. “I’ll

leave the Athletic Department to worry about that.” Dave gave him a perplexed look. He

could not fathom why else Jorley would call on him to stay after class.

“It’s something else I’m worried about,” Jorley admitted. He began to walk back

and forth across the chalkboard as he explained, “Strange things have been happening in

the past several weeks. Ever since that little prank I pulled with the armacolite. Students

have been…manifesting abilities.”

Dave’s stomach dropped. He knew. Somehow Jorley knew about him and his

powers. And on top of that, it was not just him. Unless he was referencing only

Amanda, it also meant it was not something strictly between the two of them. He was not

the only one with an extra power that set him apart from everyone else. There were

others and Jorley knew about it.

Jorley continued, “This is what has started to worry me. Some of these abilities

can be dangerous. Some of them harmful to the students themselves. But I don’t know

how many students have them. I need to find all the ones that do, and due to

some….restrictions that have been placed upon me, I can’t do that myself. I need

somebody else…somebody who can insure confidence in the students and even…inspire

them.” Jorley stopped pacing and glanced at Dave to see his response.

“So what?” Dave asked. “You want me to see how many of these hundreds of

students have powers?”

Dave broke into a laugh and back a couple steps away from the professor. “What

kind of job is that? There are dozens…maybe hundreds of kids in this classroom.

What…this classroom holds two hundred? Geez, I’m not even gonna bother figuring out

how many kids are in here. There’s nothing you can make me do, Professor, and I’m not

gonna waste my time on some magical treasure hunt to find kids with ‘powers.’ I’m busy

enough as it is. Good luck with all that, sir, I’m outta here.”

Dave turned to leave. He hoped that Jorley would call his bluff and believe that

Dave found the concept of people have powers as incredulous. Hopefully the professor

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would turn to someone else and not believe that Dave had powers at all. And if the

professor did know, Dave had a hunch it was Amanda’s doing, and if that was the case,

Dave would make Amanda pay.

“Well, that’s a shame really,” Dave heard Jorley sigh as he walked away. “You

know I saw you play the other day?”

Dave turned around, looking at Jorley quizzically. “Did you really think you’d

get me to do all this for you by just sweet talking me and my game?”

“Yes,” Jorley replied, “And you’re staying right now, aren’t you? You see, I

noticed something on that field the other day. You were rated incredibly low, everyone

had low expectations of you, and I bet you were feeling incredibly tense the whole time,

hm? But you pulled it together, you took control of the field and your team. I need

someone of that caliber for this job. It’s much more than just searching through the many

students of this class to see which ones have extra abilities. It’s about helping them

control them, and figuring out how this came to be about…and maybe even enhancing

them. And it appears you, young man, have your abilities under control.”

“How do you know that?!” Dave found himself yelling, “WHO TOLD YOU?!”

“No one told me,” Jorley answered.

Dave sensed the sincerity in his voice. And, he figured, Jorley would have no

reason to lie to him. Jorley apparently wanted to know which students had abilities and

needed somebody who could teach them how to control them. If Amanda was the one

who revealed to Jorley Dave’s abilities and his efficacy as a teacher, Jorley would have

brought it up.

“So how did you know?” Dave asked.

“I…have my ways,” Jorley said with a smile, “Actually…to be quite honest, I

don’t know that much about your powers aside from the fact that you have them.”

“Oh really?” Dave murmured. A menacing grin appeared on his face. He held

out his hand for Jorley to see and suddenly several sparks began to leap in and out of his

hands. He tried to make it as melodramatic as possible, with some of the sparks leaping

and coursing through the floor up to Jorley’s feet before flying back towards his hand,

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and others stretching up to the ceiling.

“I have the power to control electricity,” Dave explained, “And not just that, but

everything that is conductive of electricity. And I’m damn good at controlling it too. I

can do things you couldn’t even dream of. In my hands I have the power to kill someone,

all right? So there is nothing you can make me do.

“And I don’t want any of this getting around either,” Dave threatened. “All these

other people around here, the students, teacher, coaches…none of them would be able to

understand what I can do. They’d be afraid of it…I can just imagine myself getting

kicked off the team for this. And I don’t want that to happen. I’ve worked hard for

where I am! And I won’t have some snoopy Chemistry professor ruin it all for me!

Understand?!”

To highlight his point, Dave sent sparks of electricity flaring throughout the entire

room, before calling them back into his hand and shutting them off by clenching his fist.

He was more upset over this than he thought he would be. But he was not afraid to do to

Professor Jorley what he did to John to protect himself and his position on the football

team.

“That is a truly marvelous ability,” Jorley gasped with a hint of awe. “You really

do have a power that sets you over and above everyone else. No wonder you carried

yourself with such confidence throughout the course of that game. But, have you ever

wondered…if you could have more?”

“What are you talking about?” Dave inquired, his curiosity piqued.

“That prank I pulled weeks ago…with the armacolite,” Jorley elucidated, “I think

that was the cause for these manifestations. I need to understand how that happened.

The only way I can do that is with the original piece of armacolite that I had that day in

class. If I had that I would be able to figure out what exactly happened that day, and in so

doing, I may discover a way to not only help students control their powers, but enhance

them.”

“So you could make me even better than what I am?”

“Yes! And you have to believe me that I would keep all of this in strict

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confidence between us! I’m already under enough scrutiny as it is because of that prank,

if others found out about your powers, it would not mean you getting kicked off the

football team, but me losing my job!” Jorley admitted, hoping this display of honesty

would convince Dave to help him.

“All right…so what exactly is it you want me to do? You can’t really expect me

to go through every single person in this class and decipher which ones have abilities?”

“No, you won’t have to do that,” Jorley went on to say, “As I’ve said I don’t

know how many have them, and that only two have come to my attention out of so many

students who could-”

“Two?!” Dave interrupted, “Including me? Who does that make the other

person?!”

Jorley heard a gruffness in Dave’s voice as he asked. “A fellow student of yours

named William Delauney. All of his body functions operate at a speed exponentially

greater than a normal human’s. He’s been having a hard time of it and…he’s the one

who’s inspired me to try and help whomever else may need it.”

Dave was relieved that Amanda Zemin was not the one Jorley mentioned. And

she would hopefully stay unmentioned, Dave decided. Dave didn’t want anything else to

do with her, and she could learn to help herself. Making sure that Jorley did not learn

about her would be a difficult task though.

Jorley continued, “As I was saying…since only two out of over a possible

hundred have been noticed by me, I think the number is relatively low. This may take

you some time, but I just want you to be vigilant, to seek out those who may seem

peculiar. Follow them out of class, spy on them a little bit if you have to, but don’t be

obvious. Just be on the constant look out for anything out of the ordinary, and if you see

such a thing observe it until you can confirm the person has extraordinary abilities.

“Then, I would like for you to approach them. Let them know that you have

abilities yourself, and that you’re trying to help them. Once you have found a couple

people there is a task you will need to accomplish if we are going to help anybody or

enhance your powers,” Jorley went on, explaining his plot, “You will have to lead a team

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of your fellow super-powered students to the city’s Natural History Museum. There, you

will use your abilities to sneak in and steal the very same piece of armacolite that I

brought to class. If it’s not the exact same piece I can do nothing to help anybody.”

Dave guffawed. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” he chortled in between laughs,

“I really have a professor here, standing right in front of me, encouraging me to break the

law and steal a moon rock from a museum! You have got to be joking!”

Jorley pursed his lips together. He should have expected the youngster to react in

this way. He tried to look as stern as he possibly could and stated with all manner of

seriousness, “I am not joking. I may have plenty of laughs in the classroom, but not here,

not with this. Listen to me!!!”

He had lowered his voice to highlight how serious he was and then continued,

“Look at the abilities you have! Look what you can do!! You have no rival in anything

you wish to accomplish. Your studies, football, anything else…it means nothing because

you are above other people. Your powers put you there. Was the law written for a man

who can control the very currents of electricity? Did legislators ever factor that in to their

legislation?! No. All that does and should matter to you are your new abilities. With the

power of the armacolite we can make you more powerful and with that you will be able

to do anything. This may sound clichéd, but you can change the world.”

Dave took a cold, long look at the professor as he processed everything that was

told to him. It was true that his abilities put him on a different playing field than others.

It was apparent even in his football game that past weekend. No one could even touch

him. He realized that if he continued playing that way it would not be much of a game at

all. And if it was that way on the football field, wasn’t it that way everywhere else, he

wondered. With his powers he could make anything what he wanted it to be. Everyone

else was simply a pawn, restricted in their movements by the rules of the game. But he

was a queen, able to do whatever he pleased.

“All right, you made your point,” Dave stated. “I’ll go along with this. I’ll recruit

some other kids and see who has developed special kinds of abilities too. I can’t

guarantee I’ll find anyone, though…so much of this seems like a wild goose chase.”

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Jorley smiled a friendly smile and replied, “I believe in you. You can do great

things, Mr. Shaw. Surely a little detective work is nothing for you. Just remember what I

said here today.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dave said, waving his hand to Jorley before departing, “I’ll let you

know what I find. But I’ve got other things to do now and have to go.”

Dave turned around and made his way out of the classroom. As he approached

the door he grumbled to himself, “This is impossible! How am I going to find these other

guys? ‘Be vigilant,’ he says. ‘Look out for peculiar things,’ he says. What are the odds

I’m going to see something peculiar around here?”

As he opened the door he saw two black girls standing in front of him, holding

each other closely. The one said, “Do you want to try it? See if it works?” He heard the

other softly utter, “Ok..” And then inexplicably they disappeared in a blink of an eye.

“…I guess those odds are pretty good…” Dave gawked.

* * *

The next day Dave had Chemistry class he arrived early, before anyone else. He

leaned against the double doors of the classroom trying to look as inconspicuous as

possible. He had to look out for one of the two disappearing black girls he had seen the

other day. He couldn’t tell then which of the two was the one with the ability, so he had

to be on the look out for both. And he could not forego the possibility that it was both of

the girls together who had abilities.

He felt ridiculous. Fellow students started slowly entering the classroom and he

just had to stand there, avoiding their eyesight and pretending like what he was doing

wasn’t strange at all. Plus, he had to keep on eye out on the entrance on the other side of

the room in case the girl, or both girls, entered that way. And he had to be on the lookout

for Amanda, whom he was still trying to avoid.

Dave’s task became harder as it got closer to ten o’clock and dozens of students

seemed to arrive all at once. “Come on,” Dave muttered under his breath to himself.

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“This can’t be that hard…how many black girls are even on this campus, much less in

this class. She should be easy to spot out.”

He remembered the one girl was tall, with long braided hair, and the other was

short with short straight hair. Which of the two would it be, Dave asked himself, or

would it be both. Just as class was about to start Dave caught sight of her. It was the

short girl with the short straight hair, and Dave saw her come in the other entrance. He

did not see the tall girl with the long braided hair. Either she was not in class today, or

she was never in this class and wasn’t the one with the abilities. Whatever those abilities

may be, Dave pondered, which included being able to disappear in some way.

Dave watched the girl as she sat down and then took his own seat, finding the

closest one available near her. He sat through class, trying to pay as much attention as

possible, though his mind constantly wandered. Part of him could not believe that the

same dorky professor who was railing on about oxidation numbers at that moment was

really the same guy who the other day had conned him into recruiting a group of super-

powered students to raid the Natural History Museum to steal a space rock. He could

also not believe that after class was over he was about to stalk this girl to see if she really

had abilities of some kind or if he had just imagined seeing her disappear the other day.

Once class ended, as usual, there was a mad rush for all of the students to leave.

Dave tried to keep as close of an eye on the girl as possible as they both got up from their

seats to head for the door. Dave managed to push through a couple of other kids to get

right behind her as they exited the same doorway. He followed her down the hallway as

indiscreetly as he could.

The girl’s cell phone then went off. She picked it up and Dave tried to listen in on

her conversation:

“Hey, Nicki…yeah, I’m comin’….hey, do you know where we’re goin’

tonight?.....The Hub? Leon promised you, huh?....Ok, as long as we go to a couple other

bars too…”

Dave was so focused on the disappearing girl and her conversation that he was no

longer paying attention to where he was going and walked right into another guy. “Hey,

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man!” the boy exclaimed, “Watch where you’re-!”

The student whom Dave ran into took a look at Dave and realized, “Hey!! You’re

the new quarterback!”

“Yeah…I am,” Dave replied, throwing a glance at the girl to see where she was

walking.

“That was an awesome play last week! Winning touchdown, man. High five!”

The student rose up his hand for Dave to give him a high five, and Dave rolled his

eyes. “Look, I appreciate the compliment and all, but…I’ve gotta run. Be sure to come

to our next home game in two weeks.”

Dave then ran to catch up with the girl, whom he had lost sight of. He supposed

she had exited the front doors of the building and ran through them. At that point

students were walking all around campus, walking in between classes, and some going to

lunch. He looked all around him, but no sight of the vanishing girl. Maybe, he

concluded, she vanished again.

* * *

It was Friday at noon and Bill Delauney was scheduled to arrive in Professor

Jorley’s office for his next week’s supply of marijuana. Stuart Jorley waited patiently in

his office for the student to arrive, musing the different ways to tell Delauney the next

phase of his plans.

Bill arrived shortly after noon, closed the door behind him and walked up to

Jorley’s desk. “You got the stuff?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jorley answered, not looking at Bill, but staring off, his mind still

preoccupied.

“I don’t have to do any more of your tests, right? You said you got all the info

you needed?” Bill double-checked. He did not like having to be observed by Jorley.

Marijuana was all he needed to keep his condition in check, and he didn’t see the need in

helping Jorley with his scientific experiments at all. The only reason he had done it was

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to secure his supply of weed, and if he could get it without the hoops and inconveniences,

that was all the better.

“Yes, that’s right, but there’s something else,” Jorley responded.

“What do you mean by that?”

Jorley turned in his seat to finally face Bill. He stated, “There’s something else

now that I need your help with. This is the key, Mr. Delauney, of understanding your

condition…of making it better.”

Bill scoffed, “I don’t need to understand it any further. Thanks for all the help

and everything, but as long as I have pot, I’m set for life.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jorley questioned.

Bill looked away from Jorley. He did not want to think about that. He did not

want to remember how his condition felt, the nerves, the pain, how unbearable it all was.

The past few weeks he had known peace and comfort again, relatively speaking, of

course. He knew, however, that there was a possibility that it could all come back again.

He knew that it was possible that his body could become immune to the levels of

tetrahydrocannabinol he was in taking and his problems would start all over again.

“So what do you want?” Bill asked.

Jorley cleared his throat and then said, “It’s come to my attention that you’re not

the only one who’s manifested abilities.” Bill felt like a light turned on in his head. The

image of that kid with the energy blasts came to his mind. The kid he had grown to loath

for sabotaging his previous attempts to secure a supply of weed for himself. Since Jorley

first came to him, he had almost forgotten about that kid and what he was able to do.

Jorley continued, “It appears that other students have as well. And I’m worried

that, like you, many of them will not know how to control their powers, that many of

them are suffering as you have. All of this makes me want to conclude that it all comes

back to that prank I pulled in class with the armacolite. Do you remember that?”

Jorley sighed, “It was the only time in my history of teaching I dismissed a class

five minutes in. Such a shame…”

Jorley regained his composure and went on to say, “But that light…that radiation

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that was emitted from that armacolite in water…I think it may have changed you and

some of your fellow students…affected you in some way to give you what appears to be

super powers. The only way I can help you now, to understand your condition to its full

extent, and figure out a way to treat it when and if cannabis no longer can, is to retrieve

that exact same piece of armacolite. Unfortunately, that piece is somewhere in the city’s

Natural History Museum, and my channels through the university for retrieving it have

been blocked. The only other way I can think of to get it is to steal it…so, I am having

another student assemble a team of those like yourself, with abilities, to steal that piece of

armacolite from the museum.”

After a pause Jorley looked Bill in the eyes and asked, “Would you be

comfortable doing that?” Bill thought for just a moment. He could refuse the professor

and possibly risk his only source of marijuana which was keeping his condition regulated.

Or, he could join a group of those with other abilities to break into a museum and steal a

moon rock which had the possibility of revealing a way to regulate his condition if weed

ever failed him. Bill hardly even regarded that as a choice.

“I’ll do it,” Bill answered.

“Perrrfect,” Jorley purred. “Now, let me get you that cannabis and you can be on

your way. I’ll let you know when we have enough students to go on this little mission of

yours.” Jorley opened up one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a small pouch

filled with marijuana. He handed it over to Bill, who gladly took it.

“One other thing, Professor,” Bill mentioned.

“Yes…?”

“I think I know of someone else who has abilities…someone who can join us on

our mission.”

* * *

David Shaw sat in his dorm room that same night, thinking about what he should

do. He felt like a failure, having lost track of that vanishing girl. But, he reminded

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himself, if she could disappear there was not much he could have done to keep track of

her. Now, however, he had the option of trying to seek her out. He recalled that she said

that she wanted to go to the Hub, a bar in town. But Dave didn’t know when and if she

would in fact be there. Plus, he had wanted to get to bed early that night, as he had to be

up at four in the morning to leave for an away game.

“Hey, aren’t you going to go to bed soon?” Pat reminded him.

“Well…” Dave responded, staring blankly at his computer screen.

It was quarter to ten. He and Pat had to be up in a little over six hours. Dave did

not know if this girl would even ever go to the Hub that night, and even if she did it

probably would not be until later. Dave did not want to waste a good night’s rest for a

big game on a wild goose chase. Then again, he recalled what Jorley had told him; his

powers made him bigger than football games, the acquisition of more power was more

important than a mindless sport.

“I’m going out,” Dave declared suddenly.

“What?!”

Pat hopped off of his bed, where he had been lying in his pajamas reading a

magazine. “Where are you going? Don’t you wanna rest up for the big game

tomorrow?”

Pat protested, “This is your first away game as QB! What could be so important

that you-?”

Dave threw on his coat and gave Pat a look that cut him off. “I just have to go.

It’s a, uh, pre-game ritual,” Dave lied. “It’s something I have to do before the game

tomorrow. I have to do it alone. I shouldn’t be gone long.”

Dave left his roommate sitting on his bed, dumbfounded. He left Brach Hall and

strolled through campus, taking his time and watching several of the students walking

about going out for their Friday evenings. He took in the sights of campus, as much as he

could see in the dark, and noticed how many of the trees were beginning to lose their

leaves already.

Dave took the long way to town, trying to stall as much as possible. When he

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arrived he was surprised by the number of students out, even though it was relatively

early at night and rather chilly out. He walked up and down the main streets where the

bars were located a few times, just to see if he noticed the black girl anywhere else at all.

Finally he went into the Hub to sit there and wait for her to show up, if she ever

would. He went to the bar and ordered a soda, inviting a strange look from the bartender.

Dave showed him his markered hands, signifying he was under twenty-one and the

bartender than gave him a smile and nod. Dave sighed; it would have been so easy for

him to get an alcoholic drink at that place. He wasn’t going to, however, he had a big

game the next day and he was there for one purpose only.

He looked around the bar, watching out for the vanishing girl, but the bar was

sparsely populated. A local student band was playing on stage and it seemed most of the

people there were a part of that band’s groupies. Dave walked over to a row of seats at

the other end of the bar and picked one of the empty tables to sit at. He decided he would

wait there until 11:30 for the girl to show, and if she didn’t, he would still get four hours

of decent sleep, plus whatever sleep he was able to get on the bus.

Time slowly crept by. The band finished playing and was replaced by a DJ.

Slowly, more and more students, and even a few townies, began to crowd the bar up.

Once that started happening he began to take a few “tours” around the bar, looking

around for the vanishing girl. He still did not know quite what he was going to do once

he found her. He supposed that he would trail her and watch to see if she ever did

anything suspicious again. He still did not know what her power was, exactly, and he

guessed Jorley would want him to find that out first before even approaching her.

After failing to notice her on another one of his tours he saw that his seat had been

taken by a solitary, young-looking black guy. Dave considered going up and asking if he

could sit down with him, but then he noticed a someone else approach the guy. Though it

was hard to tell with the poor lighting, but Dave swore it was the vanishing girl. Dave

stealthily leaned against the back wall, behind the table and tried to listen in on their

conversation.

He could not hear anything the two said over the noise of the music and multiple

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conversations. Somehow though, from across the room shouts of “HEY!” “C’MON

MAN!!” and “THAT’S RACIST!!!” could be heard.

The vanishing girl and her friend almost leaped from their chairs to see what was

going on. Judging from the content of the yells something must have been going on with

some other black students, whom vanishing girl and friend may have known. As Dave

tried to follow them through the crowd he considered the shouters didn’t have to be

black, they could be Hispanic. The voices had sounded too deep to be Asian, he also

concluded.

The ruckus had drawn a huge crowd and Dave found it impossible to follow the

vanishing girl. He was blocked by too many people and he could not even see what was

going on, but had presumed a fight had broken out. The action soon migrated towards

the entrance to the bar, and Dave supposed the aggressors were being escorted out of the

building.

As Dave approached the entrance himself he heard more shouting. It seemed the

fight, if there was one to start out with, had broken out again. Dave was shoved through

the doorway by some other kids who had wanted to see what was going on. Dave tried to

regain his bearings and see if he could spot vanishing girl through the crowd.

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself. “If it isn’t one thing it’s another. I’ll never be

able to find this girl…and on top of it all I have a game tomorrow!!” As soon as he

finished his complaint he saw the black guy, the one who had taken his seat and was

talking to the vanishing girl before. Dave forced his way through the crowd to catch up

with the guy. This time, however, he coated his body in layer of extra static electricity,

so if anyone tried to push him around again they would get a nice static shock. He

wondered why he hadn’t done that in the first place.

The black guy fell into the alley adjacent to the bar and Dave crept over there. He

leaned against the front wall of the bar and peered into the alleyway to see what was

going on. There, he saw the vanishing girl, but she looked to be rather preoccupied.

Another black guy was literally on top of her, and Dave could not tell if it was consensual

or not. The black guy Dave had followed did not consider it to be and called out the

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girl’s name, Tanya.

The black guy molesting Tanya then dragged Tanya off with him to the other end

of the alley. The other black guy ran after them, shouting the girl’s name again. Dave

crept into the alley to get a better look at what was going on. Then, the one black guy

threw Tanya to the ground and pull out a knife and seemed to gut the other guy.

Dave decided it was time to get involved. He didn’t know who this Tanya was,

but she was important to him solely on the basis of the abilities she may have and he

wasn’t going to allow this other guy to rape her, kill her, or do whatever he was planning

to do with her. Dave just couldn’t believe that this guy would kill someone when the

police were only yards away breaking up a bar fight.

Before Dave could do anything, the malevolent black guy dropped his knife and

backed away from the guy he stabbed, who had no reaction at all. It was as if the guy had

not been hurt. And then Dave thought that maybe the black guy had powers of some sort,

too. He decided to forego following these people around and trying to investigate

whether they had powers or not. Dave was getting tired, he had to be up early and he was

possibly dealing with a homicidal maniac. He would confront these two and be up front

with them and get a straight answer whether or not they had special abilities. But first, he

had someone else to deal with.

Dave lifted his hand and shot out a current of electricity, aiming it at the

malevolent black guy. He poured out about as much energy as he had against Amanda

when she tried to kill him, enough to knock the guy out but not kill him. With the bad

guy neutralized, Dave triumphantly approached his quarry, allowing the electricity he

harnessed to swirl about him.

He was pretty sure Tanya had a special ability, but the other guy he was not too

sure about. He could not really tell what happened when the bad guy had tried to stab

him, but something seemed to happen that was out of the ordinary. So Dave asked, “So,

you must have some kind of special ability too, huh?”

Ken gawked, “Who…are you?”

Dave replied, “My name is David Shaw, and I think I have answers to a lot of the

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questions both of you have right now.”

“What’s going on over there?!” the three of them heard.

They all turned around and at the other end of the alley there stood a police

officer, who found what he saw extremely suspicious. Dave turned to Ken and Tanya

and commanded, “Run. I’ll catch up with you.”

“What..? No, I-” Ken started to argue, but Tanya said, “No, Ken. C’mon, let’s

go!” Ken helped Tanya up and they both bolted out of the alley and up the street.

“Where are we going?” Ken asked.

“I don’t know,” Tanya admitted, “I figure we might as well run to the park. That

white guy said he’d catch up wit’ us…an’ if he doesn’t I really don’t care.”

“FREEZE!!” the police officer had commanded, but too late to stop Ken and

Tanya from running away. He pulled out his tazer gun, and though he could no longer

use it on Ken or Tanya, he was prepared to use it on Dave. Dave lifted his arm and sent

out a single, invisible current of electricity. The current flowed through the air across the

entire alley until it met and entered into the officer’s tazer gun. At that point, it was

Dave’s to control.

The officer felt a tug on his hands, as if the tazer gun was aiming itself. Then the

gun went off, with the tazers flying towards the walls of the alley. “What the hell?” the

officer grunted.

Then, the tazer gun flew out of his hands and was thrown at his face with enough

force to break the officer’s nose. “AAUUGH!!” the officer cried out. Dave chuckled and

ran off. He figured more officers would come to investigate so he threw his arm up and

poured out several currents of electricity at a nearby wooden pole supporting an electrical

line. The electrical burst cracked the wooden pole in two and set it crashing down in

front of the alley. Dave then ran off to catch up with Ken and Tanya.

Ken and Tanya ran as fast as they could down Pine Street to Russell Park, a small

park at the complete opposite end of town from the university. It was close to an

elementary school and was a nice place for parents of the small town to take their

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children during the day, but was rarely frequented at night.

Ken followed Tanya there, and she collapsed on the nearest bench, nearly out of

breath. “Is…is that white guy coming…?” Tanya asked, gulping for air in between her

words.

