Nine months ago, I had been studying the stars; the wind on my face. Their celestial sparkle made my head dizzy. Supernovas, starbursts, and black holes...space; quiet, vast, and bitterly cold away from the sun. The constellations spinning around the milky moon reminded me of a crown. Heavenly jewels ready to be collected in an ornate chalice for display. I felt as though I could touch them, breathe their flames, sense their ferocity. If only I could fly with the stardust in the air, or surf on a galaxy; even to have a cluster of stars in my hand would give me joy. These were my thoughts as I had entered back towards Central City; my telescope in the trunk.
Connecting a cord into my cellphone then into the control board, I listened intently to a documentary on the numerous planets, and learned the names of different stars.
"Lucy, a dwarf star with a carbon interior." The random man sprouted facts, "This carbon interior cooled, and then crystalized. This unique star formed into a diamond, and is known as the largest diamond in the universe."
My dumpy pontiac stalled, the dashboard flickered, and the documentary scrambled into silence. Restarting the metal brick had been impossible. I tried to call mom, but there was no signal, which I considered odd. My car stalled on the very edge of the city. A florist shop, thirty feet away. Closed.
Darkness overwhelmed the city. Skyscrapers became black beams looming over panicked citizens, and fear; he held me by my throat. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything but terror as a red wave crashed against me.
When I woke up, everything was still, but it was morning. My cell phone had diverse missed phone calls from mom and dad. I called them back and told them what had happened, and that I was ok. When I got home, Harrison Wells was plastered on the news anywhere you clicked. The so called "breakthrough" in history, the Particle Accelerator, blew up.
"Merry day of your birth, sis!" My arms wrap around my brother's torso. We used to be sole enemies when we were kids, but now I can't imagine life without him. The problem I had with him when we were kids had a lot to do with how he would force me to do...anything he told me to really. Chores, taking the blame for his sins, and let's not mention homework. (I'm smarter than him, but he usually says otherwise.)
"What earth are you from?" I yank on one of his black curls.
"Hey, not the hair Anka." My real name is Danika, but he has called me Anka for as long as I can remember. "So, how old are you this time?" We link arms and strut back into our parent's house.
"Twenty."
"What? My little Anka is twenty?"
"Horrible isn't it?" We both settle into the kitchen, and I scrounge the refrigerator for a snack. Eryx, however, snoops through the mail. I snap them out of his twitching fingers.
"You have no right looking through mom and dad's mail." I decide to place it with the rest of the collected envelopes from the past week. In a small basket in dad's office.
"What do I care? All they have are bills anyway."
"Right." My tone is electric with sarcasm before I munch on another dorito. My brother Eryx can be childish sometimes, even for a fireman. He usually works a twenty-four hour shift, then gets off fourty-eight hours.
"How did it go at the station?"
"Not a ton of activity, but there were a couple car wrecks on the west side of town." Eryx shrugs and then steals a wax banana from a bowl. "Mom never buys real fruit does she?" A chuckle erupts from my throat as he whacks the banana against the marble counter top.
"Guess not, though I have come across the occasional orange." Teasing him is so fun. Mom's and dad's truck pulls into the crunchy driveway, and I hide in my room. Mom and dad had had told me to come in here the moment they came home. Apparently, they have a surprise for me for my birthday. While I sit on my bed and wait, my eyes gaze over the galaxy painting above my headboard. My legs cross; I sense something. Delicate spirals glow with intensity, and the core of the masterpiece feels warm. I can grasp them in my hands, touch them with my senses.
A vibrant blue shine nearly blinds me, and an indigo fire licks at my palms. The rush awakens me, and the current within my veins is fierce; it feels...alive. A moment of shock and joy pierces my gut, then anxiety. What does this mean? This was my wish wasn't it? To be more than Danika Lee, to hold a galaxy in my arms and call it friend? To be one with the stars, to bask within their power?
I am at a loss what to do. The tiny multicolored stars begin to fade, and a door shattering knock breaks my thoughts.
"You can come out now Danika." The best smile I can muster tugs at my features, before I open the door and emerge. My dad stands before me with a twinkle in his forest green eyes.
A satisfied smile caresses my mouth as a mini tornado obliterates a dandelion. I have tried harder to control these abilities, and I practice outside the city as much as possible. I soon have realized that I can summon a twister made of stars. The concept is strange, but here it is. I have not dared to make a larger tornado; some one could see, and not to mention how dangerous tornado's are for other people. The very concept of these powers makes my mind churn at the possibilities. What else haven't I discovered about it, and could I use this power to help people?
