Darknesss united

Chapter 21: Shock

Impulse

A shock fills my body as I stare down at Cub and the stranger, and I pull my hand away from the building's antenna. A small, blue bolt jumps onto my skin. I haven't been shocked since...I take in a sharp breath as my vision floods with pain from fourteen years ago. A pain I can remember, I can still feel.

 I'm thrown backwards in my memories. A small stone, smooth and round, sits at the spot of the strike. It radiates heat, pulsing with fire. I brush off the pain of the strike, its burning energy lingering in the air, and stand. I push myself to my feet, bones and muscles protesting with every step. I can't see anything except the stone, the storm short-circuiting the lights. The moon's light is no help, its glow obscured by the cloud above. I pull out my phone to check if I can use the flashlight, but it's no use. It too was destroyed in the storm. Static dances across my skin, but I'm otherwise uninjured. I don't know how I was struck with lightning and am still okay.

Rain is yet to break in this dry district of the city, barren trees filling the streets. Dry, crackling bushes are tinder if lightning strikes the wrong place. I hope we're all okay.

The glow of the mysterious stone penetrates my thoughts, filling my brain with its radiant light. I take a deep breath and carefully take a small step. I can feel the static growing as I approach, the air crackling with electricity. I gaze down at the smooth, dark stone. I hesitate. Am I really about to do this? I set my mind, reaching out, and touch the rock. What must be the entire power of the storm courses through me, the weather above me clearing. It hurts like fire. My veins burn and crackle. I should have been more careful.

But I wasn't.

It's sitting in my pocket, the weight reminding me of what happened. No matter how hard I try, it keeps on coming back. It shocks me whenever I touch it. I'm shaking a little. I roll up the long sleeves I never usually wear. I wish I could stop looking at it. A pounding of footsteps I used to be unable to hear reminds me that no one else knows. That nobody else can know. I run into the bathroom, hoping desperately that whoever was behind me didn't see the black and yellow. I stare at myself in the mirror. Rolling up my sleeve again, there it is. Something black with yellow streaks across it that look like scars. I googled it, and the first results were lightning scars.

I try to touch the black rock again. When I pick it up, I notice yellow cracks that are almost glowing have opened up in the stone. The shock is slightly less this time. My skin tingles where the thing is. It's kind of satisfying. I grab the cuff of my sleeve.

No. I'm not going to check. It's only going to worry me more. I slip the rock back in my pocket and leave. 

Skizz

Impulse leaves the bathroom ahead of me. I wave, but he's staring down at his arms? I run into him accidentally, and karma strikes back as I get shocked from the static. My arm hair is standing a bit on end. "Hey! You shocked me!" I say jokingly. A mixture of guilt and... Something else crosses his face. "Sorry" Impulse mumbles "I have no idea where that came from." His voice cracks and jumps up an octave.

He's lying, and it's not something my skill at poker told me. It's clear as day.

I raise one eyebrow and continue walking. Impulse blushes, his face nearly the color of a tomato. What?

Impulse

I am a terrible liar. I cringe at myself and head back to my desk. I need to finish editing this recording. It tingles again. I try to focus. Does Skizz know? I don't think I can finish working. The printer's broken again, and I threw it out the window. I can't stop worrying. I head to the bathroom for the fifth time in the last hour. Maybe I should just go home.

***

It's been a week, and it keeps spreading. It won't go away. It haunts my dreams. I've had to start wearing gloves. People keep on asking what's going on with the sudden change in fashion. It's all going wrong.

I try to get my mind off it by making myself a piece of toast. I know it's not the healthiest coping mechanism, but it's the most delicious one. The toast pops out of the toaster and I grab it. After I'm done eating, I go to unplug the toaster, fork in hand. 

As I reach to unplug it, by some odds, the fork slides into the socket. I'm freaking out, pulling my hand free of the fork. I let out a shriek only describable as that of a five year old girl. As I'm running around the kitchen like a headless chicken, I realize I'm still alive. Not only that, but I'm unharmed. Am I... I stare down at my hands. My fully intact, unburnt hands. Tentatively, I touch the fork still buzzing with electricity. Nothing. It tickles a bit, like the rock. I pry the fork loose from the socket.

Nope.

Nope on a rope.

I notice that the toaster is completely fried. I'm fine.

I stare at the thing that I can leave uncovered at home. The yellow bits are... almost glowing?

I'm not going to work tomorrow. It should be okay once I figure out what happened.

***

I walk into work the next day, tapping my toes while waiting for Skizz. I know I said I wouldn't, but I hate not being productive. He's probably gambling in the break room again. At long last, he comes through the door.

"Hey homey buddy! I haven't seen-" something cuts him off. "Are your eyes..." He pauses. Are my eyes what? My heart feels like it's going to beat itself out of my chest. "Are your eyes normally yellow? I could have sworn they were brown." 

I run to the bathroom, forgetting to lock the door in my hurry. Sure enough, they're yellow. But why? I already know how.

I hurry back to Skizz. He's standing right where he just was. "You know what I said about the lightning strike? Well, I think that the rock I picked up did something to me..." I start staring into space.

"What's going on?" Skizz says, snapping me back to reality. I tell him everything that has happened since I touched the demon-rock. At the end of it all, he asks to see the thing on my arm and the rock. I don't let him see the rock because of what it is. I reluctantly pull back my sleeve and the glove covering the thing. There's no better word for it. Suddenly, the lights go out. I don't know what's going on. Skizz's barely-illuminated face stares at me in surprise. "What?" I ask. He points down at my hand, frozen in shock. I follow his finger. Sitting in between my fingers and weaving around them like a snake is a glowing yellow bit of electricity. 

"What?" I say again, my voice barely a whisper. I shake my hand, checking to make sure that it's real. The electricity I just recognized the crackle of flies back into the light. It turns back on again. "And that" I say.

"You should probably go home until you figure out what's going on."I leave, and at long last I can get rid of that rock. As soon as I get home, I bury it never to be seen again.

***

It's been a week since I learned about the electricity thing and I've been trying to figure out what I can do since.

 1. I'm a portable microwave 

2. I can electrocute things

3. I can make wings out of electricity that kind of look like dragon wings. (the coolest one)

4. I get cool costume changes

5. My eyes glow when I use my powers 

The thing spread up my arm, but that's where it's gonna stay. So I'm basically a superhero. I'm going to apply to a league.And yes, Skizz knows everything.

***

I use my electric wings to fly into work. Skizz sees me and I signal to him to come to the office. After explaining everything, I somehow get the mouse to put stuff into the spreadsheet all on its own.

Somehow, I don't think this 'curse' will be too bad.