True Heroes (14 page)

Too into his own thoughts to give an in-depth answer, he settled for less. “You and me both.”

Carol glanced over and smiled. “I didn’t mean your dad and mom together.”

It was Caleb’s turn to glance over. “What did you mean then?”

She held his hand for an added bit of solace from his thoughts. “You’re dad was a lot different than I ever expected. A lot nicer….”

Caleb said, without a thought to the contrary, “Funny the faces people put on for other people when they first meet isn’t it?” Another long pause lasted for almost two full blocks before Caleb moved the day forward. “Where are we off to first?”

Outside the moving car, down a street, into an alley, and on the dark side of a dumpster, two people were slumped, one with a freshly-emptied gun in his lap, the other a bloody knife. Between them were two wallets and less than a minute of life.

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Five hours flew by in a flash. ‘She really knows how to plan half-a-day I’ll give her that. We haven’t had that much fun in a long time. All the more reason to make my half of the day even better.’ He glanced over at Carol, who was passed out in the passenger’s seat, and smiled while carefully maneuvering the road. ‘A few more minutes until the very small, frozen lake up this windy road comes into view, and I’ll use that lovely body to build up my apology stockpile for a long, long time. I’m glad she was tired enough to let me drive. It’ll add to the suspense, even when she’s dreaming.’ 

Caleb accidentally woke her up, however, with a rather rough brake at a downed railroad bar. She yawned and stretched out for his hand as he felt a knot of guilt well up inside of him. “I’m so sorry, baby, go back to sleep for a few more minutes.”

Carol smiled and shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine, honey. Where are we going?”

“To Surprise-ville!” He chuckled with her while leaning back in the driver’s seat. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” They sat there smiling for a few more seconds before Caleb rolled down his window and listened for any kind of train noise. ‘Could roll across the tracks. Eh, it’d be risky with all that ice. Last thing I need is to waste more time here than we need to. Not to mention if we get stuck on that and a train comes, I’ll have to turn my dream into a reality.’

“I’ll get out and see if the train’s coming.”

Carol got out of the car. ‘Wow déjà vu.’ She approached the tracks cautiously and tried to look beyond a bend of skeleton trees. Before Caleb could get his window rolled down, she slipped and screamed a little. He opened the door and quickly got out. “What’s wrong?”

He shook away a dizzy feeling as Carol answered, “My foot’s just caught.” ‘Her lips moved like that in my dream. Strange. At least there’s sound this time. That makes interpretation a lot easier.’ He looked down to see her foot caught between a collapsed piece of cement and the rail itself. ‘More familiarity there.’ Caleb turned as Carol continued to struggle, and he saw the train, which was much closer and coming much faster than his dream. Its horn blared repeatedly, only bringing Caleb’s body around to face the oncoming engine. “What are you doing? My foot’s free let’s get back to the car.”

“I had a dream almost exactly like this last night. The train is supposed to tell me something, I think. If not, then I might be dead, or I might stop a train. One or the other.” ‘Wait, in my dream I was protecting Carol. She’s out of the way now, so is there really any need for this?’ Everything seemed to come at the wrong time as the train was rushing forward. ‘Choice time.’ He glanced at Carol. ‘She’s terrified. This…isn’t right. Move!’

Caleb dove off the tracks as the train raced through the empty air he’d just occupied. Carol rushed over to help him up. “What the-why did you move out of the way?”

‘A thing I’m sure all couples ask each other. How insane are we?’ He smiled and giggled a few times before answering, “You weren’t in danger. No need to take on a train unless you need me to.” Both smiled again and just waited outside until the quick train passed. “Hop in. Surprise-ville is close by.”

