Chapter 2

Prashant fails in using his powers to save himself from punishment and later when he enters the class, he had to sit with a new beautiful girl. But is this girl some normal person or what??

Our school was full of a lot of weird people. Among them, there was one who always stood by his words, our Administrative officer. You don't need to read his mind to tell whether he was telling the truth or lie. He was a damn honest man. I wish everyone was as honest man as him. But as honest as he was, and as much as I liked him, he was a strict man.

"Prashant. Kushal. You are late on the first day of your new session in the school. What is your excuse for this. You are now the second most senior class in the school. What do you expect these kids to learn from you." he said as he pointed at another line which consists of junior kids who were late, and of course my brother was also there." This is intolerable. Tell me what is you excuse for this"

"Now observe me carefully." I whispered to Kushal. "This is the trick I told you about."

Ok. Now was the time. I had been practising this for the whole vacation. It was hard and complicated. Yet I had at last learnt to do it. Or that's what I thought.

I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath. Then I entered the mind of our  honourable  administrative officer.

I could feel his emotions flowing inside his mind. He was not happy. He was not expecting this from us. In his eyes, we were the future of the nation. Being late on the first day of the session was totally unacceptable. He was going to make us stand in front of the class for the first period since we were late. I could feel everything going inside his mind.

So, I entered his mind successfully. Now, the second phase. 

I concentrated my powers to steady the flow of his emotions, and then I began to concentrate his emotions on the happy side so that he would forgive us let us go to our classes happily. I just had  to do the things that I had planned and practised for the last few days. If I could get it right then we would get out of this problem without any punishment.

"Oops."

"What happened?" asked Kausal in a low voice.

"I screwed it." As good as I thought myself to be, I lost control over his emotions and screwed everything at the most crucial moment. Now I had no idea how he would be feeling at the moment. How he would react.

I opened my eyes to look at Admn. sir. Hell no. Someone didn't need to be a psychic  to know that he was angry. I screwed bad this time.

"What do you mean by yo...." he was cut mid sentence. "Everyone!" shouted Admn. sir." 5 rounds of the assembly ground right now. And Kausal and Prashant, 15 for you both. And after that I'm going to call your parents so that they can teach you a good lesson about punctuality and discipline."

Kushal is going to kill me now. I was trying to save him and myself from this problem but instead I pushed everyone deeper into it. What an idiot was I to think that I could control anyone with my powers. Standing in front of the class was far better than watching our parents get humiliated because of our misdeeds.

"Don't worry Prashant." I looked at Kushal. He was smiling. I don't know why on earth would he be smiling at a moment like this. He continued "We all screw up sometimes. Don't worry. 15 rounds is nothing. And that mood swaying trick of yours is awesome, if that's what it is. You'll get better at it." I read his mind to confirm if he meant what he said. He meant every word of it. I was so proud of my friend. I would had given my life for him at that particular moment had he asked for it. Admn. sir went to address the junior section.

"Ok. I am going to try it once again. It just might work this time."

"Can you use it often." he asked.

"No, not quite often. Most of the times, I have to wait for about 20 minutes for the mood to go back to normal before I could do it again. And depending on the person, it can take more or lesser time. But if I try to change it within that time interval then I have to try very hard. It's not impossible but the chances are very less."

"Ok then. Sound like fun. Try it once again."

"But there's another side of it."

"What?"

"If I fail then chances are that he would be much more angry at us than now."

"What?" he said, shocked.

"Should I do it or not?" I asked. 

He thought for a moment, then looked at me and smiled." He is going to call our parents anyway. What worse could it possibly get. Just do it."

He had always been the type of person who just goes for it. I was a fool to expect something different from it. But I wondered if it could get any worse in case I screw up this time, which was very much possible.

As soon as Admn. sir addressed the junior students and came in the front, I tried to do it once again. This time the flow of emotions wasn't neutral. It was mostly concentrated on the part which was supposed to stimulate anger. 

It was hard to move the whole flow to the happier part. As I kept trying, the flow just become stronger and stronger. Damn it. There was so much I should learn before playing with someone's mind. What am I thinking. Who is going to teach me about human mind and my powers even if wanted to learn. Practising it on people was my only option. And as much as I wished, there was no other person who possessed powers like me. I was a unique piece in this board of humans. And it hurt. It hurt like hell.

