Inner Light

“Remember what I said.”

Krysta looked up from the train tracks to look at Christian after he said this. Her eyes still stung from waking up at sunrise. She nodded to him and looked away again.

Her parents sent Krysta to Christian to help “deal with her problems” and now two years later, Christian became the reason why she was going to a school four hours away. When he mentioned Samson to the Williams, they wrote out a check for Krysta’s expenses and made it official to her. They didn’t want her around anymore.

Could she blame them though?

Krysta jumped back when the train came to a hissing stop. She looked up at Christian again and nodded. He nodded back and she threw the strap of her saddlebag over her shoulder.

When she took her seat on the train, she looked away from where Christian was standing. He was no longer there and she was glad. She didn’t want him to see the look on her face as people boarded the train.

She couldn’t do what he asked her to do. Her powers may have hurt people in the past, but it was never on purpose. To even think about killing people with powers like her was unthinkable!

Krysta was born with abilities normal children do not have.

At a young age, Krysta noticed she could move things with her mind, as well as read thoughts. But even as a toddler she knew not to show either ability to her parents. She had already heard what her parents thought about her when they saw that flames were being drawn towards her – and they were not kind thoughts.

When snapping her fingers created sparks which eventually turned into flames, Krysta’s parents began to keep to themselves. They were afraid that people would start to see that there was something different about their child.

As Krysta reached her teenage years, triggers would set flames into Krysta’s palms.

One major trigger was her mother.

One afternoon, while the two argued, a ball of fire appeared in Krysta’s hand and shot into the ground – leaving a burning hole in the living room floor. Two days later Krysta found herself sitting on a couch across from a man, who stood at his desk looking over at her.

“Hello, Krysta. My name is Christian,” he began, “Your parents have sent you to me because they feel you need help. And I agree.” He paused. “Because you see-” He put one hand out and the light around them was drawn to his palm, hovering over his hand like a globe. “I too have powers like you.”

Krysta’s eyes widened.

He continued, “When your parents told me you had burned a hole in their floor, I must admit, I was quite intrigued. I have been in contact with them for many years, keeping track of the abilities you have. Next to fire, I have come to learn that you also have telekinesis and telepathy.” He grinned at her, while adding, “Fascinating.”

“So what’re you gonna do?” she asked. “Teach me how to use all of them?”

“Precisely. You’re extremely strong in telekinesis and telepathy, but by the end of your training, each ability will be as equally strong as the other.”

“Training? Do my parents know about this?”

Christian grinned again, “Your parents think you’re here to fix this “problem”. But we’re gonna fix it to where it benefits you. There’s no reason to hide such amazing gifts.”

Krysta watched as an old abandoned warehouse flew past her during her train ride. Seeing them, reminded her of that warehouse Christian took her to. She remembered standing there, panicking at the dark building. That fear soon flushed away after Christian flipped the power switch and lit the building up.

The warehouse was tall and had obstacles in every direction – this building was built to train people and work with their skills.

Christian explained that this was where he would teach her everything she needed to know and so for two years he taught her everything he could. For the first year, just learning how to make fire appear in her hand with just a single thought seemed like the hardest thing for Krysta.

After she mastered her fire, Christian went on to teach Krysta about her telekinesis. She was strong in it, but Christian wanted her to be stronger. He told her the driving force behind her fire could be that much greater if she was stronger. And so the training intensified.

During that time, Krysta wanted nothing more than to show him she could do it. Every day after school, Krysta was with Christian training. She began to hold control over multiple objects with her mind, while only focusing on one. But it seemed like no matter how great she became with any of her powers, Christian would always tell her she needs to learn more.

One day, Krysta wanted to know why Christian was disapproving her progress. She decided to open up her telepathy and search for a reason. But the moment she attempted, she was interrupted.

“Do you know why I haven’t worked on your telepathy yet, Krysta?” he asked, turning around to her.

“No-” she said, trying to hide her embarrassment from trying to get into his head.

“Did you notice how quickly you were able to switch that ability on?”

“But I’ve always done that… Especially around my parents.”

He gave her that grin of his. “And that is why I won’t train you on it. Not because your parents hate it, but because you already know what to do with it. I do think you should use it more often. It could work to your advantage.” He then added, “So what was it you wanted to know?”

Krysta blushed, feeling embarrassed again. “I wanted to see why you’re not happy with me,” she let out.