They both got in the car again with their hands tightly clasped together minus the needed part. ‘Doesn’t matter now. She does.’ Caleb gave the car a lot of gas after the rail raised to get over the ice, and they were off. His heart was racing still from the encounter. ‘My power is telling me to feel guilty…. What the hell is it? It’s just a series of genetics; how in the world does it affect my emotions? I think it’s more like I’m feeling its emotions. There’s no doubt it has a mind of its own somehow, but mine’s definitely in control. No worries as long as that’s the case.

‘In either case, power will get its use once we arrive. Good thing I didn’t take on that train. I would’ve been all out for the surprise. Ah crap, the sun’s still a bit too high. Plan B it is.’ Coming to a perfect parking spot, Caleb tried not to stare too long at the scenic picture gently sleeping beneath them. The frozen lake down a small hill from them was shimmering like the top of a massive diamond in the ground. The angled sun was over halfway  sunk into horizon and gave that diamond lake a prism effect where golden rays went in straight, but shot out every possible shade of red to bright yellow into their eyes. Finally, he turned off the car, snapping Carol out of her own daze, and held out his hand. “Ready for a snack?”

Carol shook her head but didn’t seem to be paying attention to him as much as she was the beautiful sight in front of them. “What did you say about snacks?”

Caleb smiled as he reached into the backseat and grabbed some chips and snack cakes he’d bought during her nap. Throwing her a bag, they both hopped onto the hood of her car and stared into the ice fifty feet in front. ‘Not a word. Don’t ruin what’s in front of us with words. She senses that too. Let’s be here for now.’ He waited patiently for the perfect time to begin as Carol pulled her jacket closed and snuggled up to his arm. They waited and watched for a good half an hour before Carol broke out a rather serious question. “If you do become a superhero, when are we ever going to see each other?”

Caleb smiled. ‘And there’s my cue to begin.’ “Let me show you your surprise before I answer that.”

He got up, and instantly summoned his power as he walked down to the ice. “What are you doing? That’s freezing water!”

Through an empowered voice, he said, “Not cold enough to stop me.” He smiled back to her as he stomped a hole in the ice big enough for his body to fit through. He smiled one more time at Carol before jumping down into that hole and swimming to the center of the lake. Underwater, Caleb’s body was surrounded by his energy, which kept the frigid water from reaching his skin, as powerful kicks lead him on. His voice echoed thought through the underwater sphere, “Just imagine the shocked look on Carol’s face: priceless.” He brought his breath high into his chest and let his power flow through the water. “The practice did me well last night. My power is a changeable force; the field can give way to smaller arms that are almost curious in their movement. Then I can stretch them so much further. Let’s see the results.” Using this technique and reaching out as far as he could, he accomplished a blue glow throughout the water. From above the sheet of ice, the light shining resembled a fluorescent spider’s web of cracks in a neon colored mirror. Caleb then seized the tendrils and began to flatten them out, effectively expanding them to most of the iced roof. He used what little free power he had left to check above the sheet and barely make out Carol’s expression again. The sun was using its golden rays to try to thwart the night’s progress, but his blue column of color was fighting and mixing and dancing with the red to create so many new combinations and colors until the darkness took this battle from the waning sun, his snow globe continuing its hold of the world as it was through his eyes.  

“Time for the grand finale.” Caleb pushed upwards at random points of his power to break the ice into manageable sections and lifted himself from the water. He hovered above the shore line, noticing Carol’s widening eyes as his own took some extra time to adjust to the darkening sky. His hand clenched slightly to lift five separate pieces of medium sized slabs above the lake and rearranged them to form a makeshift ball around his floating form. Once his concentration had achieved that, Caleb thrust some of his energy through the cracks of the ragged ball and expanded the energy to fill the entire hollow space. The sun completely below the horizon line now, Caleb’s ice ball was now glowing like a star directly above the ground, a blue mass that was so bright you could no longer tell its original form. He toned it back a bit when he saw Carol trying to cover her eyes and began to rotate it slightly as bright blue planet. “Do you see what I am? Do you see what I’ve made myself into?”

Carol began to stammer as her mind was obviously not ready for any sort of question. “Um, a-um a fire?”