Ken looked back and answered, “I can’t tell. It’s too dark.”

Tanya looked up at Ken and asked, “Wah…Wah’s goin’ on? How aren’t you

hurt?” Ken looked back down at his shirt and the tear that Jamal inflicted with his knife.

“I…I have no idea what’s going on. I lost you as we tried walking out of the Hub, and

then Jamal…he was…wasn’t he…?”

Tanya stared down at her feet. She felt tears begin to well in her eyes. The

adrenaline from before was starting to wear off and she felt the full emotional impact of

what had happened to her. She answered, “Yeah…he was. I…thanks, Ken. You were

there for me when I needed you an’ I…oh my god, you coulda’ been killed!!”

Ken took a seat next to Tanya. He wanted to comfort her, hold her and be her

emotional rock. But he didn’t know how. Instead, he sat there awkwardly, staring at her

longingly and searching for the words to say. What came out was, “I…I want to be there

for you, Tanya. And right now…I don’t know what’s going on. That guy…! He…he,

like, zapped Jamal! And me…I don’t know what happening to me. I was stabbed…I felt

Jamal’s knife hit my skin…but nothing happened. He said that I had a-a ‘special

ability’…I don’t know what that means, and he said he could answer our questions.”

Tanya then started to realize what was going on, why Ken was not hurt and why

the white guy was able to do what he did. They were like her. They had special abilities.

And apparently this David Shaw knew about it, had answers to their questions and might

be able to help. “I think…I think we should wait here for that guy and see what he has to

say,” Tanya decided.

At that precise moment Dave appeared. “Hey, you guys are both pretty quick,”

he commented.

Ken jolted up from the bench . He meant to say what he had to say forcefully, but

his voice barely rose above a whisper as he said, “All right, what do you know? What

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did you mean when you said ‘special abilities’? How did you do what you did to Jamal?”

Dave raised his hands in the air and stated, “I’ll tell you everything you need and

want to know, but first I have to understand if you guys are really what I think you are.”

He turned to Tanya and asked, “I think I’ve seen you use powers, but I’m not sure. How

did you do that disappearing thing from the other day, outside of our Chemistry

classroom?”

Both Tanya and Ken were startled by this accusation. Tanya was surprised that

Dave knew about her; she thought he was after Ken. Ken was becoming more and more

confused with everything going on, one guy being able to electrocute another, he being

stabbed and not hurt, and now Tanya being accused of having powers too.

“Wh-…What are you talking about?” Tanya asked, pretending not to know.

“Oh, come on!” Dave urged, “I saw you this past Wednesday, about ten minutes

after Chemistry class ended. You were huddling outside the door with another girl and

then you disappeared. No one can do that…normally. And I know it had to be you

because you’re in that Chemistry class and that other girl isn’t. There’s no reason to hide

anything from me, just tell me exactly what you can do so I can help you.”

Tanya gasped. He had seen her teleport with Nicki the other day. She didn’t

think that anyone else was around then. But at the time she was so distraught, he could

have easily been there without her noticing. Ken was even more confused and

stammered, “W-W-Wait…you’re in our Chemistry class…?”

“So…you are in that class with us?” Dave turned towards Ken, “That would

explain why you have abilities too, if you do so.”

Ken balked, “I…I don’t have any abilities. Unless…can…you just explain what’s

going on?”

“It’s true,” Tanya stated before Dave could respond, “I…I do have an ability. I

only realized it, like, in the past week. I can…teleport. That’s what you saw me do the

other day. I didn’t know how to control it, and my friend was helping me.”

“You can…teleport?” Ken gaped.

Tanya slowly nodded her head. Dave asked Ken, “So, do you know what you can

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do?”

Ken sat back down next to Tanya and rested his forehead in the cup of his hands.

He answered, “I…don’t know what I can do. I…can’t believe all this. All I know is that

I shoulda’ been stabbed in the gut and nothing happened to me. Why is this

happening…? How did you electrocute that guy? How did you know about Tanya and

me?”

Now that Tanya had admitted that she had abilities, Dave felt it was time to start

explaining everything to the pair. He began, “Well, as I said, I knew about Tanya

because I saw her teleport. But there’s a reason I followed her to the bar tonight. The

reason we, and I think you too, have these abilities is because of what happened in

Chemistry class about a month ago. Remember, Professor Jorley put that moon rock in

the water and there was that flash of light? Apparently that energy changed something in

us to give us powers.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ken commented, “This is like a comic book.”

“Well, it’s what’s happened,” Dave responded, “And Professor Jorley seems to

think that there’s a scientific explanation behind it. He wants to meet the two of you, get

to have an understanding of your powers and…possibly, seek your help in helping

others.”

“Helping others…?” Tanya questioned.

“Yes,” Dave replied, “You mentioned not being able to control your abilities at

first, right? Well, Jorley thinks that any and possibly all of the other almost two hundred

kids in our class could have been affected. You’ve gotta believe that most of them are

going to have problems with that. I had a pretty easy time learning to use my own

ability…but I know someone else who…couldn’t do it alone.”

Dave paused. He didn’t want to think of Amanda and reminded himself that she

wouldn’t be a part of this. He continued, “And I’m not going to involve you guys

without knowing what you’re getting into. The only way we can really help is to

understand how exactly we got these abilities, and the only way that can be done is with

that same moon rock. It seems…Jorley can’t get it…and we can’t risk other people

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knowing about this. So, we’re going to have to find a way to get the moon rock out of

the Gracchi Natural History, and I wanted to know if you could help me in that.”

Tanya and Ken looked at each other. Ken looked back up at Dave and asked,

“Wait…what do you mean get the moon rock out of the Natural History Museum?”

Dave sighed. He thought he would have trouble in this area. He replied, “We’re

most likely going to have to sneak into the Natural History Museum and steal the

armacolite. I know you might have a problem with this, but think about it! Think about

the other students here suffering because they don’t understand what’s happening to

them. Think about how other people would react if they knew that we were different

than them. Do you really think they would help us? Can we risk something happening to

somebody else because their powers are out of control before somebody even believes

us? This is something we have to do ourselves…and I trust Jorley to help us because he

has a stake in this. It’s his fault this is happening to us, and his ruin.

“If you’re willing to do this with me, even though you think it may be wrong,

you’ll be doing a great service. With our abilities, especially your ability to teleport, we

can get in and out of the building without anyone ever noticing, taking one moon rock

that’s hardly worth anyone else’s attention. Then Jorley will be able to study it,

understand how these abilities work within each of us and help the dozens of other

students who won’t be able to control their abilities.”

Tanya was torn. She remembered how she felt when her ability first manifested.

She remembered how scared she was and how she thought she was crazy. Someone else

could be going through the exact same thing and she had the power to help them. So

what, she thought, if she was breaking the law to do so. Wasn’t it more moral to help

somebody out than to follow the law?

She looked to Ken, who appeared hesitant. He did not want to do this at all and

was still unsure of what his ability was, if he had one. He didn’t want to get involved in

this, unless Tanya did.

“I’ll do it,” Tanya stated, trying to keep her composure. “I’ll help you.”

“What…?!” Ken exclaimed.

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“Yeah,” Tanya replied to him, “I think I’m gonna do it. This guy here’s right.

You…you don’t understand the…agony I was in when I first got my powers. I…I don’

wanna think that…by me not acting now…I’m condemning someone to that same kind of

pain.”

“But…”

Tanya did not let Ken finish his statement and got up from the bench. “No ‘buts’

on this one,” she claimed. “I’ve decided. I’m gonna do this. An’ I don’t expect you to

do it with me if you don’t want to.”

“Good,” Dave said with a smile. He hadn’t expected it to go this easily. Now he

could get back to his dorm and try and get some sleep before he had to wake up for his

game. “You can either stop by Jorley’s office sometime or see ‘im after class. Just tell

him I sent you, he’ll know what it’s about.”

“W-W-Wait!” Ken clamored.

Tanya and Dave looked down at him. Ken said, “I…I’ll do it too. I don’t know if

I actually have these…‘powers’ you’re talking about, but I have to find out. Jorley may

be able to help me in that.”

“Well, you guys are making the right decision,” Dave stated and then turned to

leave. Ken got up from the bench, and Tanya reached out her hand for Ken to take. Ken

took it and blushed as his lips turned to form a smile.

“Walk me to my dorm?” Tanya asked.

“Sure,” Ken replied. The two traveled down Pine Street back towards campus.

They walked silently, both of them troubled by that night’s events and anxious about

what was to come.

Chapter 8

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Christopher Kirby walked down the sidewalk leading from town to his dorm.

Walking hand in hand with him was Ashley Thomas. He had just taken her out to lunch.

From a certain perspective it was their first date. They had spent a lot of time together

since they first met, meeting each other on campus, in dining halls, or at Ashley’s

Anthropology Club meetings, but it was the first time that Chris had asked Ashley out to

anything. They had had a good time and truly discovered how much they enjoyed each

other’s company. Chris was resolved to make something of their relationship and make

sure the two of them were on page of being more than just friends.

“Well, here I am,” Chris said as they stopped in front of his dormitory. Ashley

stood in front of him and Chris took hold of her other hand. She looked up into his eyes

and replied, “Yeah, here we are. You have another class this afternoon?”

“Yeah, but I’m thinking of skipping it.”

“Chris!” Ashley protested, shaking his arms along with hers playfully, “you know

you shouldn’t do that! Especially when you were just complaining about how much free

time you already have.”

Chris firmed his grip on Ashley’s hands and brought her body closer to his. He

responded in an equally playful tone of voice, “It won’t be wasted time if I’d be spending

it with you.”

“Oh, Chris…” Ashley sighed before he leaned in to kiss her. As his lips pressed

up against hers she returned the kiss. The kiss was long, but not strongly passionate. It

was the perfect first kiss, Chris thought.

After what seemed the right time to her, although she didn’t really want to,

Ashley broke off the kiss. As they both drew away from each other, their lips formed

into smiles and their cheeks both blushed. Ashley stated, “I…I have to go. I have to do

that reading I was telling you about.”

“Yeah…I know,” Chris replied.

“I…I really had a good time with you today.”

“I had a good time with you too. And…I think we should get dinner some time,

soon. I want to take you to Agostino’s. Maybe this weekend?”

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“Yeah…yeah, I’d like that. I’d like that a lot, actually. I’ll…I’ll give you a call

tonight, ok? We can…talk about what day would be best.”

Shortly after that, Chris let Ashley’s hands fall out of his. She waved goodbye

and turned to walk away. Chris whispered to himself, “I think that’s my girlfriend now.”

Chris turned around to walk towards his dorm and came face to face with David Shaw.

“Well, isn’t that romantic,” Dave commented.

Chris was startled and took a few steps back. “I…know you,” Chris remembered,

“You’re one of Steve’s friends. And…you’re our quarterback, right?” Dave extended

his hand to Chris and introduced, “Dave Shaw. And you’re…Chris Kirby.”

Chris took Dave’s hand and shook it. As Dave tightened his grip, Chris felt an

static shock and recoiled his hand. “Ow…!” Chris slightly exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Dave apologized in a cocky tone, “That seems to happen

all the time with me. People say I have an electric personality.” Dave knew the way he

was acting would not help him in accomplishing his mission, but he couldn’t help

himself. Chris was Steve’s roommate and one of Steve’s oldest friends, and Steve used

to have a lot to say about Chris. Dave had met Chris at a couple parties Steve had

brought him to early in the year, and was not too impressed by him. He was even less

impressed the few times Steve brought him up in conversation, complaining about how

boring his roommate had become, how depressing and lazy he was, and how he had done

nothing with his college career so far. As of late, Steve had stopped complaining about

him, but Steve also was more infrequently spending time with Dave and his other football

buddies. Now Dave was surprised that Chris was one of his Chemistry classmates who

also had developed abilities.

“Do you have a free moment? There’s something I need to talk to you about,”

Dave asked.

“Sure,” Chris replied.

Dave motioned for Chris to follow him and lead him behind his dormitory. “We

have to keep what we’re saying quiet. I don’t want anyone else to hear,” Dave suggested.

“Oh….kay…” Chris replied, feeling somewhat confused. He wondered if this

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was about Steve or about his place on the football team.

“This is going to sound kind of creepy,” Dave started to explain, “But I’ve been

following you since Chemistry class ended today.” A mixed look of shock and anger fell

upon Chris’ face. Did this mean he spied on him during his entire date with Ashley,

Chris wondered, and was this about her and not Steve?

Dave noticed Chris’s demeanor and elaborated, “It’s…nothing like what I think

you’re thinking, not really. I just really had to talk to you, as soon as possible, so I

waited around until you finished lunch. Look…Professor Jorley sent me.”

“Professor Jorley…?!” Chris exclaimed, “What would he want?”

Dave continued, “He knows…He knows about what you can do. He knows about

your abilities. How you can…project energy, I think is how he referred to it as.” Chris

felt a weight sinking inside of his stomach. Somehow his Chemistry professor had

figured out his secret. And for some reason he sent David Shaw to tell Chris about it.

Chris had no idea what this meant and what was coming for him, but he tried to calm his

nerves and allow Dave to continue. But first he had to ask, “How…?”

“Apparently, you had a scuffle with another guy like us. That guy’s name is Bill.

His whole body works at super speed, and the only way he can cope is with marijuana.

You prevented him from getting it, using powers of your own. Bill went to Jorley for

help, and ended up telling Jorley about you.”

Chris noticed something about Dave’s phrasing; he had said, “like us.” That

meant Dave had abilities too, like he and Mike Lee. Chris had not seen Mike since the

incident with his one duplicate. Mike had needed space after that, to come to terms with

what happened. Chris gave him that space, but realized that he and Mike shared

Chemistry class. It did not take him long to rationalize that what happened the one day

with the moon rock may have been the cause of his and Mike’s abilities, and what was

happening now confirmed it to him. Jorley was at the heart of this, and now he was

seeking Chris out. Chris had to determine why.

“So…you have abilities too?” Chris inquired.

Dave lifted up his hand and sent out sparks of electricity flying into the air.

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“Electromagnetism,” Dave declared, “It means I can do a lot of stuff with electricity and

metal. Jorley’s commissioned me to find others like us who’ve developed abilities since

he decided to play around with that moon rock in class that one day. He needs our help.”

“Our help?” Chris questioned, “How so…?”

“Let’s take your friend Billy, for example,” Dave explained, “His power is out of

control without THC in his system, slowing it down for him. If it isn’t, he goes crazy

from operating at a speed totally out of synch with the rest of the world around him.

Jorley thinks there might be plenty of other students like that who are beginning to gain

awareness of their abilities, and who may not be able to control it.”

“So…what am I supposed to do about it?” Chris asked.

Dave answered, “You have the opportunity to right the wrong you did to Bill,

Chris. Jorley thinks that the answer to helping Bill and students like him to control their

abilities is within that same moon rock that gave them to us. We have to break into the

Natural History Museum and take that moon rock so we can make sure no one else has to

go through what Bill went through.”

“What?!” Chris exclaimed, “That’s ridiculous!”

“I thought so too,” Dave argued, “But think about it. I know how you felt just

now when I said I knew about your abilities. You wanted to keep them secret right?”

“Yeah…of course,” Chris replied, “I…didn’t think anyone would understand.”

“Exactly,” Dave continued in his argument, “So how do you think people are

going to react when students start developing powers that go out of control? What if one

of our fellow students kills someone with them? Do you think anyone would understand

then? We have to keep what’s going on a secret…at least until Jorley can explain what’s

happened to us, and he can only do that once he has the moon rock back.”

“Why can’t he just get it back himself?” Chris questioned, “He obviously had

access to it once before.”

“Because he’s on some sort of probation for pulling his prank,” Dave responded,

“And it’s not like we can let the people in charge of the museum know about our powers

and ask for it. We have to break in and steal it; it’s our only option. And we need your

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help to do it. So…what do you say? Will you help?”

Chris turned away from Dave and took a few paces away from him. He pondered

Dave’s offer. He thought of Mike and everything he was going through. He thought of

Bill and the scrap that occurred between them. He thought of the consequences that

might come from his actions. Once he decided he firmly stated: “No.”

“What…?” Dave uttered.

Dave was caught totally off guard. He thought he delivered the perfect pitch. He

was assured that the humanitarian argument would work, as it did with Tanya and Ken.

He also thought that Chris may feel guilty for what he had done to Bill previously, and

may join Dave and the others as a means of redemption. He apparently thought wrong.

Dave recalled the humanitarian approach didn’t work on him either, at first, when

Jorley was attempting to persuade him. Dave remembered what Steve had told him about

Chris at one point earlier, how Chris in high school was not much different than he, how

he was in charge of a lot, including his football team. Maybe a different approach could

work.

“Before you make your final decision,” Dave tempted, “consider something else.

With the moon rock, Jorley would not only be able to help those without control of their

powers. He can also help you. Haven’t you wondered about the full extent of your

abilities? Haven’t you wanted more power? If we can get this moon rock to Jorley we

could all discover what our abilities truly mean and what we can do with them.”

“Still…to steal from the Natural History Museum…” Chris murmured.

Dave stole his argument from Jorley as he went on: “Think about it, Chris. Think

about what you can do with your power, think about all the unknown potential you can

discover if we get that moon rock to Jorley. Do you really think that puts us on the same

basis as everyone around us? Doesn’t that set us aside and apart from not only our fellow

students, but the rest of humanity? The laws of everyone else…they don’t apply to us.

We’re above that. And we need to look out for our own! So, what do you say? Are you

with me?!”

Chris turned back around to face Dave. He had a look of disgust on his face.

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“What the hell are you talking about?! What do you mean our abilities…‘set us aside and

apart from the rest of humanity’?! I don’t know what you’re getting at, but as far as I

understand it, we’re still Americans and in America stealing is against the law whether

it’s well intentioned or not, whether we can project energy or electricity from our hands.

And now…I’m not even sure you’re doing this for the right reasons.”

Chris turned away from Dave and started to walk away. Immediately Dave

realized his mistake. He got a little too much into his argument, started making the same

arguments that worked on him, not the ones that would work on Chris. Dave considered

that he might not be able to persuade all the students he encountered, but he never knew

what he would do once that happened. Now that it had he felt like he lost, and Dave

didn’t like losing.

“Wait!” he protested, “You can’t leave like this. You have to hear me out.”

Chris stopped. He paused and then said, “I can leave like this, and I will. One

more thing though…I won’t do anything to stop you from carrying out your crazy plan,

but I’d like to ask that you keep my abilities a secret. I don’t want just anyone knowing,

only those I can trust.”

There it was, Dave thought: the one other thing Dave could use against Chris to

force him to join them.

Dave threatened, “And why should I keep your secret? And even if I’m able

to…it was Bill who ratted you out to Jorley. I can’t guarantee he’ll keep your secret,

especially after what you did to him.”

Chris considered what Dave said. He could imagine Bill doing such a thing. He

could recall the anger Bill had while the two of them were fighting. What if Ashley

found out in some way, Chris wondered. Would Chris’ power scare her, would she still

like him, or would she consider him a freak?

Those thoughts brought forward the energy inside of Chris. He felt his whole

body radiate of it. Chris found himself sneering at Dave. “Are you trying to threaten

me? How about this one: if I ever find out that someone knows about my abilities who I

haven’t told, I’m gonna hold you responsible.”

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Dave could sense that the situation was growing increasingly sour. It looked to

him like Chris’s body was almost glowing. Jorley had told him Chris’s power was

energy projection, but Dave didn’t know what that meant. He had to turn Chris off, and

the only way Dave knew how to do that was to scare him off.

Dave sent dozens of visible electric currents out from his body and allowed them

to swirl around him. He boasted, “And what are you going to do about it, then?! You

don’t understand the power I possess! I could kill you!!”

“JUST TRY!!” Chris yelled back.

He lifted up his arm and threw a blast of energy towards Dave. Dave didn’t

actually expect Chris to attack him and was caught off guard. The energy blast hit him

full force and he was thrown several yards back. He hit the ground hard and skidded

backwards. As soon as he was able to control his momentum he hopped up, ready to

throw a blast of electricity back at Chris, with the same voltage he had assaulted Jamal

with the previous week.

But at that moment a janitor exited from the back door of Chris’s dormitory,

wheeling out a large cart of trash. Dave stopped himself from firing off his electricity

and waited for Chris to do something. The cart of trash, however, was blocking Dave’s

view of Chris, and by the time the janitor finished emptying the cart of its contents, Dave

could see that Chris was gone.

“God damn it…!!” he cursed.

He fell unto his knees and struck the ground with all his might. He was furious.

Not only had he failed, but he instigated Chris and almost started a fight. Now Chris

knew about him, his abilities, his and Jorley’s plans, and neither of them would be able to

trust each other. Dave let out an exasperated sigh. He hated to do so, but he knew that he

would have to tell Jorley what had happened.

* * *

“You made the right decision, coming to me,” Professor Stuart Jorley stated.

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The professor turned around in his chair to face Veronica Levafuoco. The girl sat

uncomfortably in the chair opposite Jorley’s desk. She was hunched over, clutching her

fingers together nervously. “You are exactly right,” Jorley noted. “What is happening to

you was most likely caused by the incident with the armacolite.”

Jorley arouse from his seat and continued to talk as he walked around his desk. “I

cannot imagine what you’re going through…to have that power within you without any

control…and to think that it’s partly my fault.”

“I just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Veronica said. “I could’ve caught my

dorm on fire. I-…I could do it again in the middle of the night and get everyone killed.”

Jorley sat on his desk and leaned in towards Veronica. He said, “I want to help

you. I have to help you. But there’s only one way that can be done.”

“How?”

“There are others like you, you know. Students who have been affected by that

same prank, with new abilities completely outside their control. They, too, have come to

me for help, but I’ll tell you the same thing I told them,” Jorley began to explain, “I can’t

help you because I don’t understand what happened to you. Nothing should have

happened when that piece of armacolite touched water. The only way I can try to

understand what has happened to you is if I have that same piece of armacolite back.

“Unfortunately, the university has barred me from borrowing it again. So, a few

of the students affected like yourself have agreed to break into the Natural History

Museum where the rock is being stored and stealing it.”

“Steal it…?” Veronica gasped. She could not believe her Chemistry professor

was advocating stealing. Jorley contined, “I know…a dreadful thought, isn’t it? But it’s

the only way. You see, other people would not understand what you’re going through, if

they knew. They would fear you…shun you…perhaps, even, hate you. The only way we

can protect you and the other students like you is by keeping your abilities secret. By

going in and stealing one small moon rock, the Natural History Museum would probably

never know it was missing, I could then research into the cause of your abilities, help

you, and no one would know that you had abilities in the first place.”

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“But…what am I supposed to do until then? Until you’ve done all the research

and everything, I mean. How am I supposed to control this? I almost burned down an

entire forest earlier today! I can’t live with the fear of doing major damage to

someone…of killing someone.”

Veronica could not even stand to look at Jorley as she spoke. Her eyes were

focused on her feet. Her lips were quivering. Her fingers were fidgeting. Jorley noticed

this and stated as calmly as possible, “We won’t let it come to that. I can get you a

sedative. You can take it whenever you feel that heat you mentioned feeling in your

chest. That may do the trick to keep your ability in control. It’s not the best

solution…but only a temporary treatment until we can figure out what we’re up against.”

“When can you have it by?”

“Later this evening,” Jorley answered. “I plan on being in my office at about 7

o’clock. Now…I need you to say whether or not you’ll agree to joining my other

students in getting that armacolite from the museum or not. If you can’t do this…you

may never have your abilities under your own control.”

Veronica looked up at Jorley and saw the look that he had on his face. He was

pleading with Veronica. Veronica wondered what other students Jorley was talking

about and what they were going through. She remembered her own fear when only hours

earlier she was in the woods and flames were pouring out of her hands. Could she really

make a difference by helping to steal?

“I…I don’t know,” Veronica replied, “I…have to think it over, if that’s ok.” She

pushed her chair away from Jorley and got up.

Jorley responded, “Fine…that’s fine. I understand it’s a big decision to make.”

“You said that I could be back at 7?”

“Yes, I’ll have the sedative ready for you by 7.”

“I’ll be back with my decision at 7 then,” Veronica said as she made her way to

the door. “See you then,” she heard Jorley salute. She left the door half-open as she

made her way out and down the hallway. She could still feel her nerves on edge, as if she

was more nervous now than before she went to see Jorley. She stopped, turned around

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and asked, “So…what do you think?”

Lilia Coolwater appeared before her, as if she materialized out of thin air.

“I…can’t believe it,” Lilia sighed. She brushed past Veronica toward a nearby window

overlooking academic quad. She leaned against the window, looking outside as she

processed everything that had just happened.

Lilia’s powers of invisibility allowed her to accompany Veronica without Jorley

knowing about it. Veronica, at first, did not agree to Lilia’s idea of letting the professor

know what was happening to her. Lilia had to talk her into it, and even then Veronica

procrastinated for a few hours before Lilia offered to come with her. Now, Lilia thought

Veronica may have been correct in hesitating, and that Jorley was not the right person to

go to for help.

“What do you mean…?” Veronica asked, walking up Lilia and leaning against the

window sill as well.

“He…he wants you to steal!” Lilia stated in frustration. “I…I can’t believe a

professor would ask something like that out of his students!”

“It’s not like that!” Veronica argued, “Didn’t you hear what he said? We’re not

talking about stealing something for our own gain. It’s to help people! It’s to help me!!

And we would just ask for it, if people would be ok with us having our powers.”

“Do you really believe that?” Lilia prodded. “Do you really believe Jorley would

have just asked the Natural History Museum for the rock in any other circumstance?

That that crap about us being feared, hated and persecuted for our powers wasn’t just a

bunch of bull to make it easier for you to accept stealing?”

