Whirlwind (3rd Book in Thunder Trilogy)

Chapter 1

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, holding the bottle of brown dye over my hair, trying to place the hair color over the small patch of white that has recently made itself visible again at the roots. After squeezing a bit of the color onto my hair, I rub it in with my other hand to make sure to cover the whole section.

This has become my normal routine over the last 5 years. Every few weeks, I mix up a little bit of dye, and I cover the roots of my white streak. It has helped to make me stand out a lot less, so that people don't always immediately see me and recognize me as that girl that had super powers for a few months. Even though it was fun to play superhero for a little while, eventually things got too real and far too dangerous, and it was in my best interest to leave it all behind.

And I left everything behind.

Surprisingly, being a superhero in small town Iowa, news didn't travel very far across the entire country. For awhile, people were fascinated with the idea of a girl struck by lightning and gaining the ability to fly and control electricity, but outside of my hometown, I'm rarely recognized as being that unique girl, so long as I hide the white streak that is often the giveaway of my identity. That's why after high school, I ended up moving out of the state, and into a new city where I could just blend in with the crowd, get a job, and live a normal life again.

I left my powers behind, metaphorically more than literally. I had tried getting rid of them, but when it didn't fully work, I just pretended that it did, and I don't really use them anymore. My family doesn't even know I still have my powers. The only people that know are Dr. Carson, and a couple other M.U.F.F.I.N.S. agents. Even Ryan never found out that I got them back.

I haven't spoken to Ryan much in a long time. Our relationship was unusual, to put it lightly. We got close while we were secretly in battle with each other over the course of a couple months, and somehow we made that relationship work through the end of high school. He was enlisted to be an agent for M.U.F.F.I.N.S. after I ended my time there, and I don't know much of what has happened beyond that. As far as I know, he still works with them. We decided to move on with our lives without each other shortly after high school for a few different reasons: firstly because of all the secret missions I knew he was going on even though I wasn't allowed to know any details of them. Our relationship began with both of us keeping secrets from each other, and it just seemed that as we went on, there were always more secrets. It wasn't his fault; it's just the nature of the work, and I fully understood that. But due to the secrecy, I was always worried or paranoid about what may be going on. It was also much easier for me to move on and start fresh in a new place without him. I still do care about him dearly. He was my first love, and he will certainly always hold that place in my heart.

I set the bottle of hair dye on the bathroom counter, and I make my way to my living room to relax while the hair color processes. I sit down on my chair, and turn on the television. The screen lights up, displaying a live news broadcast.

"...the second major city explosion in two weeks," the reporter on the screen says. "Sources are unsure whether the explosion at the Manila power plant is related to the explosion last week in Dubai, but the two events appear to be very similar. Investigators are at the scene now trying to piece together what actually happened."

I switch the channel. I know it's important to keep up with the news and with world events, but sometimes watching the chaos ensuing around the world can get so depressing and exhausting. Eventually I settle for watching a rerun of The Big Bang Theory for the next 30 minutes until my hair has finished processing.

I return to the bathroom, and take a quick shower in order to wash the dye out of my hair. After a few minutes of scrubbing and rinsing, I step out of the shower, wrap my hair up in a towel, put on some comfy clothes to relax in for the rest of the evening, and I return to my spot in the living room to continue watching television.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

I'm startled by a loud banging on my apartment door. Cautiously I make my way to the door and check through the peephole to see who it could be, but in my limited range of vision, I can't see anyone.

"That's odd..."

I open the door and peek my head outside to see if someone is nearby. There are a couple of kids in the apartment complex that like to Ding Dong Ditch for fun once in awhile, but those two are nowhere to be seen. In fact, I don't see anybody at all.

As I proceed to shut the door, I notice a little folded piece of paper laying on the ground. Curiously, I pick it up and bring it inside with me.

I unfold the piece of paper and am surprised to see the words written on it in black ink:

Thunder, I need your help