First Superhero 1: The Second Super (6 page)

As I passed by a small alleyway just a black away from the hospital, though, my day took a turn for the worse. “Hey, dickhead!” I heard someone call from within the alley. I turned my head to the right to see who it was, and there stood Brian Turner with a face that said he was pissed and ready to raise hell.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “What is it, Brian?” I asked.

“Come here,” he said.

“And why would I do that?” I asked him.

Brian walked toward me, grabbed me by my shirt, and threw me into the alley. The drinks and burgers flew out of my hands, and all over the alley. I hit the ground and rolled a couple of times, before stopping face-up, staring at the sky. “Oh, ow!” I shouted, doing a bad job of making it seem like I was in pain, even though I felt nothing at all.

Brian walked over to me and pulled me up by my shirt. He pushed me up against the brick wall on one side of the alley. “You listen to me and you listen good: Stay the hell away from Macy. She’s mine, you prick,” Brain shouted at me.

“Uh, well, I don’t know about that. You can’t tell me who I can and can’t be friends with, and you also can’t tell me who I can and can’t be in love with. Especially when that person is in love with me,” I said. I didn’t know if Macy really was “in love” with me, but I knew that’d sure make Brian mad.

Brian punched me in my gut, and I almost forgot to double over in faux-pain.

“She’s not in love with you!” Brian shouted. “She loves me, alright? Now, you’re going to stay away from her!”

My blood began to boil. Brian had always been a nuisance to me my whole life, and I was tired of it.

He punched me in the stomach again, except this time I did nothing. He didn’t seem to notice, though.

“Are you join to leave her alone?” he yelled at me.

I was seething with anger. I couldn’t believe the nerve of Brian. He was certifiably insane if he though that this was how you got a girl.

“No, Brian,” I told him, looking him in his eyes. “
You’re
going to leave her alone.”

Brian looked at me confused. “The hell you say?”

“I said,” I began, standing up a little straighter. “You’re going to leave her alone.”

Brian punched me again in my face, doing nothing but making me even angrier. I put both hands on his shoulders, and pushed him, sending him flying into the brick wall just a few feet behind him. The wall cracked and caved in a little on impact, and Brian fell in a heap on the ground, unconscious. Blood began to pool around him as I’d realized what I’d done.

“Oh shit,” I breathed. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”

I pulled out my phone and called 911, trying to think of the story I was going to tell the authorities whenever they reached me.

M
ACY
, Drew, Michael, and I all sat in our own corner of the waiting room. We hadn’t been sitting there for long, but it’d been a couple of hours since my and Brian’s encounter in the alleyway. I convinced everyone that we should wait for some news in the waiting room. I said it was because we had nothing better to do, but really, I just wanted to know he was okay as soon as possible.

“It’s such a good thing you walked by when you did,” Macy said for probably the millionth time, which annoyed me to no end. I didn’t understand why she was so happy Brian was okay. I mean, yeah, I’m glad he’s not dead, but she just wouldn’t shut up about it.

I shrugged and made an
mmhmm
noise with my lips.

“You could’ve not been, quote,
so shocked I dropped the food and drinks I was holding,
end quote. This hospital food has nothing on Burger Shack,” Drew said, his face twisting in disgust at just the mention of the hospital food.

“I’m really sorry about that, guys. I’ll buy everybody’s food tomorrow,” I said.

“Oh, you’d better!” Michael said.

I heard a door open and turned to look, as did everyone else in the waiting room. A nurse walked in, and made a beeline for Brian’s parents.

The room was big and filled with people, and his parents were across the room, so I couldn’t hear what she was saying. I wanted to so badly, though. I strained my ears and leaned forward, wishing as hard as I could that I could just hear whether or not he’d be okay. Suddenly, I could hear her voice as clear as day.

“…broken ribs, punctured lungs, and internal bleeding. The doctors are working as hard as they can, and they are very confident that your son will be okay.”

Brian’s mother burst into tears and hugged the nurse as tight as she could. The nurse smiled and patted her on the back.

I sank back into my chair and smiled, flooded with relief. I felt so good. Brian would be okay, and he wasn’t going to mess with me again. Everything was turning out to work in my favor. Plus I’d just found out I had superhearing! I was flying on cloud nine.

