Darkness, utter and complete. Like a void of never ending matter that swallows all the senses so the brain can't begin to process what is real and what is not. Luke was caught in this nothingness, a void in the fabric of reality. No longer in a coherent state of mind, trapped within what could only be a dream. The nightmare felt so real, that his brain couldn’t connect with his body. He should feel something but no stimuli was getting to him, nothing to provide any framework for coherent thoughts. His very soul felt heavy, like an inflated balloon that felt as though it could pop with just the wrong motion. Then something broke through the void. The balloon that felt too full suddenly felt like it was filling more, going to burst but it kept filling not stopping and his representation of his Soul kept growing larger. The heaviness of it felt like a physical thing, his heart beating like a metronome in the utter blackness that was the dream. The beat echoing in his ears.
Time was immeasurable, seconds could be days, days could be years. It was impossible to judge something like this. Even though some deep rooted thought had him knowing it was realistically nothing other than a dream. The hopelessness though still creeping into the forefront of Luke’s thoughts, the idea that maybe he couldn’t wake up, that maybe he died in his sleep and this was how life truly ends. A real feeling finally permeated his consciousness, fear. Fear that he wouldn’t wake up that he didn’t get to say goodbye to his friends, or even finish school. Things that as an 18 year old he would never be able to do again or live a future. This went on, scenario after scenario playing out in his head, until finally… He felt something.
Subtle at first, but whatever this was seemed to push against his soul, stripping it away in layers. He couldn’t stand the feeling any longer giving into the pain the second feeling he was able to comprehend. First fear, and now pain. Crying out even though he knew it was hopeless. Unbearable pain worse than if he had been set on fire tore through his very being until the power quivered and then settled around him. The pain dissipated into nothing and he knew that something else replaced it. Something that felt distinctly different, apart from what he felt earlier.
Just as fast as the darkness came, it disappeared. Luke was left lying in bed stunned at what just occurred. While his alarm to wake up signaled he wasn't dreaming anymore. He was left shaken by the dream.“What the fuck was that?” Luke thought to himself. Getting up stretching, and turning off the alarm. He looked down at his nightshirt to see if soaked in his own sweat. His muscles felt fatigued as if he had been training non-stop and the lactic acid hadn’t been flushed out of his body. Luke couldn’t help but wonder, I must be going crazy, maybe I've been hitting the gym too hard lately. As if that was the cause of his drastic nightmare episode. Walking over to the bathroom, Luke turned the light on and what he saw in the mirror took him aback.
Luke would describe himself as handsomely average being roughly 6 feet tall, with brown hair, and brown eyes. He had always been muscular, but in the past month, it was as if he gained another 15 pounds of muscle that he couldn’t quite explain. That though, wasn't what caught his immediate attention though. Looking at himself he saw an even newer change than what he had seen over the last month. Sitting directly over his left chest muscle was an imprint as if someone had burned a mark into his flesh. It was foreign, a symbol he didn’t quite comprehend but somehow felt intrinsic to his self. A line that curved into two P’s in opposite directions. It looked red and raw as if both bruised and burned.
“Luke, you better be out of bed! Hurry up or you will be late to school.” His mom yelled from the kitchen. His mom's yelling was exactly what he needed to break him from the trance the weird mark had over him. First the dream and now this weird mark, hopefully this wasn’t any indication how this day was going to go. Luke threw on a pair of jeans, and a hoodie, grabbed his bag, and ran down the stairs. Luke's mom was casually walking around the kitchen, hair up in a bun, the smell of pancakes filling the quaint little kitchen.
As Luke made his way into the kitchen his mom said, “Honey you need to stop growing, you're emptying the house of all the food, so all I could think of to make was pancakes this morning since you ate all the eggs already. I should have gone out for more yesterday but wanted to get home from work last night as soon as I could. Working three 12 hour shifts in a row has taken its toll, but how does one consume 12 eggs in four days? I am going to have to get a second job just to feed you.” She finished with fawn annoyance, a smile playing on her lips.
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Luke couldn't help but appreciate his mom. She had raised him his entire life single-handedly doing everything in her power to provide the best she could for him. Luke had never known his father, and every time Luke attempted to broach the subject with his mom she would become overly emotional and explain without much detail that he had to leave them and it was for the best. Luke never pushed the subject, so as to not upset her, but always wondered how someone could leave him and his mother like that.
“I know Mom, this past year has been crazy. Last wrestling season I weighed 165 lbs, and now I am wrestling at 220.” His mom looked at him with a sad look, “It must be your father's genes, he used to train all the time and was considered strong in our circle of friends. Big like you too. Or it could be a boys over saturation of testostosterone she chuckled at the end trying not to let her sad eyes show too much.
Luke processed what she said only for a fraction of a second and sat at the table and attempted to look busy studying for the test he had to take later that day. He never knew what to say when his mom brought up facts about his father. He sat back and ate his breakfast while studying in silence. Silence always seemed to be the best way to go in those instances.
Twenty minutes went by until his mom finally spoke again, “ Hey before you leave for school I wanted to let you know that I should be able to make it to your wrestling match this week. Shannon is supposed to cover for me on Wednesday at the hospital, so expect me to finally be there to see all the progress you have made in person, not from how many eggs you can eat in one sitting. The hospital shouldn’t burn down without me and I have already tapped into overtime for the week.
Luke tried to look excited, but his mom always tried to make it, yet she had missed every other match this season. He wasn’t upset by that fact, he knew that she was busy and that she worked hard to provide for both of them being the single parent she was. He also had this sense that she enjoyed saving people and he only wanted her happy.
“It’s alright mom, I understand if you can’t make it, but I will look for you as always!” He tried to say with as much enthusiasm as he could not as if he hadn’t added the emphasis of the word “always” to give her a little snippet into his true emotions about her never making it. The morning was not going exactly the way he had hoped after all
Luke had forgotten that he had a big match later that week. Wrestling had been easier this year than every year before it. He had gone undefeated as the standings showed. He attributed it to eight years of technical work and all the muscle he had gained. He missed the challenge, but winning was always the goal.
“Well if you can make it to the meet on Wednesday it will be a good one. My opponent and I are the only undefeated wrestlers this season so far. If I manage to beat him I have the chance to take first seed going into nationals”. He looked at his mom with a proud expression. She looked back at him after taking a sip of her coffee and showed a look of happiness, “that's great Honey, like I said I will do my best to make it and cheer you on. The conversation slowly died out as she pretended to be doing the crossword in her newspaper and Luke went back to silent studying. Though her expression showed genuine excitement her inner thoughts were anything but.
Rebecca looked at her son peeking over her coffee, really taking a look at him. A bit of her power seeped into her eyes to try and pierce his soul. Seeing his growth exceed those around him so much in only a year started to worry her. He shouldn’t have grown that fast and it could only be the very one thing she had feared. He shouldn’t have his power, yet she couldn’t deny what she was seeing right in front of her own eyes. This world her husband created seemingly for naught as his growth could only dictate he needed to leave sooner than later. She had been watching him more closely lately, trying to discern anything unusual, any marks and he hadn’t complained about any weird dreams that she knew of. She let out a big sigh she didn't know she was holding as her power couldn’t discern anything meaningful with the waning power she currently possessed. She shouldn’t worry he was just growing up and maturing. Maybe it could be chalked up to the young man in front of her maturing instead of the alternative, “Alright honey hurry up and finish your food. You need to head to school so you're not late.”
Luke got up from the table, his bulk in no way impeding his delicate steps as he quickly made his way to the sink, put his dishes away, gave his mom a quick hug, and walked out the door headed toward school.