BOOK ONE
Copyright © 2017 by Tracie Momie
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including copying, pasting, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including copying, pasting, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
The first book from my special YA/Teen series is available for FREE! It is a short story that introduces characters from my book, Drew Saves the World, which will be available in 2025. Click below to read each part of the first book:
Part One
I was only ten years old when my mother decided I would no longer attend public school.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Show your work? Why does it matter how you got the answer if the answer is correct?”
It wasn't a question she actually expected an answer to, so I didn’t say anything. I just continued to stare out the window.
“I don’t know why humans make everything so difficult. Weak, arrogant, losers,” she muttered.
I looked over at her. “You act like you’re not human,”
She shifted nervously and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “It’s just a saying Drew.”
I stared at her a little while longer studying how tightly her jaw was clenched and the way her lips were pressed into a tight line.
“Maybe I can go to another school? With better teachers?” I suggested.
Actually, the teachers weren’t the problem. It was all me. I just wasn’t getting it. All the other kids- even the ones who I didn't think were that smart- they all understood the new concepts we were learning.
It was the first time that had ever happened to me. Up until that school year, I’d been one of the top students in my class acing every test. But this year, it was like my brain decided to take a vacation without telling me.
So, my mom started helping me with some of the math but she showed me a quicker, easier way to do it and I finally felt like I wasn’t an idiot.
I used this new technique on our first test and I got all of the answers correct but instead of seeing a bright red “A” on my paper, in the upper right-hand corner was an “F”.
After the dismissal bell rang, I stayed behind to ask the teacher why I got an F and she said, “Because you didn’t show your work,”
I glared at her. I was confused. “But I got the answers right, isn’t that what counts?”
She went on and on telling me that it’s important that I learn the concepts the way she teaches them because they will be the foundation for my academic career and there are no short cuts in life or her classroom.
When I told my mom what had happened, her entire face turned red and she started shaking so bad I thought she might pass out. That’s when she said, “You’re not going back.” I didn’t realize it at the time but she didn’t just mean I wasn’t going back to Hallbrook Middle School, I wasn’t going back to any school.
Mom started home schooling me the next week. No matter how much I protested, she wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t particularly sad about not going to school but I was sad about not seeing Doug and Noah, and Hayley Jefferson. I’d known Doug and Noah since we first moved to Hallbrook two years ago. They were good friends and we were all really into video games.
Hayley Jefferson wasn’t really my friend but she was nice to me. And she was the prettiest girl in all of fifth grade. I was going to miss sitting behind her staring at the back of her neck wondering if her smooth brown skin was as soft as it looked and the way she smelled like honeysuckle or some other sweet fragrance.
I knew most ten–year-old boys still believed girls had cooties but I was prepared to get cooties if it meant I could hold Hayley Jefferson’s hand or touch-
“Drew! Are you listening to me!” My mother yelled and snapped me out of my daydream.
Homeschooling actually wasn’t that bad except my mom wasn’t the most patient teacher. She told me I wasn’t using my full brain capacity and that I needed to focus. Focus was her favorite word. We actually started doing meditation during our class time, she said it would help me get centered. I had no idea what she was talking about but I played along.
I started seeing less and less of Doug and Noah especially the next school year. Mom and I moved again. We’d lived in at least four different cities since I was three. She always said it was because of a better job opportunity but each time we left in a hurry like we were trying to get away from something or someone.
I never really pressured my mom or caused any trouble because I figured it wasn’t easy raising a kid on your own. And at least she’d stuck around. She said that my dad didn’t want to be a dad and that he’d left before I was born. Sometimes I’d ask about him, like if he was still alive or lived nearby and she’d look like she was about to cry. She told me not to spend time thinking or worrying about someone who wasn’t doing the same for me.
The years passed and although mom was teaching me all the things I needed to know academically, I felt my social skills hadn’t developed much at all.
On my thirteenth birthday, she took me out to a restaurant to celebrate. Just the two of us. It was a quiet, run down little Chinese restaurant, I didn’t even like Chinese food. I’d seen on Noah’s Snapchat that he’d celebrated his thirteenth birthday with a pool party with a bunch of kids that I remembered from school. And Hayley Jefferson was there! All I could see was part of her body from waist up as she smiled and wished Noah a happy birthday. And then she kissed him on the cheek.
I immediately unfollowed him. That should have been my kiss.
Later that evening my mom came in my room and sat on the edge of my bed. I was curled in the fetal position feeling sorry for myself. I was becoming a hermit. I would never have any friends, never have a girlfriend or get married. And in that moment, I blamed the petite woman sitting on the edge of my bed. I felt like I was her prisoner.
“You okay?” she asked placing a hand on my ankle.
I moved my leg away from her touch.
“Come on, Drew talk to me,” she sighed.
I sat up and looked at her. Something in my expression must have bothered her because she stood and moved closer to the door.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked.
“Doing what?” she asked calmly.
“Keeping me here? I don’t have any friends, I barely get to leave this house and I hate Chinese food!” I yelled.
“I’m not keeping you here. You are free to go out and make friends Drew. And you never said you didn’t like Chinese food,” she frowned.
She was right. I had never actually said I didn’t like Chinese food but I just thought it was something she should have picked up on. But I was more interested in what she said about making friends . . .
“So, I could leave right now and go to the arcade?”
“You sure can. Just be home by eight o’clock,” she said softly and then she turned and left the room. I looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was a little after six.
I stood at the front door for almost ten minutes contemplating my next move. I’d never actually gone anywhere without my mom since back when I was in school. What if I got lost?
I grunted as I gripped the doorknob. I was thirteen. Not a baby.
“Do you have money? For the games?”
I jumped at the sound of my mom’s voice.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said holding a twenty-dollar bill towards me.
“I wasn’t- you didn’t scare me,” I lied.
She smiled faintly and extended the twenty farther.
I sighed and walked over to grab it. She quickly grabbed my wrist and squeezed it. I was always surprised by how strong my mom was to be so small.
“Be careful,” she said sternly. “And text me when you get there,”
“Okay,” I put the money in my pocket, opened the door and walked out into the night air alone.
The arcade was only about five or six blocks away. We lived in a pretty safe neighborhood but the farther I got away from our small two-bedroom house, the neighborhood seemed to change. It looked much different as the sun started to set. Once I made it out of our neighborhood, the buildings seemed taller, darker like they were swaying. It was pretty creepy.
I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and walked faster. Pretty soon I was standing outside of the arcade staring up at the neon sign: Lantern Arcade. I smiled. I’d made it there safely. Without my mom.
I pulled on the door handle and opened it. As soon as I entered, I frowned. It smelled like cigarette smoke and Frito’s. And there were only about four games. The old school games– Pac Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. There were two pool tables in the back and a dart board next to what looked like a snack bar. The overhead fluorescent lighting was blinking and one of the lights over the pool table was out.
It was awful. Nothing like the bright, busy and modern arcade back in Hallbrook. I started to turn around and go back home but I didn’t want my mom to know it was a bust, especially after I’d made such a big deal about it. There were two guys in the back playing pool and one guy at the snack bar. I decided I would play a few levels of Pac Man and then head home. The games were only fifty cents and I had two dollars worth of quarters in my pocket plus the twenty my mom had given me. I texted my mom, letting her know I was okay, before putting two quarters in the game.
I was on level three when the door opened and a group of rowdy guys came in. They looked like troublemakers. I was so nervous that I missed my chance at catching the ghosts and got gobbled up. I only had one life left, which was for the best since I needed to leave soon.
When the next level started up, a guy suddenly appeared next to me.
“Hey. You pretty good on this game. Where you from? I ain’t never seen you around here.”
I tried to remain calm but my heart was beating really fast. He didn’t seem all that dangerous but his voice was thick and scratchy, like it belonged to an old man instead of what I suspected to be a young teenage boy. He also wore a sweatshirt and jeans that were two sizes too big. I wondered if maybe he was in a gang. He wasn’t with the guys who had entered a minute ago, they definitely looked like they were in a gang.
I cleared my throat. “Um, yeah. I’m new here,” I said as I continued the game and tried to keep my hands from shaking.
“I’m Lil’ Darryl,” he leaned against the game invading my personal space.
“Drew,” I said, distracted as I watched my Pac Man eat a pellet and chase the ghosts around the maze.
“Oh no, keep cool. Here comes Tyrell and his crew,” he whispered.
Before I could ask any questions, the group that had entered the arcade were making their way towards us. There were four of them.
“Hey fellas, look a here, Little Darryl has made a friend. What you boys doing out so late on a school night?” One of the guys, who I assumed was Tyrell, asked.
My hands fell away from the controller and I let Blinky dissolve my last Pac Man.
“I was just leaving,” I said.
“Oh, is it past your curfew? Where you from? You know this is my arcade. Nobody gets in or out without my say so,” he came closer to me and I took a step back.
He was an inch or two taller than me but probably not much older. He wore a baseball cap turned backwards and was sucking on a Blow Pop.
“He’s new around here. L-l-l-leave him alone Tyrell,” Little Darryl stuttered. I could tell by how shaky his voice was that he was scared of Tyrell, which made me scared of Tyrell.
“Shut up, you stuttering fool!” Tyrell yelled, reaching past me to push Darryl. The guys with him laughed.
“Like I said, I need to go,” I tried to move around him.
“Like I said, you get out only if I say so. How much money you got?”
I clenched my fists in the pockets of my hoodie holding on to the twenty that my mom gave me. Tyrell pushed me.
“Answer me,” he demanded.
I looked back at the snack bar but the guy that was there earlier had disappeared. And the guys at the pool table couldn’t see us since we were on the other side of the games.
“I just want to go home,” I said.
“I just want to go home,” he said mocking me. At least I think he was mocking me. He sounded more like a little girl.
“Give me your money and you can go,” He pushed me again and I stumbled backwards.
I’d never been in a position where I’d been picked on. I wasn’t sure I knew how to fight but I wasn’t giving Tyrell my mom’s money. She worked too hard for me to give it away to a bully.
“No,” I said firmly.
“Oh, we got us a tough guy, fellas,” he said turning to face his friends. They laughed again.
When he turned around I saw his hand move but before he could push me again, I grabbed his arm and pushed his shoulder so hard that he flew backwards and knocked down two of his friends. My eyes widened and I heard Little Darryl laugh.
While they were on the ground, I took a chance and headed for the door. Then I started running. Once I was outside, I shot off down the street. A few minutes later I realized I’d turned the wrong way and was in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood.
I was lost.
“Hey, hey! Andrew! Andrew! Man, hold up!” I heard someone behind me and I got scared. When he came closer, I realized it was Little Darryl.
“Man, you run fast. Hold up, let me catch my breath,” he bent over at the knee breathing harshly.
“Are those guys coming?” I asked looking past him.
He shook his head.
“Nah, Tyrell just try to act bad. He’s only fourteen and he picks on kids smaller than him,” he said, taking a deep breath. “He ain’t gonna ever pick on you again,” he laughed then he sounded like he was gasping for air.
I ran my hands over my head.
“You live over here?” Little Darryl asked still out of breath.
“No, I think I turned the wrong way,”
“I-I need to- I live at the end- the apartments- my asthma is flaring up,” he wheezed. He looked like he was about to pass out.
“Are you okay?”
“I just need my inhaler,” he started walking down the street.
We made it to the small apartment complex around the corner and Little Darryl let himself into an empty apartment on the first floor. He went straight to the kitchen and pulled an inhaler from a drawer. He took two deep pulls from it and soon his breathing sounded normal.
“Sorry about that. I don’t usually run that much or that fast. So you know karate or something?” he asked.
“Uh- no, I don’t know what happened back there. I need to go- I should probably call my mom,”
“You the man Andrew, I ain’t never seen nobody stand up to Tyrell like that. You know his daddy owns the arcade that’s why he acts like that,”
“It’s just Drew,” I took the phone from my pocket and called my mom. I asked Little Darryl for his address and she said she was on her way. She got there in less than ten minutes.
“Mom- how- how did you get here so fast?” I asked confused. It had taken me almost ten minutes to walk to the arcade and Darryl lived about ten minutes past the arcade.
“Never mind that. Are you okay? What happened?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Hi Andrew’s mom,” Little Darryl waived at her.
“It’s just Drew,” I reminded him.
“Um hi, who are you?” my mom asked looking down the dark hallway of the apartment.
“I’m Lil' Darryl. Andr- Drew’s new friend. He protected me from a bully tonight,”
I turned and frowned at him. If my mom knew I’d gotten into a fight, I’d never be allowed outside alone again.
“You got into a fight?” she asked. But her voice sounded weird. Not like she was mad but more impressed.
“It wasn’t a fight- can we go?” I asked walking past her outside. “Um, mom? Where’s the car?”
Once we left Little Darryl’s apartment, we walked to the end of the block to make it back to the street where the arcade was located.
“I still don't understand how you got over there so fast. And you walked?” I continued questioning my mom but she ignored me.
“So tell me about this fight?” she asked not slowing down. Her legs moved pretty fast to be such a short woman.
“It wasn’t a fight. A guy was being a jerk. He pushed me and I pushed him back. No big deal,” I said, hoping she would drop it.
“What happened when you pushed him?” she asked.
I sighed. “He um, he fell down. I didn’t think I’d pushed him that hard but he fell pretty hard and knocked down two of his friends,” I actually felt bad about it and hoped they weren’t hurt.
A laugh came from my mom surprising me. “You knocked down three guys? How big were they?”
My eyes widened. “Mom! I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be yelling at me, telling me not to fight or get into trouble or something like that,”
She waved me off. “I wouldn’t call that much of a fight. Besides, I’m proud of you. You can’t let evil win,” she frowned.
“Evil? Mom they were kids around my age. Just a group of bullies,” I said.
She only smirked in response. We were quiet for the rest of the walk home. Later that night I took off my shirt and stared at my upper body in the bathroom mirror. I flexed to make a muscle. I didn’t have any muscles or even feel that strong. Just the other day I had to ask my mom to open the top on a Gatorade. I had no idea how I was able to push Tyrell so hard. Maybe it was an adrenaline rush. It was just weird. But that was nothing compared to how strange my life became after that night at the arcade.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Show your work? Why does it matter how you got the answer if the answer is correct?”
It wasn't a question she actually expected an answer to, so I didn’t say anything. I just continued to stare out the window.
“I don’t know why humans make everything so difficult. Weak, arrogant, losers,” she muttered.