“Yes!!” Veronica admitted, “Doesn’t history prove it?! I mean, look at slavery!

Segregation! The Holocaust! All of those happened because people didn’t understand

different groups of people because of their skin color, their ethnicity, their religion.

Imagine what people would do to us…to me because I can set things on fire and can’t

control it. You don’t think they’d put me in some kind of prison…or concentration camp,

because of what I could do to people?”

Lilia was put on the defensive. How could she argue against that, she asked

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herself. She said, “Look…I understand what it means to have a different skin color and a

different ethnicity and-”

“Wait…” Veronica interrupted.

“What is it?”

“Behind you,” Veronica pointed out. Lilia glanced behind her and saw a young

man, who looked pretty angry, entering Jorley’s office. “So…?” Lilia asked.

“What if that’s one of the other students Jorley was talking about?” Veronica

wondered aloud, “What if that kid has powers too?”

Lilia considered it a moment. She then replied, “You’re right. He might be in on

the whole theft scheme. I’m going to check it out.”

“What should I do?”

“Go on back. I’ll meet you at the dorm,” Lilia directed. Veronica nodded and

turned around to leave the building as Lilia once more became invisible. Jorley’s door

was wide open and Lilia easily snuck in as Jorley commanded, “Dave, close that door

before you start talking about this stuff!! Do you have any sense of discretion?!”

David Shaw stepped back closer to the door, nearly brushing Lilia as she quickly

stepped back to avoid him, and slammed the door shut. “Ok,” Jorley stated, seeming

agitated. “Now what do you have to say?”

Dave was visibly upset. He leaned against the chair Veronica had been sitting in,

slightly pushing it over as he spoke, “I went to see that Chris Kirby. The guy Bill had an

encounter with….It didn’t go over well.”

“How so…?” Jorley inquired.

“My…my arguments weren’t reaching him,” Dave struggled to explain. “He

just…wouldn’t give in to reason! He was too hot and bothered about stealing. I tried to

explain how we were in the right by doing it…but we ended up arguing and

things…escalated.”

“Escalated….?” Jorley repeated.

“Yeah,” Dave went on. “We ended up…kind of…using our powers against each

other. Not a real fight, like what happened with him an’ Bill, more like we threatened

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each other, he used his powers against me, a witness appeared and he bolted.”

“I see,” Jorley uttered, scratching his chin. He leaned back in his chair and rested

his feet on his desk. “It seems this Chris Kirby is something of a hothead. Getting in

fights with first Bill and now you. It doesn’t seem like he would be a good addition for

our team after all.”

“So what should we do with him?” Dave asked.

“We won’t do anything with him,” Jorley answered, “Not yet at least.” He sat

back up at his desk and continued, “We have much more important things to consider for

the time being. I’ve interviewed both Tanya Meyers and Ken Jones now. They both

have very interesting potential. Tanya can, as you had said, teleport. The extent of the

distance she teleports has yet to be realized, but we’ll try that out at some point. She can

teleport with others, although anyone teleporting with her becomes somewhat nauseous

from the experience. This is just the sort of ability we need to accomplish our task

without anyone knowing.”

As Jorley continued his report he found his voice becoming more animated.

Having just finished interviewing Ken and Tanya made him very excited. He was in awe

over the differentiations in powers between his students and himself and he desired the

amarcalite more than ever to discover how those differentiations were possible. And he

was also beginning to understand that these various abilities could profit him in more

ways than one.

Jorley continued to explain to Dave, “Ken, on the other hand is quite

fascinating. He didn’t even know that he was affected and had gained new

abilities…not until this past weekend and that little fracas you all got yourselves involved

in. I couldn’t help myself and had to try and get a cell sample from him and found that I

couldn’t! I could not scrap a single skin cell from his arms. I didn’t even get anything

from a swab within his mouth. His body, somehow, has formed a biological protective

layer suffused throughout his skin membranes that makes him near invulnerable. His

body cannot be hurt. It’s amazing!! Could you imagine if we can harness the

biological cause of that…what we could do for people. We’d revolutionize war!!!”

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“That is interesting,” Dave noted. He could not get too excited. He was still

upset about his encounter with Chris. He kept replaying what had happened over and

over in his head, thinking about what he could have done or said differently to get Chris

to agree with him.

Lilia hid in the corner of the room as she had before, astounded by everything

Jorley was saying. She was awed by the powers of the students Jorley was describing.

They had all been gifted, too. And Lilia was filled with dread at the prospect of how

those gifts would be used as the students were being manipulated by their professor.

Lilia could tell by how Jorley was saying it. He was not the same concerned professor he

has minutes ago while conversing with Veronica. The Jorley speaking now was one only

concerned with what each of the students’ powers meant to him.

Jorley mused in a self-congratulatory tone, “Yeah, we’re doing just fine, Dave,

juuuust fine. I think we’ve almost got enough students to pull this heist off!” In the blink

of an eye Jorley’s facial features became serious again and he commanded, “Sit down,

Dave, there’s something I need to show you.”

Dave sighed, set the chair down and swirled around it so he could sit in it. Jorley

then said, “Another girl came in to me today. She has the power to emit and most likely

control flames. The smart girl, she figured out all by herself the connection between the

armacolite incident and the emergence of her powers – she’s a pretty good hand in

Chemistry too, her grades are much better than yours. Anyways, that intelligence of hers

hasn’t done her any good; unlike you, she can’t control her powers. I don’t know how

much of a use she’ll be in stealing the armacolite, but I invited her to join anyway. She’s

going to give me an answer by tonight.”

Jorley began typing on his keyboard as he continued, “And with that being said

there’s one more person I’m going to request that you interview. With this Chris Kirby

saying no and Veronica, the fire-girl I just mentioned, potentially not being able to help, I

think our team could still use one more member. And I think I found the perfect

candidate. You should have your ear to the ground more on this campus, Dave,

otherwise you may have heard of this kid yourself.”

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“Who is he?” Dave asked.

Jorley turned his computer monitor towards Dave so he could see. Displayed on it

were the student ID photos of all the students in his Chemistry class. In the middle of the

screen was the photo of a student by the name of Ronald Werden.

“Rumors have been floating around campus that this kid, on a trip to Chicago for

a conference a couple of weeks ago, single-handedly beat up a couple of gang members

who were attempting to rob the restaurant he and his friends were attending,” Jorley

explained, “If this guy doesn’t have some kind of abilities than he is one helluva kid to be

able to do that! I want you to investigate him and, if you discover he does have abilities,

invite him to join us too.”

“All right,” Dave said, “I’ll follow him around after class on Friday. But…what

do I do if I can’t convince him either?”

“Just direct him to me…” Jorley stated.

Lilia rushed back to her dormitory, almost forgetting that she was still invisible.

She could not believe the conversation she had just overheard. Her Chemistry professor

was seriously scheming to steal a moon rock from the Natural History Museum, and he

was using his own students to do so. And not only that, but from the way he was talking

about it Lilia could only assume he was doing it for his own personal profit, not for the

health and safety of his students.

Lilia arrived in her room to find that her roommate was not there. She

concentrated and watched herself in the mirror as she faded into existence. She then

plopped on her bed. Like Veronica, she had a decision to make. Should she let Jorley

get away with his scheme, or should she do something to stop it?

For a moment she cursed her ability. If she did not have it, there would have been

no way to know about what Jorley was doing, and she would feel no guilt for letting him

proceed with his plans. Ignorance was bliss, and knowing what was about to happen

pained her. Then she realized that cursing her ability was blasphemous. She

remembered that her ability was a gift. It may not have been directly given to her by

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God, but Lilia still sensed God’s hand in everything that was happening around her.

Maybe God had chosen her to oppose Jorley and protect His commandments. And

possibly God had permitted her to watch Jorley’s conversation with Dave unseen because

He was directing her to someone else who could help.

* * *

Chris walked through a dead forest. Ashes were still sprinkled across the ground.

The earth beneath him was scorched. Withering tree trunks displayed chars. “What

happened here…?” Chris uttered.

The forest he had used for his safe haven, where he could freely practice his

powers, was destroyed. It had literally gone up in flames. Chris had heard rumors of a

forest fire near campus the other day, but he did not believe it. Mostly because he didn’t

want to believe it. But now reality was staring him in the face.

“Well…there are plenty of other areas in the forest to practice at,” Chris told

himself, “but right now I don’t even feel up to it.” Chris was still shaken by his

encounter with Dave from yesterday. He had not wanted to use his powers on Dave.

Something in him snapped, at the thought of Ashley finding out about his powers, and he

had just wanted to pummel Dave to make sure that didn’t happen.

Chris was haunted by his reaction and at the thought of other people still knowing

about what he could do. He did not feel he could trust Dave and he felt really uneasy

about Professor Jorley. With these thoughts heavy on his mind he turned back to his

dormitory.

As he was entering his room, Steve was leaving. “Hey, buddy,” Steve greeted.

Chris replied somberly, “Hey…”

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Steve asked, concerned, “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” Chris answered.

“Well, there better not be,” Steve said, “because we’re not going to go through

sad Chris staying in his dorm and not doing anything again. Tomorrow night, I’m gonna

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take you out.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Chris replied, trying to sound chipper.

Steve threw him a few play punches, slapped him on the back and then headed off

for class. The door to their room was open that whole time, and Chris reached for the

doorknob to close the door behind him as he entered his room. He sat down at his desk

and stared blankly at his computer screen. He didn’t know what to think at the moment.

Then he heard a female voice say, “Please don’t be freaked out…”

Chris whirled around in his seat and found himself face to face with Lilia

Coolwater. “Woah…!” Chris exclaimed, nearly falling out of his chair.

“I asked you not to freak out!” Lilia gasped as she went to help Chris.

Chris recoiled from her touch and threw himself out of his chair. While trying to

get his bearings he managed to ask, “Wh-Who are you?!”

“My name is Lilia…Lilia Coolwater,” Lilia replied.

Then it finally dawned on Chris. “Oh…Oh my god, I get it,” Chris understood,

“You too. You have abilities too. Are you with that Dave guy?”

“No…” Lilia answered.

“Then…how did you find out about me?

“Well…from that Dave guy. I went to go see Professor Jorley myself…and

overheard he and Dave talking about you. Then I tried looking you up on Facebook…”

“I don’t have Facebook.”

“I know, which made this really hard,” Lilia continued, “So I looked Dave up on

Facebook, and he had a photo tagged of him and your roommate and once I looked on

your roommate’s Facebook I realized you two were roommates and he has your dorm and

room number on his Facebook.”

“Geez, Steve is stupid. Why would he have where we lived on Facebook? Now

any stalker can figure out where we live,” Chris sighed. He realized he might have

offended Lilia and added, “Not that I mean to call you a stalker but…wait, how did you

know to look at Steve’s Facebook page?”

“I didn’t,” Lilia admitted, looking down at the ground. “I thought he looked

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cute.”

Lilia discovered that she was blushing and that she had gotten off topic. She

cleared her throat and decided to get to the point. “Look, I need your help,” she pleaded.

“That’s what that Dave said, too,” Chris replied curtly.

“I know, and it’s not like that!” Lilia tried to assure. “I know this is kinda creepy,

me just showing up in your room an’ all, but that’s what my gift is…invisibility. And I

got kinda nervous about coming here and asking for your help, so I came all invisibly and

wasn’t able to make myself visible until just now.” Lilia gestured towards the chair at

Steve’s desk. “May I?” she asked.

“Sure,” Chris answered, who by now was leaning against his own desk.

Lilia continued, “And well…how do I tell you this? Ok, so you know all about

Jorley’s experiment and how it affected a bunch of students and so forth.” Chris nodded,

so Lilia went on. “Well, not only was I affected, but a girl in my dorm was too. And

she…well, she can’t control her powers. She nearly sent the whole forest around Pine

State on fire…”

“That was her?!” Chris exclaimed.

“Yeah, I was with her for that,” Lilia said, “I actually saved her life.” Lilia

reflected a moment on the beneficence of her gift and then continued, “Anyways, I

encouraged her to see Professor Jorley. I thought that since we were both in Chemistry

class that both of us receiving these powers was more than a coincidence…and I thought

he would be able to help. Well…I think I was wrong. I stayed in Jorley’s office, all

invisible, and learned about his plan to steal the moon rock from the Natural History

Museum. He wanted my friend to be part of his plan and…and I think she’s going to do

it. I don’t know if she will or not…she was supposed to make a decision about it last

night…but we had kind of got into an argument about it right after…and I wasn’t brave

enough to confront her about it before she was scheduled to meet with Jorley again…”

“Yeah, Dave gave me the same offer,” Chris commented gruffly.

Lilia explicated, “But it’s not just that…it was the way Jorley was talking about it.

When I was there we was talking about two other students with powers and…you should

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have been there! I can’t describe how he said it, but it just made me feel so

uncomfortable. He talked about them like they were things, not real people. And then

they talked about you, and how you had refused to help them, so I thought I could come

to you, that you’d know how I felt…that you might know what we should do.”

“Well, I don’t know what to do,” Chris admitted. He leaned back further against

his desk and stretched his arms out. There was a lot this girl was coming to him for, and

he wasn’t sure he was the person who had answers for her. He stated, “I kind of…don’t

want to do anything. They know about me, know about my ability. And at least two of

the people who are part of that little group probably don’t like me at all. I don’t know

what to say about Professor Jorley, but I’m afraid Dave or that other guy will start

spreading what I can do about campus.”

“Oh,” Lilia murmured.

She looked away from Chris. She couldn’t bear to look at him. He was sounding

like Veronica. They were both too consumed by fear to do what she believed was the

right thing. Chris was afraid of what the others students on campus would say about him.

Veronica was afraid that people would start persecuting them on account of their gifts.

“So, you don’t think we should do anything?” Lilia challenged, a hint of anger in her

voice.

“What can we do?!” Chris retorted. “It’s not like we can stake out the Natural

History Museum and make sure they never steal that moon rock!”

Lilia’s face suddenly lit up. She looked back up at Chris and a smile came to her

face. Chris realized what she was thinking.

“Oh no, oh no,” he uttered, “You can’t be serious.”

“And why not?” Lilia questioned as she rose out of her seat. “Why wouldn’t it

work? You’re worried about other people finding out about our powers, right? And the

others…they’re worried about the same thing, and so they’re going to try and steal the

moon rock by using their powers without anyone knowing that it was stolen. So, maybe

by using our powers, we can stop them without revealing ourselves. I mean, it should

work! They know about you, but they don’t know about me. With my gift, they would

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never even have to know about me. And I can make other people I hold invisible too, so

if we did this together, I could keep you invisible.”

“I don’t know…” Chris cautioned.

Lilia could not be bothered listening to him. Her mind was racing with ideas.

They could do this, she told herself, and she could keep Professor Jorley’s nefarious plot

at bay. She continued to plan aloud, “And of course, we should probably try to stop them

from recruiting other students too. That would make it easier for us later on to stop them

if there were fewer of them. Oh! That’s right! I need to look something up!”

Lilia strode towards Chris and shoved him aside as she began to use his laptop.

“Hey!” Chris shouted.

Lilia ignored him and went on, “They were talking about some other guy

yesterday. Jorley said that he beat up a bunch of gang members or something, so he

thinks that this guy must be gifted too. Maybe we can get to them before that Dave kid

does.”

“What are you doing?” Chris inquired as he tried to look over Lilia’s shoulder.

“Here we go!” Lilia exclaimed. She then moved over a little bit so Chris could

see what she was doing. She had looked up the roster of their Chemistry class. “Wait,

wait, I get it,” Chris observed, “These are all the guys in our Chemistry class…so all of

these guys could have been affected too…?”

“I don’t know,” Lilia answered as she scrolled down, searching for the name

Jorley mentioned the other day. She wished she had paid more attention, but she knew

that when the name came up she would recognize it. And, finally, towards the end of the

page, there it was. “Ronald Werden!” Lilia shouted, “He’s the guy! Though it could be

pronounced Ver-den…or Ver-dun…Weird-in…”

Chris interrupted her and asked, “So, what? Are you gonna Facebook him too,

like you tried to do for me?”

“Well, yeah, we can do that, but I was thinking of approaching this guy

differently. Jorley said he wasn’t sure if this guy had powers or not, that the beating up

of the gangs thing was just a rumor. So he asked that Dave guy to investigate. He said

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he would do so on Friday…so I thought I would trail Dave while being invisible and

check this guy out myself.”

Chris pulled his chair back so that he could sit in it while facing Lilia and the

computer. He leaned back and stroked his chin and he pondered what to do. He noted,

“Well, the key to your plan here is to get to this guy before Dave does, right? So, maybe

just having you following Dave following this guy around would kind of limit us. Maybe

what we really need is some preemptive action. Maybe I’ll try and find this guy and talk

to him myself.”

“Really?!” Lilia exclaimed, “You’d do that?!”

“Yeah,” Chris answered, “I think I will. I’ve got nothing to lose at this point.

Dave and Jorley and who else knows about me and my abilities already. But nobody else

knows about you. You’re our ace in the hole, and I think if we’re gonna go ahead with

this crazy plan that we should keep it that way. So, you should go ahead and tail Dave,

but I think I’m gonna try and talk to this Ron guy. And if he hasn’t been affected by

Jorley’s experiment, well…then I’m going to have to hope I can talk him into keeping my

own powers our little secret.”

“And you’re ok with that?” Lilia questioned.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Chris mused, getting up from his seat and pacing around the

room a little bit. “I’m not all together sure about the two of us singlehandedly preventing

the others from stealing the moon rock, but I think I can help you in this regard. And

besides, from what you said of Jorley I don’t think giving him possession of the moon

rock would be a good idea. Even that Dave…he was talking about using the moon rock

to give his own powers a boost. He talked about us being better than other people

because of our abilities. I feel bad for your friend who can’t control her powers…but I

don’t think we should let Jorley have that rock.”

“I knew you’d come around,” Lilia said, beaming. Chris could tell that she was

overjoyed that she had someone who would agree with her and would help her. He just

hoped that he was doing the right thing, although Lilia seemed resolute in her opinion

that they would be doing the right thing.

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She gave Chris a big hug, surprising him. “Thank you so much,” she said. As

she released him she added, “So, I’ll get in touch with you on Friday then? After I’m

done following Dave?”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, “And I’ll do my part in contacting this Ron. And…I guess

we’ll go from there. Stay in touch.” Lilia waved goodbye and as she did she vanished

from Chris’s sight. A few moments later Chris watched as the door slightly opened and

in a matter of seconds was closed.

* * *

“And then all of a sudden Ron appears, with a gun to this guy’s head, threatening

to shoot ‘em if they didn’t drop their weapons and turn themselves into the police,” Eric

Huekstan excitedly described to the pair of girls that had joined him and his friends for

dinner in the dining hall that evening. Ron sighed and stared down at his mashed

potatoes that he was playing with with his spoon. He didn’t mind Eric telling the tale,

since he was obviously doing so to attract the attention of the girls they had sat down

with. But he had continuously told it at any given opportunity over the past few weeks

since they had returned from Chicago. And with each retelling of the tale, Ron was

reminded of his lost friendship with Jill.

“Don’t forget how he threw the door of the guy who was hounding us,” Jim

reminded.

“How could I forget that? That happened, like, right in front of us!” Eric replied.

“And then he, like, flew across the restaurant and gave the remaining guy a judo

kick!” Jim added.

The girl who was seated next to Ron rubbed up against him and flattered, “Wow,

you must be so strong. Are you, like, into martial arts or something?” Ron tried to

ignore her advances. The only girl he thought he could love, with whom he truly

connected with, had rejected him. The girl seated next to him, he couldn’t even recall her

name.

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“No…I, uh, just did what I had to. It was all the adrenaline in my system. That

made possible the marvelous feats I performed,” Ron answered, not even giving the girl a

glance.

Eric waved him off, “Ron’s just trying to be humble. What he did was awesome!

The gang leader was too afraid to even touch him. As soon as Ron went to go after him,

he cried like a little girl and fell over.”

“You’re like a super hero,” the girl seated next to Ron commented.

“Sure…” Ron sighed as he continued to poke at his mashed potatoes.

After dinner, Ron parted from Eric and Jim and the two girls. Eric had pulled him

aside and urged him to hook up with the one girl. Ron didn’t know what to say and could

only reply, “Maybe some other time.” Ron left Eric stupefied and returned to his

dormitory. As he went to open the door leading to his dormitory he heard an unfamiliar

voice call out, “Hey! Are you Ron?”

Ron turned around to see Chris Kirby jogging towards him from the sidewalk.

Ron answered, “Yes. Can I help you with something?”

“I was wondering if, um, we could talk in private?” Chris awkwardly asked.

“Concerning what?”

“Uh…concerning that thing that happened in Chicago…with the gang members?”

“Oh heavens! What are you?! A reporter for the school newspaper or something?

Why would you want to know about it?!” Ron exclaimed, surprised by his own fury. He

felt ok giving into his frustrations a little bit. He rued his decisions to use his abilities to

fend off those gangsters in Chicago. It destroyed his relationship with Jill and was now

giving him all this unwanted attention, even from complete strangers.

Chris replied, “No, no, no…it’s nothing like that. I just wanted to ask you about

it.”

Ron scoffed, “And what would you like to know about it?”

“Can we go somewhere a bit more private first?” Chris asked.

Ron gave him a good look over. Chris seemed to be honest and trying to not be

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intrusive. So, Ron capitulated and led Chris over to a bench that was randomly placed

several yards away from the dorm. It was the evening in the late fall, and Ron figured not

many students would be out walking around in the cold. He found that his body wasn’t

as sensitive to the cold as it used to be, another side effect of his transformation.

“So you’re not yanking my chain?” Ron double-checked. “You’re not some sort

of reporter trying to use me as a feature article?”

Chris laughed at the suggestion. “No, no, no,” he answered, “I’m, uh, actually in

your Chemistry class.”

“Really? And how did you know about the story of me fighting the gang

members in Chicago?” Ron interrogated.

“From Professor Jorley.”

Ron’s eyes widened in wonder. How would his Chemistry professor of all

professors know about the incident in Chicago? Had Professor Ringwald told him? And,

despite how the professor knew, why would he be telling other students about it?

“Try and hear me out on this one, because you may not believe it,” Chris

explained. “There’s a reason Jorley’s interested in you and the story about you beating

up those gangsters in Chicago. Jorley thinks you might be…different than other

students.”

“Could you please explicate?” Ron requested, fearing the response that Chris

might give.

Chris continued, “A few of us have been…affected by Jorley’s prank with the

moon rock in the water. It seems that experiment-gone-wrong changed us and gave us all

powers. Jorley wants to know about that story because he thinks you might have

acquired a special ability too…and he wants to use you for it.”

“Use me…?” Ron repeated, stunned. “What do you mean by that?”

Chris described, “I don’t know exactly. But he’s trying to get a bunch of affected

students together, and he wants to use their powers to break into the Natural History

Museum and steal the moon rock that gave us all our abilities.”

“Huh,” Ron murmured.

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Suddenly everything that had happened to him over the course of the past month

or so made sense. His rapid weight loss, muscle growth, super strength and reflexes, was

not a random phenomenon that happened to him. He, like apparently a number of other

students, was affected by what happened in Chemistry class that day in October.

Chris continued: “And…and I have to know about what really happened with

you and those gangsters, if you could tell me. Or, if you could just cut to the chase and

let me know if you really have a special ability or not…that you know of, of course.”

“Wait…” Ron interrupted, “They way you bespoke earlier…you seemed to imply

that you too were affected by Jorley’s harlequinade.” In response Chris lent his hand

towards Ron. Chris concentrated slightly on the energy he now constantly felt within

him and let a little bit of it come forth through that hand. Ron was amazed to see Chris’

hand light up. Chris then pointed his hand towards the ground and released the energy he

built up there. There was a flash of light and Ron head a popping sound as the low

amount of energy impacted the ground.

“Astonishing,” Ron gasped. He looked up and considered what he should do

next. He then told Chris, “Follow me. Let me show you something.”

Chris followed Ron into his dormitory and up to his room. Fortunately, Ron

thought, Jon wasn’t there. He went to his laptop and brought up the pictures he had

stored on his hard drive. After selecting a picture he stood aside to show Chris.

“This is a picture of me over the summer,” Ron clarified. Chris looked at the

picture, one of Ron and his three sisters poolside. Ron slightly blushed in embarrassment

over his former crude body. His gut seemed to be bursting above the top of his bathing

trunks. He could imagine the taunts of his chest being described as “man boobs.”

“And now this is me,” Ron stated as he lifted up his sweater and undershirt to

display the musculature of his upper body.

“Woah,” Chris uttered, “Looks like you’ve been working out.”

“I haven’t,” Ron admitted. “This just…happened.”

Ron sat down in his chair and began to explain, “In the course of a week or two I

rapidly lost weight and gained all of this muscle mass. There was no way for me to

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explain it, but why would I grouse on about it? For the first time in my life I was fit and

active. And not only that, but I developed this extraordinary strength. I can rip apart

sheets of metal as if they were paper. And my flexibility and coordination is

superhuman.”

“So Jorley was right!” Chris declared, “You were affected too.”

“Hurrah for me,” Ron stated, dejected.

Chris detected the sarcasm and melancholy in Ron’s voice. For some reason he

felt concerned for this person he had just met. He inquired, “What is it? You were just

saying how..miraculous this was. That this was the first time you felt fit and active.”

“It’s…well, in a way it has to do with the chronicle of my trip to Chicago,” Ron

admitted, “I…I had to use my ability. I didn’t want to, really. I thought I was acting like

a vigilante. But, my friends and I went to this restaurant for lunch, and these gang

members started to shoot up the place. I had to protect my friends, and when I started to

fight those guys…I became animalistic, violent. One of my friends noticed that in me.

