The power to be her best self

"(Create: Full Cellular Control)" Matt whispered, thinking back to his story. This was the power he'd written for a villain who used it to slide under vault doors. It was a power that let someone change their body to literally any form, as long as they were rearranging their own cells.

"What was that?" his mother asked.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," he said, trying not to sound too eager. He grabbed some deli meat and cheese and went to make a sandwich. He watched his mother out of the corner of his eye, hoping that he was being subtle. He waited for her to change. He finished making his sandwich. No changes. Slowly he put everything back in the fridge and grabbed the bottle of mustard and a lettuce leaf. She was still chopping up the onion. He re-finished his sandwich and began eating it, standing at the counter. Nothing. God, how long was this going to take? It's been... he checked the clock. Like an entire minute.

Oh yeah, she didn't know she had powers. Well, this was a predicament. In his story the character had given everyone powers when they needed them. To get out of the way of a falling building, or to save people in danger. When he wrote the story he didn't consider how impatient his protagonist might be. Stories, he concluded, are very different from real life.

At that very moment he heard an "ouch!" He looked up to see that his mother had cut a finger. She instinctively put the digit into her mouth and sucked slightly. When she pulled the finger away to inspect the damage, she and Matt could see that the wound was rapidly closing. She looked up at him. "Did you see that?" she asked.

So maybe life isn't really that different from fiction. He nodded his head dumbly. "That can't be real. Did you do that?" he asked, unsure how to prompt her to try out her powers.

"Yeah, I think I just... healed. That's amazing," she said. "Do you think..." she trailed off, pointing the knife at her palm and wiggled it a bit. Again, Matt nodded. She very slowly pressed the tip of her knife against another finger. It clearly wasn't enough, so she held her breath, worked up the courage, and quickly put a slit into it. "OW!" she shouted, louder than before.

The two watched the finger slowly bleed, and nothing seemed to happen. "Um, maybe you need to do it on purpose?" Matt said.

Betty nodded and put her finger in her mouth again. When she removed it, the blood was gone and her finger was healed. "Oh my gosh!" she shouted.

"I know! You have the ability to..."

"I have magic healing spit!" she said. "That's amazing!"

Matt scowled.