Today was another day of living in terror of what might happen. Another day of living in shame of the things I'd done. 

Maybe I didn't do the worst, but I still contributed. And maybe if I had actually made it outside with Caster — if I didn't make the idiot move of tripping and falling behind — I could've stopped that gunman, stopped the outburst.

I could have stopped this. I could have stopped everything. 

"Talia," Mom said. "Are you going to get in the car?"

I blinked rapidly, assessing my surroundings again. My mother was sitting in the driver's seat of her white car, the door open.

"Um… yeah, sorry. I just spaced out," I said, walking along the driveway pavement and opening the doors to the backseat. Slipping inside the car seat, I buckled my seatbelt and shut the door, hanging my head down as Mom started to pull out the driveway.

I didn't want to look outside. Hell, I didn't even want to be outside anymore. Nothing felt safe.

"They'll come for you," said a tiny little voice in the back of my mind — my sister Kora's voice. "If you expose your power, they're gonna hunt you down. You'd have to hide."

She told me that the day before she died, didn't she?

I folded my hands and pressed my palms together. Her voice sounded as if it was layered over someone else's tone — one that was familiar but not discernable. 

Either way, the statement was right. And I hated that it was. 

I took a deep breath in. Despite that, I couldn't hide. Not today.

Because, as unimportant as it sounded, I had someone to visit.

The hospital room's door slid open on its own and I stepped inside to see a young woman sitting in a bed: my roommate, Melissa Brown. 

She looked up with raised eyebrows. "Talia?"

"Hey," I said, gazing at the blue walls of the room, and the half-opened curtains. "How're you… uh, holding up?"

I took a seat next to Melissa, and she said, "I'm doing alright. The bone fracture isn't that bad now. Should be out in maybe a few weeks or so."

I nodded and bit my lip. "I'm sorry."

She cocked a brow. "For what?"

"You know what. You saw what happened on the news, right? The way the world is right now?"

"Oh, that! You don't need to be sorry about it. To be honest, I was more worried if you were okay —"

"No, no… I should apologize. I made a big mistake. I'm always messing things up." 

"An accident causing more accidents," rang out Dad's voice, yet again. Thanks a lot, Dad; you were really helping me not break down right now. 

"Talia." Melissa's voice was stern. "You used your power out of fear. Because you're traumatized and terrified of fire. Because the past still haunts you. Does that not —"

"No, I don't think it justifies my actions," I interrupted. "So, yes, part of this is my fault."

"Okay, to be fair, this was on the other guy — the one with the fire. He's the one who used his power first, right?"

"Okay, but I also used mine; we both did."

"So did Caster — er, well, I don't really think that's completely on him though. He can't control it when his power flies off the handle. But still, that's still not your fault."

"It is, because if I hadn't fricking tripped, I could've gotten out and helped Caster —"

"Okay, so now you're saying that, because of one possibility, it's all your fault. So what about other possibilities? What if you confronted the gunman, and he shot you?"

"Well then I'd have stopped Caster and the gunman in time." I sighed. "I feel like this conversation is just gonna go on and on. Let's just switch the subject before we get into an argument. How's Cassian?"

"Hopping topics? Really?" Melissa shook her head. "Fine. If you don't wanna talk about that, then oh well. What about Cassian?"

"I saw the news today and heard they're trying to look for more superhumans. So do they know, um, about his power…?"

"Oh." She looked away. "I… well… yes, but no. They pressured him like hell until he finally confessed that he had a power, but he only said it had acted up once when it was younger and was basically able to dodge actually saying what it was. They also did the same thing to me, because I was associated with you, being your roommate and all. I didn't have any other choice to talk about my paralyzation ability. There wasn't any way I could hide."

I bit my lip. Cassian hated anyone knowing about his ability other than Melissa. Even Caster, his roommate, had no clue what it was. And Melissa was just as scared of revealing her power as I was.

Now they were both exposed.

"I'm… I'm so sorry, Melissa —"

"Oh lord, stop apologizing!" she exclaimed.  "You've got nothing to apologize for!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, but I just feel bad that you—"

"Talia, you did it again," she said.

"Sorr — uh, fuck, I mean… okay. I'll stop. But can we discuss something else?" 

Yep. Switching the topic again…

"Fine, fine, fine." She slowly started to sit up. "Let's throw all the guilt aside and focus on a solution to the problem. We need to be doing something about this situation, but I dunno what."

