When Lightning Strikes

Bonus Chapter 2 - Methane, propane, and vegetable oil

Mason's POV

The day I got my super powers was... an interesting day to say the least.

And no, it wasn't super.

As most of you know by now, I have pyrokinesis, super vision, and the ability to fly. How did I get that skill set you may be asking?

It started out with the terrible Mrs. Bridges catching me skipping class. She was an old lady, with her gray hair cut in a bob. The old witch didn't wear glasses, but she squinted so much that she needed them. Let's not forget about her wonderful fashion sense - a pencil skirt and a button up top every day... with Crocs as her go-to shoes.

Maybe I shouldn't judge her so harshly based on her Crocs. Della keeps telling me "you ain't rockin' if you ain't Crocin'".

I never skip class, she caught me at a bad time. Some of my friends from the football team convinced me to go off campus and grab lunch with them. Well, I did, and it was delicious until a stupid piece of paper (also known as a detention slip) was placed in my hand afterwards. I shouldn't have come back to school at all.

After I spent my third block in detention, I went to my AP Chemistry class as furious as I could be. My rage towards Mrs. Bridges was so intense, I couldn't think straight. Honestly, I don't know where this anger had been stored for so long.

My AP chemistry teacher, Mr. Powell, thought of me as one of his brightest students. He always let me stay after school to let me experiment with anything I was curious about. Of course, he had his attention on me at all times, because of liability reasons.

It's like they can't trust a 16 year old boy alone with chemicals.

I remember I was trying to experiment with an alternative form of fuel. It wasn't like I was going to stir some liquids together and get a potion that would propose a solution to air pollution in one sitting. I was definitely interested in the matter, though, and that's all Mr. Powell usually needed to hear in order to let me experiment.

"I'm sorry, Mason, but you got detention today." Mr. Powell picked up a stack of papers and walked by me.

"What does that have to do with me wanting to stay after school?" I asked, a hint of belligerence coming out in me.

Mr. Powell sighed, "You should know that any student who has been given detention is not allowed to participate in any after school extracurricular activities."

I shook my head, "And tutoring is an extracurricular activity?"

He slammed the stack of papers on his desk, startling me because he was never one to show frustration. "If anything, you need tutoring for the class you skipped." He tries to throw back in my face.

"I skipped lunch! I was off campus for 20 minutes! Cut me some slack!" I yelled back at him.

Mr. Powell hung his head and sighed. "I'm sorry. Maybe another day, Mason. It's Ms. Brides' rules."

Maybe that day was when I decided to be a bit more rebellious.

I went to his classroom after school and waited for him to leave the room to go to the bus parking lot for bus duty. Sneaking into a teacher's room to grab chemicals is not something I would typically be seen doing.

And I never would be seen, either. I would make sure of that.

I wasn't even sure of what materials I would need. I threw open the cabinet full of chemicals. In my mad dash to get my hands on anything I could, I stuffed many of the unknown chemicals in my bookbag and made my way out the door. Honestly, my goal wasn't even based around science anymore. I was just being a little brat now that I look back at it.

Had I not been a brat, though, I would've never gotten my powers.

Della had soccer practice at the middle scbool, and I wouldn't have to pick her up until 5:30. I had two hours to go home and do my experimenting.

There was a lot of research on alternative fuel, so I started with the internet. I was seeing ingredients such as methane, propane, and... vegetable oil? Wow, just about anything is better than fossil fuels.

Most of the bottles I had stashed away had the labels scratched off or worn down because they were so old. I went to the other side of my room to my mini lab station, where I began to combine some of the chemicals.

Let me just stop right here. I was an idiot before I was intelligent. 16 year old me had no brains. I was literally just going through a rebellious phase. Please do not be stupid like me, because odds are you won't get powers unless your parents are supers. Even then, I cannot warn you enough.

The concoction exploded. I was in the process of pouring in the fifth chemical when all of it came splashing back on my goggles. And my face. And my clothes.

Basically, I was drenched with unknown chemicals and I could feel it burning my flesh.

It was very unpleasant.

That is, until I didn't feel the burning sensation anymore. That shouldn't happen, right? I had to be dead. I was losing all feeling in my body, so I was probably on the verge of death.

I reached down to grab a towel on my desk, hoping to wipe off the mess on my face. My eyes were burning, probably because my safety glasses only covered so much. I yanked off my glasses (which were completely covered from the concoction) only to see my arms were bright red and... smoking?

"What the heck?!" I hollered out, trying to pat myself down with the towel before I had a complete meltdown.

Wait. What if I was literally melting?

Way to go, Mason. You just put a terrifying thought into your own head.

I dashed out of my bedroom and made a break for the bathroom down the hall. My instinct was to go for the sink, but I decided to turn on the bathtub instead and let it fill up with cold water.

Once it was filled up, I jumped in with all of my clothes still on, and saw the smoke roll off of me. My arms went from red to their normal pale tone.

While I felt completely normal, and looked completely normal at that point, I couldn't ignore the fact that my eyes were killing me. I dashed to the sink to rinse them out, and then I started seeing black spots all over the place.

The best part of it all? I slipped on the wet bathroom floor and hit my head on the tub. Suddenly, there were no more black spots. Everything went black.

***

I woke up to see my sister, Della, standing over me with her arms crossed. She was wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt from practice and carrying her cleats in her hand. She was also drenched from head to toe. Did she fall in the bathtub?

"You forgot to pick me up. I walked home in the rain." She snapped at me.

I rubbed the back of my head as I stood up. "Sorry, Del. I was kind of busy."

She threw her hands up, "Busy taking a nap on the bathroom floor?"

I shrugged, "My mattress was lumpy."

She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the bathroom, mumbling, "You're so weird."

I pulled myself up once she was gone and rushed to the mirror. The ends of my hair were singed and my eyes were bloodshot.

But the most concerning feature was the slightly growing ball of fire emitting from my hands.

Things just got weirder, Della.

A/N
It was difficult writing in Mason's POV for some reason and I actually wanted to post this a week ago. But here it is now, and I hope you all enjoyed his power origin story! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Also, please be keeping all the Hurricane Florence victims in your prayers. I'm very thankful it was downgraded to a category 2, but it's still very dangerous. Stay safe everyone!

Thanks for reading!
Always, Sunny