《Heroes Always Help》


 Birth of a Hero

    I¡¯m currently regretting about 99% of the decisions that I have made in my life so far. Not because I learned from my mistakes or anything, it more so had to do with the fact that I am now about to get beaten up in an alley by a bunch of guys that look like they really shouldn¡¯t still be in highschool.


    I¡¯m panting as I run as fast as I can down the corridor and past all the lockers that are lined up against the wall. Why the hell does this school have to be freaking built on a hill? What kind of idiot sees a mountain and decides that it¡¯s the perfect place to build a place of learning on.


    While still sprinting and puffing air, I chance a look behind me. Great, they¡¯re still on my tail.


    Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Cay Flanner, and I am about to get my legs broken by two oversized gorillas. I guess you could call my looks average, I had dark skin and wore my hair in a loose afro style, and my body wasn¡¯t something to write home about. All in all, I guess you could say that I was just an ordinary highschool student that you could find anywhere.


    Now you might be wondering why an ordinary guy like me has been caught up in something as dramatic as being chased by two bullies who would probably look more at home in one of those old 80¡¯s films. That would be because I sort of stopped them from beating someone else up.


    I see a turn coming up into the cafeteria and put a bit more speed into my legs as I dash through the already open doors, hoping to get lost in the crowd and to escape my strangely dedicated pursuers. I step through the doors and immediately burst through into one of the groups of people talking. I shimmy around them until I¡¯m positioned so that anyone approaching from the door would not be able to see me.


    Is it just me or was I actually a genius for coming up with this? Not to toot my own horn but I actually consider myself the foremost expert in the art of bully escaping in this district. If there were a prize for it, I¡¯d be sure to receive it every year.


    A sudden shout wrenches me from my musings.


    ¡°HAS ANYONE SEEN FLANNER?¡±. Damn this guy was really loud. He seriously had no consideration for other students. That screaming voice just now was John Sanders, and one thing you need to know about John Sanders is that he¡¯s a very loud guy. Oh and also super violent. He was Caucasian and had brown hair. And his looks were everything I wasn¡¯t. He was tall, good looking, and confident. Sanders knew that, and he knew that the girls knew that, which is why to no one¡¯s surprise he was one of the most popular guys in school.


    Both among guys and girls. I honestly have no idea why but it¡¯s probably because he isn¡¯t trying to cave their heads in.


    And flanking Sanders was his best friend since 6th grade Malcolm Stone, this guy was pretty much Sanders¡¯ second in command. By the way, the reason I know that is because we¡¯ve gone to the same school for the past five years, not because I¡¯m some sort of stalker. He was the guy that did what Sanders didn¡¯t want to do. He was like the counterpart of Sanders. He was good looking, dark skinned and had a shaved head. His eyes were intense as if he was about to laser beam you. He was also tall and muscular. And the girls loved him as well.


    They were both very different to little ol¡¯ Cay, I was average height and standing next to these behemoths seemed like I was less.


    ¡°Hey Flanner, show yourself.¡± This time it was Stone that called out my name. The difference between Sanders and Stone is that while the former was more of a stereotypical loud and angry guy, Stone was a psychopath. His tone was always calm and formal even when he was breaking your arms.


    ¡°Hey Flanner, why are you wasting time like this? You know that you can¡¯t escape¡± Stone said with a voice that spoke as if he already knew that my fate was to get punched today.


    ¡°Yeah Flanner, just accept it, you can¡¯t run you bastard.¡± And there was Sanders. I was still shimmying behind a couple of people that were surprisingly in my class that I never bothered to learn the names of. There were three guys and two girls in their group, and when they head the dynamic duo call my name, they looked directly at me.


    I looked at them in desperation. ¡°Come on guys are you really gonna rat me out?¡± I whispered with beads of sweat dripping down my forehead. Their unamused eyes told me the answer.¡°Goddammit,¡± I hissed. They immediately split so that I was completely visible to everyone in the cafeteria. And suffice to say that everyone included Sanders and Stone.


    ¡°Thanks a lot, you guys, now I definitely don¡¯t feel guilty that I never bothered to remember your names¡± those were my parting words as I dashed forward into another full sprint to the exit door of the cafeteria that was thankfully not blocked for once. If I could just get through that door and to the stairs that lead to the gates, then I would be free.


