My body ached and burned after waking up. It hurt so much worse than the last time for some reason. I turned on the tv and set it to the news to see if any more mentions of my exploits came up. This time there was no mention of the mysterious figure, just that there’d been a robbery and the woman had turned herself in. It was probably for the best.
The news moved on to talking about a little Platinum girl in the city, that had invented some sort of slime that could regenerate wounds over time. I decided to force myself to get out of bed and found that my legs were weak and hard to stand on. I stood still for a minute and tried to keep steady. I tried to take a step towards the bathroom and lost my balance as I fell flat on my face. I let out a sigh. I crawled back up on my bed using mostly my arms, but they too felt weak. I took a few deep breaths and tried to prepare myself for the horribly painful experience I was in for.
This seems like it’d be a great day to focus on making that machine not destroy my body.
I slammed my foot hard against the hardwood floors in my bedroom. Then I slammed the other one, I guess in some misguided attempt at trying to make some smaller bit of pain to distract myself from the larger pain in my legs. I pushed them as hard as I could against the floor. I used my arms to push myself off the bed. It took three tries but eventually I found the strength to do it. I took one shaky step towards the bathroom, then another.
I almost fell again but I waved my arms out to create a sense of balance and keep myself from tipping over. My legs continued to shake but the shakiness left with each passing second. What didn’t leave was the constant burning sensation in my leg muscles, arm muscles, under my skin all over my body, in my mouth tissues, the inside of my nostrils, the inside of my ears, and in my eye sockets. That continued to ache and burn without stopping.
I could handle a little pain. Plus I really wanted to go to school. I opted out of brushing my hair, it’d have wasted too much time and I didn’t want Mom to be late for work. Instead I just grabbed a green t-shirt from the floor of my bedroom where I’d tossed it at some point, probably when I was ‘unpacking my stuff.’ For pants I just kept on the jeans I wore the night before. I slid on some flip flops I had by my drawer, and made my way out the door.
Mom gave up on trying to keep me groomed when I was eight years old and I would deliberately find ways to destroy new clothes because she made me wear uncomfortable ones. She used to brush my long hair for hours on end but stopped because the scarring had made it hard. I’d initially started growing it that long because of the loss of hair and to hide the scars, but eventually I kept it this way because of the smiles she’d give me as she brushed it. She said it reminded her of her brother growing up, they were latchkey children and she essentially raised her brother. Apparently he also kept his hair long.
Her hair was still wet when she walked out of the door at the end of the hallway past my room. She was dressed in business clothes, a grey pantsuit with black heels. She was brushing her hair as she walked past.
“You ready for school, Little Monkey?” She said, giving me a casual glance as she made her way to the living room. Our living room and kitchen weren’t divided, the kitchen was at the back of the house. The living room was by the front door. Our living room consisted of three couches, a flat screen tv, and a fireplace.
“You haven’t called me that in a long time.” I responded. I took an apple from a bowl in the kitchen and sank my teeth into it, making an audible soft crunch.
“Felt like bringing it back.” She said with a smile.
She finished putting her hair in a ponytail as she grabbed her purse and gave a brisk walk towards the front door, signaling for me to come along. I hopped in the passenger seat of her car and shoved my backpack in between my legs as she shoved her purse in the space between the seats.
“Are you excited for the school week to be over?” She said, while looking over at me as she started to reverse. I swallowed the bit of apple I was sucking on.
“Mhm. You wanna go see that movie tonight? Just us?” I asked. I wanted to give her something, some way to connect with me. She seemed so cheery today. For the first time in a long time.
“Sorry Monkey. I have to work til midnight today. Tomorrow?” She asked. I nodded my head. She ruffled my hair as she turned her head to back up.
Good. I need to fix my suit tonight anyway. That and find a way to dissuade my friends from returning to my lab.
I rolled my window down as we drove down main street. I looked at myself in the side mirror and smiled as much as I could.
Psychologists say smiling at yourself in the mirror once a day is an effective treatment against depression.
Not that I’m depressed anyway.
Mom looked at me like I was an idiot. The car rolled to a stop in front of the giant steps of the high school. I grabbed my bag and shut the door before she could say goodbye. Each stomp up the stairs leading to the school felt like fireworks bursting under my skin. Danny was standing around in his usual spot. I walked over to him. He was reading the same book he had the day before. As I approached him a figure suddenly jumped in front of me. It startled me so bad I almost stumbled and fell over.
“Hey, Jacob, Can I talk to you for a moment?” Amy Bates asked cheerily. “What may I do for you, Amy Bates.” I said mockingly.
