《The Traveler of Space (and Time)》


 Take a Ticket

    ¡°Take a ticket, you¡¯ll be called when it¡¯s your turn.¡± The secretary behind the desk said, not even bothering to look up from his phone.


    I blinked, what? What was going on? Where was I? This definitely not look like my bedroom, it actually looked like some kind of waiting room, the kind of whitewashed sterilized place that all hospitals employed. The place seemed mostly empty with only a few people sitting on the benches, each more forlorn then the last, completing the picture of monotony and utter despair.


    ¡°Take a ticket, you¡¯ll be called when it¡¯s your turn.¡± The secretary repeated, an old man in white overalls, he looked just as bad as the others. Even his phone beeped in a dejected sort of way.


    ¡°Excuse me but where am I?¡± I tried asking. No response. That was kind of frustrating, did he not care that he will lose his job? Maybe he didn¡¯t, maybe he hoped to get fired. Well I could understand that well enough.


    I tried again. ¡°Where am I?¡± Still no response. Fine. Be a dick, see if I care.


    Taking a slip of paper from the ticket machine, which seemed to be on its last legs as well, I slowly walked away to sit on one of the benches. I glanced around once more taking in the other people who were sitting with me, there were a surprising number of them, and they looked to be from all ages and races, little kids, big kids, old people, young people, even oldish young people. I spotted a family, a couple and several kids, sitting a few rows away. They all had a sort of vacant expression on their faces, it made me shudder.


    Just as I was about to sit down next to a quite pretty girl a strange crackling sound filled the air. ¡°Number 37. now taking number 37.¡±


    I looked at my slip, number 37. Wow, that¡¯s just unfair to the other people here, but I shouldn¡¯t complain should I. Shrugging my shoulders I walked back to the counter, this time the receptionist just pointed his thumb towards a door next to him, a door which I didn¡¯t even notice before. Kinda creepy but I was still too angry at the jerk to care.


    I opened the door and contrary to my belief it didn¡¯t creak ominously, instead when I stepped through I saw another man sitting behind a desk. This room was whitewashed as well, but this time it felt like I was in someone¡¯s office cubicle. A few cabinets stood in the corner with stacks of paper placed against them, while a single kitten poster with the words ¡®You can do it¡¯ printed under it stood proudly on the wall. And a white board showing some sort of pie chart took up most of the adjacent one. A desk was right in the middle, it had no monitor on it, instead it had a bunch of documents with an inbox and outbox, with the inbox being significantly fuller than its counterpart.


    The man behind the desk was old, balding and wore suspenders, nothing stood out about him.


    ¡°Sit down Mr Beck.¡± The man said without looking up.


    Ooh I did not like this at all, but nevertheless I sat down.


    ¡°Please fill out this form.¡± He handed me a pink piece of paper whilst still looking down.


    I took the paper and read it; it was a questionnaire of some kind.


    The first question was ¡®If you had a chance to save the world, would you do it?¡¯


    I snorted at that, ¡°Is this some kind of joke?¡± I asked indignantly.


    Still the man wouldn¡¯t look up. ¡°Just answer the questions please.¡±


    I was really getting fed up with this shit now, nevertheless I complied. I picked up a pen next to me and wrote in big, fat bold letters ¡®NO¡¯.


    Next question, ¡®If the previous answer was yes, then please state your top three reasons for doing so.¡¯ I skipped the question.


    ¡®If you could choose any superpower, what would it be? Please circle one of the answers below.¡¯


    <ol>


    <li>Invisibility</li>


    <li>Super Strength</li>


    <li>Super Speed</li>


    <li>Shape Shift</li>


    <li>Time Manipulation</li>


    <li>Elasticity</li>


    <li>Teleportation</li>


    <li>Power Mimicry</li>


    <li>Water breathing</li>


    <li>Invulnerability</li>


    <li>Night Vision</li>


    <li>Telepathy</li>


    <li>Omnilinguism</li>


    <li>Atmokinesis</li>


    <li>Precognition</li>


    <li>Talking to Animals</li>


    <li>Immortality</li>


    <li>Mind Control</li>


    <li>Force Field</li>


    <li>Intangibility</li>


    <li>Flying</li>


    </ol>


    Now this was interesting, I¡¯ve never given it much thought. And I didn¡¯t even know what some of these did. But wait, if you thought about it¡­ Come on, it has to be immortality, or precognition, one or the other. Ack, why not just both?If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°We do not appreciate cheaters Mr Beck.¡± The man said, stopping me from circling the second answer.


    I looked up only to find the old man looking back at me.


    ¡°Oh, so now you¡¯re gonna speak? Well why shouldn¡¯t I choose two huh?¡± I shot back, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction for eliciting a reaction from the guy.


    The office worker leaned back at that, crossing his hands behind his back. ¡°Because. It wouldn¡¯t be fair.¡±


    ¡°Well why not?¡± I asked crossly.


    He frowned at that. ¡°Because it isn¡¯t.¡±


    I was getting so sick of this farce. ¡°Alright, I just about had it with you. Why don¡¯t you tell me what¡¯s going on? Am I taking some kind of test? Is this what the government does to people who download movies illegally? Come on tell me!¡± I was practically yelling at the man by the time I finished my rant.


    But the old dude in front of me wasn¡¯t getting angry, in fact he looked kinda high. ¡°Look Mr Beck, I¡¯m willing to cut you a deal. You can have two but I¡¯ll have to answer the rest of the survey for you. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll answer it a way that will best suit your interests.¡±


    Just what the fuck was going on? How was that a deal? Why were we even talking about super powers?


    ¡°You know what? Sure, fine, whatever, go ahead.¡± I said as I pushed the pen and paper back to him.


    He nodded at me then filled out the rest of the paper, reading each question carefully and only writing an answer after much consideration.


    ¡°Now tell me Mr Beck.¡± The man said, still writing on the paper. ¡°If you were being robbed, would you consider fighting back?.¡±


    I blinked. ¡°Um, no, not really.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°Now tell me Mr Beck. If you were captured and forced to watch a villain carry out his master plan, would you rather live and watch the world crumble? Or sacrifice yourself to save the world.¡±


    ¡°Does it even matter?¡± I sighed.


    ¡°Mr Beck, please answer the question.¡± The man responded impassively.


    ¡°Argh, fine. The first one.¡±


    The man nodded before placing the pen down on the desk and handing back the sheet. Just as I was about to take it however, it suddenly morphed in to some kind of bus ticket.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± I jumped up, trying to get as far away from the thing as possible.


    ¡°Please take the ticket Mr Beck.¡± The man said.


    Ever so slowly I reached for it and hesitantly took it, before immediately dropping it and hastily picking it back up.


    ¡°Thank you for your time Mr Beck, please see yourself out now.¡± The man said before returning to his work.


    I stood still for a couple of seconds, waiting for the thing in my hands to transform again. ¡°Fuck you too buddy.¡± I said to the man before opening the door and leaving as if I was carrying a bomb in my hands.


    When I opened the door I found myself somewhere other than the reception, instead of that perpetual pit of depression it looked like I was in some kind of shopping center. With boutiques and stores on either side of me, the place also had a white appearance but it wasn¡¯t depressing this time, the tiles looked sleek and the ceiling was made of glass to let sunshine in. It was also completely devoid of life.


    ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± I wondered out loud again in genuine confusion. I looked behind me only to find the door behind me completely gone. I was getting really scared now.


    After a few seconds of gawking about I slowly started walking. At first keeping close to the wall but I soon lost my sense of precaution. For all intents and purposes I was in a mall, a massive mall but a mall none the less, and as I kept walking I soon found myself lost in the shops, browsing through the windows. I occasionally went inside as well but never found anything interesting, it was usually clothes or shoes or candy stores anyway. I found myself in a book shop at one point, browsing some fantasy books, I even found what looked like a grimoire at one point called The History of Magic, but I was pretty disappointed when I opened it, as it only showed a few seemingly ¡®magical¡¯ scribbles and a note that said that if I sent in my feedback on the book to this address, I could have a chance to win another one of the collection, with the other parts including The history of Dragons and The history of Pirates.


    At one point I entered a supermarket called ¡®Hoffs¡¯ and found myself browsing the junk food section. I found a packet call Quantum Rings, it looked like a kind of chips with holes in them, with a kid in a scientist lab coat saying ¡°Now with 75% less fat!¡± Shrugging I took it to a self-serving register and scanned it.


    ¡®Please scan your voucher.¡¯ It read.


    What voucher? I frowned as I looked around, wait, couldn¡¯t I just take anything I wanted since no one was arou-


    My roaming hands slowly lifted the barcode up to my eyes, with trembling hands I pushed it towards the laser of the counter and with a single beep it read.


    ¡®Purchase confirmed, thank you for using Hoffs, have a great day!¡¯


    I let out a breath of relief as I took the chips and plonked myself on a bench outside. Honestly, what was I expecting? I thought to myself as I teared open the packet. I really need to calm down, it¡¯s been too stressful lately, good thing I brought this Quantum Rings stuff, it tasted really good.


    And then my brain exploded.

 School?

    I woke up with a searing headache, it was as if a thousand mosquitos were sucking the blood out of my brain while tap dancing on the inside of my skull, really painful. It was a good five minutes before I started to regain cognitive thought, looking through the haze of pain I saw that I was in my bedroom, good, that was good. Bedroom was safe, no strange offices, no shapeshifting objects.


