It was beautiful. The light. All the pretty colours blending together, harmoniously. Blue and green mostly. The Aurora Borealis had covered the entire planet this night and it was a wonderful thing. Andrew wasn't normally in to this kind of stuff but even he had to stop and admire it. It's was distracting. Mystifying. Yet. Strange. He got an odd feeling from it. Not in the pit of his stomach or anything, but, his skin crawled and he got goose bumps and his body felt slightly warmer until the lights faded away and the weird feeling left. It left but left an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. He felt like he had just ran a marathon. He wanted to lay down without any explanation to why he was so tired.<br/><br/>Luckily, Andrew Nolan, The Contractor, was home from work. He ran his business out of his apartment. He had his tools, drywall and wood and such in a storage unit in the parking garage that was conveniently near his red Ford 150 pick up truck. Well not conveniently. He had to fight with the superintendent to get that damn spot. He didn't want to have to lug wood around a parking garage so he could go to someone's house to lug it around again.<br/><br/>Right now, Andrew worked for a relatively wealth couple up in a nice neighbour. The neighbourhood didn't look like the rest of New York. Sky scrapers and slightly shorter buildings all jam packed near each other. It was spread out with houses. People had their own yards and picket fences. This couple, The Doherty's, they initially asked him to build them a deck. They were so impressed by it- he didn't understand why, he was just doing his job, that they hired him on to re do the flooring in their kitchen. Andrew didn't mind at all, especially since they had a hot ass daughter that he liked to flirt with. Claire. He had some very... Interesting thoughts about her. But he was too tired to think about that right now.<br/><br/>Andrew was going to get up but sat back down from the pressure in his head that threatened to cause him to topple over. He was sitting on his couch in his living room. He was watching the light show through his glad doors that lead out to a small balcony. In the living room there was a light brown coffers table at his feet in from of the couch that he had made by hand. A few feet from the coffee table was a modest sized flat screen tv on a wooden entertainment stand that he had also built by hand. You could see his dining room off to the side that was relatively compact with a small table and two chair. Which he also made. If you went left from the dining room you'd enter his small kitchen. His bedroom and washroom were down a tiny hallway behind his to his left. He just didn't have the strength to reach it.<br/><br/>Andrew laid down on the couch, putting his left hand behind his head to put more support than the couch and the couch pillow had to offer. He closed his eyes and drifted in to blackness relatively quickly. The blackness engulfing him but only feeling like a matter of seconds. He opened his eyes slowly but kept them squinted from the light shining in through the large glass balcony doors. He groaned, sitting up and covering his face with one hand contemplating being awake. He turned on the tv, hoping the noise would help him awake from his stupor.<br/><br/>Andrew felt sore. It wasn't like the soreness he'd feel from work in certain parts of his body. He felt sore everywhere and deep too. Like he had just had surgery and they removed his skin. He felt off. Thinking about it further he felt something strange. Something scratching at the back of his mind that made him feel different. Like when you think about breathing and then your breathing becomes funny. It felt like that. It was hard to explain. It was like the knowledge of this scratching in the back of his head was throwing him off of something. He focused on the tv rather than the scratching.<br/><br/>The news was interesting. Apparently after the Aurora Borealis had disappeared there was a large number of people who fainted or felt really tired afterwards. Like Andrew. It was weird. Because it wasn't everybody. Just some people. Maybe they had focused on it to hard like he did. That could explain this almost hang over he was living. But he couldn't help shake the feeling of something being different. Like he had an epiphany but couldn't realize what it was about yet. He felt powerful.<br/><br/>Andrew sat and though about it for awhile looking at his hands and then blankly staring at his table. With his concentration he realized something. He could feel the pressure, heat and buzzing of his TV and his lights. They stuck out almost. He looked at his TV puzzled for a moment. It almost seemed like it was glowing. Waves of colors coming out of it, asking him to touch it. He was entranced by it. It was beautiful like the Aurora. He stood up and looked up at the lights. They were giving off the buzzing fields of energy too. He reached up and touched one with his finger. Heat and another feeling he had never felt before rushed through him and the light winked out. He shot his hand back on surprise and let out a quick sharp breath of the same nature. He looked at his hand and then back to the light. The light was gone but he could almost feel the light or the energy the light was giving off inside of him. It made him feel good. Stronger. Like he had drank an energy drink. The scratching his head subsided and it was almost like a dam in his brain shattered releasing a flood of realization. He had powers. He didn't know how he knew but he did. The small act of using them felt like he had been reminded he could do this all along. Even though he never could. He could explain it. He could just do it.<br/><br/>Andrew scratched the back of his head.  