“It looks like everything’s going to be okay,” Michael said as he watched the scene.

I nodded my head. “Yep, Michael. Everything’s turning out perfectly.”

10

A TERRIBLE MISTAKE

I
WALKED INTO MY HOUSE
, and quietly closed the door behind me. It was late, well past midnight. I began to sneak quietly to my room, but there was a figure sitting on the couch. I stopped in my tracks and turned to face it, but then I saw that it was just my dad.

“Kinda late, huh?” he asked.

I felt my body fill with fear at the trouble I might be in. Not that I did anything wrong, since my curfew isn’t until one, but there was something about the way Dad had waited up for me and spoke to me that had me worried. “Yeah I guess. Been a long day.”

“So I’ve heard.”

A moment of silence passed between us before he continued.

“Kane, I heard about what you did to Brian.”

I gulped. “Yeah, well, he’ll be okay. I didn’t hurt him too bad.”

Dad scoffed and raised a hand. “Oh not too bad. I guess everything’s fine then, huh?”

“What’s your point, Dad? Brian was being the bully he’s always been, and I stood up for myself. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“The problem is that you could’ve killed Brian, Kane. Parents could be mourning the loss of their son right now, and it would’ve been your fault.”

I thought about it for a moment. I would’ve felt really guilty had I killed Brian. But still, I didn’t. I didn’t see what the huge problem was. “Don’t worry Dad. Everything’s going to be okay. It’s not like I went after him, he’s the one who attacked me. I just defended myself, is all.”

Dad sat back in his seat, and took a deep breath. “I’m just asking that you please be careful. And pray that Brian doesn’t remember much when he wakes up. He may be stupid, but he’s not an idiot. If he’s able to put two and two together, he’ll be able to figure out who you are. You were being careless, son. You let your emotions get the best of you. Just pray that it doesn’t come to bite you or anyone else in the ass.”

I nodded my head. “Alright. Can I go to bed now?”

Dad nodded. “Goodnight, Kane. I love you.”

“You too,” I muttered under my breath as I turned around and made my way to my room.

When I got into my room, I didn’t even turn the lights on. I just stripped down to my boxers and climbed into bed. I plugged my phone in to charge and then checked it for any messages.

After that was done, I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. I still didn’t feel guilty for what I did to Brian. I was standing up for myself. Not only for what he was doing at that moment, but standing up after not being able to for years. Brian had been a bully to me since elementary, and now I wasn’t going to have to worry about him any longer. It was like a huge weight off my shoulders. It’d been a long time since I’d felt so relieved.

I still felt a bit of worry, however. What if Brian woke up and he knew that I was the new superhuman? What would he do? Would he go to the press? He was going to be mad and want revenge. I hoped he didn’t remember any of it at all. But then again, if he didn’t remember that I was the one who beat him, he’d just go right back to being a bully to me again.

Suddenly the relief left and the weight piled itself back onto me, and I felt as if I’d made a terrible mistake.

11

CLEARED FOR LIFTOFF

I
STOOD IN OUR BARN
, the early morning light seeping through the open doors. Most of the animals were outside save for a chicken or two, so I had plenty of room to practice using my superpowers.

I stood with my arms to my side, and my hands stretched outwards. I jumped in the air, but my feet came back to the ground less than a second later. “Okay,” I said to myself. “That one didn’t work.”

I changed my tactic and tensed my legs up. I didn’t know what to do after that, though.
Maybe try jumping again?
I thought. So I did, and again, nothing.

“Dammit!” I cursed out loud. I had no idea what I’d done to fly the first time. It was just a gut reaction that I had when I saw someone was in danger. The thought crossed my mind that maybe flying was something I could only do when it was a life or death situation, which would suck because I didn’t particularly enjoy those situations, but I did enjoy flying.

I decided that maybe it was something to do with the mind. I closed my eyes, and slowed my breathing, only taking long deep breaths. I didn’t even try and think about flying until I was completely relaxed and aware of everything around me. Once I’d achieved this, I began to picture myself being lifted off the ground. I imagined what it would feel like to be no longer touching the ground. My mind went back to just a couple of days ago, when I’d flown to save Macy. What it felt like: the wind blowing through my hair, my clothes flapping in the wind.