    My feet pounding against the shining linoleum, I ran with all my heart. I was around ten or so meters away from those blue doors that lead to heaven when I felt something make contact with my shoes.


    It was a foot. Some jerk had just tripped me. Just before my victorious escape I collapsed and slid forward a bit on the cafeteria floor. Was this bluish colour new or was that just the brain damage? As I woozily put my hand down on the floor to try and stand up, I felt two horrifying shadows fall upon me.


    I turned my head and sighed.


    That had hurt a lot. I was currently walking down the street that leads to my house. Well maybe saying walking was a bit of an exaggeration, it was more hobbling and moaning like either an old person or a zombie. The Double S duo had surely not gone light on me today. I was now the proud recipient of one black eye and numerous bruises that highlighted whole sections of my body.


    I sighed as I kicked a can that had been littered on the pavement. I kept walking forward until I felt sort of uncomfortable and immediately went back to grab the can. Since I was near it I might as well just put into a rubbish bin. I couldn¡¯t get the picture of dad looking at me disappointed.


    Still hobbling only now with rubbish in my hand, I made it to my home. If you could even call it that, it was more like a hovel. It had two bedrooms one for my dad and one for me, and it was absolutely tiny. It¡¯s outside showed bricks that may have once been red and colourful but were now brown and gloomy. The corrugated iron on the tin of the roof was similarly in bad shape and made a ton of noise whenever it rained. Let me tell you that trying to sleep in the middle of a thunderstorm is not fun. The path leading to the front door was full of gravel that somehow always got stuck in your shoes.


    I pulled out my keys from my pocket and put them into the lock on the door. Dad wasn¡¯t here yet, so I had some free time to goof around a bit. Well as much as I could handle being in constant pain while doing so. I threw my bag into its designated corner in the corridor.


    I immediately went to the kitchen and got a bag of peas that were in the freezer. I once more walked into my room holding the frozen goodness directly against my eye.


    I slumped down to the chair in front of the computer. Since it¡¯s basically metal with a thin piece of leather on top, it¡¯s not all that comfortable.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    And so I get to reach the best part of my day.


    Reading about the sightings of all of the new hallucinations.


    Recently there have been many sightings of impossible things happening around the world. A man getting electrocuted but not dying in America. A woman disappearing from her prison cell in China. And much more happening at an extremely fast rate. Nothing that interesting was happening in good old New Zealand. No hallucinations had occurred here yet, but I knew that it was only a matter of time. And I was going to be the one to find it.


    Plenty of groups and individuals were promising rewards of up to ten thousand dollars if someone managed to capture a hallucination. Now by hallucinations I don¡¯t mean the ones where they¡¯re only visible to one person as a result of taking some drugs. Apparently with these incidents multiple people have been on record saying that they each saw the same thing. One guy that was floating after trying to jump off a building, another that recovered almost instantly from a bullet wound.


    I looked through the various posts on different news sites that talked about even more of these aberrations occurring.


    I was scrolling so fast that I was almost scared that my computer mouse would break. Something interesting was happening around the world right now, and I wanted to know more. As I kept reading through, time passed until I heard the sound of a door opening and then closing. Dad must have come home. I guess now is a good enough time as any to get started on helping him cook dinner.


    It had always been me and my dad by ourselves. My mom had died due to childbirth, and my dad had never had the heart to remarry or even date after that. He still tried his best to raise me, and in my biased opinion, I¡¯d say that he did a pretty good job of that.


    I stepped into the kitchen and see that dad has already put down the ingredients for dinner today on the kitchen counter. I look directly at him as he turns his face to me. He shares a lot of my features obviously as he is, in fact, my father. He had the same dark skin but had no hair on the top of his head. And his face was weathered and seemed aged beyond the forties that he was supposed to be. I guess that was due to him being fired from his job that he had been at for the past twenty years. For the past two years, he had been trying to get a new job, but apparently, managers don¡¯t want to give positions to older people.


    He smiles at me as he notices me walk into the room.