    And then I remembered my dream and promptly hid under the covers, hoping that the world would leave me alone for a while, and it did. For a time nothing happened, I just lay under my covers and prayed nothing would eat me, after a while I started getting angry with myself. Come on Norman, it was just a dream, nothing to get upset about, now get up and go to school.


    School? Shit, what¡¯s the time?


    I looked at my clock to see 8:15, fuck I¡¯m late. Did I do my homework? No. Fuck.


    I got up and quickly got dressed, my room was a mess. Clothes, socks and underwear lay strewn about everywhere. It was frankly disgusting but what could you do? Oh the problems of a teenager.


    I picked up my bag, it probably didn¡¯t even have the text books I¡¯ll need today but it really didn¡¯t matter. I could always copy off someone anyway, I¡¯d usually just put every text book in my bag and carry that around every day but I was supposed to do my homework last night. Which I didn¡¯t and now I¡¯m also late. I¡¯ll also have to go downstairs and have breakfast and why the fuck am I in the kitchen?


    I looked around, I really was in the kitchen, yep there was the drawing that I made when I was nine, still looking like a piece of shit. Maybe I blanked out because I was thinking so deep, I snorted at that, yeah right.


    I kept on musing about my intellectual capabilities as I opened the fridge and took out the staple for every growing body, Fairy Bread. Stuffing my face, hands and pockets with a few I hefted my backpack and made way for the door, now if only mum wouldn¡¯t notice that-


    ¡°Norman? What are you doing here? Shouldn¡¯t you be at school?¡±


    Shit, well, time to own up I guess.


    ¡°Sorry mom I just kind of slept in.¡±


    She looked up from the couch in front of the TV and gave me a reprimanding look, ¡°That¡¯s just not good enough, we can¡¯t have you dropping even further in your grades. Did you at least do your homework?¡±


    ¡°Um, yeah.¡± Filthy liar. ¡°It¡¯s why I got up so late, it was really hard, so um, yeah.¡±


    Nice going idiot, but she seemed to believe me. ¡°Good, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re taking your education a bit more seriously.¡± She said as she turned back to the morning talk show.


    I heaved a silent breath of relief as I rushed out of the house, chest pounding as I ran down the street to the bus station. It wasn¡¯t that far but still far enough to leave me grasping for breath, but it was worth it as I saw the bus turn around the corner just as I made it. I boarded it and sat down, letting myself catch a breather and think about my dream some more. Dreams are supposed to be made from fragments of your memories right?  Weaved together by the forces that is your subconscious, well I call bullshit but whatever, but I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d remember a guy that I wanted to punch that badly in the face, speaking of which I need to get to school to-


    Huh? I was right outside the school building, looking straight up at its clock tower, which read 8:27. What on Earth was going on?  I shook my head, focus, you need to get your head in the game, you can¡¯t be daydreaming everywhere you go. So I started walking, barging through the glass door in to the cesspool of hormones that is called the hallway. God I hated school, every time I saw a face trying to fit in, flirt, or not get beaten up I felt like I was seeing toddlers trying to act like grownups. Everyone was so bad at just trying to be normal that I felt like I was the one being abnormal. Like right now, I saw a guy approaching a group of girls, all casual as if he really was there because he was interested in them not just because he wanted to bang, and the girls seemed to be buying it, giggling at his jokes and comments, it made me feel angry.


    ¡°Woah there.¡± A guy said as I accidentally bumped into him.


    I looked up to see Simon looking down at me. Ripped, good looking, great guy, Simon, he was one of the kids that everyone seemed to like, you know the ones that get along with everyone really well, the natural leaders, the alpha males, the top dogs. Yeah those guys, and Simon was one of them, I really hated his guts, just because he was everything I was not.


    ¡°Oh hey, uh, Nermal? How¡¯s it going?¡± He smiled at me vaguely. Yah I definitely hated his guts.


    Luckily for me, the bell chose that moment to ring, signaling time for homeroom. And as I went off to class I spotted her.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Walking down the hall with her friends, was Sophia. I¡¯ve never seen anyone so beautiful as her, with her butter blonde hair and doe like eyes, she was perfection incarnate to me. I never had a crush on anyone else ever since I laid my eyes on her in 1<sup>st</sup> grade, looking like a lovely porcelain doll in the corner while discussing why ladybugs were so cute, she captured my heart in that very moment. I never talked with her of course, but I would walk on hot coals if she asked me.


    And then my mood was ruined as Simon walked up next to her and grabbed her hand. Sigh, such is the fate of the unworthy.


    I made my way to my chair and sat down before taking a book out and immersing myself in the latest adventures of Captain Skipp and his motley crew of pirates. It was a piece of shit that I¡¯ve finished reading a year ago but I kept it in my bag to pretend I¡¯m busy and no one would approach me, it worked, unsurprisingly.


    ¡°Alright let¡¯s do the roll!¡± Called my teacher, I already forgot her name but I doubted she knew I existed and that made me have a great deal of respect for her.


    It was soon over and I made it through the first round without incident, but up next was physics and I just knew something horrible was going to happen. And I was right, first thing our Miss Pond made us to do was take out our homework, the one I didn¡¯t bother to do. The fact that I remembered her name should give you a sense of how much I despised her. It wasn¡¯t her teaching, she was actually quite good at that part, it was the fact that she always set homework and she would always check. Now that caused quite a few problems early on in the year when she discovered I didn¡¯t really do mine, and now she always made extra sure that I did it. I appreciated the sentiment but I still didn¡¯t do it, which led to more issues, which led to every class feeling like a warzone with her.


    Commander! The T3AcH is starting to move in on us!


    Men, ready the guns. Give her everything she¡¯s got.


    It¡¯s not working sir. None of the other stuedents are even distracting her!


    Fine, initiate turtle mode, I want all limbs withdrawn under the desk, head down and start taking interest at the first thing the ocular lenses detect.


    No success sir, she¡¯s right above us!


    ¡°Norman? Would you like to show me your homework?¡±


    Well, it¡¯s been an honor serving with you gentlemen, abandon ship!


    ¡°Norman?¡±


    I sighed, could she just, for this one instance, stop? I really didn¡¯t want to deal with this. I just wanted this moment before another person in my life realized I was a disappointment to continue for eternity. I wish that all the rebuke and abuse from my teacher and my family as they¡¯d be called in again to talk with the principal would never come. Just this one time, please.


    I looked up to see her staring back at me unblinkingly, so I just sighed again and said. ¡°No miss, I didn¡¯t do my homework.¡±


    I waited for it, it never came, slowly looking back up I saw her still staring at me, unblinking.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Miss Pond?¡±


    No answer.


    I look around only to realize everyone else is staring at me as well. Okay this was some real horror story shit.


    I look nervously around again before slowly and deliberately standing up. No one followed the movement. Ever so cautiously I tip toed over to the door, checking all the while that no one was following me. I open the thing a crack. No notice. I pulled it open ever so quietly, slipped outside in to the hallway, then fucking legged it.


    I was at the end of the hall before I saw the next statue. A boy, small kid, completely still as he seemed to balance on the heel of his foot while defying the laws of physics.


    I slowed in wonderment but kept going before arriving at the next scene. It was a teacher this time, scolding another kid for not being in class. She seemed to be waggling her finger at him, except they weren¡¯t waggling, they stood there like sausages. Just what the fuck was going on?


    I burst out of the school and on to the street. People were paused midstep, some eating, others talking, birds levitating in the sky, it was truly fucked.


    I sat down on the steps of the school and thought hard, I cried a little as well but I managed to keep myself focused. What in the world was going on? Was I dead? Or insane?


    Then it hit me like a firetruck, like a big, red firetruck blazing down the highway with a megaphone saying ¡®Outta the way faggot!¡±. The dream, the dude, the survey, the bloody super power question.


    I groaned in to my hands. You¡¯d have thought I¡¯d be happy, ecstatic even, that I might have just acquired super powers and you would be right, yay me. But the fact that I had the chance to pick Immortality right? That¡¯s with a capital I, and I wasted it, it made me want to bash my head against the wall and jam toothpicks under my nails.


    But as I looked around again, at the people getting on with their lives, it finally sunk in. I had superpowers! Real ones! This was the best thing that could have happened to me since getting my own computer.


    I danced around a bit at the sheer joy of it before heading back inside. I went back to my classroom and looked around at everyone, now that I examined my classmates faces properly I saw that most of them had expressions of malicious amusement, which made sense I guess but they¡¯ll get what¡¯s coming for them. I slowly went around and examined everyone¡¯s homework, taking care to pay attention to the smart kids¡¯ answers, before walking back to grab my book and writing down what should have been the correct answers based on the number of students that reached the same conclusion.


    I sat down with a smug expression on my face, waiting for the teacher to check my answers. Oh, how do I stop this dimension thing? Wait what did I even do? Did I stop time?


    Answers to questions that would need many hours of testing and pondering to figure out, which I couldn¡¯t be bothered with, I just needed to figure out how to cancel whatever it was. Maybe if I thought really hard?


    It seemed to work, Miss Pond started blinking again and the world resumed it. ¡°Norman?¡± she asked again.


    I grinned before showing her my homework, needless to say she was surprised. Giving it a thorough perusal she looked at me and gave me the warmest smile I¡¯ve ever seen her give. ¡°Well done Norman.¡±


    Ooh that felt good. But not as good as seeing the others¡¯ faces, most were surprised, some were outright stupefied and a few were still smirking as if they thought I was still going to get in trouble for some reason.


