Empowered

Chapter 4:.....Engulfed

It was the first time she had met sleep in a long time, but it wasn't sleep like she remembered from before. In truth, it was a restless sleep. It was a nightmarish sleep. It was truly more stressful than the waking world.

She was transported into a much more blurry and hazy land. She could see the stars and other planets in her solar system right before her, and no ground was beneath her feet. She realized she was floating in outer space above the Earth, gazing out and marveling at the vast cosmos. But just as she began to contemplate her insignificance in the universe, she noticed something bright in the distance. Past the planets and lurking beyond the solar system was a bright, shiny light that continued to get brighter. It grew larger as well and appeared to be moving toward her. Truthfully, it was a hazy vision, and was super hard to see what it was (not to mention the fact it was billions of miles away). However, time in this dream seemed to pass exceptionally fast. In fact, she could see the Earth rotating beneath her floating body. The light inched closer and closer to her until she could finally see what it was, and it was what appeared to be a giant burning ball of fire. It was headed straight for the Earth and Ember! What was she going to do? She and the planet were doomed! The flaming meteor zipped past the planets in the solar system and rushed at her, and she realized just how massive it was. It was the size of at least the moon. It approached her with all its fiery terror. Ember only looked on, paralyzed in fear, as the flaming ball consumed her and resultantly obliterated the Earth.

"AHHHH!!!" She screamed as she woke up, clawing the air. "What the hell was that? I don't remember my dreams being so terrible when I was younger." She took this opportunity to look at her P.I.P. It read "8:00P.M." "Oh no! The paper for English class! I gotta get to work now!"

She picked herself up off the steps of the porch and went inside. "You know I should talk to Abraham or whoever about getting a key to this place and also a lock. This is Jersey, after all – it's a state full of corruption and criminals. Anyone could just walk right in here and take whatever they want." She climbed the stairs in the living room and headed to the house's second floor, searching for a computer, pen, pencil, or something she could use to write down her thoughts. She turned the corner as she got to the top step, and headed to the first door she could find. When she opened it, she was surprised to find almost an exact replica of her room from when she was eleven. However, all her stuff from her prison cell in the dungeons of E-Corp. was there as well, including her laptop.

"W.O.W.!!! And YEESSS!!!" She exclaimed as she picked her computer off her old desk, sat on her bed, and opened Microsoft Word. "Ok, heroism, what does heroism mean to me? Well, today I saved a kid who I put in danger in the first place, fought and killed a giant booger from space who was just some poor dumb pawn probably and didn't deserve to die, left the town a total wreck, and – oh yeah – and kicked a girl through the ceiling of the school because I can't control my temper. Well, I don't know the first goddamn thing about being a hero! Maybe I should just talk about a hero who I admire instead? How about Captain America?" She thought out loud. Then she realized while she sat there in her old room what it used to be like to be normal and not dangerous and not hate your life so much.

"Jesus, I used to have such a good opinion of myself, and I used to feel so free, but now all I can see is the destruction and death I cause. All I can see is myself as the monster I am – as an uncaged animal – just like that gruesome space snot thing – I don't even remember what it's like to be free. I'm only going to cause trouble from here on out – heroism – I can't even define the word, but I have to write this fucking paper. So, Cap,' I really hope you can inspire me!" she exclaimed as she started typing furiously.