The Hacker Part 1

The weekend started off just like any other; nothing too important going on, yet for once the weather was starting to look up.

I hadn’t done much apart from sit at the computer yesterday, watching music videos whilst trying to write, somehow getting bored then giving up quickly. I figured I should try and catch up socially before I let the boredom sink in any longer.

It was just another Saturday morning, or so I thought. All I knew was that I could just do whatever the hell I could do. What I wasn’t aware of was the inevitable fact that today was the day that my life would be changed forever…

At a guess, it must have been around ten a.m. I had woken up a while ago and boredom had sunken into my mind like treacle; slowly at first but now it just stained everything with depression. I just had to find something to do! How hard could it be?

As if reading my mind, my mobile on the desk started vibrating, jolting me out of my mental rant. Perfect timing!

Without delay I snatched it up, hoping for an opportunity to pass the time. “Hello?” I almost blurted the word and I found myself cringing slightly after realizing how stupid this had just sounded.

“Hi Alex. How’s it going?” the voice was deep with a hint of an ever fading Scottish accent.

“Hey Chris, yeah I’m alright, How’s the book coming along?” Chris was one of my friends from a while back, one that just seems to come out of the blue.

Now that I think about it; I can't remember how we met each other. Not that I cared much about the subject.

I sat down by my desk while Chris told me the news; “Well its going ok I guess. Still a few plot holes to sort out. By the way” he continued, lightening up a bit “I was wondering if you wanted to come round for a writing session, just to update a few things?"

I stared grimly at my laptop, that story wasn’t going to finish itself. One way or another I was going to get it done. It didn't look like I would be able to do anything else to pass the day by. “Yeah that’s cool, I’ll be round in about half an hour yeah?” I replied.

Chris confirmed the time as I quickly slipped my laptop into a rucksack and ended the call. I decided to take the mobile with me before dashing downstairs to the living room. “Hey mum?” I yelled.

A pause... then distant voice came from the other end of the corridor in reply “Yes Alex?” The reply seemed to echo around the walls.

“I’m just gonna go round Chris' for a writing session ok?” The shout bounded around the plastering as I swiftly slipped my trainers on. The house carried my message through its stuffy yet comfortable rooms, across the eerie and familiar corridors.

There was another slight pause as I got my keys before the reply came again from the walls. “Ok, just call me when you’re coming back.”

"Sure thing, I won't be long!" I said after stuffing the key into the lock, I swung the door open and sent another parting message boasting off of the walls before I left the house. Oblivious of the events soon to follow…

Chris didn’t live very far away from my place so I managed to find myself outside his house within the next ten minutes.

Well during this document of how my life got flipped around for the very first time. I just thought this would be a good time to address you, the reader and tell you a bit about me.

Don’t worry I’m not gonna do this a lot but I just though hey well. This is my life so far. So don’t expect a huge chunk of autobiography or some crap like that, this is just who I am for those who are interested in what I’m like, or what I was like until well, today happened.

As you probably guessed my name is Alex and I live in the south of Portsmouth a little while from the sea.

I tend to spend a lot of my weekends revising, visiting friends or having them visit me and writing a few stories.

I can be a little quiet at times but those I speak to usually become good friends.

I love a few different kinds of music but mostly a lot of rap or heavy rock like Linkin Park.

I’m really interested in ancient history and hope one day to become a historian or a writer of historic fiction.

My hobbies include writing, fencing, karate and hanging out with my friends.

So I hope this just offers a little insight into what I do and I hope that we have things in common with each other.

Anyway where was I?

Oh yeah that was it.

I finally made it to Chris’ house that was in the corner of a row of properties in a private residence. The house had three floors; the ground floor had a coatroom and a utility room, the upstairs had the living room, dining room and kitchen attached to each other and the top floor had the bedrooms and a bathroom.

I rapped the brass knocker that was in the figure of a lion’s head three times and a few moments later the door opened to reveal Chris.

Chris could be an odd character at times but he was still a friend, he used to be really timid and quiet when I first met him and nobody could seem to get a word out of him.