    Heh, Norman one, stupid fuckers zero.

 Magical Juice

    The rest of the day was pure agony, I was practically skipping though the doors by the time the last bell rang. I didn¡¯t dare use my super power again for fear of running out of magical juice, which was probably a thing. And all superheroes needed their powers in case of an emergency, right?


    ¡°Hey Norman!¡± Someone yelled behind me.


    Ah, speaking of emergency, now would be a good time to use it.


    It didn¡¯t work.


    I panicked then, was it gone? Was it a one-time thing? Oh shit this was bad.


    ¡°Heard you did your homework today.¡± The same voice snickered.


    Ah I didn¡¯t need this, it was probably Robb, or another one of his lackeys. They were the head honchos around the school, well one of them was anyway.


    I turned around, yep it was Robb. ¡°Oh hey Robb! Yeah, I thought I should pay more attention to my education you know?¡±


    Robb snorted at that as his minions surrounded me, they sure were a menacing bunch, animals rather than people.


    ¡°Well good for you mate, anyway, I was having a real bad time today, you see I kind of forgot my bus money. You wouldn¡¯t be able to help me out would you? Ten Quarks should do.¡± He said as he swept his hair back.


    Oh the little shit, that was all I had on me and he knew it. The kid would probably grow up to be the head of some kind of criminal syndicate, well checkmate bitch I have super powers now.


    ¡°You know what Robb? Fuck you, I¡¯m tired of paying you money, why don¡¯t you just go away and shove a stick up your ass.¡±


    They blinked at that, before proceeding to kick the shit out of me. And as I was spasming around in the dirt, trying to roll with the punches I realized that I probably shouldn¡¯t rely on my super powers if I didn¡¯t know how to use them.


    But thankfully it didn¡¯t last long, after they were done they searched my pockets, found my wallet, took my money then walked away.


    ¡°Next time you should think twice before talking back to me again Norman.¡± Robb yelled back.


    Tch. Testosterone.


    I lay there for a few minutes, wallowing in self-pity, seeing the school kids walk past me not so much as glancing in my direction. Probably for the best though, they¡¯d more likely take a picture of me then help.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    So I picked myself up and headed for the bus stop. Damn superpowers, probably only worked when you didn¡¯t need it or some bullshit like that. God it hurt, I just wanted to go home and lie down in my soft comfy bed and-


    My head hit the pillow with a solid thump, making me lose consciousness for a second. Struggling to sit up I looked around only to find myself back in my room.


    ¡°Oooooh.¡± I said.


    My backpack wasn¡¯t here though.


    ¡°OOOOOH!¡± I said with a bit of alarm this time. Alright think, where was I when they beat me up?¡± Somewhere near the bushes, under the tree I thi-


    And I was there, right in front of the crime scene. Alright that was cool and all but it was seriously going to affect me if I got teleported every time I thought of a place.


    I grabbed my back pack and was just about to whisk away when I heard another voice calling my name.


    ¡°Noah! Buddy!¡±  Oh it was Simon. The hunk.


    He slowed down as he approached me, not even out of breath he immediately started talking. ¡°Hey I saw Robb and the others ganging up on you again, is everything okay?¡±


    I gazed at him suspiciously, ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s all good.¡±


    Simon put a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch. ¡°Listen, you can speak up you know. Bullying can be stopped.¡±


    I nodded solemnly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m fine on my own, I want to fight this by myself so that I can prove I¡¯m better than them.¡±


    He seemed to understand, good because I certainly didn¡¯t. ¡°Alright but if you ever need my help just call and I¡¯ll be there.¡± He said before running off again, the fit cunt.


    Alright, home, nice comfy bed her I come. Aaand¡­


    I opened my eyes, nope, still in front of school, most unreliable super power ever.


    With a sigh I trudged off towards the bus stop.


    The place was jam-packed with kids, from 8<sup>th</sup> graders talking about the latest videogames to 12<sup>th</sup> graders talking about boys and relationships. I slumped against a pole, it was hard to walk from the bruises and I was pretty sure my left eye was starting to swell.


    ¡°Hey, you okay?¡± Someone asked me, I was really getting tired of all these nosy people, why couldn¡¯t they just leave me alone.


    I looked up and my eyes did a double take. Sophia, the Sophia, okay Norman play it cool, you got this. Straightening up I looked up in to her eyes and said in my lowest possible register. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡±


    She didn¡¯t seem to notice my efforts to be manly and gently touched my cheeks, yep definite bruise but I could have been being carved up with a meat cleaver and wouldn¡¯t have moved an inch.


    ¡°That looks like it hurts, I wish I could help you.¡± She said sadly. Oh god, genuine concern, my only weakness.


    ¡°Sophie come on! The bus is here!¡± One of her friends shouted.


    She started to move away but I grabbed her hand, and my body responded by having a seizure, ¡®okay smarty pants¡¯ it seemed to tell me, ¡®now what?¡¯


    ¡®Give me a second you inept fuck.¡¯ I snarled back internally while trying to clear my thoughts.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Thanks, for noticing.¡± I managed to mumble.


    She gave me a smile, and my brain had a meltdown. I just stood there dumbly as she got on the bus and left the station.


    It took me a moment to regain control of my motor skills but when I did all I managed to do was sit down and lie still in the grass. I was supposed to get on that bus as well.


    Life sure was weird, I mused as I watched the clouds roam past my eyes. It seemed to give you a piece of candy whilst simultaneously kicking you in the balls, then revealing that kicking you saved your life from cancer, while the piece of candy it gave you contained cerebral palsy. It really made you appreciate your lot, and when you didn¡¯t it just threw you off a cliff then make you climb up it. Like the most sadistic personal trainer you¡¯ve ever seen, and you can¡¯t get rid of this one no matter how hard you try.


    And with a thought of home, I disappeared from the grass.

 The Good Part

    I looked around my bedroom as I lay there, now we get to the good part.


    I picked up a book off the floor and threw it in the air, the moment I let go of it I thought really hard to make it stop. It didn¡¯t stop.


    Alright, second try, this time I thought extra hard. Nope, it just fell down again.


    Hold on, if I wanted to use my power, I needed to know what it was, so currently I was pretty sure I had teleport. The guy told me he gave me two powers, well I bargained for two anyway, but what did the second one do? Well, it stopped a duck midair but I didn¡¯t actually see an object levitating, but what about clothes then? I didn¡¯t see enough to make any conclusions.


    Alright what if I tried to make the world stop as a whole? Or maybe it¡¯s just a certain area? Like a force field? Eh, it could be that the force field is just so big it encompassed the entire school. But that would raise the question of what happened to the clocks and digital devices? Are they all a minute late? Again, not enough data.


    Let¡¯s just try to concentrate on the thought of stop itself, that seemed to be the key word to the whole thing, perhaps I have to call out to evoke my powers. But I didn¡¯t do that in class, argh whatever just throw the book up! I told myself.


    I threw it up and thought stop in big capital letters. The book came back down.


    God this was getting annoying, I picked it up again and this time I just thought how much I wanted the book to stop moving. Still nothing.


    With an agitated sigh I lay back down on the bed, did I really have two powers? Yes of course I did, I discussed it with the guy and I¡¯m pretty sure he chose Time manipulation but argh! Teleport and Time Manipulation practically canceled each other out. If you freeze time and walk somewhere it would still look like you¡¯re teleporting to anyone else, but with more effort since you actually had to walk the distance.


    Wait that¡¯s it! I was try to make the book stop moving, not to stop ¡®aging¡¯.


    I threw the book again and this time I focused on wanting to make it stop. Stop going on with life, stop trying to exist, stop working as a book to feed his family of little books, I basically tried to give it an existential crisis, it responded by hitting me on the head.


    Damn. But I think I was on the right track.


    What did I do before? Wait, I wanted that moment before I had to give Miss Pond my homework to last forever, let¡¯s try that. So I threw the book up and thought to myself ¡®Gee, I really wish this moment would last forever.¡¯


    It worked, surprisingly.


    The History of the World: Grade 11 Edition floated there, right above my head completely still with its pages slightly parted, allowing me to even read a paragraph about the Salvador¡¯s. Something about being a warmongering nation that built an empire by conquering everyone else before being conquered and turning into someone else¡¯s empire.


    But wait, that¡¯s not the point, I could make a book fly in mid-air, which was pretty cool!


    I moved to grab the book and bring it closer to myself, I could move it and stuff but when I let go it still stayed in the air, as if I was in space.


    What about my sheet? I wondered. Getting up I dragged my sheets off my bed before letting go, they hung there just above the ground like some misshapen ghost. Yeah I was going to have fun with this.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    I punched the sheet and to my surprise it left a fist shaped mark there. Did that mean that the force I punched it with would activate when started time again? Let¡¯s check. So this time I thought ¡®I¡¯d really like time to resume.¡¯ And ta-da! The book and sheet both fell on the ground. It was pretty disappointing to see my punch not doing anything with the sheet but I tried again with the book, I punched real hard only to see it sail until it lost contact with my hand, huh. I restarted time again to see the book fell to the ground, disappointing but you can¡¯t have everything.


    Alright enough testing, let¡¯s do some brainstorming. What could I do with this?¡±


    Do my homework, obviously, cheat on tests, steal back my money, grope Sophia¡­ I shuddered at that, she wouldn¡¯t know right? It wasn¡¯t really illegal if only I knew about it¡­ Alright I won¡¯t do that.


