in the dark - 1
The group of teens that gathered in the basement of their high school were, for the most part, recognizable. They were spaced out, wishing not to invade each other’s personal space. They weren’t here as friends, but on request by the principal of the high school. They had been evaluated the previous day, Friday, October 2nd. They had been told to come back for further evaluation, which everyone was curious about.
Most of the students in the basement had been labeled since day one of high school. There was The Golden One, Leo Gallagher, who was the Prince of the school. He was the arrogant and hot quarterback of the school. He worked for nothing short of perfection.
The Player One, Christopher O’Neil, came next in the food chain of the high school hierarchy. He couldn’t hold a relationship longer than a few days and he often had a different girl hanging off of his arm at every party he attended. He was charming to say the least, and knew how to work his way into getting things he wanted.
The Nice One, Zach Murphy, was the nicest guy in the high school. You couldn’t go a day in high school without seeing him with a smile on his face. It seemed as if his mission were to make everyone happy; and he never failed to get a smile on anyone’s face. He was everybody’s friend and no one could really ever stay mad at him.
The Bitch One, Nora Chen, was the rudest person in the high school. She had a tendency to tell her opinion about anything- absolutely anything. She didn’t have many friends, but was ruthless in telling people off about themselves. In her mind, the world spun around her and anyone who was in her way was a menace.
The Bad Boy One, Josh Gershinson, was the brooding guy no one dared bother. At a whopping 6’7 with tattoos covering his body, he was quite intimidating to look at. He had gotten into a few fights over the years and always came off as the victor, his battling skills were quite immaculate. So, no one bothered with him and he was fine with that.
The Stoner One, Sadie Nicole, was the last in the group of teens that could be recognized. She had been nicknamed ‘Hippie’ by the others, because she was the modern day hippie. For the most part, at least. She was known for smoking her marijuana outside of the school building and was known to try and keep things chill between everyone.
Another girl was in the room, but no one really knew her name. She was shy, and quiet, being a smart girl who preferred a book over human interaction. There wasn’t much to say about her.
They stood in silence for a few minutes before Principal Warren walked through the door, one guard on each side of him.It was an odd sight, but not surprising. “Good morning students,” he said, a tired look over his face as he thumbed over a few papers that were in his hand. “I’m sure everyone is questioning why I told you all to be here on a Saturday-”
“No duh, I could still be at home asleep,” Nora spoke up, sounding annoyed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Let’s hurry this up because I have somewhere to be at five and I’m not missing it to be stuck in a room filled with losers-”
“As I was saying,” Principal Warren cut her off, shooting her a glare before he focused back on the list of papers. “Now, the tests that everyone took yesterday were to check your mind to see if anyone has what we call an affinity. It is extremely rare to have an affinity, but each of you have tested positive for having one.”
“Okay, but what is an affinity? Is it some type of disease?” Zach spoke, his eyebrows furrowing curiously. The ‘tests’ they had taken were body and brain scans, which was quite odd for something like a high school to put its students through.
“It can be described as a disease, but that not technically what it is. There are two types of affinities; one is natural and the other is rare. The natural affinities are for people who have a spontaneous or natural ability to perform certain tasks. For example, Babe Ruth probably had an affinity for baseball because he was naturally so good at it.” Principal Warren said before looking down at his papers and hesitating to continue.
“What about the rare affinities?” Leo said in similar tone to Nora’s, however, he didn’t come off nearly as rude.
“The rare affinities are much different from the natural affinities. They take the same liking to a specific thing as a natural would, but it manifests differently from natural. The rare affinities are able to do… inhuman things with their affinity. For example, if someone had an affinity for water, they would most likely be able to control and manipulate water.”
“So… you’re saying that we might have superpowers?” Chris scoffs and rolls his eyes at what the principal said. It was obvious this guy was crazy. What he was saying made no sense.
“No, I’m saying there’s a possibility some of you might have the rare gene and we need to evaluate each of you again more thoroughly to determine whether you are or not. Now, enough for talking, let’s start the testing. First up is… Sophia Casteneda, please follow me.” Principal Warren said, looking around over the students. The shy and quiet girl grabbed her things before following the Principal and the guards out of the room, the door being closed behind her.
The basement was quiet as they heard the others walking up the steps. Slowly, their sounds faded to nothing. As that happened, Sadie stood up from her seat, a smirk on her lips. “Now that they’re gone, I’ve brought tunes,” she pulls out her speaker from her bag and heads toward the front of the room, going to sit on top of the table that stood there. She faced the others with a small smile, turning on her music. It was one of her favorite songs, ‘In The Dark’ by Billy Squier.