"Were you able to do it?" asked Kushal.

I looked at him with a hint of failure in my eyes. He understood. He was my only friend and it gave me so much relief to know that he understood. I was so lucky to have him.

"Ok now. Everyone, what are waiting for. Join your files and start running." he shouted.

As we both started to run, we heard him shouting again."And you two." Of course he was mentioning us. "Make it 30 rounds."

"What? Is he some sort of crazy person or what? Who would run 30 rounds of this field. I mean, I know that it's small and all that but..."

"Come on Kushal, it was me who made him do it. At first he was just going to make us stand in front of the class for a period. If you want to blame someone then blame me." I said as we completed our first round. Our assembly ground would be about one third of a football ground but still 30 rounds were quite much. Anyway, it was me who caused this, so I didn't had any right whatsoever, to blame him. All I can do was run.

After 22 rounds, we retreated and lied that we did 30 rounds. He was not watching so he had no idea about the truth, therefore he said that it was ok. Now we can go to our respective classes.

"What? Are you not going to call our parents?" asked Kushal.

Why does Kushal have to ask. Maybe he had forgotten about it. So it was not an intelligent act.

"Why? Do you want me to call them." he said. He was still angry. But it seemed that my powers had started to fade away.He was evidently calmer than before. 

"No Sir."Kushal replied."Please don't call them."

"Then go to your classes."he said in a way which gave the impression that he was angry but was trying his best to control his anger."Fast"

"What happened back there?? Why did he let us go?" asked Kushal as we went to our classes."Did your powers wore off before time?"

"Yes, as I told you before, it works differently on different people." I replied.

"Let's go and wash our faces first”,said Kushal.

"What?" I said as I looked upon myself. I was sweating and my shirt was already drenched in it. I was so much lost in my own thoughts earlier that I didn't observed it. The rest of the day was going to be horrible. So much for an enjoyable walk and trying to use your powers on your teacher.

After we cleaned ourselves, we went to our classes. We were obviously late for that particular period on the first day itself. But I already knew what happens on the first period of a new session. A new class teacher is introduced, then all the students introduce themselves to him, as if he can remember all of their names at once. Then he tells them about himself and his lifelong experiences and adventures. It's a total headache. But at the moment, it was least of my problems.

We entered the class, introduced ourselves and then went on to look for a seat. Unfortunately, we couldn't find chairs adjacent to each other so we went to sit with different people. He went on to sit with a friend of his.The one I went to sit with was a girl with dark shiny long hairs, fair skin and a cute little nose. Too cute and little for her own comfort. Her name was.... Wait! as well as I remember, I never saw her in the class before. She must have been a new student. 'Who cares. I have seen a lot prettier girls than her.' I lied to myself.

The class continued after we sat down on our; what they say; respective seats. Before I learnt the use of word 'respective' like this, I had a lot of misconceptions about it. I am sure you don't want to listen to them.

Our new class teacher was Mr. J.K. Das. Students nicknamed him battery. He was short in height, about five foot three, had a long nose, and a huge attitude. He wore those big glasses which make your eyes look like that of an owl. I could never understand why those students called him a battery though. Guess I didn't cared enough to try to understand. He was not the type of person you want to get in an argument with. He usually always won by one way or the other. Then he'll look down on you as if he'd won an Olympic debate, had something like that existed. And in case; by any chance or luck, you win the argument, he'll scold you for arguing with him. He was a real cunning person. I don't want to get inside his head any time soon.

He had taught us Chemistry the last two years. No need to tell that I suck at it even though I passed every time one way or the other.

He was telling us some sort of emotional real life story at the moment. It was the girl next to me however, that made me more uncomfortable. I wanted to know about her. What was her name? Where was she from? What does her parents do? And all those other things that boy generally want to know about a girl. If you know what I mean.

I was too chicken hearted to ask her anything; even for a copy. God d****t. I owned a power which people would die to take, I mean not literally. But still. I was too scared to ask a girl her name. Why the hell was I like this. Asking Kushal to set us both was a good option.' But what if he fell in love with her instead.' I thought. It was a scary option. So Kushal won't be a part of this, I decided.

There was only one way left. I have to enter her mind to know about her.

It was a choice I made in an instant. Who the hell was this girl anyway? And why the hell was she so beautiful? Humans shouldn't have the right to look so beautiful. She was playing with my mind even while doing nothing.