But now three years on he’s been more talkative then ever and I think it’s safe to say that he’s come out of his shell a lot.

Now Chris is quite eager to get a word in, but maybe I wonder is he too eager? Nah!

Chris had brown hair and brown eyes, he was a bit taller than me, maybe about an inch or so and his hair was always sticking out in one place or another because he had a double crown.

“Hey Alex how are you doing?” He said as he opened the door.

“Yeah I’m alright. You?”

“Yeah I’m fine. Oh sorry, I bet you thought I’d never let you in.”

Chris opened the door wider and I stepped inside. We both walked into the hall where I kicked off my trainers before we both headed upstairs.

Chris went on ahead of me by a few steps and said. “You might have to be careful in a bit we’ve decided to do a bit of DIY but its only just getting started.”

Chris explained that his parents had gone out for the day to buy some new carpets and such because as Chris put it the house really needed a going over.

I could see this for myself judging by the bare floorboards and old wallpapers half strewn through the hallway.

“A bit of DIY?” I exclaimed as I stared at the stripped down walls and floorboards.

“Yeah I might have underestimated a bit.” Chris replied with a chuckle.

After a perilous journey of stubbing my toes on the jagged door strips and creaking my way up the ruined stairs I finally managed to make it onto the upstairs landing.

Chris opened the door to his bedroom and we went inside.

Despite the state of the rest of the house, Chris' room seemed almost untouched since I last saw it. He told me that the stairs and walls were a main concern so far.

He sat down by his desk where his laptop was charging whilst I flopped down on the bed on the other end of the room.

After he flipped open his laptop Chris swiveled round in his chair to face me as I pulled my own laptop from my rucksack.

“So what do you want to start with?” he said.

I considered the question, placing my laptop by my side as I waited for it to start up. “Not sure.” I stammered “Err… What about that short story we were working on.”

Chris shrugged “Aye, I’ll just get the notes up and you can start up the document.”

“Sure” I replied, before I could say more Chris had stood up.

“Do you want a drink or something like that?”

I paused “Yeah, I’ll just have water thanks.”

Chris walked towards the door “Ok then.” he said before departing down the mundane yet treacherous path of the stripped staircase.

The sound of my laptop pinging to life turned my attention back to my work in progress. I picked the laptop back up, entered my password and delved once again into the fictional worlds inside my mind.

As I began to type, I suddenly began to feel nauseous, nearly faint as if a strange force had gone through me. The feeling tensed and I began to feel myself passing out, I didn’t know what was happening at first so I put the laptop back on the bed and leaned forward slightly.

My vision began to blur, what was happening? I couldn’t see what could have affected me so. I hadn’t felt ill at all this morning.

Just as I began to fade out a sharp buzzing noise came from my laptop and I glanced over lazily. For a moment my vision cleared and I could see that a message had appeared on the screen. I barely had time to read it before the darkness claimed me…

As I fell to the floor the message repeated itself in my head, over and over again, invading every space and corner of my mind.

SO IT BEGINS…

I blacked out…

When I awoke I found myself sprawled on the floor, when I glanced up I saw Chris hastily dialing a number on my mobile. Without knowing it I sprang to my feet making Chris reel back in shock, dropping the phone.

Quick as a flash I darted forwards and caught the device split seconds after he had let it go. I didn’t have a clue how I was doing this, questions reeled through my head like darts.

Chris just stared at me dumbfounded as I placed the phone back on the desk. We just stood there for what felt like a full minute before Chris broke the silence; “W…What? What the hell was that?”

I couldn’t find an answer neither did I know what to do next although I shot a glance at my laptop out of sheer paranoia. The screen was blank, as if the power had gone.

“Hey!” Chris' sudden persistence snapped me back into reality, before I could even think he began to pose more questions; “You Ok? What happened?”

I finally found the words “I don’t know” I blurted “I guess I blacked out don’t ask how I just…” I trailed off.

