Reborn

Rayna Riverton had steam rolling off her forehead; she was that mad. Not seeing straight, she did what no one in her position should ever do...drove somewhere. It’s not like she had much choice. She had to either leave or cause a scene, which she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of. She’d been called into the boss’s office and been told that they were having to ‘let you go’. She had seniority working at this location for years. He messed up before she left and admitted that they just couldn’t afford it. They were keeping the lesser paid employees and sacking her instead. She noted that the woman sleeping with the boss was taking over her position from the memo on the side of the boss’s desk. They told her that they were giving her the vacation days she’d earned first and then a decent severance package. Taking the large envelope without even looking at it, she stormed out of the office and slammed her car door shut once inside.  

Angry tears ran down her face. She composed herself at a stop light when she noticed it had started to storm. Lightning flashes lit up the sky above her. Thankfully not many cars were out at the moment. She’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and found herself of an unfamiliar road. Frowning, she tried to make out street signs to figure out where she was. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. Moments later, her car hit a pool of standing water causing it to swerve and spin. The last thing Rayna saw before darkness claimed her was the airbag deploying with a puff of powder.  

Sparks were flying when Rayna briefly came to. Her body was tingling. Her head was pounding. People were gathered around her vehicle and using cell phones to video the carnage while others were calling for help. She could feel warm liquid dripping down the side of her face. Blinking to try to clear her vision, she reached for the door handle to get out. Pain coursed up her arm and the abyss swallowed her for a second time that day.

Beep. Beep. BEEP! Rayna couldn’t seem to drag herself out of the sound sleep to turn off that blasted alarm. She didn’t feel well and knew that she should call off work today. Beep! BEEP! ‘I wish that thing would just shut up,” she thought to herself. Wait a minute. She didn’t have to go to work today since she was technically on vacation now. A small smile played at her lips which triggered the pain. Groaning weakly, she started to move, but quickly realized that was a huge mistake. Everything hurt, even parts of her body that had never hurt before. Tentatively, she opened one eye and instantly regretted it. Bright light seared through her skull and tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. She had seen someone next to the bed in the second she had her eye open. She wasn’t sure who it was since she had only had a second to peek. She hadn’t realized how quiet it had become until a throng of running feet ran into the room. Chairs screeched as they were pushed aside. Squeaky wheels indicated machines being brought in. She realized that she was in a hospital and they were getting ready to jump start her when she didn’t really need the help. A loud popping noise echoed through the room darkening it to a bearable level. She opened her eyes slightly and raised her hands to protect them from the bright light from the hall and nurses station. One of her hands painfully stopped in midair due to the IVs attached.  

“What in the world?” said one of the ladies in a lab coat. “Looks like she’s awake now. Let’s get her vitals and check her out.”

“We’ll need you to step outside sir,” said another voice.  

“Alright, said a familiar voice. “I’ll be right outside.”

“Her vitals are within the normal range now, Doctor,” said a nurse. “She seems to still be in an excessive amount of pain, though.”

“Well, duh,” Rayna muttered, but it came out as more of a croak. Someone had the presence of mind to give her a drink of water as her eyes became more adjusted to the light.  

“Can you tell me who you are?” asked the doctor, smiling slightly giving her best bedside manner.  

“Rayna Riverton,” she whispered, not trusting her voice.  

“Good,” she replied. “Can you tell me specifically where you hurt?”

“Everywhere,” she said, and then added “specially, head and chest.”

“That makes sense since you hit your head pretty good in the accident and you’ve got some nasty bruises from the seat belt restraint and a few small burns from your electric shock in the car,” she revealed. At that last bit of information, Rayna’s eyes grew almost big enough to encompass her head. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She was literally speechless.  

“I’m assuming that you don’t remember that part,” said the doctor. Laying in bed, Rayna slowly shook her head. “Alright. Let’s start you on some pain management medications and start some physical therapy as soon as possible. You’ve been in that bed for several days already.”

“Wait, what?” Rayna squeaked. “Several?” Stopping at the door for a moment, the doctor nodded and smiled.  

“Looks like you’re going to be just fine,” she assured her, then left to resume her rounds.

As the nurse overhead of her injected something in the IV bag, the person that had left reentered the room. This time, though, she recognized him instantly. It was Trent, one of her best friends. Pulling up the chair next to her bed, he plopped himself into the seat, resting his elbows on the edge of her bed.  

“Thank heaven you’re awake!” he sighed. “I’ve been having panic and mini heart attacks since I got the call about your accident. Don’t you ever pull a stunt like this ever again! I won’t survive it. Seriously, I can’t imagine the world without a you in it.” 

“I’m surprised that I actually made it,” she admitted softly. “Sounds like a lot has happened. Fill me in.”

Trent was there hovering like a hen the day Rayna got to head home a few days later. She sighed in contentment when she was settled onto her couch after arriving home. Trent decided to take a few days leave to hang out and keep an eye on her doubting that she’d really follow the doctor’s orders for rest and no stress. Grabbing the remote, she turned on the TV and started scrolling through the channels.  

