Story Prompts #3

Prompt: When you have a gift, you don’t try to return or ignore it, and whatever you do you can’t call it a curse or you’ll only end up miserable. My gift happens to be . . .

Powers. In a world where having powers or even being caught using them was a crime. Yes, this would be a burden, a curse if you will, but Everything happens for a reason. Right?

When I got them I had to transfer to homeschooling. I couldn’t control them and my parents didn’t want me to get caught. They helped me hide them. My dad's an engineer and he made me these bracelets to contain my powers. Now I can go back to school. Starting high school is going to be the worst.

I head downstairs hoping to slip out of the house before anyone, only to be stopped by my dad.

“Headed out so soon, champ?” he says. I sigh.

“Yeah, I wanted to get there early and plan my escape routes.” I joke.

“Funny, come on have some breakfast and relax, everything will be ok,” he says and pulls out a chair for me. I rush to eat and head out right as mom comes downstairs.

“HAVE A GOOD DAY!” she yells out to me as I leave. I don’t want to hear her peppy talk.

The walk to the school is long but it gives me time to prepare myself. Stay calm and everything will be ok, I tell myself. Once I get to the school I take a look around to get a feel of where my classes are. So far not too bad. I got through my first set of classes able to be the quiet kid and not called on, but now for lunch.

After waiting in a long line for food, I try to find a spot where I can sit and not be bothered. My goal for the next 4 years is to get by unnoticed and graduate without a second thought. As I am eating, someone sits in front of me.

“Nice bracelets, where did ya get ‘em,” this typical exaggerated emo girl says. I just smile and continue to eat.

“What, you don’t talk? Come on, you can’t just slip by unnoticed? I noticed you.” she says. I panic for a minute thinking she knows, “so what kinds of music do you listen to?” she asks. I sigh in relief, she doesn’t know. I shrug, “Never have the time to listen to music.” I say quietly and quickly hoping she’ll go away after this.

“Realy? Why's that?” she asks. I sigh heavily. Why are people so noisy?

“Because I was homeschooled and my parents care more about education than free time,” I mumble.

“Damn that sucks, well not that you're not homeschooled anymore, maybe they'll be more lenient,” she says.

“Yeah right,” I replied.

“I’m sorry,” she says and leaves.

I sigh in relief. I look down at my bracelets and they are glowing. I quickly leave for the bathroom. I try to check them out but when I touch them they are scolding hot. I look into the mirror and my eyes are glowing a fiery red. SHHH… oh god. I try to stay calm. I try to get water to splash on my face but I melt the handles. I check my bracelets and they are melting off. Thanks, dad, great invention. I hear people coming in and hiding in a stall.

They come in and see the mess I created. They run out and yell, “THERE'S ONE IN THE SCHOOL” repeatedly. As the school becomes hectic. I try to run out being stopped by that emo girl. “It’s ok, I wanna help,” she says. She takes my hand, I try to warn her but she doesn’t wince. We race to the basement of the school and she shows me a secret tunnel.

“Good luck,” she says to me before closing the door behind me.