Strains

Chapter 4

Matthew pulls the plastic off the chair by the desk and sits on it. He motions for me to sit on the bed. It's still under a dusty sheet of plastic, and who knows how many different species of spiders. This whole room is gross.

Matthew gets up and in a single flourish, pulls the sheet off the bunk bed.

"Sit."

I do a quick inspection for spiders and when everything looks clear I sink into the mattress. Matthew balls up all of the plastic and throws it into the hall outside. He shuts the door slowly behind him and takes a deep breath.

"Alright, let's get this over with," he says.

His enthusiasm is overwhelming. He shoots me a look and goes to the box on the desk. He fishes out a large book and tosses it beside me.

"That is the single most important resource you'll ever have."

I pick it up.

"An academy handbook?"

He nods as he sits down again. "All the rules on those pages are extremely important and you won't get off easy just because you're new. You can familiarize yourself with it later."

Do people really read manuals like this? Most rules are pretty straightforward, and other than innocent mischief in high school, I've never been in any trouble. Besides, this thing has got to be more than three hundred pages.

"You'll get assigned to a house tomorrow, and then a facilitator."

"Right and what is that exactly?"

Matthew raises an eyebrow at me like I interrupted him.

"There are four houses, each representing the pillars of powers that our academy was founded on: Agility, strength, energy, and purity. Incidentally, all of the students have strains – yes what you called 'superpowers' that fall in line with those pillars."

Everyone has a superpower; I mean strain here. So that means, even I-

"The assessment you took earlier says you don't have any powers, hence you being in this room instead of one of the regular dorms."

I frown so deeply my mouth just might slide off my face. Why does my luck have to be so bad?

Matthew shrugs. "This is unknown territory for all of us. You're the first student we've had without a strain."

I fold into myself and bury my face in my hands.

"Then what am I doing here?"

"Legacy academy has a 100% acceptance rate so..."

"That isn't what I meant!" I snap at him.

Damn it. Why. Why is the afterlife so convoluted? It seems like everyone else here has it all figured out, a place to belong. It feels like I'm already doomed to be an outcast for the rest of eternity. I look to my right hand and rub the scar between my thumb and index finger. So it's still there, even now.

I got it freshman year courtesy of an extra hot irresponsibly placed cup of noodles. Only a few of the scalding water droplets actually hit me, three to be exact. As fate would have it, the drops landed in the shape of a smiley face. After I cussed out my roommate (it was obligatory), she laughed as she applied aloe to the burn. "Smile through the pain," she had said. At the time, it really pissed me off. Then I got into the habit of touching it whenever I got anxious.

"Elizabeth."

He says it just loud enough that it brings me back to the present, but his voice is soft. His eyes linger on my hand before they meet mine.

"Tomorrow you'll be assigned a facilitator, and they'll act as your mentor. They will sign you up for classes and try to answer any other questions you have. You won't be flying blind or be alone much longer. In the meantime, read the handbook." He gets up and heads for the door.

His attempt at reassuring me is failing hard. I was told that I would get an explanation when I got to my room, but I haven't learned much of anything. Now I have to wait until I meet another stranger tomorrow.

Matthew turns back.

"Elizabeth, I'm not a facilitator. I don't usually handle new student orientations, so I'm not good at this..." He pulls his fingers through his hair. "I should've let Tiffany take over," he mutters to himself.

"Hey, Matthew?"

"Yeah?"

I bite my lip. I don't know what to say. I thought he would've left if I hadn't said anything, and I'm not too keen on being alone in this room. Now I don't know what to say, and he's probably reading my thoughts right now, and that isn't helpful. I need to stop thinking about that and say whatever I was going to say.

Oh god, he's looking right at me.

He's definitely reading my thoughts. Say something Elizabeth, anything, just stop thinking.

"I wouldn't call what I do reading per se. It's more like listening. I'm trying really hard to ignore you if that makes you feel better."

I cringe. "So you can hear everyone's inner monologue? Doesn't that kind of...suck?"

His eyes widen then recover.

"Are you really insulting my strain to my face right now?"

I feel my face flush red. "I didn't mean it like that..."

He smiles. "I know."

And now I'm taken aback. He steps further into the room and leans on the bedpost.

"Is it normal for the school psychologist to cause their students so much stress?" I ask, looking at him sideways.

He chuckles. "I'm not a psychologist, where did you get that...oh. Right. Doc's office. He called me in to see if you were lying on the assessment."

"Why would I lie? I'd rather have powers than none at all."

Matthew's expression darkens. "Don't be so sure."

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

"I can tell you're a good kid, Elizabeth."

Kid? I'm twenty-one years old, I'm practically middle aged.

"You're here now, just take things as they come at you and try to be flexible. I think it's best that you try not to worry so much."

I look at my hands.

"Is my worrying making your head hurt that bad?"

"Insanely, but that isn't relevant to what I said," he kneels on the floor in front of me. He stares into my eyes, and I want to look away, but I can't. I get caught up in all the sparkles of green and gold in his dark eyes.

"You have an eternity here to look forward to. A new opportunity to be whoever you want to be. You can make friends, find love, and be happy. You'll have to work at it, but you've got twenty one years of experience under your belt. You got this."

I rub my hand.

"Yeah, I got this."

He gets up and wipes the dust off his khakis.

"I'll be here tomorrow morning to take you to the meeting. Try and get some sleep."

I nod and watch as he moves to the door.

"Goodnight, Matthew."

"Goodnight Elizabeth."