I looked over at her. “You act like you’re not human,”
She shifted nervously and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “It’s just a saying Drew.”
I stared at her a little while longer studying how tightly her jaw was clenched and the way her lips were pressed into a tight line.
“Maybe I can go to another school? With better teachers?” I suggested.
Actually, the teachers weren’t the problem. It was all me. I just wasn’t getting it. All the other kids- even the ones who I didn't think were that smart- they all understood the new concepts we were learning.
It was the first time that had ever happened to me. Up until that school year, I’d been one of the top students in my class acing every test. But this year, it was like my brain decided to take a vacation without telling me.
So, my mom started helping me with some of the math but she showed me a quicker, easier way to do it and I finally felt like I wasn’t an idiot.
I used this new technique on our first test and I got all of the answers correct but instead of seeing a bright red “A” on my paper, in the upper right-hand corner was an “F”.
After the dismissal bell rang, I stayed behind to ask the teacher why I got an F and she said, “Because you didn’t show your work,”
I glared at her. I was confused. “But I got the answers right, isn’t that what counts?”
She went on and on telling me that it’s important that I learn the concepts the way she teaches them because they will be the foundation for my academic career and there are no short cuts in life or her classroom.
When I told my mom what had happened, her entire face turned red and she started shaking so bad I thought she might pass out. That’s when she said, “You’re not going back.” I didn’t realize it at the time but she didn’t just mean I wasn’t going back to Hallbrook Middle School, I wasn’t going back to any school.
Mom started home schooling me the next week. No matter how much I protested, she wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t particularly sad about not going to school but I was sad about not seeing Doug and Noah, and Hayley Jefferson. I’d known Doug and Noah since we first moved to Hallbrook two years ago. They were good friends and we were all really into video games.
Hayley Jefferson wasn’t really my friend but she was nice to me. And she was the prettiest girl in all of fifth grade. I was going to miss sitting behind her staring at the back of her neck wondering if her smooth brown skin was as soft as it looked and the way she smelled like honeysuckle or some other sweet fragrance.
I knew most ten–year-old boys still believed girls had cooties but I was prepared to get cooties if it meant I could hold Hayley Jefferson’s hand or touch-
“Drew! Are you listening to me!” My mother yelled and snapped me out of my daydream.
Homeschooling actually wasn’t that bad except my mom wasn’t the most patient teacher. She told me I wasn’t using my full brain capacity and that I needed to focus. Focus was her favorite word. We actually started doing meditation during our class time, she said it would help me get centered. I had no idea what she was talking about but I played along.
I started seeing less and less of Doug and Noah especially the next school year. Mom and I moved again. We’d lived in at least four different cities since I was three. She always said it was because of a better job opportunity but each time we left in a hurry like we were trying to get away from something or someone.
I never really pressured my mom or caused any trouble because I figured it wasn’t easy raising a kid on your own. And at least she’d stuck around. She said that my dad didn’t want to be a dad and that he’d left before I was born. Sometimes I’d ask about him, like if he was still alive or lived nearby and she’d look like she was about to cry. She told me not to spend time thinking or worrying about someone who wasn’t doing the same for me.
The years passed and although mom was teaching me all the things I needed to know academically, I felt my social skills hadn’t developed much at all.
On my thirteenth birthday, she took me out to a restaurant to celebrate. Just the two of us. It was a quiet, run down little Chinese restaurant, I didn’t even like Chinese food. I’d seen on Noah’s Snapchat that he’d celebrated his thirteenth birthday with a pool party with a bunch of kids that I remembered from school. And Hayley Jefferson was there! All I could see was part of her body from waist up as she smiled and wished Noah a happy birthday. And then she kissed him on the cheek.
I immediately unfollowed him. That should have been my kiss.
Later that evening my mom came in my room and sat on the edge of my bed. I was curled in the fetal position feeling sorry for myself. I was becoming a hermit. I would never have any friends, never have a girlfriend or get married. And in that moment, I blamed the petite woman sitting on the edge of my bed. I felt like I was her prisoner.
“You okay?” she asked placing a hand on my ankle.
I moved my leg away from her touch.
“Come on, Drew talk to me,” she sighed.
I sat up and looked at her. Something in my expression must have bothered her because she stood and moved closer to the door.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I asked.
“Doing what?” she asked calmly.
“Keeping me here? I don’t have any friends, I barely get to leave this house and I hate Chinese food!” I yelled.
“I’m not keeping you here. You are free to go out and make friends Drew. And you never said you didn’t like Chinese food,” she frowned.
She was right. I had never actually said I didn’t like Chinese food but I just thought it was something she should have picked up on. But I was more interested in what she said about making friends . . .
“So, I could leave right now and go to the arcade?”
“You sure can. Just be home by eight o’clock,” she said softly and then she turned and left the room. I looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was a little after six.
I stood at the front door for almost ten minutes contemplating my next move. I’d never actually gone anywhere without my mom since back when I was in school. What if I got lost?
I grunted as I gripped the doorknob. I was thirteen. Not a baby.
“Do you have money? For the games?”
I jumped at the sound of my mom’s voice.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said holding a twenty-dollar bill towards me.
“I wasn’t- you didn’t scare me,” I lied.
She smiled faintly and extended the twenty farther.
I sighed and walked over to grab it. She quickly grabbed my wrist and squeezed it. I was always surprised by how strong my mom was to be so small.
“Be careful,” she said sternly. “And text me when you get there,”
“Okay,” I put the money in my pocket, opened the door and walked out into the night air alone.
The arcade was only about five or six blocks away. We lived in a pretty safe neighborhood but the farther I got away from our small two-bedroom house, the neighborhood seemed to change. It looked much different as the sun started to set. Once I made it out of our neighborhood, the buildings seemed taller, darker like they were swaying. It was pretty creepy.
I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and walked faster. Pretty soon I was standing outside of the arcade staring up at the neon sign: Lantern Arcade. I smiled. I’d made it there safely. Without my mom.
I pulled on the door handle and opened it. As soon as I entered, I frowned. It smelled like cigarette smoke and Frito’s. And there were only about four games. The old school games– Pac Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. There were two pool tables in the back and a dart board next to what looked like a snack bar. The overhead fluorescent lighting was blinking and one of the lights over the pool table was out.
It was awful. Nothing like the bright, busy and modern arcade back in Hallbrook. I started to turn around and go back home but I didn’t want my mom to know it was a bust, especially after I’d made such a big deal about it. There were two guys in the back playing pool and one guy at the snack bar. I decided I would play a few levels of Pac Man and then head home. The games were only fifty cents and I had two dollars worth of quarters in my pocket plus the twenty my mom had given me. I texted my mom, letting her know I was okay, before putting two quarters in the game.
I was on level three when the door opened and a group of rowdy guys came in. They looked like troublemakers. I was so nervous that I missed my chance at catching the ghosts and got gobbled up. I only had one life left, which was for the best since I needed to leave soon.
When the next level started up, a guy suddenly appeared next to me.
“Hey. You pretty good on this game. Where you from? I ain’t never seen you around here.”
I tried to remain calm but my heart was beating really fast. He didn’t seem all that dangerous but his voice was thick and scratchy, like it belonged to an old man instead of what I suspected to be a young teenage boy. He also wore a sweatshirt and jeans that were two sizes too big. I wondered if maybe he was in a gang. He wasn’t with the guys who had entered a minute ago, they definitely looked like they were in a gang.
I cleared my throat. “Um, yeah. I’m new here,” I said as I continued the game and tried to keep my hands from shaking.
“I’m Lil’ Darryl,” he leaned against the game invading my personal space.
“Drew,” I said, distracted as I watched my Pac Man eat a pellet and chase the ghosts around the maze.
“Oh no, keep cool. Here comes Tyrell and his crew,” he whispered.
Before I could ask any questions, the group that had entered the arcade were making their way towards us. There were four of them.
“Hey fellas, look a here, Little Darryl has made a friend. What you boys doing out so late on a school night?” One of the guys, who I assumed was Tyrell, asked.
My hands fell away from the controller and I let Blinky dissolve my last Pac Man.
“I was just leaving,” I said.
“Oh, is it past your curfew? Where you from? You know this is my arcade. Nobody gets in or out without my say so,” he came closer to me and I took a step back.
He was an inch or two taller than me but probably not much older. He wore a baseball cap turned backwards and was sucking on a Blow Pop.
“He’s new around here. L-l-l-leave him alone Tyrell,” Little Darryl stuttered. I could tell by how shaky his voice was that he was scared of Tyrell, which made me scared of Tyrell.
“Shut up, you stuttering fool!” Tyrell yelled, reaching past me to push Darryl. The guys with him laughed.
“Like I said, I need to go,” I tried to move around him.
“Like I said, you get out only if I say so. How much money you got?”
I clenched my fists in the pockets of my hoodie holding on to the twenty that my mom gave me. Tyrell pushed me.
“Answer me,” he demanded.
I looked back at the snack bar but the guy that was there earlier had disappeared. And the guys at the pool table couldn’t see us since we were on the other side of the games.
“I just want to go home,” I said.
“I just want to go home,” he said mocking me. At least I think he was mocking me. He sounded more like a little girl.
“Give me your money and you can go,” He pushed me again and I stumbled backwards.
I’d never been in a position where I’d been picked on. I wasn’t sure I knew how to fight but I wasn’t giving Tyrell my mom’s money. She worked too hard for me to give it away to a bully.
“No,” I said firmly.
“Oh, we got us a tough guy, fellas,” he said turning to face his friends. They laughed again.
When he turned around I saw his hand move but before he could push me again, I grabbed his arm and pushed his shoulder so hard that he flew backwards and knocked down two of his friends. My eyes widened and I heard Little Darryl laugh.
While they were on the ground, I took a chance and headed for the door. Then I started running. Once I was outside, I shot off down the street. A few minutes later I realized I’d turned the wrong way and was in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood.
I was lost.
“Hey, hey! Andrew! Andrew! Man, hold up!” I heard someone behind me and I got scared. When he came closer, I realized it was Little Darryl.
“Man, you run fast. Hold up, let me catch my breath,” he bent over at the knee breathing harshly.
“Are those guys coming?” I asked looking past him.
He shook his head.
“Nah, Tyrell just try to act bad. He’s only fourteen and he picks on kids smaller than him,” he said, taking a deep breath. “He ain’t gonna ever pick on you again,” he laughed then he sounded like he was gasping for air.
I ran my hands over my head.
“You live over here?” Little Darryl asked still out of breath.
“No, I think I turned the wrong way,”
“I-I need to- I live at the end- the apartments- my asthma is flaring up,” he wheezed. He looked like he was about to pass out.
“Are you okay?”
“I just need my inhaler,” he started walking down the street.
We made it to the small apartment complex around the corner and Little Darryl let himself into an empty apartment on the first floor. He went straight to the kitchen and pulled an inhaler from a drawer. He took two deep pulls from it and soon his breathing sounded normal.
“Sorry about that. I don’t usually run that much or that fast. So you know karate or something?” he asked.
“Uh- no, I don’t know what happened back there. I need to go- I should probably call my mom,”
“You the man Andrew, I ain’t never seen nobody stand up to Tyrell like that. You know his daddy owns the arcade that’s why he acts like that,”
“It’s just Drew,” I took the phone from my pocket and called my mom. I asked Little Darryl for his address and she said she was on her way. She got there in less than ten minutes.
“Mom- how- how did you get here so fast?” I asked confused. It had taken me almost ten minutes to walk to the arcade and Darryl lived about ten minutes past the arcade.
“Never mind that. Are you okay? What happened?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Hi Andrew’s mom,” Little Darryl waived at her.
“It’s just Drew,” I reminded him.
“Um hi, who are you?” my mom asked looking down the dark hallway of the apartment.
“I’m Lil' Darryl. Andr- Drew’s new friend. He protected me from a bully tonight,”
I turned and frowned at him. If my mom knew I’d gotten into a fight, I’d never be allowed outside alone again.
“You got into a fight?” she asked. But her voice sounded weird. Not like she was mad but more impressed.
“It wasn’t a fight- can we go?” I asked walking past her outside. “Um, mom? Where’s the car?”
Once we left Little Darryl’s apartment, we walked to the end of the block to make it back to the street where the arcade was located.
“I still don't understand how you got over there so fast. And you walked?” I continued questioning my mom but she ignored me.
“So tell me about this fight?” she asked not slowing down. Her legs moved pretty fast to be such a short woman.
“It wasn’t a fight. A guy was being a jerk. He pushed me and I pushed him back. No big deal,” I said, hoping she would drop it.
“What happened when you pushed him?” she asked.
I sighed. “He um, he fell down. I didn’t think I’d pushed him that hard but he fell pretty hard and knocked down two of his friends,” I actually felt bad about it and hoped they weren’t hurt.
A laugh came from my mom surprising me. “You knocked down three guys? How big were they?”
My eyes widened. “Mom! I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be yelling at me, telling me not to fight or get into trouble or something like that,”
She waved me off. “I wouldn’t call that much of a fight. Besides, I’m proud of you. You can’t let evil win,” she frowned.
“Evil? Mom they were kids around my age. Just a group of bullies,” I said.
She only smirked in response. We were quiet for the rest of the walk home. Later that night I took off my shirt and stared at my upper body in the bathroom mirror. I flexed to make a muscle. I didn’t have any muscles or even feel that strong. Just the other day I had to ask my mom to open the top on a Gatorade. I had no idea how I was able to push Tyrell so hard. Maybe it was an adrenaline rush. It was just weird. But that was nothing compared to how strange my life became after that night at the arcade.
PART ONE STORYBOARD DREAM CASTING & INSPIRATION
YOUNG DREW
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DREW'S MOM- STEPH
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Drew & Steph's House
Arcade
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Part Two
The months after the incident at the arcade, my mom became obsessed with me learning self-defense. I wasn’t really sure why it was necessary– especially since I had technically won the fight. If it was even considered a fight. She signed me up for karate classes and we started running together every day after dinner. She said it would help with my endurance. Again, not sure why I needed endurance either.
We were coming back from a run one day when we ran into Little Darryl. I hadn’t seen him since that night after the arcade.
“Hey Drew and Drew’s mom,” he smiled widely. I noticed he had a gap in his front teeth. I had totally missed that the night I met him.
My mom didn’t seem too happy to see him. But I was happy to see him. I had a feeling we would become good friends. And I was right.
