"No way." Cassie said as she and Genesis waited in the lunch line. Genesis nodded.
"It was so weird, and it hurt. Really bad, actually," Genesis said, tugging a lock of her long white hair and tucking it behind her ear, glimpsing partially at her burnt left wrist.
"What an asshole. I can't believe I used to crush on him in elementary school," Cassie said, irritated. At the end of the lunch line they checked out with their student codes and found a seat at their usual corner table by the south side of the cafeteria where the broad window was looking out at the school courtyard.
Together they sat at the table, making small talk about their classes and current grades, when a whistle from behind them sounded out loudly. Genesis turned to look at Soren, whose black bangs fell in his face, over his deep crimson eyes, which leered down at her.
"What's up you eavesdropping freak?" Soren asked. His friends stepped up from behind him, both the purple eyed twins and the odd green haired boy.
"Watch it, buddy, my dad owns guns bigger than you," Cassie snapped.
"Really? What's your loser soldier dad gonna do?" Soren asked, inching closer. He neared Cassie, and leaned down just inches from her face. "Is he gonna shoot me?" Soren asked, letting out a sly laugh. "Or Cassie? Are you gonna do it?" He asked, grabbing Cassie's tray of food, quickly dragging it to the edge of the table, before letting the tray fall, food splattering all over the table and floor.
Genesis watched as Cassie stared forward, a single teardrop falling down her pale cheek. Genesis could feel herself cracking, and any patience she had inside of her was quickly turning into rage. Then, a familiar strange voice came from the deep caverns of her mind, and it called to her, echoing. It was angry.
You're not like them, the voice said robotically. You know you're more evolved, it said matter of factly.
Genesis shook her head. She could feel her blood boiling, and it hadn't occurred to her how much time was passing. All she knew in the moments that the voice was speaking, was the voice itself, and an internal instinctive feeling, a desire to do something with all of the energy that was rising to the surface.
"Hey," said one of the purple eyed boys, nudging Soren to look back at the two girls.
Genesis glared at them, a pink light gathering in her hands. She shook her head again, trying to stop the unbearable ringing that started in her ears.
I can show you real power. I can show you justice for your little friend, too.
Genesis stared at the boys, her hands trembling as the pink light emitted from her fingertips.
Just give up control.
Genesis sucked in a deep breath, struggling to stay conscious, fighting to be present, but the voice was too enticing and had captured all of her attention for just one moment, and in that moment, the voice came forward to take control as Genesis's consciousness was suppressed into a comatose state. The unconscious came forward in a blaze of violent pink light, and started giggling. She smiled, and when her laughter ceased she stood up in a fit of rage, striding in confident footsteps, she approached Soren and proceeded to violently slap him in the face, one single time, with her glowing bright pink hand.
"Go to hell, Soren," said the unconscious. "Rot there," she said.
In an instant, Soren was on the ground, screaming in an episode of some type of madness. "No! No! Anything, please! Please!" He stared helplessly up at Genesis, cowering in fear.
The unconscious slipped back inside quickly, and Genesis' consciousness slowly regained control of her body, the glowing in her hand dulling, until it fully faded away.
"Dude," Cassie said. "Your eyes," she told Genesis.
"What?" Genesis asked, feeling any previous memories she had just made disappear with her unconscious mind. "What just happened?" She said, acknowledging a blackout, or a strange lapse in her memory.
"You'll pay for that you little bitch," Soren said, his eyes and fists glowing a bright shade of red light.
The cafeteria was silent, anticipating Soren's next move, the students were suddenly being scorned by the security guards, who were moving to handle the scene playing out before them, until suddenly the city's emergency crisis siren's started to sound off. The guards halted, looking around in confusion, and Soren stopped trying to unleash his abilities.
The front doors of the school were forced open, and a large squad of soldiers came marching into the school. "United States Military, we're taking control of this establishment until further notice," said one of the lieutenants.
The students in the cafeteria were suddenly being interviewed by the police, who came bursting in shortly after the military. "What's going on?" Genesis asked Cassie.
"My dad never mentioned anything like this being a possibility so soon," Cassie said. "I honestly don't know what the deal is. This is drastic."
Cassie's phone started to ring and buzz in her bag. "Is that your dad?" Genesis asked.
"Yeah, hold on," Cassie said. "Dad? There are police and military, yeah in the school where else? Okay, why?"
