Monster

The Explosion

The human mind is truly the scariest thing of all. We're all afraid of ghosts, monsters, or things that lurk in the dark; what we should really fear is each other. I learned that the hard way after I was transformed.

About a year and a half ago, the particle accelerator at S.T.A.R Labs exploded. It gave me, and tons of other people around Central City, abilities, changed our DNA. We were no longer human- we became metahumans.

At first, metas were feared. Some of us used our powers for bad, which didn't help our image. Then the Flash came along. He gave the good metas a fighting chance to live normal lives by putting the bad ones away. He zooms through the streets of Central City helping anyone he can. Our own personal superhero.

I wonder if he was as scared as I was after the explosion, or even during, for that matter.

I remember walking home after working a double at the restaurant near my apartment, dreading having to get up and open the local coffee shop, CC Jitters, in the morning. The cool air felt nice compared to the warmth of the dining room, and the darkness of the night was welcome after a day in the harsh fluorescent light.

I had heard about the accelerator being powered up before I left work, but didn't expect it to go so wrong so fast. The last thing I remember was a flash of bright light that moved toward me so fast, all I could do was stare. I wish I had moved, tried to run away, something, but all I did was stand there, paralyzed with fear.

The force of the blast threw me back about ten feet. I would've gone farther, but I hit a lamppost head-first, which stopped me and sent me to the ground.

I woke up in the hospital a month later to voices. Voices saying awful things, sad things... Only one or two voices I heard said something positive. But I swear that these voices did not come out of anyone's mouths. It came from their heads. Sounds crazy, I know, I thought so too, but it's not the weirdest thing to happen in Central City.

I could now hear thoughts. It terrified me to my core. I could hear everything that everyone was thinking. I couldn't filter out the voices, couldn't get them to stop. They were just so loud! Being awake became overwhelming because I couldn't escape. Anywhere with people made me nauseous with a pounding headache. That doesn't even include having to deal with some of the things that people were saying, or... thinking.

Then I found out I could do something much scarier than listen to thoughts.

After I was discharged from the hospital, all I wanted to do was go home. I walked to my apartment alone, too afraid of being overwhelmed by voices if I took the bus. There wasn't really anyone around, so it stayed mostly quiet. Then I heard him.

This man had awful thoughts. Most of them I cannot repeat. As I walked past him, my apartment building in view, his thoughts turned from lewd to threatening. He called to me. I ignored him. He ran up to me and shoved me into the wall of a building behind us and stuck his hand up my shirt, whispering the awful things he was thinking only moments before.

I looked into his eyes pleadingly, begging him not to hurt me, when he just-- stopped. He yelled and clutched his head in pain, dropping to his knees, blood pouring out of his nose. The man stood, still holding his head, and yelled "Freak!" before running away.

I had caused that. Willed excruciating pain onto another human being.

I couldn't even go back to work now. All the voices, all the noise, it became too much. I didn't want to hurt anyone else, even though that man deserved it.

So I stayed at home. Found a job that I could do online, away from people. I only left if necessary, and wore headphones while blasting music. That didn't drown the thoughts out completely, but it did lessen their volume.

Cut forward to today. I still can't control my powers, but the headphones have helped. I had to go to the store for supplies, and stopped at Jitters before heading home. I have to take my headphones out to order my coffee, and I regret it almost immediately.

I hear the thoughts of a man who plans to set fire to his ex-girlfriend's apartment building. He said that he was "going to burn her and make her experience the pain he was in".

He walked out of the coffee shop. I knew I should tell somebody so they could stop him, but the cops wouldn't trust a reclusive lady who claims she can read minds, would they? That, and I really didn't want to out myself as a meta, so I did the only thing I could think to do: I followed him. I keep listening to his thoughts, following his movements through the city.

I haven't been around this many people in a long time, and their thoughts almost became too much. My head is starting to pound, but I can't give up now. The man's thoughts turn even darker as he gets to his destination.

"This bitch is going to pay."

I see him walk up the stairs to the front door, banging and screaming for his ex to let him in. Some neighbors look out their windows, thinking about how they'll call the cops if this keeps going on. A woman appears at the door, screaming back at him to go away. She opens it and pushes him off the stairs, but he comes back up and rips her out of the doorway, onto the grass of the little courtyard in front of the building. He lifts his hand to punch her, screaming profanities.

I have to do something, and quick. I sprint over to the pair and get in front of the woman.

"Please, you don't want to do this." I tell the man. I can feel the anger in his thoughts, and it seeps into me, along with the fear of the woman behind me.

"Yes I do, and since you're in the way-" his fist collides with my eye and I drop to the ground. I can feel the fear of the woman, but the anger of the man is what makes me stand back up.

"You're going to regret that." I threaten in my most menacing voice possible, though I can't say a 5'4" blonde woman is very scary.

The man just laughs and advances towards the woman. I stand and brush my jeans off before standing in front of the woman once more. I stare directly into the man's eyes and focus on his- which has become my- anger. He screams in pain, just like my attacker from months ago. His nose starts to bleed and he drops to his knees, but this time, I go with him. My head hurts and now my nose is bleeding too.

Suddenly, I see a red streak run into the courtyard. I stop my attack on the abuser, but it must have taken more out of me than I realize, because I fall the rest of the way to the ground and shake uncontrollably. The streak of red stops and kneels next to me.

"Oh my god" he thinks. He scoops me up in his arms and looks at the woman, whose mouth is still agape at what just happened. A crowd has now formed on the outside of the apartment complex, and all the voices are making me shake harder. The Flash asks the woman something, but I can't hear anything but the thoughts of the crowd until Flash looks down at me.

"I'm going to get you to the hospital. Everything's going to be alright." His voice is calm with slight concern, and even under his mask I can tell his brows are furrowed in worry. All I can do is shake my head. I can't go to the hospital. They'll know I'm a metahuman.

"No... No hospital. I'm meta." Is all I can manage between shakes.

"Oh, Cait's going to kill me." Is the last thought I hear before passing out.