Chris' expression immediately changed from concern to suspicion “Please tell me you’re not up to something because if you are then…”

“Ok, I just felt a bit weird that’s all… It’s no big deal right.”

“Aye, you know you had me worried for a second there.”

I picked myself up off the floor and stood when I suddenly swayed to the side as dizziness struck. Then I felt something grasp my shoulder “Woah. You ok? Maybe you should take it easy.”

Chris held me steady for a few seconds until the sickness subsided and I carefully sat down on the bed and hung my head down to let the nauseating effect wear off.

“Here” I looked up to see Chris holding a glass of water in front of me, he must have got it while he was downstairs and carried it up before he saw what had happened.

“Er… Cheers.” I took the glass shakily in one hand and then used both hands to steady it. I began to take a few slow sips to help stop the headache.

There was a pause then Chris spoke again “Wait, you look really pale, are you sure you don’t want me to call anyone?” he said while half reaching for the phone.

“No” I insisted and shook my head slightly “No I’m alright… Thanks.”

“Ok, just take it easy for a bit, by the way you don’t feel sick at all do you?”

He sat down on the other end of the bed when I answered. “Not really I just feel a bit weird that’s all.”

About a minute past and so did the nausea, I put the half empty glass back down on the table and slumped down on the bed, exhausted.

Chris pondered on the matter for a few seconds before resuming. “Ok o do you remember exactly when you blacked out or don’t you want to talk about it?” He replied.

I tried to remember. “Not sure. It must have been a few seconds after you went downstairs.”

At that he began to draw more of a conclusion “Right so you can’t have been out of it for long so it’s nothing too serious after all then.” He said with a grin.

I stood up “Ok then, by the way what were you doing with my phone?” I glanced down at him.

He glanced back at me jokingly “I was calling an ambulance for you, honestly you scared the crap out of me.”

The conversation was going off topic so I decided to get back on track. “Anyway when do you reckon I came round?”

Chris shrugged “Literally about two seconds after I picked up the phone.”

I sat down again. Chris stood up to sit at his desk and drew up the other dilemma.

“Well then… This might sound weird but how do you explain the whole movement thing?”

I looked up “What do you mean?” I asked.

He sighed inwardly in reply “That thing you did. How did you get up so fast? I didn’t even see it.”

“Beats me. I don’t know maybe it was just some sort of reaction or something.” I shrugged.

“Aye” Said Chris “Something like that.”

Just then the glass on the table shattered into several razor sharp pieces that cascaded onto the floor.

“Whoa!” Chris leapt backwards off his chair that fell to the floor with a crash, I flinched slightly when another wave or nausea came and went in a flash.

Chris stood still for a few seconds before turning to me “You alright man?”

I blinked twice to make sure the last of the pain had melted away before replying “Err…” I blinked again “Yeah. Fine. You?”

Chris turned back to the table where the glass had once been “Yeah I… What the?” He paused in confusion.

I stood up and stared in the same direction as Chris, what the heck was going on?

The glass remained on the floor but the water had seemed to have risen into the air and collected into a ball shape.

I took a small step to the right and the sphere of water followed.

Suddenly, deep down a strange feeling arose along with the realization that I was somehow doing this.

Chris turned his head to look at me, then at the water, then back at me again. “Are you seeing this?” He smiled with a mixture of amazement and fear.

I didn’t know what to say at this point but I decided to explore more of this strange happening.

I tilted my head slightly to the right and jumped as the orb of water changed shape, it took on the appearance of a cube with several spiked shapes sticking out.

Chris remained in awe before turning to me, about to say something when I intervened “Wait hold on a second.”

Chris frowned slightly “What is it.”

“Wait… Watch this…” I muttered in fascination, a took a small step backwards and the water returned to it’s orb like shape and then floated gently towards me.

The water floated slowly towards my face until it was about two inches from my nose when Chris exclaimed “Wow! Are… Are you doing that?”

“Yeah” I whispered “Yeah I’m doing this… Alright I’m gonna try something here so don’t freak out ok?”

As I spoke I occasionally moved my eyes between Chris and the water.

