Fyra Begins

Even as Alice had woken in the hospital that morning she had known something wasn’t right. Despite the reassurances of the countless doctors and nurses who had taken care of her, she knew she wasn’t the same. After multiple tests and a brief discussion about the scar on her right cheek, she was free to go. As the taxi driver curved around the freeway, she leaned her head back and thought out the previous night. She remembered sitting at her desk, quietly doing her job, as always, when a man stormed in and demanded that everyone was to get on the ground. Of course, everyone did. No one is stupid enough to mess with a crazed man and a gun. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him throw something, then run for cover. Alice had let out a silent scream just seconds before everything near her burst into flames.

But that was as far as she could get. She remembered nothing else. She paid the driver as soon as they arrived at her house. Alice got out of the cab and slowly walked to her front door. After asking the doctors if Alice would be okay multiple times, her mom had gone home with her sister. Alice fiddled with the keys for a minute before opening the door and letting herself in. She flopped on the couch without turning any lights on. Alice tried to remember more, but couldn’t get any farther than her scream. Then with a sudden jolt, she sat upright. She knew the man who had set fire to her building. It was her doctor, Dr. Frost! Alice needed to find someone, to tell them what she knew. But as she stepped out into the night, a black car zoomed away from the end of her driveway.

* * * * *

Now, four years later, Alice was a master at her new gift. She had gone to her grandfather as soon as she had caught her breath, and he told her what he knew. He had helped her to learn and control her powers. Alice could now glow in the dark, fly, and explode without any conflict. Though her shape-shifting got a little off-track sometimes, she was sure she could do it just fine. She didn’t know why, of all things, she shape-shifted into a nickel and a sea shell, but whenever she tried to go into the form of something else, she always ended up looking like a jumbled up freak. Together, Alice and her grandpa had thought up a pretty good superhero name for her-Fyra. It was either that, or Bubbles. They had decided on this one because of her explosion-like power. She could raise her temperature at will, and when it got to its boiling point…BAM! She exploded. This was the power she could do best (not to mention that it was power she liked best), so she was named after fire. Her weaknesses are simple-water (or anything that could put out fire, for that matter), and coldness. She also has to watch what is thrown at her, because she isn’t very strong. Other than that, she was fairly well-matched.

Alice (or Fyra, whichever you prefer) strolled casually toward the hospital, glancing over her shoulder as she went. Dr. Frost was in there, and he could no longer avoid her. She walked to the receptionist and asked, in the politest voice she could manage, “Can I borrow Dr. Frost for a minute, please?”

“Oh I’m sorry dear, but he’s in a meeting.” The receptionist said back, a half-hearted smile on her face.

“Oh…well could you tell him it’s his daughter, and that its urgent?” Although Alice was not related to him in any way, she knew this little charade had worked. Now she was inwardly praying that Dr. Frost had a daughter…

“He says he’ll be right down.” The receptionist’s voice interrupted Alice’s thoughts as she put the phone down. “Feel free to wait in his office for him. It’s the third door on the left.” She pointed down a short hallway.

“Thanks,” Alice replied. She turned and walked, almost jogged, swiftly down the hall.

Dr. Frost’s office was clean and organized. Almost too clean, as if he never went in there. Alice glanced around at the big oak desk and the gigantic book case. On the book case, there were only three books. The rest were folders. Patients’ folders. Alice had a sudden, horrifying thought. She glanced through the manila folders, all alphabetized, until she found what she was looking for. There it was, her name and birthday, written neatly in black ink. She flipped open the folder and was shocked, but relieved to see that the pages were all blank.

“Well, hello. I thought I would meet you again. Not snooping, are we?” a quiet voice said. Alice dropped the folder and spun around to see a tall, dark figure closing the door behind him as he entered the room.

Author's Note

lame but bear with me

Reviews

[Michael Carr]

a decent start to an interestingf story. I'll flip through this. it needs a bit of editing but the characters and story you have crated are very good.
well done taylor!