Aquila's Tears

The Discovery

               I woke up the next morning feeling like my head was submerged under a thousand tons of water. The sun was too bright, and I squinted angrily at my window raising my hands to shield myself from the light. How dare the weather be so nice outside when I felt so miserable? I sat up in bed propping myself up on my elbows trying to gain some sense of stability as the memories of the night before began to bubble into my consciousness. My irritability rose as flashbacks of Derek refusing to release me. I looked down at my hands and felt a light tingle in the palm that released the charge that set me free from him. I mindlessly massaged that hand and the tingles began to dissipate as the beautiful face of the dark-haired green-eyed man popped into my mind. My heart suddenly pounded in my chest which resonated loudly in my head. I clutched at my pounding head and groaned. Why did that damn man cause such a strong response in me?

            I got out of bed and headed to the kitchen in search of food and medicine to mellow my monster of a hangover. Mira and Cal were nowhere in sight and I was comforted by the silence. I pulled a breakfast burrito out of the freezer, rolled it up in a paper towel, and popped it into the microwave. I then poured a glass of water and quickly threw back two ibuprofen. The kitchen was dark, only illuminated by the buzzing microwave. I squinted at the clock and realized it was almost noon. When the microwave announced my food was done I reached for the food.

            “Good morning, sunshine” Mira was standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee in hand watching me. She made me jump, almost dropping my burrito in the process.

            “Damn, Mira!” I shouted, placing the hot burrito on the counter. “You scared the s**t out of me!”

            “Sorry,” she smiled “Sorry! I wondered if you would ever wake up, but knew better than to disturb the dead. How are you feeling?” she flicked on the kitchen light and walked the rest of the length inside the kitchen. I glared at the sudden light.

            “I feel like shit.” I grabbed my burrito and headed over to the dinning table which was just out of the reach of the kitchen’s light. “Remind me never to drink that much again.” I groaned.

            “Well I don’t think the 3 margaritas afterwards were much help. Mixing liquors is always fun until the next day arrives.” Mira chuckled as she sat her coffee cup in the sink before joining me at the table, and this time she didn’t bother with the light.

            “You’re probably right.” I sighed, finishing off my burrito and downing my glass of water.

            “Hey,” Mira’s tone suddenly softened as a look of concern washed over her face “are you feeling okay? Like, does your hand hurt?”

            “No, it was a little tingly when I woke up,” I replied, looking at my hand again before offering her it “but I may have slept on it wrong. I slept pretty hard and didn’t dream at all. I was knocked out!”

            “You’re probably right.” Mira gently held my hand as she inspected it. “I wonder what it all means. Do you think you could do it again?”

            “I’m scared to try honesty.” I took my hand back and clenched it into a fist in front of my face. “It was triggered by pure fear and adrenaline. I don’t think I can get back into that mind frame safely.”

            “Maybe anger will trigger it, too” Cal piped up from the kitchen island idly munching on a peach.

            “How long have you been there?” Mira asked, clutching at her heart “You could have said something sooner!”

            “Doesn’t feel nice, huh?” I jabbed at Mira, luckily I had noticed Cal enter the room while Mira was inspecting my hand.

            “No, but for real,” Cal started again. “What if we got you really angry? Would that set off your powers again?”

            “I don’t see how we can safely test that. I don’t even know if we should, Cal.” Mira had her chin in her hand again glancing around the room in heavy thought.

            “What would even be the point?” I sighed standing up to refill my glass with water.

            “So, you could learn how to control it, duh.” Cal said while tossing the peach pit at my head.

            “Cal’s not wrong,” Mira piped up “If you learned how to control it you would be less likely to accidentally hurt someone.” My heart dropped. Were they afraid of me, now? Does that mean they’ll leave me? My mind was in a whirlwind of negative thoughts.

            “Look, I’m not going to hurt anyone!” I was getting worked up. “If anyone gets me in that mindset then they deserve what’s coming to them!” I shrieked, clenching the glass in my hand.