“Do I come off that way?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He began to speak again after taking a moment to think, “I’m not unhappy with you, Krysta. I’m just frustrated. You’re so much more powerful than you know, you just need to open up that power and use it!”

“How can I do that?”

“Come,” he said, grinning again, “I have people I would like you to meet.”

That day, Krysta met people like her. They were other students of Christian’s and they each had their own unique powers.

Krysta fidgeted in her seat, thinking about Karen.

Karen was never nice to her.

The moment they met, Karen gave Krysta the cold shoulder and it only worsened as Karen saw Christian’s interactions with Krysta.

Karen was the same age as Krysta and was born with white eyes. She had no irises nor pupils and she wore dark sunglasses and at will could send a beam of light out of her eyes, burning anything the light touched.

The other pupil Krysta trained with was the complete opposite of Karen. His name was Tracy and like Krysta, he had telepathy.

Krysta dropped her head onto the window of the train. She missed Tracy the most. He left four months before she was put on this train and hadn’t heard from him since. She pulled her new school schedule out of her bag and looked at the school’s heading on the top: Samson Private High.

As Krysta’s time with Christian came to an end, Christian asked her to do something she could’ve never dreamed of doing. He asked her to attend a school he was advising her parents to send her to and kill a group of teenagers who were a threat to him and anyone else with special abilities like Krysta’s.

Krysta agreed to it, but only because it would be a chance to experience something new. To be away for school and to get out of her parent’s house. It was what she needed.

As the summer of her second year with Christian came to a close, Krysta was already planning on how to betray Christian.

Samson was four hours away from Haronton. There was no way that Christian could keep tabs on her. She was going to do things her way once she stepped foot in that school.

“Remember what I said,” Christian’s words echoed through her head again.

She shook her head, quietly saying to herself, “I won’t do it…”

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep the next hour away.

Krysta woke to the sound of the conductor’s voice on the loudspeaker announcing that the next stop was Samson. She picked up her bag when the train came to a stop and followed the group of people off the train. She looked around the area where the train stopped in.

The train seemed to sweep right through the outskirts of town. There was no real train station like back in Haronton. Right outside the small platform to enter and exit the train sat the bus overhead with empty benches. She walked over to the schedule and traced the names of stops down to the bottom.

Samson Private Grounds – Pickup Time 9:30am.

The bus arrived moments after Krysta left the train and when Krysta got off at her stop, she was greeted by tall cast-iron gates. The name Samson was set in cursive right in the middle of the grand gates. Holding the black metal was two brick pillars. Krysta entered the gate through a door that was on the side and was amazed at the sight of the school grounds. The fields were a deep green and mowed in perfect rows, the bushes were trimmed perfectly round or square, and even the school down the path seemed to sparkle.

The campus just screamed perfect.

Krysta almost felt like she was following the yellow brick road to the main buildings and when she reached it, she finally got to see herself again in the door’s reflections. She was wearing a school uniform for the first time in her life. The uniform was a black dress with a short, navy blue jacket; the boots climbed up to her knees, showing off only a little bit of skin between the bottom of the skirt and the top of the boot. She pulled her dark, red hair tighter in her ponytail and took in a deep breath before grabbing the door handle.

This was it… Entering these doors meant a new life ahead of her, while the life she left in Haronton crumbled.

At the main office, Krysta told the secretary who she was and handed the older woman the letter Christian had given her. The woman smiled and led her down the corridor to a door with the words Mr. Henley – Principal on the door.

“Sir?” the woman said, knocking and opening the door a crack.

Mr. Henley looked up from his desk.

“Miss Krysta Williams is here to see you,” she said.

“Ah, come in young lady,” he said, moving his papers aside and waving Krysta in. “Thank you, Gracy.”

The secretary nodded and left Krysta at Mr. Henley’s door.

Mr. Henley pointed to the seat in front of his desk for Krysta to sit at. The office was a nice size, but the amount of papers that Mr. Henley had around the room made it look small. Krysta sat down and looked around while he sifted through a pile of papers.

A large map of the Samson Private Grounds hung behind Mr. Henley on the wall. Along with plaques and medals for Samson being a top private school in the state. As Krysta’s eyes scanned the room, she dropped them back to his desk and saw a picture frame of a young girl.

The girl looked a few years younger than Krysta. She had brown hair that sat around her shoulders in bundles of curls. She smiled brightly and posed for the camera – it was a school picture. Freckles filled the top of her nose. She was very pretty. And just by looking at the way she presented herself, Krysta automatically thought that she could’ve been very popular with her classmates.