In addition to that, earlier I had broken someone’s arm playing broomball. Seeing me the

way I was fighting those mobsters…it was like the final straw. Our friendship ended

because of it.”

As Chris listened to and reflected on Ron’s story he could not help but think of

Mike Lee. Ron seemed traumatized by the recollection of the events he dictated, and

Chris recognized that look of trauma as the same look Mike had on his face when he

heard about his duplicate having killed himself. Chris felt sick to his stomach

remembering the events of that day.

“I…I’m sorry to hear that,” Chris said, his voice filled with emotion.

“No…it’s not your fault,” Ron replied, “but you can tell Jorley that I won’t have

anything to do with helping him rape that moon rock from the Natural History Museum.

I think he’s caused enough trouble with his antics.”

Chris regained his composure and clarified: “Hey, you’ve misunderstood me, pal.

I’m not with Jorley at all. I came to warn you.”

“Warn me…?”

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“Yeah, one of Jorley’s cronies, a fellow by the name of Dave approached me the

other day. He wanted me to join up with him and the other students in stealing the rock.

But…I don’t know…stealing from the Natural History Museum…I had, like…”

“Serious disapprobation regarding stealing…”

“Yeah, that,” Chris said and then continued. “So, I turned him down…but he kept

going at it. He ended up saying something along the lines of, what’s happened to us, our

abilities, they make us better than other people and we should steal the rock so that Jorley

can make us even better than what we are.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, really,” Chris added. “And then I was approached by another girl who

was affected too. She can turn invisible and went to Jorley’s office with a friend who had

powers too. She stuck around afterward and overheard Jorley talking about other

students like us…and he was talking about them as test subjects.”

Ron got up from his seat and walked over to his window. “Well, this Professor

Jorley seems to be quite a flagitious snollygoster.”

There was a moment of pause between the two of them. Chris was thrown off

from what he was about to say by Ron’s vocabulary. “I’m sorry…a what?” he

questioned.

Ron blushed, and was glad he was looking out the window and not facing Chris.

He apologized, “I’m sorry…I, uh, like to use fancy words. I guess I’m saying Jorley

sounds like a bad guy.”

Chris tried to remember what he was attempting to say and then said, “So,

anyways…Jorley may be a ‘bad guy.’ And he’s going to send the same student he sent

after me, Dave, after you tomorrow to try to recruit you too. I just wanted to get to you

first and make sure you wouldn’t go along with it.”

Ron was breaking down and analyzing everything Chris told him. As he stared

out into the darkness beyond his window, hundreds of thoughts were racing through the

young man’s head. He imagine Jorley as an evil mad scientist, taking and using the

moon rock to perform experiments on him and other students. Chris spoke of the other

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student, Dave, telling of Jorley trying to augment their powers. Ron shuddered at the

thought; with little force at all Ron could break a person’s arm, so what would he be able

to do if his ability was augmented? How would he be able to control his massive

strength?

“You must really not want Jorley to get his hands on this moon rock if you’re

telling me all this,” Ron noted, trying not to use too obscure or fanciful words.

“No, in fact,” Chris started to explain, “the girl I mentioned, she was so freaked

out about what she overheard in Jorley’s office she actually wants to take me down to the

Natural History Museum and prevent the others from stealing from the museum.”

Ron turned around and gave Chris a perplexed look. “I wouldn’t recommend that

if I were you. Believe me, I’ve tried playing a vigilante. Sure, it was gratifying in some

respects…but I almost got innocent people hurt, even killed. And now I have to hear

about it from people all the time, and try to stretch the truth a little bit each time to

prevent people from knowing about my super strength.”

“Well, that’s the thing isn’t it?” Chris provoked. “You want to keep your abilities

a secret too, don’t you?”

Ron agreed, “Yeah, I mean…what would people say about it? What would they

expect out of me? I think it’s already apparent what can happen when the wrong person

knows about it, like our Chemistry professor. He wants to use us, you said. He doesn’t

even view us as human beings anymore, just tools to be used at his discretion. I don’t

want to have to be put in that position.”

“Well, it’s already happened to a few other students,” Chris sighed. He walked

towards Ron who was still standing near his dorm room’s window. “Don’t you think we

should do something about that?”

Ron didn’t reply. His eyes were locked with Chris’s as he thought over his

challenge. Chris decided to attempt to change Ron’s mind, “I agree with you, in a way.

At first, I didn’t want to go along with Lilia’s crazy idea about preventing the others from

stealing the moon rock. For the same reasons as you. But, I don’t know…Lilia was so

dead set on it. It really made me fear Jorley. And I started thinking…if we know what

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Jorley’s plans are, if we know he might do something bad or unethical or whatever with

this moon rock…how guilty are we when he does that bad thing?”

Ron let that thought sink in. He turned away from Chris. After a moment he

whispered, “We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must

fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.”

“Is that a quote?” Chris wondered aloud.

“Yeah,” Ron admitted, “I tried to think of one of the numerous quotes I’ve

recorded from several philosophers I’ve studied, but the only one I could think of was

from Boondock Saints.”

“Hey, that’s a good movie.”

“It’s an awesome movie.”

“I love Willem Dafoe’s character in that movie.”

“Yes, he was hilarious!”

The two boys both chuckled as they thought about the film. Then Chris thought

about leaving. He had made his point and he didn’t want to push Ron into doing

something he didn’t want to do. So, Chris made to head for the door, saying, “Anyways,

just be on the lookout for Dave tomorrow. I’d advise to just try and avoid him, he almost

used his powers on me when I turned him down.”

“Wait,” Chris heard Ron say as he reached out to grab the doorknob. He turned

around to face Ron again. “You’re right…I don’t want to be one of those indifferent men

who allow bad things to happen. Even though I despise vigilantism, I want to help you.”

* * *

Dave sat on a bench, waiting quietly outside Durmand Hall. Just as Professor

Jorley instructed him, he followed Ron Werden after Chemistry class, trying to keep on

eye on anything peculiar about him. Unlike the time he tried to follow Tanya, this time

he succeeded in keeping track of Ron and followed him all the way to his next class, all

across campus. Dave couldn’t believe Ron would sign up for a class so far away from

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where their Chemistry class was and have to be late each time.

Dave felt he had to be sneaky in how he followed Ron, since when they arrived at

Durmand Hall about three minutes after classes were supposed to have started there

weren’t that many other students around. Once he figured out which class room Ron

went into, Dave figured he could get some work done while he waited for Ron to get out

of class. Since it was a relatively warm day, Dave decided to sit outside and do some

reading for one of his other classes.

He had finished only a couple of pages when he heard a number of footsteps

approaching him, followed by a squeaking noise. At first he just ignored it until he

noticed a number of shadows eclipse the sunlight from his reading. He looked up and

saw Rick, the captain of his football team, on crutches (which, Dave thought, explained

the squeaking noise) and two other senior football players, Jim and Rob. And they did

not look happy.

“Hey, guys,” Dave greeted cheerfully, “You looking forward to tomorrow’s

game?”

“What do you think, shithead?” Jim angrily retorted, “Rick here’s in a cast, he’s

not able to play, you dumb fuck.” Dave couldn’t help but find humorous they way his

teammates were acting, but he was also slightly threatened. Dave knew Rick was jealous

of him for taking his spot and only expected that jealousy to grow as Dave continued to

play well. But he wasn’t expecting Rick and his buddies to approach him like this, off

the field, out of the locker room, and on campus. And the way the three of them were

standing was obviously meant to intimidate him, with Jim and Rob standing slightly to

Dave’s right and left, respectfully, so that he couldn’t run away in either of those

directions.

“Well, I know Rick can’t play,” Dave said in reply to Jim, still sounding cocky,

“But I thought you guys would be looking forward to me leading you to another victory

tomorrow.”

Rick returned Dave’s smile with a scowl. “You son of a bitch…” Rick growled.

“Hey, Rick, keep your cool,” Rob warned.

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“You think you can just sleep with my girlfriend, you worthless piece of shit!”

Rick cursed, “Huh? You think just because I’m injured you can take my position on the

field and my lady?!!” Rob had to keep a steady hand on Rick’s shoulder to keep him

stable, he was getting so worked up.

Dave felt his stomach somewhat sink. Rick had discovered he had slept with

Jenny. He didn’t think Jenny would have let him know about it. She had wanted to end

things with Rick and not speak to him again. There were only two people Dave knew of

who would tell Rick of such a thing, Amanda and her tattle-tale roommate.

“Oh…so you heard about that, huh?” Dave replied casually.

“Yeah I heard about it!” Rick roared, “And you’re lucky right now. The only

thing keeping Jim and Robby here beating your little skinny ass right where you stand is I

want that satisfaction for myself! So, just you wait…as soon as I get this cast off, you’re

a goner. So, try and enjoy the next few weeks, the final two games of the season. After

that, you’ll be in worse shape than John was.” Rick signaled to his two teammates and

then said, “Come on, guys, let’s get out of here.”

The three seniors then walked away from Dave, leaving him unfazed. Dave was

not afraid of them. Their threats were futile. Dave could easily kill any of them with his

powers, if he wished. But they were nothing.

Dave put his book back in his backpack and got up. There was someone else who

concerned him now. Apparently Dave’s last encounter with Amanda wasn’t enough to

set her mind straight. Now that she was unable to harm Dave herself, it appeared

Amanda was relying on others to harm him for her. And even if it wasn’t Amanda who

told Rick of his one night stand with Jenny, Dave wanted to set things straight between

the two of them, and once and for all prove his superiority to her.

Unbeknownst to Dave, Lilia was watching the whole time, invisible, from inside

Durmand Hall. She saw the three senior football players approach Dave, but could not

hear what they said to him. All she saw was that after they left, Dave got up to leave.

Lilia didn’t know where he was going, but she was hoping that maybe Dave would no

longer go after Ron. To make sure that was the case, Lilia decided to continue to follow

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Dave.

She trailed Dave across campus until he reached a dormitory. The front door of

the dorm had caution tape covering it up, but as Dave lifted his hand the door swung

open, ripping the tape apart. Lilia at first thought it may have been Dave’s dorm, but

wondered why would he use his powers to open the door the way he did. She thought it

warranted further investigation and followed Dave inside.

Dave was resolved in what he wanted to do as he approached Amanda’s door and

pounded on it. “Just a minute!” he heard Amanda call out. Dave crossed his arms and

waited patiently for Amanda to arrive. Lilia, at this point, noticed that they were on a

girls only floor, and wondered what business Dave would have with the people who lived

in the room he was going to that would keep him away from tracking Ron.

Amanda opened the door and gasped with fright as she came face to face with

Dave. “Wh-What…What are you doing here?!” she uttered.

Dave sneered, “What do you think I’m doing here?”

Amanda took a few steps backwards. She cursed to herself that Katie wasn’t

there. Now she was all alone with a man who almost killed her. “Just get out! Ok? Get

out!!” she commanded.

“Oh, please,” Dave sighed as he walked into the room and leaned against the door

frame, “It’s not like I’m going to throw you into a lake and hurl a rock at you.”

“What do you want?” Amanda demanded.

“I’m going to tell you what I want,” Dave said, his tone becoming more serious.

He pointed at Amanda as he continued. “No more of this girlie gossip drama, all right?!

Not you or your little goodie two-shoes roommate, ok? What we had was nothing. It

could have been a friendship, it could have been something more, but it wasn’t. Because

you had to go crazy and try to kill me!”

“You cheated on me!!” Amanda yelled back in reply.

“I couldn’t have cheated on you because we didn’t have a relationship to start off

with!!” Dave screamed back. He realized he had taken a few threatening steps towards

Amanda while he was talking. He took a few steps back and tried to calm down a little

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bit as he said, “No, we’re not having this argument. Look, I came here because Rick

found out about what I did too. And I don’t know if you told him, your roommate told

him or her sister told him, but I just wanted to let you know that your little cat games

aren’t going to affect me. I’m above that now. Nobody can threaten me, nobody can

harm me…anything I want is at my fingertips now. My powers give me that authority.

And you can’t hurt me, even with your own abilities.”

“B-But…” Amanda whimpered, “I thought our abilities…connected us…!”

“Pfft,” Dave scowled as he turned away. “Everyone in our Chemistry class could

have abilities now. We all got it from that stupid prank Jorley pulled a month or so ago

with the moon rock. There was nothing special between us…not even that. I’m out of

here.”

Lilia stood petrified as Dave exited the room and walked right past her. Lilia then

gazed inside and saw Amanda collapse unto her bed and begin to pour out tears. Lilia

felt for her. She didn’t understand what had happened between her and Dave, but Dave

had sounded so angry and cruel. And it seemed that Amanda was in their Chemistry

class and was gifted too.

“Excuse me?” Amanda heard above her pouts. She looked up and standing before

her was a stoic looking, tanned girl.

Lilia said, “Sorry for the intrusion…um, I overheard what just happened. I’m in

your Chemistry class…I have gifts too. I was wondering…if you’d like someone to talk

to?”

Amanda didn’t know what to do. She felt so emotionally unstable. She was still

mad at Dave, and over the course of the past few weeks her rage had been eating her up

inside as she plotted ways to get back at him, including having Katie tell Rick about his

girlfriend’s infidelity. But, when she saw Dave, for a moment she thought they would be

able to talk it out and make it work. Instead, Dave tore her apart, destroying the one link

she still thought connected them and made them unique. And now Katie wasn’t there to

be her shoulder to cry on.

So, Amanda looked up at Lilia and, after giving it a moment of consideration,

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replied, “Yeah…I’d like that.”

Lilia Coolwater returned to her dormitory. She felt she had done a good deed by

talking things out with Amanda. Her mind was filled with thoughts about what she had

experienced that day, wondering about whatever happened to Dave and Ron after Dave

left Amanda’s dorm, and concerns over what was to happen next. She almost didn’t see

Veronica sitting in the dorm lounge with her roommate. Upon seeing Lilia, Veronica

jumped out of her seat and strode to her side.

“Lilia! I’ve been looking for you..well, ever since our meeting with Professor

Jorley,” she declared, at first shouting, but lowering her voice once she got close enough

to Lilia to speak confidentially. “Oh, yes,” Lilia stated flatly. “I’m sorry. I told you that

we’d meet up her afterwards. I became distracted.”

“I didn’t know what to do,” Veronica confided. “I know we were kinda arguing

about it before, but…I had really wanted your advice.” Lilia felt horrible in that moment,

but she didn’t show it. She had entered the dorm invisibly that day and hadn’t even

thought about meeting up again with Veronica until later. Even then, she thought

Veronica had already made up her mind and wished to avoid arguing with her. Now, she

thought, if she had only known if she had had a chance to convince her otherwise.

“I’m really sorry,” Lilia apologized. She paused a moment and then asked, “So,

what happened? What did you decide when you went back to Jorley?” Veronica looked

to the ground. She was unable to look at Lilia’s eyes, to see her reaction, when she

answered, “I decided the professor was right. I need his help. And I’m going to help him

to make sure he helps me.”

Chapter 9

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“And on that note, class is dismissed,” Professor Stuart Jorley declared as most of

the students in his Freshman Chemistry course had already begun to pack their bags. As

most of the students got up to leave, Jorley kept a watchful eye on those he knew were to

stay. Most of the one hundred and fifty or so students filed out of the classroom as

quickly as they possible could; Jorley kept them a couple minutes late. Five students

emerged from the parting crowd in their seats. As the last few students exited the class

door, Jorley invited his five special students to come down closer to him with a simple

hand motion.

In the fraction of a second Bill Delauney appeared next to him, leaning against the

table where Jorley had kept his notes. The next to stride down the aisle way was Dave

Shaw. Ken Jones and Tanya Meyes followed him, staying close by each other. The last

to approach, timidly following Ken and Tanya, was Veronica Levafuoco.

“Thank you all for agreeing to stay a few minutes after class,” Jorley announced,

“I have urgent news.”

“What’s up, doc?” Dave jested.

He waited a moment for some of the others to at least chuckle. When nobody else

did, he cleared his throat and asked, “I mean, what’s the problem, professor?”

“I have just discovered,” the professor stated, “that Gracchi’s Natural History

Museum will be moving its planetary exhibit around to other museums, and with that

some of their collection of moon rocks.” Each of the students displayed a look of shock

or disappointment. The moon rock was important for all of them, for different reasons,

and for the museum to potentially give it away was a loss for all of them.

“We have to act tonight,” Jorley had decided. “And I have postulated a plan that,

if you can spare a few minutes, you have to hear. I have arranged for one of the

university’s vans to be available for you tonight. I’m going to leave the keys to Dave; he

will be your leader in the field. I have tried to plan for every contingency, but I don’t

know the exact layout of the museum, so Dave will make calls when appropriate. You

guys are going to have to go in and out as quickly and silently as possible. Remember,

we don’t want to rest of the world to know about you and your powers. If you follow my

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plan, that shouldn’t happen,” Jorley directed. He had the other students gather around

and he began to explain his plot in greater detail.

* * *

“It’s happening tonight.”

“Yikes!” Chris exclaimed as he heard a female voice state that, when he thought

he was in his dorm room all alone. He whipped around in his chair to see Lilia standing

before him. “Geez, Lilia,” Chris said, “I know you’re really into turning invisible and all,

but you can’t just appear in people’s rooms like that!”

“I’m sorry,” Lilia apologized, “But this was really urgent and I realized that when

we met last week we didn’t exchange numbers or anything and I had to see you right

away.”

“What is it?” Chris asked.

“It’s happening tonight,” Lilia repeated.

“What is?”

“The moon rock, they’re going to take it tonight. After Chemistry class today I

noticed that Veronica and Dave weren’t leaving like everyone else. So, I became

invisible and stayed behind to see what was happening. Jorley had three other students

together and started going over the plans to steal the moon rock. Apparently, the Natural

History Museum is letting its planetary exhibit go on tour to other museums so this is the

only chance they have of getting it.”

“Damn it,” Chris uttered. He got up out of his seat, walked over to his door and,

looking around to make sure no one was around that could have listened in to what Lilia

had said, closed it. “What were you able to learn?”

“They’re going to leave at eleven o’clock tonight, in a university van. It takes

about forty-five minutes to arrive at Gracchi. Once they get there, Dave’s going to use

his powers to shut down the museum’s security systems. Tanya is going to teleport

everyone but Veronica in there. Veronica’s supposed to stay outside and cause a

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distraction with her fire powers if the police show up. Ken and Dave are then supposed

to go after the security guards within the museum, while Tanya and Bill work together to

find the right moon rock.”

Chris paced about in his room. Lilia stood still and imperturbably, awaiting a

response from Chris. He finally asked, “So what do you think we should do?”

“I still think we should stop them,” Lilia affirmed, “I just don’t know how.”

“I don’t know,” Chris cringed, shuffling his hands through his hair in frustration.

“This just all seems so crazy. I mean, I don’t want Jorley getting that moon rock. But I

don’t think we can silently and invisibly go to the museum and stop the others. Not

without notifying the police first…and that would just reveal to the world our powers and

get your friend and the others in trouble. I don’t want to do that.”

“I don’t see how we can do this and keep our gifts a secret,” Lilia stated.

“Do what, though?” Chris vexed, “I mean, how else can we stop them unless we

do it forcefully? I’ve already used my powers against two of them, and I’m lucky that

those conflicts didn’t escalate. We could do some major damage…to the museum’s

property and each other. We could all get thrown in prison.

“So we just let them get the moon rock? Let Jorley do God knows what to all of

them?” Lilia challenged. Chris moaned and fell into his chair. He dug his knuckles into

his forehead as he tried to think of a solution. He wondered what Ashley would think of

him, if she knew what he was going through. Would she support him, or think he was a

freak? In the short time they knew each other, Ashley was constantly encouraging him to

be active. Was this a way to be active, and take charge of something in a way he never

had before?

He then thought of Ron Werden, and his observation that indifference and apathy

are just as evil as an evil act. If stealing the moon rock was an evil act, he could not

allow it to happen. “All right, we’ll do it,” Chris decided.

A smile came to Lilia’s face. She sensed something about Chris and they way he

began to talk. He was charged. He stated, “But it’s not going to work with just the two

of us. The five of them have too much firepower. We’re going to need a team, and we’re

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going to need to assemble them quickly. We need someone who has a car, who can drive

us there, and we should try to get there before the others. If we can, we should try and

reason with them and prevent them from even entering the museum. If it has to come to

a fight, we’ll fight.”

“Great!” Lilia cheered, “I’ll call Amanda, and then look into getting a car.”

“Amanda?”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t tell you about her,” Lilia recalled and then explained, “She’s

been gifted, too. She has telekinesis. She didn’t have control of her abilities either until

she met Dave, who taught her to use them, and I guess they kinda went out for a while.

Then Dave slept with somebody else and Amanda’s been hit really hard by that. I tried to

console her over it, and we got to talking and I think she’d be interested in helping us.”

“Oooookay,” Chris sighed, “I didn’t need to hear her whole life story.”

“Sorry,” Lilia apologized again. “Did you ever talk to that Ron?”

“Yeah,” Chris answered, “And I think he’d be willing to help us too.”

“That’s perfect!” Lilia affirmed. “Everything’s set. Now all I have to do is figure

out our transportation.”

“Hmmmm,” Chris pondered aloud as he leaned back in his chair, “There’s

probably one other thing I should do too.”

* * *

Mike Lee walked from his dining hall to his dormitory after having lunch with his

friend Josh Hall, silently and solemnly. Josh had noticed that Mike had been behaving

differently over the past couple of weeks, ever since they night of the party that he had

thrown himself off that bridge. Josh had not seen Mike at all the days immediately

proceeding the incident. Josh would knock at Mike’s door constantly to check up on

him, as he was sure he must have been injured in the fall. But Mike would either not

reply or yell at Josh to go away. Josh kept at it though and eventually Mike relented,

making Josh agree to not talk about the night of the party.

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Josh found that agreeable, since what had happened was rather embarrassing. But

Josh wondered if there was more to it than that. Mike was no longer his cheery, excitable

self. He was like a zombie half the time, never starting conversations himself, never

making the same sort of exclamations he used. He wouldn’t even have the same spirit of

playing video games like he used to. Whenever Josh would try to talk to him to see what

was wrong, Mike would silence him.

It was an awkward walk from the dining hall to their dormitory. There, a young

man whom Josh recognized as having been a friend of Mike’s was waiting at the door.

“Hey, Mike,” Chris greeted.

“Oh, hey,” Mike nonchalantly stated.

He walked right past Chris, getting out his ID to open the door of his dorm. Josh

noticed that Chris appeared to want to talk to Mike and, just standing there, wondered

why Mike was giving him the cold shoulder. “Can I talk to you?” Chris asked.

Mike slowly turned to Chris. “What would you wanna talk about?” he asked.

“Stuff,” Chris replied. Chris turned to Josh and asked, “Could we have a moment

alone?”

Josh shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.” As he walked past Mike to enter the dorm

he invited, “Come on back to my room when you’re done, ok?”

“Fine,” Mike stated.

Once the door had closed behind Josh, Chris asked as compassionately as he

could: “How have you been?”

Mike turned away from Chris. He answered, with a tinge of emotion for the first

time in a while, “How do you think I’ve been?”

“Horrible, most likely.”

Chris approached Mike and gently placed his hand on Mike’s shoulder. Mike

shrugged it off. “Come on, Mike,” Chris urged, “You can’t keep beating yourself up like

this. Are you going to let this affect you the rest of your life?”

“I saw myself fall to my own death and die right before my eyes!” Mike

bellowed.

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“And I frickin’ cremated the body!” Chris argued, trying to keep his voice down

so that students walking by wouldn’t listen in to their conversation. “Don’t you think that

affects me? Don’t you think I have nightmares about it? I feel like I killed one of my

own friends. And that scares the shit out of me. But I have other friends…a girl I really

like. I can’t let that one thing stop me from living the rest of my life.”

“Well, good for you!” Mike retorted.

Chris sighed and leaned back against the wall of the dormitory. He wasn’t getting

to Mike and he doubted he would. Especially as Mike continued: “I’m so glad that was

so easy for you to get over. Well, not for me. So, go on and live your own damn life.”

“I need you, Mike,” Chris admitted.

Mike glanced over at Chris. As soon as Chris’s eyes met Mike’s he continued,

“You’re my friend. One of the only ones I have on campus, actually. The time we spent

together…I…valued that. And I’ve been missing it the last two weeks or so. Y’know,

it’s funny…since I’ve come to college I’ve learned more out of class than in class. And

I’ve really reevaluated my life. I had kind of cut myself off from the rest of the world for

a while, and I was suffering. You were one of the ones who kind of…brought me back to

life. And now I need you if I’m gonna do this thing tonight that I really gotta do…”

“What are you talking about?” Mike inquired.

At that moment another student exited Mike’s dorm. Chris waited for him to

walk away before he went on to explain, “I’ve discovered how we gained our abilities. It

was from when Professor Jorley put that moon rock in that water as a part of one of his

stupid pranks. That set off some sort of energy, biological reaction or something in

us…and a few other students as well.”

“So it’s his fault,” Mike said, looking away from Chris.

“I guess you could say that,” Chris conjectured. “Well, now Jorley wants the

moon rock back to do research on it. Possibly to help the students who can’t control their

powers or to help some of the students become more powerful or to use us all as guinea

pigs. I don’t really know for sure…what I do know is that he can’t get at the moon rock

himself and he’s put five of the affected students together to leave late tonight to steal it

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from the museum it’s at. One of the other girls affected is convinced that this is some

great evil and we have to stop him. So now I’m leading this mission to stop these other

guys, and I feel I’m in over my head…and I don’t even know if I should be doing this.”

