Notes: It's time to meet my new OC. I really hope you enjoy him. This is my first story and I want it to be a good one. That being said, feel free to leave some constructive feed back.
Chapter 1: Enter, Oliver
16 year old Oliver Harison was never the highschool student definition of a jock He never had been. By appearance he was your textbook nerd, glasses that magnified his silvery blue eyes, not tall, and a good report card, a little broader in the shoulders but still skinny. In terms of personality he was known to be what adults would call respectable. He was friendly, outgoing and maybe a bit quirky at times but all and all a nice guy.
Oliver however, as of early spring had a secret to hide. One that made him abnormal even by nerd standards, his new powers. Earlier that year Oliver had gone out after school wanting to grab some fresh air before heading home to deal with the bit of homework he had gotten that day. Anything to take his mind off the daily insults of those around him who mocked him for his intelligence and class participation. The local school district was well known for its extremely prominent sports culture leaving kids like Oliver to be dragged into sports teams or left out.
Despite the schools best efforts, however minimal to end the never ending wave of criticism, Oliver was still ridiculed. His parents were considering an online schooling program to better challenge him, as well as get him out of the public school where he obviously was not happy. Oliver also didn't really have many friends. He wasn't on any teams and despite his outgoing disposition he understood why a lot of people wouldn't be his friend. He was kind of mature for his age. A lot of people found that weird. He tried to be friends with a few other non sporting students like himself, but they all seemed to like to keep to themselves, so Oliver was left feeling lonely.
He sent a text to his parents telling them he was going on a walk. He could have called a ride but he prefered walking by himself when he wanted to think. A walk or run always felt good. He grabbed his backpack and jogged toward the road from the highschool. Oliver lived in Deer Grove Missouri, a city not huge in size, but big enough to have most standard locations like a general hospital as well as some retail, other small businesses and a community college. Even with places to go Oliver was in the mood for a more quiet stroll, so he had opted for a lesser used wooded trail known as Antler Hallow not far from the high school campus.
When he got to the edge of the woods he started down the dirt trail. The day was gray and cloudy but for March decently warm. The official first day of spring was just a couple weeks away. and the trees had begun to bud. Small birds sang their songs and the first flowers began to poke up from the ground. This had made Oliver feel refreshed; he liked the idea of even warmer days. This however was Missouri, and in Missouri the weather could go crazy in a matter of minutes and Oliver was no stranger to it. It could go from sunny to snowy over the course of a day or less, and the seasons did not always start when one thought they should. With this in mind he had wanted to enjoy his walk before heading home. He didn't however, as no one does, expect that fate had different plans.
Midway through his walk in the woods he had quietly stopped to sit on a big rock on the trail's edge. He knew it was here after going on walks with his parents and 2 younger siblings. As he lounged and enjoyed the quiet rustling of the forest and sight of the small brook around the trail, his phone buzzed receiving an alert. Oliver fished his phone from his pocket and examined the notification. "Severe Thunderstorm Warning" it read. Oliver looked up. The clouds had grown dark, but there had not been storms in the forecast today. Realizing Missouri was once again being the unpredictable place it was, Oliver put his phone back in his pocket, put his bag back on his back and hightailed it back toward the highschool. He was just exiting the woods when he heard the first rumble of thunder. He got to the main road and took off running. The sky rumbled again this time much closer. How fast was this storm traveling? Oliver felt oddly anxious, something inside was screaming that he could not get caught in this storm.
He ran harder past fields and trees wanting to outrun the squall but as he tired he slowed. One of his downfalls as a kid who's hobbies never involved the sports teams and heavy physical activity was his athletic ability, or lack thereof. Soon he began to feel large raindrops hitting him. He knew he had to make it back to the school. There was no use risking his phone getting water logged in the downpour. Then it would be no help to him. Once he was safe and dry he could call his folks who would no doubt be worried for him, but he knew he was better off being at a solid location before calling them. Oliver had a bad feeling in his gut though. The sky was only getting darker, the wind only stronger, and lighting flashed behind him followed by the now enormous explosions of thunder. How do I get myself into things like this? thought Oliver, his anxiety being replaced by anger at his situation. I didn't do anything wrong, and here I am, the class geek caught out in a rainstorm cause I get picked on and have to go on walks to get over myself. Ive got no friends, and why? Because I'm a nerd. Im not on the sports team or one of those after school clubs. What's up with that? He knew he sounded whiney, but he just didn't care this time. I just want to do good by people. I just wanted to show the world I've got something going for me. He thought and as though he had said it aloud something happened that would change his life forever.
