3 New day, new problem

"Hellooooooo moooom, "

No answer.

I opened the door, and walked inside. A sharp and damp smell hit me and I had to pinch my nose so as to not inhale any more of that directly. I looked around the living room. It looked like it usually did - tidy, but a little dusty in some places.

"Mom? Where are you?" I asked, concerned. I removed my shoes, set them near the door and went inside in my socks. I looked around but couldn't see her. Then I saw the bedroom door closed, which generally is never closed.

I walked over to the door quietly and knocked on it. No answer once again. I turned the door knob, and opened the door quietly to someone lying on the floor. And you know what? The smell was sharper here, windows closed, which means something had happened.

"MOM! MOM WAKE UP WHAT HAPPENED," I shouted and shook her. There was no response. I lay on her chest, and felt her heart. It was beating, but rather fast and jumpily. I ran to the windows and prod them open, using my hands as a fan to get rid of the dank smell, and turned on the exhaust in the washroom. I came out of the washroom and saw her stir a little though she didn't wake up. I took a mug of water from the washroom and splashed it over her head. She spluttered, then sat up coughing.

"What.....who....?" she spoke.

"Oh mom what were you doing, " I whispered, close to tears, hugging her tight.

"OH WHO ARE YOU....wait...Lex? Hey, how are you and stop hugging me to death you moron," she said, ruffling my hair. I composed myself and asked her what had happened.

"Oh," she said laughing embarrassedly, "don't worry, 'twas nothing serious. I was too much tired from all the work that your dad and I have been doing. It's the first project that is taking us so long to complete."

"Mom, you should be careful. You're overstressing. I can see dark rectangles and squares and ovals and all kinds of shapes over your eyes," I said.

"Your jokes are never gonna get better, are they?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, then laughed, and I joined her laughter.

"Hey mom. I want to tell you something," I said, excitedly.

"Say, what is it?" she asked.

Excitement took over me and I started hyperventilating. I went over to the table in the corner of her room, quickly poured water from the bottle on the table, drank it, calmed down, and then said, "Watch this."

I held out my left hand, closed my eyes and started concentrating on bringing out the water orb in the same way I did in the class.

5 seconds passed - a tugging sensation appeared - subsided within 4 seconds.

I opened my eyes, saw the water orb perfectly balanced in my hand, and looked at mom. Her priceless expression was something that was rare to achieve and it made me happy.

However, I noticed that this water orb even though the same size, was more elegant than the ones I made in class. They seemed to have some feeling in them, rather than the comparatively duller ones I made previously.

"That...that's- that's beautiful Lex," she said, mesmerized, smiling crazily. "You have hydro powers now. I have to hold a party for this. My son finally got a power of his own." She got as excited as me (though she didn't hyperventilate unlike I did) and started to go out but I held her hand and stopped her.

"Wait mom! I don't have hydro powers. There's sort of a catch," I said.

She stopped and turned abruptly. Her smile wavered. She asked "What- what do you mean?"

"I know it's a bit shocking and it might be a little tough to understand as well. I actually have a power known as "power-stealer" which allows me to borrow people's power. But unlike the regular kind where the power stays within a person for like 15 to 20 seconds or so, I can somehow draw out that power through my own body and willpower though I do require a physical contact once for that power to be in me."

"B-but that shouldn't happen! I- okay what else?" she asked, flustered.

"Uh, yeah. After I acquired the water power, Mr. Nick told me to try and acquire fire powers from Andrew, but with the orb in my hand...." I spoke but mom interrupted.

"Wait, hydro and fire are contrary. Then that shouldn't have been able to work..?" she asked.

"And it didn't," I said, "but when I was drawing out the power from him to me, there was a spark - a literal spark, and a quite sharp one, ringing in my ears for quite some time. Since I close my eyes while concentrating, I didn't exactly see the spark, but on opening my eyes the moment after, I saw that Andrew's face had become pale. Plus, for a few moments, I had become a little sweltering and felt slightly angry, though both subsided in a few moments. Do you have any idea what happened?"

