Powerless

Chapter 0

Joanne sighed as she thought of her life up to this point. Her husband kicked her out a couple months previous and she wasn't able to support herself. She had been homeless for two months now and hasn't eaten in four days. She plunged her hand into her dusty dark brown coat pocket, groping for her stolen bounty. There, resting in a large hole at the bottom of the pocket, it hid. She took out the small vial.

She read over the label on the drug. Mentitude. The main component was ephedrine, whatever that is. Joanne stole this from a neighbor, in the homeless shelter she slept in. He was selling these for a price at 5 cents to the dollar of the original, but she didn't have much money to offer up. She had taken a couple of these an hour before, to see if they'd work, but she was already getting off the high. She popped two pills into her mouth and swallowed hard. She could feel the pills slip down her throat, and a part of her wanted the pills to catch in her throat and end it all now.

She blinked a few times and shook her head, trying to rid of the weird tingly feeling the pills gave her. She looked up at the partly cloudy sky and looked around the street. People moved quickly around her, one bumped into her then muttered an empty apology. She bit her lower lip as her eyes started to sting. She was suddenly aware of the roaring air trying to make her turn away. She hugged herself, through her thick dark sleeves, which did well to cover her naturally soft pink complexion. She then entered Utopia Trust, a popular local bank.

Her body relaxed once she was inside, as she felt the warm air engulf her in its embrace. It was 1 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, so the bank was completely empty, except for the tellers. Two of the three tellers eyed her and one scrunched up her nose. The third one was playing Minesweeper X, a modern take on the classic game, drooling a bit as he stared at his computer screen. Joanne took a deep breath before she flung the tellers to the walls, by their torsos. She had found it relatively easy to control her telekinesis with the pills. A drop of sweat ran down from her forehead, and she wiped it off with her shoulder, trying to keep them pinned to the walls.

"Who's gonna unlock the vault for me?" Joanne asked. She had repeated this rehearsed line too uncertain, with the shaky and cracked voice she had when she got nervous. The man started to cry, and squealed pitiful noises. One woman, the one whom scrunched her nose at Joanne, selflessly decided to volunteer.

"I know the vault's pass code, and I am registered to enter the vault." She said, pressing her lips together. Her voice, too, was shaky and cracking. Her only other female co-worker, who wore a skirt, looked around frantically, with wide eyes. Joanne released the woman with pants. The woman lifted her chin slightly and stepped forward. As she walked by, leading her to the vault, Joanne caught a glint of light coming from her upper chest. She quickly scanned her silver name tag, "Lucy... hopefully I don't get her fired, she seems like a nice girl." Joanne thought.

Of course she knew this was one of the dumbest ideas ever conceived, but she was going to be better off no matter how it ended. If she gets arrested she will be given a place to stay, if she somehow makes it out with all of the money she will be set for the rest of her days. Although this was rather short sighted thinking, her pessimism was admirable.

Lucy stopped in front of a large steel door, which glistened as Joanne's eyes glazed over and her lips gently parted into a gasp. Was she actually going to pull this off? Lucy placed her hand on a screen next to the door, which flashed and beeped as it scanned her hand. A keypad slid into reach and Lucy entered a 5-digit code into the keypad. A small compartment opens up, and Joanne and Lucy exchanged an awkward glance. Lucy then turned back around and spoke into it.

"Two-one-one." She said, her eyes darting back towards Joanne multiple times. 211? What a peculiar pass code.