Did he go to a doctor or a scientist about this? No. They'd pole and prod him like an alien from those movies he's watched. It was just in people's nature to try and understand something like this. He would keep it secret for now until he could figure out what to do with it and if it became a problem or not. It didn't seem like a problem. From the thoughts that flooded his mind he could control it with a thought. As well as get rid of it if he took too much. Which was good cause it did feel like almost like he had a new stomach. He had absorbed a small fraction of power but it felt like something was sitting at the bottom of that 'stomach'. He wondered how much he could have before he had to get rid of it.<br/><br/>Andrew walked in to his bathroom. It was all fine and dandy now that apparently he was a super human. The only one he knew of so far. He began to wonder if the other people who experienced what he did also could do what he could. He shook the thought off. He had a job to do. Powers or not. He had to finish that kitchen. The Doherty's were paying the bills after all. As far as he knew, he didn't gain the ability to create money out of thin air.<br/><br/>Andrew looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were slightly sunken in, blood shot and he had dark circles under his brown eyes. He had a chiseled jaw which had a small amount of stubble on it. He had short brown hair which looked like a disaster. He needed a shower. He didn't shower the day before on account of passing out on his couch. He stripped his clothes, revealing a built and well maintained body. He didn't like to brag but he hit the gym regularly. His work also helped out too. He stepped in to the shower and turned it on.<br/><br/>The cold hit Andrew first. He was waiting for it so he could react to it and help wake him up but when the water hit him. Nothing. He could tell it was cold. But his body was reflecting away from it. He could feel it but not feel it. He felt him body almost. No. Not his body. The cold from the water Pulsated with vibrant waves of invisible tendrils almost like his TV did. He could feel it adding in to his 'stomach'. It wasn't much but it was there. He looked at the knob in the shower and turned it to blistering hot and waited. The wager got really hot but again he could feel it and not feel it. He could see that there was more activity with the hot water. Faster. Brighter. He could feel it seeping in to his 'stomach' at a much quicker pace than the cold but it still wasn't much. He felt like he could have a lot more before he was 'full'.<br/><br/>After washing, Andrew got out of the shower. He grabbed a towel and dried himself off and walked to the mirror again. He rubbed the steam off of the mirror. His eyes looked less sunken and blood shot. The shower had helped in more than one way. He left the bathroom in favor of his bedroom. He was dilly dallying so long in the shower that he was going to be late for work. He threw on a pair of blue loose fitting jeans and a white T shirt. He grabbed his wallet and keys and sun glasses and left the apartment, locking it behind him. In the hall he could see the energy almost everywhere. It seemed so bright and distracting. He put his sunglasses on and covered the top with the palm of his hand as if he was walking in the bright sun. He walked to the elevator. He was on the fourth floor. And hit the button. Soon after the elevator dinged and opened. It was like getting hit by a bright flood light. The small enclosed space glowed so much that it nearly blinded him. He shielded his eyes, raising his arms and contorting his body away with displeasure from the flood of energy. He made a noise indicating his distaste. He looked back and the brightness began to dissipate and flood on to him. Just every so slightly but it felt good. Warming. It was calling to him. He stepped in to the elevator, hitting the button to the basement. He inhaled slowly, basking in the refreshing warmth of the energy in the closed space. What felt too short to Andrew now, the elevator came to a halt. He grumbled and stepped out in to the parking garage.<br/><br/>Andrew walked over to his red truck. The spot where the battery was hummed and beckoned for Andrew to touch it. He didn't listen. He didn't want to short it out like his light and not get to work. He let out a small laugh remember that scene from Crank 2 where Jason Statham using the car batteries to keep his hard going with electricity. He contemplated trying that one day but advised against it for now. He walked to the storage unit behind the truck and unlocked it and the back of his truck. He began hauling tools and tiles in to the back of his truck. He noticed that even motion was making him feel better filling up his new 'stomach'. He thought about it. He needed to stop calling it that. But he realized speaking of his stomach. He hadn't eaten yet. But he wasn't hungry. The energy was satisfying him so far. He shrugged off the thought and closed the storage unit and the truck, unlocking the driver door and hopping in. He turned the truck's ignition and and roared to life. Bright lights and waves of energy coming off of the engine. It was an incredible sight.<br/><br/>Andrew pulled his truck out of the parking garage going through the automatic car doors and out on to the street. The street was blinding. Lights and the waves of energy were everywhere, coming off of everything. He squinted to try and be able to see and with focus, the lights all dimmed almost like he had one of those dimmer switches for lights his head. He sighed with relief and turned on the radio. He was going to listen to music but decided to listen to the news to see if anything strange had been reported. If anyone came out and had said they were experiencing what Andrew was experiencing. He came in on a reporter lady who was talking about how if anyone had experienced the faint spells from the night before to go visit Dr. Pope at the University of New York to get some tests done. He figured he give it a shot after work. It sounded promising.<br/><br/>Andrew headed to work like normal. Trying not to get distracted by the lights everywhere around him.