True Heroes (12 page)

              Caleb walked around to Carol and inspected her wrist before opening her door and helping her in. He relaxed his power away and told her, quietly, “Go home and call me when you get there.”

              “But—”

              “These guys don’t want anymore. They’re on their way home too, aren’t they?” He’d deliberately raised his voice so they heard him, sounding the retreat quickly; all except Stephen who had lost his balance and was trying to stand up straight again. Carol nodded and drove off between the sprinting fools.

              Caleb looked down at “The Hatchet” trying to regain his balance and just turned towards his house and began to walk. A slightly clearer voice came from Stephen, “Running away? I’m tired of always being second best at our school because of you,” his voice was steadily rising and becoming less slurred. “I’ll finally show you what I’m made of. I’ll fucking kill you!”

              Stephan began wobbling towards him. Caleb’s brain came completely out of the haze of power enraged, ‘Don’t walk away from such a pathetic lump. Keep everything tensed…except that. Keep the power away. He doesn’t deserve that kind of beating…why not? After everything he’s done, his true place is surely missing his pounded ass. Who the hell is a bully to me? It’s not right for him to bully an elephant in a boy’s body. Just get closer, Hatchet.’

              The drunken boy began swinging away with Caleb simply dodging and moving. After a few slow hooks, Stephen sent a faster one towards his face that Caleb couldn’t dodge and knocked him back slightly. An incredibly hard uppercut to the jaw followed that made Caleb drop to a knee to calm his temper slightly before recovering. Stephen, however, wanted to go for the end immediately and swung for Caleb’s head as he rested. Suddenly, the control in his mind snapped and Caleb reached out and caught Stephen’s fist half way to his face. He spun to his feet and pushed the focused but harmless fist away, roughly. The drunken boy fell down again and the rain began to fall around them, a flash of lightning igniting the sky. Stephen stood, but Caleb caught the boy’s cocked arm and picked him up by the throat with one hand. “Okay, that’s enough. He gets the point.” His body didn’t respond. It just threw the boy ten feet into a group of plastic garbage cans.

              Caleb shook his head, allowing him to regain control of his power and suppress it. “Get the hell out of here. You’ve lost!”

              “Whatever you are, I hate you!”

              Caleb could only watch under the sheets of water that fell onto his head as Stephen ran away, surely horrified at how he’d lost. Caleb watched and calmed his heart and breath, noticing either hand shaking from all the power he’d just had at his fingertips.

Chapter 3

             
‘The snow forgot how it’s supposed to fall today. No soft or pillowy objects left to the soft pull of gravity. Not today. The winds whip like a hurricane, giving a randomness to the little flakes and make them seem unhappy with the standard compass. Kind of beautiful, in a way….’ Caleb stared out the window. ‘Two inches at least already in what, forty minutes? Reminds me of the arctic illusion…and yet here I am: wasting away under the drab, holey blanket of science versus religion.’ The girl that sat about eight seats down from him in their circle was standing and delivering a question. ‘Her bright idea. Or maybe over heard someone else talking about it and decided to steal is more accurate. Heh, the girl four seats down just said that. Small world.’ Caleb only smiled and ceased to care soon after. His senses began to space out and care more about the room than the speaker in the middle of the class. Honey-dew yellow paint covered the walls of brick and corkboard, which held nothing but a few vague, philosophical quotes. ‘God is dead…and some other drivel.’ All of which clashed violently with the fading red carpet on the floor. A rattling air heater against the far wall tried its hardest to remain inconspicuous, but nothing could hide beneath the fresh fluorescent bulbs above all the clashing of colors and words.

‘She’s floundering up there, and they can sense her bleeding out. Mrs. Drit is really going for the throat on this leading the class thing. The entire class microscopically tearing apart every piece of your argument for half of the class, and then asking unanswerable question until you’re mercifully let off the hook by the class bell. Almost my turn I think.’

              “What if God created science? How could he create something different from himself?”

              The girl’s—‘Dana, that’s her damn name,’—feeble question received a feeble answer from one of the girl’s rivals. ‘Caitlyn…. These two have been at one another’s throats for the head cheerleader position ever since Carol graduated. Thank God and science she’s not like these two.’ “That’s not true! They’re totally different.”

              ‘Oh boy, fireworks!’ “Why though?”

              “Because…well, girls can’t have erections right? Why? Because they don’t have—”

              “And that’s where we stop that train of thought,” Mrs. Drit interjected, but failed in stopping the laughter and Caleb’s own smile. His curled lips must’ve caught Drit’s eye as he soon heard his name emerging from her delicate mouth. “Caleb, you haven’t spoken up yet.”