I then focused all my attention on the globe in front of me then I stuck out my tongue a bit until it touched the water before I withdrew.

“Wow! Did you just do what I think you did?” I heard Chris as he looked on in astonishment.

I smiled “Yeah, oh wait hold on! I just thought of something…” I trailed off out of sheer excitement.

I then poked my lips out and touched them to the water to which Chris burst out laughing. “Dude! What the hell? Are you kissing that crap?”

I stopped myself from laughing and held up a finger to prevent Chris from making any more smart remarks.

Then in one swift movement I sucked through my mouth like a straw and drew the entire mass of water into my mouth, I then quickly swallowed it in case I laughed and spat it out.

A pause then we both stared at each other before laughing aloud.

“What? Alex what even... What did you even d…” Chris kept laughing and couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Wait a second” I stopped him “Just in case” I focused my attention on the floor where the glass lay scattered and felt a slight flex in my mind.

The glass quickly gathered and zoomed into the air where it stopped for a second and then imploded into thin air.

And that was when I realized; I could do more.

Then I remembered, those words flashed in my head; SO IT BEGINS…

A little hint of doubt struck home and I turned to Chris who was still trying to get over what was happening “Hey this might sound really weird but just before I blacked out something really strange happened with the laptop.”

Chris looked back at me “What was it?” he asked.

“Well… Just as I was about to pass out this message appeared on the screen saying so it begins. Do you think that means anything?”

Chris shrugged “I don’t know. Hey maybe your minds just playing tricks on you. I mean come on, just think of what else you could do with these powers or whatever.”

I looked at him, more seriously this time “Chris… I mean it.”

With that I could see that he knew just by that one movement. “Ok so what do you think of that?”
“I’m not sure… But I’m gonna find out.”

One hour later I found myself sitting on the living room couch watching Chris pacing slightly around the room, eventually he sat down on the other side of the sofa.

“So it begins” he broke the silence “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged “Beats me. But that’s all I can remember before, you know…”

“Ok so let’s get this straight, you say you had some sort of powers. What do you mean by that?”

“Chris this is getting kinda stupid don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

Without warning the TV mounted on the wall flickered to life. We both stopped to slowly turn towards it. The remote lay on a small cabinet underneath the TV.

“It’s ok.” I said. “It was probably just me.”

That’s when the thought struck me; maybe I was actually developing powers. If it was really true then that meant…Holy crap.

I looked at him “Hey tell you what, why don’t we just drop the issue I mean maybe it was just some sort of hallucination or something.”

I stood up when Chris suddenly sprang up from the sofa “I’ve got it.”

Before I had time to react, he hurled towards me, landing a punch to my jaw. I fell backwards onto the couch.

I stared oddly at him with a mix of confusion and anger building up inside. “Dude! What the hell?”

“I’m sorry” he exclaimed “But I just had to try something. Bear with me for a second.”

Suddenly the light bulb that was hanging from the ceiling shattered, spraying tiny shards of glass in all directions, showering the carpet.

Chris winced, brushing a few of the razor droplets from his hair before snapping. “I knew it”

After I recovered from the shock of yet another unexplainable happening I glowered at him “God damn it Chris. You’d better get to the point fast!”

Almost on cue with my outburst another light bulb, this time in the adjoining dining room shattered, sending glass cascading across the table.

As I whirled around to determine what had happened I felt Chris grab me by the shoulder. “These things” he said “Don’t just happen. They happen for a reason. Like when you get angry.”

I stared at him “What?” I couldn’t find the words. Luckily he seemed to have all the explanations. He continued “Your powers, their triggered by anger. That’s why the lights went out after I punched you. Sorry about that by the way; just wanted to make sure.”

I just looked at him skeptically “Yeah. Well you’d better be, anyway that kind of makes sense. I mean now that you mention it.”

Chris took a step back only to wince as some of the glass confetti pressed into his foot. “I don’t know what happened to you, but Alex.”

“What is it?” I hesitated to see a flare of anticipation in his eye. I stopped him “No” I stated “No more.”

