Bang!
The thunder boomed so loudly above us it made the walls shudder. At the same time, my stomach burned like acid, forcing my head down onto my desk with a groan. I had been having severe, ongoing stomach pain since around midnight last night, which sucked even more since it meant I had spent every second of my eighteenth birthday in pain. I had been dreading my birthday in the days leading up to it, and now I knew why. It felt like the moment the clock struck midnight, the pain in my stomach started, and the freak storm was a few seconds behind it.
"You look like shit, Stormie. Is that why the weather is so bad?" my best friend Nix said from her desk beside mine.
I lifted my face toward her just enough to shoot her an unamused glare. She had transferred to this school last year. The moment she saw my storm-gray eyes, she joked I had storm powers and started calling me Stormie. I didn't really care for the ongoing joke, but I did like her personality. We became friends almost instantly.
As another wave of pain and nausea hit me, I dropped my face back to the desk to wait it out. Thunder boomed overhead, echoing the feeling inside me.
"Take a nap and send this superstorm away."
If I hadn't understood her strange sense of humor, I would've sworn she was serious.
"I am tired," I said, turning my face toward her.
Ever since this combination of storm and pain started last night, I hadn't had a moment's rest.
"I knew it! So get your ass to sleep and fix this,Troy," she said, waving her hands in the air above us to indicate the weather.
She used my real name. That meant she was pissed. That didn't make any sense. She didn't really think I could control the weather? I closed my eyes as she folded her arms in front of her and leaned back in her seat. As if she were waiting for me to follow her instructions.
Suddenly, my desk jerked sideways so hard it almost knocked me to the floor. I opened my eyes and saw my classmate and serial harasser, Eddie, standing in front of my desk.
"Oops, sorry, Snakeface," he said and flicked a strand of my straight black hair.
I sprang to my feet. Rage replaced all the pain and nausea I was feeling. He was the same height as me with olive-colored skin. As I stared into his dark brown eyes, thoughts of murder whirled around inside my head. I stood in front of him with my hands clenched into fists. I could smash his head against the corner of my desk and watch his brain leak out like an egg yolk all over the floor. The thought sent an icy wave of delight through me. I started flexing the fingers on my right hand. All it would take was one quick motion, my hand on the back of his neck, and then he would never bother me again.
"You gonna do something, Snakeface?" Eddie asked, unimpressed and unafraid.
The sound of his voice was like a catalyst, taking me from a place of thinking to acting. I reached up with my right hand, but something stopped my arm.
"Are you guys about to hug or something?" Nix asked, holding my arm.
Her voice was like a bucket of ice water being dumped over me. All the rage vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"Eww, no weirdo," Eddie said and pushed past us and stomped back to his seat. He scrunched up his face as if he had tasted something foul.
"What the hell were you about to do?" Nix asked me, her eyes wide with amusement. She glanced at my arm before letting it go.
"I'm not even sure," I said and sat back in my seat.
It was a lie, but I couldn't tell her the truth. All my life I have had a powerful impulse to hurt people. I couldn't admit that there was something inside me that desperately wanted to cause pain and suffering to others. It was hard enough dealing with her annoying storm jokes. There was no way I was adding sociopath to her list. The thunder boomed again, and I let out a foul-smelling burp. A thin wisp of green gas wafted past my face. I waved my hand through it, hoping I was the only person who saw it.
"Okay, back on task. Take a nap, Stormie," Nix said, not mentioning the nasty burp.
I put my head back down on my desk. Sleep ambushed me the second my eyelids touched. As if it had been waiting for me. I fell asleep before I even realized it. The next thing I knew, I was standing on the roof of the school. The storm raged all around me, but that didn't bother me.
I had always felt a strange connection to the chaos of storms. I closed my eyes and let the feeling of the rushing wind engulf me completely. The smell of rain and fresh earth was so potent in the humid air it made me salivate. Even the sound of rain assaulting the roof all around me was melodic to me. The only thing missing was the feeling of being drenched to pull it all together for me.
Wait, why wasn't I drenched yet? That thought pulled me out of my reverie, and I opened my eyes. I stood within a perfect circle of dry, gray concrete. I held my dry right hand up out of curiosity. The raindrops were bouncing off an invisible barrier less than an inch away from my skin.
"The storm has awakened, Olympus is coming," a deep, rumbling voice said and startled me.
The booming voice came from every direction all at once, as if I was standing inside a concert speaker. I looked around to see who had spoken and saw only the dark clouds that were drenching the city with rain. As I stared at the clouds, a powerful pull came from within me. It felt as if something inside of me wanted to escape and become part of them.
"Who said that?" I yelled into the air.
"I am the original face of fear. You are my perfect creation."
His words made the pull inside me stronger, as if it agreed. That was unacceptable. I wasn't his anything.
"Never!" I screamed with every ounce of authority I could muster.
"You think you have a choice! They have already marked you."
A thunderclap so powerful that the roof beneath me shook happened just after his words. I spread my arms out wide to steady myself. This was insane, but something deep inside of me yearned for it.
"So what do you want from me?" I asked, trying to gather some information.
"Become the storm. You will die quickly if you continue to deny your true nature."
The part about denying my true nature scared me. The only part of myself I actively avoided was the murderous urges. If that was my true nature, I had a real problem. The second part of his statement, though, hit me like an uppercut to the stomach. The Olympians were not only real, but they were after me? What the hell did I do to them?
"Why would they care about me?"
"Because when your true nature calls to you, they can hear it and feel your desire to give in."
Anger flared up inside me. Who the hell was this person to tell me I would do something like that? And he said it as if I didn't have a choice in the matter.
"And what if I choose not to? Maybe I don't wanna slay people."
A funnel cloud touched down on the roof in front of me. The force of the wind slammed into me, and it felt like a speeding truck had hit me. I stumbled back toward the edge of the roof. When my right foot stepped off the concrete onto open air, another gust of wind hit me in the back and stopped me from falling. I stared back at the tornado that was moving toward me.
"Kill me. I'll never serve you!" I yelled.
"Do not trifle with me. You are my champion. Pretending otherwise is a foolish waste of time."
The tornado was only a few feet away. I shored up my stance and stood my ground as the winds tried to force me off the roof.
"I'll prove you wrong. I'm not a monster, and no one will force me to act like one!" I yelled, barely hearing my voice over the raging wind.
"The storm does not negotiate!" the storm boomed.
The tornado overtook me. I screamed in agony as the wind sent searing pain into each of my nerve endings. I woke up before the wind could tear me apart. The smell of ozone still lingered in my nose as I sat straight up in my seat, shielding my face with my hands. The sudden need to vomit overwhelmed me. I got up out of my seat and rushed out of the classroom.
"Bad dream?" Nix asked as I ran past her desk.
I didn't have time to stop and talk. I raced to the bathroom as fast as I could and dropped to my knees in the farthest stall from the door. The smell of old urine instantly greeted me. To my surprise, I didn't immediately barf my guts up. I knelt over the filthy, once-white bowl, gagging as nothing came up.
"Do not waste your power in a toilet bowl!" The voice from my dream said with a scolding tone.
Dammit, it's in my head now! But how was gut-bursting pain a power? And why did I have a strange urge to hurt people every time it spoke?
Boom!
The bathroom door slammed open, and three pairs of feet rushed into the bathroom.
"Snakeface, I know you came in here!" Eddie yelled into the silence
Fuck, not now, Eddie. This is the worst time for your stupid games. If I can't hold this thing back, I'm going to kill you, and I might even enjoy it.