            Suddenly, the lights in the kitchen grew brighter than they had ever been before every bulb simultaneously exploded from their sockets. Glass rained down on Cal and me.

            “Oh my god, Cal!” I sat my water down on the counter and ran over to him cutting my foot on glass in the process. “Are you okay?!”

            “I’m fine.” Cal reached out and rubbed the sides of my arms to calm me. “You’re bleeding!” he said, looking down at my feet.

            “Don’t move you two.” Mira calmly got up, flipped on the lights to the dining room to see better, and grabbed the broom from the pantry. She was wearing her house slippers whereas Cal and I were barefoot. “I’ll sweep up the glass. Cal, help Aurora sit on the counter so we can get a better look at her feet. Just be careful of the glass.”

            Cal picked me up gently and placed me on the counter while Mira silently swept up the glass. Cal had a worried look on his face but said nothing. They were right. I needed to get control of myself. Why did these powers just now surface? It made no sense. I was scared that they would leave me, and I would be all alone again.

            “Did I do that?” I whispered into the silence.

            “I think,” Mira hesitated. “I think you did, but that’s okay. We are going to work through this together.”

            “Yeah,” Cal smiled at me “Don’t worry, Aurora, like we said last night we’re not going anywhere. You’re stuck with us.”

            “More like you’re stuck with me.” I grumbled and they both laughed.

            I was grateful for Cal and Mira more than words could describe. The thought of losing them terrified me. I knew that we would go our own separate paths in less than a month, but the distance never scared me like the fear of losing them due to my own newfound abilities. I was afraid that they feared me and would run away from me forever. That fear was strong enough to set off my powers to explode the bulbs in their sockets. At that moment I realized that bulbs blowing around me while I was emotional was a common occurrence, but they had never burst like they did. It never happened often enough to make the correlation until now. I have the ability to manipulate electricity, but how do I learn how to control it when I’m even beginning to fear it?

            “Look,” Mira approached me with the first kit in hand. “I knew from the day I met you that you were special and different, and on that day I vowed to myself I would always look out for you. Now let me see your damn feet. You’re lucky I’m in medical school.” She scolded with a smirk.

            Mira carefully removed the glass shards and cleaned the wounds. Luckily, I didn’t need stitches and she said I would live after slapping big band aids on the bottom of my feet. Cal got to work on carefully replacing the blown bulbs from the sockets for new ones. I decided to take a bath to calm my nerves. I had a lot to think about and figure out. How in the world was I going to get these powers under control? I couldn’t be the only one with these abilities.

            I drew the water and tossed in a lavender bubble bath bomb. As the water began to rise the tub quickly filled with aromas of lavender bubbles and I inhaled deeply. This scent always soothed me to my core and I gratefully accepted the calm that washed over me. Once full I turned off the tap and lowered myself ass first into the water being sure not to get my freshly bandaged feet wet. The warmth of the water soothed the remainder of this morning’s hangover, and I felt my whole body relax. I exhaled deeply as I laid back and became one with the soothing waters.  My mind gently drifted to the man’s face again. His eyes were gentle, but there hid a silent fear and sadness within them. Who was the man with the childlike eyes? What made me want to console him and hold him? I closed my eyes and took in the image of him. The man in my mind’s eye smiled causing my heart to melt. Could I ever be the reason for him to smile like this? Would I ever see him again? I wanted to stay in this moment with the smiling man, and I began to drift off to sleep.

            “Aurora.” I heard a deep unfamiliar voice beckon my name, and I shot up dragging my feet into the water to catch my balance. I frantically looked around the small bathroom, but no one was there. I knew for a fact that wasn’t Cal’s voice either. My heart was racing. Was that just a dream? Realization sunk in that my feet were now soaking in the water with me.

            “s**t!” I quickly shot my feet back onto the side of the tub, but it was too late. The bandages were soaked and laden with soapy bubbles. I turned the tap back on to rinse the bubbles off of the band aids before carefully removing them from the bottom of my feet. They were soaked through with blood, but the bottoms of my feet were no longer bleeding. In fact, upon closer inspection, the wounds were almost entirely healed.

