Dan took in his surroundings as his consciousness slowly returned. He felt the cold metal of the knife in his hand and heard footsteps echoing beyond the door. His mind raced as he quickly considered his options. He was still wearing the watch so he urged time to slow and hid the knife in the closet. Then he returned to his bed and cancelled the effect. As soon as he did it, he saw the door flew open and his mother burst in.
"Dan, what are you doing?!" She shrieked, surveying his hands for any sign of the weapon she had feared would be there. He met her gaze with genuine shock.
"Mom? What happened?" He asked slowly, though he already knew the answer.
She didn't answer and her gaze darted around in frantic searching. Finally, after taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she spoke again.
"I saw you take something out of the kitchen and when I asked you about it, you didn't reply. Then I noticed that one of the knives was missing..." Her voice trailed off and Dan could see the fear and worry that flooded her face.
He stepped forward quickly and took hold of both of her hands firmly, looking her in the eye as he reassured her "you probably kept it somewhere else and forgot. As you can see, I don't have it."
He extended his arms so she could see his empty palms proving his innocence. After a few tense moments she nodded and wished him good night before leaving.
Once the door clicked shut behind her, he stumbled back to the bed and let out a heavy sigh. He wracked his brain trying to make sense of what had happened. He was definitely asleep but his mother also saw him walking out of the kitchen with the knife. He tried to remember more details about his vision and his thoughts led to the missing arm.
"Like the man in the mirror..."
Vivid memories of the vision came flooding back to him; his mother was wearing the same clothes; it was the same knife and he was standing in the same exact place. It was far too specific to be a coincidence, although the possibility still remained. If he crossed that off then there was only one possibility, he could see the future. That immediately reminded him of the second skill, Foresight.
"Does it work now?"
He took the dice again and conducted the same experiment but nothing happened.
"Is it just automated...or is there a difference?"
He glanced towards the closet where he'd hidden the knife, his heart thudding in his chest as he imagined the wound from the vision in his stomach - a deep gash that would have been seriously injured if not outright killed him. His hands shook slightly as he walked over to the closet and took out the knife. With the dice in one hand and knife in the other, a dangerous thought surfaced in his mind. He shuddered and quickly put the blade away, knowing it was too deadly and dangerous an idea to even consider without being sure it would work.
He then made his way to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, expecting the reflection to be of a stranger but instead finding only himself there. Taking all the events of the day into account – his accident, the powers, what had just happened – it all led to one explanation; he was possibly haunted by the person whose powers he had gained. The same person seemed intent on killing him and appeared to have control over his body at times. He stared into his own eyes for any sign of possession, "Who are you?" he whispered but got no answer.
Then he went back to bed and lay down.
"Why is he able to take control now? The powers?"
Maybe using his newfound abilities more often meant losing control over himself - but the allure of it all was too much, he decided to think about it later. A wave of exhaustion washed over him and finally brought him some peace as he drifted off to sleep.
The next day, after getting ready, he decided to go out and offered to do some shopping for his mother. As he entered the store, he was greeted by the cheerful ringing of the bell hanging above the entrance door. He glanced around the shop and found what he was looking for. After paying for the items with cash, the clerk handed him several coins in change. His gaze fell on the money in the register and thoughts raced through his mind. Could enough money fix all their problems? He wouldn't need to work abusive hours late into the night if he had more money. He could actually focus on his studies, get a degree and wouldn't need to drop out as he was contemplating before.
But did he even need a degree anymore?
Couldn't he just take whatever he wanted?
His heart started pounding as he started formulating a plan; testing out his power of time manipulation and trying it on this scenario. Collecting his change, he walked towards the door but right before exiting, activated his power as much as possible without being affected. Re-entering the store, everything seemed frozen in time; customers and staff stood motionless like statues awaiting reanimation from an unknown sorceress. He quickly walked up to the counter and saw that the cashier was staring blankly in the direction where he'd come from. He waved in front of him, tried to poke him but there wasn't any response. After taking what looked like a considerable amount, he stepped back to his original position before deactivating his power which brought everything back to normal. He stepped out of the store and looked back, noticing that everything had gone back to normal. A huge grin spread across his lips, knowing that not even security cameras would have caught a glimpse of him taking the money. He didn't even check how much he had gotten away with as all sorts of plans started forming in his head — bigger heists with better payoffs. His thoughts turned to a local bank — one that wasn't very far away.
"Do they even keep cash in the banks?"
He decided against it as it would be hard even with his powers. Then he remembered reading something about a particular area filled with drug-related crimes.