    ¡°Hey, Cay,¡± he says with a twinkle in his eyes. For some reason, he really loves that line. He¡¯s been saying it since before I could remember. He motions at me to come in and get started on helping him out, which I do. However, that twinkle fades as soon as he notices that my face. Oh, right I was injured. Before he can ask me what happened I give him a look that says I don¡¯t really want to talk about. So he just motions me to come and get started on helping him out, which I do. He knows that I¡¯ll just clam up if he tries to get it out of me.


    We split up our work evenly and begin working. My dad didn¡¯t know that I was getting into altercations with Sanders and Stone. It had only become that bad during the past year. Before that they mainly ignored me, and I avoided them. However recently Sanders dad got promoted at some company and became an even bigger donator to the school. The reason I know that is because Sanders literally could not shut up about it. I shake my head to clear my thoughts ¡ª time to focus on cooking. I didn¡¯t want to burden my dad anymore, so I tried to avoid telling him the truth. I just knew that if he found out who did it he¡¯d try and get them punished and we so did not have the money for that.


    My dad and I have been cooking together for the past five or so years, so pretty much since I was eleven. I guess at first it was just to teach me how to cook, but now I¡¯m a pretty good cook if I do say so myself, so we just chill out together. This is like our bonding time. We usually chat while cooking.


    I glance over at dad while he¡¯s getting the water in the pot to boil.


    ¡°Unlucky again?¡± I question him as he stares at the pot with an inscrutable expression on his face. He smiles while still watching the pot,¡± No, not unlucky. I just need to put in a bit more effort after all¡±. That was how he always was. Ever since I could remember he always prided himself on trying to be his best. When others would get angry, he wouldn¡¯t and when others would get scared he wouldn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t know exactly why he was like this, but he must have been one of the best people on this planet. If there were one person that I would say exemplified the goodness of humanity, it would be him.


    He suddenly speaks up surprising me a bit. ¡°Who¡¯d you help this time,¡± he says. I turn to face him and see his brown eyes staring directly into my own. ¡°What on earth are you talking about,¡± I say while averting my eyes. His eyes are smiling while looking at me.


    ¡°I know you, Cay, I know that you¡¯re not the type of person to get into fights for the fun of it¡± he¡¯s looking at me with a kind and also somewhat amused gaze. I could tell that it was already time to give up the goose.


    ¡°It was this guy in my class¡± I admitted. He had been cornered by Sanders near the dumpsters at the side of the school. So since I didn¡¯t want to have to see some random guy get beaten up, I threw a clump of dirt that I had scooped off of the ground at him.


    I tell my dad, and he starts chuckling. He seems really happy about what he¡¯s just heard. He always gets this way when he hears about one of my half baked rescue attempts. And he always says the same thing after. ¡°You did the right thing.¡± It¡¯s like it was his mantra or something.


    He looks at me while still chuckling, ¡°You seriously threw dirt at them?¡±, I looked away somewhat embarrassed, ¡°Hey it¡¯s not like there was anything else there.¡± It was true, the only other things near me were rocks, and I was just trying to scare them not kill them.


    Dad, all of a sudden, grabs my shoulders and spins me so that I¡¯m face to face with him. His face is stern. ¡°Don¡¯t be embarrassed about what you do when saving others¡± he looks at me with his eyes almost burning into my soul,¡± Because, heroes always help.¡± He then releases my shoulder and pats my back. ¡°You can relax for a bit today. Let your injuries heal up¡±. He waves me off so that I can go rest in my room. Which I honestly think is a bit too much, but the more time I get to research the recent mass hallucinations the better.


    I¡¯m back to sitting in front of my computer while getting the latest info on what¡¯s been happening around the world when it happens. It starts with my fingers tingling and then spreads to my whole body. I guess this is how a phone feels when it¡¯s being charged.


    I suddenly feel something jolt my entire body. It¡¯s almost as if I¡¯ve been struck by a lightning bolt. My vision blurs, and as I try to stand up, I immediately lose my footing. Luckily I collapse onto my bed and not the hard wooden floor. As I lay on the bed, my heart starts pumping insanely fast. Sweat starts pouring from my skin, so much of it that I feel like I¡¯ve just emerged from a pool. My heartbeat is still speeding up. It so fast now. It won¡¯t stop. The sound of the beats sounds loud in my ears. I can barely feel anything other than my chest throbbing. Was this a heart attack? The thought runs through my mind terrifying me. Until suddenly the sound stops.