    Moving on, I could beat up thugs and be a super hero, or alternatively I could rob a bank. Well I could technically say I was stealing from the rich if I did that, maybe? But what would I spend the money on? And how would I spend it without people realizing I was the one who stole it? There was a definite way to get money with this power, I just needed to do my research.


    On a brighter note I could probably travel anywhere in the world, hopefully. I could visit tourist attractions, get free holidays, break in to high security compounds, yeah okay there was something definitely wrong with me.


    But first I needed to check that I could travel anywhere in the world, I have to imagine the place so in theory I could go anywhere I have seen a picture of, right? I jumped on my computer and searched for a really famous tourist attraction, I found a suitable one that looked like it was close. The Churgon Formation, located bit south from where I live, in the small town of Patterbrook, which is in the Kingdom of Gordon. The Churgon Formation was a conglomeration of mountains that was notable for the strange way the mountains seem to have almost vertically risen from the ground, like a group of spikes growing together to create a single jagged teeth, they looked really cool.


    I memorized one of the pictures on the page and imagined myself standing right where the photo was taken. I didn¡¯t even have to close my eyes this time as the view around me changed almost imperceptibly fast, making me miss it if I weren¡¯t paying attention. The sky was darkening and the trees seemed to have been a bit different but it worked, I was in the middle of a clearing within a really dark and scary forest, which I really didn¡¯t want to be in right now.


    ¡°Time to go back.¡± I mumbled, trying to imagine my room again.


    It worked. I was right back in my bedroom, alrighty then. Now, next test. Can I use electronic devices while stopping time? I moved the mouse around a bit but the screen didn¡¯t register the movement, I took my phone out but it didn¡¯t turn on when I pressed the home button. That answers that then.


    I leaned back in my chair as I played with a pen in the air. The big thing was, what do I do now? How do I use my newfound powers? Caution will be the number one priority, I didn¡¯t want to end up as a lab rat for the government or some organization, but what were my goals? A heavy question for a teenager to answer.


    Well, there have been some new games that that came out recently which I haven¡¯t been able to play. I glanced at my computer, but that was because my rig couldn¡¯t run it. Okay, first stop is getting better equipment, wait what if my mom noticed? I frowned at that, I could use the same case maybe, but it wasn¡¯t custom built so I would have to tear out the old hardware, and moving all my stuff from one to the other would be such a hassle. It would be simpler to just get a completely new pc then keep the old one¡­ Oh fine I¡¯ll just tell my mom I got a job or something.


    And with that I delved in to the world of computer parts, browsing the most expensive ones without a care I the world, needless to say it felt good. I was humming when I realized I had a slight problem, how was I going to get the parts, was I going to steal someone¡¯s credit card? No they¡¯ll track that. Cash? Can¡¯t use that to pay online. It looked like I¡¯d have to steal the parts, okay but where were the parts kept? Warehouses, probably. But where were the warehouses? I don¡¯t know search it up.


    The internet really was useful when it came to finding things out, apparently the official name for warehouses was ¡®Distribution Centers¡¯. They would store goods on a larger scale which would eventually go to retailers, they could be located anywhere within a city but were most likely next to ports, airports, railways and roads. I couldn¡¯t really find out anything else after five minutes of browsing the web but I figured that would be enough for now.


    I found Patterbrook¡¯s industrial park, it wasn¡¯t anything fancy and was located near the railway station. But I figured that would be a good place to start searching. So I grabbed a hoodie off the floor, looked at a picture of the place, and jumped.

 Warehouse Cleaning Products

    I stood at the periphery of the only street lamp on the road, checking the place out. It was already closed by the looks of it, with no movement anywhere save for a single night guard sitting in his office off to the side. Well, this was going to be fun.


    I stopped time and approached the fence, with a hop I was on the other side. A short walk led me to the first warehouse where I was stopped by a closed door, it had a lock on it. Whelp, I didn¡¯t get very far.


    Looking around for a possible entry point I spied a window off to the side, maybe I could catch a glimpse of the inside of the place so I could teleport in to it. Only problem was the warehouse was completely dark so I couldn¡¯t really see inside, so I had to get my phone out and try to use it as a flashlight, oh right I had to start time again. I did so and flashed my torch around the place, I didn¡¯t see much, just a dark space and a few boxes but it would have to do. I hopped over to the other side of the wall only to start gagging at the amount of dust I disturbed, the place hasn¡¯t been cleaned for a long time by the looks of it.


    I shined my torch light around looking over the boxes, I opened one to find cleaning products in it. That reminds me that finding anything will definitely be a problem, I should try to find a clipboard that details what¡¯s inside the warehouse and where. After that I went through the other boxes but found nothing interesting, I looked at the door out of this place, surprisingly it was open so I wasted no more time and went into the warehouse proper.


    Rows upon rows of boxes dominated the space, with the scant light my torch provided I could just make out the tops of the columns reaching up all the way to the roof, it was as if I just stepped into a labyrinth. I walked towards the first row but found nothing that I could use to identify what was in the damn thing besides a serial number, shrugging I tore it open with a utility knife I brought along thanks to my tremendous foresight. Much to my chagrin there was nothing in it except hairspray products, I went over the next box and found a bunch of hairdryers, the next one had combs. What the hell, was I in some kind of beauty salon¡¯s personal stash? Giving up I started searching for something that would help me search through this place easier. Panels, signs, mountain trail symbols, how the guys who worked here manage to find anything was beyond me.


    Just as I was about to give up I spotted a room on the side of the wall connected to a hanging platform and stairs, jackpot. With a hop I was right in front of the door, this one was closed again. Fortunately I saw there were windows on the side of the iron cubicle, unfortunately I couldn¡¯t see inside it from this angle, and it looked like I would only be able to see it If I were on one of the boxes, let¡¯s hope I don¡¯t fall. With another hop I was on a stack of boxes which were precariously high. Alright Norman, I thought to myself, just turn around, look inside the room and jump. Easy thing to say brain, but harder to do, I whined back.


    Ever so slowly I turned around, careful of my balance, but just in the last moment I lost my footing. Panicking I jumped a bit haphazardly, causing me to land on the desk of the office rather than the floor, making the papers fly around like angry bees who¡¯s hive I had just disturbed. Not to worry, I thought to myself, I was still alive, nothing was broken and I had a lead. Scrambling up I looked around the room, Sparse would have been a generous term to put it, the place had a desk, a cabinet and a computer. Oh and a bunch of paper I threw on the floor. I picked up the pages and tried them to read it but I got bored really quickly, something about discrepancies of the net gain of the total percentage of my grandma¡¯s ball sack.


    Then I turned to the computer, hopefully this would work. I rubbed my hands in anticipation as I booted it up, I knew what I was doing was technically illegal but no one would be able to find out anyway, besides it wasn¡¯t like I was harming anyone. I nodded to myself as I turned back to the pc, it read ¡®please enter password¡¯ well shit, unless someone miraculously hid a slip of paper under the monitor I was not getting in there.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    I was rooting through the cabinet when I heard the rumble of engines. They seemed to come around the compound and stop just under where I was. Suddenly a great rumbling filled the warehouse as a giant garage door started to open.


    ¡°Alright boys spread out, the fucker¡¯s got to be around here.¡± A voice came bellow me.


    In most cases I wasn¡¯t a brave person or as I liked to call it, a dumb person. But something about being a cool, edgy superhero recently has fired up a hidden hormone cache inside my brain, something I thought had long expired, choosing me to not immediately teleport out of the situation. Instead I hopped over to the crates I jumped in from and surveyed my situation from there.


    There were about twenty of them, carrying pistols and snapbacks. They looked like a bunch of hoodlums, with their boss, or who assumed was their boss by the number of gold chains around his neck, carrying a slightly larger, more menacing gun. From up here they looked like a bunch of idiots with dangerous toys.


    ¡°Donn, you come with me to check the stash. As for the rest of you, if you see him, don¡¯t kill him, we wanna know how he knew to come here.¡±  Goldie said.


    Well, well, well, what do we have here? A stash? Looks like I just happened to come to the exact place someone hid their drugs. Wasn¡¯t that a happy little accident?


    I followed the alpha fuckboy by hopping from crate to crate. Now that I looked at him, I noticed that both Goldie and Don had the insignia of a snake printed on the back of their shirts. Gee, uniforms? I bet they call themselves the Cobras or some bullshit like that.


    They walked to the back of the warehouse to a row of boxes the same as any other. Opening up one of them they took out some white packages and examined them. I grinned in satisfaction as I stopped time before hopping down to the ground, wait, I¡¯ve never actually stopped time of other people except that one time. So I stopped moving for a couple of seconds to wait for any movement, none came, they stood as solid as rocks.


    Still a bit wary I shuffled closer to them, they were ugly to say the least. Missing teeth, scars, shaved eyebrows, you name it they had it.


    The package they held was clearly cocaine, or some other drug. I never really had any and didn¡¯t want to become an addict now so I started searching the other boxes around them. I found two boxes of snort powder, a box of guns and a box of ammo. I whistled, quite impressive. But now what? I didn¡¯t want any of it, should I just alert the cops? Why? I don¡¯t care whether they have this stuff or not and I can¡¯t take pictures cause my phone doesn¡¯t work when I stop time.


