The Author | Backstories #1

The Author | Part 5

This discovery of her new power led her down a very dark path. An imaginary fork in the road where the wrong turn was taken is what can be best used to describe her situation. But it wasn't entirely her fault, as has been foreshadowed. After that first time that she had written in her notebook, it slowly and surely became an obsession of hers.

Each and every day came a new problem that she faced, if you could even call it that, to which she turned to the power of her mark for. Every time, it was something smaller and smaller that could have simply been solved by a few words...but her obsession was too strong. Darkness had completely taken over her heart, and there was no way for her to see anything clearly anymore.

You see, with the outright burden of this mark, she would now be able to rewrite history it will. She would be able to go to great lengths that one could only imagine. She could write people out of existence, rewrite who people truly are inside, modify their weaknesses and their strengths. Change what they believed in. And most dangerously of all...be able to rewrite the fate of not just a person, but the fate our world as a whole. The biggest limitation, and even restriction, of her power is that it is unable to reach beyond the home-world in which it is birthed on, which could be sparing for the rest of galaxy...or even the universe. But it could mean the end of our very own world, if it ever lead down that route.

The funny thing is, nobody was really even able to acknowledge that anything was changing. Well, most people anyway. One day, after changing many big things secluded in her city - her usual routine at this point - Brock finally began to notice the extreme changes, and he didn't know what was going on but he did know something was awry. There was no way that every Comedy Club and comic joint in the state somehow instantly wanted Jessica to perform each and every night. Nobody's opinions can change that fast. Not overnight. And although he did want to support his closest friend to his fullest extent, it just wasn't something that he was able to believe.

After arranging their first meeting at the library in a while, they arrived at the same time. He cut right to the chase and confronted her about the issue. "What's going on, Jessica?"

"What do you mean?"

-she quipped. Her hands tightened into fists and she clenched her jaw. He crossed his arms and stomped his foot into the ground. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't play dumb with me, not now. You had to have to done something."
But she persisted-

"I really don't know what you mean, Brock."

She spat out the last word as if the very thought of having to say it was disgusting. "STOP Jessica. Be upfront with me. You're my best friend and I've barely seen you the past few months." His face fell solemn as he continued. "I ran into your dad the other day...he said you haven't left your home in a long time. And all of a sudden you're being offered dozens of royalties to just spend an hour at all of these Comedy Clubs. You had to have done something...I don't know what, but I know it couldn't have been anything good. If you've been sitting in your room so much it couldn't have been from hard work: the right way to do it."

She scoffed and brushed him off, shrugging as she turned the other way, acting is if anything besides this conversation would be a better use of her time. "Hey!" he yelled as he ran up and grabbed her shoulder, trying to turn her around. As he did so he caught a quick glimpse of something on her shoulder...the mark. He widened his eyes, surprised by the sight, but it didn't last long as Jessica spun around, landing a hard right hook on Brock's cheek. He fell backwards onto the concrete, catching himself and clutching his quickly-bruising cheek. "Jessica..." he whimpered in shock, staring up at her with wide eyes.

Tears began to form as Jessica realized what she needed to do now. She didn't want to, but it had to be done. She pulled out her notebook from her back pocket and began to scribble something inside of it. Brock felt an odd sensation forming in the pit of his stomach, and he slipped into unconsciousness. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell limp on the sidewalk. The passersby seemed to pay him no attention.

If anyone ever caught on to her, and she found out, she could just erase their memory of it. It was as simple as that. Nobody could stop her now. Nobody could be against her. Nobody.