Gifts

by Ethan Marsh

XX

  I sit on the concrete, cold floor, meditating. The coldness does not bother me, neither the texture of the grit in the rough gravel.

  Everything around me is quiet and still, except for the orange flames that come out of the torches. Ashes pop out of the piece of wood, helping me stay calm and complete.

  Meditating is hard. Especially with the adrenalin. I try my hardest to stay still, and do one thing at a time, one thing only.

  In and out.

  After about thirty minutes of deep breaths, in and out, the objects around me start to bulge red, just had they done earlier, after the scan. After I ran away from the one person who could help me. I know what the bulging red is, and what its cause is.

  The adrenalin.

  Connie had told me about this, she never warned me, so I think of it as a good thing. To have these powers, it was in fact, a good thing.

  I lose track of time. My world starts to swirl around me as I sit there still. I am falling through a trap door that leads to a wormhole, taking me to another place. The color red flashes on and off in my sight, frightening me. I would wake myself up, but I have no idea how.

  It gets to the point where I can't go for much longer, but I cannot wake myself up. I panic, imagining myself to be shaking, in tremors, but I feel no movement at all.

  I feel nothing. Everything is quiet. Again.

  When I awake my cheek lays flat on the concrete.I still focus on my breathing.

  In. Out. In. Out.

  I sit up from the “dead” state that I was in for the past... time. I don't worry about the time.

  I need to learn to activate my powers, to protect me, or to attack. I stand up, and look at my hands. Small active flames spark from them. I do not feel any pain from the fire. Phenomenal.

  I flex my hands, bringing them out in front of me. I move slower, feeling dizzy, as I start to see my hands on fire. Embers spark, which make me flinch my hands, I put all of my focus into my hands, I start to sweat, I can feel the flames in my hands, they are just trapped within the flesh. Embers spread farther down my arms, to the point where my clothes start to catch on fire. Thankfully, they don't.

  Then they release.

  The flames smash out of my hands, and my chest tightens, as I keep them lit, starting to feel weak. I fall to my knees, and then my hands, and now arms, slowly turn back to the normal state, red and fiery.

  I stand right back up.

  I flex my hands, doing the same motions, trying to ignite the flames that came from my hands again.

  Sweat downpours from my hair, onto my face, my eyes start to water, then the embers come, just as they did before.

  I am trying as hard as I can to keep the embers awake. The flames do not burst though. I struggle for about a minute, then I relieve all of the pressure that once entered my body, as I collapse onto the ground, laying there, as I feel the disappointment of failure. I lay there for awhile, then close my eyes as sleep comes crashing down on me.