Chapter 142: Calming the awakened.
Sunshine went straight to the bathroom door, her steps even and deliberate. She tried pushing it open, but it did not budge.
"Tommy it’s Sunshine Quinn. Open the door."
There was no movement on the other end, and she sighed. "If you don’t come out then I am going to kick my way in. I just want to talk. I know you are scared and I want to help. What you are going through is very normal."
Nimo’s eyebrows slowly rose. Was awakening really normal? Then again, given the times they were living in, it was sort of normal.
For a short moment, silence reigned. Then some footsteps and the door was opened. A trembling teenager stood there, his hair damp with sweat, hands hidden behind his back. His eyes were red, and they brimmed with tears.
"Rough night?" Sunshine asked.
Tommy blinked and sniffed. "Something is wrong with me....I... I can’t stop it. They keep saying that they can’t find out what it is." He shuffled his feet and looked down, shame written across every line of his face like he was a criminal. His voice cracked as he said. "I have tried everything, but the tingling doesn’t go away."
The previously empty bathrooms were suddenly interesting, and more people suddenly felt the need to use them. It was obvious that they were just hoping to satisfy their curiosity and find something to gossip about.
"Let’s talk in your room." Sunshine told him.
Tommy led the way to the room. Sunshine and Nimo followed him. When they entered, a soldier stood outside the door.
Sunshine met Tommy’s eyes as she pushed him to sit down on the bed. "Show me, Tommy. Let me see."
With trembling fingers, he brought his hands forward. Tiny sparks snapped and leapt between his fingertips, wild and uncontrolled. The smell of singed air filled the small space.
As expected, he had awakened.
Nimo’s heart twisted. Tommy was just a child, it never occurred to her that children could awaken too, it had to be a confusing experience for them. She also thought that they were the worst group to awaken. Teenagers were destructive, add superpowers and you had a bomb on your hands.
Tommy’s lips quivered. "It won’t stop; I am now afraid to touch anything. I fried the television at home and the walkie-talkie." Tears slipped down his cheeks. "I didn’t mean to. I am really scared...I fear that I might hurt my father or someone else."
Sunshine reached for him gently, her tone soft but unwavering as she tapped his shoulder. "Listen to me Tommy, what you are experiencing is just an awakening not a punishment. You are now superhuman."
"Isn’t that cool?" Nimo gushed deliberately, hoping to cheer the boy up.
Tommy blinked.
Sunshine told him, "You have the power of electro kinesis, I will teach you on how to control it but for now you need to calm down. For superhumans, emotions are the triggers, and your powers are reacting to your current state.
You are agitated so they are jumpy. Control is how you handle this. Take a deep breath and erase the fear from your mind." She motioned at him to breath in and out slowly. "You are not alone; others are awakening too and more will be like you soon."
His breathing came fast, shallow, instead of slowing down as Sunshine hoped.
Tommy looked at Sunshine and the thought that he was messing up made him panic. Spark extended from his hands and hit the wall.
Sunshine sighed. This was not the time to teach Tommy as she had to go and see Rosario’s situation.
"Okay, we will focus on those lessons later."
She got a pair of gloves from her pocket. They were special gloves reinforced with conducting fabric. She handed them to Tommy and gestured that he put them on.
The sparks dulled the moment he did.
Tommy gasped in relief, his body shaking as though the fear had finally caught up to him.
"Much better, right?" Sunshine asked him.
Tommy nodded. "It....is."
"That is because you cannot see the sparks anymore, so you are not freaking out. And even if they are there, the gloves are preventing them from escaping. But this is just a band aid, you still need to learn how to control your ability or else you will spend all your life without ever touching another human being with your bare hands." Sunshine said gently. "Do not take these off until you have fully mastered to control your power. Except for when you are training."
She would have to open a training class for superhumans on the base. It was best to separate the children from the adults.
Nimo pulled Sunshine to the side, still staring at the boy’s mildly trembling frame. Her throat was tight. "He’s just a child, Suni. A teenager at that and I heard he has a girlfriend on the base. What if...." She covered her mouth, head swirling with all the ways Tommy could go out of control.
Sunshine looked up, her eyes heavy. "Children do not get to choose when the apocalypse changes them or how it does so. I saw children do some of the worst things humans can do in the apocalypse. They killed, looted, sold others.....they did whatever it took to survive, especially the ones without adult supervision. We are living in a new reality Neems, all we can do is adjust to it."
Nimo covered her mouth and looked at Tommy. Hopefully, he would not electrocute anyone to death. His family also couldn’t stay in the third wall anymore. Too many people would be curious about the boy.
If he freaked out, bodies would drop. If he was angered, bodies would drop. Nimo sighed again.
The silence that followed was broken by the creak of the door. Nurse Kendall appeared; a file clutched to her chest. Her face was pale for pulling an all nighter but voice steady.
"I finished Rosario’s tests." Her eyes darted between the adults in the room. "Her body is physically healthy. Every scan says she’s fine. But her vitals are still unstable, she says the baby has not stopped moving since morning. And I witnessed it myself, violent constant movements."
The words seemed to drain air from the room.
"Please don’t be what I am thinking." Nimo whispered.
Straight away they went to the room where Rosario had been placed on bed rest. She sat up on seeing the group cradling her stomach, wincing because the baby was kicking up a storm in there. "It won’t stop," she whispered hoarsely. "It’s almost like this baby is fighting me."
"System scan the patient." Sunshine silently ordered.
[Yes host]
Hades moved to Rosario’s side, his arms steadying her. His voice came low and protective. "She’s not well, nurse Kendall maybe you could give her something to ease the pain."
"I have but it seems to have had no effect." Nurse Kendall shook her head.
Sunshine’s expression darkened after the system showed the results of the scan. She closed her eyes, it all made sense now. Restless baby, erratic vitals, violent movements. "Rosario." She walked to the bed and held the woman’s hand. "I have some news. I don’t know if it is good or bad but try not to panic."