Writing Prompt challenge

This wasn't supposed to happen!

With a sweaty palm Elijah pushed the handle down before pressing his weight against the door, making it swing open. He nibbled on his lower lip while entering the tall entrance hall of their local courthouse and slightly nodded towards the receptionist whilst an awkward smile was playing around his lips.
This wouldn’t take long and as soon as he was finished his parents took him out to eat ice cream at the ice café he loved so much. He just had to pick. He gulped at the thought, being well aware that having to make a choice wasn’t exactly his favourite activity but this wasn’t something he could avoid so he forced himself to walk up to the reception.
“How can I help you?” the woman asked, giving him a warm smile and Elijahs eyes flickered to the card in his right hand. He pulled it up and placed it on the smooth surface if the reception, then looked at the woman again.
“I’m here to choose my ability,” he said and looked back to his hands, twisting the ring on his left ring finger.
“Oh, well happy birthday-“ the woman picked up Elijah’s identity card and scanned it- “Elijah. Here is your number, please wait a moment in the waiting room next door until it appears on the screen.” Elijah just nodded before taking the note and making his way over to the waiting room.
He walked in mumbling a short greeting towards the people inside but most of them didn’t even acknowledge him at all. Elijah didn’t mind too much and just let himself sink down onto the next free chair close to the door, sighing in contentment at the silence.
Then he read the number on the paper the woman had handed him. 1847. When he checked the display at the other side of the room the number wasn’t on yet. He hadn’t expected anything else but still wanted to make sure nonetheless.
Pulling out his phone he saw someone walk out of one of the rooms in the corner of his eyes and shortly after a dinging sound was heard. When Elijah checked the board again a new number was shown as well as the number of the room they were supposed to enter.
Knowing it would take some time until his number appeared on the screen he opened up candy crush to pass time, ignoring the dozens of messages he had from his friends asking him if he already choose an ability or what it was. He was kind of annoyed that only one single one of them had actually wished him a happy 21st birthday but he honestly hadn’t expected it otherwise.
He had been the last one in their group of friends to turn 21 and therefor also the last one to pick an ability. He wasn’t too fond of the whole idea of picking an ability and trying to master it in order to stand out. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the idea of being able to use an ability. That though was amazing. But he was afraid he would fail to master it or, what he never told anyone knowing most people wouldn’t understand anyways, master it too good. He just didn’t want to stand out. In neither way.
Yet another time the dinging rang through the room and his eyes automatically flickered to the screen. Yet again, it wasn’t his number and he returned his attention back to the game, switching up a pain only to notice in that second he should’ve switched two other ‘candies’ instead.
“What brings you here? Do you need a new passport? An identity card? Or-“ the old woman next to him intrigued and Elijah slightly jumped in surprise- “are you here to pick your ability? You seem around that age.” Anxiety bubbled in him but the woman didn’t seem to notice or she just didn’t care. He gulped slightly while letting his phone sink down in his lap not wanting to be rude.
“I’m picking my ability. It’s my 21st birthday today,” he said quietly, not wanting other people to overhear and decide to join in on their conversation as well. Not that he wanted to have this conversation to begin with.
“Oh that’s nice. What ability are you going to pick?” she asked again and Elijah clicked his tongue. There it was again. He said it was his birthday but all the woman cared about was that he was supposed to pick an ability.
“I’m not sure yet, I wanted to check all the possibilities first,” he mumbled, then the dinging sound echoed through the room again and he bought his attention to the display. ‘1847’ the display said and Elijah checked the paper again. It was his number.
“Excuse me, it’s my turn,” he mumbled towards the woman before standing up. She just nodded while holder her hand up, thumb sticking in the air.
“I’m sure you will find an amazing ability for yourself,” she reassured and gave him a warm smile but he just smiled back awkwardly while nodding. Then he checked the display again, checking what room he had to go to before walking to the door. He checked one last time that room number 3 was the correct one before leaving the waiting room and heading down the hallway.
Elijah took a deep breath as he pushed the door to room 3 open and walked in, a young man looking up from some papers in his hands.
“Hi. Please sit down,” the man said and Elijah did what the man had asked him to. He walked over to the chair and sat down carefully, only sitting on the edge of the chair. He shifted a bit before pulling out his identification card again and placing it on the table in front of him.
“I’m here to pick an ability. My name is Elijah Monk,” he introduced himself and his matter of concern, face palming himself mentally for not saying his name before the reason but the other way round. The young man however didn’t seem to mind, shuffling through some folders before pulling out some papers.
“Here you go. This is the full list of abilities you can choose from. If you have questions regarding to some abilities feel free to ask and I will answer as accurate as possible,” the man explained and Elijah carefully took the list while nodding. Nibbling on his lower lip he started reading over the abilities. Absorption, Acid Generation, Agility, Amalgamation, Augmentation, Aura Vision, Being average, Body Part Substitution, Bone Manipulation- he halted. Being average?
“Err, excuse me-“, Elijah raised his voice slightly and gained the males attention, “What kind of ability is being average?” The man looked at him confused before taking the Papers out of Elijahs hands, scanning it.
“Honestly, I have never heard of anyone who picked this. I guess most people aren’t too interested in it since as long as your average you won’t be able to stand out. But judging from its title, that’s what this Power would most likely be,” the young man explained, still looking at the paper, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. Elijahs lips curled up in a smile. Being average at everything he did would mean he wouldn’t stand out. He wouldn’t be bad at things but also not too good. No one would ever notice him in any way and he could live his life in peace.
“I would like to take this power,” he said without giving it a second though and the man looked up from the papers at him, raising an eyebrow.
“Are you sure? There’s no way you will be able to make a name out of yourself if you pick this ability,” he asked but Elijah only nodded. For him, this ability was perfect.
The man nodded slowly before standing up and leaving the room and Elijah was strangely enough happy. Before he had been really worried about having to pick an ability, not sure which one would fit to him and scared that he would make the wrong choice. Taking this ability however just felt right.
Then the door opened again and the male came back, a small pill in one hand holding it between his index finger and thumb and a glass with water in his other hand.
“If you take this, you will manifest your powers within the next hour. Are you sure you really want this power?” he asked again but Elijah only stood up and took the glass and the pill out of the males hands. Without hesitation he put the pill into his mouth and washed it down his throat with some water. Then he placed the glass on the table.
“Is there anything else I have to do?” he asked hesitantly but the male only shook his head.
“No, that’s it,” he mumbled and Elijah smiled at him.
“Then have a good day,” he wished the man before turning to the door and leaving the room again. With light steps he made his way to the exit of the courthouse. Pushing the doors open a second time that day he walked outside, welcoming the nice breeze that went through his hair and clothes as he skipped down the steps.
Only when he saw his parents car at the parking lot regret started sinking in. How was he supposed to explain to them what ability he had taken? They wanted him to make a name out of himself. That was the usual goal of every human being after all. At least that’s what everyone had told him so far. But that just wasn’t what he wanted.
The closer he got, the slower he walked, not wanted to step into the car anymore. But eventually he still reached it. He gulped, then pulled the door open and slid into his seat, pulling on a smile when he looked through the rear-view mirror at his dad.
“So, what did you pick?” his mom asked excitedly bur Elijah only started fiddling with his ring, not knowing how to answer.
“You don’t want to tell us? Do you want us to guess it?” his dad asked in a playful tone and Elijah just nodded slowly, looking down again. He knew his parents would never be able to guess his power but at least that way he didn’t have to tell them right away and got time to think about what his answer would be in the end.
He could technically just lie and say it was some random ability and that he simply didn’t have talent but then he would still get attention for that and bad attention was even worse than good one.