    And then Nothing.


    I feel nothing. I see nothing. I hear nothing. Nothing is all that exists. Yet somehow I am aware of this nothingness. This ¡®Nothing¡¯ is eternal yet imaginary. I slowly start to feel again. I gain awareness of my body, but the Nothing is still there. My body is alone in this void. What¡¯s happening? Did I die? What the hell is going on? These are the questions I ask myself as time passes.


    It feels like I¡¯ve been suspended here for hours. That¡¯s when I see it. A white star in the distance. Wait it looks like it¡¯s coming closer. The star shoots forward at ridiculous speed, leaving a white tail behind it. Wait a minute; why is it coming this way? Oh god, am I gonna die in a collision with a star? I don¡¯t even have my license yet. The star is coming closer and closer, and it doesn¡¯t seem to be stopping. I can feel its heat as it gets closer. It¡¯s becoming uncomfortably warm. Wait now it¡¯s hot. And now it feels like I¡¯m being boiled alive. Even though I can¡¯t bear the pain I can¡¯t scream, no sound exists in this place just the heat and light. And then with a flash of pain and light, the star reaches me. It penetrated my chest consumes me from the inside out.


    I gasp and sit upright on my bed. My eyes are wide and feel painful. Had that been just a dream? Or should I call it a nightmare? My clothes are soaked and so is my hair. I slowly calm myself by taking deep breaths. When I feel sufficiently calm enough, I think back a bit on what had just happened. Calm down, Cay. It was just a nightmare. A weird, surreal and kind of terrifying nightmare. Repeating those words in my mind over and over I slowly feel as if I¡¯ve returned to normal. I look at my t-shirt and see that it is absolutely soaked in sweat. Gross, I¡¯m gonna need to take a shower now.


    I take my feet of the bed and place them on the cold hard wooden floor.


    Stretching a bit while standing up I reach towards the doorknob, and as I twist it, it gives no resistance. Huh? Normally it takes a bit of strength to move it. I inspect the handle and what I see is honestly ridiculous. The metal knob was crushed. I flinch and take a couple of steps away from the door. What the hell was that? I keep going backward until I almost trip on my bed. I grab the bed frame to steady myself, but I feel my hand almost mold the metal like play dough. Sweat still streaming down my face I turn to look at the metal frame of my bed. Just like the door knob, it was crushed and twisted. I raise my shaking hands and look at them and then at my bed frame.


    ¡°Is this a hallucination?

 Good and Evil - Differing Origins

    I¡¯m still gazing at the frame of my bed. The matte black metal that usually prevents me from falling off the edge of my bed is all twisted and contorted like some sort of balloon animal. The frame is still connected to the bed although who knew how long that would last.


    I notice that my breathing has become slightly shallow and decide that it would be better not to try and get more than one heart attack within hours of each other.


    Did I seriously just crush both that doorknob and my bed frame? Weren¡¯t Hallucinations supposed to be just that? Seriously I had no idea what was going on.


    ¡°If it was a hallucination then I just need to wake myself up from it,¡± I say this and then immediately give myself a hard slap across the face. From the stinging and heat rising in my cheek I¡¯d say that was a solid wake up slap.


    I shake my head a bit to clear the pain out. Now satisfied that I¡¯m actually awake and not lucid dreaming, I reach for my bed frame once more. I slowly extend my hand, so slowly that it feels like it¡¯s happening in slow motion. I grasp the metal pole. It feels cool in my hand. And then I twist it with all my might and as soon as I do that the bed frame instantly goes up into the air along with the rest of my bed and slams into the wall of my room.


    With wide eyes I just stare at the carnage that my room had now become. Somehow by trying to lift my bed, I managed to fling it all the way across the room. Plus the bed frame near the top of the bed had come entirely loose.


    Great.


