I opened my eyes for what felt like the millionth time in a day and groaned at the blinding light that met my eyes. I used my elbow to block the light and opened my eyes again to look at my surroundings.
I knew I was still in OASIS from all the high tech machines I could see and how white the room was. There was a large mirror facing me and I had the thought that there were people on the other side, watching my every move.
I sat up and waved at the mirror, hoping people at the other side would answer me.
But I was wrong, nobody answered.
I looked at my weak body in the mirror. My eyes had bags under them and my face looked slimmer, like I hadn't eaten in days. The bandage wrapped around my head was not hard to miss as it made me look even more miserable than I felt. After checking my face, I laid down back on the bed and waited to relax my nerves. I was no longer wearing the white uniform and my clothes were changed to the usual hospital gowns.
I was too tired to move around or even leave the place. I cringed as I remember my last conversation with Dr Linda and Joel before I fainted.
Why would she say I had no abilities?
She was wrong, right?
I definitely have abilities, I'm a killer, that's why I'm here.
Obviously, she didn't know what she was talking about.
I thought about them for so long, I felt mentally stressed. Before OASIS and that stupid bomb blast, anytime I was feeling overwhelmed, I had music to relieve me. Or food, or ice cream, or movies, or my troublesome siblings.
But now I had nothing.
I remembered the tune of a song from my favorite artist, Sia and used them to think happy thoughts. Most of her songs are sad songs but her songs have a way of making me happy.
I hummed the tune and relaxed, letting my mind go through my memories on their own.
I remembered my family, all the times we had, and how far we had come. I thought of how things changed for us and how I had to get to this place. I thought of Rissa and the whole place.
While that was happening, I felt lightheaded. But I couldn't care less, I'm in OASIS. Help is here.
So I shifted my body and closed my eyes to get some sleep.
When I opened my eyes next, I was far from sleep.
I was in a field. The field was wide but the ceiling was made of glass. I couldn't see the end of glass ceiling and I didn't bother. I looked around and saw the arrangements of training equipments from ancient to modern stacked on some wooden shelves.
Maybe my ability is teleportation.
Ha! Take that Linda!!
I saw a different sizes of clubs so I went to have a look. But long white hair blocked my vision.
I looked at myself and I was shocked.
I didn't have my black skin.
My legs were shorter.
My wild afros were replaced with long white hair, almost like ice.
I touched my head and confirmed it, I was in another person's body.
"Hey!!" I heard a man say and point at me. I pointed at myself in question and he nodded.
"Come up here! It's your turn to spar!"
Spar!! Who is my sparring partner? Why am I sparring in the first place? How did I get here!
I screamed those thoughts in my mind as I tried to look for an escape out of this place. I can go to Linda, maybe she'll help me.
"Me?" I asked the scary man again.
"Yes you! Come on up! Are you going to chicken out of this?" He asked, earning laughs from some people gathered around.
Hey! Who are you? I heard a small voice ask.
I don't know anything about mind conversation, all I knew was that as far as I was in her head, I could see what she saw. I could raise my hands and her hands will rise physically. We were both in control of her body. I was alone in a dark space and when she asked me who I was, she came to join me in the dark space and we just stood, looking at each other.
The girl had deep blue eyes and long, straightened white hair that almost reached her waist. Her skin was pale white and she was short.
Oh my God, You're alive. You were so quiet I thought you died somewhere. I waved at her.
How are you here? Who are you? Are you my fairy godmother? She asked.
What? No I'm not. I wish I had one though. I don't understand any thing that goes on in this place.
Exactly! She countered. How does Coach Griffith expect me to spar a 36 year old man?
Wait what?
That's what he's telling me-- you-- us to do. What are you even doing her anyways? I know I prayed for any form of help but are you my help? You don't sound like help. You sound like you need help.
I can assure you, I'm the last thing close to help right now. I don't think I can do anything for you.
What's your ability?
I paused for a moment, wondering whether to tell my sad story and crush her hopes of fighting this man. But then again, If I tell her I have abilities, she'll depend on me to fight. I can't have that.
While I was contemplating, I heard Coach Griffith call out her name.
"Debby Darwin!!! Come up here or you'll be doing a while lot of cleaning for the next three weeks."