Chris tilted his head jokingly and shrugged.

I sighed inwardly “Alright” I said “But try something other than a right hook next time.”

After that Chris spoke again “Look I’m sorry but I couldn’t really resist the urge.”

“Yeah of course.” I said.

I decided to forget what had just happened to brighten the mood. “Anyway why don’t we test the powers again anyway just to get used to them?”

Chris laughed “Fine by me.” with that we promptly left for downstairs to escape the glass caked floors of the lounge, to test my full potential.

“Chris!”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

We were now standing in Chris' back garden that was shared by the neighborhood every residence had their own back garden that was attached to one larger garden in the center where two ponds and a few benches were.

I was in the very centre of the gardens, Chris was watching from a nearby wooden bench, holding a stone from his back garden in his right hand.

He shrugged “Yeah go for it. You ready?”

God I hoped so. I gulped before replying “Yeah. Just don’t throw it too damn hard ok?”

On the way downstairs we had agreed to try something we now called the stone test, to see if I had any other powers apart from telekinesis.

I could see that Chris was looking forward to this “Ok. Go!” He yelled.

With that he threw the stone directly at me, without knowing it I darted to the side with lightning speed as the projectile swished past my face.

I waited for my head to clear to see Chris sitting dumbfounded at the bench. “Whoa! Nice job. Looks like I was right. Enhanced reaction! What did I tell you?”

“Yeah” I said, scratching the back of my head “I guess so.”

“So?” Chris hopped up from the bench “Is that all? What are you waiting for? Come on, try something else.”

I pondered on this before concluding “Alright. One more then I’m out of here Ok?”

He sighed, slightly disappointed “Ok.” He said.

After a successful dodge from another stone I began to get the hang of it. It was also kind of embarrassing considering that I didn’t want to waste my powers at someone else’s expense.

Still it was fun as hell to use I quickly got over the negatives.

We were about to go back inside when another idea struck me, I turned back towards the gardens and stared at one of the ponds. I could see a few small fish swimming around in its murky waters.

“Hey Chris!” I yelled.

Chris caught up and nudged my shoulder “What’s up?”

I turned back to him and motioned to the pond “I bet you five pounds I can move all the water in that pond.”

Chris stopped “No… No Alex don’t’ do it!”

I shrugged “What it’s worth a shot!” I replied.

Chris took a quick glance around the neighborhood “Ok” he said. “Just make sure nobody sees you ok?”

“Got it.” I turned and focused all of my attention on the pond when Chris tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned back “Yeah?”

He grinned “Three quid?”

I laughed “Yeah sure whatever.”

Once again I drew my focus towards the pond when suddenly the stonework at the edge of the pond began to quake gently, then in an instant the water began to swirl towards the center of the pond basin where it spiraled for a few long seconds before rising into the air in a funnel shape.

Just as the last of the liquid was lifted into the air I stopped to see the entire pond’s worth of water suspended in mid-air.

As we both observed, dumbfounded we could see several fish swimming in circles around the perimeter.

Suddenly a yell came from one of the balconies. We both turned to where the noise had come from but the water stayed in the air.

One of the neighbors was standing on their balcony pointing a finger straight at the suspended pond water.

From where I stood she looked like she was in her 60’s or early 70’s.

She continued he rant “You young rascals better put that water down you hear your scaring the fish!”

I glanced over at Chris who rolled his eyes upwards; he had probably had run-ins with this neighbor before.

“Ok!” Chris said very slowly as if talking to a foreigner “We’re going to put the water down and everything will be alright. Ok?”

The woman took a slight step backwards and replied. “Yes. Well you had better put that water back in that pond or I’m going to call the police!”

With that she went back inside her house. I looked over at Chris again bewildered.

Seeing me he decided to answer my unasked question “Oh that was just Ms Hail… She’s a bit you know, cranky.” He said while putting a finger to the side of his head and twisting it to express his last word.

With that we both tried to hide our laughter in case she came back outside, I barely noticed as the water returned to its normal state within the pond.

