of wonder did not cease. “Everything… Everything is different. I can't describe it. You even look different!”
And Garrett did. While it was impossible for one not to acknowledge Garrett was good looking, she never noticed all the little details. She had noticed his eyes were hazel in color previously, but she now could see every brown and green fleck that made up his eye color. She could see that his hair, while predominantly dirty blond, actually was made up of seven different shades of blond strands. His jaw line was strong but had several small scars lining it, and his nose was straight, with the exception of a miniscule bump in the middle she had never noticed before.
“Garrett, what do you mean, when you awaken? What is happening to me?” Caitlyn asked, trying to keep her voice calm. At first, she was thrilled just with the idea that she was still alive and not dying, but now that she was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, she did not know if that scared her more. She inched away from him cautiously. She had trusted him, but the reality was, she had only known him for several weeks. What if he had done something to her? Did he possibly drug her somehow? “What did you do to me?”
“You've changed, Caitlyn, just like I did six years ago. It's what our kind calls, ‘The Awakening,’when it happens. You see-”
“Wait. Our kind? What the hell do you mean by our kind?” She stood up quickly, grateful that she was still in yesterday’s clothes. Never taking her eyes off the man, she moved quickly towards the door.
Garrett looked at her softly, holding up his index finger indicating for her to listen. “I promise I will explain fully.”
She was stuck between thinking she should run away and listening to him. She paused, her hand grasping tightly on his door handle, indecision written over her face.
Garrett used her moment of uncertainty as an indicator to keep on talking. “You see, you were born a normal human, just like every other person. However, there is a gene that splits and evolves over time for a select amount of humans. For most people it starts at around the age of fifteen or sixteen. That’s when we can tell if someone is a Potential or not. Prior to that, you look and act the same as everyone else.”
She stared at him as if he was crazy. He probably was crazy. That was what people in mental institutions said. Worse yet, he probably belonged to some kind of strange cult and that is what he was really recruiting for. He was probably trying to add Caitlyn to his numbers.
But a feeling nagged at her that he was telling the truth. She thought upon the last month and couldn’t help but think of the various people she had seen that never looked right to her. Never releasing the grip on the door, she asked almost timidly, “Is that what I see when I notice someone appears more unfocused than others?”
“Exactly. You pick up quickly. Although, look at me now. What do you see?”
Caitlyn looked at Garrett, and she noticed for the first time, where before he was a tad out of focus, she now observed that he had more of a slight aura about him. She fumbled a little at the door. Maybe she wasn’t better after all. Maybe he did slip her something. Because what she saw was not normal. Still, she couldn’t help but answer. “You are no longer out of focus. You have more of a glow, but it’s only when I concentrate.”
Garrett clasped his hands behind his back as he walked towards her. “I had the same thing happen to me. I started noticing about a month before the change that people were out of focus, fuzzy. I felt like I needed glasses on top of everything else happening to me, but once the change happens, all the sickness goes away. Your body completes the transformation and the others no longer look out of focus, they have a different glow based on if they are an Actual or Potential.”
Her mind began to race with the reality of what he was saying. “This is crazy! Our kind? Actual? Potential? Glows?” When she realized that she was shaking, she paused. She could not afford to be weak in this moment in case she needed a quick getaway. She straightened up, meeting his unwavering gaze. “What am I?”
Garrett’s