478 - Slow Suicide - Bubble of Protection - Guiltyreason - Original

[guiltyreasons.livejournal.com]

Title: Bubble of Protection

Fandom: Original

Prompt: Slow Suicide

Warnings: Mild suggestion of violent deaths

Rating: PG

Summary: Ace realizes how delicate most lives are.

There was a scream of tires as a car tried and was failing to stop for a pedestrian. A woman was standing in the middle of the crosswalk with the flashing lights indicating she had the right away. The car was barreling towards her. The startled driver slamming on the brakes, but the stopping distance was too far. They were going to collide. It was all going in slow motion and as Alicia watched, her heart beat seemed to slow. She knew what she had to do.

Alicia opened her mind, reaching out and grabbing the back of the car. She pulled back, not straining, just visualizing what she wanted to happen. She imagined a giant hand grabbing the back of the bumper and pulling everything backward. The car obliged. It slowed and then shot back as if slammed into reverse.

She let go. The car fishtailed and hit a parked van with a crunch that made her cringe. Her eyes were wide. She was startled by her own strength. She’d never tried to move something that big going that fast before. She hadn’t expected it to work that well. Her hands were shaking. She wasn’t tired or even breaking a sweat. She remembered her father wondering aloud what the limits of her gift were. Now she never wanted to know. The implications were too great.

Pedestrians were rushing towards the bewildered woman, comforting her and stating their own disbelief. The driver had turned off his car and was staring at his steering wheel like he’d never seen it before. Cars were starting to pile up behind the wreck. They hadn’t seen what happened and were impatient to get going again. Horners were already honking.

She should go, she knew, but there was no way to trace the car’s odd reaction to her. No one would know. She couldn’t even get a ‘thank you’ for her effort. Not that she wanted one. Alright, maybe she did. Just a little one. Maybe with tears in the women eyes and a big old hug. She’d like that.

It must be terrifying to walk around so helpless. Alicia always felt like she had a bubble of protection. If someone tossed a ball of her, her telekinesis would often catch it before she hit it. If she was going to stub her toe, her gift would push away the stool before she did. It was like she had her own buffering system. Walking around without it was just a slow, painful suicide.

She wondered what her mother, the greatest advocate against her using her ability, would think of that stunt. Would she be proud that Alicia had saved that woman? Or upset that she’d put herself at risk. No, Alicia had done the right thing. It’d been a knee jerk reaction, the first thing she’d thought of when the situation had presented itself. She was a hero.

With her hands in her pockets and her head tilted down, she moved away from the scene. Disappearing into the crowd was easy, no one was paying attention to her after all. She was just another face in the crowd.

A quick glance back told her that first responders were already on the scene. A cop was talking the woman’s statement or checking her for shock. The driver was being questioned by another uniformed officer. That had to be an interesting conversation.

Sir, how were you able to get into reserve that fast?

Well, officer, I didn’t.

Alicia snicked at her inner dialogue. She had a feeling this was going to be on the evening news as the ‘heartwarming’ story of the evening.