“No, an entire world. My entire world is what I am trying to embody. With you around, my world shines this brightly all the time, day or night. With you around, my world can keep on spinning and shining light into the deepest and darkest parts of any problem I face. This world is completely different from the world outside but, in a lot of ways, they depend on each other. My world would be linear and cumbersome without the outside, and the outside would be a much more dangerous place without me guarding it. You’re my bridge. You keep me connected to the outside world and you give the outside a world a chance at true, divine peace. Without you,” Caleb let the ice crash to the water below and closed his eyes, “my world would end.”

He landed softly, burning foot holes in the snow, and walked closer to her, his power still flush about his body against the blackened skyline, until he was within arm’s length. Carol looked him up and down and very slowly lifted her arm to his chest. Her soft hand pushed against Caleb’s chest—the smooth contours of her touch mixed with her natural warmth made the contact seem especially encompassing and relaxing—and smiled a little in place of stumbling over her own words. “Caleb…this is…this is incredible. This is more than I ever thought you could do.”

He smiled at her almost dizzy-eyed look. “I can do a lot more than that.”

“What is all this?”             

“This is the power I told you about. It’s a combination of genetic disorders, most of which affect the adrenal glands and electrical output of my brain. My body is made more conductive of energy, which is also in surplus throughout. All in all, this blue aura you see is nothing but my body generating energies. You have this to thank for saving your life.”

She’d been pushing his chest every so often as he spoke, as if comparing this action from when she did it when he wasn’t powered, and now seemed more curious than impressed over the show he’d just put on for her. Carol’s hand ran across his bare skin. “Too much,” he thought aloud while keeping his mind’s voice quiet. The hand created a blue static discharge as it pushed and crawled around his midsection. Either knee buckled slightly under the feeling and he had to regain his balance, much to Carol’s delight. “Glad I excite you so much. You’re a lot more sensitive now, and I already know from past experiences that you’re a lot stronger too. How does it work though? Like, how do you control it?”

“It is linked to my emotional state. Back when you were almost struck by that car, I couldn’t control when it emerged and it was just my instincts that really saved you. Now, I can ignite my power with a small release of adrenaline, or a larger one if I want more. I can direct it out of certain body parts,” he began to wave his power and flux his aura in, out, and around them both, “and I can make it so light that other people don’t notice its presence.” He pulled back until the slight distortion was clear and completely opaque. “Such as this.”

“That’s initiating it though. I mean how do you control it?”

His empowered brain pondered this question for a minute. “I suppose I control it as well as I control my emotions.”

Carol smiled. “Well, I guess not even your power can resist me.” Her hand ran from his cheek to his shoulders, each measure of friction bringing more electrifying power from the field, she eventually grabbing onto his shirt and pulling him to the snow. They landed with a thud, side by side, without losing their eye contact. “Is it like a muscle where the more you work it out the stronger it gets? Or is it set with some sort of limit?”

“It’s been growing every single time I’ve ever used it. Once I push it out and practice at the very limits I can push, my power always seems to come back a little stronger after a day of rest. So, it’s almost exactly like working out your muscles.” Caleb rolled onto his back and placed his hands behind his head. “It’s such a weird feeling: having all my power out at once.”

“How so?”

A fallen bunch of twigs a few feet away quickly scooped from the ground under his extended will and brought them to hover over his body. “I’ve improved my power tenfold in a little under a year. At this rate, who knows how far I’ll eventually reach out and how much power I’ll accumulate. No matter how I use it, it’ll just build and spread until the world won’t be big enough. I’m like a baby in a crib filled with toys. Eventually I’ll grow so large that the crib will no longer be big enough for me. Then, I’ll have everything I need to make sure nobody is ever hurt again.”

Carol sat her head on her hand in an interested posture. “What about those toys? Are those us? Because that paints a rather bleak picture of what you think about human life….”