Too far

My back against the stone of the bridge, I sank down until I was sitting on the floor. At that point, I didn't really care what I looked like, I just wanted to feel connected to the ground: it was all I could do to stop myself from lying down.

A child zoomed by on a bike, only slightly curious to see someone sitting under a bridge. Perhaps that was the kind of thing she saw all the time?

With everything that had happened, it felt like the first time I'd been still for a long time. Here, with the stone at my back, and the earth under me, I felt at rest for a moment.

My mind was whirling. These incredible abilities I seemed to have been given, Lewis and his secret organisation, Kate and Mr Smith - they all seemed too much to take in. And Jen, too. We were assuming she was all right, but what did we really know?

And now, my abilities had taken a new turn, with these involuntary events: my hand sinking through metal, this bridge that I seemed to be drawn to.

Was I losing control of something that I hadn't even got used to yet?

And surely being able to travel in the blink of an eye, and to feel no pain - well, weren't these reasons to be amazed, overjoyed, to feel like a superhero?

The answer would have to be no.

I didn't seem to have had a moment to explore what I could do. Every time I'd used my abilities had been under duress, in desperation. I hadn't had time to reflect on, or wonder at, what I was able to do. And now, with the possibility of these abilities becoming more random, they were becoming something to fear.

I knew I should rejoin Kate at the guest house, knew also that we had to rescue Jen. But for the moment, that all seemed far away. Just being here, in the shadow of the bridge, felt seductively right.



Story begins here.