The next few days after the president's announcement felt like living in a fog, where time and reality bled together.I woke up to the same sound—the blaring of the news on the TV as my parents tried to process the chaos unfolding across the world. They were scared, but I could tell they were hiding it, masking it behind forced composure. The power to heal, the telekinesis, the strength—everything felt so surreal, yet so real. The world was changing too quickly, and we were just caught in the middle.
It had only been a few days since the announcement, but it felt like a lifetime. The government had made it clear. No one was safe.
"This is the new world we're living in, Chinwe," Mom would say quietly, her eyes flickering to the TV screen as another SWAT team raid played out across the news. Her voice had the kind of uncertainty I hadn't heard from her before, even when things were tough."Don't show anyone what you can do. Don't let anyone see. Stay hidden," she would add, and I could see her wringing her hands, her thoughts racing faster than her words.
It didn't take long for the protests to start. We could hear them outside—shouts, angry voices demanding answers, and the distant sound of sirens. It was like the world was turning upside down, and the only thing that was certain was the fear.
At school, things weren't much better.
The first few days back felt like a ticking time bomb. It was like no one really knew what to say, but everyone had something to hide. I noticed it first in the hallways, the way people looked at each other—sideways glances, whispers, fingers pointed in judgment. A divide was already forming.
Some kids were acting like nothing had changed. But I could feel the shift. The buzz of whispers became louder every day."Did you see that kid? He moved a whole desk without touching it.""She's a Repian, I heard. She's one of them."
The labels started popping up everywhere. It wasn't long before the terms "Repian" and "Crepian" became as common as names. You could tell who was trying to blend in, and who was afraid to admit what they were becoming.
James, my nine-year-old brother, was running around the yard the night after the announcement. I had watched him dart from one side to the other in what seemed like an impossible blur. Super fast. That's what the people at school were calling it. They said it like it was a good thing, but every time James zipped by, it made my heart drop in my chest. There was no doubt now. He had powers.
Jason, the six-year-old genius, started drawing equations and formulas no one could understand. Things I couldn't even begin to process—his little hands scribbling away on paper, filling notebooks with complex ideas that didn't make sense. But he was barely old enough to read, let alone understand the physics of what he was writing.
Mom wouldn't let them out of the house. She said it was too dangerous, that people would start to notice. The world outside was changing, and she was scared we'd be pulled into it, too.
There was school.At first, it was just one or two kids showing off their abilities in the hallways, on the playground, even in class. They didn't care who saw. But then the whispers started turning into panic"Is that real?""Are you sure they're not faking it?""What if they hurt someone?"
At lunch, I sat across from my friend Olivia, who looked at me with wide eyes."I heard the government's taking people," she whispered, eyes flicking nervously to the door. "People with powers. They're rounding them up. Putting them in facilities."I felt a shiver run down my spine. I wasn't sure if Olivia believed it, but she said it with enough conviction to make me question everything.
The air felt heavy, tense, like we were all waiting for something to happen. For someone to snap. Or worse, for us to be the ones caught in the middle.
The worst part was seeing the videos on social media. At first, I thought it was all fake. People uploading what looked like impossible feats: a girl lifting a car with just her hands, a guy making objects float across the room, and people healing wounds that should have taken days to recover from. It was all so strange, so otherworldly.But then the truth hit.
There were people claiming they had cured diseases.A video surfaced of a woman claiming her mother, who'd been in her fifties and had been battling AIDS for years, had suddenly recovered. Everyone thought it was some kind of prank. But then the doctor confirmed it—verified that the woman's mother had been cured overnight. That's when people began to realize—this wasn't a joke. It was real.
And that's when things started to spiral. People with powers—whether it was healing, super strength, or telekinesis—were no longer just celebrated. They were feared. People in power were scared of what could happen if these abilities went unchecked. And the truth was—there were a lot of people out there who were getting dangerous.
At home, things weren't much better.
Mom was glued to the TV all night, muttering under her breath about how things were never going to go back to normal. Dad was pacing in the other room."We need to leave," he said, and for the first time, I heard panic in his voice. "The government's going to take us, too. We can't just stay here."
Mom shook her head."We're not going anywhere. Not yet. We need to stay hidden. Let them find someone else. If they come for us..."
But I could see it in their eyes. They were terrified. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to protect us, especially now that my brothers were showing more signs of their powers.
The divide wasn't just in school. It was everywhere. The news was talking about it non-stop. Protests in the streets. Parents rioting over their kids being taken. People fighting, screaming in fear, demanding answers. Some parents couldn't even look their kids in the eye, afraid they would be labeled dangerous."You need to hide it," one mother said, her voice shaking. "Don't let them see. Don't let them take you."
And then, as if it couldn't get any worse, the SWAT teams began raiding homes and neighborhoods. They didn't ask questions. They just showed up, guns in hand, to take the kids who had abilities—pushing their parents aside and dragging the kids away without hesitation.
I couldn't stay in the dark any longer.I needed to understand what was happening—what was happening to me, to my family, to the world.
As I sat there, watching the news unfold, I could feel my powers bubbling up inside me. I didn't know what they were yet. What I was supposed to do with them. But I couldn't deny it anymore.
I knew, in that moment, that nothing would ever be the same.
And just as we all sat there in silence, the heavy sound of banging on our front door echoed through the house.