            “What the f**k?” I said aloud while rubbing at the bottom of my left foot where the deepest cut had been there was now fresh skin and only a shadow of an indent where the cut had been. I began screaming for Mira. I heard her slam open my bedroom door, and run to the bathroom door.

            “What?! What is it?!” she shouted from the door before opening it and coming inside “Are you okay?!” she was out of breath and had a wild look of fear in her eyes. I could see Cal peeking his head in from my bedroom doorway with a look of concern plastered to his face.

            “Look at my feet!” I pointed the bottoms of my feet towards her and when she got a better look her face dropped.

            “What in the world?” her jaw hung slightly open as she gently grabbed my left foot and inspected the damage or rather the lack thereof. “I have never seen this before! How did it heal so quickly? I almost had to stitch this foot! That happened only an hour ago and there is no way that this could have healed this quickly!”

            “What’s going on?” Cal shouted from my bedroom doorway “Aurora, are you okay?”

            “Cal, get in here” Mira said, fully engrossed in my feet forgetting about my decency.

            “Wait! Can’t I get a towel first?” I detested “Cal close the bedroom door, so I can get dressed, and I’ll show you too.” I pulled my feet away from Mira as Cal shut the bedroom door, and I stood up in the bath. There was no pain at all when I stood on them when an hour before I was hobbling around in pain not sure if I could go to work the next day. I quickly rinsed off all of the bubbles while Mira stood there with her chin in her hand deep in thought per usual. She handed me the towel when I was done, and helped me step out of the tub afraid I would suddenly feel pain.

            “I’m okay,” I reassured her, “It doesn’t hurt any more, like at all! I am so confused.”

            “Me too,” Mira said, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in thought “Get dressed so we can show Cal and see what he thinks.”

            I quickly threw on some shorts and a shirt and opened my door to let Cal in. He almost fell when I opened it, because he had been resting his ear to the door trying to listen. He caught himself and flashed us a big grin.

            “So what’s all the commotion?” he asked. I sat down on my bed and kicked my feet up towards him and Mira. They both sat on the floor to get a better look with looks of awe slapped across their faces. They each took one foot and gently touched at the places where the wounds once were.

            “Does this hurt at all?” Cal said pressing lightly and then harder watching my face for pain.

            “No, not at all.” I was flabbergasted. “I don’t understand.”

            “I do,” Cal retorted while dropping my foot “This is another one of your abilities! You’ve got the power of lightning, and now super healing abilities. I wonder what will come next! This is so cool!”

            “Maybe Cal’s right.” Mira mused, finally looking up from my foot. “This could be another ability that you’ve developed, but what in the world triggered this? Have you noticed any other incidents of you healing this quickly?”

            “Hmm…” I thought about it quickly “No, not that I can remember. This is really freaky! Should I go to the hospital?”

            “No!” Cal and Mira shouted in unison.

            “They’ll just want to run tests on you, and possibly make you a test subject. It’s best to just leave it be. Trust me,” Mira grabbed my hand to reassure me “I have seen some crazy stuff happen to people with abnormal bodily functions for the sake of medicine.” Mira’s eyes were dark as she remembered something she rather not.

            “Okay then.” I sighed “I guess I just have super healing abilities now. I guess that can’t be too bad.”

            “Yeah! You’re lucky! I bet if you break a bone you’ll heal within one day!” Cal beamed. I c****d my head to one side and squinted my eyes thinking of the possibilities.

            “Hey, don’t get any crazy ideas you two. This is an ability that we don’t need to test its limits. That can be dangerous for Aurora.” Mira stood up “I can’t believe it, but your feet look like nothing ever even happened to them.” I folded my leg so I could get a better look at my foot for myself, and sure enough there wasn’t even a scar left.

            “Woah.” I whispered.

            “Too cool!” Cal squealed.

