Glide

The air stings the back of my nose, barely squeezing through to my lungs as my chest tightens and burns. My heart racing, beating trying to set itself free from my rib cages. I can feel my pulse in my fingertips and head, almost like a pacer reminding me to keep pushing. I don’t know how long I can keep this pace up. I check my watch, 4:51 it reads, my minute per mile, I can break my personal best run here. I push just a little harder with each stride now, slowly picking up pace faster I tell myself, more I think. Landing on the ball of my feet now, each stride feels like a glide, like my legs are sharpened skates and the ground is ice, I’m in my zone.

A bright light flashes ahead of me snapping me back to reality, it’s coming from a corner up ahead. It’s 2 am, why am I running so late? My legs suddenly become heavier, as irrational fears fill my head and drag my body back down to earth. I stop and look around to check for anyone else but it’s just me, alone, at night. I slowly walk trying to be as quiet as humanly possible past the source of the light. I peek around the corner; it’s pitch black again and I can barely see but there’s a figure in the shape of a girl. Slowly, light begins to emanate from her hands, this can’t be real. Her eyes lit up with excitement and surprise as she surveys her hands in awe. I know that face, it’s the same face I had when I saw my times on my last personal best, I was also in disbelief as I assumed I couldn’t run that fast. This is the same feeling she’s also in shock. The light wasn’t like the flashes that I was seeing before she has it all under control. The light shines brighter, it startles her, and her face creases and tenses up in worry, she drops the book in her left hand. It’s suddenly getting warmer; her hands shine brighter and now the wind rages from her. The light stops for half a second her hand shine brighter than ever, and she lets out a scream. The light slowly concentrates into a ball at the palm of her hand, she covers her mouth with her left hand and lets out a muffled scream louder than the first scream. The entire area is as clear as daylight and then a white light so bright it’s blinding, bang, a deafening roar, she goes flying across my direction as I get pushed back by the shockwave of whatever that was. My heart racing again but I’m not tired I’m scared, is she dead?

Quickly I rush to her, I check her pulse, and it’s there, a sigh of relief. Almost like a magnetic pull, my head slowly turns to the direction she was just at, the book I think to myself. I turn on my flashlight on my phone, almost forgetting it was dark outside with the light show. Pointing my flashlight away from her face to not wake her up, I navigate my way through the alley looking for the book. It lays open flat with its pages facing the floor hiding its secret from me. I take a quick glance back to see if she’s awake, but she’s still unconscious on the cold pavement. A slight hesitation before I reach for the book, this could be dangerous. The book is underwhelming, it’s more like a textbook or instruction manual. No magic just a manual, but that means anyone can use it. Lag, the book talks a lot about it. It explains how lag can be used but there’s no time to figure this out, she can be up at any minute. My fingers swiftly flip through the pages of this book, and my other hand with my phone in it captures the pages on my phone’s camera. Quick glances between the book, my phone, and the girl making sure each photo is good and the girl isn’t up, she might be dangerous. the girl lets out a moan, just about halfway through the book, quickly I turn off my phone.

“Hello, is anyone there,” she says.

I take a few steps backward farther into the darker area of the alley. While backpedaling the heel of my foot knocks into something light, and immediately my hands reach out instinctually to catch it, but I can’t see, a clang.

“I don’t know what you want but trust me I’m not the one to mess with,” she says, her voice quavering and cracking, she’s scared just like me.

Her hands start glowing again, much dimmer this time, not enough for her to see me. her emerald-green eyes narrowing towards my direction trying to make something of my face, she grinds her teeth and clenches her other fist in pain. the light dims and brightens, as though she is fighting to keep holding onto it. She loses it, I take my chance and make a dash for it throwing the book at her so she can’t see me. Without looking back, I sprint back home.

“Hey mom said I should wake you, up you’re gonna be late” Kelly says

“What’s the time,” I ask

“It’s 7:10” Kelly replies

“Tell mom I’ll be a little late today,” I say wearily.

My eyelids shut as I try to force myself back to sleep, all summer I’ve managed only a little bit of sleep trying to grasp what I saw at the start of the summer, now it’s the first day of senior year and all I want is 20 more minutes. Gentle footsteps slowly get louder up the stairs, fast but not in a hurry. Each step is deliberate, meaningful, and getting louder and louder. Shit, I spring out of bed as my mom twists my room's doorknob.

“I’m up,” I say as she opens the door.

“You need to stop going to bed so late, I’ll drop you off” mom asserts.

“Thank you” I reply.

She shuts the door, school starts at 8:30 but because of the bus, I must be out at 7:30 pm. swiftly I head to the washroom and immediately lock the door. I twist the knob for the bath and set it all the way to the coldest it can be. Squeezing the last little bit of toothpaste out of the tube I begin brushing my teeth. After brushing I soak a face cloth in warm water, or as warm as the tap in the bathroom sink can produce, then head for the bath. The cod water push repels my toes on contact, my entire body covered in goosebumps, a couple of deep breaths to psych myself up, then I dive in.

The warm face cloth lays flat on my face, as the rest of my body shaves and goes numb from the freezing cold water. Lag, after that night I went through my phone and did a deep dive into the pictures I took. Essentially Lag is law, you change the law of things around you, and that’s the magic. To change the law you need to use kraft, a life force. Everything has it, and it is everywhere, even humans generate it, it’s a different type of energy from the one we know, and with a lot of training or talent, anyone can sense it, at least they should be able to sense the ones they naturally generate. if you can sense it you can learn to control it and use it to perform Lag. To sense it you need to be in an extreme state of focus, meditation can help and I’ve tried that but I also saw this exercise in the book.

