I woke up slowly. At first I didn’t remember what had happened and tried to figure out why I was on the floor. There were noises all around me that I didn’t understand. Raised voices, heavy machinery, and lots of footsteps. The ground beneath me was uneven and rough with dust and what felt like gravel. As my vision came back into focus and I saw the room around me I began to remember.

Minh hurried passed me to the boy with the severed legs. In a flash of green light, the legs reattached. Minh also removed several pieces of shrapnel from him before moving on to the next injured student. I began to get up and my movement caught Minh’s attention.

“Just lie there for a moment,” he said. “Let us clear the area and then we will help you.”

“It was an accident,” I managed to say through quivering lips. “I’m sorry.”

I was crying and still trying to get up. My mind and body were both struggling to keep up.

“No, just stay where you are,” Minh instructed as he helped pull a student away from me.

“I’m not hurt,” I insisted.

It didn’t make sense to me why he was telling me to stay down. Didn’t he know I was the cause of this accident? I wasn’t the injured one here. As I sat up my vision swam yet again and I toppled over. In an effort to catch myself I grabbed a nearby desk and ripped it in half. I screamed out in shock and flailed in an attempt to knock away the splintering bits that were flying off the desk as it broke. The floor shuddered as my hand struck it and tore a hole through it. People below cried out as chunks of the floor, their ceiling, crashed down around them.

“Please lie still,” Minh called out, his usually calm voice becoming strained.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again, turning towards him and crawling his way. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

I was nauseous and dizzy so I gave up on trying to stand. Nothing was making sense but Minh was right there and I knew if I could just get to him he could make it better.

“Please stay back,” he said, still pulling students out of my way.

There was fear in his voice. Perhaps it had always been there and I was only now noticing it. I wasn’t sure but it gave me reason to pause.

“Shouldn’t you be healing them?” I asked, noting the injured students he’d been moving around.

“Yes,” he nodded, relief on his face, “but I need to make sure you are staying where you are.”

“Okay,” I nodded and immediately regretted it since it made my whole world swim. I reached out and grabbed the only thing sturdy enough to support me; the chunk of metal that used to be my desk’s base.

Metal exploded as I gripped it and pulled it towards me, shredding the metal like it was a soft cheese. Chunks popped off beneath my grip and it was difficult to keep a hold of.

“Come here!” I grunted in frustration and lashed out with both hands.

The resultant explosion of noise and shrapnel caught me by surprise and I fell backwards, arms pinwheeling in a vain attempt to keep my balance. I hit the floor, my head cracking the tile beneath me, and I threw up. I gagged on my own sick and rolled over to clear my mouth of bile. Coughing, I pushed myself up onto all fours and moved away from the pile of vomit I’d left. The bitter taste in my mouth lingered and I wondered how long it would be before I could get my toothbrush and wash this awful taste out.

Minh was lying on the ground beside the students, eyes staring straight up at the ceiling, unseeing. His chest was torn open but no blood poured out of him. In an instant I knew he was dead.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. They said no one ever died here. Injuries were taken care of by healers. This was supposed to be a safe place for me to learn to control my powers.

I couldn’t stay in the same room as the dead body. I forced myself up to my feet and stumbled back towards the door. That was when I saw the other students. Some of them were still moving but most were like Minh.

Dead.

I turned the only other direction I could and ran right for the exterior wall. We were a couple stories up but I knew it didn’t matter. I burst through the wall and fell to the ground outside, startling the gathered emergency responders. As soon as I could get my bearings, I ran for the lawn where Hector and the others played their games. It was deserted at the moment but that wasn’t what I was going there for. The field was a wide open space and there was nothing I could do there that would hurt anyone. I would be safe there. They would be safe with me there. As soon as I reached the middle of the lawn I collapsed into another fit of sickness. This time I didn’t bother trying to move again and instead just lay there.

How long I was there I don’t know. It felt like hours and I alternated between sobbing and shaking. Eventually I head footsteps on the grass coming my way.

“Stay back!” I shouted, curling in on myself so as to avoid accidentally hitting anyone or anything.

The footsteps did not stop. Instead, they crossed over to in front of me and then the person sat down.

“It’s all right,” I heard Minh’s voice say.

The impossibility of it shocked me out of my huddle enough to look up at him and see if I was just hearing things.

It was Minh. His shirt was torn and bloody but he was whole and healthy nonetheless.

“How?” I asked.

“There are more healers than just me.”

“You were dead.”

“The strongest healers can heal you even if you are technically dead. They must get to you quickly but they can do it. No one is dead or injured anymore. Even the memories of the trauma will be cleansed so they do not cause any issues.”

“What do you mean? Do you wipe their memories?”

Minh chuckled as he so often did.

“No,” he said. “But the pain associated with the memories will be removed. This way they can carry on without long-term psychological damage.”

“Can I have that too?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, I tried to do that for you when I first saw you,” Minh frowned. “When I tried to calm your mind, you seemed to get confused instead. The power is similar to Kira’s to make people sleep. It seems you are immune to both powers. Perhaps all mental powers. I am sorry.”

“But everyone’s okay?” I asked.

“Yes, they are all fine. Your classes for today are canceled but will resume tomorrow, in a different building.”

“How bad is the Seymore building?”

“It is not the worst damage a student has caused,” he replied. “This is why we have so many buildings here, so your classes may be moved around as needed while repairs are done.”

I lay there, still curled, thinking about what Minh had said. The others were fine, the building would be repaired, and as far as I could tell I wasn’t in any sort of trouble.

“Can I go back to my dorm?” I asked after a while.

“Of course. Someone will be by to check on you before lunch.”

Slowly, I climbed to my feet. I was in need of a shower and a change of clothes. Besides being dirty, my uniform was torn from when I ran through the wall. That was when I remembered my shower was broken. I guess I could rinse off in the tub instead. I wasn’t one for baths since the idea of lying in your own dirty water never appealed to me but perhaps I would make an exception this time around. After rinsing off, of course.