Ten years later…
Derek strode out from his old school. The eighteen year old had graduated today, and was done with school until it was time for college. In the distance, he could see a storm brewing. It was a small one, nothing like the storm that struck Denver ten years ago. Derek never actually saw that storm. He could look out the windows in the hospital, and see how bad it was on the news, but never saw a building burn from the high-powered electrical currents that, even ten years later, scientists can't explain.
He was in the hospital because of something that had happened. What he had been told was that some freak came, and filled a bag full of his blood, beat him with a bat, and fled. But he remembered it quite differently.
In the ten years since that night, Derek had seen everything in a different light. He never felt the same. He felt different than his classmates. Though that hardly mattered anymore, since most of his classmates he would never see again.
Ever since that super storm, which vanished without a trace two weeks after beginning, the whole city had been different. It wasn't just the fear of the buildings toppling over (the construction teams had half-assed the repairs, to say the least). But there was a palpable air of tenseness. Sometimes, at night while Derek walked through the streets, he would notice people – complete strangers by the looks of it- giving each other harsh, cold stares. Something big was going to happen soon. And Derek had the feeling it would make the storm look like child's play.