    Just what one earth was going on with me? I doubted that this was just a hallucination. I had already slapped myself super hard with my hand that were¡­, wait a minute. If my hands could throw a whole bed across the room then shouldn¡¯t that slap have broken my jaw at the very least. Instead, I felt only mild pain. Okay, I¡¯m going to do something pretty stupid. Like usual.


    I had put my bed back into its proper positioning only now without its metal headboard. I stashed that in my closet. I now stood in the middle of the room. I apparently had some sort of super strength. However, the jury¡¯s still out on that. There is still a chance that this could all be an elaborate psychological breakdown that preys on my fantasies of having superpowers. Or it could be superpowers. I know which choice I prefer. However, before any of that, I¡¯m going to need to be extremely careful so that I don¡¯t cause any more damage than I already have.


    I clench my hand into a fist. No, I was not going to punch a wall or anything. What I had in mind was a little simpler than that. I was going to punch my other palm.


    I lightly raised my hand to feel my cheek, the pain was gone, and it hadn¡¯t even been a minute. I feel like it would usually last a bit longer than that, but I wasn¡¯t too sure. Either way that slap had shown me that there was something more than just simple, super strength at play here.


    While still gazing at my fist, the same one that crushed metal, I questioned why I hadn¡¯t suffered any other injuries when I had slapped my face. When I had done that I assume that I was using just as much power as I did when throwing my bed so why had I not hurt myself.


    I think I had an idea as to why.


    I held my palm out as far from my other fist as I could. If I wanted to properly test this out, I¡¯d want to use as much force as possible with the new super hands that I had.


    I pull my right arm back and then with as much force as I could possibly gather from such a position, punch my left palm with all I had.


    Pain, that¡¯s the result of that experiment. However not horrible pain, not the excruciating pain of a broken wrist. No, it felt more like the pain one feels when they mess up a high five. When someone accidentally goes in a bit too hard, and your hand stings for quite a while after but you can still use it.


    While slowly and carefully walking towards my bed I relax and then sit down on it and look at my hands. They were pretty average just like the rest of me. However they apparently now had some sort of superhuman power residing within them.


    After mulling it over for a while, I come to a conclusion. That rather than just increasing my body¡¯s strength, this new ability I had gained also reinforced the rest of my body. I wasn¡¯t just strong, that strength was also my defense. It seemed like this ability could both attack and defend. I guess it¡¯s basically a suit of armour or something like that.


    How did it work? I honestly had no idea. I lift my arms and try to inspect them. All I see is just a normal hand. There¡¯s no muscle definition that hadn¡¯t already been there previously. I hadn¡¯t become a bodybuilder or something, so I don¡¯t think it has anything to do with the physiology of my body. So maybe it was a bit more supernatural.


    While still thinking over this, I feel something draining out of me. I suddenly feel lightheaded and almost collapse onto the bed, but I grab hold of the edge and somehow miraculously don¡¯t break it. I feel really tired like someone who has just won a marathon. But it¡¯s not physical so much as it is mental fatigue.


    I guess the ability reached its limit. Or maybe I just woke up from the hallucination.


    I think for a while but eventually, accept that I won¡¯t be able to make heads or tails out of it.


    I remember all the Hallucinations that I had just been researching only a bit ago. I check the time on my glowing green alarm clock on my desk. It¡¯s was currently nine pm.


    I last remember it being six pm. Had that surreal post modern dream I had, really taken that long.


    I take a look at the door with the doorknob still crushed. I guess dad must have thought I took a nap.


    I get up off of my bed. I¡¯m still soaked in sweat, and by now it¡¯s starting to stink up the room. I should probably wash all of this off before doing anything else.


    I¡¯m currently in the shower letting the cool and refreshing water wash of the stickiness of the sweat from my entire body. Nothing better than having a shower after accidentally breaking both your bed and door. That¡¯s when it happens. A feeling pierces through my mind, body, and soul. It feels like a drop of water had fallen into my being. The fatigue that I had still felt has all but gone away now. The shower water is dripping down my face as I feel inexplicably refreshed.


    I start to panic slightly wondering if I would actually end up destroying the bathroom. However, for some reason I feel a sense of calm wash over me. It almost feels like I¡¯m being reassured by something that I had no reason to worry.