Chris circled around Mike so that he could look him in the eyes again. He then

pleaded, “I need someone I know…someone I trust…to tell me I’m doing the right thing.

I have no one else to go to. Please, just tell me…what do you think I should do?”

Mike shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he mused. “Why ask me?”

Chris threw his hands in the air in frustration. “What is with you, man?” Chris

cried out, “When are you gonna get out of this funk?!”

Mike turned away from Chris again, facing the few students that were walking

about campus. “I don’t know…but I can tell you I hate Jorley right now. It’s his

fault…he put me through all this. I was…I was going crazy, man. I mean, I could never

decide what to do anymore and since I could duplicate…why couldn’t I do everything?

But now…after what happened…”

“Go on…please,” Chris urged, glad that Mike was finally opening up to him.

“I feel like a part of me died,” Mike admitted, “That duplicate…he was a part of

me. In every single way…he was me. And I killed myself. What if it happens again…?

What if it happens to the real me?! I can really die…”

“I think I understand what you’re going through,” Chris said, “Mike, you can’t be

afraid of living because you’re afraid of dying. This is going to sound clichéd, but death

is a part of life. I mean, I don’t want you to die anytime soon, you mean too much to me.

But…if you retreat from your life, from your friends…you might as well be dead. What

happened with your duplicate…he made a bad choice, that’s all. But now…you didn’t

actually die! You have a chance to live your life, and learn from your duplicate’s

mistake. No one else has ever had that kind of opportunity before.”

Chris waited to see how Mike would react, to see if he got through to him at all.

Mike just continued to stare off towards campus, the other dormitories that surrounded

them and the students walking back and forth. With Mike not saying anything, Chris

wondered if he should continue, or maybe he should back down and apologize for being

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patronizing, or if he should just let Mike be and leave. Then, Mike finally said, “I think

you should do it.”

“Huh?” Chris uttered. “What do you mean?”

“You should do what you’re planning on doing tonight,” Mike clarified. “Go stop

those kids from helping Jorley out. No one else deserves to be cursed like I did.” Mike

then turned around and, walking past Chris, went to enter his dormitory.

As he opened the door, Chris turned to him and said, “Mike…thanks.”

Just as Mike was about to walk in, Chris thought he saw Mike smile at him. It

was a quick smile, but Chris was convinced that it was there. It was his old, happy-go-

lucky smile, even if it was there for just a moment before Mike’s face became serious

again. There was hope for Mike yet.

* * *

It was ten fifteen that night and Chris descended from his dorm room to wait for

the others. Steve was wrapped up in his own work and didn’t even notice Chris leaving.

Chris began pacing the foyer of the dormitory, knowing that it may take Amanda up to

another fifteen minutes to arrive. They were all fortunate in that Amanda had her own

car, which most freshmen were not allowed to have on campus. In his hands Chris had

directions to Gracchi’s Natural History Museum. They didn’t want anything to go

wrong, so they were to leave a half hour before the others, ensuring plenty of time to get

there.

As Chris paced about he heard a knock on the dormitory’s door. He went to see

who it was and was relieved to see Ron. Chris opened the door. “Hey, thanks for

coming.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Ron replied as he entered, “You sure this is the only way?”

“Yeah,” Chris said, somewhat grimly.

Ron took a seat on one of the couches in the foyer and tried to calm his nerves.

He kept flashing back to the broomball game against Todd and the nightmare of facing

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off against the gang members in Chicago. He imagined facing off against one of the

other students trying to steal the moon rock and accidently killing the person with his

strength. Chris had said that they would try to talk them out of it first; hopefully it would

be settled through that, Ron thought.

Chris took a seat across from Ron. “You nervous?”

Ron shuffled in his seat and answered honestly, “Somewhat, yeah…you?”

“Haven’t felt this nervous since my last football playoff game in high school,”

Chris replied. Chris began to reminisce back to those days and wished that the only thing

he had to be nervous about was as inconsequential as a high school football game. He

checked his watch. Amanda and Lilia had about nine minutes to show up.

“You mentioned having a plan of attack, if it came to that,” Ron noted,

interrupting Chris’s thoughts.

“Yeah,” Chris answered. “I’ll go over it in the car on the way there. But,

basically, our main advantage is that we know what their plan is, and we know what their

powers are. They don’t know we’re coming and, for most of us, they have no idea what

our capabilities are. If they won’t listen to us and reason, we’ll use that to our

advantage.”

Chris then saw the lights of a car flash through the window. He jumped to his feet

and rushed to the window to look through to make sure it was their car. The car stayed

on without the driver getting out, but then the passenger door opened. That passenger

was Lilia. “They’re here!” Chris called out to Ron.

Lilia, bundled up for the cold, dashed towards the door and Chris arrived first to

open it up for her. “Are you guys ready to leave or what?” Lilia questioned as soon as

Chris opened.

“Yeah, you want to leave now?” Chris asked back.

Lilia nodded furiously and led Chris and Ron back to the car. She opened the

passenger door for Chris to sit in and introduced, “Chris, this is Amanda. Amanda, this is

Chris and this other guy is Ron.”

“Hi!” Amanda greeted, immediately taking a liking to Chris.

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“Hi,” Chris reciprocated, “Thanks so much for letting us use your car.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Amanda said. “I’m just glad you guys invited me along

to this. Dave is a class-A jerk and I wanna be there to make sure he doesn’t get that rock.

Otherwise, I’m afraid he’s going to haunt me for the rest of our lives.” Chris got into the

car next to Amanda, wondering what she meant by that. Then he heard, “Hey! Chris!”

Chris was startled by the sound of that voice, and hopped back out of the car to

make sure he wasn’t hearing things. To his shock he saw Mike Lee approaching them,

waving. “Mike!!” Chris exclaimed, “What are you doing here?!”

“I needed to talk to you,” Mike answered.

“How did you know to come now?”

“I didn’t, you ass,” Mike said, cursing lightheartedly. “I tried calling you three

times, but you didn’t pick up.” Chris picked his phone out of his pocket, the new one he

received after blowing his previous one up. He had forgotten that he had silenced it in

preparation for the mission and saw he indeed had three missed calls.

“Sorry,” Chris apologized, “What’s on your mind?”

“So, is this your team to stop Jorley?” Mike asked, glancing at Lilia and Ron, who

were standing there awkwardly, wondering who this other kid was and whether or not

they should get into the car.

“Yeah,” Chris answered, “We were just about to leave.”

“Is there enough room in there for one more?” Mike wondered aloud.

Chris’s eyes widened and his mouth slightly hung ajar. It took Chris a moment to

regain control of himself. “What? A-Are you saying…you want to come with us?”

“Yeah,” Mike answered, “You were right today. I…I can’t be afraid of

myself…or my ability. Did you know I haven’t duplicated once since…since that night.

I wanted to blame my powers for what happened. Then what you said today…it

reminded me that I was really afraid of myself…and my own inability to make the right

choices, and I thought that would end up getting me killed, for real. And, for a moment,

I was angry at you for reminding me of that. But then what you said…that I was being

given a second chance. Well, I don’t want to waste that second chance.”

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“Hey!!” Amanda screamed, cutting Mike off. “I don’t know what you guys are

talking about out there, but it’s freezing and I still have the car running! Get in and let’s

go!!”

Chris looked back and smiled at Amanda. He kind of liked her feistiness and

hoped it would serve them well that evening. Chris then grabbed Mike and gave him a

quick hug. “C’mon, man,” Chris declared, “Let’s go do this!!”

Chris then shoved Mike into the back seat next to Lilia and Ron, who had both

already gotten inside. Chris then took his seat in the front, next to Amanda who asked,

“You know where we’re going?”

“Yeah, take route 11 to interstate 888. Then once we get off at exit 51C I can

direct you from there,” Chris notified. Chris then turned around and introduced Mike to

the others and began to spell out his plan in case they weren’t able to convince the others

not to steal the moon rock.

* * *

Dave waited for the others, leaning against the Pine State van that Professor

Jorley had secured for them as he let it heat up. Professor Jorley was standing in front of

him, staring at his watch. Tanya and Ken were the first to arrive. They were in the

middle of conversation as they approached and Dave thought he heard Ken ask, “Are we

doing the right thing, doing this?”

“How can it be wrong?” Dave heard Tanya whisper back to Ken. “We’re helping

people. I told ya’ all about everything I went through when my abilities first showed up.

I don’t wan that to happen to anyone else.”

“You’re one minute and twenty-three seconds late,” Jorley told them, his eyes not

lifting his watch.

“Sorry,” Tanya apologized for both of them.

“I don’t tolerate tardiness in class,” Jorley asked rhetorically, “Why would I

tolerate it now?”

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Tanya and Ken remained silent and huddled over to stand next to Dave. Jorley

continued to watch his clock, and didn’t notice Veronica when she approached. Veronica

was breathing in deeply and trying to keep her nerves under control. Jorley had told her

not to take the pills that kept her powers sedated that night, as they might need her to use

them during the heist. Veronica was scared to death that they would manifest at any time

and she would be unable to control them. She hoped that after tonight her nightmare

would be ended after Jorley used the moon rock to find some way to help her.

“Hi guys,” she greeted.

“Hey,” Tanya said in reply.

Ken nodded warmly and Dave lifted his arm up with a slight wave. Tanya looked

up at Ken, motioning slightly towards Veronica. Ken understood that Tanya meant to

show Veronica off as an example of someone they were trying to help by doing this. By

that point they each knew about one another’s powers and a little bit about each other as

people too. Tanya had become very sympathetic to Veronica’s plight and it convinced

her they were doing the right thing.

“So, when are we going to leave?” Veronica asked.

“As soon as Bill shows up,” Dave replied.

Shortly thereafter, in the blink of an eye, Bill appeared. Jorley finally lowered his

hand with his watch and stated, “Three minutes and forty-eight seconds after the

designated hour. You would think, William, with your abilities you’d be the first one

here.”

“Cut me some slack,” Bill retorted. “I didn’t get to smoke anything this evening

to do this.”

“Don’t make excuses,” Jorley commanded. “I won’t accept them and I’m sure

Dave won’t accept them in the field either. You all know what you have to do. Follow

my plan and listen to Dave. I’ve described to you the shape and size of the moon rock

that I had obtained for class. If you have difficulty differentiating from ones of similar

shape and size take them all. We’ll see to it afterwards that the museum gets the wrong

ones back. Dave has keys to the Chemistry lab, I will be waiting there for your return.”

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“Let’s do this,” Dave said.

The five students filed into the car, Dave taking the driver’s seat and Bill sitting in

the front passenger seat. Ken, Tanya and Veronica found that there was ample seating

space in the back. Tanya still decided to sit close to Ken, and Veronica sat opposite of

them. As they got in they heard on the radio, “And we’d like to remind anyone driving

out late tonight that about six miles of I-888 are still closed this evening after a water

main break earlier in the day. That six miles roughly coincides between exits 48 and 52,

so please be advised to mind the detour signs. And now for tonight’s weather-”

“Hey,” Veronica piped up. “Isn’t that the route we’re supposed to follow?”

“Yeah,” Dave said, reaching under the seat to grab at something.

“What are we going to do then?” Veronica asked.

“Fortunately, Jorley provided us with a GPS,” Dave said, pulling the device out

from underneath the seat and attaching it to the dashboard, “This should help us from

getting lost.”

Approximately forty-five minutes later, Dave and his companions arrived. The

GPS had delivered them there without any complications, when they had taken the detour

exit off of 888, the GPS corrected their directions to get them to the museum only a

couple minutes longer than they would have arrived otherwise. As per Professor Jorley’s

directions, they parked about a block down, in a spot easy to sprint to from the entrance

to the museum and slide out of if they had to make a run for it.

Upon exiting the van, Dave knelt to the ground, closed his eyes and pressed his

hands against the sidewalk. He shot down several currents of electricity, searching for

the power lines that connected to the museum. Once he found them he followed them.

In his mind’s eye he was able to “see” where all the circuits led, following them to the

generator that powers the entire block. Having found that he managed to shut down the

power for the entire block.

His companions gasped as the streetlight above them went out. They noticed that

the lights of the other buildings on their side of the street were out as well. “Not yet,”

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Dave said. He had felt something else below them, the museum had a backup generator.

Dave followed the power lines that led to that and shut the backup generator down as

well.

With his task completed he opened his eyes and exhaled a huge amount of air. He

fell back on his buttocks and took a moment to catch his breath. That had taken more

effort than he thought it would.

“You ok?” Tanya asked.

“Yeah,” Dave replied, “Let’s press forward.”

Ken helped Dave up and they walked down the street towards the museum. As

they approached Dave looked up to where he had felt where the hidden cameras would

be. He noticed that they were not on, the security guards inside had no idea they were

approaching. Once they climbed up the steps leading to the main entranceway and

reached the doors, Ken asked Tanya: “You sure you can do this?”

“Yeah,” Tanya answered, “but I’ve never tried teleportin’ more than one person

before.”

“Then let’s not risk it,” Dave declared. “You’ll port us in one at a time. Take Bill

in first. Bill, map out the area, find and take out all the security guards as fast as you can.

Then, once you’re sure you’ve taken them all out, meet us back here in the lobby. I know

that’s different than how Jorley wanted it, but I don’t want any of us getting caught, and

you’re the only one who can take them down without them knowing it.” Dave turned to

Veronica and asked, “You feel fine staying out here and watching our backs?”

“Yeah,” Veronica said, “I don’t mind the cold at all.”

“Then let’s do this, team,” Dave commanded.

Ken watched helplessly as Tanya took a hold of Bill and disappeared. Ever since

the night when they went out with Jamal and the others and met Dave, Ken and Tanya

had become really close. Ken felt that all of his time was spent with her. He cared for

her deeply and wished that she didn’t have to be here. He didn’t really want to be there

this night, but he would rather be there and have her back in her own dorm, safe and

sound. Instead, they both were there, and Ken dedicated himself to making sure Tanya

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wouldn’t get hurt.

Within a moment Tanya reappeared, took hold of Dave, and disappeared with

him. Ken looked over to Veronica, who was waiting patiently with her arms crossed,

staring out blankly. She realized Ken was looking at her, turned to him, smiled and said,

“Good luck.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he replied, “You too.”

“Oh, I’ve got the easy part,” Veronica stated, adding, “I hope.”

Tanya reappeared right next to Ken. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,”

Ken said. Tanya smiled and said, “You better.”

Unlike the others, whom she had taken by the shoulder, Tanya wrapped her hand

within Ken’s, focused on returning inside the museum, and began to transport them there.

For Ken, reality began to bend around him. He felt sick to his stomach and was forced to

close his eyes and keel over. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the lobby of the

museum. Tanya bent down to look at Ken eye-level and asked, “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Ken grunted, “Just remind me never to do that again.”

“I warned you it’d make you sick,” Tanya reminded.

Ken straightened up and looked around him. The lobby stretched out several

meters before turning into a rotunda. A massive skull of a tyrannosaurus rex stretched

out from the floor below. Around the rotunda were six corridors, each blocked by a gate,

and one smaller corridor on each side that was opened. In front of the railing directly in

front of them stood a display that showed a map of the museum. Dave stood there

scrutinizing it closely.

“So, what’s the game plan?” Tanya asked, walking up to Dave.

“All of the exhibits on outer space and ‘Our universe’ are upstairs,” Dave

explained. “Looks like we can reach it through that opened entrance on the right side.

That’s the way Bill just ran off to. So I say we wait here until Bill comes back and then

we’ll all head up there.”

Brandon Malone walked about the lower level of the Gracchi Natural History

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Museum, flashing his flash light here and there, on the lookout for anything suspicious.

He did not think anything of the power outage, but since the back-up generator wasn’t

working his coworker began to fret and set him out to make a round of the building. As

he walked about, Brandon swore he heard something. He turned around and gasped as a

young man, slightly shorter than he with long hair was in front of him. Brandon felt like

hundreds of tiny explosives hit him in the face and gut and then he began to lose

consciousness.

“Brandon?” Bill heard from the passed out security guard’s walkie-talkie,

“Brandon, you there, buddy? I thought I heard something.” Bill bent down, unbuckled

the walkie-talkie from Brandon’s belt and turned it off.

Bill had to act fast. If the other security guard suspected something he would call

the police and everything would be over. He unhooked the security guard’s set of keys

from his belt and looked them over. He then ran around the museum once more, stopping

at each door to unlock it and see where it lead. It only took Bill a minute to find the room

of the security guard to find that it was empty. The other security guard had gone out to

look for his coworker.

“I hear something,” Ken said.

He heard it faintly, but it was definitely the pitter-patter of one walking down or

up a flight of stairs. Soon, Dave heard it too. “That can’t be Bill,” Dave realized, then

commanded, “Hide!”

The three of them darted behind the display. Tanya felt her heart rate go up. She

didn’t want to breath hard, as that might give them away. So, she clutched Ken’s hand

and tried to relax. They heard, “Brandon? Are you there? Did your walkie-talkie go

out?”

Dave turned to Ken and Tanya and declared in a whisper, “I can take care of this.”

He then jumped out from behind the display and with one motion of his hand several

currents of electricity were discharged from his body and the security guard was stricken

by them. The guard cried out in pain and then fell to the ground, passed out. Tanya and

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Ken had seen it before. It was just as Dave had taken care of Jamal. They both got up

and Tanya squeaked, “You didn’ kill him…did you?”

“No, he’s just out cold,” Dave replied.

At that moment, Bill arrived.

“Itookoutonesecurityguardbutthere’satleastonemoreandI’velookedalloverthemuse

umandcan’tfindhim,” Bill said, speaking so fast his words were all strangled together.

Dave made out most of it to figure out what Bill was saying and simply motioned to the

motionless body of the other security guard. “Oh,” Bill realized, “There he is.”

Dave said, “You have to remember to talk slowly to us, I had no idea what you

said before.”

Bill shrugged. Dave then turned to the others and directed, “This is a piece of

cake now, guys. Let’s go get that moon rock.”

“Just park right there,” Chris pointed out, exasperated.

“Fine, fine, fine, fine!” Amanda screamed, turning the car into a public parking

area across the street from the Gracchi Natural History Museum.

“C’mon, everyone,” Chris commanded, “We’re late already as it is. The others

are probably already here. We have little hope that we can stop them before they get into

the museum at this point.”

“We would have been there earlier if you were smart enough to look up that the

highway was going to be closed!” Amanda argued. “And then you have to go and say,

‘Oh, I’m great with directions, I can get us there without following the detour!’ You

made us drive around the entire city!!”

“I apologized already,” Chris replied, getting out of the car. “What else can I

say?”

“You guys should really stop arguing so we can get going,” Lilia calmly stated.

“We have to see if the others are already here or not.”

“I agree entirely, Lilia, this bickering is – oh my God!” Ron shrieked. He had

gotten out of the car before Lilia and upon turning around to face her saw she wasn’t

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there any longer. “I’m invisible,” Lilia pointed out.

“I’ve since realized,” Ron said, slightly embarrassed of his scream. “I just hadn’t

expected you to turn invisible so quickly.”

“The others could be around nearby; I don’t want them to know about me until I

have to make my presence known,” Lilia explained. “I’m our ‘ace in the hole’.”

Amanda got out of the car and whined, “I am not leaving my car alone like this.

This is, like, the worst part of the city. My dad will kill me if it even gets a scratch.”

Chris groaned loudly. At first he thought he liked Amanda and that they would

get along well. Then he spent almost an hour and a half in a car with her, getting lost on

top of it.

“Ok, that’s fine,” Chris relented, “Mike, create a duplicate and have him stay with

the car.”

“Roger!” Mike affirmed.

Mike had a lot of time in the car ride to think about what he was doing that

evening. Lilia and Ron had stayed silent most of the trip, and once Amanda and Chris

started arguing after they became lost, no one in the back seat really felt like talking.

Mike began thinking about World of Warcraft, which he had succeeded in giving up after

the night of his duplicate’s death. He realized that what he was doing right now was an

adventure not unlike the action of World of Warcraft.

Mike concentrated, realizing that this was the first time he had formed a duplicate

in weeks. It didn’t take him long to remember how to do so, and soon he was staring at

an exact copy of himself, face to face. He exclaimed, “Duplication summoned!” He then

grabbed hold of his duplicate and commanded, “Mike Lee Duplicate Number 1, you are

hereby ordered to guard this vehicle until our return.”

“Roger, sir!” the dupe replied. “Mike Lee Duplicate Number 1 has left the party.”

Chris, Amanda and Ron all gave Mike a strange look. Lilia may have as well, but

Mike couldn’t tell due to her invisibility. Following the orders Chris had given him in

the car, Mike shouted again, “Duplication Activate!” He created four more duplicates

and each time the new duplicate would state his name and number and that he had

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entered the party.

Mike then turned to face the others, smiling widely. Chris had been right; Mike

wouldn’t lose his life to despair any longer. He was given a second chance to enjoy life,

and enjoy it he would, even in the face of danger. Chris put his arm around whom he

thought to be the original and said, “Lee, you’re all right. C’mon, let’s pull this caper

off.”

Veronica sat on the sidewalk, leaning against the wall of the apartment complex

right next to the museum. She was waiting to see if the police or anyone else would

come and try and get into the museum, at which point she was to set at least part of the

building on fire to distract them. Veronica hoped it wouldn’t come to that, as she hated

the idea of destroying somebody else’s property. But to secure her own health and

sanity, she would do it.

Veronica then saw a group of people crossing the street towards the museum. She

turned away from them, trying to be inconspicuous and hoping they wouldn’t notice her.

Then she heard someone call out, “Veronica?”

She was shocked. They couldn’t have called out her name, couldn’t have known

who she was. She slowly turned around to face the group of seven people and screamed

once she realized four of them were the same person.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down,” Chris urged, “We’re in your Chemistry

class. We’re friends. You have to tell me, where are the others?”

“Th-Th-Th-The others?” Veronica stuttered, forcing herself to stand up. “Y-You

know?”

“Yeah,” Chris answered, “We’re not going to hurt you, or the others. We just

need to know what’s going on.”

Veronica was entirely confused. Were these people really friends? Were these

other students Jorley found and did he send them here to help her and the others?

“They’re all inside, trying to take the moon rock.”

Chris turned to his companions. “All right, then we are too late. Ron, you Mike

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and the dupes take point. Charge up there and use your strength to open the doors if

they’re locked. Mike, you and your dupes do what you can to protect him once you get

in. Amanda and I will be with you shortly.”

“Roger!” Mike and his dupes jubilantly proclaimed.

“Uh, we’re on it,” Ron stated softly, feeling like his reply meant nothing after that

of Mike and his dupes. He sighed as he followed them up the stairs to the museum’s

entrance, he had to try to stop himself from using obscure words but Mike was allowed to

act completely silly.

Veronica gasped as she figured out what was going on. “You…You guys aren’t

with Jorly!”

“No, we’re not,” Chris admitted, “We just want to talk to the others and explain

to them why they shouldn’t take the moon rock. If you could just wait here, Amanda and

I are going to go with the others. Our car is over there. Go there and wait with one of

Mike’s dupes. We should be out shortly.”

Chris then turned to Amanda and said, “C’mon, we’re going to join the others.”

They both started to walk at a brisk pace to catch up with Ron, Mike, and the dupes when

they heard, “Wait!! I’m going to burn this building!”

Both Chris and Amanda stopped in their tracks and slowly turned around. They

saw Veronica standing there, with both hands facing an air conditioning unit hanging out

of one of the apartment windows.

Chris pleaded, “Veronica, I know you’re having troubles with your abilities. All

of us have. But burning down a building isn’t going to help anything. You know you

don’t want to do it. Just go hang out at our car, we’ll be right back.” Veronica hung her

head and returned her hands to her sides.

“That’s better,” Chris stated. Then he and Amanda turned back around and ran to

meet up with the others. Veronica thought a moment, then picked her head back up. She

may not have been willing to set a building on fire and risk the lives of who knows how

many, but she wouldn’t let these people she didn’t know walk all over her. She had to let

Jorley get that moon rock, or she would have to live with the fear of killing others with

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her power every day of her life. So, she had to stop these strangers from stopping her

companions, and she ran after them.

Once Chris and Amanda approached the top of the stairs leading to the museum’s

entrance, he noticed Ron, Mike and the dupes were all hiding between the three

doorways. He grabbed Amanda and ducked to the ground. “Ow!” Amanda uttered from

the force of Chris’s shove.

“Sorry,” Chris apologized to her, then asked the others, “What are you hiding

from?”

“Security guard,” Ron answered, “We saw his flashlight through the glass of the

window and just ducked for cover.”

Chris slowly made his way up the remaining steps, keeping low to the ground.

He peered through the glass and saw Dave, Bill and who he supposed to be Ken and

Tanya just standing around. He couldn’t see any security guard. “Well, if a security

guard was there,” Chris stated, “they took care of him. All right, guys let’s move in.

Remember, first we’re going to try and talk them out of doing this. We’ll only fight if we

have to. Ron, you open the door. Mike, I want you and your dupes to try and

congregate around Delauney, since he can just run and steal the moon rock before we

even realize he’s gone.”

“I call Dave,” Amanda said, making her way up to the others.

“Only if it comes down to a fight,” Chris reminded.

Ron walked over to and shoved at the door. Just using an increment of his true

strength was enough to break the bolts keeping the door together. Dave, Bill, Tanya and

Ken all heard the noise of the doors busting open. “What…?” Dave murmured.

Suddenly, Chris, Ron, Amanda, Mike and his four duplicates all entered the

museum. Chris held his hands up in a sign of surrender. “Dave. We’re just here to talk.

I know things didn’t go over well between us, but just hear me out.”

