Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Waking up the next morning, my hat is halfway across the cot and rubbing the area on the back of my head, I am thankful that the skin is back to normal. Checking my chest area, fear strikes through me as I find the skin still very rough and hard. Why hasn't it gone away since last night?

It always disappears overnight or over a long period. Putting on a really baggy sweatshirt it creates static with my oversized long sleeve shirt.

I keep my head down at school and completely avoid my locker this time around. I always end up taking all of my books back to the shelter anyway, so what does it really matter. Sitting down for lunch, I pick away at the school's shitty food and am just thankful that is free. Somehow T wiggled me into the school's free lunch program, I still don't know how, but I am thankful that I can eat two meals a day between the school and the shelter.

Looking out across the cafeteria, I see people scattered everywhere. The buzz of chatter is quite loud, but I am thankful that no one is paying attention to me. I eat quickly and slip out the back of the cafeteria and head up to the library to get some more work done. I don't have an internet connection at the shelter, so I need to take care of all online assignments now. Trying to focus on the work in front of me, I can feel my skin tightening some more as time continues to pass and I try to ignore it as much as possible, but I feel like someone is twisting that part of body tighter and tighter, eventually, something has to give.

Walking home from school today, I stick to all of the main streets and try to keep out of trouble. The last thing I need is T becoming fed up with me and leaving me out to dry. Technically nobody is supposed to be in the shelter for more than three days at a time, but somehow, she found a loophole. Well, it's more that she reports me as a different name every three days and the company she works for doesn't notice.

I start to sweat as I continue to walk back to the shelter, and I yank off my two sweatshirts and stuff them into my backpack. I would need to do wash soon; my clothes are starting to smell slightly. Counting some of my quarters, I should be able to do wash with next week's allowance from T, she always gives me a few dollars for showering and doing wash when possible.

As I near the shelter, the pain in my chest intensifies and it makes it harder for me to breathe. I stop and lean against a wall and try to catch my breath, but the skin continues to tighten and I can feel a strange energy bouncing around in the crystals. Running my fingers over the uneven, yet smooth black crystals that have formed I am frustrated as to why they are still there. Pulling out my phone, I try to text T, but my hand cramps, and my phone drops. Bending over, I try to get it, but another surge has me stuck in that position.

Tears burn in my eyes as I try to breathe through it, but nothing seems to be helping. Something tells me that I need to expel the pent-up energy from being shot. But how on Earth do I do that? I try to ignore this blasted mutation as much as possible, it's not like I sit around pondering how it works! Forcing myself to breathe in and out, the pain continues to persist and build for a few moments before something inside me clicks.

Squeezing the muscles around my chest area, a scream wants to slip out of my lips, but I clamp my mouth shut tight. Tears pour down my face as I drop to my knees and continue to tense every muscle in my body. Slowly I feel it, something tearing before an explosion of energy surges out of my chest knocking me backward into the wall. I feel the skin harden on my back some and I curse into the air.

Sitting on the ground for a few moments, I collect myself before pushing myself back to my feet. Looking around I don't see anyone in the immediate area, and I just hope that no one witnessed that. Looking down at myself, I see a massive hole in the chest of my shirt, and I can't help the frustrated noise I make. I don't have a lot of clothes, to begin with! Pulling one of my sweatshirts back on I head back into the shelter.

Days continue to fly by, and I am thankful for the quiet week that I have, I don't think I could have handled any more excitement after having the skin on my chest explode. I am just excited to have my body appear normal again, I don't want to worry about being some crystal mutant who can explode right now, I just want to focus on school.

Once school ends on Friday, I head over to the library a couple of blocks away and get a lot of my homework done. I spend hours there working through a lot of the online activities I have to do. I hate when my teachers assigned things like this because I can't do them at the shelter. I stay until the library closes and I achieve everything I needed to have done for Monday.

I begin my walk home, in a different and shorter direction, considering it is starting to become dark. I don't like walking around in the dark, it isn't safe in this part of town and I would be an easy target. Although they would have a hell of time hurting me, I don't need any more trouble. As I continue to walk, the smell of smoke hits my nose and overloads my senses. Coughing slightly, I peer around wondering who is starting a dumpster fire to stay warm tonight.

As I continue to walk towards the shelter, the sound of fire crackling pretty close by catches my attention and I can see the little bursts of flames coming from a building only two blocks away from me. Those flames are too high to be a dumpster fire. Turning on my heel I start running towards the smell and nearly run into a crowd of people. Looking up I see a smaller, six-story brick apartment complex; completely ablaze. The screaming of people inside shakes me to my core and my body freezes in shock as I see people hanging out of the windows trying to escape somehow. No alarms are going off and it hits me that the sprinkler system is probably broken.