When we got back inside we both burst out laughing.

When I managed to get my breath back I spoke “Oh my god! She… She thought that was normal?”

“Yeah, I mean what even?”

“I know right, what about when she threatened to call the police I mean what would she tell them? Oh some kids stole all the water out of our pond and held it in midair so I decided to call 999 so you could stop the fish from getting scared!”

We couldn’t stop laughing at that point as we trudged back up the stairs.

When we reached the landing just outside of the living room I glanced quickly at my watch “Well” I said. “I’ve gotta get back soon, thanks for having me round though.”

Chris turned back “Ok then.” He replied. “That’s cool.”

After I had gone upstairs to collect my stuff; hesitating at my laptop. I headed back downstairs to leave when I saw Chris standing in the living room doorway. “Alex?”

I turned my head to look at him. “Yeah?”

He struggled to find the words “If you don’t mind could you maybe? Well if you’re able to.”

He looked toward the glass scattered around the living room. I sighed inwardly yet I felt that I was responsible for the mess so I returned to the doorway opposite Chris, focusing my mind on the glass shards.

As if by prompt the glass rose from the floor and drew together as if magnetized into a mass before floating through the room and dropping into the bin in the kitchen.

Chris looked back to me after following the floating ball of glass with his eyes and said “Thanks.”

I had said enough so I turned to leave the house Chris remained in the doorway of the lounge.

I went home feeling weak, suddenly exhausted from the after effects of having to deal with what just happened and although it had been sunny outside, I found as I walked home that rain had begun to fall.

The next day passed in a flash and although the thought had constantly lingered in my mind but I decided not to use any more of my so-called powers until I knew that the time was right for me.

I hadn’t contacted anyone on Sunday and to no surprise nobody else tried to contact me.

I just wanted to forget everything. This gift felt like more of a curse now than it ever would be. Maybe it was just the mood I was in, I wasn’t truly sure.

The alarm blasted at 6 am the next Monday. Despite what happened I decided to carry on with school as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

I just had to live my life no matter what, without raising any suspicions. I thought it would be easy but this was something different.

By the time I reached school things were going good so far; no sudden freakish moments, maybe this could just be another normal day.

I arrived around twenty minutes early of the first lesson so I decided to lay low for a while. I didn’t see Chris anywhere and if I wanted some time alone I would have to stay on the move.

It was only a matter of time before another one of my friends ran into me.

“Hey Alex” he obviously had something to say but I really wasn’t in the mood for any jokes or wisecracks; not that I ever would be.

It was Josh, another friend from about a year ago. He was tolerable and always seemed to have something to say, nobody ever really cared and all of his jokes were just painful but it was nothing to big a deal.

I grumbled to myself under my breath in reply and stepped past him but Josh obviously didn’t take any notice, probably because he had started to follow me after I tried to ditch him.

It never worked, I suppose I’m not the only one; everyone has the annoying friend every once in a while.

Not everyone could tell that he was a well-meant type of person. But he was accepted as far as me, Chris and a few others were concerned.

Sometimes Josh had his place but the rest of his days were spent jerking around.

I walked away from him but he caught up and gave me a punch to the shoulder “Hey, I’m trying to talk to you, you know. Cause you’ll never believe what happened yesterday.”

I knew that I had to get rid of him somehow, he was like this every other day so what difference would it make?

Nah! To hell with it, it’s not going to change now anyway.

I turned back to him “Hi Josh I didn’t see you.” I pretended. Josh had short jet-black hair and squinty blue eyes that made him look a bit hostile but apart from that he was just a normal and often boring person.

By now it was too late to give him the cold shoulder so I decided to put up with what he had to say.

He talked at me for about a minute or two but it seemed like an age, I blanked him out halfway through his first sentence. Josh obliviously cast a blind eye to the dullness spread across my face, I often wore this look when he decided to have a one-way conversation with me to see if he got the hint.

As if by a miracle Chris soon arrived and stood between us “Hey guys what’s up?”

