F0RTUNA

2

It has been exactly 16 hours since... that.

A red gash, a red cut, a red stroke in the sky.

Whatever that was caused a huge lightning bolt to strike the entire city.

Everyone seemed normal. Walking to school, chatting with their friends (possibly about what happened yesterday), many of which are using their phones as well.

Notifications flooded my phone, some from my social media, and some from news applications regarding the lightning incident.

The information I have gathered is that some people were also affected by... whatever happened yesterday with Rebecca. Talking about Fortuna and instructions and mutants.

This seemed like a normal occurrence. Some of my classmates told me that they also started talking weirdly after the lightning struck and have no idea why it happened. I started questioning them on how they felt. All they answered was:

"I was conscious but I couldn't control what I was saying."

Absolutely strange.

Green light. I crossed the road with my head down low and I scrolled through the texts. Then, an unexpected message.

"Matt, you weren't affected by the Fortuna message right?"

Calling the "talking" as "the Fortuna message" has an interesting ring to it. I dig it.

I quickly replied back.

"Nope. My sister was, but I wasn't."

An almost instant reply from my classmate.

"Well, I'm currently in class now, but I want to show you something. It's so weird."

Weird? I had enough weird things happen in one day. I texted back.

"What weird?"

A short pause before the next reply.

"Like, I can lift the teacher's desk with one hand."

What?

The more I looked at his reply, the more I doubted him. No. It's impossible. I don't think even the strongest bodybuilders could do that.

Well, maybe some of them can. But he surely isn't a bodybuilder. Josh is just some regular guy with regular grades and regular muscles. Heck, I could say he's weaker than me and I can't even imagine myself lifting the teacher's table.

I made a move for my classroom to witness.

The sky was no longer grey, but it looked dark blue with a small shade of red. Probably the aftermath of yesterday.

The classroom was a lot emptier than I thought. Only 7 people were in there. I was the 8th to arrive.

All 7 of them were surrounding the teacher's desk and Josh had an eager expression on his face as soon as I walked in.

"OK! OK! Matt, watch this."

I placed my bag down and walked over to the teacher's desk where the remaining students were.

Josh cracked his knuckles and placed his palms underneath the table.

And... he did.

He lifted the desk. A round of applause accompanied by a resounding gasp.

I froze. Is this normal?

"How? How is this happening?", I questioned.

Josh laughed. He placed the desk down and the crowd dispersed back to their seats. I was still shocked at what I saw.