Author’s note- Hey, this is a new story that I will be writing along with The Elements of Terra. It is called, Ability. Try it out! (This time I will try my hand at writing romance. Wish me luck!)

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Prologue

It was a normal day for me. I had gotten home from school about 30 minutes ago, and I was spending my time as usual. Reading. Why you ask? Well I could do other things, such as texting my friends, playing video games, or even taking a walk in the shade. But those were never things I did.

Yes, there was something special about, reading, that was relaxing to me. And no, it was never nonfiction. The thing all those stories had in common was the main character had an ability, something special to him that he could use better than anyone else. It was always something that could grow, and when all these criteria were fulfilled, reading was very satisfying. In fact, when I had my birthday about 6 months ago, I wished I had more time to read next year!

Unfortunately, this would never be the case. My chores would start soon, and I just never had any time other than the hour to myself when I got home.

Me- “Sigh”

No longer in the mood for leisure, I decided to get started on my chores. In about half an hour, I finished. And this meant my time to myself was now over.

It was time to walk back to school. Why you ask? Because for one, apparently I wasn’t getting enough physical activity, and for two, I had to finish up some volunteer work that I was forced into. So I couldn’t use my car, and I had to bring my backpack.

The district I lived in was a peaceful one, at least on the surface. But… Well I’d rather not talk about it right now. I just moved here anyway, so I was definitely not part of the craziness that embodied this district. And I hoped I could stay out of it.

I hit the buzzer for crossing the street, just to be safe. If you were a J-walker, you never knew when somebody would continue driving while you were in the headlights… So I walked across when the electronic sign had a picture of someone strolling on it. And just as I was halfway across the street, I heard the sounds of a police car’s siren along with the faint sound of children screaming. Then they all turned the corner, and the first thing I saw was a school bus hurtling at me at full speed with a million cop cars in tow!

Crap! I broke into a sprint, trying to cross the road before they arrived! But my speed was not enough; the backpack was slowing me down! I tried to dive in desperation, but I ended up tripping because of my shoelace! No!

“Bam!”

The school bus rammed into my backpack, launching me spinning into the air.

“Bang!”

My backpack slammed into the windshield of a cop car, causing me to do a front flip mid air and roll into a crouching position on the street.

For a moment I froze, expecting a wave of pain to hit. But all that happened was my backpack slid off my shoulders, completely unrecognizable. But that wasn’t important. I survived! How fortunate!

The ecstasy of going through a crisis was short lived, as I realized nobody had stopped for hitting me, not even the cop… A wave of righteous anger swept through me as I swore venomously to sue that cop! And especially the school bus driver! What the heck was he thinking; there were kids on that bus!

But there was nothing I could do immediately, so I picked up my backpack and continued my walk to the school.

Thankfully, there were not any more incidents before I arrived at the school. And waiting there was my friend/acquaintance, Chloe. She had her silky, black hair put into a ponytail, and she wore a casual shirt with some blue jeans. With her trademark glasses and a freckle on the side of her chin, she looked like the picture perfect version of a girl nerd. Nevertheless, we hit off well.

I had met her in the anime/manga club on its first day, and we had similar interests in the anime and our love for dogs. But she was a girl, and I was a guy, so… Needless to say, our relations were still a bit awkward. But that would go with time, I suppose.

As I went up the stairs, I went to say hi, but she ended up greeting me first.

Chloe- “Hey Nathaniel, are you ok? You look like you got hit by a car!”

I grimaced. She had hit the mark.

Me- “Not just a car. A school bus and a car!”

Chloe- “Oh my goodness! Really!?”

Me- “Yeah… When I was walking across the street, a school bus ran the red light and hit me. Then I smashed into one of the cop cars chasing the bus. And nobody tried to stop before or after they hit me! I swear, I’m going to sue both of them, the cop and the bus driver!”

Chloe looked at me strangely, as if I was lying.

Chloe- “You must be joking! Even if they both hit you, one of them would have at least stopped! And you look pretty much unscathed! That shouldn’t be possible!”

Me- “No, I’m serious… They both hit my backpack, so I guess it acted as a cushion in some way. Just look at it!”

I showed her the backpack, and we both stared in disbelief. The thing was devastated! The zippers had broken off, there were giant imprints in the bag, the straps had almost ripped, and gravel was stuck in every visible place on the bag!

Chloe looked back and forth from me to the bag over and over again in shock.

Chloe- “Oh my gosh! You survived that? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Then without caring about my unkempt appearance, she looked me up and down more closely. As she did, the worry on her face grew stronger. And at the end of the inspection, she grabbed my hand and walked with me towards the bathroom without saying a word.

When we arrived, the first thing I did was look at me through the mirror. And what I saw made me cringe.