Mr. Henley caught Krysta staring at the photo. “That’s my niece,” he said, sadly smiling at the picture, “Her name was Hannah.”

“She went to this school?” Krysta asked.

“She did… She died a few years ago. She had a good group of friends who unfortunately couldn’t protect her,” he added. “Enough about that. Now let’s get back to you,” he said, smiling through the pain that was in his eyes. He looked at the paper he found. “You’ve come a long way from Haronton just to attend a private school.”

“My parents felt like it was one of the best private schools for me,” Krysta answered, using the rewards behind him as the reason for her being there.

“Do you have your schedule?”

Krysta quickly grabbed her schedule from her bag and handed it to Mr. Henley from across his desk.

Mr. Henley looked the schedule over then picked up his desk phone – excusing himself.

While he spoke to Gracy, Krysta looked up at two large maps behind him to study them closer. Samson Private Grounds was bigger than she thought. Krysta recognized the front building as the one she was in. Behind this building was the rest of the buildings. Glass hallways stretched to these appendages and on each side of these other buildings, Krysta could see glass elevators. The map labeled the other buildings as Pre-K to Fifth Grade on the left, Sixth Grade to Eighth Grade on the right, and Ninth Grade to Twelfth Grade sat directly behind the main building.

Krysta was going into the building farthest to the back since this was her senior year. As her eyes wandered to the other buildings that sat alone on the property, Mr. Henley brought her attention back to him.

“School starts at seven,” he began to explain, “and lunch is from twelve to twelve forty-five. If you come back after lunch, we can set up your electives.”

After physical education, electives lasted for the last half of the day. Samson’s goal was to aim for the student’s goals. They wanted to make sure the students learned everything they needed to know so when they graduated, they were skilled and ready for their next educational steps.

So far Krysta liked what her new principal was saying.

Mr. Henley handed Krysta a paper with her elective choices. “Pick only two for your first semester here,” he said.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Mr. Henley called the person inside.

Krysta turned to see a girl standing in the doorway. She had her long braid over her right shoulder and flipped it to her back as she walked into the room.

“Haze, this is Krysta Williams. I would like you to show her around since she will be your new roommate,” Mr. Henley began, “Krysta- this is your class vice-president, Haze Armstrong.”

As soon as Krysta touched hands with Haze, she forced her mind to stay in her own. Haze’s touch felt different from any others, but Krysta wasn’t about to spoil a new relationship with getting into her mind.

Luckily, Mr. Henley distracted Krysta.

“One more thing!” he exclaimed. He turned to point at the map behind him. “Female dorms are on the east side of the campus, males are on the west. Co-ed during the day, but prohibited at night.”

Krysta nodded.

Mr. Henley smiled at her again and said, “I’ll see you after lunch.”

Mr. Henley welcomed Krysta to Samson and the girls left his office.

“Let’s see,” Haze began to say and looked up at the digital clocks that appeared every five yards high up on the wall. “You’ve missed about twenty minutes of third period.”

They began to walk through one of the glass hallways towards Grade 9-12.

“After our core classes and lunch, we have gym, study hall, and then our electives. Then by choice, we have ASP,” Haze continued to explain.

“ASP?” Krysta asked.

“After School Program,” Haze answered. “They have sports and clubs after school. Or you can spend the time studying and doing homework. It’s pretty cool.”

They stopped at a door.

“Here we are. Third period,” Haze said with a smile. “Science-12 with Professor Riley.” She pushed open the door and held it for Krysta.

Krysta was surprised at the size of the class. There were fifty students sitting in a lecture hall. Back in Haronton, her classes were half this size and there was no pitched seating. The professor was a young looking woman with small glasses. The loose strands from her bun swayed to the side when she turned to the girls.

“Hi, welcome to Science-12,” the professor said, shaking Krysta’s hand. Professor Riley introduced herself to Krysta, then gave her a workbook and asked Haze to be Krysta’s partner for the remainder of the class.

Krysta followed Haze to two empty seats and they opened to the page the professor had written on the black board. Krysta looked around at everyone while Haze settled herself in her seat. One person seemed to stand out to Krysta the most and every time she looked away, her eyes went back to him. He was propped against the wall he sat next to and stared blankly at his workbook, trying to ignore the other boy.

“Who’s that guy over there?” Krysta whispered, leaning towards Haze and pointing over to the wall. “He’s kind of cute…” she added.

