fragile time

~chapter 4~

This is the price that I pay for the power that I hold. You know the saying, 'With great power comes great responsibility.' That's never been more true. I was born with this power, but really, it's more like a curse. Whenever I use it, it hurts— physically. All my strength is gone and the wind is knocked out of me, and I can only kill one person at a time. Sometimes, it happens whenever I get very angry, so sometimes I destroy random things by accident. Honestly, I would do anything to get rid of it. In the wrong hands, though, the Death Glare is very dangerous.

My brain frantically searched for a response. "I, um..." Usually, in these kinds of situations, I would have a witty comeback on the tip of my tongue, but now I was left speechless. "I can see someone meaning that." I covered my alarm with awkward laughter.

"Yeah." Emily muttered. "Everything will get better, I'm sure." She quickly added.

"Should we tell the team?" I blurted. We didn't have much proof that this wasn't some sort of joke, but murder is no joking matter. We had to find out who did this, and get them arrested. I wasn't sure what kind of game whoever wrote this was talking about, but I wasn't playing.

"If you're comfortable, we could get their input. I know you're worried, Summers, but there's always light at the end of the tunnel."

"I don't think there's light at the end of this tunnel."

"Then it's a good thing we brought matches, huh?" She finished with a forced smile.

~✶~

My last two classes were a blur. I had no friends in 'Human Studies: English Language Arts', so I was by myself most of the time.

The only time I wasn't, though, was when Rambo spoke to me. "Look at you all alone. No friends to save you this time?" He said with a smirk. Could he have been my admirer? No. I was overthinking. I had to calm down. Even if he was the author of the threat, I wasn't in the mood for his childish shenanigans. He may have been older in appearance, but I was older in spirit. I stared right at him, with blank canvases as eyes. Rambo shrugged and turned away, "What's got your wand tied in a knot, loser?"

In my last class of the day, 'The Barrier's History: Why It's Important', Emily, Lillith, and I all sat in awkward silence. At first, Lillith tried to make conversation, "What was the purpose of the sudden meeting?" After she received a dry answer from Emily, she knew something was wrong. The three of us waited until after school to discuss anything.

Every day after classes were over, we would go to either the treehouse or Xavier, Blade, and I's dorm. In each dorm, there were four people. However, our fourth roommate got moved after punching a teacher— apparently, we were a bad influence. His name was Wes; since he left, the school staff never bothered to give us another one.

Today, we were meeting in the treehouse. We each arrived at different times, as some classes let out earlier than others. When we were all finally in the treehouse, half of us were laughing and talking, while the other half was silent as a mouse.
"Okay, guys, listen up!" Emily started, getting everyone's attention, "We have some—" She glanced toward me for reassurance. " —uhm, ... news."

"Are you tw—" Taylor began, grinning, but she was silenced by Lillith.

"Handing it over to Summers now."

That was my que to speak. Everything was okay, right? "Um, thanks. If you can't tell, what I'm about to tell you isn't good news. At first, we weren't sure if we should tell you, but we decided we wanted to get your opinions on the matter. We don't know where this came from, who sent it, why it was sent, but we do know what it means. It was a note left here, addressed to me. Uh, if any of you left this here as some sort of prank, own up now, because this is serious."