Experience Tumblr like never before
I got my powers when I was 26, which is pretty average. These powers don't materialize until your brain is as developed as it going to get (which thank God for that. Imagine what it would be like with a bunch of kids running around with super powers!) Some people get dreams that inform them about their powers in some way, some people just know how to use their powers without any instructions. Other people, the ones I feel sorry for, get no instructions nor mysterious knowledge, and have to go with more of a Fuck Around and Find Out method, which doesn't always work.
Because of when the powers choose to materialize themselves, many people choose to hold off on picking their career until their powers materialize. I, however, did not.
My thinking was that these powers were supposed to match who you are or your personality or something along those lines. If that's the case, my powers should fit with my career of choice, no matter what it is. In a way, I suppose it does. Though sometimes, I still wonder if I should have gone into something in humanities.
I had just finished medical school and was on track to become a neurologist. I received my powers, introduced through a liquored up dream after a night of celebrating with my friends. In the dream, I was tied to a set of train tracks, alone, with a lone train car at the end, ready to run me over with the flip of a switch. Then, I was one of five people tied to a set of train tracks, with a line train car ready to run us all over, or run only one person over at the flip of a switch. Then, I was the one at the switch, trying to decide whether to kill the one, or kill the five after being in their places. I couldn't decide. I woke up in a cold sweat with the chilling words "is one life worth the cost of many? You cannot stop this train car" echoing in my head.
After that, I quickly changed my special interest from a neurologist to an emergency medical specialist, with many questions from those around me that I couldn't answer. I went through residency without incident.
I've now been a doctor for 6 years in EMS, still without incident. Every single person I've helped has lived, even those that maybe shouldn't have. Some of my coworkers seem to think I'm some sort of medical god, breathing life back into the dead and dying. Others just assume it's because of my powers, not that anyone knows what it is.
The only problem is, it's not because of my powers that everyone lives. I still haven't activated my powers. My powers won't be activated until I let one person die. I have no idea why everyone lives, and I wish there was just one person who wouldn't. Then I would at least be able to proceed with confidence that everyone will live, rather than this haunting uncertainty of when that one will show up. I've considered pulling the plug on a comatose patient who doesn't show signs of waking up. I've considered being just a little too hasty with a patient on the brink of death. But just like in the dream, I was never able to knowingly sacrifice someone.
Out of all the superpowers out there, you consider yours the most sadistic; you can save any number of innocent people from death in the face of danger, but to gain that ability, you must kill an innocent person. Named after the infamous moral thought experiment, you are… Trolley Man.