Alec and Rena swapped numbers. Alec said that he would send a text later with someone’s information who might help. Amber disappeared into the party and Alec followed her. Rena was unsure whether they left the party or not. 

A short time later, Rena and Mari left the party. Walking back to the car they began to converse. 

“You really fucked up my game there, dude what the fuck.” Mari said. 

“Huh? What do you mean?” Rena responded. 

“I was totally gonna get with Kelsey and you destroyed my chances just like you destroyed that window with your face.” Mari responded. 

“You like Kelsey?” Rena said, confused. 

“Fucking duh who wouldn’t like Kelsey?” Mari threw up her hands. “She’s smoking hot and she has a huge ass house!” 

“Is that all?” Rena rolled her eyes. “Plus she’s with Chandra… right?” Rena had been out of the loop on this particular friend group for months, and she hadn’t ever payed much mind to the stupid relationship charts. 

“Chandra is hot as hell too!” Mari exclaimed. They had reached the car. Dead leaves blew across the ground. Aside from the distant thumping of bass the neighborhood was quiet. Houses were spread far apart, as they were all large. 

“Chandra is cute. I wouldn’t say hot.” Rena replied, opening the car door. The wind stirred, and she looked out at the empty dark neighborhood before getting into the shotgun seat. 

“Cute. Hot. Whatever. I’mma get in that.” Mari said with her typical snarl. Shark teeth glistening in the overhead light that quickly went out when mari started the car. 

“I genuinely hope you do. Does she like you back?” Rena said. The car started with a rumble and Mari sped off the curb they had parked on top of.

“Absolutely. You know I got that animal magnetism. Ain’t nobody can resist this.” 

“You are indeed how I would describe a small animal I think, you’re right about that.” Rena said, smiling. 

“You’re damn right. Bitches love that dichotomy between raw and cute. We all know this. Everyone knows this.” Mari took a hand off the wheel to point a thumb at her face. “Bitches see this and they’re like, ‘I want to put her in my pocket’, and then I get in the pocket if you know what I’m saying.” 

“Yes ok Jesus Christ enough.” Rena looked out the window. In the neighborhood street lights were sparse and each of their lights was a beacon lighting a bread crumb path through the outer suburbs. 

“Don’t be jealous I bag ‘em and tag ‘em at an alarming rate.” Rena rolled her eyes looking at her reflecting in the window. “You still missing Anne?”

“Not really. That was like a year ago.” Rena replied. The buzz of the fight was gone. She was replaying what floating in the air and slamming through a window looked like in her mind’s eye. 

“What about Sylvie? Psychic pussy go crazy I’m told.” 

“Can you please just talk like a normal fucking person for a few minutes?” Rena scoffed. 

A brief pause. “Sorry.” from Mari. 

“Sylvie’s cool but she’s a little weird and I didn’t even know she was a psychic until a couple days ago. Uuugh I feel weird about it. It’s like, not a problem but like. She didn’t tell me this whole time. It’s weird.” Rena was feeling exhausted. “I didn’t know until I got powers… feels like everything I’ve wanted has been so close to me but so far away. Even now, I’m not any closer.” She threw her head back on the carseat. 

“How’d you get powers? You definitely didn’t have them last time we talked. I know you’ve wanted them for a long time.” Mari asked. 

“I literally just watched a video about it and it worked.” 

Mari simply watched the road for about 10 seconds. “What!?” 

“Yeah I was surprised too. I never thought it would actually work.” Rena held up her hands. “I can see auras now. Everybody’s got one. I guess it has something to do with like, people’s souls or something? I really don’t know and I can’t use it for anything else even.”

“How the fuck did a video teach you powers? Hold on. Let me see that fucking video.” Mari was still driving. 

“I can’t show you now but I’ll find the video and send it to you.” Rena got out her phone and went back to the account that retweeted the video. She scrolled back through a few days worth of retweets and didn’t see anything. The video was gone. “Hmm. I guess it got deleted? I can’t find it. That’s weird…” 

Mari had a strange expression on her face. “You learned how to get super powers. From a fucking youtube video. Now the video is gone?” 