Amy was one of those people I had to try harder to annoy, because she couldn’t quite tell when someone was mocking her. I still tried my hardest, though. She forced me to walk away from where I was.
“So, uh…. Listen Jacob. I heard about the… News.” She said in a quiet voice. Like we were sharing some secret. “I just wanted to, um, ask you if you wanted to go see a movie with me? Or something?” She said, with an awkward smile that out of context would make me assume she had a gun pointed to her head. I gave myself five seconds to mentally process what was going on.
“Well, uh, um, Amy Bates, I, um, have this…. Uh, little rule about dating.” I said uncomfortably. “Well you see, uh… How do I put this… I don’t have very lo-” I started.
I don’t have very long to live.
“You like girls… Right?” She cut me off.
Wow. Was not expecting that one.
“…Yes?” I responded.
“And Danny likes girls?” She asked, suddenly changing gears.
Am I being punked?
“Yep.” I said, not exactly sure what I was supposed to do. I’d dealt with pity before, but never this.
“Does Danny have a girlfriend?” She asked with eagerness.
“Uh… No?” I said with very little confidence.
“Well does he or doesn’t he?” She asked impatiently.
“He doesn’t.” I replied. She turned around and marched over to Danny.
Well she got over that heartbreak fairly quickly… Glad I let her down easy.
Amy Bates walked over to Danny and chatted him up while I watched from the same corner she led me to. After about three minutes of watching them flirt like dorks, I gave up and walked over to the vending machine and grabbed a candy bar. When I got back to my corner Amy had Danny’s phone and was typing something in on it.
She handed it back to him and her face looked like a cherry as she turned around and pranced off with spunky grace. Amy returned to her gaggle of friends and they giggled with her as Danny stared silently at his phone with a goofy smile. I crept towards Danny slowly and cautiously, aware of my surroundings so as to not be ambushed again. By the time I got to him his face was still twisted in a goofy smile.
“Did you see that?” He asked, awed. I nodded my head while crossing my arms.
“You realize what just happened, right?” I asked him with a smirk.
“Yes?” He said, confused.
I just shook my head and walked off. I spotted Emily sitting against the door to our classroom waiting for the teacher to show up. She was holding a journal and she was drawing something in it. She had a small smile on her face as she did. Her short blonde hair slightly covered her glasses on one side.
“Need some company?” I said as I sat down against the wall next to the door. She seemed surprised to see me and looked up and then quickly back down to her book.
“Hey, Jacob.” She said shyly. I leaned over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of her drawing.
A realistic drawing of a butterfly in flight with a human skull pattern in the wings. It was eerie in a beautiful way. She moved the journal instinctively to the side when she caught me looking, then she paused for a second and moved it back.
As I watched from the side, she finished shading in the empty sockets of the skull’s eyes. All of her art was like this in a way. Either taking something dark and horrible and blending it with something beautiful, or taking something beautiful and making it dark and horrible. On rare occasions taking something horrible and turning it purely and completely beautiful.
“Are you doing alright?” I asked.
“I cried last night. Cried until I couldn’t anymore. Do you know what that’s like? To cry so hard you just can’t anymore?” She said very, very quietly. I had to lean in to hear her.
Yes I do.
“No.” I lied.
I put an arm around her and held her in an embrace. In my arm she felt fragile. When I looked up I saw Mar coming towards us. She started mouthing the words ‘is she okay?’ to me. I shook my head. The door we were lying against swung open behind us and we both fell backwards. My head hits the carpeted floor of Mr. Johnson’s room with an audible thud. I looked up to find Mr. Johnson staring down at me. He was holding a steaming cup of coffee.
“Good morning.” He said casually, while walking over my head to step out into the hallway. Once he left I turned my head to look over at Emily. She started laughing little soft laughs. I was just happy she was laughing at all. Mar looked down at both of us with a smirk.
“You two planning on staying cuddled up on the floor all morning?” Mar chuckled a little. I lifted myself up despite my throbbing head, arms, and legs. Emily did the same.
“Have you talked to Danny yet?” I asked Mar. She looked confused.
“No… Why?” she asked.
“What’s up with Danny?” Emily asked at the same time.
“Last I saw, he was making goo goo eyes with Amy Bates.” I said with a smirk. The look of confusion didn’t leave Mar’s face.
“Who’s Amy Bates?” Emily asked after a moment of silence.
“You know, Amy. Cheerleader, academic team. Dad owns a hotel.” I explained myself.
“Jacob, we know who Amy is. That’s not her last name.” Mar said, her arms crossed.
“Why are you calling her that?” Emily asked.
“Have you ever looked at her eyes? She’s clearly a horror slasher!” I defended myself.