He had continued his run for campus preparing to pass a roadside power station. Its metal beams reflecting the lightning. In between thunder rumbles a low hum could be heard. As Oliver went to jog past, he began to feel an odd sensation. The hairs on his body began to prickle, and he felt an odd stress like he had drank too much coffee and had a caffeine high. He thought back to reading about storms during one of his many geeky research binges, and remembered how lightning would almost make like a staticy reaction where the storm sent down electrons in the area that was about to get struck by lightning. This just kept getting scarier. Oliver began to run again but he had only just begun when it happened.
There was a brilliant flash and a loud crack as a lightning bolt struck the ground beside Oliver, puting him between the road and power station the power station that was just off the roadside. Oliver yelled, startled by the blinding blue light that spread across the ground. Thunder roared in his ears and he felt a white hot burning surging through his entire body. He screamed in agony once more before the whole ordeal ended, and Oliver blacked out. It had been this incident in March that had changed Oliver. The next thing he remembered was waking up still on the side of the road, clothes singed and wet, his dark brown hair with natural blond steaks dripping with water, and his knees and hands scraped and bleeding. At least the storm had cleared. He had stood up still feeling a tingling sensation. He lifted his right hand to examine its scratches, and when he did he was in awe of what he saw. Silvery blue electricity arced between his fingers and around his hand. "Damn" Oliver swore under his breath. He would have scolded himself for his language if not so surprised by the recent turn of events. He got scared wishing the arcing would stop and on command it did. Out of curiosity he focused and the electricity arced again. He repeated the same experiment on his left hand and sure enough it happened just the same. Silver blue electricity arced around his fingers. Oliver was stunned, no pun intended. This was not supposed to happen when you got struck by lightning…..right? How am I still alive? Unless I wasn't directly hit he thought. Oliver looked around, despite being wet with rain, the grass and road between himself and the power station was covered in scorch marks and the power station itself was smoking. Oliver, being as intelligent and curious as he was, began to piece together his situation. The lightning had obviously not hit him, and instead hit the ground. There was a scorch mark bigger than the rest on the ground between himself and the station. The electricity must have been conducted through the ground and overloaded the station, he thought. From there he deduced that that roar he had perceived as thunder must have been the station blowing fuses and other components inside it. What about this though? he pondered, staring at his hands, and making them surge again.
After willing his hands to stop arcing, he panicked again. "What happened to me"? He asked himself aloud. He went to his pocket for his phone only to find it wet and when he tried to power it on it wouldn't start. Well if the rain didn't get it the lightning strike must have, reasoned the teen. Now what was he gonna do? He had no other choice; he would finish walking to the school and call for help from there. He began to walk again towards his neighborhood his wet cloths sticking to his body. This is some sick nightmare thought Oliver. I get struck by lightning and wake up like a drowned rat. And now I've got freaky electric powers. Realizing griping at himself did nothing to solve his problems. Oliver stretched his legs and gave a little hop to get ready to get going again when the next surprise happened. One second he was standing by the ditch, the next he was floating a foot above it. Oliver wigged out, this was outrageous. He flailed and twisted, before he managed some self composure. He decided to relax and perhaps he predicted, he might gain some control. He was partially right in his thinking. A moment later Oliver dropped to the grass with high pitched yelp and an ungraceful thump.
Well look at you you big idiot you can fly concluded the the teen. At this point Oliver was ready to go home and pass out for a week. He'd had enough crap for one day. No make that a month, no a year. He had been pushed to the edge. There was only one problem, how do you explain to your already probably worried parents you got swept up in a lighting storm and now have superpowers? Good question. Little did Oliver know that even if he surprised his folks, his new…...abilities would have more in store for him.