haven - zb1

19

To cut to the chase, someone broke an orb. Then the gifteds started losing their powers. I know quite a few people lost theirs overnight, no matter age, proficiency or type, which was really strange. There was no pattern, it was completely random.

The first person to lose their powers out of the ten of us was Jisu. To be honest, I wasn't sure if she was happy or devastated. She no longer needed her lead shoes, but now she was no different from the people who we used to run from.

She didn't show any emotion, but I did think she felt uncomfortable at the thought that she was no longer 'special' like us, perhaps, if you could even consider our 'gifts' special.

Then Yeji started dying. That was a little after she moved to live with the gifteds, I still remember how annoyingly cheesy she and Yeonjun were after that. But she started dying. We guessed it was because her powers were failing and her time was starting to catch up.

And around that time, I realised I didn't want to be with them anymore. We were all so sheltered, so comfortable. The children we were raising were mollycoddled and almost worshipped for their powers. Especially those with strong ones that we've never seen before. This just led to a desperate need to train and restrict the children's powers, because if we didn't, we could die. There have been instances where because of their lack of control, the children nearly took someone's life.

When the children lost their powers, it was as if they had fallen from the pedestal they were placed on and suddenly they didn't matter that much. And that happened to a lot of the children. Those children started to become neglected, mostly also because everyone was so caught up with the loss of powers, things started to literally fall apart, since some gifts needed for them to function were lost.

That made me seriously realise how dependent we all were on our gifts, to the point that once they were gone, we didn't even know how to react. So I knew I had to do something.

I really did love them, they were my friends and family. But I knew, deep down, if they weren't willing to change and do something, I wasn't going to straddle the human world and the gifted world anymore.

-

"Taehyun you're being ridiculous! You literally told us they're starting to bomb residential areas where they suspect gifteds are hiding and you want to stay there?" Yuna yelled, chest heaving from the emotions.

"I can't understand you. We already just plainly said, some of us are losing our gifts. And you want to stay near humans? What if you lose your powers when you need them most?" Yeonjun was furious, and understandably.

Taehyun, leaning against a table and staring down at his shoes, stayed silent before saying, "You guys must think this is paradise, hm?"

All baffled and wordless, his friends began to argue with him but he only sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't stay here anymore. You guys- this is too much. I said it all those years ago and I'll say it again, I'm so tired of this life. This place isn't where I want to be. I don't want to be running for my life, sure, but I don't want to be reduced down to my powers."

Those words really stunned them all, as if they were all internally realising, "Ah, he's so unhappy with us."