“What was that about Danny?” Mar asked, suddenly alert.
“Oh Amy asked me if I wanted to go on a date, and then asked if Danny had a girlfriend, then she-” Before I had finished Mar had marched off to go ask Danny about it.
I looked at Emily. Emily just stuck her tongue out at me. Our bonding was cut short by the ringing of the bell. We made our way to our seats in Mr. Johnson’s class, as he came in surprisingly early. As he walked through the door he was carrying a crudely drawn picture. I didn’t recognize it at first but after taking a second glance I saw what it was a picture of.
It was a picture of me.
Well not me exactly. It was a printed off version of the picture the news had used of my costume. Didn’t make seeing it any less frightening.
“This is going to be a little less conventional, but we’re ahead of my other classes at the moment so we’re going to do a little bit of a modern history lesson today. Does anyone here know anything about this guy?” Mr. Johnson asked the class.
I resisted the urge to raise my hand. I didn’t want to accidentally give away any information the police didn’t already know. Joni raised her hand instead. Very characteristic of her. Usually everyone in class waited for me to raise my hand and explain everything for the rest of the hour, but Joni always sought opportunities where I didn’t know something so she could rub it in my face.
“There was a domestic abuse call two days ago, and that thing showed up and stopped it before the police arrived.” Joni explained. Mr. Johnson nodded his head.
I didn’t stop anything. The victims were either dead or beaten by the time I got there.
“Very good, Joni. The reason I bring this up is because earlier this morning they found evidence that the same figure foiled a robbery last night.” Mr. Johnson explained. That caught my attention.
What kind of evidence? None of the fibers of my suit could’ve fallen out could they? They wouldn’t even realize what it was if they found a screw.
“So what do you think, class. Does our little town have its own superhero?” Mr. Johnson asked. The word seemed to catch the attention of everyone in the room. All eyes were on him for a few seconds. When no one answered he continued with his point. “Can anyone tell me about any other ‘superhumans’ that have appeared in the past few months?” He asked. I could think of a few from the news. I decided not to answer at all.
“That ice guy in Colorado.” Josh blurted out. He was a football player that was only taking AP History because of one of the girls in the class.
“Good answer. He froze his family to death by accident, if I remember correctly.” Mr. Johnson replied.
The info was partly accurate. The kid had been in a fight with one of his brothers. The brother’s blood was instantly frozen. Then when the parents tried to call the cops to get an ambulance the kid wigged out and froze them too. He lost control and ended up freezing the family pets and his baby sister in her crib.
“That creepy plant girl in Brazil.” Joni scowled.
“Ah yes. Although she wasn’t from Brazil. She made her way there during an altercation. They eventually decided to leave her be when she entered a rainforest and they could no longer fight her.” Mr. Johnson added.
She could control plants, mutate them, and make them grow. The military was mobilized when she grew a giant tree at a park. It wasn’t a pretty scene. Nobody offered forth more answers.
Mr. Johnson continued. “Good answers. Where do you guys think that these superhumans are coming from? We went from none to at least three examples in the past few months.” He asked. Still, no one spoke up.
“That’s not exactly true.” Emily said, softly. Suddenly everyone’s eyes were on her. I turned toward her in my seat and gave a reassuring smile.
“How’s that?” Mr. Johnson asked. He looked interested in the fact that it was Emily that had spoken up.
“It’s not true that it’s only been within the past few months. The Platinum and Crimson families have been around for at least the past fifty years, not to mention the rumors of secret paramilitary organizations that have been circling online.” Emily explained.
People in the room began to look uneasily at each other. You didn’t mention Platinums or Crimsons in polite conversations. At least not any more than you mentioned serious terrorist attacks on Christmas. It was an unspoken reality that everyone just accepted. Because no one wanted to face the fact that there was not just one, but two crime families out there with superpowers.
The power to kill you, and everyone you loved. The power to destroy anything and anyone that stood in their way. Most of them were celebrities, or business owners, or politicians. They were there in plain sight. Everyone knew they were corrupt, that they ran massive human trafficking organizations, and that they’d killed thousands. But no one in their right mind would ever confront that reality.
“Yes, those paramilitary organizations that you’re talking about. Care to elaborate on that?” Mr. Johnson swiveled away from the uncomfortable reality.
Emily seemed disappointed. Thomas, a senior who was in academic team with me, Danny, and Emily walked in around this time. He needed Mr. Johnson to sign some papers for the student council, which Thomas was the president of. He was president of a lot of things. Sickeningly perfect at everything he tried. Though he was a cool guy, despite that.