That’s when I realized it.

My eyes flew opened, and I looked down. I was floating four feet off the ground. I smiled from ear to ear, and started laughing to myself. I couldn’t believe it. I was actually flying. Well, floating, technically.

I leaned forward, and my heart skipped a beat, my brain not comprehending what was going on. I laid flat in the air. My hands were still at my side, but I couldn’t resist taking my right hand, making a fist, and pointing it in front of me. I willed myself forward, and slowly flew to one end of the wall, where I tapped the wood with my fist. I turned myself around, and flew to the other end. I spent the next few minutes flying back and forth, just trying to figure out how it all worked.

Next I started flying at an angle, getting practice moving up and down. The really scary part came when I decided to practice flying
straight
up and down. Touching the ceiling of the barn was easy, but flying straight down to touch the ground? My brain was freaking out, and my stomach twisting. There was just something about being upside down and flying straight toward the ground that’s just a little bit freaky. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it.

“You get clearance from the FFA for this flight?” Dad asked me.

I looked and could see his upside down figure standing at the entrance of the barn. I lifted myself up a bit, flipped upright, and then lowered myself to the ground. My footing was a bit wobbly at first, but it only took a few seconds for me to adjust. “I don’t think so,” I said with a chuckle.

“Just try not to destroy anything,” Dad said.

“I’ll try,” I told him. I walked over to a bottle of water that I’d set next to one of the beams holding up the upper loft of the barn. I took a swig from it, and Dad took a few steps closer to me. He leaned against the beam a few feet away from me.

“What other tricks you got in there?” he asked.

“Well,” I began as I threw the bottle of water back to the ground. “So far I’ve got strength, flight, invulnerability, speed, and superhearing.”

Dad scoffed. “That’s it? No laser vision? Freeze breath?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I think I might be able to take a couple people out with the morning breath I’ve got, but that’s about all I’m going to be doing with that.”

“Well beggars can’t be choosers, I guess,” Dad said with a smile.

I laughed. “I guess not.”

“Your mom went to town to grab a couple of things. You wanna go inside and watch some videos of Richter?” Dad asked.

I looked at him, confused. “What for?”

Dad shrugged. “Well you know, ‘
know thine enemy’
and stuff. I think it’d be a good idea to see what you’re up against.”

I gulped and felt my palms begin to sweat. I didn’t like the idea of having to go up against Richter. I knew I’d have to, but it seemed like something that was far off. The way Dad was acting made it feel like I was going to have to face him tomorrow or something. Still, I knew he was right. I needed to figure Richter out the best I could. Because, the next time, I wouldn’t have the element of surprise on my side.

“Yeah, okay,” I said. I leaned over and gathered my things.

“Great,” Dad said. “Let’s hurry before your mom gets back. She’s still really freaked out by all of this. Wouldn’t want to worry her any more.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I gotcha.”

Dad and I walked the rest of the way to the house in silence, both of us deep in thought.

When we walked in, I sat down on the couch and put my feet up. Dad already had YouTube pulled up on the television and had his first clip ready to go. He stood by the TV like he was a teacher showing a video to his class, and I was his superhuman student.

“Okay, so this first video is Richter’s very first public appearance,” Dad began. “It’s a couple of months old, but he hasn’t evolved his style any. That’s good, because it means he’s still cocky and full of himself, which means he makes more mistakes. Although I’m sure his ego’s a bit bruised after your encounter with him,” Dad said, trying to hide the smile of pride he had for me.

“But it’s also bad, because now he feels like he has something to prove,” I said, bursting his bubble.

Dad raised a finger, waving it in agreement. “This is true, but still, I feel like you’ll still be able to use his attitude to your advantage. Anyways,” Dad said, turning to the television. “Let’s watch this clip.”

He pressed a button on the remote, and the video began to play. It was a cell phone video showing Richter walking out of a bank in Manhattan carrying out sacks filled with money. One officer got in the way, so Richter kicked him, sending him flying off screen and surely to his death. The officers opened fire on him, but the bullets ricocheted off his body.