Pain in the Head!

I’ve lost control, I can’t stop it. This is a disaster waiting to happen

A murmur of shock passed through the crowd, some fled, but most stayed, curious or possibly too frightened to move. Nancy opened her pretty little mouth to say something, but didn’t manage to get the words out.

I was visibly shaking, felling a mixture of amazement and fright. I could do anything with this power, anything at all. There was nothing Nancy, or the rest of them could do to stop it.

Wham! another block of energy struck the metal frame that had once been a bus shelter.

“You make me so angry. I don’t even know why!” the sentence ended in a yell. Nancy felt like she had been kicked in the gut. The girl doubled over in pain, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Why Nancy?! Why did I have to be your pay thing?!”

By this time Nancy had fallen to the floor, her body curled into a tight protective ball. I walked towards the shelter only to met by Erik.

“Kat, calm down. Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“Don’t make me hurt you,” I said walking past him, and then he did something stupid. He grabbed my wrist in an attempt to hold me back. I raised my arm and sent him flying into a nearby wall. He landed on the ground unconscious and in a crumbled heap. I turned back to Nancy. “Just tell me why you and the rest of them hate me,” the tone of my voice had dropped to a quiet and eerie calm. I looked at what remained of the previously laughing crowd. “Don't bother sticking around to help her. No one offered when I needed it, so why help that pathetic bitch.”

The crowd gladly took my advice and ran for it while they still had a chance. Someone shouted “Get help! Call the police or something!” but at that point I didn’t care. I towered over the terrified Nancy and repeated my earlier question. “Why did you pick me?”

“Leave... me alone,” she croaked between desperate sobs.

“That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.”

Nancy received another psychic blow. She winced in pain and the coppery taste of fresh blood filled her mouth. “I... I...” Blood dripped from her mouth onto the pavement. “I... don’t know... maybe because I could…”

“How dare you!” I said in a whisper. “How dare you say that? You tried to ruin my life because you thought it would be fun, did you?”

Nancy whimpered.

“You did it because you could?! What kind of an excuse is that? I think I can kill you right now. Should I kill you because I can? or because it’s entertaining?”

“Sorry… I never realized that…”

“But you did… Goodbye Nancy.” I willed the energy I to build in my mind, I reached into my memories and pulled out all the hate and anger, converting it into force. This was it. Nancy would finally know what it felt like, and then I'd finally get the rest of them too. No one would beat me down ever again. I raised my arms as if trying to focus the psychic energy into my hand.

This is it; I’m finally going to show them all...

I brought my hands down, launching everything I had at Nancy.

...I’ll show them! I’ll show them. I’ll...

Time seemed to pass in slow motion. I saw Nancy cowering below me, scared, weak and fragile. Her eyes seemed large like a deer caught in a car headlight, terrified and full of pleading.

Not here, not like this…

Worst of all, I saw an image of myself reflected in her eyes, a monster with a manic grin.

…I can’t. I’m not like her. This isn’t me. I’m better than this!

I screamed. I desperately tried to stop the energy I had unleashed, frantically willing it to stop and disappear, but to no avail. The psychic attack was too powerful; it couldn’t be stopped or destroyed. It could only be redirected…

There was the horrible sound of force hitting flesh. I felt a terrible weight slam into my body, almost crushing my chest. In agony, I fell to the floor, only realizing I'd done so when I felt the cool of the concrete against my back.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but word can never hurt me…

There was blood in my mouth. I could taste it. I was also bleeding from my ears and nose, but was far too gone to realize it. My body felt very heavy, as if it was about to collapse in on itself. Nancy had started to scream, but it seemed to be coming from somewhere else, or muffled, like from the other side of a wall or door.

I never really liked that rhyme. It never made sense.

With my body in tatters, I closed my eyes and soon, stopped feeling anything.