“You…” Bill grunted. Within a fraction of a second Bill speed up to charge

towards Chris. Even though it happened a month ago, Bill still felt the anger he had at

Chris from when they first tussled. Now he wanted payback. He leaped at Chris and

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tackled him, and since he was moving so fast they both flew off the ground and slammed

into the back wall of the museum. “Lee…!” Chris managed to utter, though he almost

couldn’t find his breath since he was hit so hard.

“Charge!!” the original Mike shouted.

He and his four duplicates ran towards Bill and all took hold of him, forcing him

off of Chris and shoving him to the floor. At this point, Veronica had made her way up

the stairs, but stopped before entering the museum. She felt the heat within her body, it

was that same feeling she had before when she created the forest fire. She tried to keep it

suppressed so she could enter the museum. She was able to keep it suppressed before, for

at least a couple of minutes. She had to do it now.

As Veronica entered the museum, however, she could feel that she couldn’t keep

it contained any longer. She didn’t know why and wondered if it was an effect of the

sedatives Jorley gave her. “Wait!!” she called out to everyone, freezing them in their

tracks.

Amanda turned around to face Veronica, to see what she wanted. As she did so

she came face to face with a wall of flame, charging towards her. Amanda screamed and

instinctively created a telekinetic force field around herself, to shield her from the flames.

“I’m sorry!!” Veronica called out as she continued to pour out flames from her hands.

Amanda didn’t care how sorry Veronica was as she pushed the flames back towards her.

She was dead set on having her revenge against Dave and she wouldn’t let this fire-girl

stop her.

Dave was momentarily stupefied. The last thing he expected was of a ragtag team

of other students with powers coming there. He knew Chris was against them doing this,

but what about the others? How did Amanda get involved, who he had strained to keep

away from? Then there was Ron, who he was supposed to have recruited to his own side,

if he hadn’t have gotten distracted by Amanda the other day. And the five guys who

looked exactly alike he didn’t know from Adam.

Dave forced himself to collect his thoughts and act. He couldn’t let these other

guys distract him. He had to retrieve the moon rock. Bill was keeping the five look-a-

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like Asians busy, and Veronica was keeping Amanda detained. Chris was still reeling

from Bill’s attack. That left Ron, who was just awkwardly standing there and whose

powers Dave was not familiar with. Dave concluded Ken must deal with him then,

because his invulnerability would must likely protect him from anything.

“Ken!” Dave commanded, pointing to Ron. “Keep him from doing anything!

Tanya, follow me! You have to help me get that moon rock! These other guys are trying

to prevent us from getting it!” Dave then turned to run down the corridor that would lead

upstairs to the outer space exhibit.

Ken turned to Ron and said, “Sorry, man.” He then went to punch Ron, but with

his super reflexes Ron caught his punch. Ken tried to pull his hand away, but it was

caught in Ron’s grip. Ron was trying not to hold on too hard. Chris had described Ken

and being unable to get hurt, something about his skin having indestructible molecules or

something like that, but Ron was still afraid of breaking his hand.

Ken didn’t want to hurt Ron either, but didn’t want to be stuck in his hold all

evening long. So he went to punch Ron in the face with his other hand, which Ron easily

blocked. Ron then punched Ken in the gut. Ken didn’t even flinch.

“Wow,” Ken said to himself, feeling a little surprised, “I guess I am

invulnerable.” Ken then drew his head back and flung it forward, head-butting Ron in

the forehead. To Ron’s surprise, it hurt a little bit.

It was only then that Chris managed to catch his breath and get up after Bill’s

tackle. He looked around at disbelief at what he saw. Dave had made his decision. And

Dave’s decision forced Chris’s hand. Diplomacy was no longer an option. The battle

was engaged.

Chapter 10

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"Ron!! Try and cut Dave off before he gets across the hall!!! I'll create an

opening for you! Lee!! Keep Delauney contained!!!" Chris shouts. He feels his

adrenaline pouring through him. For a moment, he’s back on the football field, taking in

everything his teammates are doing and directing it towards fulfilling their goal. Only

now that goal wasn’t getting a football into an end zone, but preventing his fellow

students from stealing a moon rock.

Chris fires a beam of energy in between Ron and Ken, motioning at Ron to go and

follow Dave. From Ron’s description of his powers he also has heightened agility. Since

Dave already has begun running off, Ron has the best chances of catching up with him.

And Chris decides he’s best suited to combating Ken anyways. Since Ken is

invulnerable, Chris can’t hurt Ken, but can use his powers to keep him detained, much

the same way Veronica was using her powers to keep Amanda occupied.

Chris turns to Veronica and Amanda to make sure Amanda was holding her own.

Veronica continues to pour out flames from her hands and Chris begins to wonder if she

has any limits. Amanda, however, is fighting back with equal fury. Chris is amazed at

the sight, by just stretching out her hands Amanda is able to keep the flames at bay and

seems to be pushing them back.

By the time Chris turns back to deal with Ken, he’s grabbed Ron by the back of

his shirt collar and pulled him back towards him, yelling, “Wait! You’re not going

anywhere!”

“Must we really resort to violence?!” Ron questions as he turns around and

punches Ken away from him. He continues to talk as he tries to pummel Ken with no

success. “I mean, this is completely fruitless! I can’t hurt you because you’re

invulnerable and you can’t do anything to me because of my incredible fortitude and my

prodigious reflexes. So, why don’t we give this up?”

At that moment a beam of light brushed just past Ron and hit Ken square in the

chest. The energy kept pouring against Ken, and although it didn’t hurt him, he found he

couldn’t move against it; it was keeping him pinned in place.

“Ron, go see where Dave ran off to! I’ll keep this other guy here!” Chris

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commands. Ron sprints off after Dave, entering the corridor on the other side of the

rotunda. He runs right into a staircase and can hear the shuffling of feet above him. He

darts up the stairs and finds himself at the end of the outer space exhibit. He looks

around and sees displays about planets outside of the solar system and phenomena like

black holes. He looks in front of him and sees Dave running down the hallway.

“Stop!!” Ron calls out and runs after Dave. Within a few seconds Ron is close to

catching up to him, so Dave decides to stop running and to turn around and face his

adversary. "It's a pity your lack of civility and respect for public property has led to this

conflict and necessity for my vigilantism. I don't want to hurt you so I suggest you cease

and desist now!" Ron threatens as he catches up to Dave. Dave smirks as he states, "You

can't hurt me if you're not close enough to hit me!"

Dave lifts both of his hands and the very ground beneath them starts to shake.

The metal grating that holds the floor up erupts from the ground, following Dave's will.

The metal melds together and before Ron can think enough to react he is encapsulated in

a metal sphere. Dave taunts, "I hope your strength can get you free from there...before

you suffocate!!"

Chris can hear the crashing sound as it reverberates throughout the museum. He

still holds Ken in place as he continues to fire pure energy out towards him. He looks to

his left to see Veronica and Amanda still locked in their battle of wills. To his right Mike

and his four duplicates are still struggling to keep Bill pinned to the floor. Then Chris

feels the touch of a hand on his shoulder. “No more o’ that, now, ok?” he hears

whispered in his ear.

Tanya then teleports outside the museum with Chris. She at first had ran off with

Dave, but looking back she saw Ken starting to fight Ron and wanted to help. She waited

to see what would happen and couldn’t take it when Chris starting throwing that blast of

energy at him.

Now as she teleports away with him, Chris releases one final burst of energy. The

energy hits Ken so hard that he loses his balance and falls backwards. He flies back, over

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the railing behind him and lands right within the eye socket of the tyrannosaurus rex

skull. The rest of the skeletal molding can’t handle Ken’s weight and within moments,

the skulls head breaks off, crashing through the rest of the skeleton and falling a full

story.

By that time, Tanya has teleported back into the building, right in front of Bill and

the five look-a-like Asians. "A-All...." Bill croaks as he tries to catch his breath, "Y-

You...kkk...lil' Asians...kkkk...are r-really starting to...freak me out!!" One of the Lee

duplicates was strangling Bill.

Tanya runs to that one and grabs him, pulling him off of Bill. "You're goin' ta let

go of Bill now, ok?" she states sweetly. The duplicate loses his grip and is pulled back.

That allows Tanya to teleport away with him, but she has thought of a better place to

teleport now. The two of them materialize within the caged corridor to the right of the

others.

Tanya then teleports back to Bill and rips another Lee duplicate off of him. This

one she teleports to one of the other corridors. Soon, all five Mike Lees are locked

behind the bars of five of the six corridors surrounding the rotunda. Released, Bill takes

a few deep breaths. He feels his whole body is racing and he can’t stand it. He feels like

running around the museum a few times to make his head feel straight. “Where’s Ken?”

Tanya demands.

“I don’t know,” Bill replied grouchily, “I think he fell off the railing.”

“What?!” Tanya exclaims.

She runs to the railing and bends over to look down. She is shocked to see Ken

laying there amidst all the bones. “Oh my, God, Ken!!” Tanya screams, “Are you all

right?!”

“Yeah,” Ken shouts back, “Actually…I’m, uh, not hurt at all.”

“I’ll be right there!” Tanya notifies him. She turns back to Bill and dictates, “Go

on and help Dave find that moon rock. I’m gonna help Ken.” She then teleports down to

his side. Bill sighs, “Tsh, whatever you say, lady.”

He turns to Amanda and Veronica, who are still caught in battle. Bill wipes his

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forehead of sweat and realizes all of Veronica’s flames probably aren’t helping him keep

a handle on his own powers. “Hey, girl,” he calls out, “Do you think you can turn down

the heat a little bit? Thanks…”

Bill then runs after Dave, leaving Veronica feeling worthless. She would turn off

the flames if she could, but she still can’t control her powers. Amanda keeps pushing

back against Veronica’s flames, though. She reminds herself that she’s there to fight

Dave, not this other girl. Each time she uses her telekinesis to push the flames further

back, she sees a clearer vision of her vengeance, and each time she drains a little bit of

Veronica’s powers. She is helped along by Mike and his duplicates who, with nothing

else to do, begin cheering her on.

"AAAARRRGGHHH!!!!" Veronica cries in exasperation as her flames give out

and Amanda's telekinetic shield slams against her and throws her back to the wall.

Amanda feels exhausted as well and she falls to her knees as she attempts to steady her

breathing. This wasn't the final battle for her. Now she has to find Dave and confront

him, no matter how tired she feels.

“Woohoo!!!” the five Mike Lees cry out in unison, “You did it!!!” At that

moment Chris reenters the building. Tanya had teleported him all the way down the

street, right next to the van they took. Chris figured that out because the van had Pine

State’s logo painted right on it. He smiles as he thinks of his victory. Even if Dave has

taken the moon rock right now he’s not going anywhere with it, he blasted a hole in one

of the van’s tires.

Chris is surprised to see all the Mike Lees behind the bars of the other corridors.

“What’s going on?” Chris demands to know. One of the Mikes replies, “Mission failed!”

Another cries out, “She teleported us all in here!” and another, “Entity Mike Lee and

Duplicate Numbers 2 through 5 have been temporarily vanquished!!”

Chris turns to Amanda and Veronica. Amanda has brought herself back to her

feet, but Veronica is still laying against the back wall of the museum. “Are you girls all

right?” Chris asks.

Amanda answers: “I’m fine. I’m going after Dave.” “No, not yet!” Chris

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commands, “Use your powers to free the Lees from those security gates.”

Amanda grunts in reply. She’s already used a lot of her power protecting herself

against Veronica. She knows she can only do so much and she wants to use her

remaining strength against Dave and no one else. She feels like she’s wasting her

remaining energy freeing Mike and his duplicates.

Chris kneels down next to Veronica. “Hey, can you hear me?” he asks. Veronica

moans slightly. “C’mon, that’s it,” Chris urges, “Don’t fade out on me. Wake up,

c’mon.”

Veronica manages to open her eyes. “What…happened…?” she asks. Chris

answers, “Well, you started throwing flames at Amanda and she ended up knocking you

down. Just stay and rest here, ok. We’ll end up getting you help if you need it.”

Meanwhile, Tanya helps Ken up out of the rubble from the T. Rex skeleton.

“You sure you ok?” Tanya inquires once more. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Ken replies, brushing

some of the broken debris off his shirt, “There was a little bit of pain from the fall,

but…nothing like you’re supposed to be hurt, y’know? It’s…actually kinda weird.”

Tanya smiles up at Ken. She feels like reaching up to him and kissing him,

forgetting about all the action and drama taking place around them. Then they both hear

a loud banging sound. “What’s…that…?” Tanya asks, almost rhetorically.

“Let’s take a look,” Ken says.

They walk across the prehistoric exhibit of the museum to where the noise is

originating from. Tanya screams as she sees a large hole in the ground in front of them.

She grabs tightly unto Ken and they both peer down the crater to see what’s making the

noise. The see a large metallic sphere, with a large indentation pointing out of it. Each

time the clanging noise is heard the indentation is drawn further out.

“Oh my god,” Ken utters, “I think…I think somebody’s inside of that.”

“What?!” Tanya screams.

“Tanya?” Ken asks, “Do you think you could teleport inside there?”

“I…I don’t know,” Tanya replies, “I should.”

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“Please, try,” Ken commands.

Tanya closes her eyes and imagines transporting herself the distance between

where she is and where the sphere is. She imagines what it may be like inside the sphere.

When she reopens her eyes she sees Ron standing in front of her, continuing to try to

punch his way out of his metallic cage. Partly from the shock of seeing Ron and partly

from the curving ground she’s standing on, Tanya falls over and cries out.

Ron notices her and gasps, “H-How’d you get in here?” Remembering that this

must be the girl with the teleportation powers he says, “Stupid question. Can you get us

out?”

“Yeah,” Tanya answers.

Tanya takes hold of Ron, and soon reality begins to break down around him and

reconfigure itself as the prehistoric display of the museum. Ron see Ken in front of him

and then feels incredibly sick. “Oh…I feel qualmish,” Ron gasps.

“That’s how everybody feels,” Tanya states, “Now are you gonna give up so we

can go find this moon rock and stop fighting each other?”

“Wait a second, Tanya,” Ken cautions her.

He knows Ron is in no condition to fight, for the moment. But something else

was concerning him. He faces Ron and asks, “How did you end up in there?”

“How do you think?” Ron replies. “Your buddy did that to me.”

“Dave,” Ken gasps. He turns around and walks a few paces away from Ron,

holding his head. He can not believe it. “He could have killed you…” Ken utters.

“Thanks for noticing,” Ron says.

“Wait a damned minute,” Tanya shouts at Ron. “You coulda’ killed Ken too.”

“No, I couldn’t have,” Ron defends himself. “I knew about your friend’s

abilities…that he was practically invulnerable. The only reason I allowed myself to use

my full strength against him was because I knew I couldn’t hurt him.”

“He’s right,” Ken agrees, turning to face Tanya, “These other guys, they seem to

know everything about us. I don’t think they’re trying to hurt us…but Dave…Dave

almost killed this guy. I thought we were doing this to help people, not kill them.”

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“We are!!” Tanya argues, “They attacked us!!”

“No,” Ken retorts, “When they came in they said they wanted to talk. Bill

attacked them!”

Tanya realizes that Ken is right. She sighs and turns away. She had come here to

try and help other people and instead she was fighting for her life. She does not know

what to do now, and only feels like crying. Ken says, “I’m going to go find Dave and try

and end this. You guys coming?”

“Of course,” Ron affirms, understanding that these kids aren’t bad guys.

Ken walks over to Tanya. He senses that she’s hurting, but he doesn’t know what

do to. He wonders about their relationship, if it means anything and if it’s going

anywhere. He’s never really been in a relationship before, and even if he had, nothing

compares to the situation he’s in now. He picks up his courage to comfort Tanya and

places his hand on her shoulder. “Tanya?” he asks softly, trying to sound comforting,

“You ok?”

Tanya takes a deep breath. She feels that her eyes have welled up with tears and

wipes them with her one hand. She then turns back to face Ken, wrapping her arms

around his waist and answers, “Yeah…you’re right. What we’re doing…I don’t know if

it’s the right thing anymore. Let’s talk to Dave.”

Dave patiently searches through the museum’s collection of moon rocks. He has

to make sure he has the right one, the one Jorley had the day they all received their

powers, the one that had given them all of their powers. Bill was zipping all around him,

going back and forth between all the moon rocks on display with his super speed,

checking them all.

Once Ron had been dealt with, it was easy for Dave to get here. The moon

exhibit had been blocked off by one of the security gates as well, but with his power over

electricity, Dave was able to activate its opening mechanism. Now he just had to find the

right moon rock. All the ones he was going through were either too small or too big.

“Could this be it?” Bill asks, stopping right next to Dave, slightly startling him.

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Dave takes the moon rock Bill had out of his hands and examines it closely. His

eyes light up. It is the perfect shape and size, just as Professor Jorley had described it.

“Have you seen any others similar to this?” Dave asks, starting to feel a little

excited.

“No,” Bill answers, “But do you think I should make another sweep just in case?”

“Of course!” Dave commands.

Bill disappears from Dave’s eyesight, but Dave can still hear him and he

continues to run around the display to make sure there are no other moon rocks like the

one Dave has in his hand. “Sorry, Chris,” Dave says to himself, “You lose.”

Dave then hears the noise of something flying through the air. He jumps off to

his left and narrowly misses a beam of energy that flows past him and collides with the

opposite wall. Dave turns around to face Chris, Amanda and the five Mike Lees. “No!”

he shouts, “You’re not taking it from us!!”

At that moment he feels the moon rock being tugged from his hand. “Wah…?”

he gapes. He looks down at his hand to see that the rock isn’t there anymore. He looks

around him to see if Amanda had taken it from him telekinetically. “Amanda!!” he

shouts.

But Amanda wasn’t the one who had taken it. Lilia, with the moon rock now

invisible in her hands, slowly walks away from Dave. She had gotten this far by being so

slow and silent that Dave hadn’t heard her, and she wasn’t going to ruin it now by trying

to run away. She wanted to, because at that moment the fighting started again.

Dave suddenly is thrown into air and bangs into the ceiling. “Don’t you dare even

speak my name, you bastard!!” Amanda screams at him, “Do you have any idea what

you’ve done to me?! Any?!!”

“Amanda, wait!” Chris shouts, “Remember the plan!! You have to deal with - !!”

But at that point it’s too late. Chris hears the screams of Mike and each of his

duplicates, one after the other. He turns around and sees them all, two of them are

thrown into the air and the other three falling to the ground. Chris then comes face to

face with the cause of their pain as Bill appears in front of him.

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Bill doesn’t waste time with words. He punches Chris twice in rapid succession

in the face, breaking his nose. He then punches Chris two dozen times in the gut. Just

for the hell of it, Bill continues to slap and backhand him several times in the face. He

finishes off by kicking Chris in the gut sending him flying backwards and falling on top

of one of the Mike Lee duplicates.

“You’re an uncaring, selfish bastard!!! Other people are just, just objects to you

to be used! All I ever was to you was probably just a sex toy, huh? Well, how does it

feel now?! How does it feel to be used by somebody else!!” Amanda continues to

scream at Dave. She continued to pin him against the ceiling, but now was also

controlling all the moon rocks in the exhibit, throwing and re-throwing them all at Dave.

“A-…man-…daaaa…” Dave grunted as he tried to ignore the pain of each moon

rock as it hit him, “Remem…ber…when…you tried…this…before…? I said…I

would…kill you…and I…don’t…lie!!!!” With that Dave releases dozens of currents of

electricity from his body. He doesn’t care where they go or who they hit. He just needs

to be free from Amanda’s control so that he can deal with her the right way. The currents

fly out and spread across the entire moon exhibit. Amanda, Bill and Lilia all cry out as

they are hit. Chris and the five Mikes are also hit, but are too exhausted to utter anything

except a whimper.

As Lilia screams from the unexpected pain of being electrocuted she falls

forward. As she hits the ground and loses consciousness, she unwillingly becomes

visible to the naked eye once more. The moon rock topples out of her hand.

As Amanda loses consciousness as well her telekinetic powers no longer hold

Dave against the ceiling. He falls to the ground, grunting as he hits the display table that

once exhibited all the moon rocks that are now scattered around the display area. He

takes a moment to catch his breath and then gets up. He looks down and sees that his

clothes are all tattered and that he’s bleeding in several places. He wipes some blood

from his lips, where he was hit with several rocks and walks slowly towards Amanda,

who is cringing on the ground. “I am going to enjoy this…” he threatens menacingly.

He then notices something else. He sees Lilia, fallen over on the floor, just past

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where Chris and the five Mikes are spread out groaning. Dave didn’t recognize her and

didn’t even recall her being with the group of other students trying to stop them. But

lying right next to her on the ground was the moon rock.

Dave looks back down at Amanda and laughs. “Enjoy the little life you have left,

Amanda,” he warns, “I’ll be back to settle all this later.” He then walks over to Lilia, and

scoops up the moon rock.

Dave looks at it again. All of this trouble over this little thing, he thinks. But

now, with this moon rock in his hands, he can use it. He can make himself more

powerful, amplifying his abilities over that of not just normal humans, but also over that

of the other students who have been affected by it. Someone like Amanda will never be

able to threaten him again. He will have to submit himself to no other authority other

than himself.

Dave walks over to Bill and bends over. He takes Bill’s arm and lifts it above his

shoulders and then gets up to help Bill walk away. “Wah…happened…?” Bill asks.

“I hit ya with some stray electricity,” Dave explained. “Sorry about that.”

Dave helps him walk down the corridor towards the stairs leading back to the

main entrance of the museum. He is careful to walk around the large hole in the floor

where he had dropped Ron earlier. As he walks down the stairs he runs into Ken and

Tanya, who were walking up the stairs from the lower level, at the main level. Dave is

surprised to see Ron walking behind them peacefully.

“The moon rock!!” Tanya exclaims upon noticing what was in Dave’s hands.

“You found it!”

“Yeah,” Dave says, “We got it. Now, c’mon, we’re leaving.”

Dave brushes past them and continues walking with Bill down the corridor

towards the rotunda. Ken was bracing himself to confront Dave and demand from him to

stop what they were doing. But now that he was facing Dave and Dave already had the

moon rock, Ken feels weak-kneed. It is Ron who demands, “Hey! Stop right there!!

What happened to my other companions?!”

Dave doesn’t even turn around to face Ron. He turns into the rotunda, answering

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back nonchalantly, “They’re all passed out upstairs.” “Why you malevolent cur-!!” Ron

shouts going to charge Dave, but Ken holds him back.

“What d’you think you’re doing?” Ken demands.

“I’ve had enough of that misanthrope! He swallows me up in a ball of metal and

leaves me to die and now he’s leaving my comrades to die as well!” Ron argues, “And

you’re just going to let him do this?! So that Jorley can use you all as test subjects in his

search for higher knowledge?”

“Test subjects?!” Tanya redounds, “What are you talking about?!”

“That’s the reason we’re all here!” Ron explains, “One of the girls we’re with

snuck into Jorley’s office, while that guy with the moon rock was there I might add. She

claims he was talking about all five of you like test subjects.” Upon hearing this, Ken

stops resisting Ron. Sensing this, Ron stops fighting against him. “So what are you

going to do about that?” Ron challenges.

His face stone cold, Ken turns around and runs after Dave. “Ken!” Tanya calls

out, but he does not respond. He catches up to Dave, who by now is in the main area of

the lobby. Dave notices Veronica, laying down slumped against the wall of the ticket

counter. He calls back to either Ken or Tanya, “Hey, can one of you help Veronica out?”

“Dave…w-wait…wait just a minute,” Ken shouts, trying to maintain his

composure.

“You ok to walk?” Dave asks Bill.

Bill nods and Dave unwraps Bill’s arm from around his shoulders. He then turns

to face Ken. Dave is surprised by the serious look on Ken’s face. “What is it?” Dave

asks. “We have to get out of here before those other guys start attacking us again.”

“Or…would that be the other way around?” Ken questions, trying to sound tough.

“What?” Dave asks, confused.

“We didn’t get attacked. Bill started fighting that one guy first. Now…now it

looks like you almost killed that one guy and maybe everyone upstairs,” Ken charges.

Dave looks at him ludicrously.

Ken continues, “And now I hear that Jorley wants to use us as test subjects. Is

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that true?”

Dave cannot contain his laughter. His guffaws resound across the rotunda.

“What is so funny about that?” Ken grimaces. Dave responds, still chortling, “That you

actually believe all that. I mean, come on, Professor Jorley using us all as test subjects?

What do you think, that he’s an evil mad scientist? No, he’s just trying to help us all by

understanding how we got these abilities. These other guys don’t understand it and have

some qualms about stealing.”

Dave stops laughing and becomes serious, realizing the damage they’ve done to

the museum and how they may get in trouble for it. He commands, “Now, c’mon, let’s

go. We’ve probably got fingerprints all over this place and those security guards we took

out won’t stay passed out forever. We’ve got to return to Jorley and make sure he has a

way to exonerate us if we’re caught. Now help Veronica up.”

Dave turns away from Ken and, moon rock gripped tightly in his hand, exits the

museum. Bill follows him out. Ken feels dejected. He tried to stand up to Dave and

failed, and now he questions himself and his actions tonight more than ever. He then

hears Veronica groan.

He quickly goes to her side and asks, “Hey, you ok?”

Veronica answers, “Yeah…I’m feeling better now. I think I can get up.”

Veronica tries to get up by herself, but Ken decides to help her up anyway. Tanya then

teleports to their side.

“Yo, what did Dave say?” she asks Ken.

“Where’s that other guy?” Ken wonders.

“He went upstairs to help his friends,” Tanya replies, “But what’d Dave say?”

“We…we should just leave,” Ken answers morosely, “We…We could get in

major trouble here. I mean, my fingerprints are all over that dinosaur skeleton that I fell

into. The authorities will know were we here…we could get charged. Jorley may be the

only person who can help us now.”