Haze let out a laugh. “That’s Joe Reynolds,” she answered.

“And the one poking him with a pen?”

“You think that asshole’s cute?!” she burst out then quickly shut her mouth and looked down at her books. Her face was turning red.

Krysta chuckled at the sudden outburst. “No,” she said, “I was just wondering if you knew him.”

“Oh…” Haze’s face stayed red, “Yeah, I know him. His name’s Tom Willard.” She peeked over at him from the corner of her eye. “We hang out- but he’s so obnoxious and arrogant and idiotic-” she began to clench the corners of her workbook, “and just so- unbearable!"

Krysta giggled, it was obvious to her that Haze was trying to hold back feelings for Tom. But she wasn’t going to say anything. She just met her new roommate and to make that assumption might set them on bad terms. She kept her mouth shut and laughed to herself.

When science ended, Krysta followed Haze out into the hallway and Haze rushed to catch up to Joe and Tom. She tapped Joe on the shoulder to catch his attention. He turned around, grabbing Tom’s arm.

“What’s up?” he asked Haze, but looked to Krysta.

Haze smiled at him and Tom then introduced them to Krysta. “She’s my new roommate and her schedule is the same as ours. So I get to show her around,” she said, then asked, “Want to help?”

“Sure, why not?” Tom answered, walking to Krysta.

Tom locked arms with her and began to walk her away from the others.

Krysta looked over her shoulder at Haze, while Tom began to talk.

“So, how did you like Professor Riley’s class?” Tom asked, “Fascinating, wasn’t it? Wait until next period. Whew! That’s a dozer. English can put you asleep before you can say Hip-” he stuttered on the word, “Hip- You know- that big water animal.”

Haze ran up to them and hit him in his arm.

“Ow! What’s that for?” Tom swung around to her.

“I can tell you one thing Tom,” she began to say, “She’s not going to flirt back with you.”

“I- I wasn’t expecting her to!”

“Mm-hmm and it’s Hippopotamus, you big oaf!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

While the two bickered back and forth, Krysta slowly stepped back next to Joe. “Do they do that often?” she asked.

“Yup,” Joe answered. “Haze will point out what Tom did, Tom will make up an excuse then turn it on Haze… Then Haze will storm off in three, two, one-”

“Screw you, Tom!!” Haze yelled on cue, spun on her heels and walked away.

Krysta’s eyebrows rose at how on point Joe was. She continued to watch as a bunch of students began to call out after Haze.

“Hey, Haze! Can we get your number?”

Haze ignored them, but Tom turned around, giving each of them the finger.

They all laughed at him and waved him away.

“Stick it up your ass, Tom!” one classmate replied.

Tom turned to confront them again, but was pulled away by Joe.

Krysta followed them down the hall of the senior floor towards English-12. As they got closer to the room, she noticed Haze standing at the doorway, waiting for them.

“I see you waited for me,” Tom commented, walking into the room past her.

“I waited for everyone but you, Tom!” Haze snapped back. He waved her away and walked to his seat, followed closely by Joe.

Haze apologized to Krysta and they took their seat.

Tom was right calling English a dozer. Krysta caught herself a few times zoning out and looked around the room, hoping that would keep her awake. She noticed Tom and Haze were still at each other with their subtle facial expressions and Joe had succumb to the boringness of the class. He had dropped his head to his desk and passed out.

Krysta pulled her electives out and looked down the list. In her old school she was only allowed to have two electives for a whole year. She wasn’t sure what to pick since she was given four electives per year. Eventually she went with photography and creative writing as her first two selections and informed Mr. Henley of her choices.

***

“Hey Haze! Can I get your number?”

“Let’s go out tonight.”

“Haze!"

Haze tossed in her bed, hearing her name being called left and right as she slept. She knew all these callings were jokes. They knew who Haze was and what she could do. They even knew Tom and Joe had powers.

They kept it a secret for so long, but when the attacks started happening on campus, that’s when they were all looked at differently. Some people liked them and were intrigued, but most of them were scared.

During this time, there was only one girl who understood Haze. She was Mr. Henley’s niece, Hannah, and when the first set of attacks started on campus, Hannah explained to her uncle that Haze’s group, Inner Light, was there to protect the students of Samson. But it took an attack on Mr. Henley for him to see that his niece was right.

"Haze!!"

She rolled over, getting angrier at her dream that always haunted her. It was never about the mockery though, they were only ridiculing in the background. Her dreams mainly revolved around that faithful day in tenth grade.