    Shrugging I started searching the goons¡¯ pockets finding about fifty Quarks worth. I went around the other goons and collected another two hundred Quarks, as well as a shiv, and some really cool sunglasses. Then I hopped back up onto the boxes and restarted time.


    They both blinked, looking at each other.


    ¡°Did you feel something?¡± Goldie asked.


    ¡°Yes boss.¡± Donn replied.


    They hurriedly searched their pockets but found nothing missing, I put their wallets back of course, which they didn¡¯t check.


    I was smiling in satisfaction above them when my phone rang.


    They both glanced up and for a perfect second our eyes locked, me grinning smugly and them with stupefied expressions on their faces. Then they snapped out of it.


    ¡°Oi, you little shit!¡± Goldie cried, how original.


    But I was already gone, by the time they raised their guns I was already laying on my bed staring up at the ceiling.


    Oh I was a very happy boy now. Not only did I have a lot of money now, I have super powers that make me feel like a badass, this was great. I was still giggling to myself when I remembered my phone ringing, it was my mum.


    ¡°Hey mum.¡± I said.


    ¡°Norman? Where are you? It¡¯s getting dark outside.¡± She said.


    Whoops, didn¡¯t think about that, I should have said something earlier. ¡°I¡¯m already upstairs, I came home at four.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ Alright then.¡± With that she hung up.


    I grinned, life was going to get real good, I could just feel it.

 Accidental Exposition

    Life wasn¡¯t going so good.


    I was sitting in the middle of history class bored out of my mind while our teacher talked about some war or something. Due to the fact that I could stop time when my alarm clock went off meant that I could sleep for as long as I liked. Which was a superpower on its own but it meant that I could catch the normal bus to school, which wasn¡¯t a super power. As I stood there between all the other school kids I overheard, despite my best efforts, that something big happened on the news.


    ¡°Hey did you here?¡± Guy one asked.


    ¡°About what?¡± Guy two replied.


    ¡°That someone broke in to the Royal Treasury!¡± Guy one said excitedly.


    ¡°Wait really?¡± Guy two asked, stupefied.


    ¡°Yeah! And apparently nothing was stolen!¡± Guy one exclaimed.


    ¡°Bullshit, no one could break in there. And besides, if someone did manage to break in then they wouldn¡¯t just leave without taking anything either.¡± Guy two harrumphed.


    ¡°It¡¯s true! It was all over the news this morning, but it¡¯s all kept hush hush so no one really knows what happened.¡±  Guy one said.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t think anyone could break in to that place.¡± Guy two replied doubtfully.


    I bet I could. Whoa there Norman, dangerous thoughts there buddy. Let¡¯s not jump into the deep end just yet.


    And as I got on the bus I entertained visions of me being a daring thief that could steal the crown jewels without a drop of sweat and swindle paintings from the great vaults of Danderion. Sadly such thoughts were interrupted as I arrived and classes started.


    Now I was idly flicking though the pages of my History textbook. Hoping to find a landscape picture that would pique my curiosity.


    ¡°¡­ And now Norman will tell us why the Confederation of Kingdoms came to an unfortunate end after the breakout of Civil War in the Borshon Kingdom.¡± My teacher finished. Keh, the old me would have paled in the face of such a spontaneous challenge, but not anymore! With but a thought I stopped time as I flipped through my pages to arrive at the current chapter we were reading, the Fall of the Confederation of Kingdoms. Originally an alliance between the two major and now extinct powers, the Confederation of Kingdoms spanned the entire northern part of the continent at its peak, with eighteen smaller kingdoms packed tightly together between the big two, each more cutthroat then the last. An unlit firebox if ever there was one. And that is exactly what happened. A Civil War in one of the smaller nations, Borshon, caused the immediate nations to support their favored party, the two parties being the Royal Family on one side, with a new, nationalistic rebel party on the other. A snowball effect occurred as more nations supporting one party caused even more nations to support the other, like more and more people betting on a cockfight. The result was one of the biggest and most brutal wars in the history of Northern Danderion and ended with the dissipations of most of the old powers and gave rise to two countries from the ashes of Borshon. Renai and Gordon, with Gordon representing the old country with its Monarchy still in place, and the Republic of Renai representing the new republic which was formed by the rebels of the war.


    I restarted time and stood up. ¡°The Confederation of Kingdoms collapsed as most of the Kingdoms took sides to support one side of Borshon or the other, meaning the war wasn¡¯t fought on just the Borshon front, but cut through the middle of the entire Confederation.¡±


    My teacher raised his eyebrow. ¡°Well done Norman, I see you¡¯ve been reading ahead. Now tell me, why did the Civil War break out in the first place?¡±


    I stopped time again and perused the book some more. It said here the rebellion thought to have initiated due to the tyrannical rule of the King at the time, with unreasonable taxes implemented to combat the King¡¯s whimsical spending, and none of that money used to maintain the welfare of the many.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    I started time again. ¡°The Civil War was caused by the lack of funds spent on the common folk as the King used more and more of the country¡¯s money for his personal use.¡±


    ¡°Very good Norman, you may sit down. That is indeed true and thanks to the Civil War the two nations haven¡¯t been on friendly terms until the last couple of decades when the treaty of Kargush¡­¡±


    I tuned back out as I went back to my textbook. I never considered myself patriotic, for all I cared the Royal Family could be a bunch of inbreds who ate human toes for breakfast. And I didn¡¯t like war either, not because it was such a terrible thing, it wasn¡¯t, it¡¯s just that I wasn¡¯t part of the group of people who benefitted from them. After all war was one of the most lucrative business ventures out there as the government wouldn¡¯t be stingy about how much they pay you when your guns are the difference between life and death.


    As I left class I went to the oval to watch the school soccer team practice. Simon was there leading the team, fucker, I bet I would be a way better player now that I could stop time.


    ¡°Hey Norman!¡± Someone behind me yelled.


    Well if it wasn¡¯t Robb and his gang, the git was grinning as he approached me. ¡°Hey listen, I don¡¯t have any money for lunch. Could you spare me some?¡±


    The smug bastard, I stopped time and walked up to him. I grabbed his hand, made a fist with his index finger extended and shoved it up his nose. Then I proceeded to tie the shoelaces of all his goons together before walking away, good thing I was the better man or they wouldn¡¯t have gotten off so easily.


    I was still smiling like a smug little shit when I turned a corner and bumped into someone, it was Goldie. He was leaning against the wall with a little mirror in his hand, all inconspicuous as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Call me a bit paranoid but I think he may have been spying on me. The dude had a serious expression on his face, intensely concentrating on the little mirror. I walked around him and tried to look in to the mirror from his perspective, yep looking straight at Robert, now the question here isn¡¯t how he found out about me, but how did he do it so fast? Makes me feel like there should be some sort of accidental exposition helpfully dropped somewhere. I searched his pockets again, this time finding his phone, well it¡¯s locked but I¡¯m sure I could use it for something. I also found some bubblegum, a small necklace with a snake symbol on it and military knife. Handy.


    It all ended up in my bag, even the army knife and I started walking away, whistling a jolly sort of tune. Wait, this was the perfect opportunity to gather intelligence on my enemies, those things are important. So I walked even further, hid behind a rubbish bin and started time again. Goldie immediately frowned at his little mirror before realization slowly came to his face, furiously tapping his pockets he cried in exclamation at the discovery of his new unburdened clothes. He acted like a baby for a few seconds, stomping his feet at the unfairness of it all before power walking to Robb. Aha, so they were working together were they? Fine, I could live with that.


    I stopped time again and walked back to the conglomeration of morons. Now, where should I hide? The place was completely empty save for the underside of the stadium stands, eh, it would have to do. I made myself comfortable among the tall grass and started time again.


    ¡°What the fuck Robb?¡± Goldie asked incredulously.


    ¡°What?¡± Robb replied, a bit of annoyance in his voice as he rubbed his finger on his shirt while looking at his friends untying his shoelaces.


    ¡°I told you to grab him at the soonest opportunity! You tried to talk to him and look what happened!¡± Goldie pointed an accusatory finger at the tied shoelaces.


    ¡°Okay, jeez! I know you warned us but I didn¡¯t honestly expect it to happen okay? I knew the kid all my life, he¡¯s basically my main source of income.¡± Robb retorted.


    Goldie massaged his temples ¡°This isn¡¯t good, my phone is gone so he¡¯ll have access to all my contacts. He¡¯s probably picking targets to assassinate right now.¡±


    ¡°Assassinate? What? Why?¡± Robb looked at Goldie confusedly.


    ¡°Did you see the guy move? He has to be some kind of agent from the government, probably posted here for some undercover work. He already knew where to find our main stash and still showed up on our cameras just to mess with us.¡± Goldie replied.


    Robb went pale at that. ¡°But I knew Norman all my life.¡± He insisted ¡°He never showed an ounce of backbone.¡±


    ¡°They probably killed him, cloned him, and then made him in to a super soldier.¡± Goldie said.


    Well shiiiit, besides having a very over active imagination. These guys were obviously thinking that I was some super awesome killer with the power to do anything I want. Pretty damn impressive for a sixteen year old if you ask me.


    ¡°Look. Just, don¡¯t antagonize him further. He might kill you next time, better to just leave him alone.¡± Goldie said.


    ¡°Fuck no, if what you¡¯re saying is true then I¡¯m gonna pay him back for what he did. Super soldier my ass, he¡¯s just a little fast. Don¡¯t be a pussy Rowan.¡± Robb said.