Well??? Debby begged.
I don't have any.
What? What do you mean you don't have any?
I just told you, I don't have any abilities.
Of course you have!! You're in my head! Is that your ability? Invading personal spaces and having miserable conversations with people?
Hey!! I'm not that miserable. I have an ability. But I don't know how to control it, and I don't know how to call on it. All I know is that it appears when I'm overwhelmed with emotions and it's kinda destructive.
Well, I don't care. You're helping me win this. If you can't help, at least don't let him hit my face.
I can promise you on that. But I can't promise anything on my abilities.
Ok. I'll take my chances. I'm going to spar. In the meantime, overwhelm yourself with enough emotions else we both are going to be cleaning this place for three weeks.
I looked around and saw other people sparring, some were stained with blood from fighting and some were oozing out blood. Most of the trainees were either lying on the floor from exhaustion or they were unconscious. I saw a thin boy dragging a slumped body away from the ground to the bleachers surrounding the training area. The boy looked ready to faint and never wake up again and he dragged and cried from how heavy the body was.
I would hate to be that boy now.
That's enough motivation for me. Let's fight.
We moved to the Coach and he queried us for answering late, after giving us 2 laps around the training area after our fight as punishment. He told us to take our protective gear and put it on.
I watched Debby pad herself like a baby, she asked for a head gear that covers her face but one look from Coach had us running to the sparring space.
"Simon, won't you need your protective gear?" Coach asked.
"Nah! I'm fighting against Barbie. I don't need protective gear." Simon said and Debby rolled her eyes in response.
Simon stood smirking at us, obviously thinking about how easy this will be given Debby's small frame. The man was built, he had tan skin and grey eyes. His black hair was messy as he jumped from left to right, preparing to smash us. I stood watching his movements for any kind of weak points the same way I saw people do in movies. But I didn't see anything. I wonder what those movie people were looking at.
Uhmm, earth to mind intruder, just incase you don't know, we are not fighting. And we're supposed to be fighting.
What you do want us to do? I'm not seeing any weak ponts. Do you see any? Should we go for offence or defense?
Us? There is no us. YOU will fight.
What do you mean me? I don't know how to fight!
You said your powers are destructive! Use them!
I also told you I don't know when they appear. I also told you I have no control over it.
I told you to get overwhelmed!!
You can't just tell me to get overwhelmed and I'll get overwhelmed! That's not how it works!!
"Debby Darwin!! Does cleaning for 3 weeks not scare you? You want me to add two more!!" Coach Griffith growled.
"Uhmm... N..no sir. We.. She.. I will f..fight sir."
"Aww" Simon mocked. "Has Queen Elsa, queen of ice caught a cold?"
"Shut up, dick." Debby answered back.
Your powers are ice?
Yeah.. I can only freeze a cup full of liquid. Nothing more.
Why didn't you say anything? His blood is liquid? Freeze him!
Are you deaf? His blood is fluid which is way more thicker, and I can't freeze him. He'll die!
"I need to fight a man. Scratch that, I need two men plus Barbie to fight me. She's wasting my time. I just gained 10 pounds waiting on her. Or do you need to go put on some makeup and your combat boots made of glitter and diamonds before you fight?"
"What did you just say?" Debby asked him.
"Oh you heard me loud and clear. Or do you want me to sing a song like Barbie to get the message across?" The whole place "oohed" and got silent, waiting for her to say something more savage.
I don't even know why everyone reacted that way to what he said. It wasn't savage at all. He was just being stupid.
"You're going to regret ever saying that." She replied.
Why are you getting riled up? You can't fight.
I'm trying to get you overwhelmed.
It's not working.
Well I tried! It's not my fault you don't want to get overwhelmed. All I know is you will fight him. It's payback for entering my head unannounced.
We are so going to get beaten.
I let out a war cry and charged towards him with full force. He stepped back when he saw me coming and touched the ground. Suddenly, 4 soldiers made out of sand appeared from the ground. They were tall. Like 10 feet tall. I stopped to look at them. With every step they made, the place shook. I even lost my balance and fell. I sat on the floor and watched them make their way towards me, thinking about how to attack them.