Me and Little Darryl hung out a lot playing video games on the new Xbox my mom bought me. I'd begged for one because I knew I'd never be able to set foot in the arcade again; I was sure Tyrell would be looking for revenge.
I learned a lot about Little Darryl during our time together: like he was actually one year younger than me. He also had three little sisters and he was named after his dad, Big Darryl. Big Darryl wasn’t in Little Darryl’s life but it was because he had died at work. He was a policeman and someone shot him. He wasn't a loser like my dad who just up and left his family. Little Darryl’s mom worked at a nursing home three nights a week and his grandmother watched his sisters but he stayed at home alone because he said he needed a break from all those girls. Well, he used to stay home alone but he started spending the evenings at my house until his mom picked him up.
“Man, you’re lucky you don’t have to go to school. Why don’t you have to go to school? Are you too smart? And why don’t your mama have to work?” Little Darryl questioned me one day while we were hanging out at my house. We never hung out his apartment because his sisters were always crying or making a bunch of noise. It made me grateful to be an only child. Sometimes. Sometimes I thought it might be nice to have a brother or sister. That way you’d always have a friend.
“My mom works from home, she does sales calls. And I do go to school. I’m home schooled,” I replied to him while stretching my legs out in front of me. I was sitting on the floor in my room and Little Darryl was on the bed.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to get up early or catch the bus and go across town and then spend the day with a bunch of rude, crazy kids,”
I didn’t tell him but I wished I could go to school. I wouldn’t even mind the rude, crazy kids if it meant I’d get to spend time with kids my own age and feel normal just for a little while.
Actually, I did feel normal for a little while, having a friend, playing video games and even riding the new skateboard I’d gotten for Christmas at the skate park. But about a year and a half later, things changed.
One day instead of working on school work, my mom decided she was going to show me how to change a tire on the car. She said since I was now fifteen I needed to learn about cars, so that I could get a driver’s license next year. The thought of driving a car scared me. I told her I’d just stick to my skateboard.
“That skateboard will only get you so far. And what if it’s dark or the weather is bad? That skateboard can’t protect you,”
“I don’t think a car can either. That’s why people are always crashing when it rains or at night because they can’t see,” I’d argued.
She sighed. “This is not up for discussion. Let’s go,”
Not many things were up for discussion with my mom.
I went to the garage and watched her use a something that she called a jack to raise the car a little in the back. And then she took a tire from the trunk of the car that I didn’t even know was in there. She said it was a spare tire. Then she used a tool to start loosening the tire but she suddenly stopped.
“Hold on, let me make sure-,” she muttered something before she laid down on her back and slid under the back of the car where it was raised off the ground.
“Whoa- mom what are you doing,” I asked walking to the back of the car. It seemed really dangerous for her to be under the car like that. “You know I can just Google this and I’m sure there is a YouTube video online. I think you should-,” And before I could finish my sentence I heard a click and the car started to drop.
“Mom! Get from under there!” I yelled.
“Drew! I think I’m stuck! You’re going to have to lift the car,” she screamed.
“What? I- I don’t- do I press the lever on the side?” I hurried back over to the jack.
“No! Just come back and lift the car!”
I frowned. My mom must have hit her head if she thought I could lift a car. And it wasn't one of those tiny smart cars either. It was a full sized car. A black Honda Accord.
“Lift the car? I can’t- no- I- I’m going to pull you out,” I said walking back to her. I kneeled down and looked under the car, it was a couple of inches from her face. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t totally crushed her. “I’m going to grab your legs and pull you out,” I placed a hand on her ankle and she kicked her leg.
“No! Lift the bumper! Just grab it and lift the car,” she said and she sounded angry.
“Mom, I can’t lift a car!” I said as I placed my hand back on her ankle.
The car dropped another inch and I screamed. This time tears filled my eyes as I looked under the car and realized I couldn’t see my mom’s face.
“Mom!” I yelled. She didn’t answer. I should have just opened the garage door and screamed for help but when I heard the faint sound of my mom’s voice calling my name, something I can’t explain happened inside of me and I placed both hands underneath the back of the car, bent my knees, closed my eyes and I tried to lift it up with all my strength.
I kept chanting over and over in my head, “Please don’t let my mom die, please don’t let my mom die.” Then my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my mom’s voice.
“It’s okay, it’s okay- I’m okay. Put it down. Slowly, gently-,” she was whispering.
I opened my eyes and realized I’d not only lifted the car enough for her to slide from underneath but I had both back tires at least three feet off the ground. My eyes widened and I quickly let go of the car but instead of it crashing down, it moved so slow that it seemed like it was floating. I looked at my mom and she had her hand up like she was guiding it.
I stumbled to the corner of the garage and I looked at my hands. My fingertips were black but I felt the same. Even when I was holding the car- three feet off the ground- it felt like I was lifting a can of soda. I let my arms fall to my side and stared at my mom.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Is this- am I dreaming?”
She shook her head.
“That car didn’t really fall on you, did it?” I asked staring at her.
She shook her head again.
“So, I am dreaming- what -,” I clenched my eyes shut. “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” I said slapping myself in the face. It stung really bad.
“Drew stop it!” My mother yelled and my eyes flew open. We were still in the garage.
“Mom- what is going on?” I asked as tears filled my eyes once again.
“Come inside. We need to talk.”
I hesitated but followed my mom back inside the house. I sat down on the couch and she headed towards the kitchen. I laid back on the couch and closed my eyes still convinced I was dreaming.
“Here,” I heard my mom’s voice and opened my eyes. She was holding an ice pack towards me.
“What’s this for?” I frowned.
She winced. “Your face,”
I stood and walked over to the mirror in the hallway. My cheeks were slightly swollen and one had a purplish bruise. My eyes widened. “Did the car do that?” I asked confused.
She cleared her throat. “No, when you were slapping yourself in the face,” she said scratching her neck nervously.
I just stared at her before I felt my legs start to give out and I sank to the floor. I was there for a few minutes before I felt my mom forcing the ice pack in my hand and then on to my face. I looked up at her as my vision clouded with tears.
“Is there something wrong with me?” I asked as my voice cracked.
“Oh sweetie, no- no there is nothing wrong with you at all,” she said sitting next to me and wrapping an arm around me.
I had grown almost two feet taller than my mom, so the position we were in felt awkward. She slid over to the wall and sat with her back against it.
“Come here,” she said leading me to her lap. I lay my head in her lap while she gently placed the ice pack on my cheek.
She sighed. “I guess there is no easy way to say this- you’re not a normal boy Drew. You’re special,” she said and I’d heard her voice sound that way before when I’d done something she thought was cool. She was proud.
“I don’t understand? I am a normal boy. I’ve always been a normal boy. I look like a boy, sound like a boy, I like video games, I don’t clean up my room,” I rambled on and on.
She laughed lightly. “Well, that’s sort of the way your DNA is made up with you being part human.”
I sat up and looked at her like she was insane.
“Part human? What exactly does that mean mom- what is my other part made of?” I shrieked.
“Dracosian.”
“Dra-what? Is that a European country?” I asked. She’d never taught me that much about geography.
She smiled faintly before she stood. “Let’s sit on the couch where it’s more comfortable,”
I hesitantly followed her. I’d totally abandoned the ice pack as I sat on the edge of the chair instead of next to her.
“Dracosia is a planet in the-,”
“Dracosia? That is not a planet mom! Why are you doing this? Is this a joke? Are we on TV?” I asked looking around the living room for a hidden camera.
“It’s not a joke. Listen to me and when I’m done if you have questions or doubts I’ll address them then,” she said sternly.
I sighed and sat back in the chair scowling at her.
“Dracosia is a planet at the end of the second quadrant of the galaxy. It is not listed on any human records of the universe. It’s between the Milky Way and Andromeda. That is where I am from. My destiny was to give life to the designated, reconnaissance, evolved weapon that will save Earth.”
“What?!”
I’d had enough.
“I can’t listen to any more of this!” I yelled. I got up and walked towards my room and just as I made it to the door, it slammed it my face like someone had closed it from inside.
I stopped and my mouth dropped open. I looked over my shoulder and mom stood there with her palm up like she did with the car when we were in garage.
“Did you do that- mom-? What did you do with my mom?” I asked backing away from her.
“I came to Earth seventeen years ago. The Sovereign had arranged it so that I would meet your father. We started a relationship and had you-,”
I covered my ears. “No, no, no! Stop!”
I felt my arms move away from my ears and they were pinned to my sides by an invisible force. I felt helpless and couldn’t move. I was so scared as I looked at this woman, who was supposed to be my mom but there was no way she could be my mom. She had to be an alien or something to move things with her hands.
“You know, I’m kind of shocked at your reaction to all of this. I would’ve thought you’d be excited about having powers,” she frowned.
“I don’t have powers,” I said as my voice shook. Maybe if I did what this alien wanted she’d bring my mom back. Or maybe doing what she wanted was the way I’d wake up from this nightmare. “You’ve got the wrong kid.”
“You have super strength and other powers. Your powers were supposed to be activated upon your sixteenth birthday but I noticed there were early signs they were already starting to surface. Unfortunately, right now your strength only manifests when you’re afraid,”
I was afraid now. And I definitely didn’t feel strong. I remained silent.
“Every one thousand years The Sovereign send-,”
“The Sovereign?” This alien lady was really crazy.
“They are the supreme enforcers of peace in the universe. Every one thousand years they send someone to protect the populated planets in the universe from a force that has been trying to destroy the universe since it was created. Every one thousand years, there is a small window of opportunity for this destruction to happen and the only person that can stop this from happening is the designated, reconnaissance, evolved weapon. That’s you. That’s what your name means, you always asked me why I didn’t name you Andrew-,”
“And my mom always said it was because adding "An" to the front of my name was a waste of a syllable. The same reason her parents named her Steph instead of Stephanie.” I said hoping hearing that would make my mom somehow reappear.
She sighed. “Drew I am your mom. And Steph is also an acronym it stands for speedy, telekinetic, evolved, prototype human.”
“So you’re telling me you’re my mom and you’re what a robot?” I laughed. “Oh yeah, and that I am a superhero sent here to save Earth?”
Suddenly I felt whatever force that was holding me release and I almost fell to the ground.
“I know this all sound unbelievable but-,”
“Because it’s not true!” I yelled as I pushed past her and ran from the house. I ran all the way to the skate park a couple of miles away and stopped to catch my breath. I needed to get to a police station. When I stood and looked over my shoulder I shrieked. My mom- or this prototype of my mom was there.
I opened my mouth but before I could say anything, she spoke: “I have super speed. You can’t outrun me. Listen we don’t have time for this. I know it’s all really overwhelming and I didn’t think we’d have to deal with this until you were sixteen but I’ve been informed that Telegon is already in the galaxy, which means he is already preparing his sycophants for an attack. We need to find a-,”
I took off in the opposite direction and ran as fast as I could. Maybe this is why my mom told me I’d need endurance to outrun crazy aliens.
I looked over my shoulder and didn’t see her but as soon as I turned my head she appeared next to me. But I didn’t stop running and neither did she but instead of exerting a lot of energy like I was, it looked like she was just walking. My legs were suddenly being forced in another direction and I found myself in the middle of a trail covered with tall grass and bushes. I felt paralyzed like I had back at home and I realized the alien lady must be doing it. I looked at her and her expression was blank. I felt something start to wrap around my feet and I thought it was a snake but I wasn’t able to move my legs or my arms. Whatever was wrapping around my feet was also wrapping around my legs and then my waist and my arms until I was totally bound. I lowered my eyes and saw that it was part of a chain link fence.
After a minute or two my body went limp and I realized I had control of my arms and legs again but I still couldn’t move.
“Why are you doing this?” I cried. “Help!” I screamed.
“No one can hear you Drew. You can free yourself. Just rip it a part,” she shrugged.
“I can’t! I can’t! I don’t have super strength and you are not my mom!” I screamed.
“There are rats in this field. I know how afraid you are of rats. You don’t want them to crawl up your pants do you?” she asked in a teasing tone.
I was terrified of rats.
I started to struggle against the fence so that I could wiggle my way out. One of my hands slipped through an opening and I tried pulling it away but it wouldn’t give. I heard a squeak and when I raised my head there was a big, brown vicious looking rat right in front of my face– just dangling there in mid-air. I felt the same surge of energy I'd felt when I lifted the car in the garage; I grabbed part of the fence with my free hand and I pulled it way like it was tissue paper.
I stared down at my hands in disbelief and then everything went black.
We were coming back from a run one day when we ran into Little Darryl. I hadn’t seen him since that night after the arcade.
“Hey Drew and Drew’s mom,” he smiled widely. I noticed he had a gap in his front teeth. I had totally missed that the night I met him.
My mom didn’t seem too happy to see him. But I was happy to see him. I had a feeling we would become good friends. And I was right.
Me and Little Darryl hung out a lot playing video games on the new Xbox my mom bought me. I'd begged for one because I knew I'd never be able to set foot in the arcade again; I was sure Tyrell would be looking for revenge.
I learned a lot about Little Darryl during our time together: like he was actually one year younger than me. He also had three little sisters and he was named after his dad, Big Darryl. Big Darryl wasn’t in Little Darryl’s life but it was because he had died at work. He was a policeman and someone shot him. He wasn't a loser like my dad who just up and left his family. Little Darryl’s mom worked at a nursing home three nights a week and his grandmother watched his sisters but he stayed at home alone because he said he needed a break from all those girls. Well, he used to stay home alone but he started spending the evenings at my house until his mom picked him up.
“Man, you’re lucky you don’t have to go to school. Why don’t you have to go to school? Are you too smart? And why don’t your mama have to work?” Little Darryl questioned me one day while we were hanging out at my house. We never hung out his apartment because his sisters were always crying or making a bunch of noise. It made me grateful to be an only child. Sometimes. Sometimes I thought it might be nice to have a brother or sister. That way you’d always have a friend.
“My mom works from home, she does sales calls. And I do go to school. I’m home schooled,” I replied to him while stretching my legs out in front of me. I was sitting on the floor in my room and Little Darryl was on the bed.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to get up early or catch the bus and go across town and then spend the day with a bunch of rude, crazy kids,”
I didn’t tell him but I wished I could go to school. I wouldn’t even mind the rude, crazy kids if it meant I’d get to spend time with kids my own age and feel normal just for a little while.
