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Not-so-super Superpower

She stared into the bright light as it sped towards her. She was frozen in shock, unable to move even one step to save herself. Move, stupid! I shouted in my head but it did no good. It never did any good. The woman couldn't hear me. The train's horn sliced through the night as it drew closer, and the suddenness of it drew a loud scream from the woman's throat. I watched through her eyes as the train quickly closed the distance between them. And then it hit her, and I was sucked out of her body and thrown back into mine.

I shuddered as I yanked my hand away from the lady standing in front of me. She'd dropped something and I'd picked it up for her. When she went to grab it from me, her eyes shining with gratitude, her fingers had brushed mine. Then, like I always did, I saw it. Her death.

I'd been having visions of people's deaths for as long as I could remember. I hadn't been able to understand what was happening when I was a kid but it had always scared the crap out of me. Since I saw the death as if it was me, I'd always thought I was seeing my own death. But it wasn't possible that I died in so many different ways. So, I'd eventually figured out that I was seeing someone else's death, but through their senses. It was like we were linked and I was experiencing it with them. I never felt any of their emotions as it was happening and I never felt any pain as whatever it was killed them, but it was terrifying just the same.

And what was even worse was that I couldn't even do anything to save the people from the deaths I'd seen. I could see the how. But I could never see the when, where or why. I was just expected to know exactly how they died but not have a single clue how to stop it. And I couldn't tell anyone. They'd think I was crazy. But I'm not. I've seen the way someone died and then days later seen it described in the paper.

When I was little, I'd only get visions sometimes. As I got older, they became more and more frequent. And now, at seventeen-years-old, I saw one every single time my skin came in contact with someone else's. Whether it was a hand touching mine or a slight brush of our shoulders, I saw a death. And I didn't only see freak accidents like when someone got hit by a train. I saw if someone got murdered or in natural disasters or even natural causes like old age. Once, in kindergarten, I'd been forced to shake hands with a classmate and I'd seen them die of old age. I know what you're thinking: if you see it through their eyes, how do you know it was old age? Well, in that situation, I'd heard a doctor telling her she was surprisingly healthy for a ninety-eight year old.

Each vision seemed to take a year to me. In them, I only saw the part of their lives that I needed to before the death, and then it was over as soon as they died. So, you'd think people would notice when I randomly spaced out every time someone touched me, right? But it seems that even though they take forever to me, it actually only takes a second to see the whole thing. The only thing that people could see when I went into visions was my reaction when they were finished. Which is why I'd trained myself to not react at all. Now, I hold in my emotions until I get home every night, where I lock myself in my room and cry for hours. The only reason I even flinched when I'd seen that lady die was because it had caught me off guard and I hadn't been prepared.

This is a story that I started back in 2011 that I've been sitting on for awhile. The chapters will be longer than this one. This was more just an introductory type of chapter, I guess. I hope you like it :D

As for a posting schedule, I can't promise anything. I have three jobs, go to school full time, and try to maintain a social life. But I will not abandon this story. I'm going to try for once every two weeks, but if I can't handle that, I promise it will be at least once a month. I'm sorry but it's the only commitment I can make right now. I'm hoping that over winter break I'll be able to pre-write more chapters so I can post them more frequently once the new year rolls around. I promise I will try.

Okay, I know everyone has been waiting for the sequel to Life On the Island. I will write it. I swear I will. I've written and rewritten the first chapter to it so many times it's insane. But I just can't seem to get it right. There are so many directions I can take it in, and I can't choose one yet. It may be unfair of me to ask, but I just need a little more time for that one. I'm thinking maybe stepping back from it for a while will help get rid of the writer's block, and help me figure out how I want that story to go. I'm so, so incredibly sorry about the wait, but it will happen. I promise.

This story is a little something I hope will make up for my embarrassingly long absence. I have chapter one finished so I'm hoping to post it sometime before Monday.

Thanks for reading, and leave me a review if you liked it.