Did I know I was going to be forced to battle for supremacy? No, not really. I mean, I watched a bunch of Prison television shows but it isn’t the same in real life. But that isn’t even the worst of it all. I don’t want to spoil too much but let’s just say: some of these prisoners are a bit mentally unstable. Now, you’re probably wondering how I ended up in prison in first place. Well, It’s not that interesting of a story compared to the interior of the prison, but bear with me.

 “Wonwoo, go pick up your sister from school.” My mother’s voice spoke over the music blasting from the earphones tucked deep in my ears. I glanced up and saw my mother’s arms crossed as she patiently waited for me to remove the music blasting away my hearing ability.

“Can we stop for ice cream?” I took out my earphones and waited for her to calm down. After a second, her hands lowered and she began searching through her purse.

“Only if you bring me back something.” She tossed me some money and smiled. I stood up, gave her a hug and flew out the door.

It’s not often I get to pick up my sister AND eat ice cream. Usually I pick my sister, Jei, up, bring her home, and study for exams. If my mother let me get ice cream, it either meant: it was summer... Or it was a Friday. Though, I can’t confirm either one of them due to the transition to the prison and its entrance procedures. But I’ll get to that later.

“You’re late.” Jei walked out of the classroom with her arms crossed and a pout on her face. She was basically the smaller version of our mother. They both had naturally curled hair, a weird sense of fashion and the patience that makes you feel uncomfortable.

“Sorry, little one. Mom just told me to come get you out of nowhere.” I squatted down until we were face to face. After a second, she peaked out of one eye to see if I was still there and immediately closed it after confirmation.

“I’m mad at you.” She pouted.

“Aww, I guess that means you don’t want ice cream.” I took out money and looked at it apologetically. “Forgive me, large wad of cash. You will not be needed—” I was interrupted by Jei grabbing at the cash.

“Woah! There’s like a hundred dollars in here.” She obviously miscounted.

After picking her up from school, we began making our way to the ice cream parlor. On the front side of the ice cream parlor, a poster was plastered against the entrance that read “Freaks are Forbidden”. I guess now would be the perfect time to tell you about how this world works. In this world, powers are frowned upon, meaning if you have powers… people don’t like you. Obviously they are jealous but the government likes to call it “fear”. Like, okay. Are you really “afraid” of the guy who can duplicate items at will? Or perhaps you’re afraid of him using his powers to get ahead of you in society? Anyways, I’m getting off track.

It all started back a few years ago. An Institute was teaching people, like me, how to manifest their powers so they could defend themselves from whatever they needed protecting from. However, things went bad and a war broke out within the school that caused the city to collapse and revealed to the world that super powers exist. People started going crazy, acting as if they don’t sit there and watch shows about people who fly and shoot laser beams out of their eyes; such hypocrites. Despite the tragic events that took place that day, I still wish I went there. It would have been nice to show off my power. I’m sure my power would have trumped everybody else’s.

“Wonwoo, why are we standing outside the parlor? Are you thinking to yourself again?” Jei tugged at my shirt and broke me out of my inner monologue.

“Sorry, little one. I got distracted.” I smiled weakly and walked into the ice cream parlor, trying my best to ignore the sign on the door.

The inside of the ice cream parlor reminded me that of an amusement park. A multitude of mini lights were wrapped around, basically, everything in the store. The chairs were bejeweled with fake, but pretty, gems. The tables were so shiny that I could use them as mirrors to fix my messy hair. The menu was so elaborate that I had to put my glasses on before I was even able to even consider buying anything.

At the front register, right underneath the menu, a guy in a bright peppermint uniform awaited to take our order. In the front pocket of his shirt, a rainbow swirled lollipop stuck out. Upon glancing at his face, the first thing I noticed was a bit of concern and he glanced at his watch frantically. By the looks of it, he was either expecting someone or was late for something.

“What would you like?” He gulped while glancing down at his watch.

“I want everything!” Jei said. I looked down at her with wide eyes as she tried ordering everything on the menu with the money she miscounted.

“She’s just kidding,” I giggled slightly. “I’ll have a watermelon popsicle. She’ll have a strawberry and lemon popsicle and we’ll take a kiwi popsicle to go, please.” I corrected and my little sister gave me a look of sadness.

“Hurry and go.” The guy had our order ready in a matter of seconds. He didn’t even make us pay for the popsicles. In a way, he seemed a bit strange, almost like he didn’t want us in his shop. Maybe he knew I was super human… but that couldn’t be because there isn’t a way of telling unless your ability is super obvious… which mine isn’t.

As we were about to leave, an old woman walked in. Her hair was white as a dove and as curly as a coil. She wore a blue and yellow polka-dot dress that made her look that much older. She had black shades on and she held a cane. By the looks of it, she was blind. She stood in front of the door, blocking our path. A sudden sound of someone hitting the floor startled me. I turned around to see the guy at the cash register collapse to the floor. At first I thought he was tired of working at the ice cream parlor but it turns out he was putting money in a bag. The old lady began walking toward him, ignoring us completely.

“Are my funds ready for pick up?” She waited patiently at the register. The poor guy was sweating buckets as he put cash into a bag. “Hello? Are you going to reply or am I going to have to make you?” Her voice was old but powerful.

“They are almost ready for pick-k up.” He swallowed heavily. The old lady didn’t seem to enjoy that too much. Slowly, the innocent looking old lady removed her glasses. As she did, the man looked up to her, with tears running down his eyes. Once they made eye contact, his eyes began turning a stone grey color that began spreading throughout his body almost instantaneously. He had become a statue and his pose was of him crying with a bag of money in his hands. I must admit, he looked like he was tired of being rich and was begging the poor to take his burden-filled bag of money.