Actually, I did feel normal for a little while, having a friend, playing video games and even riding the new skateboard I’d gotten for Christmas at the skate park. But about a year and a half later, things changed.
One day instead of working on school work, my mom decided she was going to show me how to change a tire on the car. She said since I was now fifteen I needed to learn about cars, so that I could get a driver’s license next year. The thought of driving a car scared me. I told her I’d just stick to my skateboard.
“That skateboard will only get you so far. And what if it’s dark or the weather is bad? That skateboard can’t protect you,”
“I don’t think a car can either. That’s why people are always crashing when it rains or at night because they can’t see,” I’d argued.
She sighed. “This is not up for discussion. Let’s go,”
Not many things were up for discussion with my mom.
I went to the garage and watched her use a something that she called a jack to raise the car a little in the back. And then she took a tire from the trunk of the car that I didn’t even know was in there. She said it was a spare tire. Then she used a tool to start loosening the tire but she suddenly stopped.
“Hold on, let me make sure-,” she muttered something before she laid down on her back and slid under the back of the car where it was raised off the ground.
“Whoa- mom what are you doing,” I asked walking to the back of the car. It seemed really dangerous for her to be under the car like that. “You know I can just Google this and I’m sure there is a YouTube video online. I think you should-,” And before I could finish my sentence I heard a click and the car started to drop.
“Mom! Get from under there!” I yelled.
“Drew! I think I’m stuck! You’re going to have to lift the car,” she screamed.
“What? I- I don’t- do I press the lever on the side?” I hurried back over to the jack.
“No! Just come back and lift the car!”
I frowned. My mom must have hit her head if she thought I could lift a car. And it wasn't one of those tiny smart cars either. It was a full sized car. A black Honda Accord.
“Lift the car? I can’t- no- I- I’m going to pull you out,” I said walking back to her. I kneeled down and looked under the car, it was a couple of inches from her face. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t totally crushed her. “I’m going to grab your legs and pull you out,” I placed a hand on her ankle and she kicked her leg.
“No! Lift the bumper! Just grab it and lift the car,” she said and she sounded angry.
“Mom, I can’t lift a car!” I said as I placed my hand back on her ankle.
The car dropped another inch and I screamed. This time tears filled my eyes as I looked under the car and realized I couldn’t see my mom’s face.
“Mom!” I yelled. She didn’t answer. I should have just opened the garage door and screamed for help but when I heard the faint sound of my mom’s voice calling my name, something I can’t explain happened inside of me and I placed both hands underneath the back of the car, bent my knees, closed my eyes and I tried to lift it up with all my strength.
I kept chanting over and over in my head, “Please don’t let my mom die, please don’t let my mom die.” Then my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my mom’s voice.
“It’s okay, it’s okay- I’m okay. Put it down. Slowly, gently-,” she was whispering.
I opened my eyes and realized I’d not only lifted the car enough for her to slide from underneath but I had both back tires at least three feet off the ground. My eyes widened and I quickly let go of the car but instead of it crashing down, it moved so slow that it seemed like it was floating. I looked at my mom and she had her hand up like she was guiding it.
I stumbled to the corner of the garage and I looked at my hands. My fingertips were black but I felt the same. Even when I was holding the car- three feet off the ground- it felt like I was lifting a can of soda. I let my arms fall to my side and stared at my mom.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Is this- am I dreaming?”
She shook her head.
“That car didn’t really fall on you, did it?” I asked staring at her.
She shook her head again.
“So, I am dreaming- what -,” I clenched my eyes shut. “Wake up, wake up, wake up,” I said slapping myself in the face. It stung really bad.
“Drew stop it!” My mother yelled and my eyes flew open. We were still in the garage.
“Mom- what is going on?” I asked as tears filled my eyes once again.
“Come inside. We need to talk.”
I hesitated but followed my mom back inside the house. I sat down on the couch and she headed towards the kitchen. I laid back on the couch and closed my eyes still convinced I was dreaming.
“Here,” I heard my mom’s voice and opened my eyes. She was holding an ice pack towards me.
“What’s this for?” I frowned.
She winced. “Your face,”
I stood and walked over to the mirror in the hallway. My cheeks were slightly swollen and one had a purplish bruise. My eyes widened. “Did the car do that?” I asked confused.
She cleared her throat. “No, when you were slapping yourself in the face,” she said scratching her neck nervously.
I just stared at her before I felt my legs start to give out and I sank to the floor. I was there for a few minutes before I felt my mom forcing the ice pack in my hand and then on to my face. I looked up at her as my vision clouded with tears.
“Is there something wrong with me?” I asked as my voice cracked.
“Oh sweetie, no- no there is nothing wrong with you at all,” she said sitting next to me and wrapping an arm around me.
I had grown almost two feet taller than my mom, so the position we were in felt awkward. She slid over to the wall and sat with her back against it.
“Come here,” she said leading me to her lap. I lay my head in her lap while she gently placed the ice pack on my cheek.
She sighed. “I guess there is no easy way to say this- you’re not a normal boy Drew. You’re special,” she said and I’d heard her voice sound that way before when I’d done something she thought was cool. She was proud.
“I don’t understand? I am a normal boy. I’ve always been a normal boy. I look like a boy, sound like a boy, I like video games, I don’t clean up my room,” I rambled on and on.
She laughed lightly. “Well, that’s sort of the way your DNA is made up with you being part human.”
I sat up and looked at her like she was insane.
“Part human? What exactly does that mean mom- what is my other part made of?” I shrieked.
“Dracosian.”
“Dra-what? Is that a European country?” I asked. She’d never taught me that much about geography.
She smiled faintly before she stood. “Let’s sit on the couch where it’s more comfortable,”
I hesitantly followed her. I’d totally abandoned the ice pack as I sat on the edge of the chair instead of next to her.
“Dracosia is a planet in the-,”
“Dracosia? That is not a planet mom! Why are you doing this? Is this a joke? Are we on TV?” I asked looking around the living room for a hidden camera.
“It’s not a joke. Listen to me and when I’m done if you have questions or doubts I’ll address them then,” she said sternly.
I sighed and sat back in the chair scowling at her.
“Dracosia is a planet at the end of the second quadrant of the galaxy. It is not listed on any human records of the universe. It’s between the Milky Way and Andromeda. That is where I am from. My destiny was to give life to the designated, reconnaissance, evolved weapon that will save Earth.”
“What?!”
I’d had enough.
“I can’t listen to any more of this!” I yelled. I got up and walked towards my room and just as I made it to the door, it slammed it my face like someone had closed it from inside.
I stopped and my mouth dropped open. I looked over my shoulder and mom stood there with her palm up like she did with the car when we were in garage.
“Did you do that- mom-? What did you do with my mom?” I asked backing away from her.
“I came to Earth seventeen years ago. The Sovereign had arranged it so that I would meet your father. We started a relationship and had you-,”
I covered my ears. “No, no, no! Stop!”
I felt my arms move away from my ears and they were pinned to my sides by an invisible force. I felt helpless and couldn’t move. I was so scared as I looked at this woman, who was supposed to be my mom but there was no way she could be my mom. She had to be an alien or something to move things with her hands.
“You know, I’m kind of shocked at your reaction to all of this. I would’ve thought you’d be excited about having powers,” she frowned.
“I don’t have powers,” I said as my voice shook. Maybe if I did what this alien wanted she’d bring my mom back. Or maybe doing what she wanted was the way I’d wake up from this nightmare. “You’ve got the wrong kid.”
“You have super strength and other powers. Your powers were supposed to be activated upon your sixteenth birthday but I noticed there were early signs they were already starting to surface. Unfortunately, right now your strength only manifests when you’re afraid,”
I was afraid now. And I definitely didn’t feel strong. I remained silent.
“Every one thousand years The Sovereign send-,”
“The Sovereign?” This alien lady was really crazy.
“They are the supreme enforcers of peace in the universe. Every one thousand years they send someone to protect the populated planets in the universe from a force that has been trying to destroy the universe since it was created. Every one thousand years, there is a small window of opportunity for this destruction to happen and the only person that can stop this from happening is the designated, reconnaissance, evolved weapon. That’s you. That’s what your name means, you always asked me why I didn’t name you Andrew-,”
“And my mom always said it was because adding "An" to the front of my name was a waste of a syllable. The same reason her parents named her Steph instead of Stephanie.” I said hoping hearing that would make my mom somehow reappear.
She sighed. “Drew I am your mom. And Steph is also an acronym it stands for speedy, telekinetic, evolved, prototype human.”
“So you’re telling me you’re my mom and you’re what a robot?” I laughed. “Oh yeah, and that I am a superhero sent here to save Earth?”
Suddenly I felt whatever force that was holding me release and I almost fell to the ground.
“I know this all sound unbelievable but-,”
“Because it’s not true!” I yelled as I pushed past her and ran from the house. I ran all the way to the skate park a couple of miles away and stopped to catch my breath. I needed to get to a police station. When I stood and looked over my shoulder I shrieked. My mom- or this prototype of my mom was there.
I opened my mouth but before I could say anything, she spoke: “I have super speed. You can’t outrun me. Listen we don’t have time for this. I know it’s all really overwhelming and I didn’t think we’d have to deal with this until you were sixteen but I’ve been informed that Telegon is already in the galaxy, which means he is already preparing his sycophants for an attack. We need to find a-,”
I took off in the opposite direction and ran as fast as I could. Maybe this is why my mom told me I’d need endurance to outrun crazy aliens.
I looked over my shoulder and didn’t see her but as soon as I turned my head she appeared next to me. But I didn’t stop running and neither did she but instead of exerting a lot of energy like I was, it looked like she was just walking. My legs were suddenly being forced in another direction and I found myself in the middle of a trail covered with tall grass and bushes. I felt paralyzed like I had back at home and I realized the alien lady must be doing it. I looked at her and her expression was blank. I felt something start to wrap around my feet and I thought it was a snake but I wasn’t able to move my legs or my arms. Whatever was wrapping around my feet was also wrapping around my legs and then my waist and my arms until I was totally bound. I lowered my eyes and saw that it was part of a chain link fence.
After a minute or two my body went limp and I realized I had control of my arms and legs again but I still couldn’t move.
“Why are you doing this?” I cried. “Help!” I screamed.
“No one can hear you Drew. You can free yourself. Just rip it a part,” she shrugged.
“I can’t! I can’t! I don’t have super strength and you are not my mom!” I screamed.
“There are rats in this field. I know how afraid you are of rats. You don’t want them to crawl up your pants do you?” she asked in a teasing tone.
I was terrified of rats.
I started to struggle against the fence so that I could wiggle my way out. One of my hands slipped through an opening and I tried pulling it away but it wouldn’t give. I heard a squeak and when I raised my head there was a big, brown vicious looking rat right in front of my face– just dangling there in mid-air. I felt the same surge of energy I'd felt when I lifted the car in the garage; I grabbed part of the fence with my free hand and I pulled it way like it was tissue paper.
I stared down at my hands in disbelief and then everything went black.
PART TWO STORYBOARD INSPIRATION
2016 Honda Accord- Steph's Car
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies (this is REAL!)
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Boy running in tall grassy area
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Part Three
I blinked a few times as things started to come in to focus. I slowly opened my eyes and realized I was in my room. I looked at the clock. It was 3:25pm. It had all been a dream!
“Mom!” I yelled and jumped up from the bed to find her. “Mom!” I called out again coming into the kitchen.
I found her sitting at the kitchen table. She stared up at me with a small smile on her face.
“Mom, I had the craziest dream!” I exclaimed hugging her tightly. I was so glad to see her and happy none of it had been real.
She hugged me tighter and when I pulled away she sighed. I took a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter and ate it in a few bites.
“There was this alien lady who looked just like you- she was telling me all this crazy stuff about saving the world,” I laughed and opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. “I had super strength and lifted the car like three feet off the ground,”
I twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long swallow.
“Isn’t that the weirdest thing- what I dreamed about,” I laughed.
She placed her hands flat on the table. “Drew, it wasn’t a dream. You know it wasn’t a dream,” she said calmly.
The water bottle fell from my hand but before it hit the ground, my mom ran over and grabbed it. She placed the bottle on the table and sat down again.
I stood with my back against the refrigerator.
“No, no, no!” I chanted over and over closing my eyes. How long was this dream?
“Drew stop it,” she said calmly but I kept chanting louder and louder.
“Enough!” she yelled and all of the kitchen cabinets opened and then slammed shut.
I opened my eyes and stared at her.
“Sit down,” she said pointing to the chair across from her. “Please.”
“What did you do with my mom?” I asked softly.
“Drew, I am your mom- we’re not, we’re not doing this again. Sit down.” She said and I knew that tone. That was my mom’s, I’ve had enough of your foolishness, tone. She had to be in there somewhere.
I slid my back along the refrigerator and the counter until I reached the chair. I grabbed the back of it and pulled it towards me. I didn’t want to sit too close to her. Not that it mattered. She was fast and could control stuff with her mind. There was no way I would win.
I sat and frowned at her.
“So, it seems you do remember our conversation about you saving the world?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m a superhero,” I said sarcastically.
“I know it sounds unbelievable but you’ve seen what I can do- what you can do. It’s true Drew. All of it. And I’m sorry I’m just now telling you but we’ve got bigger problems. We need to find a way to activate your powers where you can control them and harness them when needed. Telegon will-,”
“That’s the bad guy, right?” I sat up and crossed my arms in front of me hoping if I played along with her game this whole thing would be over.
“Yes, Telegon will not have mercy on you or me for that matter. If he gets the Orb he will use it to destroy Earth,”
I nodded my head slowly like I was following her. “The Orb. Destroy Earth. Got it,”
“This isn’t a game Drew. People will die.” She said and for a split second, I believed her.
I cleared my throat. “So, was my dad a superhero too? Wait don’t tell me- plot twist- Telegon is my dad?” I smiled.
“Telegon isn’t your dad. But to answer your question, your dad- he’s human, he isn’t like us.”
I dropped my arms to my side as I suddenly had a thought. “Is that why he left? Because you were telling him these crazy stories? Is that why my dad left us?” I asked angrily.
“Drew, this has nothing to do with your dad. It was better this way, so that he wouldn’t be involved or get hurt,” she said.
She stood and started pacing back and forth really fast. I was getting motion sickness just looking at her. I dropped my head to my hands.
“Can you stop moving- what does that mean- it was better this way? You told me he left before I was born because he didn’t want to be a dad. Is that- is that not what happened?”
