Thunder

Chapter 3

I step out of my white Ford car, taking care to lock the door and stick the keys in my backpack. I'm not really looking forward to today. It's Monday, meaning that I'm back at school after missing an entire week. I have no clue what exactly to expect when I walk into the building, but Caitlyn informed me of a couple rumors floating around about what really happened.

Taking a deep breath, I push open the front door and walk inside, passing a couple of giggling girls who take no notice of me.

So far, so good, I think to myself as I make my way to my locker. My mood changes as I go past a group of fellow sophomores. One of the boys notices me and I hear him whisper to his friends, "Didn't she get hit by lightning?" I move my legs faster to get away, not wanting the attention. Reaching my locker, I put in the combination, and take out my binder and math book for my first class.

"Hey, Kyleigh, you're back," someone says behind me. I turn to find a girl from my class, Grace, speaking to me.

"Oh, hi. Yeah, I'm back," I reply.

"I have to ask, were you really hit by lightning?"

I nod my head and turn away, ending the conversation. I walk to the library where my friends and I normally meet up every morning. As usual, they are sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the room. There are five of them: Angela, the exact definition of a blonde, Greg, the nerdy redhead, Kathryn, the fangirl, Chris, the gamer, and Caitlyn, the athletic one and my best friend.

Angela is the first to notice me. She practically jumps out of her chair to run over and hug me. "Kyleigh, you're back!" she says. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too," I reply.

Kathryn joins in on the hug, saying, "Last week was so boring without you!"

"Really?" I ask her as we break up the hug and head back to the table. "I didn't realize my life was all that exciting."

"What did you do to your hair?" Chris asks as I sit down in the open seat next to Greg.

"Oh, I guess the lightning decided I would look better with a white streak."

"Are you going to dye it to get rid of it?" Angela asks.

I make a face as if I'm thinking deeply over the question. "I don't know," I say, in a bit of a joking way, "it's kind of grown on me the past few days."

A couple of my friends laugh.

"Can we talk about something else, though? I'm kind of tired of talking about this." I tell the group.

Greg changes the subject to some nerdy card game that he, Chris, and Angela play all the time, and I tune them out.

A girl's voice whispers behind me, quiet enough that I can't make everything out, but I hear my name spoken clearly. I turn around in my seat to find one of my classmates talking to her friend. When she notices my gaze, she stops talking and looks away guiltily. The two of them quickly walk away and I turn back around.

I set my binder and textbook on the table and realize that I forgot my calculator. I get up from my seat and walk back to my locker, passing a few people who I notice are staring at me. Somebody whispers "Kyleigh's back." I pretend not to hear it. I'm sure most of these people aren't trying to be rude, but I honestly can't stand when people talk about me behind my back.

At my locker, someone walks by saying, "What did she do to her hair?"

"Ugh! I wish everyone would just shut up!" I say angrily to myself. I slam my locker shut and at the same moment, the lights go out.

What the heck?

I look around the suddenly dark hallway. All the other students in the hall are just as surprised as I am.

Why did the power go out?

I look through the windows at the end of the hall to find out that it is storming. Rain pounds against the school building and thunder rumbles.

My surprise is replaced with confusion. I was outside maybe five minutes ago and it was a clear and sunny day. How did a storm come in so quickly? I walk over to the window to look outside. Just seconds later, the rain quits and the clouds roll away, revealing a clear, blue sky.

I stay there a moment, puzzled by what just happened as the power comes back on. Suddenly, a thought pops into my head.

"Did I..." Unable to continue the question to myself, I rush back to the library. "Caitlyn, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Uh, sure," she says, standing up.

"Are you okay, Kyleigh?" Kathryn asks.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I just need to tell Caitlyn something."

I lead my best friend to an empty corner of the library.

"What's up?" she asks me.

"Caitlyn, I..." I take a breath to calm myself. "I think I just caused the power to go out."

She raises one eyebrow in an are-you-serious kind of way.

"I know it sounds insane," I tell her, beginning to explain, "but..." I'm cut off by the bell, signaling the beginning of the school day.

Caitlyn sighs. "Kyleigh, I know a lot has happened to you recently, but I think you are overreacting again. You are the same person as you were before you were hit by lightning and your life isn't going to be suddenly different now. You need to stop over thinking and just relax a little, okay?"

I sigh. Caitlyn is the only person I would tell something like this to and she won't even listen to me. "Whatever," I reply. "I'll see you at lunch."

Maybe she is right, and I'm just super paranoid over every little thing now. No, something is up. Maybe it's not what I think, but something strange is definitely going on. I just don't know what it is.

*************************

I pick up a lunch tray containing a meal of chicken nuggets and corn, and I make my way to the table where my group of friends always sits together. Angela and Kathryn are already at the table, and the rest of my friends arrive over the next few minutes.

Once again, I'm super thirsty. I open my milk carton and drink the whole thing, only to find out that it didn't satisfy my thirst at all. I look at the food on my tray but don't feel like eating any of it. After awhile, Angela notices that I haven't touched my food and asks, "Are you feeling okay, Ky?"

"Yeah," I lie. "I'm just stressed out over all my makeup work." It's a total lie; I can catch up on my school work easily. I unconsciously look at Caitlyn and see that she is looking at me. I know exactly what she is thinking. I can almost audibly hear her saying 'Stop overreacting' just by the way she is looking at me. "Do you guys want my food?" I offer. "I don't think I'm going to eat any of it." I push the tray away from me. Greg and Chris get into an argument about who gets the chicken nuggets as I stand up and walk away from the table. I almost literally feel sick, and I just need to get away from everyone for a little bit. I make my way to the bathroom, pausing to take a long, refreshing drink from the water fountain.

Standing alone in the bathroom, I think about everything that has happened since I woke up in the hospital. My doctors acted strange, I've been insanely thirsty, and I don't know how, but I swear I had something to do with the storm this morning.

None of this makes any sense.

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself again, as I turn to look in one of the mirrors on the wall. Noticing my white streak, I reach for it, but gasp when I see my hand. I lift my other hand to find that the same thing is happening to it as well. I bite down on my lips to keep myself from screaming over the fact that my hands are glowing with what looks like electricity. I close my eyes for a few seconds thinking that maybe I'm just seeing things, but when I open my eyes, the electricity is still there. I shake my hands frantically, trying to make it go away, but nothing happens. I start crying from fear as the bathroom lights start flickering. Not knowing what else to do, I push open the door to one of the bathroom stalls with my shoulder and lean against the door to hold it shut, too scared to touch the lock as I continue crying.