A nice apartment near campus, but not part of it.

In May Hamilton's home, the college girl was preparing dinner as she sang to herself. Classes had been cancelled for now because of the explosion in the chemistry building so she was just relaxing for today.

  The song on the radio fuzzed, and she heard, among the lyrics, someone's voice.  "Ohhhhh gods.  I hurt . . . . and I feel so strange . . . . "

May stopped looking around. "Hello? Who's there?" She called out to the empty apartment. At least she THOUGHT it was empty.

  She heard a bit of a thump, but not loud enough to be a normal person, and Tim said (his voice cut in and out a bit) "I'm . . . sorry, I'm not sure . . . I am.  I was . . . University, in the .. . . lab . . . BOOM   . . . .and now I'm . . . .here?"  With each 'fade', she saw flashes of color, like something on a TV screen trying to form from the static.

May frowned at the voice and strange noises coming from her apartment. The lab? Wait a boy got killed in the lab today! Was this is his ghost or something? 'Are you the boy who was in the explosion today? Timothy Wright? Your in my apartment, I think...."

  He nodded, and realized she couldn't seem to see him, and said "Yeah, I'm Tim.  I didn't mean to intrude . ..  not sure how I got here?"  As he finished talking, he was trying hard to make himself solid, as he felt very, oddly, attenuated, and he wanted to firm up, feel RIGHT again.  He closed his eyes, trying hard, and it finally seemed to 'click'.  He sort of fell a foot down, landing on the carpet, and she saw vicious, red, raw patches of flesh where the skin and even some muscle had been burnt away in patches, like he'd been spattered and splashed by a corrosive too, as well as regular burns and slashes from flying shards of glass.  He had pale skin, and dark hair though.

She turned at the thump seeing the boy appear on her carpet. Her eyes went wide when she saw his injuries "Oh my god! Are you okay!?" She started to move towards the boy but stopped when she saw he was naked blushing heavily but couldn't make herself look away. "I uh um ."

  He seemed rather breathless, and not real with it now that he'd dropped out of the aether, but she could see the burns on him, and knew that THOSE looked painful as HELLS.

Still  unable to look away May stepped forward  as she noticed the pain the boy was in she stood next to him looking light she wanted to help him stand but was afraid to touch him. "Do you need me to call a doctor?"

  His eyes fluttered, and he shifted, the pain slowly beginning to sink all the way through, and he sucked in a distinctly PAINED sounding breath as his hand brushed her ankle, proving him REAL.

She knelt beside him as he touched her ankle. "It'll be alright I'll go get a doctor and be right-" She touched his shoulder gently and suddenly her hand glowed and she felt power flowing through her and into him. "What the?"

  He gasped, and his eyes came open, her power flowing into him with a rush and making him feel BETTER!!

She blinked as his wounds started to vanish. "What is? Is that? Am I doing that?"

  His eye lit up with her powers, Tim gasped out softly "Got none .. . . of my own!"

"Ummm I think your wrong there Tim. You weren't in here a couple minutes ago and the doors and windows are all locked." She finally managed to tear her eyes away as she pulled her hand back done healing him still blushing fiercely. "Could you ummm, cover up please?"

  He blinked, then looked at himself, and she got to see him turn pink all the way to the waist, just before he grabbed a pillow to cover the essentials.  He said, still blushing "Ah, I have no idea where my clothes went . . . .maybe burnt up?  Why *I* am here, I have no clue . . . May I borrow your phone??"

"Yeah just a sec, I'll grab something that'll cover you better too." She got up and went to her bedroom. He heard the rustling of clothes before she returned with a cell phone in one hand, a pink fuzzy bathrobe in the other. "Sorry the only thing I could find that'd fit."

  Tim took the robe, and quickly turned, sliding it on (although she still got a nice moonshot before the pillow landed on the couch and he tied the belt around it.  Then he turned back around, saying "Thank you.  I really don't have a good idea of HOW I got here, the last place I remember being was the chemistry lab, I was working with an experiment in polymers and I had to heat the liquids so they'd mi right."

"There was an explosion, some kind of gas leak or something. The whole school thought you died in there."

  His eyes got big, and he said "An explosion??  You mean . . . oh gods, I'd better call Jack!  He'll be worried sick!!"

She frowned when he mentioned a Jack. "Oh uh okay yeah." She held out the phone. "Call whomever you need to."

  Tim explained, as he dialed Meg's place "He's my oldest friend, his fiancee is pregnant, I don't want the upset to send her into labor on him.  He's so worried he'll be a lousy father . . . and his fiancee's had some really rough times."  He fidgetted while he waited for the phone to ring.