"What's he saying?" Genesis asked.
"I love you too, see you soon, okay. Bye," Cassie said into the phone and hung it up, shoving it back into her bag. She raised her eyebrows in a look of concern and cleared her throat, "He says he's going to be here. It's military business. Everything should resume as normal by the time he gets here, but he said we should have our student IDs ready. Do you have yours?"
"I do," Genesis nodded, searching for her wallet, which was left on the bench of the lunch table. She picked it up and rummaged through it for her school identification card, finding it in an instant, and she looked up to scan the cafeteria. Soldiers were interviewing students, and some students were showing them their IDs.
"Excuse me, can I please see your student identification, please?" A soldier dressed in a camouflage gearsuit asked. He held out an open palm expectedly, waiting for the two girls to each provide what he'd asked of them. Genesis and Cassie both handed their IDs over and were thanked by the soldier, who acknowledged them both one last time with a final nod before moving on to another group of students.
"Dude," Cassie said to Genesis. "Your eyes were literally glowing, it was so cool."
"I don't remember anything, Did anybody else see?"
"Yeah, just the whole cafeteria. You really don't remember anything?" Cassie asked, waiting patiently as Genesis came up with an answer.
"I don't, I'm sorry. I wish I could, but there was. . . something," Genesis said aloud, falling deep into thought for a moment.
"Something?" Cassie asked, raising a suspecting eyebrow. "It's just that I thought that you were different from them."
"Them?" Genesis asked. "You mean like other Seraphs. I didn't think I was," Genesis stated, a pit growing in her stomach.
"You'll never be anything like them," Cassie said, to herself more than to Genesis.
"Are you okay?" Genesis asked Cassie, who nodded after s second of gazing off into the distance.
"Yeah, fine," Cassie said, a buzzing and chiming sound escaping from her bag. "This is my dad," Cassie said. "He's here and wants me to come and meet him in the office. I gotta go," she told Genesis who nodded and sighed, tapping an inpatient foot on the tile floor of the cafeteria.
"You really slapped Soren?" Someone asked Genesis from behind her. She spun on her heel to turn and find the owner of the voice.
"Hey, I'm Dryden," said a guy with gray hair and silverish gray eyes. "Nice to formally meet you. I didn't realize we went to the same high school." Genesis looked the boy over, studying his black t-shirt which had skulls and red roses on it. He also wore black cargo pants and black sneakers, and a metal chain dangled from the waist of his pants. He was innocent looking, holding out a hand.
Genesis reflexively held out hers to meet his hand and they shook one another's, silence filling the space between them. "You're that guy," she said, clearing her throat. "From the other night."
"Yeah. I am curious now though, why were you eavesdropping on those other Seraphs?"
"Oh, that. I just get anxious in public, especially groups. I was more intimidated over them seeing me walk by than anything, so I froze and stalled," it was a half truth, but it was a truth nonetheless. Genesis didn't like to admit it, but she tended to once in a while get curious to a fault, though she didn't believe her curiosity warranted such a hostile reaction..
"Okay, that's completely fair. Soren is an asshole, as much as he is a player, and certainly as much as he is a piece of shit."
"A brewing rivalry, or something, I guess?" Genesis thought out loud.
Dryden shuffled from one foot to the other and chuckled lightly, his silver eyes gleaming in the fluorescent lighting. "Not exactly. He's my stepbrother," Dryden informed her.
"What? No way," Genesis said in disbelief. "How do you two manage living in the same house?"
"We don't get along well. He likes to get into trouble, and I stopped helping him get out of his messes a few months ago. He hasn't been happy with me since, to say the least," Dryden said. "The crowd he hangs out with, it's rumored that their parents force them to participate in underground fighting rings for money. I know enough about them to know it's possible. But they're dangerous no matter how you see it, and they only encourage my brother to be violent and feed his already gigantic ego."
"Underground fighting rings? That's insane," Genesis said. Just then, an android nurse which was scanning the cafeteria approached Genesis. The droid was built to appear human and lifelike, its face was humanly expressive and the nurse was glaring at Genesis with a frown. It maintained its fixed glare at Genesis, and Genesis backed up. The android stepped forward, and just before it stepped backwards again Genesis could've sworn it's blue eyes glitched red for a second.
"Did you see that android?" Genesis asked, "Or am I dreaming?"
"Yeah," Dryden nodded, disturbed. "It glitched."