    I sat back at that, Rowan huh? I liked Goldie better but that was beside the point, the point was that Robb was angry with me and thought he could pay me back somehow. That was either really bad or really good, only time would tell.


    The group dispersed and I was left sitting under the stands like some kind of creepy hobo. Well things certainly seemed to be moving, but the question was, what now?


    I grinned as a plan slowly started to form in my mind.

 Expensive Lighter

    ¡°And this is your phone?¡± The IT guy asked me.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded.


    I was standing in the local IT store, currently trying to convince the cashier that I locked myself out of my own phone. He didn¡¯t seem convinced.


    ¡°Look kid, I don¡¯t know where you stole this from and I frankly couldn¡¯t care less. But don¡¯t do this, leave it here and go home, you¡¯ve got a lot to live for and it¡¯s not worth losing that by leading a life of crime.¡± The IT guy said, reprimanding.


    I stared at him with annoyance. The dude was just a teensy-weensy bit prejudiced, I mean I know I didn¡¯t look exactly like a living saint but come on; it could totally have been my phone.


    Grumbling I pulled twenty Quarks out of my pocket. I showed him the money but he didn''t even blink, making me groan as I pulled another twenty out of my other pocket and placing it on the counter between us.


    He kept looking at me but I refused to get any more money out, causing him to grin before sweeping the cash under the table.


    ¡°Wait here.¡± He said as he disappeared into the backroom with my phone.


    I looked around the store as I waited for whatever he was doing to get done. Being the only IT store in the town made it really popular with the geeks, with piles of sweaty nerds browsing the shelves, sniffing out computer parts like no tomorrow. I admit going to the warehouse was dumb and I was definitely going to break in here and get myself a custom built monster.


    I was still salivating at the latest batch of Graphics Cards when the dude came back holding the phone, which was unlocked.


    ¡°So I backed up the data and wiped everything off the phone, it works like a dream now.¡± He said, grinning enthusiastically.


    I thanked him as I exited the store and looked through the contacts, there were a bunch of names on it that I had no idea what they meant, possibly nicknames or codenames, I put it away for further study later. Man I was pretty happy with myself at how much I¡¯ve accomplished recently, got superpowers, solved the homework problem and gave the local gang a run for their money, not bad in a day¡¯s work.


    Now on to the current problem, I thought as I dropped some change in to a beggars bucket, is that I¡¯m trying to go up against a group of people that wouldn¡¯t shirk at the thought of violence, and given my small stature any intimidating techniques would probably be unsuccessful. Now since there is a police car driving right at me I should HOLY SHIT THERE¡¯S A CAR ABOUT TO DRIVE ME OVER!


    I hopped out of the way just in time for the police vehicle to crash in to the fire hydrant, causing a several gallons of water to burst out of the ground and cover anything in the immediate vicinity in a light shower, including me. Fortunately the water seemed to contain the flames that were licking the bonnet of the car, allowing the two policemen, one with a mustache, the other without one, to stumble out of the burning vehicle and on to the pavement.


    Right behind the police car came another vehicle, this one looking like a beat up SUV, with spray painted sides and a double exhaust pipe. It looked like one of those really shitty cars that are tuned up by teenagers then driven around doing donuts at half past nine, in other words a fucking hazard to society.


    It skidded to a halt across the road and a group of armed gangsters got out of the said car and crouched behind it. Likewise the two policemen scrambled behind their own vehicle, unwilling to go near the front of the car. Then the first gunshot sounded and I realized I just stranded myself in a firefight, it seemed like the mustachioed policemen noticed that as well and he hobbled over to me.


    ¡°What are you doing kid? Get down!¡± He shouted over the pinging bullets.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t my idea to be trapped here! You nearly hit me when you were speeding.¡± I shouted back, my heart still beating in frenzy from my brush with death. Fortunately my medical condition didn¡¯t affect my common sense and I ducked down as well.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He grimaced at me ¡°Look kid, this isn¡¯t the time to joke around, stay low and when I tell you to go, run to that side street over there. Don¡¯t look or turn around, just run as fast as you can.¡±


    ¡°What? Fuck that, I¡¯m not gonna run out there! They¡¯re shooting at us if you didn¡¯t realize!¡±


    He smiled a sour smile at that. ¡°I¡¯d normally agree with you but I¡¯m going to have to ask you to trust me. We¡¯ll create a distraction so you can escape, don¡¯t worry we¡¯re professionals.¡±


    Yeah nah, oh wait, fuck I¡¯ve got a superpower that is perfectly suited for this sort of situation!


    I turn back to Mustachio. ¡°Hey, I could help you if you want.¡±


    He didn¡¯t look back at that, merely shooting around the rear of the car with his pistol. ¡°Damn it kid, now is not the time to play hero! Just do what I tell you.¡±


    ¡°No you don¡¯t understand. I¡¯ve got superpowers.¡± I said reassuringly.


    The policeman looked over his shoulder at that, ¡°Run when I say go.¡±


    I sighed before stopping time. I looked around to notice the fire under the bonnet stop roaring as the flames got stuck, the whizzing of the bullets stopped as well and I stood up to see a bunch of them hanging in the air, it was like looking at those hi rez photos of humming bird wings, really fucking cool.


    I walked out from behind the car, musing at the implications of being able to literally stop bullets. The little things looked amazing, like flies only deadlier. As I made my way to the thugs who were shooting said bullets I had the chance to see one of them pause in mid fire, it looked like a mini mushroom cloud was coming out of the very end of the weapon. I stopped to admire the spectacle, it was quite a magical moment.


    There were four thugs, all taking cover behind their own vehicle, I walked around them and checked their clothes, yep, snakes everywhere. Funny how I never even saw these people before, it must be that weird rule that the greater the force the greater the resistance, or something like that.


    The problem I now faced was I had no idea how I was going subdue these guys, well taking away their peashooters might help. So I took away each one¡¯s pistol and put them in a neat pile next to the policemen. Then I tried to pick them up, which I couldn¡¯t do because they were too heavy, forcing me to resort to folding their arms and legs to their side and kind of half shoving, half floating them to the car. Whoops, didn¡¯t check if there were any weapons in there, I found a couple of spare rounds of ammunition, two pistols, a shit ton of cigarettes and a lighter, I took the lighter, it had a cool skull symbol on it and looked expensive.


    I went back to the policemen and sat down next to them again before starting time. The last bullets penetrated the car but then silence descended. The policemen didn¡¯t move an inch though so I took the initiative.


    ¡°Told you I could take care of them.¡± I said, my voice dripping with self-satisfaction.


    They didn¡¯t move but when I pointed at the pile of guns next to me they took a closer look at their opponent¡¯s vehicle.  True to my word the gangsters were struggling to untangle themselves from the way I dumped them all in to the backseat of the car and locked the doors.


    ¡°You¡¯d better arrest them before they get away.¡± I told them helpfully.


    That snapped them out of their incredulity. Quickly taking action they both rushed over to the now captive gangsters, hurrying to detain them before one managed to get to the wheel, which wouldn¡¯t have done them any good since I had the keys.


    I stuck around for a while and pretty soon other police cars started showing up. From then on the entire thing was a smooth ride, a fire truck put out the fire and the wreckage was towed away. Strangely enough no one seemed to have heard or seen anything so there were no need to take any statements beside mine, so Mustachio, who I was sitting next to behind the car came over and took out a notebook and pen.


    ¡°Alright kid, name?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Norman Beck.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Date and place of birth?¡±


    ¡°Hillton, seventeenth of December, fifteen eighty one.¡±


    ¡°Alright, what happened.¡±


    ¡°Well I was walking home when I was nearly run over by a police car.¡± I started pointedly.


    He didn¡¯t rise to the bait, continuing to jot down what I was saying.


    ¡°Then the other car drove around the corner and started shooting at us so I was forced to take cover behind the police car. Some shooting happened then I apprehended the miscreants.¡± I said happily.


    Mustachio took this with silent stoicism, writing it down expressionlessly.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna contradict me?¡± I asked.


    He sighed at that. ¡°Look, Norman, this isn¡¯t going to be used for anything anyway. The entire thing will be swept under the carpet.¡±


    I frowned at that. ¡°Why?¡±


    Mustachio was getting more and more depressed by the minute. ¡°Because that is how this town works. Now take my advice Norman, go home, forget about all this and pray to the Holy Father that no one noticed what you did today, whatever that was, otherwise you¡¯ll be dragged down with the rest of this putrid ship.¡±


    I blinked at that. Interesting¡­


    ¡°Well thank you for the heads up Officer. I believe I¡¯m going to do just that.¡± I said as I let myself on to the ground. Without another word I started walking away.


    Mustachio smiled his bitter smile. ¡°Good luck Norman. And it¡¯s Officer David by the way.¡±


    I waved back at him in acknowledgement, my head already elsewhere.

 Reasoning sounds Nice and Civil

    ¡°In recent news three Gordish tourists were reportedly assaulted and murdered while camping near the Churgon mountains. Police are hesitant to give a public statement but reports indicate the killers to be of Renai descent¡­¡±


    I tuned out the sound of the TV as I thumbed through the contacts of the stolen phone. Turns out gangsters don¡¯t helpfully name their friends ¡®Boss¡¯. Or ¡®Really-Important-Assassination-Type- Contact.¡¯


    Nevertheless I persevered and managed to come up with a few names that might be useful. Namely (ha ha geddit?) the people who were listed under the ¡®Family¡¯ tab, there was Gran, Gramps, Mom, Dad, Lucy and Connor. Now the only question was-


    Ring Ring


    My mom looked over from the couch and looked at my phone before frowning. ¡°When did we buy you a phone?¡±


    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s from the new job I got.¡± I lied.