"People there would definitely carry lots of cash"
With renewed confidence, he planned to visit the area at night, it wasn't like anything could hurt him anyways.
He began walking happily back home; what happened the previous night had completely escaped his mind.
'You are thinking too small'
He froze, looking around for someone who could have said those words but all he saw were distant pedestrians far away. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to make sense of the disembodied words.
"I am hearing things now?"
After standing there for a while and shaking off this peculiar occurrence, he resumed walking home.
Once the sun had set and his mother was asleep, Dan eyed his bedroom cautiously as he slipped on some dark clothes and a mask to cover the lower half of his face. For his eyes he used sunglasses and covered his hair with a dark brown beanie. He hesitated for a moment at the mirror, realizing that in this disguise he stood out more than if he had just walked around in plain clothes – but there was nothing for it. He abandoned the beanie and sunglasses, leaving only the mask. He used time dilation and as a precaution, ran as fast as he can, essentially becoming invisible. He took the bus far away from home and got off even farther from his destination.
As he started walking, he immediately noticed that the neighbourhood was different from where he lived; colourful lights shone down on people walking together or alone, loud music blared from bars, and groups of people lingered in dark alleys. He spotted prostitutes beckoning to drivers stopped at traffic lights, and gangs of young men roaming around. He spotted two men in a corner talking and smoking. As he got closer, he heard snippets of conversation about someone's sick cat, and another one's girlfriend who wouldn't let him own pets. Then he caught a name – one of the local gangs. His heart skipped a beat with fear and excitement as he realized what this could mean for him.
He followed them as they started moving and after a few minutes, they turned down an alleyway. He stopped at the entrance, not wanting to go any further for fear of being seen by one of their members. He waited there for a few minutes before deciding to take a chance and follow them from afar. He used his power whenever necessary to stay out of sight and made sure no one noticed him. After what seemed like forever, they finally arrived at a weathered building tucked away in the corner of the alley. The two strangers ignored the main entrance and went around to the back door, knocking it lightly. It opened with someone peeking from inside, after some brief exchange, they were let in. Dan peered from his hiding place, waiting for a few minutes before activating his power. He ran to the door and gave it a solid knock before quickly retreating and slipping out of view. When he deactivated his power, he saw a tall figure come out, eyes narrowed as they scanned the darkness. When he spotted Dan standing far away, looking suspiciously at him, he yelled "Who the fuck are you?" There was a threat in his voice when he continued, "You should leave if you care about your health." But Dan didn't budge.
Seemingly annoyed, he stepped outside and looked around warily. Finding no one, he started walking in low, deliberate strides towards Dan. His hand crept into his pocket, searching for something as tension wound its way through the air. Before anything could happen, Dan activated his time dilation power to its limits until he would start seeing negative effects. He ran to the door with barely contained urgency and slowly opened it; a stale cloud of cigarette smoke wafted out. Inside was a sparse but clean room, illuminated by bright fluorescent lightbulbs that hung from the ceiling. Two men were seated on a couch in the corner, smoking cigarettes as they watched television together. As he explored further, his eyes landed on a staircase leading downward into an unknown darkness - its entrance barred by a steel door. There was no way of knowing whether they kept their merchandise or money beyond the sealed entrance, so Dan felt discouraged until he noticed some well-stacked boxes tucked away in one corner. They were smaller but seemed to be in better condition than others. Inspecting them revealed bundles of money neatly stacked on top of each other - far less than he'd expected. He felt his power taking a toll on his body so he quickly grabbed as much as he could carry before rushing back outside. He stood in the same place as before and deactivated the power. As normalcy returned, the man pulled out a gun and pointed at Dan.
"Did you run here or something? Why are you sweating like a pig?"
"Sorry, I must have taken a wrong turn. I will leave" saying that Dan made his way out of the area as fast as his legs would carry him. He could hear the man call him a weirdo and going back inside. Relief flooded through him as each step created a little more distance between him and the place. He realized it was more money than he'd make working that horrible job for months combined, and his confidence surged.
Making his way out of the alleyway and onto the streets, he suddenly noticed a commotion off to one side. Three men were surrounding a girl outside of a club. He remembered her face - she often attended the same classes as him. He didn't know much about her beyond what Alan had told him. He had once mentioned that she was quite popular, with some pretty well-known boyfriends. His heart raced as he tried to decide whether or not he should intervene. After thinking for a few seconds about what he had just pulled off, he made his way to the group.