INSOMNIAC

Chapter 2

It was cold.

That was the only thought that passed through Verity's mind. The cold seeped through her, and she could almost feel how it froze her fingers. She tried to move her hands, her feet. Nothing moved.

-

Verity's eyes fluttered open, and she could hear the beep, beep, beep, of the machine monitoring her heart rate. She lifted her head and looked around the deserted room. There were flowers and chocolates at the end of her bed, and she saw some of her clothes lying over a chair. The door on the right side of the room opened to a plump woman with a tray of medical supplies.

"You're awake!" the woman exclaimed. "We were all starting to get worried. It's a miracle that you survived the incident at all." Verity stared in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked the nurse while reading on her nametag that she was someone called 'Sofia'.

"You were on your way home, I assume, and you were close to the strike of lightning," Sophia told her. "You've been in a medical coma for about 4 days."

Verity laid her head back down, taking in the information. 4 days... So she'd missed the last day of school, and her friends were probably worried sick. She laid still, with the occasional wince as Sophia changed the bandages on her burns.

A few hours later, her mom came and checked her out of the hospital. they got home at about 5:00 and Verity went straight to her room.

Everything was as she left it, untouched and slightly dusty. She pulled out her computer and started some research. Chances of surviving a lightning strike

Odds of being struck are 1 in 1 million, and usually, only 1 in 10 people die once struck by lightning.

So she wasn't that special to survive, Verity realized, and she packed up her things. She headed downstairs to be greeted by her mother making dinner.

"Hey Mom," Verity greeted and took a pinch of cheese that was meant for on top of their dinner. Her mom swatted her hand away and sprinkled the cheese over the slightly raw mixture of noodles, cheese sauce, and bacon.

"Patience, Verity," her mom joked, putting the Macaroni in the oven. "I'm assuming that you have some homework to catch up on?" Verity sighed and nodded.

"I'll start tomorrow, I just want to rest right now." Her mom nodded and started to clean up the dirty dishes.

Verity and her mom finished eating their dinner, and they bid each other goodnight, each one going to their room. Verity walked up the stairs and changed into her pajamas. She climbed into bed and closed her eyes, drifting into a restless sleep.

-

Verity woke up, sweating from a nightmare. It was the second time that evening, and she couldn't understand why. She looked at the time and decided to go for a walk. Pulling on leggings and a hoodie, she crept down the stairs into the street. The roads were quiet because it was only about 5:30 in the morning. Verity felt a dire need to clear her head. For the past week, her sleep has been irregular, waking up several times each night, whether from a nightmare or not. She started waking earlier, and she felt exhausted during the day.

The streetlights shone as she walked past. It was winter, so the sky was still dark. Only a small beam of light was peaking over the horizon. As Verity walked past, the street lights started flickering, causing Verity to shiver slightly. She carried on walking, and as she was walking past she saw something strange on a lamp post. She changed her direction to the strange lamp post. As she got closer, she saw a symbol engraved on it. It was a circle with a star in the middle, points touching each corner of the circle. Verity curiously reached out her hand, and tentatively touched it. It started to glow a luminous blue, and something was sucked into her fingers. Verity let out a gasp and stared at her hand. Tiny blue sparks were dancing across her palm and coming from the tips of her fingers. She slowly closed her palm and opened it again. The sparks were gone. She stared at her hand, confused. She reached out once again and touched the symbol. Once again, the blue electricity slid into her hand. She held it there for longer than she did the previous time, and when she pulled away, the streetlight was off, and there were little bolts of electricity shooting from finger to finger. Verity smiled. Is this what I think it is? She thought to herself. Having superpowers would be anyone's dream, and as far as she could see, she had them!

-

Verity focused, imagining how the electricity would zip from her fingers into her bedside lamp. A small spark shot from her hand, but instead of hitting the lightbulb, it hit her curtain and singed the edge. Verity cringed at this and tried again. This time, when she shot the electricity, it hit the lightbulb. But instead of being charged, it exploded. Verity collapsed on her bed with a sigh and lay there. What's the use of these powers, if I can't even control them properly? She thought to herself, irritated. If she wanted to be someone more than just a schoolgirl with powers, she has to learn to control them.

Verity got up after thinking for a few moments and fetched a spare lightbulb from downstairs. She came back up and screwed the lightbulb into the place of the previous one. Verity decided to try it one more time, but with a different approach. Instead of shooting at it, she placed her hand on the lightbulb and let the electricity flow from her fingers. The lightbulb flickered and eventually turned on. Verity smiled and kept her hand on the lightbulb. Her smile grew when she saw how the lightbulb brightened the longer she kept her hand on it. But finally, after the lightbulb grew the brightest it could, it exploded, just like the last.

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Hey guys, thanks for reading, once again! It's really appreciated. :P