Prologue Many Things Happen by Chance and One Event Can Change

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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.

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

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

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

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..."

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

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?"

"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

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-

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

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

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-

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.

"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

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

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

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.

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

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."

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

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

* * *

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.

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

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,

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,

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

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.”

“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.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.

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

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

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

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.

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,

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

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

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

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

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-

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.”

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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!”

“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.”

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?!”

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

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

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

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

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.

“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?”

“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?”

“ ” Jorley commands with a hint of force in his voice. Try!

“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.