New Generation

Finding A Name

She leaned back and stretched, arching her back sharply.  The four other people who she had met up with before sat in a circle with her, how they sat matching them.  Raven was curled up, resting her head on top of her tightly folded knees, arms wrapped around her legs.  Pixie sat with her back very straight with her hands clasped loosely in her lap.  Levi sat with his legs apart, elbows rested on his knees and hands woven togther.  Sam was in a similar position to when they saw him on the bench. 

 "So why aren't you going to give us a name?" Sam asked, sneering at her.  She returned his jibe with a cold look, warning him against provoking her.  Raven shook her head slowly.  Just as she was about to tell Sam off, a spark of inspiration dawned in her. 

"Mira.  That good enough for you?" she said, staring straight at Sam, adding a cutting undertone to her voice after saying her new name.  Sam smiled meanly back at Mira, openly challenging her.

"I like that name," Raven said.  Despite her small frame, Raven was bold.  She wasn't going to let Sam walk all over Mira. 

"So what are we going to do next?" Levi asked, changing the topic.  Everyone in the room, the quiet apartment that Pixie had offered to let everyone stay at, looked off, focusing on nothing.  The question made them all uncomfortable because it was their futures at stake.  They all knew that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to explain what had happened to their families and friends.  Raven looked at the floor, her eyes clearly stuck in a reverie, and Mira was almost sure that Raven would have no problem with never seeing her family again.  If she had one.

"I'm not sure my parents would recognize me," Pixie said blankly, like she was in a dream and not reality and none of this made any impact on her.

"Everyone would recognize me, but they wouldn't understand some things that changed," Mira said contemplatively.  Levi and Sam looked over at her quickly, surveying her as if they didn't believe her.  She scowled at them, telling them to back off.  Sam shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter because I'm not going back," Sam said casually.

"Same here," Raven added.  Mira knew it.

"I'm in the same position as Pixie.  I don't look anything like I did yesterday," Levi said.  Pixie nodded absentmindedly. 

"I think we should find out more about the flash from yesterday.  I think that's the real cause of all of this," Mira proposed, her calmness relaxing the tension in the other people.  "Since it was worldwide, there has to be a huge number of others in the same situation.  And if there are so many, it's only a matter of time until it becomes a focus and people start looking into it, in-depth."

"But who knows when that will be?  We're too scared to tell even our family members.  How can other people have the strength to talk to strangers?" Levi asked, panic already breeding.

"I'll tell them.  I'll tell everyone," Mira said forcefully, absolutely no fear in her voice.  Raven edged her eyes over to Mira, double checking this, finding no untruth to it.  "The odds are in our favor.  I'm willing to put it out there, even if none of you come forward with me.  Eventually someone else will."

Sam stood up and paced around for a moment until walking up to the wall and resting his forehead on it, his back to the circle of people.  Levi tapped his foot rhythmically on the floor.  Pixie stared at the ceiling, watching a moth dance around the light.  Raven and Mira were looking at each other, having a conversation of looks rather than words.

"I'll back you up," Raven said simply.  Mira smiled at her.  Raven was going to be the bravest, she could already tell.

"Me too," Sam spoke to the wall, not even bothering to turn around. 

Levi sighed heavily, still trapped in internal debate.  Pixie was still staring off into the void.

"I don't know what else we can do.  Honestly, there really isn't anything else.  And the changes in our looks may not be the only thing that has changed," Mira continued.  "We don't have any idea how deep this runs, past our skin, muscles, and bones, maybe into our minds, maybe something else we can't even imagine." 

Sam rubbed the back of his neck. 

"That's not very conforting," Levi droned.  Pixie started humming a tune, like she wasn't even listening to the conversation.  Mira guessed that she wasn't.  "I just want to go back to my family and friends and forget all this.  I don't want any more changes."

"Accept it, man," Sam said tiredly.  "This is life now," he added with a dangerous smile.  Mira watched him, wary.

"With time, you'll come to combine the old you and the new you," Raven said softly, attempting to comfort Levi, though her eyes were still on Mira.  "Whatever confusion you have now will slowly be wiped away with understanding."

Levi stopped tapping his foot.

"I like how I am now," Pixie said with a wide, child-like smile.  "I'm pretty now.  That's nice."  Mira reflected on her voice.  Pixie's name fit her.  Her voice was light, very feminine with a high, but still soft, pitch.  She sounded so unbelievably innocent.  Raven smiled at Pixie, encouraging her positivity.

"It's not like I don't like being suddenly muscular and good looking," Levi said exasperatedly, "but I don't like what I have to give up because of it."

Mira started thinking about what the other people might have looked like before they changed, just like she had for a moment when she had found Raven.

"I don't know about you four, but all that changed with me was my hair and some minor things on my body.  How exactly did each of you change?" Mira asked.  Sam let out a harsh laugh.

"Knew it.  I knew you were freaking gorgeous before," Sam said bitterly.  Levi looked at Mira again, his eyebrows raised.  Raven smiled, as did Pixie.  "Well, as for myself, I was skinny and average before.  Nothing special.  But you, oh not at all like you." Sam laughed bitterly again.

"I'm with Sam on those changes," Levi said meekly, suddenly awkward again.  "I was a bony nerd before.  My hair was dark brown though, so it changed like yours."

"I was less than average," Pixie crooned softly.  "But now I'm very pretty."  She looked at the moth on the ceiling again, Mira sensing something dark in her past.

"I looked pretty much the same as well, Mira," Raven said quietly.  "My hair turned from light brown to black, and I got thinner."

"And none of us are using our real names because of how different we look," Mira said softly, something like shame making her quiet.  But she wasn't ashamed.  Just feeling shunned.

The lack of an answer told her that she was right.