Suddenly my body feels lighter, and the bathtub feels like a vast ocean. My body feels empty, I can feel the flow of my body from my abdomen coursing my body. Blood flows from the heart though. Suddenly waves are carrying my whole body, rocking me side by side, is this Kraft? Suddenly my body feels heavy again, and then light, as if the water carries me and then lets me go, my body rapidly pulsating between heavy and light.

Bang bang

“What the hell are you doing in there, it’s 8:10” mom screams

“I’m coming” I respond

Immediately I open the drain to let the water out and start changing in the washroom. Drip, a sound from the bathtub, did I not twist the knob all the way, I check but it looks fine. Right before leaving the washroom, I hear it again, drip. My face has shock drawn all over it, as I glance to the rook and see drops of water slowly making their way down, back into the bathtub, drip.

I made it just in time to my first-period class, gym. Although a lot of people despise gym class in the morning I love it, I just love the gym, morning or afternoon doesn’t really matter. We all sit on the cold gym floor as Mrs. Kraemer walks in, my head still in a daze from this morning. Her muffled words can’t get through the storm raging in my head.

“Hi, I’m Jessica, but I also go by Jess,” says Jessica

My head immediately swings up, I can’t forget that voice, it’s identical to that night. We make eye contact for a second she smiles, and I shoot a fake smile back. Does she recognize me? my heart begins racing again, as she walks in my direction and sits behind me.

“All right guys now that Jessica has introduced herself, lets all line up across the wall and warm up” Mrs. Kramer instructs

“Jaden how about you lead the warmup,” she says as she walks into the storage room to grab equipment.

“Sounds good” I respond.

I glance around to see if everyone is at the wall, my friend joseph is smirking at me, probably because Jessica is right next to me. if only he knows how nervous I am right now.

“Let's start off with a light jog to the other wall” I instruct

Feet all start stomping, scrambling around. Some goofing off, some even walking and others going way too hard. Then they start forming a rhythm, their footsteps don’t align but I can hear each step after the other, almost like a beat to a song.

“I thought you said light,” joseph yells

I turn around to see myself way ahead of everyone, I thought I was going light I didn’t really feel like I was pushing myself.

“Sorry, I got a little distracted” I reply.

I stop at the wall and wait for everyone to catch up, Jessica gets here first. She glances at me this time with a confused look on her face. I smile at her, and she fakes a smile back, I can tell because I just did it to her earlier.

“Next we’re going to side shuffle slowly back, make sure to open your hips after each step and try to stretch them” I instruct.

After warming up, Mrs. Kramer walks out of the storage room right on schedule. She has a giant back filled with red dodgeballs in them, and a big smirk on her face. Unlike most gym teachers Mrs. Kramer was extremely fit and loves getting in on the action. She usually participates in all our activities.

“Who’s up for some dodge ball” Mrs. Kramer yells

The balls are set in the middle of the gym, between both teams. Mrs. Kramer's side always has the advantage because she’s a different type of monster when it comes to dodgeball, she played lots of baseball growing up, so her hand fires like a gun.

On my side, we have joseph, of course, Jessica. A couple of the kids who love walking during warm up and two kids, who don’t know how to pace themselves. It’s looking like our loss. She blows her whistle, and everyone dashes toward the middle to grab dodgeballs for their side. I get to the middle first with ease, then right behind me was Jessica, quickly snagging as many dodgeballs as we can before Mrs. Kramer spoils the party. We manage to get a couple and then everyone else catches up, and we all dash back, and balls start flying. I pass a ball to joseph, and before I can look up Mrs. Kramer already launched a ball directly at me, luckily, I lunge my body to the floor fast enough for the ball to just miss me. Jessica responds with a throw directly to the second most athletic kid in the classroom right on his chest.

“She’s got a rifle” Mrs. Kramer yells

“Hey, Jessica, don’t go for Mrs. Kramer, although she has a good throw she has a better catch,” I say, in dodgeball, if someone catches the ball you throw at them, you’re out.

“Ok and?” Jessica replies.

Then her shoulder transforms into a whip as she arches her back and throws the perfect ball directly towards Mrs. Kramer’s feet. It’s low enough that Mrs. Kramer would not dare to catch it and fast enough that she can’t dodge it.

“she’s gorgeous and she’s so cool,” joseph says in the changeroom.

“I guess, she is” I reply.

“I guess, no dude I know,” he says.

“Why don’t you go talk to her then, actually maybe not,” I say.

“What you think I can’t talk huh, or maybe you want her all to yourself,” he says.

“Yea actually I think I do” I reply.

Hopefully, that gets him to stop dreaming about her, but his stubborn nature leaves me with doubt. He smirks at me, as he leaves for his next class. Now alone in the changeroom, I let out a big sigh of relief, and the lights start flickering. I look up at the light and then it shuts off, immediately I jump up and start rushing to get my jeans on. Then a bright light starts emitting from the front of the changing room.

“Shit” I whisper.

“You think I wouldn’t recognize that run,” Jessica says.

The light makes its way up her arm and into the palm of her hand forming a sphere. The sphere slowly begins floating up, and it lights up the entire room.

“You’ve gotten better,” I say nervously.

“More than you know,” she says pointing her right index finger directly at me.

The finger lights up immediately and a sphere is instantly created at the tip of it. my heart begins racing again, I’m so anxious I’m light-headed. Blood rushes straight to my head, as I struggle to mutter any words. I can hear my heart beating, pumping harder than ever, and I can’t breathe.

“Who are you with” Jessica asserts.

“No- nobody” I stutter.

“Look down” she replies.

Holy shit I’m floating and so is my bag and any item near me. this feels just like the bath, that rushing feeling isn’t my blood, it’s kraft. Kraft rushing straight to my head, is this lag, or is it her?

“Since when can a light lagger make people float,” she says.