I turned away from Josh who was about to deliver a punch line of extraordinary stupidity when he was cut off by Chris’ arrival.

I turned my attention to Chris, ignoring Josh for now, anything as long as he stopped yammering on and on.

“Hi Chris.” I said “Yeah not too bad.”

“Ok so.” Chris continued. “Anything interesting happen over the weekend.”

He looked at us and gave me a slight nudge with his elbow.

I tried to contain a laugh but Josh caught on. “What? What is it?”

“Nothing important” I replied hastily. “Just remembered something.”

He frowned slightly “Come on Alex spit it out.”

“Ok, hold on a second.” Josh would totally flip out if he found out about my powers, but what the hell? It would still be ok. No harm done… Right?

“Right.” I gathered myself together. “Chris do you want to tell him or should I?”



“Woah! Holy Shit!”

Chris and Josh looked on in amazement in as I lifted the bench and placed it on top of the main school building with nothing but my mind.

By now it was the first break and we were outside in the main courtyard where a few small benches were positioned along the side of the main building.

I’d told Josh everything by now. Of course he didn’t believe me at first but his reaction to the truth was priceless.

The others were too busy doing their own thing to notice the otherwise paranormal happening that I was orchestrating.

After I put the bench back down the questions came spewing out; “So how did you get this? I mean just how did you do that?”

I shrugged “Beats me. I’m just as lost as you are.”

“Hey wait a second!” Chris leapt up from his seat on the bench. “You haven’t considered trying this on somebody before right?”

“Er… Chris are you sure about that? I mean it could be dangerous you know. I might not be ready.” I hesitated.

Josh stepped forward. “Nah! Come on Alex it’ll be cool ya know! Hey if anything happens… Well it won’t. Just try it, it’s not like anything bad is going to happen.”

I gave in. “Alright then. So what do you think I should try?”

Josh shrugged. “I don’t know, just try to lift me or something.”

“Ok I’ll give it a go just be ready.” I warned him.

“Meh. You worry too much Alex.” Little did I know that Josh’s confidence would be his downfall.

“Right” Said Chris “On the count of three.”

I drowned him out and focused entirely on the mental strength I would need to lift Josh off the ground. Carefully in case he got injured.”

Nothing happened. I simply paused, not because I couldn’t find the power but because of Josh’s reaction. My gut instinct told me he was faking but the reality hit home when I saw his face before he collapsed to the floor; nobody could fake a stroke.

It seems almost impossible but I kept trying to convince myself that maybe it just happened to him by coincidence and that my “powers” had nothing to do with it. But deep down I knew that I was responsible.

And not a day goes by that I can look at myself in the mirror without cringing.

A while later I found myself sitting inside a hospital waiting room with my head held down. The doctor had said that Josh was stable but I knew what I had done to him would affect me forever. The guilt would never leave.

So many different thoughts were going through my head I kept thinking that this was all some sort of hallucination. Maybe I’d wake up sooner or later…

Maybe not at all.

I felt empty; part of me wanted to carry on through the motivation of finding out what the hell really happened to me. The other half just wanted to drop dead altogether.

Despite the state I was in, I knew deep down that no matter what happened I would have to find out how I got this curse or gift or whatever and justify it.

I would have to face the consequences for my actions and make some of the toughest decisions of my life. Perhaps overtime I could learn to master these powers, even control them. But that was just a power hungry dream filled with greed. I’m no hero, what the hell was I thinking.

It’s not like the films; you don’t suddenly feel the need to go help out any random street victims. I wanted to drown these so called powers and forget about them. Otherwise things would just get worse.

When I looked up I didn’t notice that Chris had arrived and sat in the seat opposite mine. I didn’t react I just turned away. Almost afraid of what could go wrong if I were to even speak to him.

He didn’t say anything. I wasn’t surprised…

Long seconds passed, still nothing. Suddenly Chris broke the silence. "Hey."

I looked up sadly.

"It's gonna be alright, he'll pull through."

I couldn't find a response so I hung my head again after a short nod, the sting still sharp in my throat.