"Really? No ideas?" Leaning back slightly, I crossed my arms over my chest. "You seem like the type to think of plans quickly."

"Well, I remember Cassian was suggesting we run and hide, even though the government has literally made zero plans. The president is oddly slow with this choice. We should…. wait a bit, because we don't know how bad our circumstances will get. It's only day three. But yeah, bottom line: it could possibly be too early to start doing something. Let's see how things play out."

"That's fair, although we should be prepared for anything." I sighed. "What if they're planning to lock us up like they did with Exelonians?"

"It's a possibility, but if the Prez wanted to do that, you know she'd have done it already. She's plotting something else."

"Well, whatever they're thinking of, I know it can't be good."

"At least we're not, like, criminals who have done anything bad with their power," Melissa said. "You think that'd cut us some slack?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But if you really think that, then Caster isn't getting any slack cut at all. He's definitely classified as a criminal, and they don't know the issue with his superpower. So maybe the search team will take their search seriously just to arrest him."

Melissa sighed. "You forget that the police don't care that much. They didn't do jack when that thug broke my arm and legs the other week, and I had to make them do something." She threw up her good hand with frustration. "Ever since Harley gave the cops low pay, they've been snoozing on the job…"

"True, true. But even if the cops aren't the problem, Caster's still getting hate anyway. Have you seen the articles?" I plucked my phone from my pocket, opening up the news app and showing her a passage detailing the Vixora shooting, scrolling all the way to the comments and going through them one by one.

"TF? Like who just goes and shoots people like that for no reason? Why is everyone in the Cessair family so f*cked up?" 

"I mean Caster and his family basically have privileges to do anything so long as they support the government and help them do whatever crap they're doing. But I don't think he's gonna get away with this if he's a superhuman?"

"So superhumans exist, that's crazy enough, and one of them has already done this shit. You can't keep them around. They're gonna turn out to be mad dangerous. How is anyone supposed to walk out on the streets anymore? What if there's more crazy people like Caster?"

Melissa's frown deepened with each comment she saw. "Of course they don't get it. If some search team finds him — although search teams on Codex are pretty much garbage — then Caster will have to explain the issue with his ability. But even then, they'll probably just put handcuffs on him anyways."

My gut sank at the thought. "What can we do?" I shoved my phone back in my pocket. "Nothing, right?"

"If we can't react to the government right now, then we can find Caster in the meanwhile," Melissa said. "Listen, after I get outta the hospital, we're searching for the him. We'll deal with him ourselves in case the police don't.."

I frowned, the hands of doubt pulling at my brain. "Are you sure the government wouldn't announce their plan for superhumans by then —?"

"If they do, then we react. If it's something bad, then we hide somewhere and search in secret. I haven't done that in a long while. Are you in on that?" 

I paused for one, two… three moments.

"Okay. I'm in."

Before Melissa could reply, a loud growl came from my stomach. 

My roommate managed a small smile. "Hungry?" 

"Yeah. I think I gotta go now," I said. "I probably need to grab lunch…"

"Please eat. I don't wanna remind you of all the times you forgot to eat 'cause you were busy procrasti-working." She smirked when she saw me frown. "I already have to push Elaine to have a meal on time, and I don't wanna do the same with you. Go home and eat well, okay?”

That lifted my mood just a tad. I got up and smiled. "Thanks. See you later, and get better soon."

"Don't worry, I will."

Exiting the hospital room, I made my way through the halls and to the lobby. I could get the hospital food, but it was all-too-familiar to the teeny-tiny rations served to each house during the Lockdown punishments that the President during the Chain of Rebellions era. I was just a kid back then, but the memories stuck for so long and I couldn't shake them off. There was no need for me to be reminded of all the times I was kept away from my own food for over twelve-hour intervals while I was trying to eat peacefully.

So, I simply grabbed a water bottle from a vending machine and figured I'd just have lunch at home. I got a couple stares from other people, maybe some whispers about how I was on TV, but it was fairly crowded, so I blended in. Before I knew it, I was out the building and on the sidewalk, darting to the nearest bus stop. 

Then came abrupt sound from the road.

SLAM!

The noise stopped me dead in my tracks as a gruff voice boomed through the air.

"You really tried to kill me?"