A slight smile played across her face as he explained. "Oh okay."

  He half smiled, adding "Jack's like the brother I always wished I had, although we're about the same age.  His girl, Penny, is nice, but she's totally blind, so she's a bit shy."

She smiled. "Must be nice having someone your that close too. Is he uh picking up?"

  Tim shook his head no, and said "I got the voicemail.  He must be busy.  I hope I didn't send Penny into labor.  I'd feel bad!"  He looked up at May, and asked "Umm, do you think I could impose on you enough to run me over to the Kattakara Estate?  That's where I stay, Jack asked his friend Meg to let me stay there like the rest of his friends.  They're awesome.  You'd like them."

She smiled. "No problem, c'mon we'll take my car." She stood leading him out to her car.

  He began to follow her, it his form 'fuzzed' again, so he couldn't keep the robe on.  Causing him to cry out in startlement, even as his form waved again, this time to a crackly, vivid electrical form.

She stopped when she heard him cry out then turned to see the boy who had appeared in her apartment suddenly crackling with electricity. "Wow, I was right, you ARE one of them."

  He snatched for the robe, since it had fallen THROUGH him, blushing to the navel again, and said "Apparently something happened, anyway.  I keep, umm, going unsolid.  I'm not sure if it's safe to get me in a car or not . . . and I'd be a piss poor guest if I hurt you, even by accident.  He was trying to keep himself decent, but he was still blushing hard.

She nodded blushing as the robe fell of him. "So what are we going to do? Is there someone else you can call?"

  He seemed torn, and then said "Maybe I should be here until I can get hold of someone?  I'll just, umm, borrow a pillow or something to go with the robe and sit on the couch?"

She smiled. "Sure if you don't mind. Just let me know when you wanna use my phone again." She headed over to the kitchen where her dinner was waiting. "You hungry?"

  He considered, and said "I could eat, if you're sure you don't mind company while you eat?"

"I don't mind as long as you don't fall through the chair." She said with a giggle as she prepared a plate for each of them and placed them down at the small kitchen table.

  He chuckled, blushing, and said "Well, if I fall through the chair, at least I'll be under the table and out of sight if I'm naked again.  I'm sorry that keeps happening, I know I'm not the prettiest scenery on earth . . ."

She placed a plate in front of him. "Other than making me blush you have nothing to apologize for on that account" She said with a smile as she sat down in front of her own plate. She crossed her hand and closed her eyes a moment before she began eating.

  He smiled, still blushing, and admitted "I think something just happened to me, to give me these abilities, and I have no handle on them yet.  And I apparently can't take clothes with me yet!!"

"Maybe it was the explosion? I don't think anything WITHOUT abilities could have survived THAT."

  Tim nodded, and admitted "I don't really REMEMBER the explosion . . . .so I would guess you're right."

"People talk about near death experiences turning on powers, thats prolly what happened to you." She took a bite and chewed slowly like she was trying to enjoy every bit of taste. "I dunno what the glowy hand thing was though, I've never done THAT before."

  Tim spread his hands, and said "I don't know, but I'm really glad you didn't totally freak about a naked man ending up in your living room.  I'm not SURE how I did . . . "

May was about to answer when her phone rang. She looked at it then held out the phone to Tim. "I don't know this number, this your friend?"

  Tim looked at the phone, then nodded, hitting 'talk' as he said "Jack!  Don't believe the news, I'm not dead!"

May blushed as she listened to Tim holding out the phone for him. She looked him over as he talked. He really was cute and he seemed nice but she'd only seen boys with their clothes on.

  He blushed, and smiled at May.  He kept talking to Jack, and added "Jack's surprised I survived.  So am I."

She smiled under the blush. "It was an awful big explosion, you should see the chem building."

  Tim nodded, and said thoughtfully "I might want to swing by the hospital, I think that's where Jack and Penny are.  I think she may well have been in labor, as I hear baby giggles."

"Can you stay solid long enough for me to drive us there? And are you okay showing up there in a fuzzy pink bathrobe? Or should we find you some clothes first?"

  Tim admitted "I don't know.  I'll give it my best shot.  And I can deal, although pants of any sort would be nice.  I'd sure feel less exposed."

In reply to Tim Wright (msg # 51):

She nodded and went to her room apearing a moment later with a pair of stretchy yoga pants. "Will these work?"

  Tim smiled, and said "They sure look like they'll work.  I'm game to try them."

May handed him the pants and turned around while he changed. Once he was ready she lead him to her car

>>to hospital>>