She stopped pacing and faced me with her fist clenched. I thought she was going to hit me. I scooted the chair away from her.
“Telegon is in the galaxy. He will be here soon to find the Orb. We must find it first and defeat him and his army when they arrive. You have super strength, the ability to fly and manipulate combustible materials. You need to-,”
She sounded insane. She was pretty much telling me I was Superman. I was convinced my mom was on medication that had stopped working. But none of that mattered to me at the moment.
“What happened to my dad?” I asked.
She turned away and sighed harshly. Then she turned back to face me and titled her head.
“I’ll tell you, but first you need to listen to me and take this seriously. We don’t have much time,”
I squinted at her. “Take this seriously- what this crazy talk about superheroes and saving the world? Mom are you on any medication?”
Turns out my mom wasn’t on medication. And my dad didn’t leave us, well not technically. She told me The Sovereign erased his memory. So, he had no idea I even existed. For as much as I wanted to believe none of the stuff my mom was telling me was true, it was getting harder and harder to explain the things that had happened.
But there was no way I could fly. I’d never believe that one. I was totally afraid of heights. I didn’t even like roller coasters.
My conversation with Steph- calling her my mom didn’t feel right at moment– came to an end when Little Darryl showed up. Steph wanted me to pretend I was sick and not let him in but I needed to see Little Darryl and feel normal if only for a little while. She made me promise I wouldn’t say anything to him about it. She said it could put him in danger.
“So why was your mom looking meaner than usual?” Little Darryl asked as we walked to the skate park carrying our boards.
I shrugged. “Who knows,” I was glad I had gotten out of the house. I wondered if I should take the opportunity to escape.
We made it to the skate park and skated around the bowl a few times before we sat down and watched some of the older boys. They were really good. They did kick flips and quarter pipes making it look so easy. I would break every bone in my body if I tried to do any of that stuff.
“I have a question for you,” I said to Little Darryl.
“Whoa! Did you see that? Dude in the red shirt just did a double flip!” Little Darryl said excitedly.
I’d missed it. I was too busy thinking about my mom- Steph– and everything she had told me.
“What would you do if you woke up and you had super powers?” I asked Little Darryl.
“Man! That would be so cool! I’d want to be like Batman,” he said.
“Well, technically Batman doesn’t have super powers. I mean like real powers. Like Superman or one of the X-men,”
Me and Little Darryl watched superhero movies but we weren’t hardcore fans. We were more into video games and lately skateboarding.
“But Batman is rich and has all the pretty women,” Little Darryl grinned. “That’s power enough,” he laughed.
“So, you wouldn’t want to be able to fly or be strong or anything?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe claws like Wolverine. That way I’d always win a fight,”
I decided not to mention anything else about super powers. I’d had enough of the conversation myself. After we left the skate park, I went home with Little Darryl. When I called and told Steph I was eating dinner at his house she wasn’t happy but she didn’t try and stop me. After realizing Little Darryl’s mom made fried tofu, I wished she would have stopped me.
When I finally made it home it was almost nine o’clock. Steph was sitting in the dark staring out of the window. I turned on the light.
“Drew, no matter how much you try to ignore this. It’s not going away,” She said.
I sighed. She wasn’t giving up her story.
“Let’s say I believed you- which I don’t actually believe you- but let’s say I did. How am I supposed to save the entire Earth? There are like seven billion people on Earth. I’m one person. One kid. I’m scared of rats and roller coasters. I can barely open a jar of peanut butter- none of this makes sense. You’ve got to see that, right? How crazy this all sounds?”
“Yes. I can see how it would sound crazy. But it doesn’t make it untrue. How do you think you were able to lift the car and tear away that fence?”
I shrugged. “An adrenaline rush? Remember that story about the lady who lifted a car off her baby? Was she a superhero too?” I smirked.
“Maybe she was. . .I just had an idea. Come with me out back,” she turned and walked towards the back door.
I hesitated but followed her. She had gotten a can of paint from the garage, I suppose, although I didn’t actually see her. She was fast, so it was possible.
“I want you to try and ignite this can of paint,”
I laughed loudly. “Sure no problem. I command you to blow up!” I pointed my finger at it like it was a wand.
“Drew, I’m being serious,”
“So am I! I can’t ignite a paint can. This is really way past crazy,”
Before I could say anything else she grabbed my hand and placed it on the can and she started vibrating really fast while still holding my wrist.
“Stop, what are you doing? Ouch!” I yelled. There was too much friction. My hand started to sting, then it really hurt and then I saw smoke. She let go of my hand and my eyes widened as I looked down and saw that my hand had turned almost translucent and was bright red. I hesitated but touched the paint can and the entire thing went up in flames.
But the fire was extinguished just as quick as it ignited. Steph was there with a fire extinguisher.
“Is everything alright over there?” A voice called over the back fence.
It was Mr. Steinberg our next-door neighbor.
“We’re fine. The barbecue grill just blew a fuse,” Steph lied quickly. “Let’s go inside,” she said to me.
I stared at my hand which was slowly turning back to the normal color. I looked at her.
“How-,” I asked unable to form a complete sentence.
“Inside,” she said motioning over her shoulder to let me know Mr. Steinberg was still outside.
I followed her inside.
“So, the strength and heat are latent but can be channeled. I wonder if the flight capability-,” Steph was muttering to herself.
“I’m scared,” I said. “I- can- can you- I need my mom, I’m really scared,” I said and I could feel tears streaming my face.
She approached me and I took a step back. She looked at me sadly and opened her arms. I hesitated but fell into her embrace and rested my forehead on her shoulder. She held me for a few minutes and we stood together in silence.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Drew- you were born for this. This is your destiny. I know it seems scary, and impossible but you can do this. We just have to figure out how your powers work, that’s all,”
I moved away from her. “That’s all? What if- what if I fail? Or what if I die?”
“That won’t happen- you won’t be alone,”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll be there and we have a team coming to help. You just have to be the one to destroy Telegon,”
“A team? Like the X-Men?” I asked confused. She laughed.
“I suppose. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll get started tomorrow,”
I lay in my bed staring the ceiling. I was a superhero. A superhero. I could lift cars, ignite combustible materials and fly.
And I was expected to destroy some super villain. I closed my eyes and prayed really hard the entire thing ended up being a horrible nightmare. I took a few deep breaths and soon sleep claimed me.
The next morning, Steph had fixed a huge breakfast and she started explaining more about the assignment and told me that my powers would fully activate by my sixteenth birthday in a few months. But she wanted me to be ready just in case.
We did drills and she put me in situations where I would have to use my strength, like locking me in one of those disgusting portable toilets at the park with a padlocked chain around it. I almost threw up before I freed myself by ripping off the door. I was also learning to project my heat ability in the direction of combustible materials but had only managed to make a few tiny sparks on my own.
Over the next two and a half months, we continued to train. I went along with everything she asked as long as she still let me be friends with Little Darryl. She agreed but I ended up being too busy to see him that often. But I made sure he got to come with us to celebrate my sixteenth birthday at Captain Fantastic’s. It was an arcade and pizza place on the other side of town. It was sort of like a Chuck E. Cheese’s but for teens. A lot of high school kids hung out there. My mom had gotten us a table while me and Little Darryl walked around.
“Ooh, Drew, that girl over there is checking you out,” Little Darryl said as we stood in line at the change machine.
I tried not to be obvious when I turned around but my eyes widened when I saw Hayley Jefferson staring back at me. She had been my fifth-grade crush. She smiled at me and started walking in our direction.
“Drew Armstrong?” she asked once we were face to face.
I cleared my throat. “Um yeah- Hayley Jefferson, right?”
She was beautiful. She looked almost like a grown up. Her curly brown hair was no longer in a ponytail but instead hung loose in a halo around her face. She also had on makeup. I didn’t think she really needed the make-up, but she was still really pretty.
“Oh my god, I wondered whatever happened to you,” she smiled. “You got tall,”
She wondered about me? I hoped I wasn’t blushing like an idiot.
“Ahem, ahem, ahem,” Little Darryl kept saying over and over next to me. I looked at him and frowned before I realized what he was doing.
“Oh- sorry- Hayley, this is my friend Little Darryl,”
“Just Darryl. Nice to meet you,” Little Darryl extended his hand. Hayley looked unsure but went to shake it and Little Darryl grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it instead.
I rolled my eyes.
“O. . .k,” Hayley said pulling her hand away. “So Drew are you at Hanover High?” she asked.
I didn’t want Hayley to know I was still being homeschooled and I didn’t want to lie in front of Little Darryl.
“Hey, Lit- Darryl can you go check and make sure my mom is okay,” I whispered to him. “I want to talk to Hayley alone,” I said hoping I didn’t hurt his feelings.
He gave me a funny look before he walked away. Hayley and I talked for almost thirty minutes. She told me my old friend Noah was still at school with her but Doug had moved out of town. Before she left to join her friends, she gave me her phone number.
I didn’t think anything could ruin my day until I went to look for my mom and Little Darryl. They were both mad at me.
“If you were going to spend the majority of the evening talking to some girl, I would have just dropped you off. And it was very rude to just abandon Little Darryl,” my mom had said when I made it back to the table.
“You know what, maybe I should have just come by myself. Let’s go,” I said angrily.
I’d done everything she ever asked me and she was upset that I was talking to a girl. That’s what teenage boys were supposed to do. .. well, when they weren’t training to save the world.
And some friend Little Darryl was, if he'd had the chance to talk to a girl he had a crush on, I would have been a supportive friend.
“We can’t leave. I ordered pizza,” my mom said.
I sighed and sat down. Once the pizza arrived we ate in silence before I decided to apologize for apparently ruining my own birthday.
Little Darryl forgave me and we played a few games before leaving. I didn’t see Hayley before I left but she had sent me a text saying it was nice to see me again and to be sure to keep in touch.
After we dropped Little Darryl at home, my mom- yeah, I’d started calling her that again- began lecturing me.
“Listen, I don’t think it’s wise for you to start getting close to new people. I let you hang around Little Darryl but soon even that relationship will have to come to an end. It’s just not safe, Telegon will use people close to you to-,”
All of a sudden the car came to a screeching stop.
“No, no- Drew get out of the car now!” she yelled.
"What's going on? Why'd you stop?" I asked.
"Get out!"
I tried to open the door but it was stuck. Then there was a weird sensation that the car was floating.
“We’re being sucked into a vortex breach, open the door! Use your strength!” she yelled.
“Is this another test?” I asked as I noticed the car was up at least six feet off the ground.
“This is not a test Drew! It’s the sycophants! If they capture you, Telegon wins! Get out!” she screamed and then her body started vibrating really fast.
I pushed against the door so hard that it flew away from the car. We were up even higher now.
“It’s too high!” I yelled.
“Jump!” she said. Or at least that’s what I heard. She sounded like she was talking through a fan.
I can fly, I can fly. I said over and over to myself. Although I had yet to activate that ability. I jumped from the car and extended my arms like they were wings but nothing happened. Instead of flying, I was crashing down to the ground. In a matter of seconds my face made contact with the asphalt of the street.
“Ow,” I said falling into a heap. My body felt a little stunned but I didn't feel any pain. “What was that?” I asked.
I sat up and noticed I’d made a deep imprint in the street. I also noticed the streets were deserted. And I was alone.
I looked around and then looked up.
“Mom!” I screamed as the Honda Accord disappeared into the sky.
“Mom!” I yelled and jumped up from the bed to find her. “Mom!” I called out again coming into the kitchen.
I found her sitting at the kitchen table. She stared up at me with a small smile on her face.
“Mom, I had the craziest dream!” I exclaimed hugging her tightly. I was so glad to see her and happy none of it had been real.
She hugged me tighter and when I pulled away she sighed. I took a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter and ate it in a few bites.
“There was this alien lady who looked just like you- she was telling me all this crazy stuff about saving the world,” I laughed and opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. “I had super strength and lifted the car like three feet off the ground,”
I twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long swallow.
“Isn’t that the weirdest thing- what I dreamed about,” I laughed.
She placed her hands flat on the table. “Drew, it wasn’t a dream. You know it wasn’t a dream,” she said calmly.
The water bottle fell from my hand but before it hit the ground, my mom ran over and grabbed it. She placed the bottle on the table and sat down again.
I stood with my back against the refrigerator.
“No, no, no!” I chanted over and over closing my eyes. How long was this dream?
“Drew stop it,” she said calmly but I kept chanting louder and louder.
“Enough!” she yelled and all of the kitchen cabinets opened and then slammed shut.
I opened my eyes and stared at her.
“Sit down,” she said pointing to the chair across from her. “Please.”
“What did you do with my mom?” I asked softly.
“Drew, I am your mom- we’re not, we’re not doing this again. Sit down.” She said and I knew that tone. That was my mom’s, I’ve had enough of your foolishness, tone. She had to be in there somewhere.
I slid my back along the refrigerator and the counter until I reached the chair. I grabbed the back of it and pulled it towards me. I didn’t want to sit too close to her. Not that it mattered. She was fast and could control stuff with her mind. There was no way I would win.
I sat and frowned at her.
“So, it seems you do remember our conversation about you saving the world?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m a superhero,” I said sarcastically.
“I know it sounds unbelievable but you’ve seen what I can do- what you can do. It’s true Drew. All of it. And I’m sorry I’m just now telling you but we’ve got bigger problems. We need to find a way to activate your powers where you can control them and harness them when needed. Telegon will-,”
“That’s the bad guy, right?” I sat up and crossed my arms in front of me hoping if I played along with her game this whole thing would be over.
“Yes, Telegon will not have mercy on you or me for that matter. If he gets the Orb he will use it to destroy Earth,”
I nodded my head slowly like I was following her. “The Orb. Destroy Earth. Got it,”
“This isn’t a game Drew. People will die.” She said and for a split second, I believed her.
I cleared my throat. “So, was my dad a superhero too? Wait don’t tell me- plot twist- Telegon is my dad?” I smiled.
“Telegon isn’t your dad. But to answer your question, your dad- he’s human, he isn’t like us.”
I dropped my arms to my side as I suddenly had a thought. “Is that why he left? Because you were telling him these crazy stories? Is that why my dad left us?” I asked angrily.
“Drew, this has nothing to do with your dad. It was better this way, so that he wouldn’t be involved or get hurt,” she said.
