The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter Three

George had always found being in the locker room by himself rather eerie, as if he was interrupting the room's freedom from smelly teenage boys. He grabbed a muesli bar from his locker and ate it slowly, trying to settle his tumbling, empty stomach.

Leaning against the lockers, he listened to the quiet of the room, letting it calm his racing thoughts. He felt goose bumps beginning to crawl across his damp, bare skin, despite the clammy feeling of his face. He decided that he needed a nice, warm shower to sort himself out.

The warm water cascaded down his spine, a sudden wave of ease, strength almost, washing over him. But as he stood in the tiled cubicle, George felt the same tingling feeling he'd experinced in the pool. It stung in his fingertips, and crackled through his body, like pins and needles.

Confusion washed over him at the familiarity of the feeling.  Was it happening again? Was he going to throw up?

Then, it hit him. 

Like someone had clicked their fingers, his senses sharpened, and it was an explosion in his mind. The shower water thundered against the tiles, his own panicked breathing roaring in his ear drums. He could even hear the yells of his coach from inside the pool- through the concrete wall.

The stench of the sweaty locker room had grown tremensly, weaving it's way through the sweet taste of the water. The impossibility of what was happening rose within him in waves of panic.

It was all too much. George squeezed his eyes shut, balling his fists by his side and urged for it all to stop.

And suddenly, it did.

The flow of water stopped. The tingling stopped. Quiet filled the air. He felt the unusual power of his senses draining from him, taking the tingling with it. 

George cautiously opened his eyes, frowning at the dripping shower head. The tap was still switched on, but the water had completely stopped running.

Confused, he reached across to fiddle with the tap, but was hit in the face by a violent jet of water protruding once again out of the shower head. 

George could have screamed in frustration. Nothing that he had felt or experienced in the last hour - since he had gotten into that damn pool- made any sense. He slammed the tap off, and clambered out of the shower cubicle. He just wanted to go home and pretend none of this had ever happened.  

--

George changed into his gym shorts and top, before leaving the pool and walking out into the nearly empty car park. It was located right behind the pool,  looking out onto the school's fields.

Edgewood High had two fields, but only the back field had grandstands and pitch lights, and so it was only used for host games. The front field was usually used during lunchtimes, and for afterschool trainings. But the boy's hockey team- tenth time regional champions and Edgewood High's pride and joy- were allowed the facility whenever they wanted.

A shrill whistle pierced the air. The girl's soccer team were practicing on the field right in front of the car park. George rolled his eyes at the sight of Jessica Barker telling off a girl for something, whom she was on the same team as.

Jess had always been one of those people that tried too hard in everything- top in all classes, ran half of the schools clubs-  and half the school was absolutely terrified of her. The other half thought she was a patronising, stuck up 'try-hard', which was slightly true.

George thought she was nice enough- from never having actually talked to her- but he did think she needed to chill out a bit. No one really liked her, but there was no way anyone was going to do anything else other than smile and agree with her.