4

I woke up in shivers, realizing I was back in my cell. The ground was freezing, colder than usual and I couldn't stop shivering. Why was it so cold? I'd been able to bare it before but right now everything felt like ice.

I must've passed out earlier which I was grateful for because the pain was truly unbearable. After the injection, I honestly didn't think I was going to make it. It felt like I had been hanging onto my life by a thread. I couldn't go through that again because the next time, I knew I wouldn't survive it.

I wondered how much time had passed but I couldn't tell since there was no natural light. It could've been a few days or just a couple of hours, I had no idea.

In the centre of the room, I noticed a dimly lit lantern which struck me as odd. The entire time I'd been here, we had lived in darkness and they didn't seem to care. So why were they giving us this small privilege now? What did it mean?

I propped my body up against the wall so I was in a sitting position and assessed myself. My condition wasn't good, I still had lingering aftershocks of pain but thankfully it wasn't too intense. My muscles were coiled tight from the strain they had gone through but strangely, I didn't feel as weak as I did before.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and realized Chen had also woken up. He was occupying the cell next to mine, so when I arrived he was the first person I spoke to.

Chen was two years younger than me but he had a level of maturity that I appreciated. His personality seemed well balanced: he was serious when the situation called for it but his beagle like nature was obvious through his actions.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"Like I should be dead," he groaned whilst getting up and mimicking my position. I nodded my head once in reply because I understood.

Even though we hardly knew each other, I already felt a strong bond forming with the other boys. The nine of us had been thrown into this unfathomable situation but since we were experiencing the same pain and torment, we could relate to one another. We were all feeling the same emotions and thinking the same thoughts. We truly were in this together.

I reached across the bars and squeezed his hand reassuringly but he flinched, quickly pulling away. I was only trying to comfort him so I didn't understand his reaction.

"Why the hell are you so cold?" he exclaimed, "that's not normal."

I stared at him confused. I had felt cold before but I thought that was to do with a drop-in room temperature. Was it me? I lifted my hands up to inspect them but they looked the same as usual, bar the red cuts from my fingernails.

"Hyung, something is happening," Chen stated with wide eyes. I looked down and he was right, something was happening. The ground around me had become glazed over with ice particles. They weren't fully formed but they were definitely there, surrounding me. I shuffled away but it followed my movement forming a trail behind me. "Is that coming from you?"

"I—I don't know. It's not possible," I stuttered in disbelief. There was no other explanation though, the only thing in the cell was me. There wasn't anything else that could be causing this. Was this what Doctor Choi had meant when she said we were special?

"Yeah it's probably because it's getting colder outside, I mean it's nearly Winter," Chen said sounding unconvinced but I was thankful that he was trying to reassure me. "Although you have to consider, it might be something supernatural. We were just experimented on, maybe it's actually working and what they told us is true."

It couldn't be. I was normal, we were normal. Doctor Choi was just crazy and obsessed with the notion that we carried some rare gene. She was convinced we were different but we weren't.

"It's not true, you can't believe her," I said desperately trying to persuade him and myself. I looked down, willing the ice away but it didn't work. "If it was true, something would also be happening to you. You don't feel any different, do you?"

"No, except from the fact everything hurts, I feel the same," he replied. Why was it only me? Maybe I wasn't so normal after all.

Abruptly, from the cell opposite mine, Baekhyun shot up with a cry and the lantern in the middle of the room exploded. The glass from the light bulb shattered and darkness casted over us again.

"This is getting creepy, that couldn't have been a coincidence, right?" Chen asked warily.

Baekhyun winced from the sudden movement and I felt sorry for him since he had it worst out of us all. On top of the lingering pain from the experiment he was probably starting to feel the aftereffects of the horrible beating he received. With his face scrunched up, he questioned, "what just happened?"

"I don't know how but I think you just burst that light bulb," Chen answered in a serious tone.                                                                                                                 I couldn't see Baekhyun's reaction in the dark but I could tell he wasn't expecting that reply when he dumbly asked, "what?"

"You woke up and the light bulb exploded at the same time. If it wasn't you, then who was it?" Chen reasoned and even though it was beyond ridiculous, I was thinking the same thing.     

"Are you crazy, what are you even talking about?" Baekhyun said flustered and his voice grew higher in pitch.

"Right now, we don't know the effects of the experiment or what these so-called genes are supposed to activate but weird things keep happening. Xiumin with the ice and you with the exploding light. Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincident?" Chen concluded.

Baekhyun laughed hysterically in response and the sound echoed around the room. I heard movement and assumed the others were starting to wake up now.

"Are you trying to say we're developing powers?" Baekhyun asked incredulously. It did sound completely stupid but as I looked down to see the residue left from the ice, I was unsure. There hadn't been enough to form water but the slight condensation told me that it wasn't my imagination, it had been real.

"We're developing powers?" asked a lower voice I didn't recognize. Maybe it was the new kid, Chanyeol. Expect from Suho no one else had spoken to him yet. We had all been thrown into the deep end with this situation but at least the rest of us had time to prepare for the worst. He had arrived here without a clue what was happening and then straight away, he was taken to be experimented on.

