"Breathe in, breathe out. Come on, Lilith, you can do it. Don't let them get to you. It's fine, it's fine, you're just fine," I thought to myself, clutching the meditation rocks always prompted me to carry around.
Snapping out of my little trance, I looked up at my tormentors. They snickered and sneered at my calming mechanisms and it drove me insane.
"Why don't you just worship at the temple, Buddha girl?" one of them, Fallon, said.
The other two laughed at the ignorant remark. Buddha girl? Really?
"You really shouldn't get me angry, it won't end well," I muttered, trying to keep away the Hurricane.
"It's not like you're gonna do anything. You're weak, little monk princess," the meanest of the pack, Anastasia
retorted.
Bella, Fallon, and Anastasia laughed again, and it seemed to echo in my skull. They were always coming after me with a new insult. I tried every day to stay calm, to not get angry, to keep the Hurricane away from my humble little high school . But every single day, these three girls made it that much more difficult. Maybe the Hurricane can come out to play for a little while today.
"So is that it? Are you all talk and no show? Go one, hit me," Anastasia said, shoving me violently into the lockers.
The back of my head slammed against the locker and pain shot through my spine. I groaned in agony. Verbal assault is one thing, but physical? She crossed the line.
I swallowed and tightened my fingers around the stones so hard I swear I heard a crack. The sound of thunder rolled in my head and my vision turned purple, like lightning in a thunder storm. My skin turned so hot I could burst into flames. The Hurricane is coming. My three tormentors looked terrified. I smiled, my anger heightening at their fear. I lowered my gaze, staring straight into Anastasia's eyes.
"Didn't your parents teach you to stay away from hurricanes?" I asked, my voice just barely above a whisper.
Just as I lifted my hand to strike, the three girls ran off and left me under the cold glare of Principal Williams. The thunder stopped, my vision was restored to its normal state and the heat of my skin turned icy. I hung my head, knowing very well that I was going to receive the short end of the stick.
Principal Williams, not saying anything, guided me to his office. On my way there, I made a mental list of who has wronged the Hurricane. Bella, Fallon, Anastasia. Their names replayed in my mind, a slow rumbling chant that resembled the thunder that boomed in my skull just a few minutes earlier; Bella, Fallon, Anastasia. Bella, Fallon, Anastasia. Suddenly, a sharp, burning sensation pricked my right wrist. I looked down; Bella, Fallon, and Anastasia's names were etched into my skin. The lettering was the blinding purple of lightning and the names seemed to glow underneath the sleeve of my sweater. I stuffed my hand in my jeans pocket in attempt to hide the impromptu "tattoo".
Principal Williams opened the door to his office and motioned for me to sit in a chair across from his desk. I did as I was told and waited for him to speak.
"Miss Vatore, I am extremely disappointed in your actions today, violence is never the proper way to deal with bullies", he began, rearranging some papers on his desk. "I know it may seem like they will never stop, but if you don't pay them any mind, they will eventually leave you alone. Got it?"
"Yes, sir, thanks for the advice. Can I go now?"
"Not so fast, since you were going to commit and act of violence you will receive a consequence."
"Did you not see them shove me into the lockers?"
"No, all I saw was your arm go up as if you were going to hit someone and the three looked quite scared, Lilith." They were Bella, Fallon, and Anastasia, correct?"
At the mention of their names, the tattoo on my inner right wrist scorched me. I flinched and rubbed it to aliens some of the pain before replying to the ninny I called a principal.
"Principal Williams, with all due respect, they were the ones who pushed me into the lockers. They should be getting punished for actually physically hurting me."
"If I didn't see it, it never happened."
"That's such bull! You just don't wanna punish Anastasia because her father stuffs a fat check in your bank account every month!" I shouted angrily.
Anastasia's father, Maximus Wellborne, is the mayor of our town. In exchange for making sure Anastasia has perfect grades, Mr. Wellborne rewards our principal with a five-thousand dollar check every month. Clearly, Principal Williams doesn't want to piss off the guy that makes sure he has food on his table.
"You are being incredibly disrespectful right now, Miss Vatore! Two weeks detention and I want forty hours of community service by the end of the month," he said, slamming his fist down on the desk.