“Oh great, I’m stuck in a room with the hippie and her music,” Nora mumbled, but was cut off as Zach got up and went to sit beside Sadie in the front.
“Nice groove, Sade, feeling the wavelength,” Zach chuckled, nodding his head to the beat. With him up there, Leo and Chris followed in suit, surrounding the table. “So, how does everyone feel about maybe having superpowers? Hoping mine is teleportation so that I can get out of here,” he closed his eyes and acts like he’s focusing for a moment before he opened his eyes. “Well, that didn’t work.”
“I don’t know, I think Warren’s finally lost it. I mean, who the fuck puts a whole school of students do a full body evaluation? Honestly, he’s probably just a pervert, trying to peak up a few of the students skirts.” Chris scoffs, rolling his eyes at the thought. He was angry he was here. He could literally be doing so many things right now, hitting on so many girls. It sucked he was stuck here.
“I don’t know, what if he isn’t shitting us? Can you imagine having powers?” Leo chuckles, smirking at the thought. If he did have powers, he would literally be perfect. “Anyone know what their affinity might be? I’m trying to think, but nothing really jumps out about me. I mean, I’m great at football, but that doesn’t seem like a cool affinity to have.”
“Hopefully it’s to shut the fuck up because I’m tired and don’t wish to hear your voice,” Nora spoke up as she stood up and walked herself over to the group. She was annoyed by them, but wanted to ask Sadie something. “Hey, Hippie, you got any bud on you? I’m, like, in need of some good medication.” Though Nora would rather be dead than be caught smoking with the hippie chick, she knew a high would feel good right about now.
“Sorry sister, I don’t have any bud on me, but I do have my dab pen. It’s in my back, in the first zipper,” Sadie offers Nora a smile, but Nora ignores it and turns around immediately going straight to Sadie’s bookbag, and going through it. Once she found the thing she desired, she pulled it out, clicking it on before taking a hit. She let out a small breath smoke, a smile falling over her lips. This was going to be good.
Josh got up from his seat and walked over to where Nora stood. He said nothing, but held out his hand expectantly. Nora planted the dab pen in his hand and he took a hit from it as well.
“If I do have an affinity it probably has something to do with plants. I mean, I don’t know what it is about it, being around nature just makes me so calm. Also, it all makes sense to me. I could tell you so much about plants that it’s kinda weird,” Sadie said to the guys who surrounded her.
“Sadie, no offense, but I think it’s just because you’re high all the time. You probably know more about weed than Snoop Dogg at this point,” Leo chuckled to Sadie, looking to her. Her words had a small stutter and her eyes were glazed over and red. It was obvious she was on something.
“Maybe my power is to go back in time to stop myself from coming here and wasting my time,” Chris grumbled under his breath, making others laugh.
About half an hour passes and the group in the front are still talking about small things, while Nora and Josh were sitting on the ground, spaced out of their minds. It had been their first time with a dab pen. Straight thc hit much harder than smoking a blunt would. They couldn’t even form full sentences between the two of them.
Finally, the door opened again, exposing Principal Warren. The first thing that was noticed was that it looked like he had been in some sort of tousle. There was something redon the bottom on his pants, which certainly wasn't there before. Leo spotted that first and tensed, feeling like something wasn’t right. He turned off Sadie’s music before turning to Principal Warren. “Where’s the other girl?” He asked, not having the care to remember her name.
“Sophia came back positive for having a rare affinity and she is being dealt with. I need Zach Murphy next,” Principal Warren said next, his face void of any emotion as he said that. That made everyone pay attention to what was happening now, even the two who were high out of their minds.
“What happened to Sophia?” Chris said, crossing his arms over his chest. This was way too suspicious.
“Nothing, now Zach Murphy, come on,” Principal Warren said and hesitantly Zach followed after him, the door being closed behind them.
“Warren had blood on his pants. Do you think they did anything to that Sophia chick?” Leo mumbled, worry slightly in his voice. He didn't have any of the drug, so he shouldn’t feel so weird about the situation, but something seemed off about all of this.
“I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m getting the hell out of here. I have my rights and I’m not going to-” Chris grabbed his things and went over to the door and tried to open it, but it wasn’t budging. “What the fuck?” He pulled harder, but it didn’t move. “They fucking locked us in here.”
