There'll Be Peace When You Are Done || self-paras

Anna May Shauk stood at her mother's grave.  It had been at least an hour since the funeral ended and everyone else was long gone by now.  Not Anna, though.  She'd already lost her cousin, Eli, and now her mother died at her hands.  People had tried to tell her that it was not her fault, but it did not matter.  Anna knew the truth.

News reporters told the press that Emily Shauk had died from a thunderbolt that struck her house in the most recent thunderstorm, but Anna knew it was no accident.  The daughter of Zeus knew she caused the thunderbolt that killed her mother.  She wished her problems had ended there, but no.  Killing her mothers was the least of her problems.

Aunt Elle and Uncle James had seen the whole thing and when Anna saw them, they stumbled back away from her in terror.  They though she had turned into a monster.  Frankly, Anna could not blame her.  She doubted she even knew who she was anymore.  She'd run away from her only remaining family members and distanced herself moreso from everyone she cared about.

Eventually, Anna stopped using her powers all together.  She did not want anyone else dying at her her expense.  She refused to use the powers she inherited from her father.  But then, things got stranger.  Her powers started to burst out of her whenever she became angry or afraid.  She had though she had a grip on her powers, but apparently she did not.

Anna sunk to her knees, not worried about getting her blank funeral dress dirty.  She took the beanie off her head and tears poured from her eyes as she said, "Hi, Mom," her voice broke, "I know you probably don't want to talk to me, but I want you to know that I'm sorry.  I—I didn't mean to kill you.  I wish there was some way to reverse it.  I wish I could go in your place, but I can't.  I'm not going to let it happen again, though.  I'm done watching people die because of me."

Anna collapsed in on herself, her face falling into her hands as she felt the electricity levels in her body spike up.  She could not control what happened to her.  No matter how much she tried, Anna could not stop it.  She looked up.  A tree twenty feet away split in half while she cried over her mother's grave.  She let out a strangled sob.  She did not know how she would stop this, but she did know she had to, one way or another.

Anna did not understand.  She used to have such good control over her electrokinesis.  What happened for her control to leave her instantaneously, she did not have a clue.  She wanted to find out.  She would find out and she would find a way to get her control back.  For her mother.