Rena was thinking about it. Yep that’s exactly right, but it didn’t sound good. Definitely didn’t sound good. ‘Yes? I think I can teach you how to do it so... I remember the video really well. It was really simple actually.”

Mari started laughing. “You’re so fucked up you know that?” the grin on her face was clearly visible in the rapidly approaching, then fading green light of a traffic light. Each of Mari’s teeth was like a triangle. They linked into each other perfectly to form a relatively perfect zigzag. Hell Factor. “Why are you so obsessed with that power stuff anyway?” 

“Wouldn’t you want to fly?” Rena said, indignant. 

“Sure I would. But it’s not like I’d be able to fly everywhere I want. I mean, maybe I could but like. So what? What would that change?” Mari said. 

“You wouldn’t want to be stronger? You wouldn’t want to be able to do things you’ve never been able to do?” 

“I mean look at me. I’m tiny. I’m 4’11. No muscle to speak of. I can’t do tons of shit. But that doesn’t make me think I’m worth less than someone who could lift a car. What would I want to lift a car for? None of that stuff really matters to who you are. The only thing that matters is living your life like a normal person at the end of the day. Only psychos use their powers to do stupid stuff all the time. Trying to be a superhero won’t make you happier, you’d probably just get killed a whole lot faster, and what would you have to show for it? You put a couple poor people in jail? None of that stuff could make me happier than I am now. Being born like this means I was always different. Not a lot of kids with Hell Factor, and I got picked on for it. People thought I looked scary. Now some people think that’s hot. Doesn’t mean I’m any different from them or lesser or better. Everybody’s different, you just think you’re normal and boring because you don’t see how bad people with powers actually have it. You can’t be different without it affecting you in some way. Nobody gets anything for free.”

Rena sat back with her head against the carseat, staring at the dark ceiling. What Mari was saying was true. Nobody gets anything for free without losing anything. But really, what would be so bad about losing such a worthless existence as this one? Not a single day went by that Rena did not wish for a life other than her own. To be someone else. To soar through the air, to be able to do good and help others, to be loved, to not be so weak, so worthless. She knew her thoughts were irrational. It wouldn’t be easy, and most likely she wouldn’t be able to do anything good with a power, but something different, anything to lift her out of tedium if only for a few seconds out of a day. 

The rest of the ride passed in general silence. Mari commented on a few things she saw on the road, but they got back to Rena’s apartment without much in the way of discussion. Rena got out of her car in front of the steps leading up to her apartment. “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t ruin my chances. I got Kelsey in the bag, you didn’t ruin anything. Hope things go well for you. Text me anytime, or I’ll text you if something cool is happening. See ya, babe.” 

“See ya.” and she was gone. 

Sylvie was asleep on the couch. Mari hadn’t turned on the aura sense since the fight since she was already tired and it made her feel worse. Sylvie was just a normal sleeping girl. Rena noticed a bottle of wine on the table, and an almost empty glass. The door closed, and Sylvie stirred. 

“Huh… oh… hey.” She said sleepily. She didn’t move much from her position but she turned her head to look at Rena through one eye. 

“So…” Rena started, looking expectantly at the tired, obviously drunk woman. 

“Sorry about all that earlier. I wanted to see what the party was like but…. So I thought it would be best to follow you.” Sylvie croaked. 

“So why didn’t you just come with us to the party?” Rena said, a bit angry. 

“Ah… You know. People. Lol.” Rena stared expectantly. “Don’t like being around too many people heh. You know that.” 

“Whatever.” Rena wasn’t in the mood. She started towards her room. 

“Wait!. I really am sorry. I didn’t know we’d get in a fight. Listen it’s uh. God um. Stuff feels different when you’re projecting.” Sylvie was waking up more, and began to sit up to address her. 

“So why did you just peace out and leave me there?” Rena said, stopping beside the couch. 

“Because I get… after doing something strenuous I have to rest and I can’t maintain the form anymore. It takes a lot of energy to do stuff like that.” Sylvie explained. 

“Whatever. Don’t follow me around anymore.” Rena went quickly to her room.