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Wednesday the principal makes an announcement during 1st period.

"Yesterday an altercation in the halls between two students resulted in considerable destruction and ultimately resulted in the death of young Rory Burns, who passed away last night at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital.  The school administration and staff want to remind all the students that there is a strict policy against violence in the school and anyone caught fighting will be dealt with severely.  We do not want a repeat of what happened here yesterday, and to this end we have increased on site security and local police presence.  Everyone is asked to be vigilant for acts of violence and to report them immediately to a teacher or staff member."

During lunch there is a strange commotion.  One of the cheerleaders and one of the "slacker" kids have a wicked makeout session on top of a table all of a sudden.  they go at it, locked together at the lips for a couple of minutes then she pushes him off and slaps him, screaming "Get off me, help, someone get this freak off me."  the lunch monitor's step in and take the pair to the office to sort out what happened.  The school cops ask several witnesses for statements then the lunch room goes back to normal.

When Megan had heard the principle’s announcement about Rory’s death she began to feel rather worried.  Last night the things she had been able to discover she could do had been really cool and exciting, but now, hearing about the death she wasn’t so sure.  She felt fine using the powers, in some ways better than she had ever felt, but Rory had seemed so frighteningly powerful yesterday, and to hear that he had died somehow had her worried.  Perhaps she should tell her mom when she got home from school today.

Her morning passed uneventful till she was at lunch with the rest of the squad as normal.  But when Fern started kissing one of the slacker guys, Megan could just sit there is shocked surprise like the rest of the girls until Fern pushed the boy off and slapped him and screamed.  The lunch monitors arrived to pull them apart and take them to the office.  Megan gave a statement to the school cops that she had no idea what had happened, which was true after all.  All she was starting to feel was that things seemed to be going crazy in the school.

Colin's world come crashing down upon him. He start to weep and soon he's sobbing so loudly he has to ask his teacher to be excused. He runs to restroom and goes sit in a corner, clutching his knees.

I'm useless! I'm @#&%ing useless! I should have gone to the hospital with him, I should have remained with him to help him. And what did I do instead? I run away in pain. Pain! What a @#&%ing sissy I am. A useless sissy. I'm given the power to heal people and when a guy needs it what do I do? I let him die, and I run away crying. Useless!

He punches the wall a couple times, unable to feel the pain in hand since that in his heart is greater. He stands up, goes in front of the mirror and starts talking to it.

"So, you have nothing to show me today? No vision for me? Come on, show me! Who should I go zap, huh? Whose life should I turn into a total mess, today? Don't be shy, tell me, you bastard! Tell me what I should do!"

He punches the mirror too, and while it doesn't break, it makes Colin's knuckles start bleeding. This somehow sobers him, he stops raving and goes back to the corner crying.

Donnie is staring out of the library through the glass walls. The news over the PA about Rory's death was the single most horrible thing he had ever heard. As a child, he had heard of the destruction of the twin towers in New York, but the news had not really affected him since he was only an eight year old kid. Now, the death of a kid he knew, even peripherally, made his insular world seem a false comfort. He ached to be home, playing WoW and forgetting about the wierd happenings in the school. When you died online, you just come back.

Feeling a bit ill over it all, he was lacidasically fulfilling his job as library-tech when he noticed Colin walk quickly by, then bolt to the bathroom. Without thinking, he ran out the library after him.

He finds him shortly, curled in the corner of the bathroom, crying. Donnie walks in, unsure what to do. He wants to make a wisecrack about the stench of urinal cakes, but words fail him. He walks over to Colin and crouches down, putting his hand upon the crying boy's shoulder.

Sylvia has been keeping to herself lately, immersing herself in her studies or the paper.  She thought she'd found her niche in this massive school, new friends to staunch the raw and lonely ache she's felt since leaving San Francisco, but the previous day left her with an inexpressible uneasiness.  The company of freaks was just fine, but now they're more than that.  They're a company of super freaks, and the sense of belonging she was feeling has evaporated and left her longing for home.

When she hears the news about Rory's death, she's stunned, numbed, but there's a cottony wall of indifference between her and the rest of the world that takes the sting out of it.  She doesn't cry.  She's just dazed and depressed, and she snuggles in harder against the comfort of solitude.

