Firewings. The Awakening of Power

** Chapter 3 **

I woke up in the morning with a terrible headache. On top of that, the skin over my left breast began to burn again. The bedside lamp was off, but even though it was still dark outside the window, I could see everything in the room very clearly, probably even too clearly, because from a distance of a few meters I was able to see a small speck of dust lying on the shelf with photos. I could also hear every rustle, the moving branches of trees, the flutter of birds' wings, and even the barking of neighbors' dogs a good few hundred meters away, as if they were all in my room. I could smell the rain, the plants, my mother's perfume and Mike's deodorant. All my senses were working at full throttle, making it impossible for me to think rationally, I felt as if my head was about to explode.

- What the hell?! - I began to panic, grabbed my phone to check what time it was, the brightness of the screen so blinded me that for a moment I thought I had gone blind. I wiped my eyes and looked at the screen again, three o'clock. I furrowed my brow, I had only slept for three and a half hours?

- My head - I groaned catching myself. The burning didn't stop either, in addition, I noticed that something had appeared on my skin. I ran to the bathroom to take a closer look.

I turned on the light and was again blinded by the brightness. I walked over to the sink and leaned against it. I then turned on the cold water tap and flushed my face, hoping that this would at least ease the pain a little. For a while it actually helped, but then it returned with redoubled force. The sounds intensified. I croaked, looked at my reflection in the mirror and froze.

Instinctively, I touched the steaming skin where a tattoo appeared glowing in color. It was the size of a fist and resembled a butterfly, but the pattern was strangely twisted. That wasn't the end of the sensations, however, as my eyes also changed color, I noticed a multitude of multicolored glittering flecks traveling around my pupils, like a milky way.

I stood at the mirror with my face gaping for a good few minutes. I even started pinching myself to see if, it wasn't a dream.

- What is happening to me?! - I crouched by the sink and grabbed my head rocking back and forth. Frightened, I began to cry - Let it stop - I sobbed.

After a while the headache stopped, the sounds quieted down and my skin stopped burning. I looked down hoping that the strange tattoo had disappeared, but I was counted out. It was still there, but it was no longer glowing, instead it had taken on a black color. I stood up and looked at my reflection again. My eyesight was still perfect. I could see everything with the smallest detail. It frightened me. My eyes were still shining. I had to hide it somehow. What would I say to my parents if they saw it?

I looked for a moment in the cabinet next to the mirror and took out a box of brown lenses. They were bought by Klara when she got the idea to have the same eye color as mine, but after the last night at my place she forgot to take them. How well that turned out. With trembling hands I somehow managed to put them on and the former color returned to normal, although looking more clearly I could see the moving flecks.

I had to hide the tattoo under my blouse, because my parents would have slammed me when they saw it. Especially since they were against such things, and I would have no excuse.

I sighed. What am I going to do now? After all, this is not normal. I wiped the tears from my cheeks, then returned to my room and lay down on my bed. Today I will definitely not sleep again. So I decided to find out something on the Internet, because perhaps these were symptoms of some disease? I snorted - Who am I trying to fool. After all, something like this doesn't happen every day.

I browsed through various sites, spent a good couple of hours at it, because before I knew it it was already ten o'clock in the morning. The worst part was that I couldn't find anything to explain all these phenomena.