The sky was still bruised and cracked with red lightning. The air still stung the back of my throat like chemicals. The wind didn't blow. Nothing aged. Nothing grew. The Upside Down was stuck in a moment, like a paused photograph smeared in ash.
But the single thing that stood as an outlier, the weird sky, still somewhat worked.
It was because of this that I knew one upside down day had passed since I did...whatever that was back then.
Despite that, I myself wasn't that much different from the frozen space I was in.
I hadn't eaten since coming here. Hadn't slept. My body should've collapsed from exhaustion. But it didn't.
It sounded great, until I realised I wasn't healing, either. The bruises and gashes from the swarm were still there—angry slashes wrapped tight with shredded bedsheets. Not infected. Not worse. But not better.
Just… stuck.
I pressed my fingers to my ribs and winced. Purple-black bruises bloomed beneath my skin, and my arm screamed when I moved it the wrong way. I gritted my teeth and shifted my weight, forcing the pain down. It was all I could do.
"Still hurts like hell," I muttered. My voice echoed through the empty room. "You'd think time freezing would at least come with a healing perk."
I sat against the cracked wall of my base—the house I'd made mine. The windows were covered with boards and soot. I could hear the faint thrum of tendrils beneath the floorboards, but they hadn't moved in a while.
My eyes landed on the compass I'd left on the other side of the room.
There was a question lingering in the back of my mind. A stupid one, maybe. But worth asking.
Could I… heal myself? Could I reinforce my body with the same force that destroyed a hive?
I didn't expect an answer. Not out loud. But I raised my palm and focused. Not on rage or panic like before—just focus.
The compass twitched.
Then shot through the air.
Fwip—SLAP!
It smacked into my hand like a magnet finding its pole. I flinched but didn't drop it. My fingers tightened around the cool metal.
Still worked.
I'd tied a string to it, the frayed shoelace from one of the pairs I'd scrounged off a corpse weeks ago. Carefully, I looped it over my neck and let the compass settle against my chest.
My thumb ran over the casing.
Tick.
The needle spun.
Not north.
Somewhere else.
"I hope you're still trying to tell me something," I said.
I closed my eyes.
And let myself believe that maybe I was finally starting to understand what I was capable of.
'Well, I'll be damned...I really do have superpowers.'
Despite what some might think, it didn't take long for him to believe this. Not only because he'd seen himself do it, but because he slightly...expected it.
Some could say he was even destined for it.
'After all, this was the whole reason I was in that damned facility in the first place.'
Not just him. Everyone else he knew in there too.
They, unlike him, were quick to awaken their abilities with the help of the doctor, so it wasn't the first time he'd seen Telekinesis.
With this, I rose slowly.
My legs protested. Bandaged knees trembled. My side throbbed where the bruises were worst. But my face didn't show it. Not anymore. Pain was a given now. It didn't deserve attention.
What did deserve attention—was this.
I stretched out my hand, palm flat, and willed the air to move. Nothing happened.
I clenched my fists.
Nothing.
I clicked my teeth. Again, I wasn't able to do "It".
Ever since bandaging myself up, I couldn't stay still. How could I?
I had so much to discover about this newfound talent.
For now, my Telekinesis was as simple as pulling things toward me and sending them flying if I focused.
Obviously, the size of the object mattered and anything too big would strain me, like muscles.
However, like muscles, I could exercise this talent, training it to push bigger and bigger things.
I didn't know the biggest object I could do, but upon previously peeking out of the window and trying to move a car with my mind, only to watch its side lift a foot off the ground and come crashing down, I had a good idea of what I was capable of.
'Well, I think that's how it works. It has only been one day after all.'
However, upon remembering the validity of my last theory, I couldn't help but give myself the benefit of the doubt.
'One thing is for sure, this ability is heavily tied to my emotions. It was why I currently can't quite muster anything grandiose like the event yesterday. And why I'm struggling with something that should be easy for someone who could casually do what I did.'
But it wasn't casual. I've lived my whole life making sure my emotions didn't interfere with my actions, always keeping them under control.
I didn't know why, from what I could tell, it was a built in mechanism.
But considering how my powers now worked, this would no longer fly.
I needed to find a way where I could utilise my abilities with the full assistance of my emotions, without having them impair my logic and thought process, unlike yesterday.
But for now, I still needed to figure this out. This application I thought of with my ability.
'Hmm…what if…'
In that moment, for once, I let my mind wander without the leash of control I usually had on it.
My first thought?
The Doctor.
How he looked at me the day I was thrown in here. That empty, clinical disgust. Not even hate. Just… a discarded thing.
And then I thought of the girl.
No, maybe just a girl.
She was about my age. Sharp eyes. Quiet. Strong. She was also one of my peers in the facility.
The only reason I remembered her was because of the way the Doctor looked at her.
With something like awe. Pride.
A complete opposite to the look he'd always give me.
No, he rather looked at me with eyes filled with, ironically, emptiness.
Like I was…nothing.
With this, my heart started to race.
'Oh shit…this is working huh…just the thought pissess me off.'
Therefore, before it went away, I opened my eyes, breathing hard.
The floor creaked.
My body felt lighter.
I crouched—then leapt.
WHUMP.
I flew higher than I should have. Hit the ceiling. Flipped. Landed hard on my side.
"Agh—!" I hissed through gritted teeth, rolling onto my back.
I was panting. Laughing, maybe.
"Okay. That's new."
It was like I could reduce my weight. Not float, exactly, but cheat gravity just enough to leap, to dodge, to move faster than my bruised legs should allow.
That was the application I struggled to perform. Sure, almighty push and pull were great and all, but it didn't help that my body was frail, weak, even more so now that I had wounds that wouldn't heal.
Therefore, I didn't waste time.
Again.
This time I focused harder. I could feel it now. Like invisible strings tugging at my body. Like I was my own puppet master.
I sprinted across the room.
My footfalls barely made a sound. Every step carried farther. Every motion felt effortless. My heart raced, but not from exhaustion.
From possibility.
Sure, my stamina sucked, but if I could get more out of it like this, it was better than nothing.
I stopped, turned, and punched the air.
CRACK!
A gust of pressure exploded from my fist. Dust and loose paper burst away from the impact zone.
I flexed my fingers.
"Ow. Damn. Okay. Bad idea."
The punch landed, sure. But my knuckles were still just flesh and bone. My fist from swinging at just the air. I could reinforce the strike—but not myself.
Yet.
Nosebleed. Again. A slow trickle down my lip. My vision swam a little, edges going fuzzy.
"Alright," I muttered, sitting down, wiping the blood with the sleeve of my jacket. "So you can move better, hit harder, maybe even fly if you get clever enough..."
I leaned my head back.
"...But you're still human."
Limits. I had them. Fragile bones. A mind that could break. A body that didn't heal. I couldn't punch through walls. Couldn't shrug off claws or fire.
But I could fight back now.
I could survive.
And now, even more so than before…I could make them pay.
I stared at my hands, fingers trembling, blood drying in dark streaks.
"This is it," I said softly. "This is how I win."
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My first 6 chapters, please let me know what you think in comments or reviews. If you enjoy, I'll greatly appreciate the powerstones. Thanks!