This snippet is from another original story, one set in a universe similar to our own except for a few minor history changes and the fact that there are beings called EXOs running around. This story is (hopefully) going to be for my submission to The Book Smugglers’ Open Call for short stories ,The theme is ‘Superheroes’ and this story, about an EXO struggling to find her freedom is pretty darn super.

I’m looking forward to finishing it and seeing where it goes.

Enjoy the snippets, folks!

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The first time that Tamiya tried to fly, she fell.

At first, it’d been wonderful, looking down at the view from the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami. Everywhere she looked she could see beautiful blue-green water and life being lived so far away that the people looked like ants. She’d climbed to the top of the building in the middle of the night, using Isis’ keycard and a borrowed uniform from the staff laundry in order to get around without being seen, and then, with power coiling in her veins, she’d taken a step off of the edge –

And then promptly plummeted fourteen stories before landing with a thud on one of the hotel’s balconies.

The first time Tamiya tried to fly, to follow her heart and the instincts driving her, she’d ended up in an EXOPowered Hospital rebuilding her shattered legs for the better part of a month.

And…

“As you can see, I’m fine.”“Yes,” Dr. Soo said with a familiar aggravated note to her voice. “But only because your healing powers aren’t latent. What were you thinking, Tamiya? We were working on nurturing and activating your powers and now you’re probably ruined all of our hard work.”

For once, Tamiya didn’t have have a quick comment. She stared down at her lap, at where her hands twisted in the blanket strewn across her limbs.

“Doc — I thought I could do it,” Tamiya confessed in a small voice. “I could feel the power and it was there so I —”

“So you snuck out of the home after curfew, borrowed Isis’ identification card, and proceeded to jump off of a building?”

I’ve wanted to write an original superhero story of my own for the longest time and this is so much fun. I’m looking forward to finishing it and setting the niecelings on it to see what they think.

If you have thoughts or comments about these snippets, I’d love to hear them!