Twenty Four Seven || Adam Park

forty six

I jumped when the light that was on in the basement suddenly went out. It was pitch black down here with no windows or any other lights. I couldn't even move to look for a light switch because I was too afraid that I was going to run into something. I just stayed in place where I was, looking around a pitch black room while scared out of my mind...

Tears rolled down my face as I sat there. I wanted Adam – or hell even one of the others to come barging through that door right now. I wouldn't even care if it was my grandmother at this point who came barging through the door. I just needed that door to open.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to remind myself that someone would notice I wasn't missing. Adam. Adam would notice I was missing... maybe not right away, but after a few days I know he would get suspicious and wonder where I was. I know he would tell Ms. Maria and Ms. Maria would probably tell Rocky's dad. Then again... who knows how my grandmother would twist this. She was probably already reporting me missing to the police right now. How far did she really think she could get with? The police would most likely start with searching the house and they would find me down here and I would tell them everything. Even if they didn't believe me... they would find me down here. I didn't care if they sent me to juvey at this point... at least I'd be far away from her.

I don't know how long I was down there before I started thinking badly again. It started with the nightmare of my parents that somehow warped with the nightmare that Billy had told me about. In my vision I was suddenly getting mauled by a dog while trying to run and hug my parents. Then it warped with the police standing there and laughing, letting the dog maul me... and then my grandma telling me it was my fault. I started laughing at myself as I sat there because I genuinely could not believe any of this was happening. This had to be some really big nightmare that I was still living in. This had to be. There was just no way that this was reality.

I sighed as I shivered from the cold air in the basement. It was freezing down here and I had no source of heat other than the clothes that were on my back. A pair of pajama bottoms, an old torn up t-shirt that I only wore to bed, and Adam's hoodie. I would either die of starvation down here or hypothermia. I crossed my arms across my chest as I tried to let the silence fill the room – but all I could hear was my own thoughts. So, I tried to distract myself from thinking about the bad things with all the good things.

Firstly, I thought about Adam. I truly don't know where or how I would be without him right now. From my first day at Angel Grove, that shy Korean kid took interest in me. He helped me open my locker while trying to figure out why I had a black eye. It was noticeable – I remember that day like it was just yesterday because it was embarrassing. He asked me about the black eye in Mr. Henderson's classroom via a note. The first note he had ever written me and then after that, it kind of just became out thing – even with getting caught doing it. I remember telling him that he wrote like a five-year-old and as I sat there thinking about it, I couldn't help but smile because with each note he slowly wrote his words out more carefully so they were more legible each time. I wished I had one of those notes to look at right now just so that I could feel some type of hope.

Then I thought about the night I went to my first violin lesson with Ms. Maria. As I walked home that night, putties came out of nowhere and tried to attack me. The Red and Black Power Rangers – people I didn't even think were real, showed up just as quickly as the putties did and protected me form them. I should have known one of them was Adam all along when he brought my violin back to me. I didn't know who any of the Power Rangers were until I became one myself. I still lacked the answers to why I even became one – but the bigger question was, why was the Power Coin hidden in one of my mother's old jewelry boxes? I think that's what confused me the most.

I'll never forget the adrenaline of my first fight and my first morph either. Even though I had no clue what to do, the power inside of me controlled my movements and allowed me to fight off the monster that night. I was a nervous wreck when I revealed myself to the other rangers in the Command Center. Adam ripped his helmet off so much quicker than the others. It was just a shock to see that I had already met all of the Power Rangers and I didn't even know it until that moment. It was the strangest feeling, but everything about it felt right. Like I was meant to be one of them even if I didn't think so.