Viscera and Other Tales

Viscera

I have a secret power so gruesome I've only ever used it twice in my life.  

The first time was when I was in 8th grade, roughly 12 years ago. I was in Mrs. Gordon's math class, bored out of my mind and drifting into day dreams.
 
She stood at the front of the classroom, writing on the smart-board, laying out equations I had no hope of understanding. Nobody was really paying attention, but Mrs. Gordon was a nice enough teacher that no one was being disruptive either.

As I sat there, arm propped up and head rested I found myself staring intently at Mrs. Gordon's stomach. I wasn't being perverted or anything weird like that, but something in my mind was drawing my attention to it.

It was as if I had lost control of my thinking, only able to focus on my middle aged teacher's stomach area. I stared and stared my head beginning to pulse and my eyes burning and watery before it happened.

First, Mrs. Gordon stopped writing on the board. She turned towards the class with a pained look in her face.

I remember Cassie Ramirez speaking up before anyone else. "Hey, Mrs. Gordon? You ok?"

By this point everyone had turned their attention to the teacher. I was still staring, almost hypnotized.

"I think...I think there's something wrong with me." Mrs. Gordon said grasping at her body. "I don't- I don't-"

It happened fast. Her stomach began to move, pumping up and down, up and down. She let out a wail and lifted up the bottom of her shirt. Her skin moved and turned almost like something was alive in her. She continued to scream as blood flew from her mouth, hitting Marco Bustamante in the face.

There was chaos in the classroom as her bellybutton suddenly burst and her intestines flew out, splattering on the floor. Blood gushed from her midriff while her lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

I broke from my trance as everybody ran from the room, screaming, crying, panicking. I followed suit.

Nobody knew what had happened to her. Not the police, not her family, not the other students.

But I knew it was me. 

From that day forward I knew that I had to be careful and remain control of my mind. No drinking, no drugs, no more mental slip ups. I wasn't gonna let my power mutilate anyone again.

I made that promise to myself before I met Travis Jennings.

Travis showed up my senior year of high school and was immediately a negative presence in the lives of anyone who came into contact with him.

He was a mean teen with the worst attitude in the whole school. The other students didn't like him, the teacher didn't, no one did.

I tried everything to avoid him but he had a tendency to find me and make me miserable. Beating me up, calling me names, even spitting on me. He made the whole high school a hell.

There had been many times I had considered using my power to put an end to him. I'd even imagine it sometimes, stopping myself before falling into the trance. But man, did I want to.

I even dreamed about it sometimes. Imagining his guts flying out of him and watching him collapse to the floor like Mrs. Gordon had. But this time it would've been deserved.

One day I had been walking through the halls when I felt a hand push into the back of my head and slam it into the wall.

Dazed, I slid to the floor. When I looked up there he was.

"Outta my way."

That was all he said as he strode by me. I had had enough.

I was going to finish him off.