<strong>Chapter 1: Whispers of Power</strong><br/><br/><em>What do you want?</em><br/><br/>Esther D Wilmingtom was the first to hear the Voice, early in the morning as she watched the softball team practice.  The whole of her world seemed to be Julianne Ross, captain of the softball team, as she threw pitch after pitch that simply glided past the batter.  She didn't even seem to be trying that hard.  The coach was aggravated - it was supposed to be the batter practicing her hits - but Julianne didn't care and no one was going to stop her.  She was untouchable, on top of the world.  Esther knew, in her bones, that the Voice was saying that could be her.<br/><br/>She was suddenly snapped out of her reverie as she realized a strange girl was talking to her.  "Esther?  Are you okay?  Class is going to start soon."<br/><br/>--------------------<br/><br/><em>What do you want?</em><br/><br/>Jason Spinell heard the Voice in band class as he watched a guest musician play the piano.  The man was as absorbed into the piano as Jason was into him, and the sounds he was making...  Beautiful.  Tears touched the eyes of many in the class.  No one could remember hearing music so stunning, so wonderful, so perfect.  The man was not just a musician; he was the very idea of music given form.  This, Jason knew, was what the Voice was promising him.<br/><br/>He didn't even notice the music had stopped until he realized an unfamiliar man was talking to him, sounding slightly annoyed.  "Jason?  I asked you a question."<br/><br/>--------------------<br/><br/><em>What do you want?</em><br/><br/>Olivia Turow heard the Voice after school, as parents were picking up their children.  A girl, a Freshman, was crying.  But suddenly her mother was there, holding her, comforting her.  Olivia saw the mother hug her daughter tightly while the daughter told her what was wrong.  The mother whispered words of comfort in her ear, promised her it would be okay, told her she was loved.  The Voice seemed to say, shouldn't that be you?<br/><br/>With a start she realized she'd let herself get lost.  She was in an unfamiliar place; she'd never seen any of the buildings around her before and the people here were all strangers.<br/><br/>--------------------<br/><br/><em>What do you want?</em><br/><br/>Mike Newton heard the Voice during football practice, as his attention was drawn to a cluster of people on the sidelines.  Jeffery Trevino, an infamous womanizer, had been cornered by a group of three girls.  Mike remembered he'd been dating all three of them for quite some time, but it seemed the jig was up.  As he watched, the three girls yelled at him, swore to make his life miserable, that he'd never have a girlfriend again.  One slapped him.  Wouldn't it be nice, the Voice seemed to murmur, if everyone got what was coming to them?<br/><br/>Mike cursed himself for getting distracted as he realized he'd drawn attention to himself.  A group of unfamiliar boys in strange, near-identical clothing that he couldn't identify was all watching him.  One laughed.  "Hey, Mike, is she cute?"<br/><br/><br/>((OOC: Since the shorter intro seems to be winning, that's what I'm going with.  Everyone is at different points in the timeline right now, so there's no real option of interacting with each other.  Don't worry, I'll bring it together soon.  For now just respond to your individual plot threads.  :-) ))