"No, we're not," Baekhyun answered frustrated and suddenly something started to glow. It wasn't dark anymore, there was a faint light illuminating the room and it was coming from him.

His hands were glowing.

"There's lights coming from his freaking hands," Chen whispered so only I could hear. "If that's not super powers, then I don't know what is..."

Even though the situation was serious, I was fighting the urge to laugh at his comment. I held it in though because it would've made things worse than it already was.

Baekhyun was now in full-fledge panic. He was jumping around his cell with flailing arms, shaking them vigorously, trying to make it stop. When that didn't work, he tried to command it, telling his hands to 'turn off' but they only grew brighter. As he got more and more worked up he started shouting at his hands, using as many variations of the phrase as possible: 'lights off', "lights out", "switch off".

He looked ridiculous and when he desperately shouted 'kill the lights', I couldn't hold it in any longer, I burst out laughing. Since meeting Baekhyun I could tell he was a funny guy and even simple things he did looked comical but this was a whole other level.

My laughter set Chen off too and soon everyone else had joined in. The sound was contagious and addictive, making the situation more amusing than it was. It felt strange, I had hardly smiled since I arrived here but right now I was doubled over in laughter.

Baekhyun slowly looked up from his hands and I stopped, we all did. I didn't want him to feel humiliated or that we were laughing at his extent. I was worried he'd be annoyed or angry but instead he cracked a smile and a laugh bubbled out of him. "This is ridiculous, isn't it? Lights are coming out my hands, for Christ's sake."

We all laughed at his comment and he quietly added, "what should I do?"

None of us knew the answer, this wasn't normal and I was reminded how serious the situation really was. Since I was oldest, I felt like it was my responsibility to take lead but it wasn't in my personality to do so. I opened my mouth to suggest something but someone else beat me to it.

"Calm down and take a breath, try slow your pulse to resting speed. It seems like the more worked up you get the brighter they glow," Suho suggested. Baekhyun sat down on his knees and inhaled deeply then let it out. He repeated it a few times while we all watched in silence. Surprisingly, it worked, the lights were starting to dim until they were fully off.

"OK, I take back what I said earlier," Baekhyun humorously declared, "I think we're developing powers."

This time I kept my laughter at bay because everyone else was silent. At his statement, reality was beginning to sink in. We were all trying to process this new information and what it could possibly mean. Even after witnessing what we just saw, I was certain a few of the other boys were still in denial.

"No shit Sherlock," Chanyeol muttered sarcastically. Since I didn't know him, I couldn't tell if his intentions were humorous or offensive. Baekhyun turned in his direction and retorted, "really, sarcasm? How original."

"What do you want us to say? That it's cool you've got your own personal light show going on," Chanyeol mocked.

"No but I know you have something you want to say, so just spit it out already," Baekhyun menacingly countered. I was surprised by the turn of events because we were laughing only a minute ago, this was the last thing I had expected. I didn't think that we would turn on each other so fast.

Although, I understood that emotions were running high and that just built unneeded tension between us. They were being impulsive and they weren't thinking before they spoke. Fights and arguments were inevitable, especially when nine boys, each with differing opinions, were gathered together.

"Well since you asked, I'll tell. Obviously, you're developing powers but the rest of us seem just fine. What the woman said was right. You're different. Don't you think it's unfair that we're all locked up here, when the other eight of us are normal?" Chanyeol ranted.

I flinched at his words because it wasn't only Baekhyun who was different, it was me too. Chen looked in my direction but I didn't meet his gaze. He had seen the ice and he knew it was me that caused it. So if he mentioned what had happened earlier, I wouldn't be able to deny it.

I hoped he wouldn't because I didn't want to admit it. Thinking it was one thing but actually saying it aloud, only confirmed it was real. Thankfully he looked away and decided to say nothing. Already, I could see that he had loyalty and I owed him for that.

"How do you know that?" Baekhyun retaliated and by the tone of his voice I could tell he was getting angry. Then he spitefully added, "you shouldn't speak so fast, you might just end up the same as me."

"Well for one, I don't see beams of light shooting out my hands," Chanyeol taunted with a mocking laugh. Baekhyun's hands were starting to glow again making me feel anxious. The rest of us had no idea what to do or how to stop this argument.

"Who do you think you are? Show some fucking respect, I don't even know you and you're trying to pick a fight," Baekhyun angrily hissed. The light was getting brighter and brighter but that didn't stop Chanyeol's last blow as he echoed Baekhyun's words from before, "respect is earned." 

I was brought back to the memory of Baekhyun curled up on the ground trembling after being electrocuted. He was barely strong enough to speak but he had stood up for himself when no else one did. He had muttered those three words to the people who had taken us and known that the only outcome for him was more pain. However, he said it anyway and that was admirable and brave.

But now, in the heat of the moment, Chanyeol was throwing those words back in his face like they meant nothing, when they did. They gave us hope, that we wouldn't be belittled by the monsters who locked us up in cages and that we could fight the ones who oppressed us. That we could survive this and come out alive.

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