Thunder

Chapter 7

When I wake up, I have a strange case of deja vu. I'm laying in a bed in a hospital room with an IV in my wrist. I sit up in the bed and look over at the table to the left, finding a pitcher of water and an empty glass. If my parents suddenly walk in talking to the doctors again, I would seriously believe I actually went back in time. The difference this time, though, is that I think I know why I'm here.

The memories quickly come back to me; the bakery fire, Kathryn's phone call, saving Kathryn's life, my powers only partially working, and passing out after I found Caitlyn.

I don't feel as though anything is wrong with me anymore. The dizziness and exhaustion I felt before I passed out is completely gone.

Several minutes pass before the door opens, and a familiar man walks into the room, a newspaper tucked under his arm.

"Dr. Carson?"

"Good morning, Kyleigh. It's good to see you're awake."

"What happened?" I ask him. Clearly, I know what happened, but I'm not sure what he knows about the situation.

"You were dehydrated," he answers simply.

"Oh."

Was I really dehydrated? I know my throat was burning, but I mostly assumed it was due to the smoky air I was breathing.

"Would you like a drink?" he offers me.

I nod my head. He pours a glass of water from the pitcher and I accept it.

The doctor turns his attention to the newspaper he carried in. He looks at the paper and reads the heading out loud. "Masked Hero Saves Girl From Fire."

I nearly choke on the water I'm drinking at the sudden mention of the fire.

Is it just a coincidence that he brought it up? What does he know?

"Would you like to read the article, Kyleigh?" he asks.

"Uh, sure," I say, trying my best to not act suspicious.

He gives me the paper and I find the story on the front page. Someone took a picture of me running inside the bakery and the photo is printed just under the heading. I read the article.

MASKED HERO SAVES GIRL FROM FIRE

Around 2:15 yesterday, an unattended kitchen fire set the Flour Shop Bakery ablaze, trapping 16 year old Kathryn Labb inside. Bystanders to the incident report seeing a figure in a black ski mask appear out of thin air and enter the burning building.

"I don't know who it was," says Kathryn, "but it was a girl. She could fly and I saw her make a spark or a flash of light with her hand."

Whoever it was, Kathryn and the entire Labb family are grateful for the brave and unusual rescue. However, the incident has left all of us wondering: who is this masked hero?

"You're a hero," Dr. Carson states.

"What?" I say too quickly, looking at the doctor. He shows no sign of doubt about his statement. "I'm not..." I begin, trying to act like it's not me, but it's no use. I sigh. "How did you know?"

"The first time you came to the hospital, after being hit by lightning, you had... unusual test results..."

"So you knew I had these powers all along?"

"No," he replies. "Not exactly, but I knew something was off about you. At first, I thought it was just a glitch in our medical equipment, but when you continued getting the same results, I had to do something. I entered fake data in your hospital file, but I had to be careful. If anyone found out, I could be fired, or worse..."

Curious, I ask, "Then why did you?"

He takes in a breath. "I don't exactly know why I did, but I know if they had seen the actual data, they would've questioned it. I guess I felt like I was protecting you somehow."

"From what?"

"Your results would cause curiosity to any scientist who got a hold of the information. Who knows what they would do to you, knowing now that you have these unique abilities."

"But you didn't know I had powers then."

"That's right," he agrees. "But with your story in the newspaper, if the real test results were in your file, it could've quickly been traced back to you."

"Well, thank you, then," I say to him. "For protecting me." Everything that happened the first time I was in the hospital makes much more sense now. This is why Dr. Carson was acting so strange.

He nods and takes the newspaper back. He begins to walk towards the door.

"Wait," I say.

He turns to look at me.

"Do you know what happened to me yesterday? Why were my powers not working? Why did I pass out?"

"Your powers stopped working? Interesting..." He comes back towards me. "I do have a theory."

"And that would be?" I ask, eager to finally have answers about what has been happening to me.

"Well, you were dehydrated," he restates what he told me before. "That's why you passed out. You've been thirsty quite often lately, haven't you?"

I nod.

"Precisely. If my theory is correct, I believe you get your strength from water."

"Really?" I say as everything clicks together in my mind.

Dr. Carson nods again. "Think of it like... a cloud. The more water in the cloud, the more powerful the cloud is. The less water, the weaker it is." Finished with his explanation, he turns once again to leave.

Remembering my unfinished glass of water, I pick it up and drink the rest of it, visualizing an image of a cloud growing in size and strength.

I hear the sound of the door opening as Dr. Carson exits the room.

My attention shifts from the glass in my hands to the door when I hear Dr. Carson say, "Oh!"

I find that he isn't talking to me, but to someone out in the hallway.

"I didn't know you were coming today," he says to someone I can't see. "You don't start until tomorrow."

The door clicks shut, and I hear no more of the conversation.

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Hello everybody!!! It's been forever since I put the last chapter up. (About 2 months to be more specific.) A lot of things have happened since then and I've been really stressed out. I've had writers block for the past several weeks as well so I haven't been able to write much anyway. I finally had time to put this chapter up and I hope to be able to get back to updating on a regular schedule as soon as possible.

I'm kinda happy that I have this chapter done now because this was where I stopped writing the first time I tried writing this book so everything from this point on is brand new. I'm excited to share the rest of this book with you guys (as soon as I have it written.) I'll try to update really soon because I do have the next chapter written up already so I'll talk to you guys then. Thanks for reading and sticking with me even when I take forever to update. I love you guys!!!