    ¡°Job?¡± She asked, confused.


    ¡°Yeah. Um, I¡¯ve been hired as a security guy for a warehouse.¡± I said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡± She was concerned now.


    ¡°Oh no, I just monitor the cameras. It¡¯s fine, speaking of which, I might be coming home later at night from now on.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Good, I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve finally found yourself a job.¡± She said before she went back to watching the television.


    ¡°Thanks mum.¡± I replied as a walked outside the living room and picked up the phone.


    ¡°Yes?¡± I answered.


    ¡°Good evening Mr Beck. I am talking to Mr Norman Beck I presume.¡± A smooth, clipped voice answered.


    Oh shit. Okay Norman play this cool, this is not the time for cock ups.


    ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Mr Beck you have made quite a few ripples among my organization.¡± The voice said.


    ¡°Organization?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, if my information is to be trusted you broke in to one of our safe houses and robbed my cousin¡¯s underlings of all their worth. Shortly after interfering with a preplanned hit and run, getting four of his men taken in to police custody.¡± The voice replied.


    Yeah, I kinda did do that.


    ¡°Yes and?¡±


    The voice laughed at that, a nice throaty laugh from the belly, the dude was probably a voice actor in his spare time when not running a criminal syndicate. ¡°Forgive me but I find your crassness amusing, it is not often that I hear people¡¯s opinions so openly.¡±


    Yeah because you probably kill them for it you sick fuck.


    ¡°But now I come to a problem. Because you, Mr Beck, frankly are an enigma. I don¡¯t understand you, or your motives for doing what you do so I¡¯m left at an impasse. Do I try to reason with you? Or kill you?¡± The voice said, its sound ever so smooth.


    I gulped at that, I did not sign up for death threats when I decided to play hero, especially from people who can carry out said death threats. But then I thought about it, really thought about it. Do I want to keep doing this? Am I selfish enough to put my loved ones in danger just so I can get a dopamine boost every time I do something super cool?


    I looked back at the television screen, fuck yes I do.


    ¡°Reasoning sounds nice and civil, I think we can come to an agreement.¡± I replied confidently, putting a bit of honey in to my voice.


    ¡°Wonderful, I¡¯m pleased to hear you can listen to the voice of reason. I would like to further discuss our arrangement in person, please come to the Basil Garden in Boroughburn tomorrow evening at nine. Oh and please don¡¯t cause further trouble to my cousin, you¡¯ve already stolen his necklace.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    And with that he hung up. Huh, he sounded a bit full of himself but I could work with that. Now what does this Basil Garden look like?


    I stood outside a classy restaurant as the rain hung silently in the air around me. The lights from the window reflecting in the droplets, yet another picture to add to my unseen collection.


    The restaurant had a cozy feel to it, sitting squat with shingled roofs and obscured glass, along with a little closed off courtyard complete with wall vines. I slowly walked in as I scouted the place, it was just as warm on the inside as it was made to look on the outside, with red drapes and yellow ambient light it reminded me of a form of humble wealth, like someone had the money but didn¡¯t buy a racecar with it.


    The place wasn¡¯t packed but wasn¡¯t empty either, with some couples frozen eating, others frozen laughing, everyone looked just the part of people enjoying a night out.


    Now, if I was a mob boss where would I have dinner? There was a waitress next to me, ready to take guests to an available table standing in front of a book stand that no doubt listed the reservations for tonight. Yep, my name was right there, N. Beck, listed to be taken to the ¡®private room¡¯. A rape dungeon reference if ever there was one.


    I looked around a bit more, finding a few guns on some people and even an uzi before I found what I thought was the correct room. The room was lavishly furnished, with a nice red carpet and a small chandelier hanging from the roof, stylized as if to put the only man sitting in the room in an eerie shadow. Said man was thin and handsome, impossibly so, like one of those men you see on the cover of those old books that only middle aged women read. He had a sharp jawline, paper thin moustache and green jade-like eyes. I didn¡¯t like him.


    The rest of the room was alright, with only a button on the handsome dude¡¯s side of the table, conveniently placed within easy reach in case he wanted to alert his goons that he was getting tired and wanted someone to take care of the poor victim in front of him.


    I soon found the goons that were supposed to come and assist him in case of said emergency. Three of them cleaning their various weapons in a room full of cigarette smoke and ammunition, and damn me if they weren¡¯t kitted out.


    Satisfied with what I have gathered I went back to outside, making sure to close the door behind me and started time again. The sound was like a vacuum cleaner being turned on except there was no delay with this one, it just went from zero to hero in a space of nothing and caused me to stagger at the suddenness of it. Righting myself and my senses I approached the door and entered, I was greeted to the same picture as last time but the movements of the people were a small and welcome change.


    ¡°Good evening sir, do you have a reservation?¡± The lady attending the door asked.


    ¡°Ah yes, Norman Beck, I believe I¡¯m being expected.¡± I said with a smile, sadly the arrogance was lost as I was shorter than the woman.


    With a quick perusal at her book she nodded, ¡°Follow me.¡± She said before walking off among the tables and chairs.


    I did as I was told, all the while checking the faces of the patrons. Few passed subtle glances at me and I noticed that they were all the ones carrying guns, heh, more henchmen of the Underlord I presume?


    We arrived at the curtain that I entered from before and walked down a long corridor only to pass the door where I thought the big boss was supposed to spawn. Uh oh, things weren¡¯t going to plan, instead we came to another door.


    ¡°Mr Cambron is expecting you sir, have a pleasant evening.¡± The waitress said, leaving me alone with the imposing entrance.


    Taking a deep breath I entered the room. It was like walking through a portal in to another world, the place was like a jungle, with tropical pot plants covering every corner of the place, limiting eyesight to practically zero. And the place also made sounds! The buzzing of insects and the calling of birds, I half expected a bin half filled with machetes saying ¡°Take one for Free.¡±


    I spied a small path among the floorboards that winded off further in to this artificial forest, following it I arrived at a small clearing which was occupied by a small garden table and two chairs, both gilded into oblivion.


    I looked around suspiciously, there was no one in sight, no hidden bodyguards, no tripwires that unleashed poison darts, at least not that I could see. Still I hesitated to sit down and instead tip toed around the garden furniture, as I was making my way around I heard a small hiss come from behind me, turning around I was just in time to stare in to the maw of the greatest Basilisk I¡¯ve ever seen. And as its giant mouth encapsulated my head my last heroic word was GAH-.


    Ever been inside a snake? Let me tell you right off the bat that it¡¯s icky as fuck, and dark. The only thing you can feel is this soft gelatinous substance that covers your every orifice and a rising sense of dread that it¡¯s over. And the smell, oh god the smell it made me want to throw up, it was a fusion between roadkill past its due by date, the exhaust pipe of a car on its last legs and chloroform.


    Wait Norman don¡¯t panic. Yes, ignore the strange uvula thing at the back of the throat, holy sweet mother of the maker this thing had a uvula. No focus, stop time. Stop it, stop! STOP!


    It worked, whatever muscle that was moving forward in to the snake¡¯s belly stopped its convulsing. Okay genius now what? I was still stuck. I tried to pull my head out but it seemed that the bloody thing had teeth which snagged in to my clothes, causing me a good minute of frustration as I slowly tore my shirt off the jagged edges, less then fun I assure you but I managed. Smelly, slimy, full of cuts and no decency but I was alive, I gave a shout of whoop in to the air and did a little dance at the sheer euphoria of living.

 Whitey

    ¡°Ha! Suck it you over grown worm! Piece of shit! Worthless piece of snake skin!¡± I shouted as I jabbed the eyes of the monster with my fingers, god revenge felt good.


    Starting time again might not be a smart idea, I had no way of knowing this thing wouldn¡¯t kill me so I had to take care of it somehow. With a shrug I started pushing it further into the underbrush, wheezing at the strain of it as I slowly took the monstrous thing further away from me. Finally satisfied when I pushed it behind a particularly large plant pot I returned to my previous position and restarted one of the greatest forces in the universe.


    With a sigh a flopped down in to the chair just in time for a different creature to start rustling in the bushes.


    ¡°Hello Mr Beck! How are we this fine evening?¡±


    The man who spoke to me could be only described with one word, spherical. From face and nose to belly and feet he looked like a toy, a toy stuffed into a white suit. When I say white I mean spotless white, this is the kind of white that glowed in the dark, the kind that dentists have a small orgasm every time they see it. And he also had a cowboy hat, also white.


    ¡°Uh oh, are you alright Mr Beck? It seems like you¡¯ve seen a ghost.¡± Whitey asked concernedly,


    Must be the reflection of you suit, thought but held my tongue and instead said. ¡°Oh not to worry I¡¯m fine. Rather, do you know that you have a basilisk in here?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, her name is Shelia. Quite the voracious one, she is my pet and I take her with me everywhere I go.¡± Whitey said happily.


    ¡°Hmm, well yes of course, how silly of me.¡± I responded in kind.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re quite alright? You seem to have a bruise under your eye.¡± Whitey was still worried, bless his soul.


    ¡°Oh that? Yes yes quite fine. A case of bullying I¡¯m afraid but I¡¯ve handled the issue.¡± I said dismissively.


