Lana was fascinated by it – a person’s ability to make things disappear into blurry nothingness. All you had to do was focus your eyes on one thing and soon everything else would start to fade. Lana was 10 when she learned this. She called it her superpower. She used it sparingly, after all, power such as this was not to be abused. In time she honed the power so that not only sights would fade, but also sounds and sensations. Lana could mold her world into anything she wanted. She decided to only use her power when the arguing started. It was a difficult decision, but a simple one. Whenever the walls in her family’s small house quivered from the thunderous yells inside, Lana would leave her special hiding spot in the closet. She would sneak into the playroom and grab her favorite bubble soap and escape to the garden. She would lay down right in the dirt and imagine she was growing alongside the freshly planted sunflower seeds. Then she would use her power. First the sounds. Harsh yells muffled into the bright birdsong in the trees overhead. Then the sensations. The tight pain in her chest and stomach gave way to the sun’s warm rays and the tickle of grass on her arms. Finally the sights. Lana opened her soap bottle, lifted the wand and blew. A cloud of translucent spheres floated above her head. They reflected the late afternoon sun. Lana stared at them until the trees and sky behind them blurred to saturated colors. Until there was nothing else. Only sparkling circles of captured breath.