The Cloak Guard

Aftermath

It had been 3 weeks since the incident. It felt weird calling it that. 'The incident.' That made it sound more like some intense family squabble that had gone down, like when Latika's parents had gotten into a shouting match over some magazines. This wasn't so much an incident as it was a calamity. And it was still weighing on Gabriela's mind. She didn't think it would ever go away. She had been kidnapped, almost killed, and then almost killed a few more times.

She had been shocked when the news about it being a steam vent explosion came out. But then she was relieved. It was better this way. Whatever had happened, everyone remained unaware of the truth. Honestly, she wished she did too. But then again, if Travis's theory was right, that would mean her own mind and memories would have gotten messed with which sent shivers down her spine. No, thank you, she liked her brain unscrambled.

School had been let off for a week as the building was being repaired. Her dad and a few other people in town had donated though an anonymous organization had been the most help, another one of Travis's theories. Gabriela thought he was being a little overly suspicious, though she couldn't help but think it might be true. Whatever the case, she had been grateful for the time off as she had had time to work on her speech.

The only problem was, during that time, she couldn't work on her speech. Every waking, and sleeping, moment was filled with thoughts on what happened. Of Swarm, raising his arms and sending waves of those microbots of his to kill her. Compared to that, writing a speech for class president felt...meaningless.

She hated feeling like this. She had never felt like this, even after her mom died. Then she had just been depressed. Now? Now she was scared out of her mind. She didn't want to leave the apartment or go to school when it reopened. She had forced herself to and had been constantly jumping around, afraid Swarm might be hiding behind the corners. She at first thought it would be best to travel in groups so she always made sure that she was with Meredith, Rosalyn, or Latika. But then she was worried Swarm might kill them too so she started avoiding walking with them. Now she had no idea what to do. She just wanted things to be normal again. She never wanted any of this. This stupid power had ruined her life and she had no idea how to get rid of it. She honestly couldn't believe Travis was still eager to use his after what had happened. More than that, he wanted to enter this new world of super-people. No thanks. Gabriela would rather pretend none of it existed.

But she knew she couldn't. Her powers were so...powerful, that she couldn't not forget them. She had to maintain control. That was the one thing she made sure to do every day, practice with her powers so that the bathroom incident never happened again. She had gotten really good and didn't feel in danger of losing control and blasting things apart anymore. But it still didn't fix anything.

"Hey Gabi." Gabriela saw her dad in her bedroom doorway, a concerned look on his face. "Can I come in?"

She flicked her hand aimlessly which he took to mean 'yes' and walked in. "So, how are you doing?" he asked as she sat down next to her.

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well that makes sense, considering you were there when it happened. That's not something you get over easily. Sometimes at all."

"Very comforting, dad," she mumbled.

"Sorry. Your mom was better at this stuff." He leaned back, sighing a little. "She used to tell me that keeping stuff bottled in was basically asking for it to shatter and shoot glass into your face."

"Philosophical and morbid. Yeah that sounds like mom."

"Uh huh. But it's true. I mean, I think you know that, it's a common expression. Not the shooting into your face part, that was all her, but the rest. I get if you don't want to talk to me. I mean, you'll stab me in my heart," he said, giving her his pouty face that almost made her laugh, "but I am your dad and I know there's stuff you don't want to talk to me about. But you should talk to someone. Someone you trust with it. Maybe a random stranger I can buy online for 100 dollars an hour?" he said, holding up his phone that showed a list of top therapists in the county.