"Oh then it's fine I think," she said, though a bit uncertainly. "I hope it's not what I think it is. I'll tell you later what I think. Come on Lex, don't look at me that way as if I'm an alien or something. Let's have lunch first. I have to go back to work afterwards so take rest after lunch. After an hour and a half of your taking rest, practice your powers. Try to make something other than the orb using water. Keep it hidden from your dad till tonight. When we come back, we're gonna see more about this or, hold a party. So, don't worry and be happy!"

I wasn't exactly reassured by what she said, but since she told me not to worry, I won't.

I went back to close the house's door, got changed and then helped mom clean the house a bit since we rarely have time to do anything together. After we were done, we set down for lunch.

My mom is the world's best cook for me and I hade a very happy lunch. Later, she bid me goodbye and went off to work. I went ahead to my room upstairs with a water bottle and a book from our family bookshelf titled "Some Mysterious Powers Rarely Seen". I decided I'd lay on the bed, read it for some time and then take a short nap.

My room doesn't have much so it's kinda like a short story with a long tail. Doesn't make sense, does it? There's one pretty large bed (with a side-table attached); enough to fit two of me, desk and chair, a bean bag, a bookshelf (yes, there are two bookshelves, one in the living room and one in my room. I may not be an academically well performing student, but I love reading regular books. They seem fun and interesting), a full-sized ceiling-to-floor mirror and of course, a washroom.

I plopped the bottle onto the side table, turned on the timer for an hour and a half, just in case I fell asleep, and got slammed down on the bed out of tiredness. I didn't know why I felt so tired since I had practically done nothing much other than show what I could do and try to draw out someone else's power, but this tiredness overweighed upon me and I fell asleep, forgetting about the book.

Thankfully the timer woke me up, though I woke up quite groggily. It took me around five minutes to get up properly. I wore my slippers, went to the washroom, freshened up, had some water, went downstairs to the kitchen to have a few cookies, then walked over to the balcony. The sky was beautiful, and it was around 7 p.m. I must've gone to bed somewhere in between 5:15 to 5:30 pm.

I took off my slippers, opened the balcony door, and stepped out. The air was really fresh. I walked the boundary for some time, taking in deep breaths, stretched a little, practiced a few kicks which included side kicks, back kicks, flying kicks and turning kicks and air punches at max speed and force. I didn't sweat much, but all this got me thirsty. I got back in, quickly took a bottle from the table beside the recliner, took a sip, and went back outside. I felt as if there was a slight power boost or maybe, a stamina boost and I could run a couple of miles without wheezing.

I decided to do what mom had told before lunch. I thought of trying something different from what I had been doing till afternoon. I kept the balcony door open just in case something happens, stood firmly in the middle of the balcony, regulated my breathing. After five seconds, closed my eyes, and started concentrating, my left hand perpendicular to my body, palm open.

"What should I try? I haven't made anything other than the orb. I wanna see what all I can do," I thought. I kept thinking for 2 minutes straight, my brain got exhausted (smh) and I lost my composure. "Oh God, what should I do," I thought. Suddenly, an idea popped up. If I could make a single water orb, why not try to make multiple smaller ones? I knew it would not be that easy, but it'd be worth trying.

I concentrated on making orbs the size of marbles. I thought of my energy separating out to all parts of my body, at a quite fast pace so that I know how much energy can be there in each orb. Once I could level out each one, I concentrated on them coming to my left hand, and finally out. There was that tugging sensation once again, but sharper this time, along with a slight tickling sensation, and I had no idea why. A few moments later, the sensations subsided. My head was heavy from all the concentrating power, and I could fall down but I held on, and opened my eyes.

My eyes twinkled.

I could finally do it. Seven water orbs, the most elegant ones till now, each one perfectly spherical and equal sized, balanced, orbiting vertically like the planets around the sun sat in my hand. I gently swirled my arm left and right. The orbs remained orbiting and went in the direction of my hands. This was even more exciting than the original orbs I made. I couldn't wait show it to mom and dad.

And I passed out from exhaustion, falling down back first, heavily breathing, not knowing what happened to the orbs, all my power drained, my eyes closing...