“I hate waiting.” She put her sunglasses on and turned around and faced the door. Slowly, her tiny granny legs began moving her closer and closer to our direction. A bead of sweat ran down my face as she got closer. Are we next? Are we in her way? “Go home, kids. The bad man called the police when you walked in, thinking it was me. As if, like I’d ever arrive early. Don’t be here when the cops arrive.” She walked past us and exited the building.

Is that why he was so eager to get rid of us? He must have assumed we had super abilities when I stared at the poster for so long. Though, that’s assuming too much. Maybe I was just admiring the poster’s craftsman ship. Before we were about to leave, sirens filled the street outside of the ice cream parlor. Red, blue and white lights flooded the inside of the shop. Police men jumped out of their cars with Tasers at the ready.

“You’re under arrest for super human abilities!” The policeman hollered out. Slowly, other policemen began surrounding the building. My sister held onto my leg as she whimpered.

“Don’t let them take me.” She cried and blew her nose into my pant leg.

I couldn’t just let them take both of us. Me, that’s fine. Her, that’s the opposite of fine. She is barely in the first grade; she wouldn’t make it in prison. Especially a prison for people with Super Abilities. Her power wasn’t anything offensive. The worst she could do was pollinate a flower. I, however, can do a lot more than make it springtime.

“Listen to me,” I took a bite out of the watermelon popsicle. “You need to run straight home once the smoke fills the room; do you understand me?” I passed her the other popsicles.

“What about you?” She whimpered. “What will happen to you?”

“Well… don’t worry about that. I’ll be fine.” I spit out the seeds from the watermelon popsicle onto the palm of my hand. “Are you ready?” I asked and she nodded in sadness. I turned to see the policemen about ready to barge inside. Just before they could invade, I threw the seeds at the floor and a cloud of smoke began filling the room. As they entered, white smoke was the only thing visible. “NOW!” I yelled at my little sister and I heard her tiny footsteps run off into the distance.

There was no way of me confirming her escape, but knowing her, she was already home. Despite not having the greatest ability in the world, she did have a fast pace when she wanted one. One time, we raced home and she beat me… by ten minutes. It’s not fast enough to be considered super human, though she could probably enter the Olympics and win gold.

Let’s pause for a minute and let me explain to you how powers work these days. Only a select few people have powers and it’s basically random. The chances of me and my sister getting powers was pretty low but it happened. Anyways, since powers are forbidden now, the only time people with powers get to practice are times when they are behind closed doors. We never really have the opportunity to learn attacking skills, though I’m confident that I could come up with something if I needed to.

I took another bite of my popsicle and waited for the seeds to be free of ice. As soon as they were available for use, I put them in my hands and waited for something to happen. At any given moment, I can be struck and be placed in prison. The smoke around the room was still as thick as it was when I first threw the seeds. Occasionally I could see small lights, probably from the flashlights of officers who couldn’t see through smoke. Not that I could either, but I’m running on luck here.

I began walking around, looking for a way out. Suddenly, I felt an electric jolt in my lower thigh and fell to one knee. A small shriek escaped my throat and officers all around knew my location. Electricity began surging throughout my body, almost paralyzing me. I was running out of options. With the seeds in my hand and with what little strength I had left, I threw them onto the other side of the room and they lit up like fireworks. Instead of the cops coming to my location, they went to the light and sound of the fireworks… all except for the one cop who tased me. He began following the line that was still zapping me.

Quickly, I began my popsicle for more seeds but I couldn’t get any while being electrocuted. The policemen caught up to me and hit me with a nightstick. The last thing I remember is being thrown into a giant metal truck while the policemen laughed and ate donuts.

. . .

“Get up!” A voice woke me. I looked around to see I was still in the metal truck but the back door was wide open. Am I free? I stood up and realized my hands and feet were shackled to chains. “PRISONER NUMBER #6839, STEP OUT OF THE VEHICLE AT ONCE!!!” The voice rang in my ears and I obeyed.

As I stepped out of the vehicle, the light around me burned my eyes. As I was able to refocus my attention to the area around me, I realized I was out in the middle of a desert. The only thing around was this massive dome that looked like half of an egg. Is this the prison they take ‘freaks’?

“FOR TURNING A BOY INTO STONE, YOU ARE BEING PLACED INTO FREAK PRISON FOR LIFE!” A man’s fist met my face, rendering me unconscious.

. . .

“So.. you say he can turn people into stone?” The voice sounded like he didn’t believe it was me who committed the crime. Duh, it was the old lady with the white curly hair and the pretty old-fashioned dress. I tried looking around but my head was spinning, probably from the punch. All around me was complete darkness, almost as if I was in a box of some sort. I couldn’t use my hands or feet due to the shackles still being in use. All I could do was listen.

“THAT’S WHAT I SAID DIDN’T I?” The voice sounded like that of the officer who punched me in the face back when I stepped out of the metal vehicle.

“Yes.. but he doesn’t—”

“ARE YOU SAYING I’M LYING? LISTEN HERE YOU FREAK,” the container I was in shook a little. “I CAN HAVE YOU PLACED BACK INTO PRISON AS A PRISONER IF YOU GIVE ME ATTITUDE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME??!!?!”

“Sorry, I will place him in his respected security level right away.” My box began to move and I shuffled around, making me dizzier than I was before.

“BEST BELIEVE YOU WILL! BETTER BE PLACED IN HIGHEST SECURITY TOO. IF HE ESCAPES—”

“He won’t escape, I promise.”

“DON’T INTERUPT ME!”

“Forgive me.” We stopped moving and a gas began filling the area around me. Before I knew it, I out.

Questions:

Since this is the first chapter, how would you like for this story to play out?

Just like Institute of the Talented, try and guess the other member’s powers! Play along while you read!

What level of security do you think Wonwoo will be placed in?