              Caleb sighed. ‘Why did I sigh? Is it too far beneath you to answer a rational argument? Beating Stephen changed me…people aren’t beneath you they’re just different. These people aren’t Stephen or your father. They don’t deserve your scorn. I know that chain-reaction: if I’m above them, I study them, I learn them, I get bored of them. They’ll be nothing more than ants in a farm to me. How can you be a hero with that kind of mentality?’ The thought buried itself for now as his attention stuck to Dana, “Give me a question, please.”

              Dana riffled through her papers and landed on one. “Ummm, what are some of the main similarities and differences between faith and science?”

              He leaned forward and placed the pen he’d been twirling on his desk. His mouth opened and the thoughts flowed straight out. “Well, one of the main things the two have in common is they’re both based on belief. You can show a religious person all the numbers you want, but they don’t have to believe you if they don’t have faith in what those numbers are telling them. Concurrently, that religious person can’t claim non-belief on science and, at the same time, claim their belief in God is more justified or true. They both have countless different ways to tackle their subject matter, and both can almost lie on top of each other with careful thought and wording. As far as the differences,” he glanced over to see Mrs. Drit nodding in approval, “they’re quite numerous too. Religion deals with a creature that is omnipotent and, in some ways, the totality of anyone’s existence while science focuses more on the smallest details. So, while they are pretty much the same practice, they are going in completely opposite directions.”

              The class did what they usually did on the rare occasion he went on a rant: they thought. ‘You can plainly see the few thinking deeply, and that majority completely ignoring me.’ Someone he didn’t know said something he didn’t hear because of the bell, which was followed by the crackle of the intercom system soon after. Everyone stayed around their seats and listened to Hackard’s message. “Attention everyone: due to the inclement weather heading our way, we are forced to send everyone home for the day. Nobody is allowed to walk home so find a ride somehow and have a good, long, safe weekend.”

              Cheers could be heard up and down the hallway as everyone quickly exited the room. Caleb stood up slowly and began to think of a way home. ‘The one day I don’t drive to school…Mom’s home, but I don’t wanna bother her. I could sneak out a window, but my power is pretty exhausted from yesterday still and if I do get caught, I’ll be staying caught.”

              “Got a ride home?”

              Mrs. Drit startled him from his thoughts and jangled her keys in front of his face. He grinned, actually happy to be away from his thoughts for a bit, and said, “Nope, and I would never refuse you.”

              She laughed and smiled a devilish smile that he dismissed and began to follow her down the hallway. ‘I really hope we’re done with our awkward moments from now on. They ring in my head like bells every time she’s around me…today’s a good day to gather some proof. I know it’s my imagination and some part of my savage brain that objectifies her, so let’s prove it.’ They, somehow, got through the mob of kids tying to get to their cars and began to run across the parking lot. Mrs. Drit slipped on a patch of ice she didn’t see, but Caleb was there to catch her. After that incident, they reached her SUV, which was already unlocked by her remote, and quickly got in. Before he had even gotten situated, she turned to him and said, “Thanks for the catch back there, and you’re totally insane for not having a jacket on in this weather.”

              “Ha ha, yeah I get that a lot, but I love this weather.” The car started. “Take a left out of here and go down three stoplights. Take a right there and I’ll let you know when to stop.”

              “Sounds easy enough.” They pulled out of the space with the constant uneasy feeling in the air. After going through the line of cars, they finally pulled out of the lot and Mrs. Drit asked, “Have you gotten any inspiration for your class discussion topic?”

              Caleb stared out the window at the stationary, white objects. “No, I’m still narrowing that down.”

              ‘Yeah, let’s focus on that. Collection is finished now, and I’m still too dumb to put it all together. It’d be nice if I could ask anyone about this….’ They turned at the light, as he’d directed, and Mrs. Drit broke the silence outside of his head. “How about joining that little club I told you about?”

              His imagination was at work again, not thinking about the possible meaning between her words but instead focused again on the dwindling words on his list. ‘Stay focused on that. Keep your imagination away from her soft, creamy skin…stop!’ “Haven’t given that much thought either.”

              Mrs. Drit laughed. “So, what exactly does a shoe-in for Valedictorian with unlimited potential think about? How to save the world?”

              ‘Funny you should say that….’ “No, just if and when my future will happen.”

              “You’re not thinking about skipping out on college are you?”

              Caleb shook his head without knowing if she saw. ‘Don’t care keep mind focused.’ “I’m thinking beyond college; beyond school or homework or teachers. Wondering where I’ll be in another twenty or thirty years. I’m thinking of where I want to end up and if where I think I’m ending up is where I wanna end up, and if it isn’t, then I want to change where I’m going to end up before I end up there.”