She stood and started pacing back and forth really fast. I was getting motion sickness just looking at her. I dropped my head to my hands.
“Can you stop moving- what does that mean- it was better this way? You told me he left before I was born because he didn’t want to be a dad. Is that- is that not what happened?”
She stopped pacing and faced me with her fist clenched. I thought she was going to hit me. I scooted the chair away from her.
“Telegon is in the galaxy. He will be here soon to find the Orb. We must find it first and defeat him and his army when they arrive. You have super strength, the ability to fly and manipulate combustible materials. You need to-,”
She sounded insane. She was pretty much telling me I was Superman. I was convinced my mom was on medication that had stopped working. But none of that mattered to me at the moment.
“What happened to my dad?” I asked.
She turned away and sighed harshly. Then she turned back to face me and titled her head.
“I’ll tell you, but first you need to listen to me and take this seriously. We don’t have much time,”
I squinted at her. “Take this seriously- what this crazy talk about superheroes and saving the world? Mom are you on any medication?”
Turns out my mom wasn’t on medication. And my dad didn’t leave us, well not technically. She told me The Sovereign erased his memory. So, he had no idea I even existed. For as much as I wanted to believe none of the stuff my mom was telling me was true, it was getting harder and harder to explain the things that had happened.
But there was no way I could fly. I’d never believe that one. I was totally afraid of heights. I didn’t even like roller coasters.
My conversation with Steph- calling her my mom didn’t feel right at moment– came to an end when Little Darryl showed up. Steph wanted me to pretend I was sick and not let him in but I needed to see Little Darryl and feel normal if only for a little while. She made me promise I wouldn’t say anything to him about it. She said it could put him in danger.
“So why was your mom looking meaner than usual?” Little Darryl asked as we walked to the skate park carrying our boards.
I shrugged. “Who knows,” I was glad I had gotten out of the house. I wondered if I should take the opportunity to escape.
We made it to the skate park and skated around the bowl a few times before we sat down and watched some of the older boys. They were really good. They did kick flips and quarter pipes making it look so easy. I would break every bone in my body if I tried to do any of that stuff.
“I have a question for you,” I said to Little Darryl.
“Whoa! Did you see that? Dude in the red shirt just did a double flip!” Little Darryl said excitedly.
I’d missed it. I was too busy thinking about my mom- Steph– and everything she had told me.
“What would you do if you woke up and you had super powers?” I asked Little Darryl.
“Man! That would be so cool! I’d want to be like Batman,” he said.
“Well, technically Batman doesn’t have super powers. I mean like real powers. Like Superman or one of the X-men,”
Me and Little Darryl watched superhero movies but we weren’t hardcore fans. We were more into video games and lately skateboarding.
“But Batman is rich and has all the pretty women,” Little Darryl grinned. “That’s power enough,” he laughed.
“So, you wouldn’t want to be able to fly or be strong or anything?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe claws like Wolverine. That way I’d always win a fight,”
I decided not to mention anything else about super powers. I’d had enough of the conversation myself. After we left the skate park, I went home with Little Darryl. When I called and told Steph I was eating dinner at his house she wasn’t happy but she didn’t try and stop me. After realizing Little Darryl’s mom made fried tofu, I wished she would have stopped me.
When I finally made it home it was almost nine o’clock. Steph was sitting in the dark staring out of the window. I turned on the light.
“Drew, no matter how much you try to ignore this. It’s not going away,” She said.
I sighed. She wasn’t giving up her story.
“Let’s say I believed you- which I don’t actually believe you- but let’s say I did. How am I supposed to save the entire Earth? There are like seven billion people on Earth. I’m one person. One kid. I’m scared of rats and roller coasters. I can barely open a jar of peanut butter- none of this makes sense. You’ve got to see that, right? How crazy this all sounds?”
“Yes. I can see how it would sound crazy. But it doesn’t make it untrue. How do you think you were able to lift the car and tear away that fence?”
I shrugged. “An adrenaline rush? Remember that story about the lady who lifted a car off her baby? Was she a superhero too?” I smirked.
“Maybe she was. . .I just had an idea. Come with me out back,” she turned and walked towards the back door.
I hesitated but followed her. She had gotten a can of paint from the garage, I suppose, although I didn’t actually see her. She was fast, so it was possible.
“I want you to try and ignite this can of paint,”
I laughed loudly. “Sure no problem. I command you to blow up!” I pointed my finger at it like it was a wand.
“Drew, I’m being serious,”
“So am I! I can’t ignite a paint can. This is really way past crazy,”
Before I could say anything else she grabbed my hand and placed it on the can and she started vibrating really fast while still holding my wrist.
“Stop, what are you doing? Ouch!” I yelled. There was too much friction. My hand started to sting, then it really hurt and then I saw smoke. She let go of my hand and my eyes widened as I looked down and saw that my hand had turned almost translucent and was bright red. I hesitated but touched the paint can and the entire thing went up in flames.
But the fire was extinguished just as quick as it ignited. Steph was there with a fire extinguisher.
“Is everything alright over there?” A voice called over the back fence.
It was Mr. Steinberg our next-door neighbor.
“We’re fine. The barbecue grill just blew a fuse,” Steph lied quickly. “Let’s go inside,” she said to me.
I stared at my hand which was slowly turning back to the normal color. I looked at her.
“How-,” I asked unable to form a complete sentence.
“Inside,” she said motioning over her shoulder to let me know Mr. Steinberg was still outside.
I followed her inside.
“So, the strength and heat are latent but can be channeled. I wonder if the flight capability-,” Steph was muttering to herself.
“I’m scared,” I said. “I- can- can you- I need my mom, I’m really scared,” I said and I could feel tears streaming my face.
She approached me and I took a step back. She looked at me sadly and opened her arms. I hesitated but fell into her embrace and rested my forehead on her shoulder. She held me for a few minutes and we stood together in silence.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Drew- you were born for this. This is your destiny. I know it seems scary, and impossible but you can do this. We just have to figure out how your powers work, that’s all,”
I moved away from her. “That’s all? What if- what if I fail? Or what if I die?”
“That won’t happen- you won’t be alone,”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll be there and we have a team coming to help. You just have to be the one to destroy Telegon,”
“A team? Like the X-Men?” I asked confused. She laughed.
“I suppose. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll get started tomorrow,”
I lay in my bed staring the ceiling. I was a superhero. A superhero. I could lift cars, ignite combustible materials and fly.
And I was expected to destroy some super villain. I closed my eyes and prayed really hard the entire thing ended up being a horrible nightmare. I took a few deep breaths and soon sleep claimed me.
The next morning, Steph had fixed a huge breakfast and she started explaining more about the assignment and told me that my powers would fully activate by my sixteenth birthday in a few months. But she wanted me to be ready just in case.
We did drills and she put me in situations where I would have to use my strength, like locking me in one of those disgusting portable toilets at the park with a padlocked chain around it. I almost threw up before I freed myself by ripping off the door. I was also learning to project my heat ability in the direction of combustible materials but had only managed to make a few tiny sparks on my own.
Over the next two and a half months, we continued to train. I went along with everything she asked as long as she still let me be friends with Little Darryl. She agreed but I ended up being too busy to see him that often. But I made sure he got to come with us to celebrate my sixteenth birthday at Captain Fantastic’s. It was an arcade and pizza place on the other side of town. It was sort of like a Chuck E. Cheese’s but for teens. A lot of high school kids hung out there. My mom had gotten us a table while me and Little Darryl walked around.
“Ooh, Drew, that girl over there is checking you out,” Little Darryl said as we stood in line at the change machine.
I tried not to be obvious when I turned around but my eyes widened when I saw Hayley Jefferson staring back at me. She had been my fifth-grade crush. She smiled at me and started walking in our direction.
“Drew Armstrong?” she asked once we were face to face.
I cleared my throat. “Um yeah- Hayley Jefferson, right?”
She was beautiful. She looked almost like a grown up. Her curly brown hair was no longer in a ponytail but instead hung loose in a halo around her face. She also had on makeup. I didn’t think she really needed the make-up, but she was still really pretty.
“Oh my god, I wondered whatever happened to you,” she smiled. “You got tall,”
She wondered about me? I hoped I wasn’t blushing like an idiot.
“Ahem, ahem, ahem,” Little Darryl kept saying over and over next to me. I looked at him and frowned before I realized what he was doing.
“Oh- sorry- Hayley, this is my friend Little Darryl,”
“Just Darryl. Nice to meet you,” Little Darryl extended his hand. Hayley looked unsure but went to shake it and Little Darryl grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it instead.
I rolled my eyes.
“O. . .k,” Hayley said pulling her hand away. “So Drew are you at Hanover High?” she asked.
I didn’t want Hayley to know I was still being homeschooled and I didn’t want to lie in front of Little Darryl.
“Hey, Lit- Darryl can you go check and make sure my mom is okay,” I whispered to him. “I want to talk to Hayley alone,” I said hoping I didn’t hurt his feelings.
He gave me a funny look before he walked away. Hayley and I talked for almost thirty minutes. She told me my old friend Noah was still at school with her but Doug had moved out of town. Before she left to join her friends, she gave me her phone number.
I didn’t think anything could ruin my day until I went to look for my mom and Little Darryl. They were both mad at me.
“If you were going to spend the majority of the evening talking to some girl, I would have just dropped you off. And it was very rude to just abandon Little Darryl,” my mom had said when I made it back to the table.
“You know what, maybe I should have just come by myself. Let’s go,” I said angrily.
I’d done everything she ever asked me and she was upset that I was talking to a girl. That’s what teenage boys were supposed to do. .. well, when they weren’t training to save the world.
And some friend Little Darryl was, if he'd had the chance to talk to a girl he had a crush on, I would have been a supportive friend.
“We can’t leave. I ordered pizza,” my mom said.
I sighed and sat down. Once the pizza arrived we ate in silence before I decided to apologize for apparently ruining my own birthday.
Little Darryl forgave me and we played a few games before leaving. I didn’t see Hayley before I left but she had sent me a text saying it was nice to see me again and to be sure to keep in touch.
After we dropped Little Darryl at home, my mom- yeah, I’d started calling her that again- began lecturing me.
“Listen, I don’t think it’s wise for you to start getting close to new people. I let you hang around Little Darryl but soon even that relationship will have to come to an end. It’s just not safe, Telegon will use people close to you to-,”
All of a sudden the car came to a screeching stop.
“No, no- Drew get out of the car now!” she yelled.
"What's going on? Why'd you stop?" I asked.
"Get out!"
I tried to open the door but it was stuck. Then there was a weird sensation that the car was floating.
“We’re being sucked into a vortex breach, open the door! Use your strength!” she yelled.
“Is this another test?” I asked as I noticed the car was up at least six feet off the ground.
“This is not a test Drew! It’s the sycophants! If they capture you, Telegon wins! Get out!” she screamed and then her body started vibrating really fast.
I pushed against the door so hard that it flew away from the car. We were up even higher now.
“It’s too high!” I yelled.
“Jump!” she said. Or at least that’s what I heard. She sounded like she was talking through a fan.
I can fly, I can fly. I said over and over to myself. Although I had yet to activate that ability. I jumped from the car and extended my arms like they were wings but nothing happened. Instead of flying, I was crashing down to the ground. In a matter of seconds my face made contact with the asphalt of the street.
“Ow,” I said falling into a heap. My body felt a little stunned but I didn't feel any pain. “What was that?” I asked.
I sat up and noticed I’d made a deep imprint in the street. I also noticed the streets were deserted. And I was alone.
I looked around and then looked up.
“Mom!” I screamed as the Honda Accord disappeared into the sky.
PART THREE STORYBOARD INSPIRATION
Paint Can on Fire
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Skate Park
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Part Four
My mom was gone. She had been abducted and disappeared into the sky. And I did nothing to stop it.
I ran in the opposite direction of our house and through the skate park hoping whoever was responsible wouldn’t find me. Then I stopped running. I had strength, I could ignite flammable materials and I could fly. Well, I hadn’t actually mastered the flying thing, but I knew I had the other powers.
I was done running. I was a superhero. I would go back and fight for my mom.
I went back to the street where the incident happened and yelled up at the sky, “Come back and fight me! Bring my mom back now!” I yelled.
I was met with silence and a few dogs barking in the distance.
“Hello! Do you hear me! Bring my mom back!” I yelled and more dogs barked.
I continued to yell at the sky until my voice was hoarse and tears flooded my eyes. I fell to my knees in the middle of the street and sobbed.
A few minutes later I heard a car coming and when I looked up I saw the red lights of a police car.
I jumped up and started to run. The police siren came to life and echoed down the street. I ran even faster, darting down sidewalks and jumping fences trying to avoid barking dogs. I figured whoever grabbed my mom knew where we lived, so I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be alone. And I didn’t want the police to take me in. They would never believe a story about Dracosia and Telegon. I would probably be shipped off to a juvenile facility or foster care.
After I was sure I’d lost the police car, I went back to Little Darryl’s apartment.
“Hey Drew, what you doing here? Where’s your mom?” he’d asked looking past me outside.
For a second I thought about telling Little Darryl the truth but figured he wouldn’t believe me either. Not to mention I didn’t want to put him in danger. I probably shouldn’t have gone to his house but I didn’t know what else to do. “We um- we had a fight,” I lied.
Little Darryl convinced his mom to let me spend the night. I lay in a sleeping bag on his bedroom floor staring at the ceiling unable to sleep. I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. I guess I eventually fell asleep because the next thing I knew Little Darryl was shaking me awake.
“Drew, hey Drew. Get up man, your uncle is here to pick you up,” Little Darryl said.
“Huh, what?” I asked turning over to face him. I opened one eye.
“Your Uncle Tim is here. I didn’t know you had an uncle,” Little Darryl frowned.
I opened both eyes. And sat up quickly. “Uncle? Is he here now? In your house?” I asked as my voice cracked.
I didn’t have an uncle. It had to be the same people who grabbed my mom.
“Yeah, he’s in the kitchen with my mom. I think she’s making him coffee,”
I jumped up from the floor almost tripping over the sleeping bag. I kicked it away. “Stay here, okay. Let me go and see what’s going on,” I said to Little Darryl.
He gave me a strange look. “Drew you been acting kinda strange since you came over here last night. Are you sure you okay?”
“I’m fine- I’ll be right back,” I whispered as I stepped into my shoes and tiptoed down the hallway. Little Darryl was right behind me.