Someone threw a two spears at me. And I jumped when I felt the wood hit my hand. I looked at the my hand and the ground where my hands were, were wet. I saw my hands spark with electricity and I looked at the spear.
Water, electricity, sand, blood, wood.
Water on wood mixed with electricity is a dangerous weapon.
I smiled and stood back up.
Debby, help make these woods wet.
Ok. She said and I felt ice from my hands wrap around the wooden spears and melt.
I charged towards the sand soldiers. Once I got to the nearest soldier, I took one of the woods and wrapped my hands tightly around it, feeling the electricity pass through it. I took the spear and stabbed the soldier's knee.
And then the strangest thing happened.
The knee of the soldier melted away like crumbling sand when my hand passed through it. I had no time to bring my hand back when the sand hardened on my hands like stone, leaving the spear at the back of the soldier's knee. The knee hardened around my arm even more and I dropped the spear in alarm and screamed.
I used the same method of the other knee but the same thing happened. I was trapped in the body of the stone soldier, with nothing to fight with.
The remaining soldiers came to surround me. Debby helped by trying to freeze the back of the knee of the soldier but it was like an ice cube in the Pacific. It had no effect.
One of the soldiers used it's hands to hit my back. We both screamed in horror and knelt down. Whenever one of the sand soldiers hit us, the hand of the soldier will melt away and grow back immediately. But it leaves us buried in sand.
As I tried to stand, I felt another hit on my back again. I knelt down back and coughed, trying to get the sand out of my eyes and body.
I tried to stand up again, but this time they all hit one after the other, I had no time to move. I was laying on the ground, just my hands that were pinned to its knees that kept me up.
I'm sorry I couldn't help you Debby.
It's alright, we tried. As long as they didn't get my....
We were interrupted as one of the soldiers hit Debby's head. with its hands. I put Debby's head down and coughed the sand out.
My head is literally what's holding my face and that thing hit my head! He hit my face!!
I had no time to tell her that nothing hit her face because I was feeling these same pain she was feeling, even thought I was just in her head.
It was almost like we were in a movie. Debby's body started melting away and turning into water. But I don't think she realised it as she was swearing at Simon and his soldiers.
Her hands melted away and she settled on the feet of the soldier that held out hands captive. Just like wet sand, the soldier started crumbling to pieces and falling on the ground.
The remaining three soldiers surrounded us but got trapped in the water, so they as well melted away.
We moved to our opponent and Debby surrounded his legs and froze it, as well as the ground surrounding him so he could not call on his sand soldiers anymore. As soon as Debby started melting away from Simon, I ended the fight by channeling electricity to him and electrocuting him. Debby melted away and left him to fall on the ground, unconscious. His body turned into sand and mixed with the water from Debby.
"Okay! Debby if you can hear me, I need you to change back to your human form. Cleaners!! Get your cleaning materials! There's a lot of work to do." Coach Griffith said.
We did it, Debby.
We actually did it. Thank you.
Debby? Can you change back? I think we have a lot of explaining to do to coach.
I can try.
I watched as Debby formed an ice statute of herself. When the statute was complete, it broke away and revealed her body. When she was done, she jogged to the coach. Not missing the curses and glares we got from the cleaning team as they passed with their equipments.
"Woah!! Debby Darwin! You blew my mind out there! I thought you were gonna fail because you were hesitant to fight! You brought your A game on! That's the kind of fight I want to see!" He said and clapped.
"Thank you coach. Thank you." Debby said and bowed. I watched her enjoy herself and saw that as my queue to leave the place. But I don't know how to.
Debby, we have a problem.
What?
I can't go.
What do you mean you can't go?
I can't leave your head, I don't know how to.
Try!!
"Darwin? You good? You look like you're having an internal battle." Coach said.
"I'm okay sir."
Get out!!
I can't.
I will bitch slap you if you don't go away.
How do you want to bitch slap me? You don't know me! And is that how you show gratitude to who just helped you win a fight?
"Darwin!!" Coach screamed
"Go away!!" She screamed back.
And just like that, I was no longer in her mind.
I jolted up and looked around. I saw nothing.
Like literally nothing, everywhere was dark, just like it was after I was hit by the blast.
"Perfect, just perfect."
I said and laid down back on the bed.