The Girl With the Lightning Touch

Chapter 4

When I get home I slip my shoes off and plop down on the couch. I check my phone to see if Mark had texted me yet. "No New Messages" The screens says. "Ugh!" I yell at myself. I really can't do anything so I toss my phone on the chair and walk to the kitchen. I grab the pint of vanilla ice cream and scoop a fourth of it into a bowl. I get a giant spoon and shove it in the ice cream. I walk over to the drawer to grab my reading glasses and my book. I settle down on the couch and slip on my glasses. As I read I slowly fall asleep; I blink through the tears, and suppress my scream because I don't want to attract any attention. I need to clean this before it gets infected I think to myself. I splash water on it a couple of times and rip off the sleeve of my shirt to tie it. I sit there trying to breathe through the pain. I don't know how long it's been but the moon is high in the sky and it's still dark out.

There are hundreds of stars in the sky each glinting with its own unique light.I hate running. Not being able to be with my family, but it is peaceful out here. The sound of the river running. The creeks of bugs hopping around. The sounds of the owls hooting, and the late night animals howling. I sit next to the fire light absorbing the nature around me. The heat makes my eyelids grow heavier until I finally fall asleep.

...

When I wake up I am about to fall off the couch, and my glasses are crooked on my face. My mouth taste sour and awful. Everything is blurry for a couple of moments but I realize I still have my reading glasses on. I yawn and sit up to stretch. I move around to crack my fingers, my neck , and my back. Scratching my head I walk up stairs to the bathroom. When I look in the mirror there is dried spit on the side of my face and that terrible taste comes back to my mouth. I brush my teeth wash my face, take a shower and change into jeans and a Panic at the Disco t-shirt. Checking the time it's 7 o'clock. I realize I have school today and groan. I am not late because my mom takes me at 7:30. I go to my room and get my things together. About twenty five minutes later my mom walks in. "Are you ready to go?" she says. "Yes I'll be down in a minute." I say.

I check my phone again seeing if Mark texted yet. When I open it I see a text not from Mark, but from Amanda. "Got an appointment at 6 tonight i'll pick u up be ready." It says. Maybe i'll finally get some answers. I pick up my bag, my phone and walk down stairs. I hearing the car horn I grab an apple and run outside. My school is only 5 minutes away but I'm regularly late. When I get there it's still homeroom but the bell is about to ring. On my way to my class I see Mark. "Hey I wanted to talk to you..." I start to say but he puts his head down and walks away. I frown. "Don't worry about him he is just freaked out about the whole electricity coming out of your hands thing. He will be fine." Amanda says as she walks up behind me. "But..." I try to complain , but she objects. "It's going to be okay. Would you have been that calm if someone showed you that?" I sigh. "Come on let's get to class." she says draping her arm over her soldier and we walk off.

The rest of the day is a blur. At lunch Mark sits alone. A couple people approach him to say hi but he ignores them. "I think I traumatized him." I whine to Amanda. "I told you not to worry about it he is going to be fine." she says to comfort me, but her words don't help. I ride the bus home. When I get there time flies. I spend a couple hours on calculus and a couple hours english. Soon I hear a knock on the door. When I answer it's Amanda. "What, did you forget?" she says. I give her a toothy grin. "Mom can I go out with Amanda!" I shout upstairs. "Ok be back before ten!" she yells back at me. Amanda is a little older than me so she has her own car. It's a red, convertible punch buggy. "Let's go." she says. "Our adventure awaits us" She presses a button on the dashboard and the top comes off. She hits the gas and we take off.

...

The building is shady. The windows are covered with blinds and on the outside are some dead plants by front of the door and black beads strown on the windows. "Are you ready?" Amanda asks. I nod my head and smile.We get out and walk to the door. I raise my fist but I'm hesitant to knock. I look over at Amanda and she gives me a reassuring smile. I knock three times and wait. The door creaks open and there is an old woman standing there. "Amanda darling how are you." she says sweetly arms out beckoning a hug. The wide smile on her face makes her wrinkles bunch up. "Hello Mary." Amanda says accepting her hug. "Come in come in" she says stepping to the side so we can walk. It's a small house. When I first walk in I see pictures of people hung up on the walls. Some are of people dancing in the streets, and some are of large groups of people holding hands, and thrusting up signs. Mary notices me looking, and says, "We used to be able to dance, sing, and celebrate in the streets. Until they pushed us back... and that's when the protest started..." she trails off. Her eyes turn sad. "Who?" I ask, but if she heard me she doesn't answer.

She comes out from her thoughts , and puts a smile back on her face. Holding out her hand she directs us to the kitchen and sits us down at the table. "Would you like some cookies?" she says holding a plate out to me. I take one nodding my head. "Thank you." I mumble through a full mouth. She looks bony and fragile but her attitude is just like Amanda's. "Ok let's get started then." she says smoothing down her dress and sitting.

"Tell me about this sweetheart." she says sweetly. "Well I've been having these dreams and I got hurt a couple of times in them and... they showed up in real life." I say trying to find the right words. Or at least the words that wont make me sound completely crazy. "And then yesterday I shot lightning from my hands." I say stumbling over my words , and staring at my knotted fingers. "Ok then let's take a look." she says beckoning for me to give her my hands. When I don't respond she takes my hands in hers. Closing her eyes she focuses. "You have a power within you" she says her voice distant. I am going to bring you to your dream. she says a hint of warning in her voice. I convulse my body screaming with pain and then suddenly everything goes white.