The urge to vomit consumes me and bile burns in my throat as tears plague my vision making it hard for me to see. I wipe my eyes pretty roughly and start trying to see what floors everyone is on and I notice that most of the people seem to be on the top floor of the building, maybe that's where the fire started and trapped them.

"Someone please, save my baby!" A mother's terrified voice screams.

As if in slow motion I watch as she throws the baby towards the crowd of onlookers and residents. Adrenaline courses through me as I dart through the crowd. Looking for something to get myself higher up, I leap up onto the hood of a car before jumping off of it towards the burning building. Extending my arms as much as humanly possible, I feel a soft form smack into me and pull the crying child into my arms. Bending my knees, I hit the ground hard. I feel the crystals covering parts of my feet and covering my ankles and shins. Looking at the small, pale, child in my arms another surge of adrenaline courses through me and I hand the child off to someone who came over to help me.

Dropping my bag and darting into the building I dodge burning debris and run into the stairwell. I see the whole area is on fire, but I grip the banister in the center and start scaling up. I feel my hands and arms starting to crystalize from the heat and I reach the top floor and dart down the hall to where I last saw people. Listening closely, I hear screaming from the other side. Stepping back to the other edge, flames flicker into my face and my face starts to harden. Tugging my hood closer I run straight at the door and smash it open. A few heads whip up in shock and I gesture for them to follow me.

Dropping to my knee, I grab a piece of wood and sprint down the hall, smashing every sprinkler and triggering it along the way. I run straight into another door and I feel my body harden again. Two children's screams reach my ears and I grab the cheap vase on the shelf next to me and chuck it at the sprinkler in the living room. Yanking open the closet door; I pick up the children and put one on my back and have the other one wrap around my front.

Jogging back down the hall, I hear an older voice calling out. The flames have died down on this floor, but it is becoming harder for me to breathe. Pushing the door open, I see a woman attached to an oxygen tank by the window screaming.

"Hey!" I call out and she spins around.

"Come here kids," I say moving the child from my front and back to my side and back. Grabbing the older lady careful I pick her up into my arms and the adrenaline is starting to wear off. Moving as quickly as I can I dart down the fire filled stairwell and back outside. Putting everyone down, the ambulances that just arrived immediately take them.

Turning back around, I listen for any more voices screaming out but find none. I am frustrated with how poorly kept so many of these apartment complexes are kept. Living on the worst side of this city is not only dangerous when you are out and about, but even dangerous in your apartment. There are so many building fires and shoot outs around here it is hard to keep track.

"Look out!" A voice screams out and I look around confused.

I have no strength left to move as the metal sign on the side of the building hurtles towards me. Trying to back up, I trip and the sign smashes into me. Pain sears through my body as everything crystalizes and becomes rigid, I can't move. A scream rips through my lips from the pain and I nearly blackout.

"Lift!" A few voices scream, and the sign starts to be lifted off of me slowly before being dropped again.

"Get away!" I scream as the crystals continue to harden further. My muscles start to tense and spasm and I know what it about to happen.

"We're going to get it off of you!"

"Get back!" I scream so loud my voice distorts as the crystals continue to consume me.

An unearthly noise slips through my voice as the energy building within me explodes. The world goes white for a few moments and I can't feel anything. Slowly everything comes back to me and I see that the sign is no longer on top of me and I am over a hundred feet down the street, away from all of the people. Standing up shakily I see that the sign impaled a neighboring building, but nobody seems to be hurt. My bag seemed to have moved with me, grabbing it from the ground I hear confused voices.

"Did anyone see where she went?"

"Where the hell did she go?"

"What was the explosion?"

Darting down the nearest alleyway, I collapse at the end of it as exhaustion consumes me. Looking for my flip phone, I find my pockets empty. Looking at my singed and tattered clothing, I am thankful I still have anything on after that kind of explosion. Leaning my head against the harsh brick wall, the stone pricks at my scalp but the pain is almost calming and a distraction from the sheer adrenaline that is coursing through my veins.

"Hey, are you okay?" A male voice says, and my eyes flick open and scan for the voice.

Looking over I see a young man, maybe twenty or so walking over towards me. Forcing myself to my feet, I straighten out my spine even though my body is screaming at me to sit back down. I level him a cold and bored look and he gives me a confused one in return."My name is Mason, are you alright? " He asks me, and I nod. He has bright brown eyes,

"Your clothes are all singed, were you in the fire?"

"No," I say before going to walk past him.

My body tenses as I brush past him, and I wait for him to reach out and grab me to stop me, but he doesn't. as I finish weaving through the alleys. I just need to get back right now, and anyone who tries to stop me from getting home will regret it.

Don't worry, I promise everyone's favorite characters are in this story too!!