Other Than This

4

Two weeks had passed since the initial report of the 'mutant' who had caused the California fires had been released. By now, it would be expected that the story would be on the backburner. No new information had been released on the fires. There was no denial or statements made by any involved agency. The story should have faded by now. Except it hadn't. Every news cycle; every social media outlet; every group chat and private message was filled with talk about the different mutants that were supposedly being confirmed around the world. A neighbor who supposedly saw their neighbor freeze a bottle of water by touch. A father who swore on a Bible that his daughter could read his mind. A wife who says her husband can control all electronic devices without touching them. Story after story. Name after name. Claim after claim. The ball had started rolling and it did not seem like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Melanie sat with her legs crossed during an exam at school. She was tapping her pencil over the answer she swore she remembered seeing on her study guide but could not remember if there was a not in front of it. It was the last question and it was causing her more anxiety than all of the other questions combined. Melanie just wanted to put her head down and take a small nap before the bell ringing and having to rush to her next class. She did not give it any more thought: she circled the answer she was left with after doing 'Superman, Superman fly away' and was done with it. After handing in the exam to her teacher, Melanie rested her head on her desk on top of her jacket and was asleep in no time.

The bell woke her up. At least, it was supposed to be the bell. But it was louder. And shriller. It was definitely causing a bit more panic than a bell. Melanie looked up at the clock, still not fully awake from her power nap. There were still 15 minutes left in class. That was when she noticed the flashing.

"Single file line everyone. Calmly. Single file line." Her teacher her stood at the desk, grabbing the emergency folder, and started to walk to the door of the class. Melanie tied her jacket around her waist before flinging her backpack on and making her way to line up at the door. She was still disoriented from her nap. Once her class got out into the hallway, they got in line behind the other classes that were already out there. Melanie's school had run enough fire drills for everyone to go into autopilot mode: All of them walking, trying to be as quiet as possible. As quiet as high schoolers can be when they are told to be quiet.

"I swear if we have one more fire drill." Samantha, one of Melanie's closest school friends, said as they reached the door. "We all know how to walk in a straight line - it's not that hard."

"They know we can walk in a straight line," Mels shot back. "They want to make sure we know how to get outside."

Samantha and Lilian laughed, while Melanie turned back to smile at them. Lilian continued the joke, "I mean with all the exit signs it must be hella difficult for -"

That's when they heard the first scream.

Then saw the smoke and people running.

Melanie pulled Samantha and Lilian with her and the trio ran together towards the open field and over the teachers all yelling. Around them, every student sprinted as far away from the building that was filling with smoke. Melanie focused on not stopping until she was sure she was safe. It was fire. Nothing else.

But why did people scream?

Soon after, teachers were calling attendance and making the students group together by classroom. There was a slight sense of order in the chaos. No one was offering explanation. Which would have been fine if the rumor mill was not already turning throughout the high school students. Melanie, Lilian and Samantha were sitting on the grass - all of them in physical contact: Sam and Mel were holding hands; Lili had her head resting on Mel's shoulder. None of them were talking, mainly because the running they did was the most cardio they've done since freshman year, but also because they were in somewhat shock. The group next to them was not shocked into silence; they were coming up with what they assumed was the most logical explanation.

"It had to be one of those people. The people from the news. You know with all those powers?" The girl said.

"It was a fire." Another girl chimed in. "You saw the smoke."

"Okay and don't you remember the boy who started one of the fires?" A boy this time defended, "There can be more than one person like him."

"We don't even know if that is true. If the government didn't want us to know something, we wouldn't know it. The fact that we know it means we are meant to know it." A girl offered her position.

"But here's the thing: there's too many stories for all of them to be false. The law of averages fam."

"I just don't think that's what happened. It was just a fire."

"A fire started by someone with powers."

"No." Then a pause, "Maybe"