THE AWAKENING WITHIN
Power is not given. It awakens.
Episode 3 — The Fracture
Written by Roviel (Testimony Aigbe)
Jack notices it in the quiet.
Not when people are talking. Not when the house is loud. It's in the pauses , the small gaps where nothing is supposed to happen.
"Sarah."
No answer.
He doesn't react straight away. Just watches her from across the table, spoon halfway to his mouth. She's staring at her plate, unmoving, like she's waiting for something.
He taps the table lightly.
"Oi."
She blinks.
Slow.
"What?"
"There you are," he mutters, leaning back. "Thought we lost you."
"I was just thinking."
"You looked frozen."
"I wasn't."
Mum slides a plate onto the table. "Eat before it gets cold."
Sarah nods faintly and reaches for her fork. Her fingers tighten around it without meaning to.
Too tight.
Jack's eyes drop to her hand.
Then the glass beside her shifts.
Just slightly. A quiet scrape against the table.
He stills.
Looks at it.
Then at her.
"Did you just move that?"
She doesn't look up. "No."
Too quick.
He nods once. "Alright."
But he doesn't go back to eating.
Something sits there now. Quiet. Unsettling.
Outside, the sky hangs low and grey. The kind of morning that feels heavier than it should.
They walk side by side, but the usual back-and-forth is gone.
"You've been off since yesterday," he says.
"I'm fine."
"You always say that."
She exhales, already annoyed. "I'm just tired, Jack."
He lets it go. Not because he believes her , just because pushing won't help.
At the corner, they stop.
"Text me when you get in."
"I always do."
"Still."
She nods and walks off.
He watches her go.
Longer than usual.
Something about the way she moves
~ not slower, not faster ~just… not right.
By the time she reaches St John's, the noise hits her all at once.
Voices overlap. Lockers slam. Shoes scrape against the floor.
It's louder than it should be.
Sharper.
"Move."
She steps aside quickly.
Jessica Robbins passes her, but not completely. There's a pause , just a second ,where Jessica looks at her.
Not annoyed.
Not bored.
Focused.
Then she keeps walking.
Sarah frowns slightly, unsettled.
"Settle down."
Mr Bennett doesn't shout. He doesn't need to.
The class quiets just enough.
"Simultaneous equations."
Groans ripple through the room.
"Good," he says dryly. "At least you recognise the topic."
Lily leans over. "If he calls me, I'm actually done."
"You say that every lesson."
"This time I mean it."
"Emeka."
The class reacts instantly.
"Sir.."
"Board."
Emeka drags himself up, staring at the question like it personally offended him.
2x + y = 11
x − y = 1
He stares.
Too long.
"…sir, respectfully, I don't think maths is my calling."
Laughter breaks out.
Even Mr Bennett almost smiles.
"Sit down."
He glances across the room.
"Sarah."
Of course.
She walks up, marker already in hand. The numbers come easily. They always do.
x = 4
y = 3
"Good."
She turns—
Jessica is watching.
Still. Unmoving.
Like she's waiting for something.
Sarah hesitates for half a second.
Then,
The lights flicker.
Once.
Twice.
A few people laugh.
"School's falling apart again."
"Focus."
But the pressure hits her suddenly — sharp and tight behind her eyes.
She grips the marker harder.
Not now.
From three rows back, Jessica sees it clearly.
Not the answer.
Not the flicker.
The delay.
The tension.
The way Sarah's hand tightens like she's holding something back.
There you are.
By English, the room feels lighter again or at least it should.
"Today we're analysing tone," Miss Carter says.
Lily sits up instantly. "My time."
Sarah glances sideways. "You say that every subject."
"Because I'm good at everything."
"Lily."
She answers without hesitation. "Reflective… with emotional depth."
"Exactly."
Lily turns immediately. "Did you hear that?"
Sarah almost smiles. "You wrote it last night."
"And still delivered."
For a moment, everything feels normal.
Then her pen shifts.
Just slightly.
She stops writing.
Her fingers tighten.
No.
Jessica sees that too.
Small.
Subtle.
Impossible to most.
Not to her.
She leans back slightly, calm, expression unchanged.
Confirmed.
At break, the corridor feels tighter somehow.
Jessica's voice comes from beside her.
"You keep drifting."
Sarah stops. "What?"
Jessica turns.
"You should fix that."
Then she walks away.
No explanation.
No context.
Just enough to stay in her head.
Science doesn't help.
"Magnetic fields," Mr Thompson says, placing a magnet on the table. "Forces you can't see still affect everything."
Sarah watches the metal shift toward it.
Something about that feels too close.
"Come try."
She steps forward, takes the magnet.
The metal responds.
Then snaps harder than expected.
A sharp clack.
A few heads turn.
"Careful," Mr Thompson says.
She nods quickly, stepping back.
But her hand doesn't feel right.
Like something didn't stop when it should have.
By lunch, Lily isn't joking anymore.
"You're not fine."
Sarah doesn't argue.
She just watches people moving across the yard, everything looking normal when it doesn't feel that way.
"Things feel off," she says quietly.
"How?"
"…like things move before I touch them."
Lily doesn't laugh.
"…that's not normal."
"I know."
They sit in silence.
From across the yard, Jessica watches.
Not obvious.
Never obvious.
You told her.
That complicates things.
She taps her bracelet once, subtle.
Recording begins.
The house is quiet again that evening.
"You saw it."
"Yes."
"It's starting."
Silence stretches between them.
"We hoped it wouldn't."
A slow breath.
"We need to be ready."
The file glows faintly in the dark.
Sarah Smith.
Early phase.
Unstable.
Jessica scrolls.
Stops.
Access log.
LAST ACCESSED: JACK ROBBINS
Her father.
A slight shift in her expression.
Why would he…
She taps the restricted section.
It opens.
Not because she forced it.
Because it was already open.
The system hasn't closed the clearance window.
A new file loads.
PREVIOUS INCIDENT — LINKED
Date: 5 years ago
Her fingers tighten slightly.
The name appears.
EMILY ROBBINS
Everything stills.
She reads.
STATUS: TERMINATED
No reaction.
Not on the surface.
But something beneath it shifts sharply.
They said coma.
Across the city, Sarah grips the edge of her desk.
The pressure is worse now.
"Stop…"
The pen trembles.
Then the lamp.
Then everything.
The air feels heavy.
Then—
Everything lifts.
For one impossible second—
Nothing has weight.
Her breath catches.
"Wait—"
Everything crashes down.
Silence.
Her hands shake.
And then,
A voice.
Close.
Clear.
"You are not alone."
Far away, a screen lights up.
AWAKENING SPIKE DETECTED
STATUS: CONFIRMED
Another line appears.
MATCH FOUND — PREVIOUS INCIDENT: EMILY ROBBINS
A man steps forward.
"Deploy both teams."
To Be Continued…