Ria Contoras

(written on July 12th)

After doing my part in today's basic training for the new employees, I decided to walk the grounds for a little while. As I was walking, I made my way to the visitors center where I saw a friend of mine: Ria Contoras.

She and I went to the same high school. Ria was always a good friend. She gave me my first Star Wars Galactic Heroes (since I never got around to getting any myself). They were a Christmas gift since we did a secret Santa in our health class. She got me. There was always something to talk about. A born military brat, Ria was part of the JROTC and has continued so now that she will be starting university.

I asked Ria what she was doing at the Center since it didn't open until tomorrow. We went outside to talk:

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"I heard you were in town so I thought I would just drop by. When you left there was no goodbye, no forwarding address, you even changed your e-mail addresses, not even the family you still have knew where you went."

"I know," I replied. "I'm sorry about that."

"People have been really worried about you."

"I find that a little hard to believe since I was a loner in high school."

"You had friends," she replied back.

"Most of which are dead now. At least the ones I was really close to."

"I heard: they all had the courage to take Promicin. They looked up to you, you know. They followed you despite the risks."

"I wish they hadn't; now look where it's got them- a hole in the ground where seldom people will ever visit."

"Not all of them," Ria said to me.

"You took Promicin?" I asked her.

"A few weeks ago." She said with a smile, "I was terrified but I thought of you: I'd heard about the work you were doing- those stories people were talking about from their Island Adventure boat tours and I knew that if I wanted to do the good work like you were doing, then I had to take that risk."

"If you had died," I said, "I would have hated you but more so, I would have hated myself. You're one of the few friends I actually have left. So what ability did you get? I mean I know it's not about getting an ability, it's about making a difference but I am curious."

"I'm a light spotter."

"Mind explaining that one?"

"You know how a criminal will go confess his sins to a priest; my ability is similar to that. In bad people I see this sort of light, a light of goodness. When I touch a bad person I'm able to get rid of most of the dark energy so that the light can flourish instead. Once I've done that it's up to them if they want to continue letting the light shine or if they want to go back to letting the darkness in."

"That's impressive. Although don't a majority go back into the darkness. There's so much of it in this world that light sometimes seems a little dimmer."

"I've had a few cases where they go back to the darkness but I have a 90 percentile where they continue letting the light grow. All ready some people I've touched have made small differences in their lives: helping a woman carry groceries to her car, going to parks to clean up, using ozone free products, not standing by as a person get's assulted, opening the door for someone with a smile. Basically little things that we take for granted. Once their ready I'm sure they'll step up to the plate to handle the bigger stuff."

"That's great, Ria. I'm proud of you."

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So Ria has a neat ability. I'm really glad she wasn't one of the unlucky ones from taking the shot. And her ability might just come in handy some day. We'll have to wait and see. I do see good things for her though.

Like most Promicin Positives, there will be a lot of challenges to face but knowing Ria, she will pass them with flying colors. There will be times when she get's discouraged, when she questions if taking Promicin was the right thing but this is a process that Promcin Positives go through. It's become a natural phase for us. And like most Promicin Positives, Ria will come to accept her ability, accept herself, and accept the work she accomplishes, she will even come to accept the bad stuff that she stumbles apon.

It's all apart of the process of being a Promicin Positive.