    I slowly calm down, and I look down at my hand. Something compels me to try using my power once more. I reach for a bottle of soap and crush it my grip. I turn my head expecting it to explode, but when I look back, all I see is a slightly deformed bottle. As I watch the bottle slowly return back to its previous state, I realise that even though my power was active, I hadn¡¯t destroyed the bottle.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    What had been the difference between when I had thrown my bed and just now.


    I immediately remember that calming sensation. That must have been it. That sensation was what allowed for me to not mutilate my precious bottle of soap that kept me clean.


    All of a sudden with an almost alarming swiftness the calm feeling shattered. I guess that means that I¡¯m back in Destruction Mode as I¡¯m calling it for now. I still had something that I wanted to test out, so I grasped the wooden handle of one of those weird back scratcher things that my dad used. And instantly shattered it into many pieces that fell on the floor of the shower. Ouch. I was probably gonna get in trouble for that.


    So just now without that calm feeling, I obliterated that wooden stick. So what would happen if I tried to regain that calmness from before?


    Even before I can get the thought out, the calm passes over me. Wow, that was a lot easier than I had thought it would be. Does it get easier every time I do it? Or was there some other weird conditions to activate it? In any case, it didn¡¯t change what I had to do.


    I reached over to grab one of the remaining pieces of wood. I enclosed it with my fist and then crush it with my hand.


    When I then opened my hand, there it was. Whole and unchanged. Interesting. So somehow with that weird calm feeling, I can somewhat control exactly how much strength I output. Well, that¡¯s definitely going to be useful. Hopefully, I won¡¯t be breaking anymore precious household items.


    I¡¯m back in my room while continuously trying to hold the calm feeling down. I have a sudden idea. Now that I won¡¯t break my computer if I try to use I can probably do a bit of research on if anything similar to this has happened to people involved in the other hallucinations. I sit down on my chair in front of my computer and log on.


    I then quickly go to a search engine and type in the words: ¡®Hallucinations lasting.¡¯ I press enter and the screen changes showing many different types of medical websites talking about various mental illnesses. I immediately go back and try a different type of search. Hopefully this wouldn¡¯t take too long.


    It took quite a bit of time. It¡¯s currently midnight, and I had also bought dinner to my room today, telling dad that I still felt a bit under the weather. While I do feel bad about lying to him, I didn¡¯t want to accidentally hurt him or anything. Although considering how natural it feels for me to regulate my strength down to my previous levels, maybe I should have eaten with him.


    After a bit of research on the internet, I discovered something very interesting. Before today¡¯s event, I just kept up with the types of hallucinations and where they happened. However, during my research, I dug in a bit deeper than I usually did. And I almost smacked myself on the side of the head for not doing it sooner.


    Apparently, there have been some examples of people who were reported to have been the victim of a hallucination who had been witnessed repeating their hallucination incident elsewhere. On many of the forums, people were skeptical about whether the incidents were hallucinations at all. Two main factions had popped up. Those who denied that these events were happening in reality and those who believed in them. It made for some pretty good entertainment if I do say so myself.


    At this point, I had given up on thinking of them as hallucinations. I knew I would be deluding myself if I did that. Now that I had my new abilities I couldn¡¯t be fooled.


    I was getting more excited by the minute. I actually had real superpowers, and it wasn¡¯t just a hallucination. I was more sure of that than I had ever been before.


    I knew with all this energy about to burst out from me that I wouldn¡¯t be able to fall asleep. So I decided to try out this ability a little more. Well, I couldn¡¯t punch things in my room so I decided to try and sneak out to see if I can maybe do something a bit more superhuman.


    I slowly open my door wincing as it creaks; it really needed some new oil. The rest of the house is dark. I guess dad went to sleep already. Cool, this just makes it easier. I silently tiptoe over to my shoes and put them on like I imagine a ninja would. I sneak forward to the door, all stealth. I grab the door handle and pull it down slowly and quietly and step through the now open door. The sky is black with little pinpricks of light dotting it. I quietly close the door walk down the path to my street.


