KA-THUNK!

  “Owww, what happened,” Alex groaned looking up at the lab ceiling from the floor.

  “Alex! Are you alright?” Evalyn exclaimed as she rushed over towards him.

  “I’m okay,” Alex moaned as he pulled himself up from the ground. “Guess I fell asleep,” he added sheepishly, scratching his head.

  “Dude, you’ve been mumbling for a while now,” Siddiq said, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at him.

  “I’m sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night,” he said. Or any, he thought. “Think I might call it here for today.”

  “Well, it is almost that time,” Siddiq said, as he reached for the sky, stretching his arms.

  Looking at the clock on the wall, Reshma sighed. “You go on and get some rest there Alex, but we need to discuss our next steps on what we want to do going forward.”

  “Sounds good,” Alex yawned. Grabbing his things he headed out the lab and towards his apartment. As he entered his apartment he dropped his bag at the door next to his scooter and plopped on his couch. Reaching for the remote he turned on his tv and started flipping through the channels when all of a sudden he froze on the news station.

  “THIS JUST IN! A powerful underwater earthquake was registered off the western coast of the country. Officials are on the watch for any signs of a tsunami due to the massive seismic readings. All citizens on the western coast of the country are advised to seek shelter inland.” said the news caster.

  “No way,” Alex said, his jaw dropping. “This can't be happening again. There is no way.” Staring at the television and listening to the news anchor repeat the story, his mouth hung open in shock. “This is the second time that I had a vision and then it's basically on the news. Am I causing this or is the Earth trying to tell me it's happening?”

  Alex stayed glued to the television watching the story unfold. If this is like my vision there will be a wave and it will be huge, but how do I let anyone know. They’re just going to think I’m crazy, he thought to himself. Alex kept watching until he finally drifted off to sleep.

  “Aaaaallllleeeeexxxxxxxx,” whispered a voice. “Aaaaaaaalllllllllleeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxx.” it repeated.

  “Whaaa?” Alex replied groggily as he rubbed his eyes and looked around.

  “Hello, Alex,” said the voice again. Its cadence was like a gentle song that carried on a breeze as it enveloped him.

  “Hello? Where are you?” Alex asked as he looked around him. He was no longer on his couch in his living room, but in a field full of vibrant wild flowers.

  “I am everywhere, Alex,” said the voice.

  “Who are you?” Alex asked, still searching around him.

  “I am you, as much as you are me,” said the voice still surrounding him.

  “I don't know what that means,” Alex admitted to the voice.

  “You will, in time. For now you must get stronger. You must save us,” the voice whispered, a slight edge in the tone of the song-like voice.

  “Are you the one behind my visions?” Alex asked.

  “Yes, and no,” replied the voice.

  “What does that mean?” Alex questioned again, his frustration building.

  “You must learn to control your abilities. It is the only way to save us.” the voice urged.

  “I am trying, but I’m not strong enough,” Alex confessed. “I need help, are there more like me? More people that can help me?” There was a long silence then. Alex searched, still trying to find the origin of the voice. “Hello?” he called.

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  “There are others. You must call out to them. You must make them see. There are those that do not want you to succeed,” said the voice finally.

  A flash of General Dempsey’s face fluttered in his mind.

  “They are coming! You must go!” the voice exclaimed urgently, as the flowers rippled in the breeze. Alex felt a rumble underneath him as the wind began to pick up. Suddenly the ground split and he began to fall as the earth crumbled in around him.

  “Ahhh!!” Alex screamed as he flailed and jumped, awaking back on his couch. “What just happened!?” he exclaimed wild eyed as he looked around. Catching his breath, he sat back on his couch and thought about what he had just witnessed. Was it a dream though? He questioned himself. I don't think it was.

  Getting up Alex went to his bag that he left at the door and grabbed out his notepad. Doing his best he made a timeline for himself of all the visions he had and anytime that he had used his powers without realizing it. After a couple of hours, Alex sat back and sighed.

  “I have been using these powers and having visions way before I ever realized,” he said to himself, going through everything he had just written. Alex scratched his head and yawned again. I need sleep, he thought to himself. He got up and walked to his room, laying down, he fell into a fitful sleep as everything swirled in his mind.

  BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

  Alex’s alarm clock blared through his room, waking him with a jump. “Ugh, that time already,” he groaned as his hand flopped around reaching to turn off the noise. Rolling over onto his back, Alex stared up at his ceiling. I don't know what to do, he thought to himself. Are there really others like me out there? Was that just a dream and my hope? Do I tell anyone about my abilities?

  Sighing Alex got up and prepared for his day, but nothing took his mind off of the last vision he had. As grabbed his scooter and headed to the lab, he looked around the campus and all the other people of like minds around him. But if I tell them would they just lock me up? Start to experiment on me? There are always stories like that, he thought, frowning to himself.

  Swiping his badge, he entered the lab and was surprised to be the first one there. Grabbing his lab equipment he headed to one of the computers and began to process his personal experiment result again. After a while the others made their way in and Alex walked over to greet them.

  “I have some news everyone,” Reshma began. “As we all know a lot of teams were reassigned after the last review. As we are missing a member of our team and our experiments were greatly admired, we have been assigned three new members for our team!”

  “Oh wonderful! Although I am still saddened about Zayd, it would be nice to have fresh perspectives!” exclaimed Evalyn.

  “That's cool, are we going to keep doing the press only or are we going to start on my project also?” Siddiq asked.

  “When are they joining us?” Alex questioned.

  “I agree with you Evalyn, some new perspectives will be nice. Siddiq, we will have enough team members to work on both projects simultaneously,” Reshma said smiling. “And I believe they will start to join us within the next few days.” he finished looking towards Alex.

  “Cool!” Siddiq exclaimed, his eyes wide in excitement. “Then I want to get the parts list finished and ordered so we can start assembling it when they join us.”

  “That's a good idea,” Reshma agreed. “I also want to get the new parts and design finished for the press Evalyn, so that we can have all of that ready as well for when our new team members join us.”

  “Sounds good,” Evalyn replied, nodding.

  “Alright, let's get to it then,” Reshma finished clapping his hands and walking off with Evalyn. Siddiq shrugged and went off towards one of the stations. Alex returned to the computer he was at and saw the program was almost finished. Digging in his bag he pulled out his notebook and flipped through the timeline he had created.

  He scrunched his brow trying to think of anything he might have missed but couldn't think of anything. The screen updated and the program he was running finished. Pulling up the results he began to go through them. Realizing he wasn't going to be strong enough, he put in a different calculation and left the program to run again.

  Suddenly an alarm rang across the building and everyone stood looking at each other waiting for the announcement. As the alarm died down a voice began to speak.

  “There was an earthquake off the western coast. A large tsunami has just taken out several coastal cities. If you have any loved ones in the affected areas please go to the administration building for more details.”

  The room was left in silence as they all looked at each other.

  “Aren’t you from the west Alex?” Siddiq asked tentatively, the others turning towards him.

  Alex looked back at them stunned.