19
Julia
“That’s not what it looked like,” I say calmly hands facing him.
He steps out of range of my hands. “Don’t point those at me.”
“I think he just tripped. Thank goodness, right?” My voice is too high to be convincing.
Did that really just happen?
A superhero? Yeah right. I never thought … I never even imagined. Oh my God, what even happened? It was like little puffs of electricity shot from my hands. I had been thinking about stopping Camo Shirt. Then I did.
In other news, I also feel amazing. Like I just detonated, because I sort of just did? I feel so much better. Except for the growing sense of dread as the kid grows more excited.
He’s looking at me with wide eyes, hopping up and down with barely controlled energy.
“That didn’t happen,” I say. “Whatever you think you saw.”
He rolls his eyes. “Yes. That really happened,” the kid yells and then quiets his voice.
“No. Wait. What do you think you saw?” I step toward him and he eyes my hands wearily.
“Uh, you shot freaking lightning or something from your hands and he went flying.”
My head shakes as I process. “He came at us. Tripped on the curb and left,” I say, trying to convince both of us.
“Sure. That’s what it will look like if the security camera caught it.” He thumbs to a small camera in the corner. It’s pointed at the video rental kiosk but very much in our general direction.
A different sort of panic hits me. What would that look like on tape? Would they see my glowing hands? Would they see the impact from my non-touch?
“Security camera.” I groan.
My bones feel heavy with stress. The world tunes out around me. Damage control. What can I do? I can ask to see the footage. Maybe say we were attacked? No. Nobody will even notice unless something happened. Better not to draw attention to it.
The kid is ranting. He paces, unable to stand still. “I knew something weird was happening at those labs. My brother thinks I’m crazy. Can’t wait to tell him.”
That settles into me. “No. No. No.” I step in front of him to get his attention. “You didn’t see anything,” I say slowly, holding his gaze. Maybe I have mind control powers. I dunno.
“Yeah. I did. Your hands turned white and little puffs of light shot into his chest causing him to fall back.”
My jaw falls open. Well, shit.
“This is amazing!” He’s sort of walking backward and hobbling around.
“You’re in shock. You think you saw something,” I try desperately.
“Listen, lady. I saw what I saw.”
Iahemto try another tactic. I grab his shoulders and he stills, looking skeptically at my hands on his shoulders. I drop them immediately. I can’t believe I did that.
“Please. You can’t tell anybody.” His face remains unimpressed. “I bought you condoms!” I add.
His face scrunches. “Ah, man. But my brother would love this. He loves lasers.”
“Please, you can’t. What’s your name?” I try.
He looks suspicious.