Ok. I admit it. She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I mean literally. And I was sitting right next to her. 'This was my chance' I thought ' I was sitting next to her for a reason. And maybe; just maybe, the reason was that we were meant to be together.' 

I had never been so desperate about a girl. And it was quite funny in one way. The problem was that it wasn't funny the other way. I had never cared about other girls before and now this had happened to me. I was desperate to know about her.

At last. After we reached the end of the class. And after thinking for what seemed like an eternity, I decided that I would try to gather a little bit information about her. I mean it's not like that I was going to do a wrong thing. Getting inside someone's head without their permission wasn't such a bad thing; Was it!

Ok then. Let's start.

I opened the barrier from my mind and the spherical dome of energy just exploded; like an animal broke out from its prison to freedom. But it was just a normal thing for me. It happens like this every time I open the barrier. But something weird and shocking happened this time. Something that I wouldn't have expected to happen in my wildest dreams. 

As soon as I opened the barrier, that girl suddenly turned to look at me. I turned to confirm what had just happened. Yes. It was real. She was looking at me. Sorry, staring with wide shocking eyes would be more appropriate. A lot of questions emerged in my mind.Her look make me feel as if I had turned into a monster.

But how she looked right now wasn't the question. Why she looked at me like that was? I mean, there was no way she could have learned about my powers; or was there...

Fearing the later, I put up the barrier in my mind again. And that was it. I promised myself that I would never ever again try to read other people's mind without their permission. Things had gone from lovely to super weird because of it.

She kept looking at me like that for a few more moments. I kept looking at her;though not with the maniac look that she was giving me; but still. It was more of a curious stare from me side. And I was curious. I wanted to know the reason behind her staring at me like that.

Then she broke the silence.

"Who the hell are you?" she whispered.

"I am Prashant. Prashant Singh." I replied trying to copy James Bond but failed miserably.

"Don't f**k with me. What do you think am I; a fool." she replied. It was clear now, that there was anger in her voice. But there was something else beside anger in it. I could feel it. It was fear. 

I pretty much didn't liked where this whole thing was going. I was afraid that something bad had just happened. I didn't know what. I didn't know how. I just knew it. Something bad had happened and I was the centre of it.

But before I could say something, everyone around me stood up. I looked around and realised that the class had ended. Everyone was leaving.

"Ok." I said after gathering some courage." Now I am gonna pretend that nothing had happened between us. You didn't stared at me like a maniac to scare the s**t out of me; and we are both just some normal school kids." Then I looked at her closely. She wasn't listening to me. It was like... it was like she had gone into some sort of shock. 

Well. To me, it seemed like a golden chance. A golden chance to get away from her. So before she could notice, I took off.

'Where the hell is Kushal. Where the f**k is he when I need him the most.' I thought to myself as I wandered in the corridors of our school searching for him. I don't know why. But I was scared and I needed my friend around me. I knew that things had gone bad with that weird girl. But that was no reason for me to shiver. What on earth was I getting so afraid of.

Then suddenly, before I could notice, someone took my hand and dragged me to a corner of the corridor. I looked who it was. I need not to. I had already guessed who it was. It was that weird girl. It's funny how a few minutes ago I saw her as the most beautiful girl alive and now she was 'that weird girl'.

At last we were in the corner. There was no one around. 

Then with brute force, she punched me on the stomach.

"Aaaah" I shouted with pain. I could have swore that I spat out some blood. It was painful at first but it grew more so with the passing of time. How could a girl have that much strength. She was not normal. Hell! Was she human?

Then she took me by the neck pushed me against the wall; and raised me two feet high from the ground. 

"Leav.... meh....." I said as I gasped for air and tried to free myself from her clutches. Ok. She wasn't ‘The Beautiful Girl’ any more. She was that weird girl. But that didn't matter now. I wanted air. And she was tightening her clutches with every passing second.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Wh....wha?" I managed to say as I continued my feeble attempts to free myself from her.

"You are not a human. And you are not one of us either. Then who the hell are you." she asked.

But I couldn't answer her any more cause I was almost out of breath. I tried to kick her. And I did kicked her but it seemed like I was wasting my energy for my attacks didn't seemed to have any effect on her. It was like a poor little mouse was trying to hit the large and mighty cat. 

