Looking back, I still wasn't entirely sure what happened. I just remember that it was the strangest thing that's ever happened to me, and that's saying something because I'm an anomaly.

Anomaly. It's a strange thing to be described as, but since no one knows what I can do then I guess only I can call myself that.

I got out a red pen and circled a date on my calendar. A year since That Day. A year since the day everything changed.

***

A cough.

I raised my head. My teacher was looking down at me, the large number 4 hovering above his head as usual. I gave him a weak smile.

"Are you okay?"

I looked around at the classroom filled with pupils, the numbers above their heads ranging between two and five. Was I okay? Was I ever okay?

I had often asked that question to myself. Normal people didn't have my ability, I told myself. Normal people couldn't see anyone else's Number. Someone's Number denoted how dangerous they were. A very young child was usually zero or one, whereas a trained assassin was a seven or eight, maybe a nine if they were particularly bad. I had never met a ten. All those Numbers floated above all those heads, and it drove me crazy sometimes. I wished I could be normal.

Classmates were glancing at me. I nodded to indicate that I was fine, trying to get the teacher - and the attention - away from me.

The tall man persisted. "I hope you're completely with us," he said in a cheery yet somehow patronising tone, "Because I'd like you to show our new classmate here around the school."

I looked up into the face of a shy boy. Immediately my eyes widened. But it wasn't his piercing amber gaze or floppy brown hair that got me - it was the burning red ten glowing above his head.

***

I couldn't explain the fear I felt for the rest of that lesson, or the rest of the school day. I had met a ten. This quiet, reserved boy had a higher danger rating than trained killers.

The scariest part was, I had no idea why.

I nervously showed him around the school and he nodded quietly each time I spoke, taking it all in with a relaxed smile on his face. Something told me that he had been through this process before and that worried me somehow.

The relief I felt when the final bell rang was palpable. I waved goodbye to the strange boy and he walked off, never once looking back. I retreated inside to a fitness class I attended every Monday.

The sweat pouring down my face was strangely satisfying. I felt I had really pushed myself today, and all thoughts of the boy were safely out of my mind as I strode outside.

A light in the distance. It looked like a campfire, probably lit by one of my classmates. They were always fooling around and thinking they looked cool.

I started towards it, curious. The light went out. Suddenly it flared to life again and, as I got closer, I noticed that it wasn't on the ground at all - the tiny flame was floating in the air.

I stopped and crouched, cat-like, behind a bush. Empty wasteland stretched out before me, peppered with plants and pebbles.

Once again the flame went out. As it returned, I thought I saw something pale underneath it. This time the fire grew and the pale thing beneath it became a finger, and then a hand. I stifled a gasp as the fireball revealed a face - the boy's face. The look of intense concentration scared me. His other hand came up and began to dance above the fireball, working it into a beautiful swirl. The light illuminated my face, his face, both of us completely enraptured by the light. Like a moth, I wanted to reach out and touch it. But the boy was a ten. He could use magic, so he was the most dangerous of all.

I shook my head and retreated slightly, beginning to creep away. At that moment the boy's head snapped round and we locked eyes. I gulped.

The light went out.

-------------------------------

Hello fabulous readers!

I hope you enjoyed this random little story! It's not the best since I based it off a writing prompt (I've attached the picture) but I tried!

Also if you read the last line of the story and then the first line, they sort of join up. That was completely unintentional!

Also also, I've left the characters nameless (and the narrator genderless) so your imaginations can do whatever they want! Maybe the mysterious boy is called Steve, maybe the main character is Daniel Radcliffe. Anything is possible!

Anyway, that's all for now.

Until next time!

~ Chloe xoxo