Other Than This

5

     The fire at the school was proven to be an accident. Faulty wiring. Or something that made Melanie somewhat calmer than the other theories that had been spreading.The screaming had happened because they were teenagers. Not for the reasons that Melanie had come up with in her mind. The school was closed for the remainder of the week to try and fix the small amount of damage that was done due to the fire. Because of this, she was currently sitting in her mother's shared office doing online work. Everything was fine. Everything was cool.

     After submitting the last assignment for that day, Melanie closed her laptop and momentarily closed her eyes. The second that she did, flashes of the different reports that were prominent everywhere began. There was no possible way to know which of these were real. The news reported whatever they could find - not caring about verifying or backstory. It did not help Melanie in the slightest. She wasn't sure how she felt about her own powers - if that's what they were - let alone other people having them. Before her thoughts could go into overdrive, she opened her eyes and pushed herself off of the chair.

     Melanie put in her earbuds as she closed the door to the office behind her. She was going to go to one of the food trucks outside and try to have a normal snack. There were only two and a half hours left in her mother's shift. Two and half hours before she could crawl into bed and not have to worry about being in public. Just two and a half hours.

     Turns out, unless there is a plan. Two and a half hours passed by a lot slower than one would hope. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime - none of the usual escapes were helping. None of her 'background noise' shows were distracting her. The only thing that kept her somewhat entertained was people watching: there were three different food trucks outside of the hospital and they brought with them a lot of opportunities to do this.

There was a woman. She couldn't be older than 27. She was in light pink scrubs and white Nike Air Force sneakers. Her hair was braided back into two low buns at the nape of her neck. She was standing at the grilled cheese food truck line, she was about halfway to the point of being able to order. She didn't seem overly stressed. Either she was new, or she was just starting her shift.

A young couple was sitting at the table diagonal to the woman. The man leaned on the woman, while she played with his hair. He was in black sweat pants and a gray t-shirt with a school name and lacrosse tournament name splashed across it. She was in mom jeans with an ACDC shirt tucked into it.

A group of people, probably a family, all sat around together trying to pass the time. None of them looked too worried about what was bringing them all to the hospital. The younger ones of the group were all crowded around one of them playing on a Switch.

Melanie stopped for a second. How did she look in their eyes? She was in black tights and an oversized Marvel t-shirt. She had on Birkenstocks and her hair was pulled into two Dutch braids laying on top of her shoulders. She had in her earbuds with her phone laying on the table. She assumed that she didn't have an air or worry or tension around her. She couldn't be sure, though. As her mind continued to construct the viewpoint others had of her, she saw something. A boy who couldn't be much older than her. Right behind one of the food trucks. Standing near the field that was beside the hospital. He seemed completely normal. There was nothing outright different about him. Until there was. He was standing there, with a styrofoam cup in his hand. Then he wasn't.

Blinking to make sure she wasn't going crazy, Melanie tensed and grabbed her phone. She was sure he was there. He had been wearing black jeans and a shirt with characters from one of those cartoons Melanie had never gotten into. He didn't look scared or angry. He was just standing there shaking what Melanie assumed was ice in his cup. He was standing there, until he wasn't.