Burn. Scream! Sigh.

It has been little over a year since the "incident" and up till recently I have been dancing my butt off, watching TV and met new classmates in very ordinary ways. But the past week has shown that my life will contain certain complications from now on...

Adam was out of town for a couple of days and I eagerly looked forward to a few nights on my own. I quite like being by myself actually, once in awhile, because that means I don't have to be in constant best-behavior: I can drop paint stains on the floor, eat junk food and watch Tom & Jerry without getting caught (as one does get, occasionally). On the first night I had eaten in the beige sofa and a cheap romantic comedy with one of the Mean Girls was starting. On the brown table by the sofa stands a thick candle and the thought struck my mind for the first time that maybe I should light it. And voila! In the blink of an eye a yellow flame was reaching towards the sealing like I'd jumped forward in time and skipped the action of fetching matches!

"What the..?" I asked myself out loud and reached out my hand towards it. Had my thought caused this to happen? The memory of that night last winter, when the explosion saved me from burning up, crossed my conscience at once. Could this mean that I hadn't become normal again? That the fire had mixed with my cells or something and that this "state" was, in fact, permanent?

I drew back my hand and closed my fist. The flame was put out in the same moment.

The first thing I thought of doing was to call Lauren, who's working at the History of Central City Museum. She works late most evenings and listened to my story over the phone.

"Oh my Goodness." she said. "How are you now, Olivia?"

I paced through the kitchen, feeling my anxiety grow with every step.

"I don't know... I feel fine but..!"

As I swung my free arm in the air it produced a blast of fire, which landed on the floor with a flat sound. I shouted out of surprise and kneeled down to see if any harm was to be prevented, but the red flame was gone. I started crying but the tears steamed off my cheeks and I could feel my hair leave my shoulders as it started to levitate.

"What is happening to me!?"

Lauren heard that something was happening that I wasn't able to control. She was breathing fast through the phone like she was running.

"Just stay calm, Olivia!" she comforted. "I am on my way! Now, I need you to listen to my voice and nothi..."

When she flung the door open she found me on the kitchen floor, holding what was left of my melted phone. My hands were covered with flames and my hair hovered around my skull. On top of that, crying without tears is nothing short of dreadful! Lauren crashed to my side, leaning as close to me as she was able.

"Olivia, dear, don't forget to breath! Breath!" Lauren shouted as she was surprisingly calm. "Listen to my voice. I'm here with you. Everything is alright, just focus on breathing slowly... In ... And out."

I started to feel a lot calmer by obeying her words, but the fire did not cease to burn. All of a sudden, Lauren put her right palm on my forehead. I could see that it pained her, her wrinkled face twinged. I hated that it was all my doing and I could feel a boost of anger trying to cling itself inside my chest.

"You already have extinguished one flame, Olivia." Lauren continued, more intensely. "Imagine the candle again, see it in front of you... Breath deeply... Relax your mind... The flame is slowly shrinking... Can you see it?"

I nodded and could feel her hand comfortably pressing against my head.

"Relax... Now close that fist again."

It was only a few moments after that I felt Lauren's cool embrace and I hugged her back, most strongly. I wasn't on fire anymore and the only one that felt sore was Lauren, because her palm had gotten a large burn mark.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized and put a bag of ice in her hand. She cringed but smiled.

"It's fine. I have received worse blows from my oven!"

I grinned gratefully because I knew that it couldn't possibly be true. She is so very kind and strong, my fairy godmother.

"I'm just happy that I could help you."

That sentence awoke more frightening thoughts inside me. I let them out for Lauren to listen to and afterwards she looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It's quite clear that this... talent of yours is controlled by your mind." she said. "You can create flames as well as put them out. Somehow the fire absorbs around your very being, making it impossible for your to get hurt."

"It's crazy." was the first thing I could comment on that. "And how come I've never been able to do this before today? Cause I assume that the explosion from S.T.A.R. Labs caused it."

"I believe you're right. Maybe it takes time for the powers to grow to this stage?"

I sighed deeply and wrapped one hand around my glass of lemonade, in contrast to Lauren's beer. I've never really fancied alcohol.

"What should we do now, then? Contact Dr. Whats?"

"Wells." she corrected me.

"Oh, right!"

It's so typical of me not to remember the name of someone in the world of science. I am all for artistic imagination, though now that I think about it most scientist need creativity in some way to come up with new things... and that, actually, makes the non-identical worlds collide.

Lauren said that it's up to me to decide what I want, as if that would make the decision any easier! Apparently she trusts me enough to not see me as a public danger. Still, I want to sleep on it and Lauren insisted on staying on the couch, so after clinking our glasses together we changed into pajamas and went to bed. But I couldn't sleep right away so I picked up my computer and googled "people with extraordinary talents". I wanted to find someone else like me, but the search result showed nothing more than a man with eye-balls that can come 95% out of his head on demand and a woman with the flexibility of a rubber band. Then, rather abruptly, I found myself on a blog created by a woman named Iris West. All over the screen she has posted pictures of what resembles moving yellow and red light! The most recent photos shows the shape of a man dressed in red. My interest rose immediately and I swapped through the articles, telling updates about this so called "Streak" or more presently known as "The Flash".

"Wow!" I said out loud and continued reading.

The Flash started to show up nine months after the accident at S.T.A.R. Labs. He must have been affected by the explosion too and perhaps his powers needed to evolve the following months? (Not unlike my own situation.) Now he seems to be using his super-speed, admirably, to protect other people.

I would also like to help people more than what my human qualities has allowed me to this far. But I suppose I'll need to fully control my... talents before anything else.

Olivia Zoe

13th of March 2015