Revealed
Williams was happy to see the sun just beginning to rise. It must have meant he woke up very early, an unusual feat for him. Eager to see his granny, he rushed down the stairs, only to be met with an eerie silence. The kind of silence that said a lot without saying anything at all. Something was off.
Confused, he turned back toward his room. The one thing that could help him determine if he was truly up before time or just a few minutes late was his bedside clock. If it was still on the table, he’d know he woke up early. But if it had fallen off—well, that meant he had overslept, as usual.
To his surprise, the clock wasn’t on the table or the floor. It was nowhere to be found. Relief washed over him, as its absence meant he’d woken up early, just like he hoped. He rushed downstairs, eager to celebrate this rare victory. Reaching the wine shelf, he grabbed a bottle and hurried back upstairs to document this moment. He didn’t want to miss anything.
As he fumbled with his camera, he heard a vibrating sound coming from the floor. At first, he ignored it, but the constant hum began to disturb him. Reluctantly, he went to investigate. To his horror, he found the clock under his bed, buried beneath a pile of dirty clothes. He nearly choked on the wine he was drinking.
Frustrated, he rushed into the bathroom, only to drop his soap in the toilet. As if that wasn’t enough, he broke the doorknob while trying to open the bathroom door. After what seemed like an eternity of mishaps, he thought things couldn’t possibly get worse. Then, his toaster caught fire.
Panicking, he rushed to escape the house, but in his haste, the tip of his shirt got stuck in the door. Williams was convinced he had crossed paths with the infamous Hood Kripson, the source of his misfortune. His bad luck seemed too strange to be coincidental.
When he got off the school bus, he anxiously scanned the street for the bullies, but there were no signs of them. Odd. He had grown accustomed to their presence, but now, the quiet street felt unsettling. Maybe it wasn’t just his bad luck; maybe the bullies weren’t the cause of this strange feeling after all.
Yet, something still nagged at him. He had always found the bullies in unexpected places, and he wondered if they were simply hiding, waiting for the right moment to make him feel uncomfortable again. But no matter how much he searched, there was nothing.
His mind raced, trying to rationalize his feelings. Maybe he was just still feeling off after eating too much sugar the night before. But when he arrived at school and noticed his friend Peter wasn’t there, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something deeper was going on. The Hood Kripson, the force that seemed to be controlling his every move, wasn’t just a dream.
As the day wore on, his sense of unease grew stronger. He could no longer ignore the changes in himself. It was as if another presence was inside his mind, a foreign entity that had taken over his thoughts. He could hear everything around him—every whispered conversation, every stray thought—and it overwhelmed him.
By the time he reached the hallway, the voices in his head became deafening. The constant stream of thoughts from his classmates was unbearable. Then came another strange sensation: smells. He could pick up the scent of food from miles away, so intensely that he could almost taste it.
As his mind scrambled to make sense of it all, the situation grew worse. The hallways seemed to close in on him, as if everyone were staring at him, like they wanted to eat him. His vision blurred, his head pounded, and he felt as though his heart had stopped. His breath grew shallow, and for a moment, it felt like he couldn’t breathe at all.
Panicking, he ran into the male bathroom and locked himself in one of the stalls. Desperately, he splashed cold water on his face to calm himself down. For a brief moment, the cold trick worked, and he began to feel some semblance of control. But when he looked up, he noticed something terrifying—he was growing taller, and the floor beneath him seemed to vanish.
Panicked, he tried to push himself back down, but no matter how hard he pressed against the air, he kept floating. His frustration mounted, and he yelled out in desperation.
That’s when the power went out.
The entire country lost power for a few minutes. As strange as it seemed, Williams felt a sense of relief. The power failure seemed to reset everything. He was back on the ground, standing. For a moment, he was happy just to be walking again. At least he had one thing under control.
The relief, however, was short-lived. As he walked out of the bathroom, he collided with none other than the principal. The last person he wanted to see that day. He greeted her as usual, but a strange impulse took over him. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming urge to play a prank. Without thinking, he snapped his fingers.
Almost immediately, the principal began choking. She gasped for air, clutching her chest as if something was blocking her lungs. The only adult around was the janitor, who—strangely—decided that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was the best way to help. Williams watched, bemused, as the janitor fumbled with his attempt. He wasn’t sure if he should be horrified or impressed.
With another snap of his fingers, the principal returned to normal, only to start choking again a few seconds later. The janitor, now thoroughly confused, tried pressing her chest in an awkward attempt to save her. Williams couldn’t help but laugh at the bizarre situation.
But as quickly as the laughter came, the weight of his actions hit him. He had just used his newfound powers to cause chaos. It felt good, even a little empowering, but then it struck him: He used to be bullied. Was this what it felt like to be in control? To have power over others?
The thought lingered in his mind. He remembered how much he hated bullies. But now, with this new power coursing through him, he wondered if he was becoming one of them.
Just as he was about to leave the scene, the school gatekeeper stopped him. At first, Williams thought his cover had been blown. But the gatekeeper only explained that it wasn’t 2 o’clock yet, and they still had two periods before the end of the day. He could leave later.
With a small sigh of relief, Williams walked to his class, sure that the day was about to get easier. After all, he was certain they’d have a free period since their math teacher was absent. When he entered the classroom, he was surprised to see the math teacher already there, teaching. It didn’t shock him, though. After everything that had happened, this felt like just another weird turn in his day.
He walked into the classroom through the front door, trying to cause a distraction—something he would never normally do. He had always been shy, never the type to draw attention to himself. But something in him had shifted. He smiled awkwardly, unsure of what was happening to him, as he made his way to the back of the room.
The teacher stood at her desk, shaking her head at his bizarre behavior. There were two doors in the classroom—one at the front and one at the back. The back door was meant for students to exit quietly, without disturbing the class. But Williams’ seat was right in front of it. He felt like a fool as he passed by, his awkwardness on full display.
“Mr. Williams, are you tired of the class?” the teacher asked with a raised eyebrow. “We’ve only just started the first period. You’re going nowhere.”
Williams smirked, adjusting his seat and leaning back. “I guess you’re so in love with math that you lost track of time. Your first period is over, and we’re halfway through the second,” he said confidently, looking at the clock.
The teacher’s eyes widened as she checked the time. Indeed, her class had gone by in a flash. She grabbed the textbook, only to hear the final bell ring—class was over. As the students hurried out, she stopped Williams and asked him to walk with her.
“I know you pulled a trick today,” she said, “but I still don’t understand how you did it. You could make money from this, you know.”
Williams couldn’t help but smile. Maybe, just maybe, there was something more to his powers than he had realized.