The campus was attacked again and the main focus of attacks was Hannah.

The leader of these attacks was a manipulator of light who called himself Christian and every other week, he sent people with powers to attack Haze, Joe, and Tom, but on this day – Christian decided to fight against the three alone.

During the fight, Haze had sent a wind tunnel towards Christian to weaken him for Joe or Tom to finish him off. But as the attack picked up speed and strength, Christian pulled Hannah in his place and disappeared into an orb of nothing.

"Hannah!!" Mr. Henley’s voice screamed in Haze’s head, snapping her out of her dream. She sat up gasping and stared at the wall realizing what was happening.

“You wake up like that every night?” Krysta asked, laying on her side and looking across the room.

“What-? No… not every night,” Haze answered startled. She looked over at Krysta and wiped her brow from the sweat that appeared. “Did I wake you?”

“No,” Krysta said, rolling over and putting her arms behind her head. “I couldn’t sleep…”

“Wish that’d happen to me sometimes…” Haze let out.

“Nightmares?”

“If you want to call it that,” Haze said, rolling onto her back as well. She thought about her dream again.

Ever since that day she blamed herself for what happened to Hannah. Tom always tried to make her see that it was an accident; he would even remind her that Mr. Henley didn’t even blame her for what happened.

Eventually Haze fell back asleep and Krysta looked over at her again and smiled. She thought about the wind slightly picking up outside as Haze tossed and turned. She thought of this as a coincidence but something deeper inside her knew it wasn’t - Haze was one of the students Christian spoke of.

***

Krysta tried to be homesick, but it was no use. Samson was her new home and she was enjoying it. She was also enjoying what Samson had to offer. Her classes were better than Haronton and the people were great. Especially Haze, Joe, and Tom. The first two weeks had flown by quickly and her friendships with the three seemed to be getting stronger. They welcomed her into their group quickly and Krysta was comfortable around them – more so than she ever thought she could be around new people.

For lunch, their routine was to sit outside and eat. The campus had patios and along the side of the building was where lunch was served. One side had food already prepared, while the other side was food made while the student placed their order.

Haze joined Tom on the made to order line, while Krysta hurried her way off the other line with a sandwich. As she walked back to the table where Joe waited, she stopped.

Joe sat with his side facing her, giving her the perfect view of what he was doing – he was levitating his straw wrapper using only his eye concentration.

Krysta took her seat next to him and asked, “You have telekinesis?”

Joe quickly dropped the wrapper and answered, “No-”

“You know,” she began to say, ignoring Joe’s answer, “Being a telekinetic comes pretty handy at times, wouldn’t you say? I think it’s one of the more fun gifts anyone could have.”

Joe looked over at her as she spoke. She was already digging into her sandwich as she spoke about a gift that nobody understood. Something normal people would be freaked out about if they saw what he just saw. His attention quickly turned to Tom sitting next to him and fiddling a piece of paper between his fingers for Joe to see.

“What’s that?” Joe asked, snatching the note from Tom’s fingers.

“Susan Grey’s number,” Tom answered, grabbing the paper back.

“Susan Grey? The Susan Grey who dumped you two months ago?”

“That’d be her,” Tom smiled, gazing dopily at the phone number.

“You’re such a dumb ass,” Joe rolled his eyes.

“What?! She’s cute! And besides, how could I possibly say no if she’s just handing me her number again?”

“She’s just going to dump you again,” Joe said, shaking his head and turning back to his lunch.

“Ah, let her,” he flipped the paper around, “I got her friends as well,” he joked, then let out a laugh. He looked towards Krysta who smiled at, what he believed to be, his cleverness. “Hey Krysta,” he said, smiling back at her.

“Hi Tom,” Krysta answered back. Then nonchalantly pointed out, “You forgot your lunch.”

“Ah shit! Knew I was forgetting something! Be right back.”

“Oh! While you’re there, can you get me another soda and a bag of Doritos?” she asked, handing him two dollars. “Thank you,” she smiled again.

Tom nodded and took the money from her, but didn’t go far. Joe began to add to the order, “And an Arizona ice tea and another slice of pizza. Pepperoni.”

“Money?” Tom asked.

“No, but I’ll pay you back.”

Tom rolled his eyes and left the table to stand next to Haze on line.

Joe shook his head and turned back towards his plate only to find everything rearranged. He looked over at Krysta, who gave him a smile.