Like my backpack, my hair was filled with gravel and was now a sort of grey. My face had a couple minor scrapes, but my arms had rug burn on them from the straps of my backpack. My knees were scraped, and my back had a giant red imprint of a backpack on it. But altogether, it made me smile. That could've been much worse.

Chloe- “Nathaniel? Take this, and wipe the scrapes. This is the best we can do for now because the nurse’s office is closed.”

She handed me a some paper towels while mumbling about suing law enforcement, and I obediently wiped the areas, still fazed by the sight before me. But suddenly, I felt filled with gratitude.

Me- “Thanks. You didn’t have to go this far for me.”

Chloe responded with a sweet smile. And in that moment, she became beautiful to me. My heart started beating wildly, and I couldn’t help but turn away, my face flushed. So I continued to dress my wounds and in a minute or two, I had finished. Chloe had also finished plucking the gravel out of my hair.

Chloe- “Are you still able to finish up the rest of the construction? For the play? I could finish up the rest for you.”

Me- “It’s only a couple of scrapes. I’ll be fine. Plus with that ankle, how would you be able to finish up properly?”

The construction work was for theater. They were having a play, and Chloe and I volunteered. Chloe was to oversee because her ankle was still healing; I heard from Chloe that her doctor had told her she couldn’t lift heavy objects or run for about a week more. So naturally, she originally took on the role of supervision while I signed up for the lifting. And as a man, how could I let her do my work, especially since her ankle is injured!

Chloe- “Are you sure? I mean, my ankle is mostly healed, but you just got hit by two cars! You really shouldn’t be doing this kind of work!”

My heart warmed because I could feel the concern in her tone. I became even more determined to not let her do the work.

Me- “Didn’t I get lucky? I only ended up with a couple of scrapes, nothing that would prevent me from working on the set.”

Chloe- “But… Let me at least do some of the light work. You can’t take everything alone!”

Me- “Alright fine. But don’t overestimate yourself by picking up any of the heavy objects. You don’t want to get hurt.”

Chloe- “Are you my dad? Let me do what I want; I know my limits!”

I giggled a bit, and we both walked harmoniously over to the theater.

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The last object to be done was naturally the roof, as it had been suspended above the house we had been creating. What needed to be done was first of all, lifting some wooden boards and power stapling them onto the roof we had suspended. Second was to then screw those boards into our house, connecting them.

I was currently on a ladder, placing the last board in place, while Chloe was determining if it looked straight from her point of view.

Chloe- “Looks good!”

Me- “Ok then, heads up!”

Chloe- “Thank you!”

I took out the stapler and started stapling each board, one by one into the roof. Once I had finished doing that, I unhooked the rope that was connecting the roof, so I could screw in the board Chloe gave the ok for. But when I was screwing into it, I realized that something was wrong. The roof was tilting!

Me- “Hey Chloe? I don’t think this board is straight! The roof is starting to fall!”

Chloe’s face turned pale.

Chloe- “Hurry, get off the ladder!”

As I hurriedly climbed off the ladder, Chloe, who was trying to run out of the way suddenly fell over! Her ankle!

Chloe let out a sharp cry of pain and couldn’t get up! The roof was tilting towards her! Crap!

I jumped from the rung of the ladder I was at and ran over to Chloe. She was struggling to get up, so I grabbed her hand to pull her up.

Chloe- “I can’t walk like this! Get out of here!”

She weakly tried to push me away while limping away, but at that rate, she wasn’t going to make it alone!

I held on tightly and yelled,

Me- “Don’t give up! Let’s get out of this together!”

But even I didn’t believe my words. Both of us might not make it if I stayed! I thought of running away on my own; it was her fault anyway. But then I recalled that sweet smile, and I realized that I could never do something so heartless.

Pushing Chloe out of the way, I looked back at the roof, and it was in that instant that time seemed to freeze.

‘Thump’ The screw left halfway in popped out.

‘Thump’ The roof flipped over and was enlarging in my sight.

‘Thump’ Filled with unwillingness, I closed my eyes.

‘...’

Slowly, I opened my eyes to see that the roof had gotten caught on the hook that was dangling in the air. How?

I recalled that to screw in the board, I unlatched the rope with the hook. Leaving that rope hook swinging had caused it to catch the ring holding the roof as it flipped over. But that, that was an almost impossible amount of luck.

Suddenly, the doors to the theater burst open, as a couple of people covered in black burst in at unimaginable speeds. In a moment, they were in front of me.

???- “I’m going to have to ask you to come with us.”

Me- “Who a-?”

I looked down only to discover a dart had embedded itself within my arm. I fainted shortly afterwards.

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Author’s note 2- So, as you can see, this one is set in an alternate, modern world. And like my other Mc, Daniel, they have a background similar to mine. But that is where the similarities end, as this mc has a totally different ability. Stay tuned, and don’t worry about the Elements of Terra. I’m working on it right now. Should be done in about a week (don’t get your hopes up please).