• Chapter 8: Weakness

    After the incident, it was decided Miranda should be under some one’s sight, no matter what the circumstance. Of course, this didn’t go so well with Miranda, and she was very upset. Since people were probably looking for her, she had to use a certain bathroom because it didn’t contain any windows. The windows in her room were made shatterproof, and Brad slept in the room right next to hers’ so if anything did happen somehow, he would be able to hear it.
    “I’m 25 years old! I have special powers that I can protect myself with. If they’re needed, who cares if people see them? Why can’t I go to the mall to buy my own clothes? You can never tell if something fits unless you try it on, and I feel bad that Maria has to keep going back to the mall to exchange my clothes for a different size,” she complained.
    “If people see them, they’ll realize your power, and they’ll come after you too. Also…”
    “Then I’ll just use my power on them! It’s not that complicated,” Miranda interrupted Ralph.
    Ralph paced a little, and then sat down. He signaled Miranda to sit next to him so he could talk to her. “You don’t know, do you? Of course not, the books even said you wouldn’t,” he muttered somewhat to himself. He turned his attention back to Miranda and continued. “You have a weakness. All it takes is for one of them to be conveniently carrying a little of whatever the weakness is towards, and you will be completely powerless. Then people will start using that on you, and you will be completely captured. The more people attracted to you, the more likely it is that one is carrying your weakness.”
    “Well, what’s my weakness? I’ll be able to avoid it.”
    “It doesn’t say. It only gives hints. Here, I’ll read it for you.”

    It will be normal yet unusual
    It will be valuable yet cheap
    It will be rare yet common
    It will be both weakness and strength

    “I only get the last line. It’s my weakness, but everyone else’s strength. The rest doesn’t make any sense,” Miranda said, pointing out the obvious.
    “Exactly. If it made sense, I could tell you what it is, and you might be able to avoid it.”
    “I still want to go. There’s only one way to find out the answer. I want to go shopping! I need to be able to pick out my own clothes, and know if they fit the first time they’re bought.”
    “No! You never have to figure out the answer. If there are large amounts of whatever it is, you could pass out and potentially die. The world would end because the reason the people were around you was because they wanted your power.”
    Miranda stormed off to her room. “I’m going,” she muttered to herself, “no matter what it takes!” She looked over at the window and knew what to do. If Miranda had any bad characteristics, it would be that she was very stubborn. She held out her hand at the window, mouthing a few words in a language not of the world. She began to approach the window, still holding her hand out, but she had stopped saying the strange words. Once she had reached the window, her hand went completely through it. Once she decided it was safe, she jumped out the window after grabbing her purse. If I don’t have powers, my pepper spray will still work she decided. She pulled out the key to Brad’s truck and unlocked the doors. Isn’t this stealing? Oh well, I know he won’t mind since I’ll bring it back, if he even notices. She got in and drove to the mall with the stereo blasting.
    As she walked into the first store, she found things she wanted very quickly, even though she took a lot of time in the stores. She had bought and tried on 6 shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of paints, and 2 pairs of sunglasses in 45 minutes. At the second store, she realized some of the people seemed familiar, as if she had seen them in the last store. She still bought many clothes, and her arms began getting more and more full. She went to more and more stores, deciding it was about time to head to the truck since her arms were completely full. As she walked out of the final store, 10 people were following her. She tried to run, but the weight of the bags caused her to trip while she was looking back to see how many were after her. She landed on her back, and they began to crowd around her. She tried to blast them back, but it wouldn’t work. At that moment, something had caught her eye. As she looked at it, she realized what her weakness was. Gold. A woman was wearing gold earrings, stopping the power from working. She tried to get her pepper spray, but the many bags prevented her from finding the right one. She knew it was all over.