"Look err... It wasn't your fault, yeah?"

His voice cut clear amongst the low mumble of the others, the only form of killing time for them taking the form of a two year old newspaper or a brochure about swine flu.

"Alex?"

"Stop... Please I don't wanna talk about it." I murmured.

"Sorry." Chris turned his head away.

We sat in silence for what felt like decades, I lost track of time and I found myself moving without knowing I was.

I went home and left Chris at the hospital, turning my back on Josh. I could never face him again now. Not ever…

Back in school

I was walking down the deserted main corridor.

Everything was silent…Too silent.

Nobody around, the whole length of the hallway seemed desolate and forgotten.

I heard a noise behind me...shuffling?

I half turned… Nobody there

All of the light and color had drained from the place as if it had been abandoned for years. There was absolutely nothing familiar left all that I knew about the school had become dark and shrouded in loss.

As I turned back I found myself staring into Josh’s half melted face; his eyes full of agony and hatred. I froze on the spot as time seemed to slow to a crawl, this is what I had done and now I had to face it.

I tried to think of something I could do, maybe I could try and reason with him; resolve what I'd done the day before. Yet I knew that would be impossible as I stared at the monstrous creature before me, the horror hit me before anything else. I managed to hold back from yelling aloud, it might attract more of these beasts.

Before I could move Josh shot out a skeletal hand that clasped around my throat in a vice like grip. I grabbed at the talon that was crushing my windpipe instinctively but no matter how much I struggled I couldn't break the grip of Josh's claw. He lifted me off the ground by my throat and I was hurled down the hallway by an immense force.

I hit the ground and slid across the length of the corridor before my back smashed into a wall at the end of the hallway, the impact winded me to the point of choking on my own lost breath, it felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to my head.

My sight blurred to which the corridor began to swirl in and out of focus, I felt an intense combination of overwhelming sickness and pain.

I lay with my back to the wall trying to gather myself together and recover I tried focusing on Josh's mutilated figure as it advanced towards me. Seconds later I found many of the other students moving in on me from all angles in an instant; their stretched, burnt flesh hung from their skulls.

Their eyes drooped from the sockets. They shambled along the corridor smearing streaks of bile across the floors, several crawled on all fours along the walls with their tongues at least twenty times as long as they should be lashing out to wrap around my leg and slowly pull me towards them.

I gazed upwards in order to avert my attention from my imminent doom only to see even more of these freakish beings hanging down from the ceiling; their fingers were long tendrils of ghastly white, the tendrils were spotted with lumps full with some sort of poisonous substance.

They lashed out and one of the tendrils struck my face, burning into my cheek down to the bone. I screamed in agony as the acidic pus oozed around my face as if it was alive.

I could barely hear the moaning sound of the creatures barking in unison above the searing pain that was tearing through me. They converged and began to chant; “Kill the freak! Kill the freak!”

All I could do was wave my hand around in a desperate attempt to keep them away. Yet even my last futile struggle was cut short as another of the sickly twisted tendrils encased my arm and burnt through the material of my shirt.

They continued their snake like advance; “Kill the freak! KILL THE FREAK!!!

They broke into a run, clawed at me, eating me down to the bone whilst continuing the deathly moan drowned out by my screams of agony.



I woke up in a cold sweat with my face in my hands. I couldn’t handle this. It was too much. The guilt was out of control, I couldn’t think straight. The darkness, the destruction, and the death I would cause.

I tried to stand but my legs wouldn’t support me.

The bathroom, I just needed to get there, splash some water on my face and it should stop.

All I needed to do was cool off somehow and the pain would go away.

The fear suddenly took hold once more and this time it wouldn’t let go. It controlled me; I couldn’t do anything I felt myself losing all will completely.

Sudden sickness lurching forwards, I couldn’t stop it. I vomited several times; the stomach acids scorched my throat like fire.

I saw an alarmed figure stand at my bedroom doorway but the rest was a haze.

THEY ARE COMING...

TO BE CONTINUED...