    Once I reach the street, I release the calm feeling that had been engulfing me for the past little while and start sprinting with all my might. One second I¡¯m standing still and the next I¡¯m running faster than I ever have in my life. It might be around forty kilometers per hour or something close to that.


    My hair whips against my face as I run down the road. It¡¯s exhilarating. I had never run like this in my life. My legs were pumping down against the ground, but I didn¡¯t feel any sort of physical fatigue. Not yet at least. As I run I reconfirmed my destination in my mind. I was headed to a nearby park that was practically deserted at this time of night. I was super curious about how much my maximum strength was.


    I ran and reached the park in what I could only assume was record time. And I¡¯m not even tired. I felt like I had just walked to the park instead of sprinting at the speed a car drove at. I zone in on an area of the park that was off to the side. It was a kind of mini-forest where a copse of trees were.


    I walk over there slowly this time feeling the mental energy that I had lost while running replenishes rapidly. I approached the area until I reached the trees that I had been eyeing.


    Not even hesitating I threw a punch that contained the full force of my strength. I heard a loud thud and then a crack. I turned my gaze to the area of the trunk that my fist had hit. There was a roundish hole as if a large drill had bored in, as well as several cracks that spread out from the area where my fist had hit.


    So my current strength wasn¡¯t strong enough to break a tree. I wonder if it would grow or would the amount of force that I¡¯d be able to output stay like this. Either way, the fact that I could already do this was making me giddy. I tried punching the tree with all my might once more. A loud crack sounded out through the park, and a cloud of leaves fell on me from above. My punch had pretty much decimated what had remained of the trunk, and now the tree slowly leaned back and careened until it impacted the ground with a loud thud. Hopefully, no one heard it.


    I scratch my cheek while laughing awkwardly, ¡°Is it illegal to break a tree?¡±. That was what was on my mind.


    ¡°Hahaha, I may have made a mistake¡± As soon as I say these words I immediately turn back to the direction that I had come from and start sprinting home, without my power activated this time.


    <hr>


    He still felt it.


    It had been a few hours, and the bruises from Jack Kelly¡¯s latest beating were still causing him trouble. He was currently in his room sitting in front of his desk. In front of him were all the necessary implements that he needed to complete his schoolwork. Yet he didn¡¯t so much as bother to touch them. He couldn¡¯t even pick up a pencil. This wasn¡¯t due to his injuries. No. It was due to the fact that Jack knew that if he picked up that pencil than there was a high chance that he would walk over to the room his father was sleeping in right now and stab him in the eye.


    Jack¡¯s face was serene, almost like he was meditating. However, no true Yogi would ever have the thoughts which were swirling around his mind. Hate. Anger. Rage. These were at the foremost and the most easily identified. However, hidden beneath them was fear and sadness.


    Jack Kelly hid those emotions because showing them got him hurt. How long ago had it been since he had last cried? Definitely not since his mother had died. Not since his father had turned to alcohol to dull the pain. All those emotions that had once burned bright in the young child had grown dark and twisted. Even in his private moments, Jack didn¡¯t allow for any weak emotions to arise.


    His rage continued to build and build until it got so unbearable that Jack got light headed and collapsed onto his bed. He lay there for a time. Until he rose up sweat slicking his red hair against his pale face. He was panting softly. However, he didn¡¯t allow the shock to faze him.


    He instead returned to his desk and faced the work that he was supposed to have already been done. However, just like before his rage built up. Hatred against that man that had made every single day of his life into a miserable hell. The rage crescendoed and crescendoed until something curious happened. Jack saw something in the corner of his eye. It was his pencil. It wasn¡¯t different from any other sort of pencil that was bought from a normal store. The one peculiar thing was that it was suspended in the air.


    It had been days since Jack had seen the pencil that would soon change his life. He was still sitting at his desk but unlike before he now had a serene smile. He raised his right hand and instantly dozens of objects rose up into the air and began orbiting him. Moving in circles around his body all of these objects were in perfect time with each other, never touching.


    Jack lowered his hand, and all the objects returned to where they belonged.


    Still smiling he watched the pencil float back towards the area of his desk that he reserved for it.


    He grabbed it in his hand and stood up to leave the room. He was about to have a nice chat with his beloved father.