Moonfire

Chapter 14

Tuesday, November 11th, 7:30am
I make my way to the middle of the bus, where Ella is sitting. I plop down next to her. "I dreamed last night," I start. Ella listens with rapt attention as I tell her about the events of my dream.
"So you have two powers now?" she asks.
"I guess. But I haven't noticed the Sunvision yet."
"Gloria said it would take a while to take effect, right?" Ella questions. I nod. "Then the Sunvision probably hasn't appeared yet. Be patient."
I nod again. I'm concerned that I don't seem to have Sunvision yet, but I'm also nervous to get it. It seems like a huge change.
The bus screeches to a stop outside the school. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and walk down the aisle of the bus with Ella close behind me.
As I step out into the sunlight, I feel a peculiar sensation. Before I have time to process, my vision expands all at once.
I see people walking, elementary school children playing on their playground, a few blocks away. A stray dog prowling near a building. And at the edge of it all, a hint of darkness, like a shadow cast over my eyes.
I struggle to process all the images coming in. I'm being overloaded with information.
I vaguely feel myself fall on the pavement, all my brain power dedicated to trying to comprehend my new sight.
After a minute or two, the images fade to a flicker, and I gradually come back to my normal sight.
I sit up. I'm lying in the entrance hall of the school, the nurse hurrying out of the office towards me.
I look around some more. Ella is standing beside me, along with Mr. Skientia, the science teacher. Students are rushing past us, most giving me at least a glance, some all out staring.
Slightly embarrassed, I stand up. "Are you okay?" Ella asks urgently.
"Y-yeah," I respond, still slightly shaken from the sudden appearance of the Sunvision. Nurse Brooks arrives and immediately starts fussing over me.
"I'm fine!" I try to brush her off.
"No, you're not . You just fainted, for goodness sake. And look at the scratches from the concrete!" Nurse Brooks exclaims. I sigh and allow her to take me into her office.
As she puts band-aids on my scratches, I can't help but wonder.
Was this a mistake?

🕛🕐🕑🕒🕓🕔🕕🕖🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛

About 20 minutes later, Dad drives up to the school to pick me up. Apparently since I 'fainted' I'm not allowed to stay.
"You okay?" he asks with concern. I nod, but inside nerves fill me as I think about going outside again.
I spent almost the entire 20 minutes thinking about solutions to my Sunvision problem. I know I'll have to learn it like I did with my Moonfire, hopefully with more ease, but I don't have time for that. I thought about how the visions dimmed when I came inside. Eventually I decided that I'd just try to keep my eyes out of the sun as much as possible.
I still have no idea if that will work.
After Dad chats with the nurse for a few minutes - probably about me, though I can't hear from the bed in the corner - we start to leave the building.
I hold my breath as I follow Dad through the front door, ducking my head to avoid the sunlight.
To my relief, it works. Mostly. The images of the world beyond my normal vision still come, but definitely more faded than the first time. My step falters for a moment, but I am able to continue walking.
We arrive at the car without incident, and I climb in, relieved. Dad starts asking me questions but I don't really pay attention. After a minute or two of half-hearted answers, he falls into silence.
We arrive at home, and to my relief, pull into the garage instead of parking in the driveway. Not really wanting to go back outside to get to the front door, I head down the spiral staircase to the basement. Dad follows after me but only goes down half the steps.
"Hey kiddo, I have to go back to work now. You're sure you'll be fine?" he calls down over the banister. I nod and smile up at him. Apparently satisfied, he heads back up the steps.
I look around, realizing that I now have a whole day to myself. I guess I should use this time to learn how to manage my Sunvision. I can mostly see with only my normal vision down here, with the only sunlight coming from the top of the stairs.
I discovered in the car that if I close my eyes, the images go away, just like my normal vision. It's like an extension. And I'm pretty sure that it relates to the sun touching my eyes, like my Moonfire relates to the moonlight reaching me.
I put my backpack back on and slowly climb the staircase up the garage, the images from the Sunvision getting brighter as I go. I squint and duck my head, and they fade to a more manageable level. It's still very confusing and a bit disorientating to see everything for a few blocks around me, though.
I make it to the front door, probably looking like a strange turtle. When I get inside, I quickly put my stuff away and go up to my room. I grab my sketchbook from it's safe place in the back of a drawer and make two new lists for my Sunvision.
I fill in things that work with squinting and keeping my head down to avoid the sun. I also make a note that it seems related to if the sun touches my eyes.
After a bit of thought, I decide to go to the porch to practice. The windows should stop the Sunvision from getting too intense, just like they only allow my hands to glow with my Moonfire.
I walk in with my eyes closed, then when I'm in the middle of the room, I open them. The effect is instant. I can see around the neighborhood easily. Plus, I fell over again.
I let my mind wander around for a minute, just watching, then try to bring my attention back to my body. After a bit of effort, I can see the ceiling of the porch, through my normal eyes. I realize that I subconsciously was pulling in on a string like I do with my Moonfire. I also sense that my Moonfire string is still here, just dormant, curled in a ball. I need the moon to be able to use it. The moon is the spark.
I pull in on the Sunvision string, and my range of sight decreases. Finally, I can focus enough on myself to close my eyes, blocking the images out.
I continue lying on the floor for a minute more, breathing harder than normal. When my breathing steadies, I open my eyes and do it again.

(Hello.
My cat just climbed under a blanket right next to me and started purring.
I just wrote like half of this chapter today and didn't check it over and when I was moving it from the google doc to wattpad I realized I forgot to name Mr. Skeintia and Nurse Brooks.
They were just Mr. idontfeellikecomingupwithanamerightnow and Nurse ialsodontfeellikecomingupwithanamerightnow.
So that's interesting
Also I'm really excited because there's only 2 or 3 chapters left and aaaah there's a really exciting part near the very end and I can't wait :)
Anyway this authors note is probably getting too long so bye
-Penguin)
(1283 words)