Sparks
Miles spent the whole next day looking over his shoulder. After the whole staying out past curfew and electrocuting a man he knew it was only a matter of time before the school found out or worse. His dreams weren’t helping either. They usually left him waking up in cold sweats and feeling exhausted.
“Dude I can’t you got away with it! I for sure thought the security guard would’ve caught you! That guy knows everything that happens in this school! It’s crazy!” Ganke told him after they met up after school on their way to their dorm. After spending the whole day paranoid, nothing came up from any of the staff about his breaking curfew.
“Shh! Keep it down before somebody hears you!” Miles forced his nerves to calm down, letting his rising stress go. “Sorry,” Ganke apologized, lowering his voice.
“Look just don’t say anything to anybody. It’s possible they didn’t realize. Just keep quiet,” Miles told his friend. The teen wasn’t completely convinced that this was the case but he didn’t have to worry about that until tomorrow. “Alright fine I will.”
“Thanks. Look I’m heading to the store, want anything?” Ganke shook his head. The two boys quickly bid each other goodbye before going their separate ways.
Miles kept his word and stopped by a convenience store to buy himself a little snack. He was hungry and school food wasn’t exactly edible. He look through all their treats and eventually picked out a bag of hot Cheetos. He walked up to the front to pay and waited as the cashier ringed him up.
“...Breaking News! Last night an incident involving a power plant explosion knocked out almost half of New York’s power leaving us in the dark for nearly four hours. The cause of this explosion is still unknown and the owners of the property, Alchemax, refuse to comment.…”
“Crazy huh?”
Miles looked at the cashier before glancing at the tv. “Uh..yeah. Insane.” Truth be told, he hadn’t even realized any of this went down. He was probably fast asleep by the time this happened. Also having a dad who fights crime for a living and sees weird stuff everyday kinda numbed him to weird stuff that happens around here.
Though it was strange that the company name Alchemax seemed so familiar to the younger student.
“Welp that’ll be two fifty.” Miles snapped himself out of his thoughts, handed over the change, took his snack from the counter then left. “Thanks for coming. Do come again.” The teen waved as he walked out the door. Ready to make his way back to campus, Miles took two steps when he noticed a familiar face hanging out across the street from him. It was the blonde girl from class!
Miles face lit up, this was his chance to speak to her! Maybe he’ll get her name this time. The teen made sure to look both ways across the street making sure the coast was clear of speeding vehicles before jogging across. Once he was across he watched the other teen stare down at her feet. She was sitting on some pair of concrete steps looking serious and slightly bored.
‘Come on Miles. You can do this.’
Slowly the teen took a step forward. The girl didn’t seem to notice him yet so he took a few more steps forward. He was so close to talking to the strange girl when suddenly she stood up from her seat. She walked towards the curb where a black car pulled up with tinted windows.
Disappointed, Miles watched as the car pulled away and drove off to the unknown. Maybe next time he’ll have more luck he told himself.
Miles walked through the front door of his dorm to find Ganke past out on his bed with a comic book over his face. It wasn’t a surprising sight to say the least.
The teen changed into a comfortable pair of clothes before opening the mini fridge they had to grab a drink. He opened the fridge and pulled out the apple juice. He opened it, taking a sip of the sweet drink before shutting the fridge. He took the drink into his his desk where he had his paper with all his markers waking for him. He sat down, setting down his juice, and opened his drawing book.
Miles began to freelance, drawing whatever he could think of.
It wasn’t long until he grew distracted. He thought about the incident yesterday with the men that tried to rob him. More specifically the part where he electrocuted a guy. Never before has he had this ability so why now? Did his dad know that he could do this? Was he gonna electrocute people for now on? Was that gonna be his thing?
Miles shook his head and looked down at his hands. He tried to make what happened then happen now.
Focus.
Miles shut his eyes and tried to focus. He tried to remember the feeling he felt when he had shocked that man and tried to recreate it. He counted down to three before his eyes flew open.
A few small sparks flew off his hands before nothing. Nothing else happened. Miles sighed and dropped his hands. Maybe it was a one time deal. A freak accident.
Maybe. Just maybe he had imagined it and somebody else shocked the man. Somebody he didn’t see. Miles convinced himself it was nothing and continued to work on his art.
However once the teen’s eyes looked away, he missed the small bright blue sparks flying off his hand.
That night Miles laid awake, staring at the ceiling afraid to shut his eyes. His dreams were becoming more and more consistent leaving him in a pool of sweat when he wakes up. They were vivid and felt like he was always actually there living through them. Sometimes they hadn’t felt like dreams which is completely insane because they were just dreams!
If they are just dreams then why are you lying awake, afraid?
The thought echoed through his head. He tried to come up with an answer but couldn’t seem to find the right one. He couldn’t explain away the strange dreams like he did with the whole sparks flying off his hands phenomenon. It tied his stomach to knots, leaving him with this gut wrenching feeling.
What is happening to me? He asked himself.
Miles took a shaky breath, tension filling all his limbs. He couldn’t control the rapid pacing of his heart and breathing. The room suddenly felt like it was closing in on him, growing smaller by the second. The teen couldn’t control his racing thoughts. In nearly seconds Miles curled up in a tight ball on his bed, shaking. He wasn’t sure when he started to calm down but when he did he thought, ‘I can’t be here.’
After having the thought run through his mind on repeat like a broken record Miles pushed himself off the bed. He didn’t have much time to think about where he was going but he threw his shoes on and jacket. However when he yanked his jacket off the chair he noticed something small fall out of his pocket. It was a piece of paper.
Miles picked the small piece of square paper off the ground and looked at the bold text on it. ‘Starlight Lounge’. It all came rushing back to him, it was the card Aaron gave to him. He looked at the address, instantly recognizing the street. It wasn’t too far. Making a decision, he grabbed his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He didn’t think twice before crawling out his open window. All he could think about was where he was going.