The Reunion


Sophia woke up in a daze. Sophia squinted. Her powers didn’t even work because of the haze in her head. Where was she? A metal room? Yeah, a metal room.

… Laurel… Laurel did this!

Sophia struggled, but couldn’t get out of the zip cuffs keeping her to a metal chair. A chair bolted to the ground!

Laurel really wasn’t going to take any chances.

Sophia used her x-ray vision. But it didn’t take. The metal room was layered with lead. Her powers were useless. Her powers… they weren’t physical. They were useful away from the battle. Like herself.

Sophia struggled more it was all she could do. Besides wait for someone to save her. She could do nothing else. Nothing.

But Sophia had no gag on. She could still scream. “Help me! Please!”

She continued to scream for… five minutes until her voice started to give out. She continued twenty minutes? Her screams went unanswered. She must be alone. All alone.

Sophia tried to rub her throat but her hands were still cuffed to the chair, despite how sore her throat was.

“Help…. me…” Sophia said. Her voice little more than a rasp.

Now she could nothing…

Sophia just waited there in that cold, dark room. Left alone with her own thoughts.

Maybe she shouldn’t have taken the Vision Aspect one year ago. Then Laurel wouldn’t be here trying to take it from her and gain the powers her dead boyfriend had.

It was hours, probably, until the door to the metal box was opened from the outside.

Laurel walked through the open door. “Hello, bitch.”

Laurel’s first words to me since that day.

“I’m sorry,” Sophia said.

Laurel walked up to Sophia, “Sorry for what? Murdering Manson? Or for stealing his powers?”

Sophia gulped, she saw a knife in Laurel’s hand. “For both of those things.” But he didn’t deserve the power. He murdered Andy.

Laurel cracked a half smile. “You’re not sorry. You have never been sorry.”

Sophia started to panic. Her life was in Laurel’s hands. Laurel of all people. Sophia would die tonight.

Unless…

Unless Sophia tried the truth. It wasn’t likely to work. Laurel always had a blind spot with Manson. But it was the only chance Sophia had in getting out.

“Manson was the murderer. Not me,” Sophia said

“Lies!” Laurel screamed.

“Want to talk about lies? That night two years when Manson claimed that I got him drunk then went to bed with him, was a lie. Manson got me drunk. Then he persuaded me to, as he said, ‘make love with me’.”

Laurel’s eyes widened. In anger. She took out the knife and jammed it into Sophia’s arm.

Sophia screamed. No one came.

Blood seeped from the wound after the knife was pulled out.

Tears formed in Sophia’s eyes. Don’t show pain. Don’t show weakness. She held the tears at bay.

“The truth is,” Laurel hissed, “Manson was helping you study to pass calculus. It was late so he grabbed wine from his parents’ wine cabinet. He took a little, but you encouraged him to have more. Until he was drunk enough to agree to anything. You then proceeded to lead him to the bed and slept with him. You slept with my boyfriend!”

Laurel walked behind Sophia.

What was she doing back there? Sophia activated her powers. She used her powers of vision to look behind herself. It was as if she had eyes on the back of her head. This ability, which she called “viewing” worked with any part of her body. She could that as long as her eyes were open. Laurel was taking something out of a box that had been behind her this whole time. When Laurel walked back around the chair, Sophia saw that the box was a first aid kit.

Sophia stopped viewing to see Laurel holding a bandage, tape, and scissors.

“You’re going to suffer until I decide to kill you,” Laurel said as she bandaged the bloody wound.

“The truth is,” Sophia whispered, “I was helping Manson study calculus. He grabbed the wine. But, then he encouraged me to have some. I complied. I had never tasted wine before. I was curious as to how it tasted. The wine tasted good. He gave me more, I drank more.”

Laurel’s eyes were livid with anger, she didn’t interrupt though, Laurel never interrupted. She had always wanted to know what others would say. All she did was lay the bandages, scissors, and tape down.

Sophia continued, “After I had a few glasses, I was barely keeping myself up, I was so drunk. That was when Manson kissed me. I wasn’t thinking, the wine had too tight a hold on me. He led me to his bed and said, ‘Please make love with me.’ He laid me down and started…”

Sophia trailed off. She didn’t want to relive that event.

“Then what?” Laurel asked.

“I can’t…” Sophia whispered, “I can’t.”

“Because it never happened.”

“No, I just can’t relive it.”

Laurel gripped the knife.

“Please,” Sophia begged, “not the knife.”

“Lowered to begging I see,” Laurel smiled. And stabbed the knife into Sophia’s breast.

Sophia gasped. Barely able to contain the screaming pain in her.

The stab activated her x-ray vision. It was useless of course. It switched to thermal vision. Then back and forth for a couple seconds.

Ugh, my head. Switching in between types of visions so quickly was still tough for her. She hadn’t built up a good resistance to it yet. She had never seriously trained with her powers.

Laurel twisted the knife. “Scream!”

Sophia screamed. Just listen to her Sophia told herself as she continued to scream. She’s going to kill you. And there’s no point in resisting.

“Stop,” commanded Laurel, and ripped out the knife.

Sophia shut her mouth. Even though she had a question she needed answered. Would she die by that wound? No. No she wouldn’t, the knife hadn’t gone all the way in. This wound was torture not death.

Sophia cringed as Laurel fixed her wound. It was crude.

“I’ll be back with food in one hour,” laurel placed the items in the first aid kit and walked out.

Sophia whimpered. Then rose into a scream. A scream of despair. A scream of pain. A scream of regret. A scream of betrayal.