Shadows {Book one in the Coriana Johnson series}

Trust and Mistrust

I woke up with a massive headache.

     My first thought was, Man, I'm sure falling unconscious a lot today.

    I sat up and looked around, but I saw nobody. I noticed I was still in the same room.

 I tried to stand up, but my legs collapsed underneath me and I fell back onto the bed. Suddenly Jemma and Daisy rushed into the room.

    "No no NO!" Jemma exclaimed. "You need to stay lying down. We need to monitor your condition and-"

"Simmons! I feel fine!" I sighed. "I just fell. I don't-"

     I stopped when a woozy feeling started to come over me. I almost felt as if I would pass out again.

     "Coriana?" I heard Daisy say. "Are you ok?" I nodded.

"What happened?" I asked, less sure that I was fine.

"Well," Simmons began, "You started to accidentally use your power, as happens with many before they learn to control it. But I believe you were so desperate not to hurt anyone, that you were able to direct it inward."

"But that isn't controlling your power," Daisy interjected. "You were just internalizing it, hurting yourself in the process. A similar thing happened to me when I first had my power."

  "Has this ever happened before?" Simmons asked.

"No," I responded. "Just today."

I knew exactly why. My sister was there. I knew that I had to do everything in my power to not let her get hurt, so I guess that included hurting myself.

"What were the effects?" I asked.

"Well we still need to analyze it, but I believe your power is controlling of dark energy. It's like the opposite of the energy in, say, a light bulb," Simmons explained, motioning to a light bulb over head. "So, by internalizing that, it does affect your body. I am still analyzing the affects, but I know that if you do it too many times, you will die, or at least be in critical condition."

    "So you have to learn how to actually control your power," Daisy added.

"How am I gonna do that?" I asked.

 The truth was, I was asking because I wanted her to train me. 

"Well, we'll send you to a training facility we have. You'll be able to learn there safely, without fear of hurting anyone," Daisy said.

"Oh," I responded, disappointed. "I was wondering..." I hesitated. "I was wondering if maybe you could train me. Because you know, you went through this and stuff."

Daisy looked at me in surprise. Then her and Simmons looked at each other.

"Um, I'm going to go for a bit, but I'll be back," Simmons said and left the room. Daisy sighed.

"Coriana, I- I don't know. I would have to talk to Coulson. He's the Director. He won't want me to. I wouldn't care, it's just..." She trailed off.

"What?" I asked.

   "I don't think he trusts you. It's just we don't know much about your past. We don't even know your last name! You won't tell us anything about your past, except that when you were younger you ran away. I do understand how it's hard to trust someone you don't know much about and-"

    "Then why do you?" My  question caught her off guard.

"What?"

      "Why do you seem to trust me?"

"I- I don't know. I think- I think you remind me of myself. I don't know why. It's almost as if I feel some kind of connect-" she was cut off as the door opened.

   "Daisy?" Simmons said. "Coulson wants to speak with you." Daisy sighed.

"Ok." Simmons left again and closed the door. "I'll come talk to you later. Ok?" She left the room.

   After she left, I broke down and curled up in a ball on the bed. It was so hard not to tell her.She felt a connection between us, so I wanted to confirm it.

    But if I did, I was sure the other members of her team would see it as another reason to mistrust me. They might think I was using our connection to gain her trust. And they might think that by doing that I was using her. I had to get her to trust me another way. I just didn't know how.

   My thoughts became jumbled as I drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep, still crying.