“Why are you whispering and sneaking down the hall?” he whispered. “You scared of your uncle? He’s a big dude but he seems nice,”
I rolled my eyes. “I told you to stay- never mind,”
I slowly turned the corner and came face to face with a guy almost twice my size. He was not only tall, but muscular and his dark brown skin was smooth and shiny. He was bald and had the whitest teeth I’d ever seen.
“There he is! Drew!” he yelled with way too much excitement since I had never seen him in my life. His voice was deep and he sounded like he had some sort of an accent. He came towards me and I braced myself in case I had to summon my strength or maybe set him on fire.
He walked over and pulled me into a tight hug before I could do anything.
“I am here from Dracosia to help you find Steph,” he whispered.
He knew my mom!
“Hey- there Uncle Jim-,” I said playing along.
“Tim,” he corrected and Little Darryl’s mom raised an eyebrow. “I have a twin brother named Jim. Even our family gets us mixed up. Well, I know you and your mom had a. . .thing last night. But I am sure you miss her and we need to work this all out,” Tim said.
“Yeah, I guess- I- yeah, we should probably go. Thanks again for letting me stay Ms. Stevens,”
“You sure you’re okay?” she asked looking from me to Tim.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Okay, well tell Steph to give me a call later,” she said.
“Will do. Bye Little Darryl,”
Once we were outside, I followed Tim down the street but I stopped at the end of the block.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. How do you know what happened with my mom?” I asked angrily.
He stared around the area before coming closer to me and grabbing my arm. I tried to pull away but I felt a spinning and dropping sensation. I grabbed his arms and held on tightly as it started to feel like we were on a rollercoaster that had gone off the tracks. There were so many bright colors whizzing by that I thought I was going to be sick. I closed my eyes and a few seconds later it was over.
I opened my eyes and I was in the bathroom at home.
“You probably need to regurgitate. Isn’t that what humans do when they get motion sickness?” A voice asked. It sounded like that Tim guy but I didn’t see him. For a minute, I thought I’d gone blind but I could see the bathtub, the sink, the toilet. . .as soon as I saw the toilet, I started heaving over it. I hadn’t eaten anything since the pizza last night and it looked like most of it had digested.
“Where are you?” I asked resting my head against the toilet. “What happened?” I still felt a little dizzy.
“Oh, sorry about that,” I heard his voice again and looked up and a short bald, white man appeared. I screamed.
“Who are you!” I scooted back against the toilet.
“Tim from - huh?” he looked down at his hands and then in the mirror. “Sorry, my energies are a little off in this atmosphere.” And then the Tim that I met at Little Darryl’s house was back.
“So, I guess everything my mom told me was true. Wow. Let me guess. Tim is an acronym?” I buried my head in my hands.
“I suppose- but not like you and Steph, those are fairly recent designations. Long time ago, your designation or what humans call names were just based on your energies,”
I looked up at him and frowned. “Energies?”
“Powers or abilities. Mine are teleportation, invisibility and mimicry.” He smiled revealing that blinding white smile again.
“So where is my mom- Steph? What happened to her?” I asked.
“The sycophants came for you but Steph jammed their frequency to make them think they had been successful. It takes a few epochs or human days to reach another dimension. So, we have some time before they realize their attempt was a failure.”
“But won’t they have her?” I asked angrily.
“No, she was able to phase out of the trap. But she did end up in a dead zone of the universe, so she needs to be rescued.”
I used the toilet for support and stood to face him. “Well, when do we leave to rescue her?” I asked. I moved to the sink and rinsed my mouth with water from the tap.
He laughed loudly and I felt the room shake.
“A rescue bot is being sent for her, we have more important matters to attend to,”
“You said you were here to help me rescue my mom!” I yelled.
“I just said that so that you would leave the other human’s house. I think you humans refer to it as a lie?”
I pushed past him and went to get a bottle of water from the kitchen.
“Did Steph tell you about your assignment?” he asked following me.
“This conversation is over. I’ll wait for my mom to get home. You can leave now.” I folded my arms and stared at him.
“Steph said you were stubborn. Have your training sessions been beneficial?” he asked totally ignoring me.
“Did you not hear what I said? Leave!” I yelled.
“Have you mastered flying yet?” he asked.
I screamed and charged at him. His eyes widened and the next second we were falling.
“Wow, you are strong,” he smiled. He was pinned beneath me. I looked up and realized I’d pushed him through the living room wall to my mom’s bedroom. She was going to kill me.
I stood. “Oh no, oh no!” I said looking around at the mess. “My mom is going to be so mad,”
“I would not worry about it,” he stood and dusted himself off. “Did she tell you your human father has the Orb? How do we get to him?”
“Trust me my mom is going to- wait, what do you mean my father has the Orb?”
Tim proceeded to tell me that my dad had the Orb but he doesn’t know what it is, he also told me The Sovereign didn’t erase his memory. That after he “procreated” with my mom, she left him and he never even knew she was pregnant with me.
“Why would she lie to me?” I asked. I was devastated.
“Is that not what humans do. Lie to make other humans feel better?”
“Not to your own son. But I guess technically I’m not her son, I’m a weapon. I hate this! I didn’t ask to be born into this and it’s not fair that-,”
“You have too many weak human emotions. Telegon will use that against you in battle,” Tim said angrily. “Fairness is not a concept that is practiced outside of Earth. Honor and safeguarding our populace is all that matters. Fights are never fair, war is never fair, death and destruction rarely care who they attack. We have one job and that is to make sure evil does not win. Expectations of fairness will lead to the demise of this planet, if you do not defeat Telegon.”
I shook my head and looked up at him. “Why me? Why can’t you do it? You seem way more believable as a superhero,”
He laughed that room-shaking laugh again.
“We are not superheroes, Drew. And you cannot renounce your destiny. It is an honor and once you start to treat it as such- instead of a burden- then everything will fall into place.”
I looked around at all mess I’d made. I just wanted this entire thing to be over.
“Fine. What do we do now?”
“First, we find the Orb and get it to a safe place. Then we convene with the rest of the team to prepare for the battle with Telegon.”
“So, wait, I thought I had to fight him alone- and where is the rest of this team?” I asked confused. I still couldn’t believe I was having this conversation.
“You don’t have to fight him alone- you just have to be the one to destroy him. We can talk about strategy later; the Orb should be our priority. How do we locate your human father?”
“I have no idea. All I know is his first name is John but so are like a billion other people in the world,”
“John Werd,” he said.
“What? His last name is word?” I asked. “How- how do you know that?”
“It is Werd, w-e-r-d. It’s your name spelled backwards,” Tim shrugged. “He was chosen as well. Do you have a computer? Is that how you find people on your planet?”
I couldn’t believe that I knew my dad’s last name. I used to think it was the same as me and my mom’s but she told when I was around eight he had a different name but never revealed it to me. I pulled my phone from my pocket with shaky hands.
My screen was cracked.
“I-I-I can look it up on the Internet maybe,” I said nervously.
Tim gave me a strange look before his body started to blur and he was gone. I looked around. Maybe he’d turned invisible.
“Tim? Tim?” I called.
I sighed and unlocked my phone. Just as I typed my dad’s name into Google, Tim re-appeared.
“Got it,” he said.
“Holy crap! You can’t- don’t do that! You scared me!” I yelled.
“My voice scared you?” he asked confused.
“Never mind. Where’d you go?”
“You seemed to be struggling. I went to a place where they had Internet and used a computer. I have John Werd’s address. We should go. On the way, I will give you techniques to help you suppress the human emotion of fear. It is useless.”
Tim suggested we teleport from Omaha to Chicago. I convinced him that we had more than enough time if we drove or took a bus. It was only about eight hours. I didn’t think my insides could make a trip being teleported that far not to mention, I would be coming face to face with my dad for the first time in forever, I needed time to prepare myself.
“Why are you afraid of your father?” Tim asked me.
We had decided to take a train to Chicago.
“I’m not afraid of him. I don’t even know him,” I said angrily. I took a big bite of the turkey sub I’d bought at the train station.
“What are you afraid of?”
I swallowed and took a drink from my soda. “In general, or about meeting my father for the first time?”
“Fear is an illusion, it keeps you frozen and incapable of necessary action,” he said.
“Well here on Earth, fear can also keep you safe,”
“Explain?” he asked confused.
“If you are afraid of something let’s say like. . .snakes. You will make an effort to stay away from them. If you weren’t afraid you’d maybe think it was okay to play with snakes or hang out in open fields then you might get bit by a snake and die,” I said proud of my analogy. That was one of the reasons I was scared of rats. Those things had rabies! I looked at my sandwich. The thought of rabies made me not want to eat the rest of it, so I wrapped it up and put it in my backpack.
“It is all doom and gloom with you humans,” he sighed. “Fear keeps you prisoner in a prison you created. You want to know why snakes bite? Because they are also afraid. Fear creates fear, and there is a certain frequency that you emit when you are afraid that causes you to feel failure is imminent. You start stuttering, shaking, sweating and your judgement gets cloudy. That is when costly mistakes are made,”
I rolled my eyes. “And how do you suggest I get over my fear?”
“Focus more on your strength. Both literal and figurative in your case. You have to always see yourself as winning. Never think anything can defeat you. Your power comes from your belief in yourself.”
I sighed. He sounded like one of those motivational speakers online. I decided I was done talking. I would be seeing my dad soon. What was I going to say to him? What if he didn’t like me or refused to talk to me? My heart felt like it was skipping beats every time I thought about him.
I closed my eyes and decided I would take a nap. When I woke up we were about an hour outside of Chicago. I looked next to me and noticed the seat was empty.
“Tim?” I whispered I figured he’d turned invisible again. He didn’t answer. Maybe he’d gone to the restroom. I wondered if aliens used the restroom the same as humans.
I reached down into my backpack to get my phone and when I sat up he was back in his seat.
“Geez- you- why- you can’t keep doing that!” I whispered harshly. He had scared me again. “What if someone sees you?”
“You are right I do not want to arouse suspicion. I went to Chicago. John Werd is no longer at the address I found,”
“He’s not?” I asked. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to find him and I’d never have to face him.
“No. I could not find an address but I found his place of employment. He is a fire fighter. But it appears he doesn’t have energies, he uses a water hose. Did you know on Dracosia you cannot extinguish fire with water and-,”
Tim rambled on and on but all I could think about was that my dad was a fireman. What a cool job! And I bet he was a cool guy. There was no way he would be excited about having a sixteen-year-old son. Especially one with powers.
“Hey, when we get there maybe you could just go invisible or something and follow him to his house and get it. I don’t even need to be there,” I suggested to Tim.
“He has to give it to you- we cannot steal it,”
Great. I turned away from Tim and stared out the window.
A few hours later we were exiting the train and headed to a fire station on Wells Street. The closer we got the more I felt sick to my stomach. Tim could tell something was wrong, he placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Do not worry, I will do all of the talking,”
We entered the fire station and an average sized white man with black hair approached us. “Can I help you with somethin’?” he asked.
“Yes, we would like to speak with John Werd,” Tim spoke up.
“Really? And what is this about?” he asked looking from me to Tim and then he did a double take at me.
“It is a private, family matter.” Tim said.
The guy was still staring at me. “I see. Well, did he know you were coming because ambushing a guy at work isn’t a cool thing to do,”
“Ambush- no we just- we-,” I started.
“There has been a death and we need to notify him,” Tim said. Me and the guy both looked up at him.
“He just got off about half an hour ago. But he might be up the block grabbing something to eat at the taco spot,” he said. Then he pulled out his phone. “I’ll text him and let him know you’re coming,”
We walked up the block to the taco place the other fireman had mentioned and went inside. My stomach started to growl when we stepped inside and I remembered I never finished my sandwich.
“Hi, I’m John Werd. My friend Billy said you’re looking for me?” A voice came from behind us.
Tim immediately turned around but I hesitated. Instead, I turned slowly and when I finally faced him it was like looking in a mirror, fifteen years in the future. He was tall, at least six feet, we both had the same caramel complexion, full lips and round shaped eyes.
John Werd looked at Tim and then at me. He staggered backwards and his eyes widened.
“We are here to claim property on behalf of Steph Armstrong. She passed away and-,”
“Tim! Are you serious? Why would you- my mom isn’t dead- is she?” My mouth dropped open.
“Steph is your mom?” John Werd asked sitting down on the stool next to him. “Is she really dead?” he asked looking at Tim but then back to me.
“Can we have this conversation elsewhere?” Tim asked as he walked past us outside. We were attracting a bunch of stares.
“Is everything okay John?” An older Hispanic man asked.
“Um, yeah, I’m- I’m going to go. I’ll see you later Alberto,”
John Werd, my biological father, stood and walked out of the front door and I followed. I had no idea what was about to happen, or if Tim was telling the truth about my mom or if I would actually be able to defeat Telegon. But coming face to face with my dad had awakened something inside of me and I no longer felt afraid.
I ran in the opposite direction of our house and through the skate park hoping whoever was responsible wouldn’t find me. Then I stopped running. I had strength, I could ignite flammable materials and I could fly. Well, I hadn’t actually mastered the flying thing, but I knew I had the other powers.
I was done running. I was a superhero. I would go back and fight for my mom.
I went back to the street where the incident happened and yelled up at the sky, “Come back and fight me! Bring my mom back now!” I yelled.
I was met with silence and a few dogs barking in the distance.
“Hello! Do you hear me! Bring my mom back!” I yelled and more dogs barked.
I continued to yell at the sky until my voice was hoarse and tears flooded my eyes. I fell to my knees in the middle of the street and sobbed.
A few minutes later I heard a car coming and when I looked up I saw the red lights of a police car.
I jumped up and started to run. The police siren came to life and echoed down the street. I ran even faster, darting down sidewalks and jumping fences trying to avoid barking dogs. I figured whoever grabbed my mom knew where we lived, so I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be alone. And I didn’t want the police to take me in. They would never believe a story about Dracosia and Telegon. I would probably be shipped off to a juvenile facility or foster care.
After I was sure I’d lost the police car, I went back to Little Darryl’s apartment.
“Hey Drew, what you doing here? Where’s your mom?” he’d asked looking past me outside.
For a second I thought about telling Little Darryl the truth but figured he wouldn’t believe me either. Not to mention I didn’t want to put him in danger. I probably shouldn’t have gone to his house but I didn’t know what else to do. “We um- we had a fight,” I lied.
