Chapter Six: Fears
"What? How can you not know?" the man said, obviously surprised, "Oh, and I'm Cisco, by the way. Nice to meet you and all that."
At my obviously worried expression, The Flash seemed to soften, and explained, "Everybody ran out of the school screaming saying they were seeing monsters and their worst fears come to life. Nobody else could see what everyone else was talking about, but people who got too close to their fears seemed to become even more frightened. You were the only one left in the building."
I could feel the blood drain from my face.
"I didn't mean to," I whispered.
"It's fine, just as long as you tell us how to reverse it." Caitlin said reassuringly.
It only made me feel worse.
"I don't know how," I said helplessly, sinking to the floor, "I don't even know how I did it in the first place."
"Let's just go over this from the beginning," Cisco said, beginning to pace back and forth, "Mr What's-his-name is upset, something about your headphones, and, what?"
"I'm a metahuman. My power is that I can hear everyone's thoughts." I hear myself say, "I use my headphones to block it out. He was upset because I had a lot of assignments overdue and he forced me to take out my headphones."
"That's what you meant by 'too loud' before, wasn't it?" Caitlin said, realisation coming across her face.
"I should've known there was a good reason for someone liking a cell that dampens metahuman abilities." Cisco rolled his eyes.
I nodded to Caitlin.
"Can you describe what happened when you took off your headphones?" The Flash asked.
I looked up into his face which seemed so expressionless beneath the mask.
"I took them off, and tried to focus on counting numbers, but he raised his voice because I wasn't listening to him. I-I," I paused and took a breath, "I couldn't block them all out and they were so loud. I don't really know what happened after that because I had my eyes closed and it was still so noisy."
The three people turned inward and began discussing ideas.
"She might've sent out a telepathic wave by projecting the electromagnetic pulses that are normally confined to the brain." Caitlin hypothesised.
"Maybe, but how to we reverse it?" The Flash interjected, "There are a dozen people still running around Central City with their worst fears chasing them and the CCPD is still trying to round them up."
"We could make something similar to what we made for Cecile?" Cisco said, adding his input, "But that would probably be a temporary solution. I'd need a closer look at a victim or, what we really need, is for her to learn to reverse it."
"I don't know if that's possible," Caitlin admitted, worry crinkling her brow, "It took us ages to develop our powers and she's only about sixteen."
Glancing at me, they moved the conversation out into the hallway where I couldn't hear them.
Head against the padded wall of the cell, the silence that had been so relaxing before now seemed to accuse me.
See! If you had just kept control, this wouldn't be happening. Now you're basically a supervillain! You've got a name and everything- I cut myself off and curled up with my back against the wall, trying not to think about it.
Eventually, the dull throbbing of my headache subsided, and I fell into an exhausted sleep.
Author's Note:
I know I normally update on Saturdays, but I got a cold and have some stuff I need to work on tomorrow. I have plenty of black-log, so it would've been fine, but I guess I'll just update tonight just in case I don't have time tomorrow. If it turns out I do remember, maybe I'll update again? Idk, anyway, don't forget to review!
Trix