Then; she punched me in the stomach again. This time it was harder than before. And with that, I went out of breath. But before the thought hit me that I could get killed right then and there, she released me. I fell on the floor with a loud thud.

As I gasped for air , I felt the presence of someone else standing behind her. But I dare not look up at her for the fear that she might just punch me again. It hurt badly though. My stomach. It was painful beyond compare. I was spatting out blood. I could swear that I would die if she just punch me once again. But why was she doing it. Was she crazy? And what did she meant when she said that I was not a human. I was very much human. I was in pain. A lot of pain. But the questions just kept coming in my mind.

Then, "Is he the one that you were talking about." came a voice from somewhere behind her. It was the voice of a man. As much I feared looking up, I was also curious about the other person who was talking to her. At last I decided to look up. And guess what I found. Nothing. There was no other person behind her. She was all alone. And it was as frightening as it could get. 

But I could have swore that I heard someone. Was I frightened to the point that I had started to imagine things. 

"Yes, he is the one. He is psychic. But his power are too great as compared to us. I fear that he is something else." she replied.

Now I was sure that there was someone else there except her and me. Or maybe she had just gone crazy. Again, the questions. Was there really someone present there beside her. If yes, then was this person invisible? Was he a friend or foe? And who was he? If not than was she going to kill me or spare me. 

There were many questions, and no answer.The pain in my stomach intensified. it was a living hell for me.

Then before I realized, a black vertical ellipse shaped thing appeared out of the thin air. Almost 2 meters wide, out of nowhere . 

  "Bring him in." ordered the voice.

Bring him in. What the f**k did he mean by bring him in. 

"You aren't using that dimension, are you." she said with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"It's none of your concern. Just bring him in." ordered the voice.

What was going on? I was clueless. First this weird girl. Then this weird elliptical dark thing. As if that girl was not enough. What the hell was going on today. Was this all even real, I wondered. Yes, the pain that I was feeling was very much real. What the f**k was going on today. Was this some sort of joke or something. 

Again, too many questions and no answer. So that was it. I gave in. I had no idea what was going on all around me. So for now, all I could do was wish that they don't kill me.

"Ok" replied that weird girl.

Then she tried to raise me. But the pain was just too much for me to bear. I fell on the floor once again. She wasn't having a lot of patience either, because then she took me by the collar and dragged me into the dark elliptical object. And then everything went dark.

Reviews

[Akshay Rawal]

And here it gets the pace...i am teading further

[Su' Nacnetaf]

I see the term "superhero story" in some reviews, I really hope this doesn't turn out as such. Yeah, there's something different with the characters, and it's quite entertaining, but not superhero material in my opinion, just mine though. I do wish to learn more from the no longer beautiful girl and the man who's not there. I do believe this could have a lot of psychological potential rather than being just a superhero story. Thanks for sharing.

[Cordelia Kaye]

Usually, I'm not a big fan of superhero novels but yours has a certain appeal to it. I love your main character, their nationality, just them in general. I do believe Chapter 1 would work better as a Prologue and this chapter as the first; I didn't particularly like the Prologue as a whole because it looked too far into the antagonist's plans too early and introduced too many characters (that most you probably won't meet later, I presume). I prefer the antagonist's plans to unfold over the course of the story, bringing about that sense of "why are they doing this?" The Prologue would've appealed to me more of the antagonist's plans were more concealed; they were discussing it, but the reader didn't really know what they were talking about because they don't outright state it.

Otherwise, I do love your Chapter 1 and 2 and feel they flow real well together. Your characters are going well so far and your main character is clever and witty. You do need to edit in several areas, but I know you're working on that. I'll read Chapter 3 tomorrow and continue to follow your novel!

[Skai Rain]

I only suggest running through editing a few more times as there are a few mistakes. However, the story is going great so far and I am enjoying the read! Make sure to let me know when the next chapter comes out!

[Ankit Mahar]

Yeah sure. Thanks for your support

[R Smith]

that's a very entertaining story Ankit, it will be interesting to see where it goes, best wishes for that :)

[Ankit Mahar]

Thanks for your support :-)

[Laura Lynn]

This is very inspiring. Yes, please keep going, New Theory absolutely couldn't be more correct; the second half of this chapter really revs up a little as it goes along.

[New Theory]

Good going, I like superhero stories. Keep going.