“You are getting the royal treatment,” Trent told her. “Here is your beverage, blanket, and bottle of meds.” She couldn’t help but chuckle a little and then winced as her ribs hurt a little.  

“Guess this means no comedies for me,” she said, her hands falling to her lap. Several more channels changed before she picked up the remote and set it down on the coffee table. ‘Guess the button got stuck.’ She reached for her flavored water and closed her eyes as she sipped it and sighed. It was good to be home.  

Tingles ran over Rayna’s arms. It had only been a few days since she’d gotten home and she felt like she was back to normal. No, better than normal. She’d forced Trent to leave the house since he was driving her insane trying to parent her. Sending him out to pick up dinner had been the only way he would agree to leave. Closing her eyes, she relaxed and relished the silence.  

“Alexa, play storm CD,” she said, softly chuckling to herself. Her laugh died in her throat when her storm CD started playing from her computer speakers. Carefully, she stood and walked over to her desk in the corner of her living room. She hit stop on her media player and frowned. Trent must be playing an idiotic practical joke on her. She checked out her computer while waiting for him to come back.  

“Dinner’s on,” called Trent as he brought in Chinese from her favorite restaurant. She immediately leveled her gaze on him. “What?” he asked when he noticed.  

“Don’t ‘what’ me,” she said. “How’d you do it?”

“Do what?” he said, rolling his eyes at her cryptic attitude. “Get to the point before your food gets cold.”

“How did you get my computer to work on voice command?”

“I may be good with electronics, but I’m not that good,” he told her. “You’d have to install a program and then set it up. I heard those programs are costly.”  

“So you didn’t touch my computer?” 

“Not a bit,” he assured her. “I never even came in your place until I brought you home.”

“But you brought me stuff to the hospital,” she said, thinking she caught him in his trick.

“Nope,” he smiled. “I bought you all brand new stuff and just washed the clothes you had worn the day of the accident since they hadn’t needed to cut them off of you. You can check your security system if you don’t believe me.” She did and found that he was telling her the truth. “You sure you didn’t mess with it?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “Now look! Our food is cold!” Rayna frowned and looked at the food, silently berating herself about letting their food get cold. When Trent grabbed her plate to heat it up in the microwave, he yelped and dropped the plate back onto the table. Steam was coming off the food.  

“What in the world is going on here?” Trent exclaimed to no one in particular. Checking both plates, they were both as hot as if they’d just been served at the restaurant. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think that you have a ghost or something now.”

“I know this is freaky, but how’d you make the leap to ghosts?” Rayna asked, trying a bite of her food after sniffing it. It was perfect, so she started eating the rest. After giving his plate and then her wary looks, he did the same but more slowly.  

“Weird things have been happening since you were in your accident,” he admitted. “Things aren’t where they’re supposed to be. I used all the hot water doing dishes and washing clothes, and then there’s suddenly a ton of hot water in the tank for your bath. I’ve been watching real close lately and the TV channels have been changing without you using the remote. Are you possessed?” Her eyes narrowed for a moment and then Rayna started laughing and holding her side, which was still tender. When he didn’t join in, her laughter died off.

“You’re serious?” she asked. “I thought you were joking. Has all that really been happening? These pain meds must be messing with my normal thinking skills.”  

“I think it’s you that’s doing all this,” he told her. “We need to test the theory. Bend this.” Trent held up a metal fork in front of him. Her eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline. “C’mon, give it a try. Worst you could do is look like an idiot.” He knew how to push her buttons. As they watched, the tines of the fork twisted in all different directions and curled down toward the handle. Before he could put it down, the handle started to wrap around his wrist like a bracelet. “Hey!” Rayna couldn’t help herself and started laughing until it was too hard to breathe. Even then, she shuddered with silent laughter as tears rolled down her cheeks.  

“It wasn’t THAT funny,” he informed her trying to pry the fork off of his wrist and giving her a dirty look.  

“You’re right,” she said when she finally caught her breath. “I was just struck with the realization that the place that fired me just paid for me to have super special abilities!” Once it was out of her mouth, the giggles started again and this time Trent’s deep chuckles and then full belly laugh joined hers.

“So, now what are you going to do?” he asked once they were calmed down over an hour later.

“I don’t know,” she said. Her eyes met his and he frowned.

“You can’t tell anyone about this,” he said vehemently. “Guys in black suits will drive up and put a hood over your head to take you to a place where they’d do all sorts of experiments on you. They’ll label you as dangerous or a terrorist. Promise me you’ll keep it a secret.”

“I don’t want that to happen either, but I know that I’m not going to be able to hide away in a hole either,” she whispered. “We’ll have to think of a way to protect my true identity, while still being able to help people.”

“You’re going to be a superhero!” he grinned. “Does this mean I get to be your sidekick? What are you going to go by?”

“I was thinking The Illusionista,” she said quietly. “That way they’ll think my abilities are illusions and not real. What do you think?”

“I think you need to find yourself a costume, my lady,” he smiled. “This is going to be epic!”

The End...or is it just the beginning?