Chereads / Era of Oddities / Chapter 15 - Why Me?

Chapter 15 - Why Me?

"Listen, why am I even here?"

"Nova, I want to make sure you're okay. You took quite a beating today.

"Okay Angel, but why do they all have to be here?" I motioned towards the other six in the room who were all bickering with each other over me. "This is a little overkill if you ask me."

"They were all the people who brought you here." Earlier, she filled me in on what happened after I passed out. Apparently Anima caught me and brought me here, with the others following. Angel treated my wounds, and then let me rest. Then I woke up, and all this chaos began. Sighing, I look at Angel.

"Hey, when I first woke up, I heard seven people in the room. There are only six people right now, so where'd the seventh person go?"

"O-oh, there wasn't anyone else I assure you!" She said in a nervous tone, waving her hands in the air in front of her. "You must've just been hearing things." I can tell that she's lying through her teeth, but I don't know why. Well, if she doesn't want to tell me she doesn't want to tell me. There's really nothing I can do about it.

"Well, whatever. Can I go now? I'm awake and I'm not in that much pain." That last part was a lie. Everytime I move a searing pain blazes through my entire body, enveloping me in all of it's blazing glory.

"You're such a liar. I know you're in unbearable pain, plus, we need to keep an eye on you. Where would you even go?"

"Um, I don't know. To where all the students are?"

"They're all still in the dome, preparing for initiation. You were only out for about ten minutes, miraculously."

"Well then, shouldn't I go there for initiation or whatever the crap you said it was?"

"Well… you're in a kind of, how do I put it, different situation."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything else. Sorry."

"Well, I know for a fact that I"m not going to stay here, so…" I went to get up out of the bed, but the pain was so intense it made me double over myself. 

"See? You're in no condition to even be moving."

"I told you," I growled back at her. "I'm fine. Just let me go." The light mood in the room vanished instantly, the bickering heroes going quiet. All eyes are on me again, great.

"Nova, don't make me stop you by force again." Stupid bird. 

"Eagle don't be stupid. It's not like I'm going to try something." That was a blatant lie. I was formulating several ideas as to how I could get out of this god forsaken room. I tensed up, ready to try something, and everyone else in the room did the same, ready to stop me. The tension in the air was almost tangible, like I could cut it with a knife.

"Don't you dare." Eagle said, voice barely above a whisper. Man, you'd think he was like my dad or something.

"Shut up. You stupid heroes are trying to control my life." I say quietly, almost inaudible. "I hate you all." I could feel my heart wanting to cry, wanting to explain to them why I feel this way, but I keep my face neutral, my lips sealed.

"Aw, don't say that sweetie." It was Blackout, trying to inch her way closer to me. She was obviously making an attempt to stop whatever I was thinking of doing. I let the tension in the room build, waiting for the right moment to strike. The heroes began to look at each other around the room, eyes shifting nervously, waiting for something to happen. Patient, patient, patient, now! 

Blackout's attention finally shifted away from me, making it so I would be able to use my oddity if I needed to. I'm still recovering, so I'm going to try to get out of the room without it. I prepare to throw myself off the bed quickly, hoping to get the jump on the heroes and make my escape. I glare at the heroes in the room, making the feeling in the room switch from tense to aggressive in the blink of an eye. The heroes reel back, surprised and mildly scared of me. It's perfect, I can escape.

I motion to throw myself off the bed, feeling the pain in my side flare angrily. I can already picture the moves I'll make, I'll throw myself off the bed and duck under Cannord's legs, shaking off Angel and obstructing Blackout's view of me. I would then push everyone away from me with the wind and propel myself out the door.

I start to jump off the bed, already preparing to go under Cannord's legs, when I feel a pair of arms grab me from behind. They pull me against the wall, one arm restraining my arms and the other one holding up a hand covering my mouth. I feel my eyes go wide, trying to struggle against the grip. I look around the room trying to see who snuck up behind me. Everyone was there, looking as shocked as I felt.

Before I can do anything, they pull me closer to the wall. I close my eyes, preparing to hit the wall painfully, but the impact never came. I still feel the arms pulling me, as if I was going through the wall. Is it someone's oddity? I feel the arms stop pulling me, but their grip on me doesn't loosen at all. Opening my eyes, I see a wall in front of me. I can hear surprised shouts coming from the room, I assume they're from the heroes.

I try to turn around to see the person holding me, but I can't move my head enough to see them. I struggle, but to no avail. They pick me up and begin to take me across the hallway. I try to kick my legs, flail my arms, trying to get them to let go of me, but it doesn't work. They finally reached wherever they were taking me, passing both of us through the door like there was nothing there. 

We're in a big room that's set up like a classroom. There are about ten desks in the room, with bookcases lining the back wall. There's a chalkboard in the front of the room behind a podium. It looks like there's five kids sitting at desks, and there's a man standing at the podium. It looks like they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Chairman, I got the girl like you asked me to." The person holding me walked up to this 'Chairman' person, still holding me tight with his hand around my mouth. I continue to resist, squirming more in his grip than before.

"Good. I'm surprised that Angel let me take her patient like that."

"Well… I didn't exactly ask. I just kinda, took her, ya' know?"

"God Crawler, why did you do that? Oh man, she's gonna kill me."

"If it helps at all, she doesn't know it was you that told me to take her."

"Yes, well, what's done is done." 

"Hey, who the hell is this extra? I thought we were your elites or whatever you called us, so why is she here?" One of the students stood up from where they were lounging back in their chair with their feet on the desk. He has spiky red hair the color of a violent flame, and has a strong looking build. He's wearing a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket on top of it, with a silver chain dangling on the side of his denim jeans. He gives of a cocky kind of feel, like he thinks he's the best person alive.

"Axel, chill out. There's no reason to be so hostile to her." A preppy looking schoolgirl says, sitting straight in her seat with perfect posture. She's wearing a blue and white school uniform with a short skirt and a red tie. She probably went to a private hero training school.

"Oh, did I offend the perfect princess? Sorry, your majesty." The kid named Axel said in a sarcastic tone. Clearly those two don't get along very well, I wonder if they went to the same school or something. The other three in the room didn't say anything.

One of the kids was sitting in the back row with a book in front of her face. She wasn't reading it, it was pretty obvious she was asleep. She has green, medium length hair that is puffed up like a cloud in some spots. She's decked out in a pair of denim overalls with a whit t-shirt underneath it. It looks like she has a wild smattering of freckles across her face, definitely giving off a country girl vibe.

There's another girl in the room, sitting close to the wall furthest away from the door. She has ginger hair parted down the middle into two long braids in front of her. She's wearing a uniform similar to the first girl's, but it looks a little less professional. She's got a bunch of animals running around her desk; a white bunny asleep on the desk, a bluebird sitting on her shoulder, a red fox running around the floor, and even a little cat curled up on her head. I'm guessing it has to do with her oddity, but it's pretty weird regardless.

The last student in the room is in the back corner, and I almost missed him, which was surprising. He has such a lack of presence, I don't see how it's humanly possible. He's super average looking, medium length brown hair resting on his head, with a pretty lackluster build. He's wearing a white shirt and jeans, nothing special or fancy. I don't really see anything too special about him, but I don't want to count him out based on my observations. I'll have to keep an especially close eye on him, to make up for his lack of presence.

Finally, the so-called Chairman. He's got long jet black hair, and is wearing an eyepatch over his left eye. He has a black and white suit on, with white gloves to match. I can definitely see why he's the boss in this joint, he's got the whole getup going for him.

"Please students, stop bickering." I feel like I recognize his voice somewhere, but I know for a fact that I've never met him. Could he have been… the seventh person?