              He pointed a few houses ahead and they pulled to a stop in front. Mrs. Drit whistled at the size of his house and then sighed. “Life’s a cold, hard one at your age, but—” she reached into her center panel and her hand emerged with a pen and a small business card. She scribbled something down while using the steering wheel as a desk. Caleb finally turned and noticed her level of concentration. Her lips were in a tight line that put a strained look on her beautiful face that obviously had no place there. ‘She’s got a face that was meant to smile and be admired, just like Carol’s.’ She finished writing and handed him the card. “You never have to be alone. Feel free to call if you ever make a decision on the club idea, or if you need anything else.”

              Caleb held the card between two fingers. “Mrs. Drit-”

              “Call me Marion, and no one’s twisting your arm here. I understand if you don’t want it.”

              ‘There are two layers of wrongness here. Take the card to erase one and the other will be taken care of later.’ “No, no it’s not that. I was going to say thank you, Marion.”

              She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. ‘She extended her ungloved, nearly flawless fingers to my shoulder for a second before her palm slithered a few inches down my upper arm.’ It stopped there and Caleb just nodded his head before opening the door and walking to his front door, not noticing the confused look on his teacher’s face, and slid the card into his pocket. His feet wiped the snow brush next to his door and his hand turned the knob and pushed his way into the overly warm foyer. Some conversation could be heard from the living room as he sat his books on the wooden floor and kicked off his shoes. He wandered into the living room to see his mother sipping tea and entertaining a new guest. “Ah, Caleb, what on earth are you doing home so early?”

              “Hackard got scared by all the white stuff falling from the sky so we got a long weekend. Figured I’d use it as an excuse to get a few things started.”

              “Before you do,” she looked over to acknowledge her guest, who was sitting in a reclining chair across from his mother with their back to him, “this is Mrs. Stog, and she just came to the neighborhood with her son and his wife.” The woman turned in her chair and smiled an old smile. Caleb smiled back as warmly as he could and shook her extended hand. ‘The old woman has to be beyond her seventies in age, and she doesn’t pretend to hide it. Her small eyes offset those huge-rimmed glasses, and the bright blue moo-moo with flower designs screams “discount card.”’ Her hands and smile were warm despite her age and Caleb continued being polite. “My name is Caleb, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

              Her hand lightly shook his as she said, “My word, you have quite a polite young man here, Audrey. You and my son should talk and you could show him a thing or two about how to act like a good man.”

              He smiled kindly at the comment, finding his head bowing a bit, and his mother restarted their conversation, allowing Caleb to quietly slide down the hall to his room. His hand gently urged the door shut, and his shoeless feet almost tripped over his pile of already-gone-through notebooks near his door. Jumping on his bed, he reached for his one notebook page that held the final principles he’d gathered from all the comics and notebooks. ‘Still nineteen too many, though. One, and only one, principle that encompasses them all has to exist…I’ll find it if it does. No matter how long it takes.’

              Emptying the contents of his pockets, he was already focused on the first principle. ‘Knowledge …learning …experience …action…. Justice….’ Once the word crossed his mind, his every thought webbed away from and splintered the very idea of the word until every conceivable definition, variation, and conclusion of the concept of knowledge was being considered. At first, they were well defined and different thoughts, but soon began to overlap and knot themselves as they battled for supremacy. Marion’s card emerging from his pocket distracted him for a moment before he let it drop to his dresser top.

              Another distraction came in the form of a knock at his door and his mother’s voice. “Caleb? We need to talk a minute.”

              Caleb’s mind bookmarked its place as his hand slid the card with his teacher’s number under his wallet. “Come on in.” She opened the door and tip-toed around the stacks of notebooks. “What’s on your mind?”

              She sat down at the end of his bed, without bothering to make eye contact, and gave Caleb the hint of the topic before she ever said anything. “Your father wanted me to ask if you knew when and where you graduation was, and if he was invited or not.”

              Caleb smirked. “Why would he want to know?”

              “Sounds to me like he is planning on attending. It’s not every day that you get to see your only, brilliant son graduate from high school.”

              Caleb’s smirk disappeared with a scoff. “If he even recognizes my voice, it’ll be a thrill.”

              “I don’t get what you want from him, Caleb. You seem to hate him for not being around, but when he offers to come around, you seem to not want him close at all.”

              Caleb looked down at the carpet. “I want my father to be here. Not some guy who thinks he knows his son. That’s part of the reason for all this,” he said while presenting his fake, black nails, and running his hands through his black hair and over his made up face.