Discharged

4

4

I'm standing in a field. All is calm. There's no wildlife or civilization in sight. I look around in a circle. A forest distantly surrounds me at every edge. The field I'm standing on is at the top of a subtle hill. I'm standing at its center, right at the very peak of the small inclined dome. I pick a direction and I start to walk, not bothering to think of a reason why I want to go that way.

Despite walking in a direction, there's no real sign that I'm moving. I'm just walking forward, and the field moves with me. The forest gets no closer to me. The blades of grass on the hill are repeating their patterns. Well, there's one thing that's changing. A storm is starting to approach in the sky. I look upward and observed the clouds growing ever darker with each passing step. I begin to smile. Somehow, I must know what's coming. A rumbling begins. Its source is impossible to determine; It's all around me at the same time. It's so powerful that it pierces my skin. I feel it deep in my body. My body's shaking in anticipation, my bones rattling within my skeleton. Out of nowhere my head jerks upward and I see a giant flash. When I focus again, I see a bolt, stretching itself form the sky and connecting itself to my chest. My heart. With a bang, it snatches onto my body. But instead of going away like a normal lightning strike, it stays locked onto me.

A warm fuzzy feeling floods my nerves. There's a tingling sensation running up and down my arms and legs. Goosebumps cover my skin. My hair stands up from my head and starts waving a dance. My muscles all feel like they're getting a massage from the inside. If I had any cramps, they vanished in an instant. The feeling is euphoric. I feel my energy building, as if this one strand of lightning is charging me up like a battery. My mind is clearer, and my heartbeat accelerates. I'm getting excited. This energy is building. It's filling my blood. I have no more room left for it. I need to release this damn energy. This whole sensation feels so right!

I feel like I'm floating. My feet have left the ground, and this bolt is following my body's sudden slight rise into the air. I can feel it. I'm almost there. I'm about to burst-

My eyes flew open, and I audibly gasped. The field and the storm faded away and suddenly I was somewhere else. I blinked over and over with heavy breaths. My head jerked upward for a second before falling back onto something soft. There was a blinding light in my face. My mind went into instant panic, trying desperately to remember where I was and what was going on. I took deep breaths and squinted. In my confusion, I heard my name called in surprise. My vision's still too blurry to make out the form that shouted, but I see them approach quickly and try to wrap their arms around me.

ZAP!

"OW!" a familiar voice cried, and the form backed away from their attempted hug. Realizing someone was in the room with me woke my brain up, finally giving me control over my thoughts again. My vision finally cleared, and I saw the emotional look of my girlfriend staring at me, the most relieved face she'd ever shown me. "Oh, Beck, I thought I lost you!"

I blinked a couple of times. Lost me? Wait... where am I? I sat up and realized I was sitting in a bed, and a glance at the room around revealed... a hospital room!? "What... what happened?" I muttered.

"Beck you idiot, what the hell were you thinking!?" Lizzie exclaimed.

"Wh-what?" I said, clutching my head. It didn't hurt, but something was distracting my focus. It felt like... it felt like something was buzzing and moving all around me. My entire body felt jittery, and there were goosebumps all over my skin. "Why am I in the hospital?"

"Because you're an idiot," Lizzie replied with a snort. "Why did you reach through the cage!?"

Cage... That's right! I was in a cage. The memory started to come back. I had volunteered to participate in the lightning show by going inside a giant cage and letting lightning strike it. My memory was still a bit fuzzy as I recounted the events. I had gotten inside, I had risen into the air, and the lightning began to strike. And I... "I reached through the cage..." I thought aloud. "Why... Why did I..."