“There’s been rumors online of mercenary groups who kidnap children. They use Crimson organs and Platinum technology to make super soldiers out of the kids. None of it has ever been proven, though.” Steve said dryly. He was a quiet kid, and he was the only other student who sat in the corner near me and Emily. He sat a few seats in front of us though. I knew him from academic team. He was nice, but rather boring. He also wore embarrassing leather jackets everywhere he went, which made me uncomfortable.
“Unproven doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, Steven.” Mr. Johnson said while signing a document. Thomas stood awkwardly to the side.
“It does mean that we have no idea if they do really exist, though.” Joni said in her shrill voice.
“They were responsible for what happened in Briggsdale a few years ago.” Thomas spoke up in a calm voice. Suddenly the room went dead silent. All eyes were on him, for some reason. I don’t know if it was because he was older, or because he was president of everything, or just because of what he was talking about. But he seemed to catch everyone’s attention. “My cousin lived up there when the quarantine happened and it all went crazy.” He explained in a serious voice. He was looking at me, Emily, and Steven as he spoke. Even Mr. Johnson was looking up at him.
“Most of what he told me sounded too crazy to be true, like monsters dragging people down and killing them in the fields… But I guess it must’ve been true, seeing what ended up happening…” He sounded sad.
Briggsdale was a small town that ended up quarantined a few years back. When the quarantine came down everyone inside that hadn’t somehow escaped was found dead. Most of the corpses were unrecognizable. Lots of them didn’t have skulls.
“Anyway, he told me that right before he left a group of mercenaries came in, promising that they’d protect everyone. They got through the quarantine after that, but he said something was off with them.” He finished.
Even Mr. Johnson was silent as Thomas left the room, just as casual as he came in. Thomas’s story kept replaying in my mind on repeat.
Is it already too late to turn back?
…
The bell rang for lunch. Mar went off with some drama class friends of her’s, Danny wandered off with his buddies. I tapped Emily on the shoulder from behind as I caught her walking to her locker. She jumped just a little then quickly turned around. She gave me a disappointed look. I could see a tiny smile appear on her face as she met my eyes.
“Wanna walk with me to get lunch? I’ll pay for you.” I asked her, as she unloaded her binder and backpack into her locker.
“What if I want to go with my boyfriend for lunch?” She said sarcastically.
“I don’t think I have enough to pay for him.” I replied casually. She looked over her shoulder at me while she closed her locker.
“Where are we going?” She said as she fell into stride next to me.
“Your pick. Though I should mention that I’m not a millionaire yet.” I responded while looking over at her.
She had her necklace around her neck that she took with her everywhere. It was platinum and in the shape of a heart. A gift from her mom from when she was ten years old. Her mom had disappeared for two years, and that was her apology when she came back.
“In that case, know anywhere that sells lobster?” She joked. I gave her an unamused look. “Okay, fine. Fast food it is.” She smiled. We ate fast food just about everyday. I count the money in my wallet so I can make sure I have enough for both of us. It’s usually full, but occasionally money will get stolen out of my bag.
For a second I fantasized about dressing up in my suit one day and hiding on the ceiling above my bag. If someone came and tried to snatch a few dollars, I’d drop and pin their arms against their sides. I might even slide the tail around their throat like I did Miss Priss last night at the robbery scene.
Of course I could never do that. If the suit was sighted at my school people would immediately assume it was either a teacher or a student. Only a handful of students are capable of building something like that, only I have the time, and no teachers are capable of anything even remotely impressive.
If someone even saw the suit was in the bottom of my bag it’d become a media storm on me. Not to mention I’d be put in prison for vigilantism, or assault and battery charges, maybe even trespassing. I started devising plans for a prison break in my head. Emily tapped my shoulder, and came to a complete stop on the sidewalk.
“You’re doing it again.” She accused me. Her head was slightly tilted down so I could see her eyes behind her glasses.
“Doing what?” I asked, confused.
“You’re spacing out, dude.” She answered.
“Sorry… I was just thinking about you guys moving into my lab.” I apologized.
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I told Mar she was being stupid. We can buzz off if you want.” She apologized.
“No, no. It’s fine. I’m just going to have to adjust. I’m not used to being around people this much.” I tried to play it cool.
Don’t mention dying. Don’t mention cancer. Don’t mention it.
“Besides, I should probably spend some more time with you guys anyway.” I continued. She turned her head in the direction away from me, probably to avoid even seeing me in her peripheral vision.
“Do you wanna go see a movie tomorrow?” She changed the subject.
That gave me pause. She knew my rules about such things. We both stopped walking.
I thought for several minutes about how I was going to respond.
Ultimately I said nothing and we continued walking awkwardly side by side.
