Clessidra | Peter Parker.

PART ONE. prologue

           This is book two in the Selfless trilogy, although each one of the books are indipendent from the others so you can read Clessidra without having read Lapis and Life already!

Which are the strongest emotions a person can feel during the course of time? They are mainly linked to feelings like sadness, shock and love. Everyone feels them during their lives, in different ways, different times and different occasions, but every human being is linked to one another by the restricted amount of feelings given to them.

Although there are a few gifted people who experience superior feelings. They are commonly known as superheroes, but they are the few who decide to show themselves to the public. They are a really small number, compared to all those who hide their powers in fear of judgment or, worse, exploitation.

But the common thing about them, is the feeling they experience when their powers first show up. Some are lucky enough to experience them alone and control them enough not to damage anyone, some are not that lucky. But every single one of them, at some point, feels it. The feeling of holding the very world in their hands like a golf ball. The power of the whole universe running in their veins like a river and the strength of thousands of lions enforcing their every muscle. It is often followed by a feeling of impotence and terror, and it takes time to get used to the new self. But that feeling, it remains in their hearts for the rest of their lives and they hold onto it for dear life, longing for it to come back, even if they knew it never will.

This is how June Sullivan felt the first time her powers showed up. She wasn't scared, petrified or horrified by what she saw, because she had always known she was different. She was thirteen years old, laying on the pavement of her room with pieces of a puzzle scattered around her. Her mind was racing with thoughts of how to solve that puzzle, and she somehow couldn't find the solution, even if the game wasn't that difficult. She had concentrated so much that a headache was starting to kick in when all of a sudden the sound of the clock ticking stopped, the horns of the cars outside disappeared just like the voice of her mother from downstairs. The room had been surrounded by a brighter light coming from nowhere, apparently, and her mind had cleared from every type of confusion and she completed her puzzle easily, allowing time to restart, the light disappearing immediately.

From that day onwards, she had used them as if she had had them since birth. She had the chance to develop her powers so that she became able to stop time even for entire days, even if the amount of concentration she had to use caused her to be extremely exhausted after, as well as she gained a distorted perception of time and space that remained a part of herself for the rest of her life.

And then her life slowly turned apart, she grew up and the only thing she found herself holding onto were her powers. She became a freak, people started to avoid her, stating that weird things would happen when she was around, and then aliens almost invaded New York and an horde of robots almost destroyed the entire planet, and made everyone realize that the impossible wasn't that impossible anymore.

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The sea breeze was particularly inviting that day, a sign that made June stand up from her bed with an abnormal happy expression on her face. She didn't think twice before dressing herself up and walk out of her house without even getting breakfast, barely packing her rucksack. She rushed down the stairs and reached the small garage shared by the habitants of the condominium, where she found her old, rusted but perfect bicycle. She unlocked the chain, even if she still wondered why someone could even think of stealing such an ugly vehicle, and hopped on it, placing the rucksack in the basket in front of the bicycle.

She sped off and immediately reached the seafront, not spotting many people walking around, which made her even more satisfied and eager to take a long ride. The sun hadn't completely arisen and the yellowish shade of the horizon perfectly melted into a light blue that would have later turned into a darker by the time she reached her school. But for now, she just enjoyed the sight, the peaceful music lulling in her headphones matching perfectly with her calming surroundings.