“Ugg, my nose,” Chris utters.

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“I think it’s broken,” Lilia politely points out.

“Thangs por de obbious,” Chris retorts.

Mike groans as he lays over on the floor. He reabsorbed his four duplicates and

all four of their injuries were added to his injuries. “That was a really stupid move,” he

admits to himself, “I better get some amazing experience points from this.”

“What do you keep talking about?!” Amanda furiously asks. She knows she

shouldn’t yell at Mike, it’s Dave that she’s angry with.

“Ah, you wouldn’t understand,” Mike grunts, “I’m just trying to ignore the pain.”

“Guys, we can’t just sit around like this,” Ron argues, “The others have the moon

rock and they’re already out the door. We have to stop them from leaving!”

“Der not going anydere,” Chris says.

“What?!” Ron asks.

“I blew a hole in der dire,” Chris tries to explain, “Dey can’t go anydere.”

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” Ron admits.

“I think he said he blew a hole in their tire and they’re not going anywhere,” Mike

translates.

“Wait!” Amanda exclaims, “They’re still here? I have to get at Dave!!”

Amanda makes for the exit but Chris jumps in front of her. “No!” he dictates,

“Yer daying right here. Yer doo modivaded by wevenge do dink raid. Ron an’ I will

handle dis.” Chris motions for Ron to follow him and jogs down the hallways towards the

exit. Ron follows him.

Amanda becomes furious. How dare Chris talk to her that way and command her

that way, she thinks. She’s tempted to use her powers against Chris, throw him and Ron

against the wall and then fly past them to get at Dave herself. But she feels drained of the

energy to do so. She then feels Lilia’s hand lightly touch her shoulder. “Come on,” Lilia

says to her calmly, “I’ve thought of a way to put your powers to better use.”

“And what could that be?” Amanda sardonically asks.

“We need to clean this place up,” Lilia explains, “If you use your telekinesis to

put everything right back where it was when we found it, the police will never suspect we

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were even here.”

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!!” Dave curses, kicking the flat tire that now was

hanging off of the van’s wheel. “That Chris did this!! I can tell from the hole!” Dave

yells, “How did they know we were parked here?!”

“What are we going to do now?” Bill wonders.

“I don’t know,” Dave admits, “I guess we call Jorley, he might know what to do.

Damn it!! Those guys totally ruined this for us!!” Dave turns towards the museum to see

Tanya, Ken and Veronica slowly walking towards them.

“I guess it doesn’t matter if they take long to get to us now,” Dave sighs, “It’s not

like we’re going anywhere. Damn, let me call Jorley. He’s going to be pissed.” As

Dave takes his cell phone he sees something else. He notices behind his teammates,

Chris and Ron are running towards them, full speed.

“Shit!” Dave exclaims, almost dropping his phone.

“What is it?” Bill asks, not having seen Chris and Ron since he was looking in the

other direction. Dave shoves the moon rock into Bill’s hands and instructs him: “Run

with it! As far as you can!!”

Bill takes the moon rock and runs in the other direction, once more traversing at

super speed. Chris notices this and begins to gather energy down from his midsection

towards his legs. It will be just like the last time, he tells himself, when he chased Bill

through the forest outside of Pine State. “Stay here!” Chris demands of Ron, “And dry

and keep e’er-won else calm!”

Chris then releases the energy from his feet and bursts through the air. Chris

nearly collides with Tanya, but Ken pushes her down. Chris flies right past Dave, leaving

him gaping. It is not long before Chris sees Bill running in front of him. Just like before,

Bill is running in a straight line. And, Chris realizes, it did not take him as long this time

to catch up with Bill, which meant that all of tonight’s activities had begun to drain the

speedster a little.

As Chris approaches Bill he decides to attack him in a different manner from last

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time. Last time he just tackled Bill, which caused him to drop the marijuana he had

absconded with. If he did the same thing this time, Bill may drop the moon rock, and

Chris is determined to get the moon rock back so he can return it to the museum. So

instead, he grabs a hold of Bill, wrapping his arms underneath Bill’s, and carries Bill up

into the air with him. Bill begins to flail about, but even flailing at super speed is not

enough to release Chris’s hold of him.

Chris turns around in the air and begins to head back towards the museum. At

that point, Bill stops resisting. Chris takes that opportunity to try to grab the moon rock

out of Bill’s hands. Bill tries to keep hold of it, but Chris is successful in prying it from

Bill’s fingers. Bill then thinks of one way he can hit Chris. Bill leans his head forward

and the rocks it back, knocking Chris’s broken nose with his head.

Chris cries out in pain and releases his hold of Bill. Bill falls forward, skidding

on the pavement of the street below them. Chris falls backwards, landing hard on the

sidewalk below him. Once he can feel his hands and arms again he reaches with his one

hand to cover his nose, groaning in pain. In his other hand he is content to still be

holding the moon rock.

Then he hears a tapping sound near him, as though somebody had lightly jumped

off of a low step. A moment later he feels the moon rock being gently taken from his

hand. “Thanks for keeping this safe for me,” he hears Dave’s voice say.

“Wah?” Chris utters.

He manages to sit himself up and sees Dave standing right next to him, the moon

rock now in his hands. “How’d you ged here?!” Chris demands to know.

“Well, I saw you fly,” Dave tells, “and I thought, why shouldn’t I be able to do

the same?” Dave then feels the currents of electromagnetism around him and uses them

to propel himself in the air. In a moment he’s a mile above the street. He points his body

in the general direction of Pine State and shoots himself off towards it. Soon, he notices

the highway below him. “Hmmm,” he says to himself, “I think there’s a better way to

return to school.”

Dave lowers himself so that he’s hovering just above the highway, on the side of

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the road in which traffic from Pine State is coming. A car approaches and Dave reaches

out through the electromagnetic field to grab hold of the car and screech it to a halt. He

twirls his hand, whipping the car around so that the driver’s side faces him. With another

motion the car door opens and Dave can see the frightened driver as he screams, “Oh my

god, oh my god, oh my god…!!”

The driver looks to be only a few years older than Dave, and Dave wonders if the

guy lives in the city and where he’s coming from. Then Dave decides he doesn’t care

and grabs the guy by the collar and throws him to the side of the road. “Thanks for the

ride,” Dave says.

With another hand motion, Dave lifts the car in the air, carries it across the

median and unto the other side of the highway. Dave then floats towards the car, climbs

into it and begins to drive back towards Pine State, moon rock in hand.

* * *

Professor Stuart Jorley paces nervously around the laboratory in the basement of

the Chemistry building as he awaits his students to return with the moon rock. It is

approaching one thirty in the morning and Jorley had anticipated that the students would

have returned by that time. He fears that something happened to them and that they may

have failed in their mission. Even if that were the case, the professor thinks, and the

students were apprehended by the police, he can still claim innocence.

He feels a great amount of anxiety in this moment. All night he had been

awaiting the moment in which the moon rock would be in his hands. He can taste the

glory of discovering the secret to developing superhuman abilities within people and the

transformation of the world and his own exaltation that came with it. But if his students

failed that would never happen, and he would have to lay the blame entirely on them to

keep his job.

As he considers that he suddenly hears a pounding on the door that leads to the

garage. Jorley rushes to the door and pulls it open, seeing only David Shaw in front of

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him. “Why didn’t you just use the keys?!” Jorley demanded. “Why’d you pound on the

door?”

“I don’t have the keys!” Dave confesses as he pushes himself past Jorley into the

lab. He whirls back around to face Jorley, pulling the moon rock out of his pocket. “But

I do have this,” he added.

Jorley’s face alights with glee. It is if he has a hunger that he knows is about to be

satiated. He nearly pounces on Dave as he goes to scoop the moon rock out of his hands.

“Finally…after all this time…” Jorley gasps.

He cradles the moon rock close towards him and closes his eyes. For a moment

he just wants to feel it, knowing that it is now his and no matter what else happens the

key to his and the others’ mutations, that secret knowledge, is his and his alone. With

that knowledge is a power even greater that the abilities he already possesses.

Watching Jorley’s reaction, Dave gives him a quizzical look. He then sighs and

asks, “So, now what? How are you going to use that to figure out how we got our

powers? How are you going to be able to amplify mine?”

“That…will all come with time,” Jorley answers, now holding the moon rock up

to the light. He wants to make sure it’s the right one, that it’s the same specimen that was

used on that first day of October. From what he sees it is perfect.

“First,” Jorley explains, “we will have to recreate the experiment. We’ll put the

moon rock in water, the same amount that was used previously and see if we get the same

reaction. If that happens, then we’ll test a few other students, ones who have not been

submitted to the energies of the moon rock before. We’ll duplicate the procedure on

them, and keep them under constant observation. It’s the only way we can know how the

energies of the moon rock affect them. Of course, we’ll have to select students that we

know and trust and who can keep all this a secret.”

“Wait…” Jorley utters. He turns back around to the open door leading to the

garage. He hops over to it and looks out and around the garage. He does not see the van

he lent to the students or any of Dave’s companions. He turns back slowly towards Dave.

He sees that Dave isn’t facing him. Dave’s one hand is clenched, while with the other

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Dave constantly clenches and unclenches his fist, each time he unclenches he releases a

few jolts of electricity.

“You…” Jorley states slowly, annunciating each syllable, “said…that you did not

have the keys to the door. Where are those keys…? Where is the van…? Where are the

others…?”

Dave feels incredibly nervous. He has been anticipating this, wondering what to

say throughout the entire car ride back to Pine State. He wishes he could just use his

powers to bulldoze his way out of an explanation. But he knows he can’t. So he replies,

“We…encountered a problem at the museum.”

He turns around to face Jorley and continues, “Remember Chris Kirby?

Remember how I said he was against what we were doing? How he attacked me when I

tried to convince him to join us?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Jorley whispered back, in a

threatening tone.

Sensing Jorley’s aggression, Dave goes on to explain his own tone becoming

more aggressive as he speaks, “Well, he tried to stop us. He found a group of students

from our class as well, all with powers. Everything was going to plan…and then they

showed up in the museum and attacked us! It was…they ruined everything!!”

Dave becomes more and more emotional as he describes the events, “We

practically tore part of the museum apart!! I was able to get the moon rock…but I

couldn’t go back for the others. I thought the moon rock was most important. But I had

to leave the van there, that Chris guy blew a hole in one of the tires. Now…there’s no

doubt the police are going to try and figure out what happened at the museum. With the

van still there…they’ll probably trace what happened back to us! What are we going to

do about that?!”

As Dave explained, visibly showing his emotions, Jorley just stood there showing

no emotion whatsoever. He had expected this might happen and he knows there is

nothing he can do for his students, not at the moment. For the moment he has to concern

himself with protecting the most important things. He has to protect to armalcolite from

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others and himself.

“Go on back to your dormitory, David,” Jorley commands calmly, “It’s been a

late and busy night for you. I will wait here for your fellow students. If they end up

apprehended by the police I will know about it.”

“How…how can I do that?” Dave questions, “How can I sleep after all this?”

“Try!” Jorley commands with a hint of force in his voice.

“Fine,” Dave grunts. He walks towards the exit, intentionally brushing past the

motionless Jorley as he walks by. When Dave reaches the door he calls back,

“Y’know…you could have said thank you. I did get you the moon rock, after all.”

“Thank you,” Jorley responds, not looking back.

Once Jorley hears Dave leave, he turns around, runs back to the door and slams it

shut. He knows he doesn’t have much time, especially if the police have already

apprehended his other students. He knows that there is a chance that they haven’t, and

the other students may still be finding a way to return to Pine State since their

transportation has been destroyed. Jorley won’t react until there is something for him to

react to. For the moment, he will use the time and resources he has in the laboratory to

start researching into the armacolite right away.

Dave walks out of the garage into the parking lot where they had left for the

museum nearly three hours before. He feels incredibly frustrated. He begins to wish he

had never decided to go along with Jorley’s silly scheme all along. He tries to remind

himself that if Jorley is right nothing else would matter anyway. So what, Dave asks

himself, if he becomes a wanted man for stealing. If Jorley is correct and his powers

become increased no force of the law would be able to apprehend him. Even now he

outsmarted Chris and his friends, he got the moon rock back and transported it safely

back to Professor Jorley.

Dave’s thoughts are interrupted by a blinding light. He looks up and sees two

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cars pull in the parking lot, one following the other. Because of the headlights, Dave

can’t see who’s driving them. The first car drives straight towards him and Dave can see

an arm reach out from the driver’s window. From that arm a blast of energy is fired,

colliding directly with Dave sending him flying back into the wall of the garage. The

impact knocks the wind out of Dave and as he falls down to the ground he discovers he’s

having trouble breathing.

The car stops and Ken Jones leaps out of the front passenger seat. He runs

towards Dave as Dave instinctively begins to build up electricity to fire back at the car.

Before Dave can do so, Ken tackles him, absorbing all of the electricity into himself.

“What the hell, Ken?!” Dave shouts. “You working for their side now?!!”

“There are no sides!” Ken shouts back. “You’ve just failed to listen to what the

others have to say!”

Chris and Tanya emerge from the first car. From the second car, parked behind

them, Amanda, Ron, Lilia and Veronica come out. Amanda is ready to use her

telekinesis against Dave, but Chris motions for her to stop. “No, we’re going to try

talking this time.”

Dave continues to pour electricity into Ken, but Ken’s abilities allow him to take

it all in. “Are you going to stop and hear us out?” Ken asks.

“I don’t know what you guys are trying to do!” Dave roars. “Jorley already has

the moon rock!!”

“Where is he?” Chris demands to know as he and Tanya approach Ken and Dave.

Dave answers, “He’s inside the lab. What do you think you’re going to do? Take

the moon rock from him?”

“I’ve given it a thought,” Chris says.

He motions towards Lilia, Ron, and Amanda behind him. The three of them run

past them and into the garage. In Lilia’s hands Dave sees the key chain Jorley gave him,

with the keys of the lab. Dave looks up at Tanya and sees a look of disgust and anger.

“Why are you helping them now?!” Dave yells, “I thought you knew that we were

helping other people by giving Jorley the moon rock!”

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“Look what you’re doin’ ta Ken!!” Tanya shouts, almost unable to keep in her

rage.

“I’m fine!” Ken protests as he continues to take in Dave’s electrical energy.

“But for how long?!” Tanya cries out, nearly weeping.

Dave realizes what he’s doing and stops resisting. Ken takes in the last of Dave’s

electrical shock and releases his pin on Dave somewhat. “All right, all right,” Dave

concedes, “I give up. So…how did you guys get here in two cars? What happened to the

others?”

Chris is happy to explain, “We discovered an interesting aspect to Mike’s powers.

He can basically duplicate anything he holds on to…so we were able to duplicate

Amanda’s car. Unfortunately, that apparently took a lot out of him and so he’s passed

out in the back seat. Everyone decided to come with us but Delauney, he just ran

off…I’m supposing he ran back here.”

Chris’s face becomes more serious as he says, “All right, now listen. Amanda

was able to use her telekinesis to put everything back in place at the museum. The moon

rock display, even the skeleton of the T. Rex…it’s all there like how we found it. The

only way we can ensure none of us gets in trouble is if we return the moon rock. Now,

we can all still get cited for breaking and entering. So, let’s just all go inside and try and

talk Jorley into letting us return the moon rock. We’ll be civilized and-”

Before Chris could finish his statement, Dave leaps up, throwing Ken off of him,

proclaiming, “Not on your life!” He releases another torrent of electricity at Chris,

causing him to fly back, crying out in agony. “No!!” Tanya screams.

She teleports right next to Dave and grabs unto him. “Tanya!” Ken shouts, afraid

Dave will electrocute her too.

In the blink of an eye the two of them are gone and they reappear in the middle of

Harwood’s town square. Tanya lets go of Dave and teleports away.

“God damn it!!” Dave curses. He concentrates on the electromagnetic currents in

the air and thrusts himself into the sky to fly back to the Chemistry building at Pine State.

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Professor Jorley braces himself. Everything is prepared just as it was on the first

of October. He has the exact same piece of armacolite and the exact same beaker. Jorley

has even kept the same water that the beaker contained on the day of the prank. He only

worries about the effects a repeat of the experiment will have on himself. Last time it

gave him the powers of elasticity. Now, after a second round of whatever energies the

armacolite releases once in water, he is not sure how his own body will react. No matter,

he tells himself, he will sacrifice himself in the name of science.

At that moment Jorley hears the creak of the door opening. He turns around to

see the door leading to the garage slightly ajar. Jorley swears to himself he was certain

he closed it all the way after Dave left.

Jorley takes a couple long strides to the door. Just to be certain he sticks his head

out into and garage and calls out, “Dave? Is that you? I thought I told you to return to

your dorm!”

Jorley looks around and is unable to see anything. He tells himself, “I’m just all

shook up from the excitement of this evening. I’m just going to make sure this is closed

nice and tight.” He closes the door carefully, making sure it is latched once it is shut and

locks it for good measure. He turns around and comes face to face with Ron Werden.

“Yipes!” Jorley yelps, startled.

“Good evening, Professor” Ron greets, “I wondered if I could have a moment of

your time to ask you about our exam next week.”

“You,” Jorley declares, pointing at Ron, “You must be one of the other students

Dave mentioned. You caused all the ruckus at the museum.” Ron admits, “Yes, I may

have been part of that. So about this question I have concerning Chemistry…”

Before Ron can ask, Jorley begins to speak. With each word he takes one

menacing step closer to Ron. He declares, “So, you attacked my other students. You

destroyed university property by destroying the van they were in. You broke and entered

into the museum.”

At this point Ron can feel Jorley’s breath against his face. He backs up a little bit,

but Jorley walks forward with him. Ron tries to remain calm, remembering that he is

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supposed to be buying time for Lilia and Amanda, both still invisible, to grab the moon

rock and leave. He continues to ask, “So, did you say that dealing with oxidation

numbers would be on this exam?”

“BA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!” Jorley bursts out into laughter. Ron is forced to

take a few steps backwards to avoid Jorley from spitting on his face. Jorley proclaims,

“You do make me laugh. What was your name again? Ronald? You’re the one who

had that little adventure in Chicago, yes. You must think that if you can stare down a

couple of gangsters you can scare down your old, feeble Chemistry Professor, right?

THINK AGAIN!”

Jorley lifts his arm up and in an instant his hand grows to the size of Ron’s full

body. Ron feels Jorley’s abnormally large fingers, each the size of his arm, wrap

themselves around his body. Jorley then shoots his arm out, extending it outward with

such force that Ron feels like he’s being hit by a car. Ron is shoved backwards until his

body is jammed against the opposite wall of the laboratory. Jorley’s massively sized

fingers keep him pinned against the wall.

“You…” Ron gasps, “You have abilities too…?!”

Jorley cackles, “MWA HA HA!! What did you think?! I was the one standing

closest to the armacolite. Of course I would be affected by its energies. And now, I’ll

have complete control over it. You are about to witness the dawn of a new age in

mankind’s history. An age where there are no longer any limits to human biology or

physiology. And I will be at the forefront of that age!”

Jorley lifts up his left leg and extends it over to the work station where he had

begun to set up for his experiment. He then shifts the rest of his body so that he is

hovering over the work station, with his left hand still firmly holding Ron is place. Ron

is amazed and disgusted at how Jorley’s powers work.

“We will both now be factors in this experiment! We will see how our bodies

react when I place the armacolite once more in water to release the energies within it!!”

Jorley declares. When he looks down at the counter where he had left the moon rock he

sees that it is no longer there. “What…the armacolite…where…?” Jorley utters.

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He looks back towards Ron, realizing what is going on. Even from the long

distance of the room Ron can recognize a look of fury in Jorley’s face. He feels Jorley’s

grip tighten around him as Jorley screams, “YOU DID THIS!! WHERE IS IT?! WHAT

HAVE YOU DONE WITH IT?!”

At that moment the door opens. “WHO NOW?!” Jorley yells. When he turns

around he sees Amanda, Veronica and Tanya huddling at the door. Noticing Jorley’s

body all stretched out across the lab, Veronica cries out, “Oh my God!! Professor…what

happened to you?!”

Jorley sneers. He answers, “What happened to me…? A scientific miracle

happened to me! I can do anything with my body, now!! I tried to keep it a secret from

you all…didn’t want to scare you, you know…but enough about me…let’s talk about

you.”

Jorley leans back and stretches his neck backwards out towards the three girls. As

he does so he uses his powers to double the size of his head, to make him more

intimidating. As he reaches the girls he twists his neck so that his head is right side up

and demands of Veronica and Tanya, “What are you girls doing?! I thought I assigned

you to steal the moon rock! Who’s this other girl?!”

The three girls are forced to huddle against the doorway by Jorley’s giant head.

They all feel terribly frightened, all unsure of what Jorley is capable of, and even unsure

of his sanity. Amanda finds the courage to retort, “I’m in your class, stupid! Don’t you

recognize me?!”

“Ooooooh, what a clever insult,” Jorley mocks. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that

before! Stupid?! It’s so original!!” Tanya remembers that Chris instructed her to try

and talk things out with Jorley. She doesn’t know how she can talk to her professor when

he’s acting like this and she wishes Ken were with her instead of tending to Chris, who

was really injured by Dave’s attack. She asks timidly, “Pr-Professor…I thought you said

we’d be helping people by stealing the moon rock..”

“OF COURSE WE’D BE HELPING PEOPLE!!” Jorley screams. He knows his

students are up to something and knows one of them has the moon rock. He feels

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increasingly frustrated with their inability to cooperate with him. He continues to shout,

“BUT WE CAN’T HELP ANYONE IF WE DON’T HAVE THE MOONROCK AND

ONE OF YOU JUST TOOK IT!!”

Veronica finds herself too afraid to reply. She had agreed with the professor at

first, but now she wasn’t so sure. Earlier that evening after she had discovered Lilia was

part of the group that had tried to stop them from stealing the moon rock she felt

betrayed. Not only was Lilia part of the group, but she was the mastermind behind them.

But she had a lot of time to talk to Lilia after the fighting stopped. Lilia began to

convince her that she could control her powers without Jorley using the moon rock.

Veronica at the time still wasn’t sure, but now seeing Jorley the way he was really helped

Lilia’s argument.

After waiting another moment for one of the girls to respond, Jorley loses his

patience. “Fine…” he drawls, lowering his voice and retracting his head somewhat, “If

you girls won’t tell me willingly…I’ll make you tell me.”

“Look out!!” Ron shouts out as he notices Jorley lift his left hand up and increase

it to match the size of the hand holding Ron down. Ron’s warning comes to late as Jorley

throws his massive hand towards the girls, backhanding them with enough force to send

them flying across the room.

“Chris!

Chris!!

Chris!!!”

With each shout from Lilia, Chris is drawn further and further into consciousness.

He opens his eyes and sees the fuzzy images of Ken’s face in front of him and an even

fuzzier image of Lilia beyond him. The images become clearer and clearer and Chris

remembers what is going on around him. As he forces his body to sit up he feels strain

everywhere. His whole skin tingles. He feels his nose. He had forced it back into place

earlier, but it still hurts too. “Wha happened…?” he asks, “Where’s Dave?”

“Tanya teleported him away,” Ken answers, “But you can bet he’ll be back.”

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“Chris!!” Lilia implores, “Jorley, he…he has abilities too. I don’t even know how

to describe it. And he’s fighting the others!!”

“What about the moon rock?” Chris asks as Ken helps him to his feet.

“I have it,” Lilia replies, holding her hand out for Chris to see, the moon rock

gripped tightly in her fingers.

“Good,” Chris tells her, “You’ve done your job. There’s nothing else you can do

here. Turn invisible and run. Hide back at your dorm. We’ll meet you there when we’re

done here!” Lilia nods solemnly. She slowly turns invisible. The last thing Chris sees of

her is a weak smile. Then he and Ken hear a furious roar.

“Oh God,” Ken gasps.

Chris follows Ken’s gaze up into the sky. He gapes as he sees Dave flying

through the air, strands of electricity flying around him. Dave gathers all of the

electricity around him and directs it all towards Ken and Chris. Chris and Dave sees

electricity manifest itself throughout the air above them and suddenly rain down towards

them like lightning. “I hope this works,” Chris whispers to himself.

He throws his arms up into the air, holding them apart. He feels the energy inside

of him. He’s glad the time driving back from the museum allowed him to fill up his

reservoirs. He moves the energy inside him through both of his arms, out both of his

hands and towards each other. As each beam collides with the other Chris can feel he can

control it.

“Chris!” Ken yells as the first bolt of electricity strikes his body. The electricity

can’t hurt him, but as more bolts fly at them, more will hit Chris.

Chris concentrates on the energy and makes it expand around them, forming a

force field of energy. Each bolt of electricity is simply absorbed. Dave notices the tactic

and asks himself, “He can do that?”

He decides to try and tire Chris out and calls out more electricity, reaching out

higher in the sky for more latent electrical power. Bolt after bolt of lightning hit the

energy shield around Ken and Chris. Ken is amazed by the fury, but realizes that Chris is

starting to strain. “How long can you keep this up?” Ken asks.

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“Hopefully…I won’t have to,” Chris replies.

He pours more and more energy into the shield and then, once Chris thinks that

there is enough there, he sends the energy flying up towards Dave. The energy, like a

blanket, soars up directly above Chris and Ken’s heads, still shielding them from the

electrical storm. Dave doesn’t have enough time to react as the energy rams right into

him, like a brick wall.

Dave cries out in pain as he falls back towards the ground and hits the pavement

of the parking lot hard. “You did it!” Ken exclaims.

“I don’t think he’s out yet,” Chris cautions.

Dave needs a moment to take in his pain, but can still feel all of the metal around

him. There are only four cars in the parking lot. He reaches out with his powers for the

two closest to him, takes mental hold of them and throws them towards Ken and Chris.

