The Line Between Living and Dying

Testing Limits

Pink and orange hues painted the morning sky. Dani stood in an empty field in leggings and a running jacket. Her family sat by her for emotional support.

"Where is she?" Zander groaned.

"She said she was picking some stuff up. She'll be here soon." Dani reassured.

"Why am I here again?" Cheyanne asked, her mouth full with her breakfast burrito.

"Because you're like the sister I've always wanted. And I tell all of you everything. It just seemed easier to have you hear than retell everything later." Dani shrugged.

"Aw." Cheyanne smiled brightly.

"She's here." Micheal stood up, already walking toward Caitlin as she parked. 

Caitlin climbed out of the S.T.A.R. Labs van and grabbed a few things out of the back.

"Uh, what are those for?" Dani gawked at the amount of lab equipment and dummies Caitlin had.

"The lab stuff is to monitor your vitals and the dummies are for target practice," Caitlin said as she struggled to pull the dummies out. "Little help?"

Zander and Michael stepped in, taking the dummies out of the van with ease.

"Thank you." Caitlin sighed. "Any chance one of you is good with computers?"

The four Rhodes turned to Cheyanne, who just finished her burrito.

"What?" Cheyanne furrowed her eyebrows at everyone staring at her.

"You're needed, miss tech wizard." Dani gestured for Cheyanne to go help Caitlin.

Cheyanne rolled her eyes. "Drunk me calls myself that one time and I never hear the end of it."

Caitlin and Cheyanne spent the next thirty minutes setting up the lab equipment while Zander, Michael, and Dani placed the dummies out in the field.

Cheyanne put an electronic belt around Dani's waist. "This is connected to Caitlin's tablet so that we can measure your energy levels and vitals."

"Okay." Dani nodded. "But what exactly am I doing?"

"Since the first power to manifest was teleportation, you're going to try to teleport from here to that dummy," Caitlin pointed to a legless dummy twenty feet away.

"How?" Dani furrowed her eyebrows.

"What did you do that made you teleport the first time?" Caitlin asked.

"Walking? I don't know." Dani shrugged.

"Oh, come on." Cheyanne groaned. "There's no way that you were just walking around and then popped into your parents' house out of nowhere. You must've had some thought relating to your parents and their home."

Dani stood silently for a moment, thinking. She smiled. "Chey, you're a genius."

Cheyanne smirked. "I know."

Dani turned around, focusing all of her attention on the dummy. She breathed in and closed her eyes. Over and over again, she thought about how much she wanted to be there.

A flutter started in Dani's stomach. To everyone else, she was fading in and out of existence. Dani's vitals spiked on Caitlin's tablet.

"What's happening?" Michael tensed up.

Caitlin tapped frantically. "I-I don't know."

"Get her to stop!" Zander yelled.

"We can't!" Cheyanne admitted.