            “Well, at least now I don’t have to worry about missing work tomorrow.” I beamed trying to make light of the situation.

            “Yeah, but I’m not so sure you should still go to work tomorrow. We don’t know if there are any lasting side effects of your abilities yet, Aurora.” Mira gave me a serious look. “I still think you should call out.”

            “Doctor knows best! Now that the excitement is over I have to get ready for class.” Cal smirked as he exited my room.

            “Yeah, I have to get going too. I promised my classmate Michelle that I would go over the biology notes from the class she missed the other day.” Mira stopped herself at my doorway and turned to look at me “Are you going to be okay here alone? You could always come along if you want.”

            “Go. I’ll be fine.” I reassured her. “Plus, Biology is boring and I much rather spend my time getting ready for my own finals.”

            “Okay,” she sighed “Call me if you need anything.” She said as she exited.

            “I will.” I called after her.

            I laid back on my bed while I listened to the sounds of my roommates rushing to gather their things to leave for the day. I heard the front door slam shut and the apartment fell completely silent. The clock on my desk read 2:00 pm. I was in no mood to focus on studying, so I decided since my feet were healed, I would take advantage of that, and go for a walk to clear my head. I got up, twisted my hair into two braids framing either side of my face, threw on socks and my running shoes, and headed towards the kitchen. I filled up one of the reusable bottles, slapped on a pair of sunglasses, and headed out the front door.

            “Ah, s**t!” I heard a girl to my left say as the bottom of the box she was carrying slips open and drops the contents onto the ground.

            “Oh, no!” I cry while running over to her “Here let me help you with that!” I grabbed the bottom of the box where it was torn and helped her lower it safely to the ground without dropping anything else.

            “Thank you so much!” The girl’s blue eyes sparkled at me as she pushed back her black bangs from her face. She looked to be a few years younger than me, but was about an inch taller than me.

            “No problem here let me help you” I said, picking up some of the books that had fallen out of the bottom of the box. “Are you just moving in?”

            “Yeah, just got the keys today!” she beamed “I couldn’t hold my excitement and had to move in today. The name’s Lenora!” She pushed open the front door to her apartment motioning us inside.

            “Nice to meet you, Lenora.” I began to follow her “I’m… oh s**t”. I heard a very familiar whistling tune coming from the bottom of the stairs. Without thinking I quickly ducked inside Lenora’s apartment closing the door behind me. She stared at me concerned.

            “Is everything okay?” She asked, taking a step away from me in shock.

            “Yeah, I’m sorry.” I pleaded “My ex is outside, and I wasn’t thinking, and I’m sorry if I scared you. I don’t mean any harm. I just can’t be around him. He tried to hurt me, and…”

            “Shh…” Lenora closed the distance between us and held onto my arm in a comforting gesture “It’s okay. I understand. I’ve had some horrible exes myself. You can stay here until he’s gone. After all, what are neighbors for, right?'' She smiled at me letting go of my arm.

            “Lenora,” a rough male’s voice came from the hallway that led to the bedrooms “who is this?” I turned to see a strikingly handsome man who was about my age with brown shaggy hair, and the same piercing blue eyes as Lenora. He was tall and lean with pale freckled skin.

            “Oh,” Lenora turned to me. “This is my brother, Elric. Elric, this is… oh I didn’t catch your name.”

            “I’m so sorry!” I had completely lost my wits hearing Derek walking up the stairs. I had forgotten my manners “I’m Aurora. I live in the apartment next door.”

            “Aurora?” Lenora had a strange emotion flash across her face, but quickly replaced it with a smile and faced her brother “She helped me out when one of the boxes I was carrying ripped, and now I am helping her hideout while her ex-boyfriend is out in the hallway. Would you be a dear, and go get the rest of the box, Elric? It’s still out there, and please let us know if the coast is clear. Thank you!”

            “Yeah, whatever.” Elric grumbled as he exited the apartment “Father’s not going to like this.”

            “Well what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Lenora called after him.