Little Darryl convinced his mom to let me spend the night. I lay in a sleeping bag on his bedroom floor staring at the ceiling unable to sleep. I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. I guess I eventually fell asleep because the next thing I knew Little Darryl was shaking me awake.
“Drew, hey Drew. Get up man, your uncle is here to pick you up,” Little Darryl said.
“Huh, what?” I asked turning over to face him. I opened one eye.
“Your Uncle Tim is here. I didn’t know you had an uncle,” Little Darryl frowned.
I opened both eyes. And sat up quickly. “Uncle? Is he here now? In your house?” I asked as my voice cracked.
I didn’t have an uncle. It had to be the same people who grabbed my mom.
“Yeah, he’s in the kitchen with my mom. I think she’s making him coffee,”
I jumped up from the floor almost tripping over the sleeping bag. I kicked it away. “Stay here, okay. Let me go and see what’s going on,” I said to Little Darryl.
He gave me a strange look. “Drew you been acting kinda strange since you came over here last night. Are you sure you okay?”
“I’m fine- I’ll be right back,” I whispered as I stepped into my shoes and tiptoed down the hallway. Little Darryl was right behind me.
“Why are you whispering and sneaking down the hall?” he whispered. “You scared of your uncle? He’s a big dude but he seems nice,”
I rolled my eyes. “I told you to stay- never mind,”
I slowly turned the corner and came face to face with a guy almost twice my size. He was not only tall, but muscular and his dark brown skin was smooth and shiny. He was bald and had the whitest teeth I’d ever seen.
“There he is! Drew!” he yelled with way too much excitement since I had never seen him in my life. His voice was deep and he sounded like he had some sort of an accent. He came towards me and I braced myself in case I had to summon my strength or maybe set him on fire.
He walked over and pulled me into a tight hug before I could do anything.
“I am here from Dracosia to help you find Steph,” he whispered.
He knew my mom!
“Hey- there Uncle Jim-,” I said playing along.
“Tim,” he corrected and Little Darryl’s mom raised an eyebrow. “I have a twin brother named Jim. Even our family gets us mixed up. Well, I know you and your mom had a. . .thing last night. But I am sure you miss her and we need to work this all out,” Tim said.
“Yeah, I guess- I- yeah, we should probably go. Thanks again for letting me stay Ms. Stevens,”
“You sure you’re okay?” she asked looking from me to Tim.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Okay, well tell Steph to give me a call later,” she said.
“Will do. Bye Little Darryl,”
Once we were outside, I followed Tim down the street but I stopped at the end of the block.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. How do you know what happened with my mom?” I asked angrily.
He stared around the area before coming closer to me and grabbing my arm. I tried to pull away but I felt a spinning and dropping sensation. I grabbed his arms and held on tightly as it started to feel like we were on a rollercoaster that had gone off the tracks. There were so many bright colors whizzing by that I thought I was going to be sick. I closed my eyes and a few seconds later it was over.
I opened my eyes and I was in the bathroom at home.
“You probably need to regurgitate. Isn’t that what humans do when they get motion sickness?” A voice asked. It sounded like that Tim guy but I didn’t see him. For a minute, I thought I’d gone blind but I could see the bathtub, the sink, the toilet. . .as soon as I saw the toilet, I started heaving over it. I hadn’t eaten anything since the pizza last night and it looked like most of it had digested.
“Where are you?” I asked resting my head against the toilet. “What happened?” I still felt a little dizzy.
“Oh, sorry about that,” I heard his voice again and looked up and a short bald, white man appeared. I screamed.
“Who are you!” I scooted back against the toilet.
“Tim from - huh?” he looked down at his hands and then in the mirror. “Sorry, my energies are a little off in this atmosphere.” And then the Tim that I met at Little Darryl’s house was back.
“So, I guess everything my mom told me was true. Wow. Let me guess. Tim is an acronym?” I buried my head in my hands.
“I suppose- but not like you and Steph, those are fairly recent designations. Long time ago, your designation or what humans call names were just based on your energies,”
I looked up at him and frowned. “Energies?”
“Powers or abilities. Mine are teleportation, invisibility and mimicry.” He smiled revealing that blinding white smile again.
“So where is my mom- Steph? What happened to her?” I asked.
“The sycophants came for you but Steph jammed their frequency to make them think they had been successful. It takes a few epochs or human days to reach another dimension. So, we have some time before they realize their attempt was a failure.”
“But won’t they have her?” I asked angrily.
“No, she was able to phase out of the trap. But she did end up in a dead zone of the universe, so she needs to be rescued.”
I used the toilet for support and stood to face him. “Well, when do we leave to rescue her?” I asked. I moved to the sink and rinsed my mouth with water from the tap.
He laughed loudly and I felt the room shake.
“A rescue bot is being sent for her, we have more important matters to attend to,”
“You said you were here to help me rescue my mom!” I yelled.
“I just said that so that you would leave the other human’s house. I think you humans refer to it as a lie?”
I pushed past him and went to get a bottle of water from the kitchen.
“Did Steph tell you about your assignment?” he asked following me.
“This conversation is over. I’ll wait for my mom to get home. You can leave now.” I folded my arms and stared at him.
“Steph said you were stubborn. Have your training sessions been beneficial?” he asked totally ignoring me.
“Did you not hear what I said? Leave!” I yelled.
“Have you mastered flying yet?” he asked.
I screamed and charged at him. His eyes widened and the next second we were falling.
“Wow, you are strong,” he smiled. He was pinned beneath me. I looked up and realized I’d pushed him through the living room wall to my mom’s bedroom. She was going to kill me.
I stood. “Oh no, oh no!” I said looking around at the mess. “My mom is going to be so mad,”
“I would not worry about it,” he stood and dusted himself off. “Did she tell you your human father has the Orb? How do we get to him?”
“Trust me my mom is going to- wait, what do you mean my father has the Orb?”
Tim proceeded to tell me that my dad had the Orb but he doesn’t know what it is, he also told me The Sovereign didn’t erase his memory. That after he “procreated” with my mom, she left him and he never even knew she was pregnant with me.
“Why would she lie to me?” I asked. I was devastated.
“Is that not what humans do. Lie to make other humans feel better?”
“Not to your own son. But I guess technically I’m not her son, I’m a weapon. I hate this! I didn’t ask to be born into this and it’s not fair that-,”
“You have too many weak human emotions. Telegon will use that against you in battle,” Tim said angrily. “Fairness is not a concept that is practiced outside of Earth. Honor and safeguarding our populace is all that matters. Fights are never fair, war is never fair, death and destruction rarely care who they attack. We have one job and that is to make sure evil does not win. Expectations of fairness will lead to the demise of this planet, if you do not defeat Telegon.”
I shook my head and looked up at him. “Why me? Why can’t you do it? You seem way more believable as a superhero,”
He laughed that room-shaking laugh again.
“We are not superheroes, Drew. And you cannot renounce your destiny. It is an honor and once you start to treat it as such- instead of a burden- then everything will fall into place.”
I looked around at all mess I’d made. I just wanted this entire thing to be over.
“Fine. What do we do now?”
“First, we find the Orb and get it to a safe place. Then we convene with the rest of the team to prepare for the battle with Telegon.”
“So, wait, I thought I had to fight him alone- and where is the rest of this team?” I asked confused. I still couldn’t believe I was having this conversation.
“You don’t have to fight him alone- you just have to be the one to destroy him. We can talk about strategy later; the Orb should be our priority. How do we locate your human father?”
“I have no idea. All I know is his first name is John but so are like a billion other people in the world,”
“John Werd,” he said.
“What? His last name is word?” I asked. “How- how do you know that?”
“It is Werd, w-e-r-d. It’s your name spelled backwards,” Tim shrugged. “He was chosen as well. Do you have a computer? Is that how you find people on your planet?”
I couldn’t believe that I knew my dad’s last name. I used to think it was the same as me and my mom’s but she told when I was around eight he had a different name but never revealed it to me. I pulled my phone from my pocket with shaky hands.
My screen was cracked.
“I-I-I can look it up on the Internet maybe,” I said nervously.
Tim gave me a strange look before his body started to blur and he was gone. I looked around. Maybe he’d turned invisible.
“Tim? Tim?” I called.
I sighed and unlocked my phone. Just as I typed my dad’s name into Google, Tim re-appeared.
“Got it,” he said.
“Holy crap! You can’t- don’t do that! You scared me!” I yelled.
“My voice scared you?” he asked confused.
“Never mind. Where’d you go?”
“You seemed to be struggling. I went to a place where they had Internet and used a computer. I have John Werd’s address. We should go. On the way, I will give you techniques to help you suppress the human emotion of fear. It is useless.”
Tim suggested we teleport from Omaha to Chicago. I convinced him that we had more than enough time if we drove or took a bus. It was only about eight hours. I didn’t think my insides could make a trip being teleported that far not to mention, I would be coming face to face with my dad for the first time in forever, I needed time to prepare myself.
“Why are you afraid of your father?” Tim asked me.
We had decided to take a train to Chicago.
“I’m not afraid of him. I don’t even know him,” I said angrily. I took a big bite of the turkey sub I’d bought at the train station.
“What are you afraid of?”
I swallowed and took a drink from my soda. “In general, or about meeting my father for the first time?”
“Fear is an illusion, it keeps you frozen and incapable of necessary action,” he said.
“Well here on Earth, fear can also keep you safe,”
“Explain?” he asked confused.
“If you are afraid of something let’s say like. . .snakes. You will make an effort to stay away from them. If you weren’t afraid you’d maybe think it was okay to play with snakes or hang out in open fields then you might get bit by a snake and die,” I said proud of my analogy. That was one of the reasons I was scared of rats. Those things had rabies! I looked at my sandwich. The thought of rabies made me not want to eat the rest of it, so I wrapped it up and put it in my backpack.
“It is all doom and gloom with you humans,” he sighed. “Fear keeps you prisoner in a prison you created. You want to know why snakes bite? Because they are also afraid. Fear creates fear, and there is a certain frequency that you emit when you are afraid that causes you to feel failure is imminent. You start stuttering, shaking, sweating and your judgement gets cloudy. That is when costly mistakes are made,”
I rolled my eyes. “And how do you suggest I get over my fear?”
“Focus more on your strength. Both literal and figurative in your case. You have to always see yourself as winning. Never think anything can defeat you. Your power comes from your belief in yourself.”
I sighed. He sounded like one of those motivational speakers online. I decided I was done talking. I would be seeing my dad soon. What was I going to say to him? What if he didn’t like me or refused to talk to me? My heart felt like it was skipping beats every time I thought about him.
I closed my eyes and decided I would take a nap. When I woke up we were about an hour outside of Chicago. I looked next to me and noticed the seat was empty.
“Tim?” I whispered I figured he’d turned invisible again. He didn’t answer. Maybe he’d gone to the restroom. I wondered if aliens used the restroom the same as humans.
I reached down into my backpack to get my phone and when I sat up he was back in his seat.
“Geez- you- why- you can’t keep doing that!” I whispered harshly. He had scared me again. “What if someone sees you?”
“You are right I do not want to arouse suspicion. I went to Chicago. John Werd is no longer at the address I found,”
“He’s not?” I asked. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to find him and I’d never have to face him.
“No. I could not find an address but I found his place of employment. He is a fire fighter. But it appears he doesn’t have energies, he uses a water hose. Did you know on Dracosia you cannot extinguish fire with water and-,”
Tim rambled on and on but all I could think about was that my dad was a fireman. What a cool job! And I bet he was a cool guy. There was no way he would be excited about having a sixteen-year-old son. Especially one with powers.
“Hey, when we get there maybe you could just go invisible or something and follow him to his house and get it. I don’t even need to be there,” I suggested to Tim.
“He has to give it to you- we cannot steal it,”
Great. I turned away from Tim and stared out the window.
A few hours later we were exiting the train and headed to a fire station on Wells Street. The closer we got the more I felt sick to my stomach. Tim could tell something was wrong, he placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Do not worry, I will do all of the talking,”
We entered the fire station and an average sized white man with black hair approached us. “Can I help you with somethin’?” he asked.
“Yes, we would like to speak with John Werd,” Tim spoke up.
“Really? And what is this about?” he asked looking from me to Tim and then he did a double take at me.
“It is a private, family matter.” Tim said.
The guy was still staring at me. “I see. Well, did he know you were coming because ambushing a guy at work isn’t a cool thing to do,”
“Ambush- no we just- we-,” I started.
“There has been a death and we need to notify him,” Tim said. Me and the guy both looked up at him.
“He just got off about half an hour ago. But he might be up the block grabbing something to eat at the taco spot,” he said. Then he pulled out his phone. “I’ll text him and let him know you’re coming,”
We walked up the block to the taco place the other fireman had mentioned and went inside. My stomach started to growl when we stepped inside and I remembered I never finished my sandwich.
“Hi, I’m John Werd. My friend Billy said you’re looking for me?” A voice came from behind us.
Tim immediately turned around but I hesitated. Instead, I turned slowly and when I finally faced him it was like looking in a mirror, fifteen years in the future. He was tall, at least six feet, we both had the same caramel complexion, full lips and round shaped eyes.
John Werd looked at Tim and then at me. He staggered backwards and his eyes widened.
“We are here to claim property on behalf of Steph Armstrong. She passed away and-,”
“Tim! Are you serious? Why would you- my mom isn’t dead- is she?” My mouth dropped open.
“Steph is your mom?” John Werd asked sitting down on the stool next to him. “Is she really dead?” he asked looking at Tim but then back to me.
“Can we have this conversation elsewhere?” Tim asked as he walked past us outside. We were attracting a bunch of stares.
“Is everything okay John?” An older Hispanic man asked.
“Um, yeah, I’m- I’m going to go. I’ll see you later Alberto,”
John Werd, my biological father, stood and walked out of the front door and I followed. I had no idea what was about to happen, or if Tim was telling the truth about my mom or if I would actually be able to defeat Telegon. But coming face to face with my dad had awakened something inside of me and I no longer felt afraid.
THANK YOU FOR READING!! DREW'S STORY WILL CONTINUE IN MY FIRST FULL LENGTH YA/TEEN BOOK, DREW SAVES THE WORLD. BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER FOR FOR RELEASE INFORMATION!
PART FOUR STORYBOARD DREAM CASTING & INSPIRATION
T.I.M.
THE ORB
LITTLE DARRYL
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JOHN WERD
FIRE STATION
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