The week passed and Sarah began classes. Almost immediately she was laden with homework and research so voluminous she wondered if the teachers were in a competition to assign the most work in the shortest amount of time. At that thought she knew a break was needed. She swiveled her chair to face the window and relaxed.

'I wonder what David and Alyssa are up to.' She returned to her desk and found the post card that had come the day before. It showed an impossibly beautiful beach scene complete with pristine waves and gorgeous sunset. She flipped it over and read the messages once more.

Sarah Jean, our seniors boys are acting quite the Californian fools we know them to be and thank the Lord the locals are used to it or we'd be thrown out of the country faster than you can say 'Adios, Muchachos' Hey look! I'm learning Spanish! -Alyssa

A shorter message from David followed:

Sarah, mi amor, I wish you were here. We will talk the MINUTE I come home! Hasta Luego! -David

She sighed and glanced at her calendar. Another week before they would return and she desperately wanted it to go quickly. She sighed again and turned to her history book.

'It should be illegal to assign this many chapters at once.' She fell to her task, pausing at intervals to look at the picture on the postcard.

Night before the return

Sarah sat upright in bed, wisps of her dream still dissipating. Her mind was moving, trying to recall what had scared her out of sleep but the dream would not come back.

'Maybe that's a good thing,' Sarah thought as she lay down again. 'That dream was more like a nightmare and probably nothing I want to remember.' She reached for the metal bars of her headboard to cool her hands and received a static electric shock. She pulled her hand back quickly and glared at the offending metal. 'Stupid bed,' she thought petulantly.

Waiting for sleep to return, Sarah tucked her hands behind her head, carefully so as not to attract more shocks. It was then she noticed her hair had become charged also. 'Must be a storm coming in for all of this static electricity to be sitting around.' She shook her hair out a little and rolled over before sleep claimed her once again.

Next morning

Sarah sat at her desk flipping through papers trying to find the ones she needed for class when her mom interrupted her. She had knocked lightly on the open door and Sarah waved her in with a quizzical look.

"Sarah, I've got some bad news."

With these words, Sarah felt herself readying for the emotion she knew was coming.

Her mother sat on Sarah's bed and looked at her hands in uncharacteristic uncertainty.

"Mom?" she asked, fear coloring her voice darkly.

Her mom looked down just a little longer before taking a breath and deciding to break her daughter's heart.

"Sarah, baby, I'm sorry but Alyssa and David's plane crashed on the way home this morning." Her voice broke as she spoke, knowing the anguish this would cause her daughter and unable to assuage it.

"What?" was Sarah's whispered reply. "Mom, are you sure? I mean, obviously it's a mistake and it's not their plane. I know that sounds bad, but Mom, there's no way." Sarah tapered off when she saw her Mom's head shaking woefully. As the tears coursed down both their faces, Sarah struggled with disbelief and indecision. She crashed to the floor and knelt in front of her mom to bury her face in her mother's lap. Her shoulders shook with deep, wrenching sobs and her mom could do little but hold her daughter and try her best to help carry the grief.

"No!" Sarah cried, "It's not true! It's not possible!" Her protests were cut off as she wailed at the pain in her heart. Sarah tried to comprehend the intense sense of loss when a buzzing began in her ears and grew louder. Sarah's vision narrowed and she felt her mother tense. Sarah looked up to her mother's face and saw her lips moving and clearly read the concern on her face but could not think with the noise. Sarah frowned and fought to clear her vision. She shook her head, trying to lessen the buzzing and as she continued to fight it, the lights in the room swelled with light before the electricity flickered and went out. Sarah felt a flash of light and static before she was overcome and passed out.

All around them glass rained down from the shattered light bulbs. Only the morning sun lit the room as Sarah fell into unconsciousness and her mom sat stunned by the energy now swirling out of the room. As she tried to wake her daughter she realized this was more than a mere faint and immediately took her daughter to the hospital.

The ER doctors could find nothing wrong so they ordered internal tests and admitted the comatose girl. Small cuts and scrapes were treated while the test results came back.

Sarah's mother had waited by her daughter's bedside all that day and night until Sarah's father came and took her home to get some rest when there was still no news. They cooked by candle light that night because the mysterious power surge that morning had completely fried their circuit breaker and most of the light bulbs in the house. The papers and books on her desk were singed and the carpet where she had knelt resembled a blast sight. Sarah's parents, not knowing what to make of this phenomenon, closed the door. Their baby girl was in the hospital, that's all that mattered right now.

Sarah slept for two days while her mind coped with the stress of her mutation and grief. Sarah had unknowingly joined the ranks of superhumans all over the world know as mutants.