I screamed in frustration and let the Hurricane take over me in full force. I slowly stood up from my seat and pounded my hand on his desk. Lightning shot out of my hand and splintered the mahogany desk into millions of pieces . I looked back up at him, watching his bulging eyes analyze the situation. Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything, I walked out of the office and set on my quest to find the three. Upon leaving his office, I felt... different. I decided to go to the restroom to see if I looked as unfamiliar as I felt.
In the restroom, I checked my reflection in the mirror, and I did indeed look like a completely different person. My usually dark brown hair was drained of all it's color, leaving it entirely white. My black eyes were replaced with a deep violet color, and all the veins in my face, eyelids, and wrists were the same blinding purple as that of a bolt of lightning. Lilith Vatore wasn't the girl who looked back at me in the mirror; this was the Hurricane, inside and out.
Thoroughly shaken by my appearance, I looked away from the mirror and left the restroom. Just then, someone smacked right into me.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
Right when I was about to spit out my rebuttal, I looked into the girl's face. It was none other than Miss Anastasia Wellborne herself. I smiled and laughed, this was just too perfect. Her and I here, with no one else to witness what could happen. And I look completely different! What a stroke of luck!
"You're going to regret what you did..." I started, looking at her awe-filled expression.
"I didn't do anything, you're the one who bumped into me," she said, dropping the look of reverence, rolling her eyes, and trying to get around me.
"You don't know who I am, do you?"
"I know you and your trashy Halloween makeup are pissing me off."
Infuriated by the remark, I coaxed a slight bolt of lightning out of my hand and toyed with it in front of her face, bouncing it back and forth, like one does with a slinky. Shoe followed the booth with her eyes, mesmerized.
"Did you know that this lightning bolt, the very one I'm playing with right now, can kill you?" I asked, watching her eyes widen in fear.
"Li-Lilith? Are you Lilith? I thought I recognized the purple eyes. Listen, all that crap I said earlier, it was all a joke. You know, li-like, besties making fun of each other," she laughed nervously, fiddling with her hair. "So, um, are we cool?" She asked, laughing nervously once again.
I glared at her through white hair that found its way to my face, "No. No, we're not cool."
Her eyes widened in panic as I rose my hand to strike. I forced all my concentration and anger into summoning a lethal dose of lightning into one hit. I stared at her and glanced over at my hand, the lightning was trapped inside my palm, begging to be released.
I smiled cruelly and asked in a voice that sounded like thunder, "Didn't your parents teach you to stay away from hurricanes?"
With that said, I slammed my hand on her skull, transferring my lightning to her. Her body tensed and convulsed, as if it was trying to fight back, but it was no use. Once Anastasia's head hit the ground, I knew she was gone. I nudged her head with my foot just to make sure and as I thought, she was unresponsive. I stood there, staring at her dead body, suddenly hit with a pang of guilt. I just murdered someone. Finally realizing the gravity of the situation, I bolted out of the restroom and out of the school building. As I sprinted across the courtyard, I was met with six armed police officers. My heart skipped a beat. There was no way someone found out about Anastasia already.
"Get down!"
"Hands where I can see 'em!"
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law!"
All the officers shouted at me and I slowly sank to my knees, placing my hands behind my head. I took in shaky breaths, knowing I was going to be severely punished for the murder of the mayor's daughter. I watched as the officers came closer, looking at me curiously, guns raised and ready to shoot. As I was about to submit to the authorities, a thought surfaced in my mind. I can and will fight my way out of this.
I let the six officers surround me before I made my first hit. I looked up, smirked, tightened my hand into a fist, and hit the officer nearest to my right with a lightning fueled punch in the thigh. He was momentarily disabled and he fell to the ground. The other five glanced at their called coma race in shock, leaving me temporarily unwatched. I took the opportunity and began to run. Realizing that I was on the move, three of the five remaining officers chased me. I ran faster, feeling a dull ache in my calves. I couldn't let them get me. I kept running and running and running until black spots dotted my vision. But there was no way I would ever let them catch me.
Hurricanes are too violent to be caught.