The car ride to the ice café was filled with their parents naming various Abilities and Elijah saying he wouldn’t reveal it right now. He sighed in relief when he finally stepped out of the car and saw the familiar building with the ice cream drawing right next to its name as well as the big ice cream statue that was placed next to the entrance.
They walked into the café and Elijah slid into one of the booths, immediately taking the menu. Despite knowing exactly what he wanted, he still checked wanting to make sure he got the name correct. His parents had sat down opposite from him and he could feel his moms eyes lingering on him. When he looked up she was leaning on her hands while staring right at him.
“Or did you pick the ability to make ice cream?” she asked and for a second Elijah was too perplex to react. His parents really had gotten to the most ridiculous ideas at this point.
“I mean, you really love ice cream, I can’t even recall how often we’ve been here ever since the cafe opened again at the beginning of spring,” she joked and Elijah rolled his eyes.
“Yeah because I always wanted to become an ice cream seller,” he joked, then leaned forward, “and the only reason I wanted us to come here was so I could copy their ice cream.” Then he made some movements with his hands imagining being able to make one scoop of ice cream in his hands and gasped when an ice cube appeared in his palm. His parents looked at each other before grinning from ear to ear.
“So you decided to take the ice elemental!” his father said but Elijah only frantically shook his head, not leaving his eyes off the little ice cube in his hands that was slowly but surely melting.
“This isn’t the ability I choose. This wasn’t supposed to happen!” he said irritated, then finally looked up at his parents desperately searching for help. Why was he able to create ice? His ability had nothing to do with him performing things like this. Things that an ordinary human wasn’t supposed to be able to do.
“Honey, if this isn’t your power please tell us what you picked. Maybe the pill got mixed before you took it and then we would have to drive back now to report it,” his mom said and Elijah nibbled on his lower lip, looking back down on his now wet hand. Even if he took the wrong pill, he had jokingly tried to create ice cream not an ice cube. There was a big difference.
“I took the ability of being average,” he said and then it dawned on him.
He was average. Average at everything no matter if it was possible for a human or not. He could literally try anything he wanted that no ordinary human was supposed to be able to and would be average in doing it. He wouldn’t be able to do it perfectly and he would most likely struggle a bit just like with the ice cream and him only creating an ice cube but he would be still able to do it somehow.
The power he took that everyone else completely had overlooked could most likely be the strongest power anyone could ever pick and there were endless possibilities on how he could use it. He could literally use any power, even some that didn’t exist and be able to perform them on an average level just by trying. He could come up with a medicine for incurable diseases and even if it wouldn’t be perfect, it would work somehow and would at least give the experts a base to work with. He could change the world for a better. There was just one problem.
He didn’t want to stand out.