At home, I click the password into my new computer. Last month, for my birthday, my parents and my brother gave me a new laptop. Mom said it was for all the research I loved to do. My old laptop usually froze on me just before I could save a document, and it would be irretrievable. A still picture wherever you clicked. We took it to a shop, and they were able to temporarily fix the piece of junk, but were not able to transfer my important files onto a flashdrive. A terrible loss, but I have come to terms with the disappointment, and I have moved on. I almost always back up my work onto a terabyte drive immediately after I'm finished for the day now.
I drag out a few tabs for information about galaxies, planets, and space. I figure that if I learn enough about them, I can experiment different scenarios with my powers.
"No matter how much you would want to, you wouldn't be able to cry in space." I read aloud. Interesting, but not exactly what I am looking for; I am holding a cluster of stars when I use my powers, maybe looking up facts about stars themselves would help me a bit more. My fingers flick over the keys as I type "star facts". Dozens of pictures snap onto the screen, and several links to scientific sources. I am going to click on a description when another set of blue letters captures me. "All About STAR Labs." My index finger presses down.
Most of the information is biased against them, considering their particle excellerator blew up. There are pictures of Harrison R. Wells in a wheelchair. Moments of searching, another link popped up talking about a new hero in Central City, people's comments and the author of the articles called this captured burst of red lightning the "Streak."
"That is a terrible name." My nerves twinge at the sight. As if a hero would want to be named after something like mud on a car.
"What are you doing dear?" My mom comes up behind me, bending forward to look at the screen.
"I was researching stars, and I happened to find this. Apparently there have been sightings of this thing, or this person called the 'Streak'."
"Oh, yes...I think I've seen it before." Mom pulls up a chair beside me. "It was a week ago, when I was getting the mail, this wind passed by me, and a bright flash. I though I had been hallucinating." My head wants to piece this all together, and then I notice a map blanketed with red dots. A map of Central City.
"Mom, look at this." She leans closer.
"You see all these flashing points?"
"Yes, what about them?" I point to the screen as she scans the image with thought.
"These points indicate where the Streak has been spotted, which is practically everywhere, but a collective quantity is bunched over here." My mom gives me a look, telling me I am the only one who understands what I am talking about.
"Each location in this bunch is only a mile away from STAR Labs."
"Where the machine broke?"
"The Particle Accelerator, yes." My mother chuckles, which for some reason irks me. It is as if she is laughing at me for having a childish notion.
"You think the explosion, or the lab is tied to the Streak?"
"Why not? It's not impossible." I hold my cool, despite my annoyance.
"Then explain to how it would be possible." I had not thought that far ahead yet, perhaps I only had a gut sensation; maybe mom is right. My emotions burst into flames, but the anger isn't directed at my mom, but at myself. I can feel stars in my veins as it travels to my hand. I ball it into a fist to suppress and calm myself. The feeling soon melts away.
"Maybe you are right." I finally say, my face has a fake smile. Mom grins, before she starts making lunch. I am still determined to find out what is going on, and it is enough to fuel my body into action. A rapid swing of the shoulder bag over my head jump starts my mother.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll be back later, I just realized something I need to do, and afterwards I have to get to work. See ya tonight." Before she can say anything, I am out the door and in my car. The car shop owner didn't know what made it stall that night, and told me it was perfectly fine, but then he told me that many people had that problem when the Particle Accelerator sent waves over the city. Electricity blew out like a candle that night as well.
Twenty minutes later, I stand before a building which resembles more to a crumpled piece of blue paper. Its structure, mauled, and distorted. The metal star beside the sign stabs the sky. My brass feet shuffle forward; anxiety surmounts normality. Hallways blur by without notice, rooms without labels, and meanwhile my body is refrigerated by fear. Because there is always the possibility of me being correct. The Streak might be here. I scold myself for worrying, I am simply here to investigate; for my own curiosity, and the Streak was known to be a logo of safety. A hero. Lives have been preserved because of the Streak. A new corridor I decide to turn into holds a map of the building on the wall. While I study my position, my thoughts wander.
The Streak has powers too, but how did we both get them? Was it because of what happened ten months ago?
"Can I help you with something?" A gruff man's voice bids me to turn. Harrison Wells presses a button on his wheelchair to move closer.