“DUCK!” Ken commands.

He throws himself on top of Chris, completely rapping himself around him so that

Chris doesn’t get hurt. The cars slam on top of Ken, one after the other, with such force

that each break apart upon impact. By the time that the second car has hit Ken, Dave

finds the strength to get up. He growls in rage to see his opponents unharmed. At this

point he’s not even fighting for Jorley or the moon rock anymore. Now, he is fighting for

his wounded pride.

He reaches out for the remaining two cars, the two cars that the others had driven

back from the museum. Once he has a mental hold of them, he throws them towards Ken

and Chris too, hoping that by throwing them at an angle Chris might get injured from it.

Chris looks up to see what is happening and realizes that Mike and his duplicate are still

in one of the cars.

“NO!!!!” he exclaims.

He throws Ken off of himself and gathering all of the energy left inside of him,

throws a massive blast at Dave. Dave releases his control of the cars to focus on the

direct threat to him. He hurls several torrents of electricity to try and hinder the blast,

but, just like before, the electricity just becomes absorbed into the energy. Dave is hit by

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the blast, and with such force that he flies backwards and is only stopped by ramming

into a large oak tree a dozen meters away.

From sheer momentum, the two cars, one flying behind the other, continue to soar

towards Ken and Dave. Ken, for a moment, is struck with fear. He remembers not even

being able to stand up to Dave earlier in the night. But Dave abandoned him and the rest

of their team to return the moon rock to Jorley. Now Dave has seriously endangered the

life of one of their classmates. And it is Ken’s turn to act.

He shoves Chris out of the way and leaps towards the first car, the one containing

Mike Lee and his clone. He breaks through the glass of the windshield and slams into the

driver’s chair. He notices Mike and the duplicate are still passed out and sees through the

back windshield the other car still flying towards them. With no time to spare he

wrangles himself into the back seat, grabs a hold of Mike and the dupe and shoves

himself against the side door, forcing it open. At that moment the car hits the ground,

and Ken, Mike and the clone fall out of the car more than jump out of it. They do so just

in time as the other car crashes on top of the first. The cars collide with such force and in

such a way as the make the first car explode.

The explosion sends Ken, Mike, and his clone skidding across the pavement.

Chris scrambles to them. He cries out, “Oh my god!! Are you guys ok?”

“I’m fine,” Ken coughs. His whole body is trembling, but he realizes it’s more

from the excitement of what he had just done then his body actually being hurt at all.

Chris grabs hold of one of the Mikes, not being able to tell the original from the

duplicate, and holds him up.

“C’mon, Mike,” he urges, “wake up. Say something to me…come on, man…”

Chris catches sight of one of Mike’s face muscles flinch. He feels his heart skip a

beat, but he’s not sure he saw what he saw. Then he hears Mike slightly moan. That

moan turns into audible words as Mike groans, “Ooooowww…my whole…self hurts.”

“Ah, ha ha ha” Chris cries. He pulls Mike into him, giving him a strong embrace.

He feels tears swelling in his eyes as he admits, “Oh god, Mike…I thought we were

gonna lose you.”

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“Hey…don’t press up against me so tight,” Mike mutters, “You’re hurting me.”

“Oh right,” Chris yelps, letting Mike go. Chris turns to the other Mike whom Ken

kneels down next to, propping him up. Ken lightly shakes him, saying, “Hey,

buddy…come on, get up.” The other Mike begins to groan. Chris shouts, “Yes! They’re

both all right.”

“What are we going to do now?” Ken wonders aloud.

“We still have to deal with Jorley,” Chris remembers, “God knows how the others

are faring against him. But first…I’m going to make sure Dave never hurts anyone

again.” Chris sends a little bit of energy out through his feet, just enough to send him

soaring through the air several meters. He lands just a few feet away from Dave and

charges towards him.

Dave is still lying against the tree, fading in and out of consciousness. Chris

approaches him, grabs him by the collar, holds him up and slams him against the tree.

“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Chris demands, “You could have killed us!!

Why are you doing this?!”

“Heh,” Dave manages to utter, “You still…don’t get it do you…?”

“No, I don’t! What’s your damage?!”

“I thought…I was powerful,” Dave admits, “But…look at you. My powers don’t

even affect you. And what are you…using them for? Don’t you think…we need to

understand how this happened to us? How we can become…more powerful…? Things

are changing now…with us…with our powers. We can…remake the world with our

abilities.”

“Yeah, you and Jorley,” Chris growls, “That’s all it’s really about, isn’t it?

Making both of you more powerful. Increasing both of your abilities.”

“What…?” Dave utters. The way Chris had said that made it seem like Jorley had

abilities as well.

“Yeah,” Chris continues, “Didn’t you know? Jorley has some sort of abilities too.

He’s fighting the others with them right now.” Chris notices a look of disappointment in

Dave’s face. Chris can’t help but smirk with this revelation. “Aww,” he fake pities,

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“Jorley didn’t tell his prize student about that? You realize you’ve just been used.”

Chris drops Dave to the ground. Dave, now fully conscious, realizes he doesn’t

have the strength to pick himself up. He doesn’t even feel strong enough to use his

powers. Before Chris walks away he states, “You’re right, Dave, things are changing. If

you…or any of our other classmates who end up discovering they have special abilities

use them in the wrong way…well now, my friends and I will be there to stop you.”

Ron feels Jorley’s grip tighten around him. Suddenly he is flung to the side, is

released from Jorley’s grip and flies to the air. Without being able to help himself he is

thrown into Veronica and Tanya, knocking them back against the wall. Amanda finds the

strength to get up after being thrown into the wall earlier and stands to face Professor

Jorley.

Jorley takes a giant step forward, extending his leg towards the far end of the

room. He stretches his upper body upward so that he is towering over Amanda. He

sneers, “You’re the only one whose powers I don’t know. You must have been the one

who let the others in here and who has taken the moon rock. WHERE IS IT?!!”

“You want to see my powers?” Amanda states defiantly, “Let me show you!”

She reaches out and can feel every single solid object in the laboratory, every desk, every

chair, every microscope, every beaker, flask and other utensil. She takes a hold of them

and sends them all flying at Jorley.

Jorley gets hit and is reeled by the first few items. Then, he stretches his entire

skin out in such a way that each following object simply bounces off of him. Suddenly,

the items Amanda meant to be used as a weapon against Jorley begin to bounce off of

him across the room, some of them flying towards her and the others. She screams, but

reacts quickly enough to take a hold of the objects flying back towards them and sending

them away.

“You see…” Jorley laughs, “You can’t hurt me!! Now, WHERE IS THE MOON

ROCK?!” Jorley extends his one arm out towards Amanda, shrinking his hand back to its

normal size. He grabs Amanda by her hair and pulling on it, retracts his arm and flings

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Amanda back to the other side of the room. Amanda cries out in pain as she hits the

opposite wall.

“RRRAAAHHH!!!” Ron roars as he gets up and charges Jorley. He almost

completely loses sight of his reason and gives into his fury as he goes to punch Jorley’s

leg, which is the closest part of Jorley’s body to him. Instead of punching a solid object,

Ron’s punches into Jorley’s skin. Ron falls forwards with his momentum and is

enveloped within the skin of Jorley’s leg. Like a trampoline he is then flung back

towards the wall. “Hmph,” Jorley chortles, noticing Ron, “Now I know I can safely

ignore you.”

He turns his attention back to Amanda and extends his hand in size again to grab

her. He then picks her up and holds her at about eye level with his gigantic head.

“Now,” he threatens, “Are you going to tell me where the moon rock is or am I going to

have to hurt you some more?”

Amanda tries to spit in his face, but her spit can’t carry that far. Jorley shrugs his

elastic shoulder and says, “I tried asking politely.” He then lets go of Amanda. She cries

out as she falls towards the ground. She suddenly feels Tanya grab hold of her and

reality begins to warp around her, even though she still feels like she’s falling. She then

feels the pavement of the garage outside. She also feels as though she’s about to throw

up.

“We need to change our strategy,” Tanya notes, “We ain’t hurtin’ him at all.”

“So what are we supposed to do?!” Amanda argues, “Lilia has the moon rock, we

should just all get out of here.”

“That may not be a bad idea,” Tanya agrees.

“Professor Jorley, what are you doing?!!” Veronica cries out, “You almost killed

her!!!” The Professor turns to Veronica who is standing next to Ron, who has gotten

back up by this point. Jorley looks down at her with pity. “Veronica,” he says sweetly,

“Out of all of them I never thought you would turn on me. My dearest, how else are you

going to control your abilities?”

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“B-By myself,” Veronica tried to say bravely, “I-I…I can learn control. My

powers aren’t that different than Dave’s or Chris’s. If they can control their powers

without using the moon rock…s-so can I. B-But…I-I don’t want to use the moon rock if

it m-means hurting people.”

“And what are you going to do if I do hurt people?” Jorley asks snidely, “Are you

going to attack me too?”

Veronica goes to answer him, but discovers she doesn’t have an answer. She can

feel the energy inside of her, the energy that manifests itself as flames through her hands.

She feels like she can control it and that she can use it against Jorley. But she can’t find

the courage to attack her professor, even after everything she’s witnessed him do.

“I didn’t think so,” Jorley states after waiting a moment for Veronica’s response.

Jorley stretches out both arms towards Ron and Veronica. He increases his hands

in size and one grabs Ron and the other grabs Veronica. He lifts them both in the air and

proclaims, “I want one of you to tell me where the armacolite is. Each minute you don’t

tell me, I break one of your ribs.”

With that he tightens his grip one both of them. Veronica screams out in pain.

She can tell that Jorley is right as she feels the pressure he places on her rib cage. She

has never felt such pain in her life. Even if she wanted to cave in and give Jorley what he

wants, she does not even know where Lilia went with the moon rock.

Ron doesn’t feel the pain as greatly. His abilities protect him somewhat from the

force of Jorley’s grip, but he knows Veronica cannot last too long. He tries to reason his

way through this. He tried brute force once against Jorley and now he needs a different

approach to defeat him.

“Veronica!” he calls out to the girl he hardly knows. “Your powers!! He can’t be

hurt by a physical force! But something elemental…you have to use them against him!!”

Jorley begins to cackle at his foes. “Ha ha ha!” he laughs, “If she had the courage

to do that she already would have done so!”

Jorley then squeezes both of them. Veronica screams out in agony. She feels the

tremendous strain against her bones, but before one of them can break she feels the heat

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within her body extend outwards, not just from her arms and hands, but from her entire

body. Without any control of her own she is suddenly engulfed in flames, burning the

palm and fingers of Jorley’s hand.

“OWWW!!” Jorley cries out.

He drops Veronica and she lands with enough force to knock her out. But even

though she is unconscious flames continues to pour out from her body, quickly engulfing

the rest of the room. Jorley reacts without thinking, dropping Ron as well and shrinking

back to his normal size. With the help of his own abilities Ron manages to land on his

hands and knees without being hurt. Jorley darts out of the laboratory, trying to avoid the

flames.

As he leaves he calls back, “I knew she needed the help of the armacolite to

control her powers!” Ron follows him out, knowing of only one person who can help

Veronica now.

Jorley does not have far to run as he exits the laboratory into the garage to collide

almost directly with Chris, Tanya, Amanda and Ken. “Stop right there, Jorley,” Chris

commands, his hand held out to stop him.

Out of the hand an orb of energy is emitted and flies towards Jorley. Jorley

doesn’t have time to stretch his skin out before he’s hit in the gut and the impact sends

him soaring to the back of the garage. “That’s enough, Professor,” Chris proclaims, “It’s

over now. We have the moon rock and we’re going to return it to the museum.”

“I…don’t think so…” Jorley snarls.

He lifts his right foot up and extends his leg out straight towards Chris, kicking

him backwards. He leverages his left foot against the wall and extends that leg out,

sending his body towards the other students. At the same time he extends his right arm

out towards Amanda and wraps her body up with it. He then takes a couple giant strides

to exit the garage. He cackles, “See the rest of you later!! All I need is this girl to tell me

where the armalcolite is!”

“After him!” Chris finds the breath to command.

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“No, wait!” he hears Ron cry out.

Chris turns around to see Ron leaning against the doorway to the lab, covered in

ash, and flames erupting from the room. Ron looks at Ken and pleads, “You have to go

in there. Your body’s the only thing that can withstand the flames to save Veronica.”

“Do it!” Chris directs, “The rest of you, let’s go save Amanda!”

It only takes a few more strides for Jorley to clear the parking lot. He and

Amanda both see the wreckage of the four cars strewn about the area. “My car…” Jorley

gasps.

“My…CAR…!!” Amanda screams.

Seeing her car like that gives her the strength to use her telekinesis to unwrap

herself from Jorley. “Hey…!” Jorly yelps. Before he can say anything else Amanda uses

her powers to hurl Jorley several dozen feet away.

Jorley grunts as he gets up. He then begins to expand in size, his legs shooting up

like sprouts, extending his body in the air. He expands his upper body, head, and arms as

well, so that he is completely proportional. He grows to such a size that he not only

towers over Amanda, but the Chemistry building as well. He taunts, “Go ahead, girl!

Try and fight me now!! Throw anything you want at me! You may even try throwing

me!! See if you can use your abilities on so large an object!!”

At that moment he feels a pinch in his foot and then a tingling all up his leg. The

tingling quickly turns into a massive amount of pain and soon Jorley feels his entire body

being struck by electricity. “GAAAAAHHHH!!!” He cries in anguish.

Jorley quickly loses consciousness and as he does so his body begins to shrink.

He falls to the ground with a thud, his body sizzling and smoking. With Jorley’s body no

longer hiding him, Amanda sees the culprit of the attack. “Dave…!” she calls out.

Chris, Tanya and Ron come running out to meet the others and halt at the sight of

Jorley’s crisp body. “What happened…?” Chris demands.

“I finished it,” Dave states, “You were right. Jorley wasn’t to be trusted.” He

lifts his eyes from Jorley’s body to meet Chris. He continues to explain, “You were right

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to be worried about him. In a way, he was planning to use people as test subjects. He

admitted it to me…it was the only way to check to make sure the moon rock was what

caused our powers, he said. But to keep his own abilities a secret from us…”

There is a moment of silence. Tanya breaks it by asking, “Now what…?” Part of

that is answered by the sound of the alarms of a fire truck.

Chris notes, “The Chem lab’s smoke detectors probably went off. Those guys

will be here any minute. We have to decide what to do with Jorley now. Is he dead?”

Dave kneels down and checks for a pulse. He hit Jorley with enough energy to

kill a normal person, but Jorley’s abilities did not make him normal. “He’s alive,” Dave

states.

“What should we do with him?” Ron wonders aloud.

“What about my car?!” Amanda demands.

“Don’t worry about your car,” Chris says, “That’s the least of our concerns right

now. You have insurance, don’t you? But as far as Jorley is concerned, we should just

leave him to the police.”

“How can we leave him to the police?” Ron questions, “They’d know of no crime

he committed to detain him. Other than arson, possibly…”

“What about breaking and entering into the museum?” Chris challenges, “What

about theft?”

“There’s no evidence Jorley orchestrated all that,” Ron shoots back.

“There’s the moon rock,” Tanya states.

“Where is that, by the way?” Dave asks.

“Lilia has it,” Chris answers, “She’s in her dorm by now.”

“No, I’m not,” they hear Lilia’s voice proclaim. They all look right near Amanda

and Lilia’s body slowly becomes apparent to their eyesight. She holds out her hand to

show she is still holding the moon rock as well.

“Did you think I was going to run away and hide while the rest of you were

fighting?” she asks rhetorically, answering, “No way.”

“Hey guys!” they hear Ken’s voice call out. They turn around to see Ken running

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towards them, with an unconscious Veronica in his arms. Mike runs behind him, by now

having reabsorbed his duplicate. “The fire truck is here with the police!” Ken proclaims.

“They’re going to start looking for us! We have to get out of here!”

“It is apparent that we cannot let Jorley loose. He will once again use his powers

or other students to try and get the moon rock and use it for his own purposes. We must

remand him to police custody,” Ron argues, “but the only way we can do that is if one of

us agrees to stay here as a witness, with the moon rock, and administer the charges.”

“How can we do that without telling the police ‘bout our powers?” Tanya asks. “I

don’ want them or anyone else knowing what we can do. Can you imagine what they’d

do to us?”

“We won’t tell them,” Dave decides. “We’ll make something else up. Say Jorley

wanted the moon rock for other reasons.” Dave walks over to Lilia and holds out his

hand. “Give me the moon rock,” he says.

Lilia automatically recoils, still not trusting Dave. “Why should I give it to you?”

she asks. Dave answers, “I’m going to be the one who stays behind as a witness. The

rest of you get on out of here.”

“Not you!” Amanda pleads, “You…You’re the one with the most to lose! You’ll

be kicked off the football team!” Amanda almost forgets about all of Dave’s trespasses

against her. He was beginning to sound more like the kind, caring Dave who taught her

how to use her powers, not the mean, cocky Dave that earlier tried to kill her. And

Amanda discovers she still has feelings for him.

“I know that!!” Dave yells. “But I’ll have to give it all up…if it means putting

Jorley away. All this…it’s all my fault. I’m the one who bought into Jorley’s scheme.

I’m the one who tried to get all of you to help me steal the moon rock. I’ll be the one

who makes it all right again.”

Lilia smiles weakly at Dave. She extends her hand and places the moon rock in

that of Dave’s. Chris walks over to Dave and pats him on the back. “Thanks…for this,”

he says, “I’m sorry for…being so rough on you earlier.”

“None of that matters now,” Dave states. “Things have changed.”

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Chris turns to the others and says, “Come on guys, let’s get out of here.” Lilia

offers, “Everyone hold on to me. If we walk slowly we should be able to all be invisible

until we get out of range of the police.”

As soon as everyone becomes invisible two fire trucks, an ambulance and several

police cars turn down the street and into the parking lot. The firemen immediately leap

into action to quell the flames inside the Chemistry lab. A policeman notices Dave

standing not too far away and flashes his flashlight at him. “Hey there!” the police

officer calls out. “Would you like to tell me what you’re doing here?!”

Dave holds up his hands and calls back, “I’ll tell you everything, officer. It’s all

over now.”

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Epilogue

CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR TAKEN INTO POLICE

CUSTODY IN CHEMISTRY BUILDING ARSON CASE

Chris Kirby reads that headline in the next edition of Pine State’s newspaper. He

is sitting in one of the dining halls for breakfast, with Steve seated across from him, and

Ashley seated next to him, peering over his shoulder trying to read what he is reading.

Chris quickly reads through the article and reads through it again. He looks for any

mention of the moon rock or of other students being involved. The article is short and

vague, not detailing anything and devoted mostly to Jorley’s career at Pine State and a

short description of some of his pranks from previous years.

There is one exception to this that Chris notes immediately and his eyes become

transfixed on the sentence. It states that one of Jorley’s students, David Shaw, was taken

in by police for questioning and, shortly afterward, released. Chris has not seen or heard

from Dave since that night. He feels his stomach sink as he wonders at what Dave had

told the police. He still does not trust Dave. He knows Dave’s intentions were not pure

and he didn’t change sides because he changed his intentions. He only realized that

Jorley wasn’t really on his side.

Understanding this causes Chris to fear. He fears what Dave told the police. He

fears that he and the others will be found out. He fears that the police will not be able to

hold Jorley indefinitely and that he too will become a threat again. His mind wanders

and he is taken back to that night, after Dave had turned himself into the police.

The eight remaining students had been holding onto his other tightly, taking small

steps in unison away from the Chemistry building. When they traversed an entire block

of campus, Lilia finally let go and everyone returned to being visible.

“Now what?” Tanya asked again.

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“Now…” Chris drew out his answer, “Now we all go back to our dorms and try

and get some rest. It’s been a hectic night. I know my nerves are all jumbled, yours are

too. We should all get some sleep and hope for the best.”

“Hope for the best?” Ron questioned. “We don’t know what Dave is going to tell

the police! We don’t know if there’s going to be an investigation into what happened at

the museum! We could all be wanted criminals.”

Chris explained, “I…I know we can’t trust Dave, but what else were we supposed

to do? We’re going to have to trust in him to make up a believable story and hopefully

put all the blame on Jorley so that he can be arrested and hopefully found guilty of some

charge or another.”

Tanya looked up at Ken. He was still holding an unconscious Veronica in his

arms. Tanya sighed, “I still don’ know if we did the right thing here. Look at Veronica.

She still doesn’t have control o’ her powers. She set the Chemistry building on fire, for

cryin’ out loud. How are we supposed to deal with that?”

Before Chris replied he took a look at everyone who was gathered there. His

glance passed from Lilia, to Amanda, to Tanya, to Ken, still holding Veronica, to Ron

and finally to Mike. They all watched him back intently, waiting on what he would say.

They did recognize him as their leader, just as others in the past had. And now, he

realized, he would have to lead them towards a new future.

He said, “Look, I understand that Veronica not being able to control her powers is

a danger and that it was a prime motivation for you guys to help Jorley. But we can’t let

our fear of our powers prevent us from doing the right thing. We’ll help Veronica, even

if we have to do so without the help of the moon rock. Her powers aren’t that different

from mine. I’m going to take the time out to teach her how to use her abilities and

hopefully she’ll learn to control them as the rest of us have.

“But Veronica won’t be the only one who we’ll have to worry about. There could

be other people in our class who’ve developed abilities too. They, like Veronica, may not

be able to control them. They too can turn out to be a danger to others and themselves.

We’ll have to agree to look out for those other people and help them if we can.

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“And it’s not just the people who can’t control their powers that we should look

out for. There are going to be those who can control their powers, but use them for the

wrong reasons. Bill is still out there and we have no idea what he’s doing now. But, the

point is, I first encountered him using his ability to pick fights with people trying to steal

marijuana. If there are others who have abilities and are able to control them they may

use them to hurt others still. We’ll have to be there to protect those innocent people.

“Of course, I think it’s also important that we keep our abilities a secret from

other people. I…still don’t know how other people will react if they know that we can do

things superhuman. I don’t know how society will react. We’re lucky we weren’t caught

tonight, and we’ll be lucky if Dave can keep our secret safe. I think the eight of us

should keep in regular contact, keep all of us posted on whether or not we notice anyone

else from our Chemistry class with powers, and also as a way of keeping a pact that the

secret of our abilities stays secret.”

“You mean…like a secret society of superheroes?!” Mike exclaimed.

Chris shrugged his shoulders. “Kind of,” he replied, “I guess you can look at it

that way.” He looked around at his peers once again. They had each taken in what Chris

had to say and their facial expressions and body language seemed to be positive. “What

do you say?” Chris asked, extending his hand out into the open space that was in between

the circle formed of their bodies, “Do we have a pact?”

Lilia was the first to slowly extend her hand and rest it on that of Chris’s. “I’m

in,” she said, “for Veronica.” Mike’s hand quickly clasped those of Lilia and Chris. “Me

too!” he shouted, “Our own secret society of superheroes.”

Tanya then laid her hand on top of the others. “Well, I’m in then too,” she

explained, “As I’ve said before…I don’ wanna see anybody else go through what I went

through when I found my powers. I don’ know about bein’ a superhero and protectin’

other people…but I do wanna help our fellow classmates who might have powers and

don’ know how to use ‘em.”

Tanya noticed Ken wasn’t making a move and looked up to stare at him. Ken

smiled weakly and said, “Hey, I, uh…guess I’m in too. I’d offer my hand, but they’re

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kind of full at the moment.” Tanya smiled strongly. She wanted to reach up and kiss

Ken, but she held herself back. “I’ll do it too,” they heard Amanda chime in. Placing her

hand on that of the others she added, “For Dave.”

Ron considered his position and finally relented, “Well, I won’t be the odd man

out. I’ll join your secret society of superheroes. I want to make sure that our secret

remains safe. I also think it’s important that each of us uses our abilities according to

reason, not the passion of the moment. If there are others like us…I think I’d like to

teach them to use that reason.” Ron reached his hand out and placed it on top of the stack

of everyone else’s hands.”

Chris took his other hand and sandwiched everyone else’s hands in between his.

He stated, “That’s it then. We have a pact. To keeping our abilities a secret. To helping

those like us. And to protecting the innocent.” As Chris released his hands, Mike threw

his into the air and everyone else followed suit. Chris felt like he was back on the

football field again, encouraging his team before a game. Instead, he was encouraging

the start of a new future for the eight of them.

“Chris…? Chris!”

Chris hears Ashley call out his name and is snapped back into reality. Ashley

wraps his arms around him and coos, “You totally went blank there. And you’ve barely

touched your breakfast. What’s up?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Chris lies, placing the newspaper back down on the table. “I

got absorbed into this article about my Chemistry professor being arrested and just, sorta,

went back in time imagining all the Chemistry classes we had together.”

“Yeah, that’s totally bizarre,” Ashley comments, “What does it say happened?”

“The article doesn’t say much. I don’t think they actually know,” Chris states,

“It’s really just an article about the Professor. It goes into all the research and awards

he’s done. He’s also a bit of a prankster. The article goes over some of his most famous

pranks over the years. It seems they’re implying the arson of the Chemistry building was

one of his pranks gone wrong.”

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Steve interrupts, “Hey, buddy, look at the time. The two of us have class. You

wanna walk with me to academic quad?”

Chris replies, “Sure,” and got up out of his seat.

“I’ll walk with you,” Ashley says. As she gets up she takes Chris by the hand and

the two of them walk together, Steve flanking Chris on his other side. Chris smiles,

realizing that he’s walking together with two of the people that mean the most to him. He

realizes that there’s a lot in the future for him to fear, but he’s happy to live in the

present.