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Part One Chapter One: Turning 13

We turned around to see Dr. Philips and about fifty other doctors behind us, all of them looking like they were ready for a fight. At that moment I felt a wave of emotions come over me. Fear, pain, and anger were the ones most prevalent. Then my worst fear came true. There standing in the far corner of the room, was the two men in black with their guns pointed and ready to shoot, but they weren't pointed at me They were pointed at my Uncle John. All of a sudden the memory of my mother dying came back to me, images of her being shot, of her dying, of the EMTs rushing to her, but not getting to her in time. I couldn't take losing my Uncle. I was prepared to do something, anything that might save him. I felt the heat of anger and fear in my face, felt my whole body burn with anger, everything around me was my enemy now and I was ready. I was ready to fight them, no matter the cost.

I was ready to throw punches and kicks that I had learned in self defense classes I had taken when I was younger, but something happened. Everyone that I had proclaimed as my enemy was cowering in fear, some of them actually running from me. The two men in black suits that were pointing their guns at my Uncle had lowered their guns and were watching me. I looked down at myself and saw the unbelievable. My whole body was on fire.

"Uncle John!" I screamed.

"God Destiny, I knew you were a hot head, but isn't this taking it a little bit to far?"

"Uncle John! What are you doing? Help me!"

"Just calm down." he said as if it was obvious.

"Uncle John, I'm on fire and all you're going to do is tell me to calm down?"

While Uncle John stood around doing nothing, I was frantically trying to pat them out. I noticed something unusual, I was on fire but I wasn't burning. The only thing happening to me was that I was slowly getting tired.

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that your mom never told you?" he asked.

"Told me what? If it has something to do with this I'm going to have to give you a big fat no on that one. Now help me!" I said.

"Okay, okay. This is going to sound crazy, but you're going to have to trust me and just do it."

"Okay! Just hurry up, I'm getting really tired."

"Okay, all you need to do is calm down."

"Seriously! You're not supposed to tell a woman to calm down in a normal situation, never mind when they're on fire!" I said.

"First of all, you're not a "woman." You're thirteen. Second of all, if you don't trust me on this, you are going to die." He said matter-of-factly.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head down to block out the world around me. I emptied my mind of all thoughts and questions that had been consuming every minute of my life since her death. Every nightmare forgotten, but nothing happened.

"Uncle John, it's not working."

As I said this, I started to realize how tired I was. It was starting to get really hard to stand and to talk for that matter. I was starting to slip back into unconsciousness and I was starting to feel a burning sensation on my leg. Was shock wearing off and I was finally starting to feel the pain? How did I catch on fire in the first place? How was I able to walk when a minutes ago, I couldn't lift myself out of bed? All these questions were starting to cloud my mind and I felt the fire around me grow stronger and the pain in my leg grew more prevalent. I was starting to feel the fire all over me.

"Destiny, sometimes it takes a little more than just calming down. I want you to remember a time where you felt peaceful, or calm." He said.

"Okay."