Cursed with Power

Chapter 2

A thousand screams tore out of my throat as I lurched my way to railing, blindly groping for it. "No. No.! This is just a bad dream. It's not true, it can't be true. No. Chloe is okay. She is-" My feverish mumbling abruptly cut off when I leaned over the railing, revealing the most horrifying and gruesome sight I had seen in my few short years of life.

Chloe was splayed out in the school courtyard, face turned upwards. Blood flowed out from under her head in a circle of thick red liquid. Her eyes, glassy and unfocused, stared back at me. Though expressionless, they ripped through everything and right into my  innermost soul, probing deep into me. Somehow, I could still see the defeat that had lined her face in her last moments. I staggered back from the railing and my knees gave out from underneath me. Tears flowed down my cheeks in an endless gush of emotion but I didn't notice anything. It was as if all my senses had stopped working at the same time. All I could feel was pain. A dark, never-ending, all-consuming pain that threatened to swallow my very existence. I had never felt so helpless, so powerless, so alone.

 I have no idea how long I sat there. All I have is a foggy recollection of reaching the ground floor, which was a chaotic mess of teachers and adults who had chased all the students away. I came to know later that the second Chloe had left, Miss Brown had informed the principal and all the teachers in her staff room of what had happened in class. The school had been emptied of children as quickly as possible, even before Chloe had jumped. I had been left behind, only because Miss Brown wasn't even aware that I hadn't been in class. while the students were evacuated. She hadn't even remembered giving me permission to go to the washroom!

But, none of that mattered. Whatever the circumstances had been, I now knew that the truth was being kept hidden from us and that it was something terrifying beyond any stretch of imagination.

***

Slowly, I started recognizing the signs. I noticed the way grown ups acted around children. As if we were made of fragile glass and could break any second. I saw how I could never manage to get my hands on a newspaper or listen to the news. I recognized the worry and fear that lined people's faces. Adults had suddenly become stricter, more protective and less likely to give us privacy. This all pointed to something really big and terrible happening in the world. Something no one wanted us to know about. But I wanted to find out. I needed to. I owed that much to Chloe. Just thinking of her brought back the feelings I had stored away at the back of my mind to the forefront.

If only I had been a better friend. If I had managed to recognize the signs. If I had been smarter, faster, stronger, better... No. I can't think of what would've happened. I need to find out what is happening. 

And so I slowly learned to become observant and to read between the lines. I noticed as more and more kids were pulled out of school by worried parents, my own being amongst them.  Slowly, the school started shutting down and divisions became more and more obvious. Separate restaurants where no children could even step in, with or without their parents. Separate washrooms in malls and other places. Separate gardens. It was as if the grown ups were hell-bent on keeping away from us, almost as if we all had some sort of contagious disease they wanted to avoid. Kids from my neighborhood disappeared mysteriously and, my parents' only explanation upon being asked where they were going were excuses like, "They're saying that the cost for travel will increase like crazy, so everyone is preponing their trips and vacations" But that didn't explain why schools were shutting down or why guards patrolled the streets at every hour of the day. Neither did it provide an answer to my own parents' increasing tendency to watch me like hawks at all times. Soon enough, I figured out that no one was going to just give me the answers I was looking for. I would have to find them myself, by hook or crook.  

Weeks of waiting and watching patiently came to fruition one day while I was at the mall. My parents were, for once, distracted and sensing the opportunity, I asked them if I could use the restroom. They nodded absently, barely even acknowledging what I was saying. They were busy reading a book related to something about cures for some diseases. Nevertheless, I didn't question it, overjoyed at the chance to be alone for a few minutes. 

Perhaps I can learn something new about what's going on.

Luck seemed to be especially pleased with me, for not only did I manage to get to the adults' restroom unnoticed and lock myself in a cubicle, two women actually came in only a minute later, discussing exactly what I wanted to know! Unable to believe my good fortune, I leaned against the door and put my ear to it, not in the least guilty about eavesdropping. Now I could hear every word clearly.

"-gonna result in ending the whole human race, this disease of theirs. What did they name it? I can't seem to recall." 

"Neurological Harness Disorder. They call it NHD for short. It was in the news this morning."

"Ah, yes. Quite a strange thing, really. If the scientists are right, the virus is supposed to start attacking emotions of all things. Apparently, it releases some kind of dangerous enzyme that slowly eats up your joy and makes you feel all depressed and lonely and stuff. Then it strikes suddenly, all snakelike and there's supposed to be this really terrible vision of all your greatest fears and it creates a nightmare sort of thing that's supposed to be worse than every evil in the world combined. Most die, obviously. But," Here she lowered her voice and I strained hard to make out her words. "Those who survive are even worse. They are a danger to us and to our existence. They are freaks.  If I am being honest, It's better if they all simply die."