Awaken (S.O.D Tales Part Three)

I rubbed my eyes and walked out of the capsule, yawning. After 50 years of hibernation, I’ve been forced to wake up and confront the world.

“Hooooooly crap” the girl who pressed the “Awaken” button said, shaking and stepping away slowly while flashing the flashlight right in my face.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! Can you put the flashlight down? You’re gonna blind me!” I called.

“Oh. You’re right. Sorry” the girl shone the flashlight away but still seemed pretty nervous.

“Now onto introductions and explanations. Name’s Cera, what’s yours?” I asked casually.

“U-uh...I-i-i’m Jaylin” she stammered.

“Nice to meet you Jaylin. Now, you’re probably confused as to why some girl was in a giant test tube underneath...wherever you came from. And I don’t know if you’ll believe me because not a lot of people do but...IwasinthattesttubecuzIhavepowersandthegovernmentdidn’tlikethatsotheytriedtokillmeandotherslikemebutIranawayandwentintoStasistoprotectmyselfandalsoleftmygirlfriendbehind” I said in one breath.

Jaylin stared at me for a moment, trying to decipher what I’d just said. She slowly nodded and relaxed her shoulders.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. You’re a DC aren’t you?” Jaylin said, looking a lot more relaxed.

“I’m a what now?” 

“A DC! Y’know… ‘Disaster Child’? Born with crazy abilities for no reason?” Jaylin explained, “This is a school for them! We all live and learn here until the Principal and staff deem us to have enough control over our abilities and give us a ‘Life License’. That allows us to go outside and live a semi-normal life!”

“Ah, I see…” I replied, a bit confused. But I recognized the term Disaster Child, which meant we weren’t “dangers to society” anymore.

“I just have one question for you? How long have you been in the text tube thing…?” Jaylin asked.

“Let’s see...I think in 2020. Why do you ask” I tilted my head in confusion. Jaylin gasped and starting to walk around the room.

“2020?! But the history textbooks say powers only started popping up n like...2035! This doesn’t make sense” Jaylin murmured.

“Actually...it kinda does. The whole reason I had to hide in the first place is because the government found people with powers dangerous so they wanted to wipe them all out. So if the gene somehow resurfaced, they probably wouldn’t want anyone knowing about their past crimes right?” I explained.

Jaylin nodded “You’re right. I guess I shouldn’t worry too much about it then. Now my biggest concern is what I’m gonna do about you…”

“Can’t I go up there with you?” I asked.

“No. If you go up there and an adult sees you, they’re gonna ask where you came from. And I’ll have to say I went downstairs when I wasn’t supposed to. And you’re not even supposed to exist right? The government doesn’t want their past crimes exposed remember?” Jaylin continued to pace and murmur.

“Oh. You’re right” I shrugged and sat on the ground. You’d think I’d be more concerned about the whole thing. The world had changed so much and here I was sitting down cross-legged in an underground laboratory.

“I know what I’ll do! I’ll ask Riley and Raina for help. Both of them can keep a secret, Raina’s smart, and Riley’s great at getting away with things!’ Jaylin snapped her fingers. I shrugged, having no idea who these kids were.

“Can you wait here? I’ll be back soon I promise!” Jaylin asked me. But it wasn’t really asking since she was already bolting up the stairs. I sighed, that kid had a lot of energy. She kinda reminded me of Meg. I winced, I hadn’t thought of Meg in a while. I wondered if she’d been able to move on, maybe find a better girlfriend. One who wouldn’t eave her just to save their own skin. Someone...better than the mess that I am.

***

I waited for about an hour before Jaylin came downstairs with two other girls. One of them had short, bright pink hair and a face covered in freckles. The other one wore a dark navy blue sweater and pushed her black glasses up her nose.

“So this is the girl you were talking about! Cool…” pink hair girl said as she approached me.

“No Riley this is not ‘cool’. She’s been trapped in a test tube for 50 years, it doesn’t seem like she’s aged, and we just learned that the things in our textbooks are lies” sweater girl scolds while rolling her eyes. 

“Right! Cera, this is Raina” Jaylin introduces me as sweater girl- I mean Raina, waves to me. 

“And this is Riley” she continues. Pink hair pixie cut girl waved excitedly at me.

“Hi! Nice to meet you!” Riley came over to me and shook my hand.

“N-nice to meet you too” I replied.

“Now, I brought you and Riley here because I have no idea what I’m gonna do about Cera,” Jaylin said.

“That’s easy. We just let her stay in here. We can bring here a bunch of pillows and a blanket from my room later tonight. And one of us can sneak her breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. As long as we’re sneaky, everything should be fine” Riley said confidently.

“No...I think we should tell a teacher. Hear me out on this one. Cera's still a minor, and she technically lives in the school. I’m sure the teachers wouldn’t mind having another student right?” Raina countered.

“Or they could turn Cera in for some kind of reward to help fund the school! You know how the government has basically refused to give the school funding. At this rate they’d resort to drastic measures” Riley exclaimed.

“I don’t think the adults would be that cruel” Jaylin added softly.

“You never know what adults will do” I murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Look, the government isn’t even on our side, to begin with. And since most of our teachers were sent here by the government, I think it’s pretty safe to say we should hide Cera till we think of a solution” Riley clapped her hands together as if that settled it.

“I agree with Pinky on this one,” I said.

Jaylin and Raina exchanged a few glances before turning to us and nodding.

“Well then. I guess starting today, we’re hiding a teenager in our school basement.” Jaylin said with a sigh.