Colin looks up as he feels Donnie touching him. He tries to wipe his eyes, and all he can say is "I-I... I thought I had saved him, that he would have been fine. It shouldn't have happened."

"Man, you can't blame yourself for his death. Jesus, we're just kids. It's not as if you were some highly trained doctor-surgeon-whatever, who operated on someone and *&$^ed up. You just found about about this, uh, ability you have. No one becomes a master in a couple of weeks at anything, let alone some inner, uh power that no one can tell you about how to use. Rory's death is awful, but you can't blame anyone but the bully for starting it, or Rory's inborn power that caused him to change. How are you supposed to see something like that? It was totally random, man. Effed up. I don't know."

Donnie rambles off into silence, then gets up and pulls out some paper towels for Colin. He wets one, just like his mother used to do to wipe his face after crying, and handed them all to Colin, sitting down next to him.

The Principal's announcement hit Sammy like a hammer.  That boy died.  He developed powers, and he died.

Her personal despair is hardly noticeable, hidden amongst the displays of grief demonstrated by the normal students around her.  She goes through the motions of getting to the rest of her morning classes, but that's about it.  Active participation in any of them is too much of an effort.

Colin takes  the paper and wipes his face.

"Maybe you're right, Donnie, but what the hell  have I been given this magic powers to heal people or whatever they are, if I can't heal people and save them. I was there, in the right place at the right time, I really wanted to help him, I thought I did it, and I was oh-so-proud-of-myself-Magic-Colin-has-saved-the-day-again, and Rory died the same. Then what are they for? If i didn't have them, I wouldn't feel this way, but I have been given powers to save him, and I didn't save him. It makes no sense. It makes no sense at all."

"This sounds corny, but you can't save everyone. You saved that kid after he got beat up the other day. You helped those people at the lab. You have used your powers for good. (He resists the bubbling insane laughter at that staement inside him. It was just too wierd to actually say it) "But every good person fails sometimes. R-positive, normal doctor, policeman, fireman, whoever. Everyone fails. It just makes you more determined the niext time. Lord knows it took me weeks to master running certain instances in World of Warcraft. FPK, man, and we kept trying."  At Colin's blank look, he says "Full Party Kill."  He grimaces. "OK, bad analogy, but you see what I mean?" God I am so freaked out right now..

Unexpectedly, Donnie's goofy attempt at making Colin feel better actually makes him feel better. Ot at least it makes him think of someone other than himself. He's about to smile, when his eyes go wide and he jumps to his feet.
"God and Great Spirit! Have you seen Matt around? We've got to find him!"

"Uh, no. I haven't seen him today." A bit taken aback by Colin's change of emotion, Donnie cocks his head, then his eyes open wide. "Oh $#!+! I guess he's probably ready to explode. Oh crap.."

"Let's go look for him. And Donnie... thank you."

Before Donnie can do anything Colin quickly hugs him and rushes out of the restroom.

Sarah had just finished signing the get well soon Rory card getting handed around by the scifi club when the announcement came over the PA.  She didn't really know Rory all that well.  Friend of a friend sort of thing but he was still part of her world.  A kid like her and now gone.

His power was too much for him... or maybe he wasn't meant to have the power and he's gone.  Every day at this school is taking something out of me.  I'm not a kid anymore.  I'm not a grownup but all the .... simple happiness is fading.  The grownups aren't fixing everything and making it better!

She raises her hand and asks to be excused and heads out into the hallway just lost in space.  The card stays on her desk with a smileyface next to her name. 

Donnie pauses for a moment and looks in the mirror. He hugged me? That totally does not make me gay, right? He silently asks his reflection. He then laughs at himself and walks out of the bathroom to see where Colin has run off to, or possibly to go back to the library. He wasn't sure yet.

"Students of Oak Park High School, this is Principal Landis.  We will be making appointments for students to visit with psychologists to help deal with the stress of the events of late.  These appointments will be to evaluate your reaction to the stress of the recent situation and help you cope.  Your parents will be notified by mail of your appointment date and time and if they have any questions they can contact the office here and talk to me.  That is all."