    ¡°Good, good. Glad to see the younger generation standing up for themselves.¡± Whitey said musingly, with said musing turning in to an awkward silence.


    ¡°Now. Where was I?¡± His brain started again, ¡°I believe I contacted you on my cousin¡¯s phone. Which I must congratulate you on, excellently done by the way. I want to come to an agreement between us.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°That was you? That dark, deep, menacing voice which promised ash and brimstone came from you sir?¡±


    He laughed at that. ¡°Indeed it was! You have to be firm when you lead an organization like mine. Call me Murdoch by the way.¡±


    ¡°Well Murdoch, what organization would that be?¡± I asked


    ¡°Well young Norman, that organization is a criminal one, the Kompaniya to be precise.¡± Murdoch turned serious here. ¡°I am the head of a family whose power extends through the entirety of Gordon.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Was all I could manage.


    Murdoch smiled. ¡°Yes ah. And you¡¯ve been causing quite a bit of trouble in Patterbrook. Which, granted isn¡¯t an important location but my cousin runs that place and you¡¯ve been getting his panties in a twist.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°And you¡¯re angry at that I take it?¡± I asked nervously.


    ¡°What? Pffft no, in fact I¡¯m glad you¡¯re teaching Rowan a lesson. A lesson that there is always someone bigger then you, hopefully it will have been a humbling experience for him.¡± Murdoch replied.


    ¡°So what do you want from me then?¡± I asked, glad that my life wasn¡¯t in danger now.


    ¡°Your power.¡± Murdoch said, his gaze like the headlamps of a truck and I the deer in front of it. I gulped.


    ¡°You demonstrated a set of skills that are quite simply put, unnatural. Now the common pleb might pass it off as a trick of the mind and simply forget about it, but I know what they are because I¡¯ve seen them before.¡±


    Shit this was getting really bad.


    ¡°The point is that your power, forgive me but I¡¯m not an expert, would be invaluable to the Kompaniya.¡± He said, still drilling holes with his eyes through me.


    ¡°Ah, yes. Um¡­ Do you want to recruit me?¡± I asked, hoping against all hope it wasn¡¯t the case.


    ¡°That is one way to put it but essentially yes.¡± Murdoch said impassively.


    ¡°And if I said no then would I be horribly tortured until I submit under the threat of death?¡± I asked.


    Murdoch didn¡¯t answer but his big jolly smile was all the confirmation I would ever want. Oh yeah, not even the ability to stop time would have helped here.


    ¡°Uh.. Sure. Yeah, fine by me!¡± I said as I put on a fake sense of bravado.


    Murdoch¡¯s impassive gaze broke into a wide smile. ¡°Splendid! I¡¯m glad you made the right choice, let¡¯s not dally then, let me introduce you to a very special someone, he is the previous experience I was talking about.¡±


    Murdoch pressed a pressure plate which I haven¡¯t even noticed on the table and almost immediately another man appeared. I was surprised partly by the speed of the response and partly by how I didn¡¯t notice a hidden button which I should have checked for. But what I was most surprised about was the man in question who appeared, it was the same guy who I first assumed was the boss, Greenie.


    Greenie walked up and stood behind Murdoch, now that I saw him in better light he looked like he jumped straight out of a comic book, I suspected he¡¯d just as likely kill me as offer me tea and biscuits. Why did I think that? For starters he had a trench coat on, the type you would have on when you¡¯re planning to murder someone in an alley on a rainy day. Second was the scar that ran over his left eye, because of course. And lastly was his demeanour, he wasn¡¯t smiling, quite the opposite in fact, instead regarding me with a stony expression.


    ¡°This here is Thorn, it¡¯s not his real name obviously but I believe it describes him much more aptly.¡± Murdoch chuckled, finding his own joke funny.


    ¡°Anyway he¡¯ll be showing you the ropes, telling you what to do and making sure you don¡¯t get any notions of escaping.¡± Murdoch said.


    I looked back at him ¡°But I already agreed.¡±


    ¡°I know I know.¡± He put his hands up placatingly, ¡°But precautions must be made and you still have to prove that you mean business. Now I¡¯ve got things to do so Thorn will take you to a hotel. Be ready for a long day tomorrow.¡± Murdoch said as he stood up.


    ¡°Wait! What about my mom? And school?¡± I cried, this was not going how I intended it to.


    Murdoch stopped at that, ¡°Wait how old are you?¡±


    ¡°Sixteen.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well damn, alright. Okay sorry but you¡¯re dropping school.¡± Murdoch said as he frowned thoughtfully. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a day to tell the news to your mom. Lie if you have to, tell her you¡¯re going on a gap year but after that Thorn will come pick you up. I¡¯ve got a lot of work for you two.¡±


    I was having a panic attack now, ¡°What the fuck? You can¡¯t just rip me out of my life just like that!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Murdoch put his palms on the table, all trace of friendliness gone. ¡°Listen here Norman, listen here and listen well. You¡¯re in the real world now and you owe me, I am one of the most influential people you will ever know and if I wanted to I could kill every single person you¡¯ve ever known with a phone call. You can¡¯t hide from me, you can¡¯t go to the police or the government or the army, I hold them all in my pocket.¡±


    I was close to crying now. ¡°But!-¡±


    ¡°There are no buts Norman, Rowan would have killed you if I didn¡¯t interfere and that means your life is my hands. You will work for me, understood?¡±


    Tears were streaming down my face but I didn¡¯t say anything.


    Murdoch sighed. ¡°I know this is hard but you¡¯ll understand. You¡¯ll come to love me like a father eventually.¡±


    And with those parting words he left me and Thorn, who gazed on impassively with his expression unchanged.

 Hamburger

    ¡°Hey Nerman!¡±


    I looked up to see Simon approaching me at my lone lunch table.


    ¡°Oh hey Simon.¡± I said with a sarcastic monotone.


    He sat down with his own lunch and started digging into a massive hamburger.


    ¡°Simon, why are you sitting here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well because you seem so lonely all the time, and everyone should have a friend.¡± He said between mouthfuls.


    ¡°Huh.¡± I couldn¡¯t really argue with that. A thought about it for a moment as I watched chunks of meat and lettuce fall on to the table.


    ¡°Have you ever noticed that I don¡¯t want any friends?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly.¡± He said. ¡°Everyone wants a friend.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but that¡¯s not true, case in point.¡± I sighed.


    He laughed aloud at that.


    ¡°So what the problem?¡±¡± Simon asked.


    ¡°Problem? What problem?¡± I asked, surprised at the entire thing.


    ¡°Well lately you¡¯ve been in a better mood, almost approachable sometimes until this morning.¡± He took another bite. ¡°You looked like shit.¡±


    A gave another dramatic sigh. ¡°Simon, up until last week we never even talked. Why are you trying to be interested in me all of a sudden?¡±


    ¡°Why can¡¯t I?¡± He shot back good naturedly.


    I stared at him deadpan for a few seconds. ¡°Do you really wanna know?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± He said as he chomped down and tore himself a new one.


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ve been pressganged by a man named Murdoch into something called a Kompaniya and I have one day to tell my mom before I¡¯m dragged away and never seen again.¡± I said.


    Simon stared at me before giving a full throated belly laugh, it was hard to do given the amount of food between his mouth and windpipe


    ¡°Yeah that sounds pretty bad. Have you tried to contact the authorities?¡± he asked good naturedly.


    I shook my head. ¡°He claimed that he is influential in all branches of the government. Making me think that my voice against his wouldn¡¯t be something you¡¯d consider a fair fight.¡±


    Simon was still chuckling at my previous statement but decided to play along. ¡°You know I could get you a guidance councillor or something if you¡¯re having trouble with school work.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    I shook my head sadly as I stood up. ¡°No need Simon, it¡¯s my last school day.¡±


    Simon nodded good naturedly ¡°Well I wish you luck in escaping the Kompaniya.¡± He chuckled


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll do that.¡± I said before starting to walk away, leaving a very smiley Simon behind me.


    ¡°And it¡¯s Norman by the way!¡± I shouted back.


    Mum walked through the door tired and wet from the rain. Shrugging her shoes and backpack off she trudged in to the living room and plonked down next to me on the couch.


    ¡°Hi mum.¡± I started.


    She jumped in surprise at the sound of my voice. Finding me right next to her must have been strange, especially considering I was home even though it wasn¡¯t even noon yet.


    ¡°Norman! You scared me there! Make a noise or something next time.¡± She scowled.


    ¡°Sorry, but can we talk?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯ve got superpowers.¡± I said.


    She laughed at that. ¡°Sweetie we all do, everyone is good at one thing or another.¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± I said, slightly irritated. ¡°But I¡¯ve got real ones. Look.¡±


    With a hop I was standing in front of her, her face still turned to where I was sitting. When she moved to face me her mouth was agape.


    I did a couple of jumps around the room before sitting down again. ¡°See? I really do.¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah that¡¯s nice sweetie.¡± she stammered, looking out at the living room, as if expecting me to jump in front of her any second again.


    I waited a couple of seconds for her to formulate what just happened.


    ¡°What?¡± she started.


    ¡°Yeah I had a really weird dream and since then I could do stuff like that.¡± I shrugged.


    Silence.


    ¡°WHAT!¡± She shouted.


    ¡°I know but you¡¯ve got to calm down, there¡¯s a mob boss that¡¯s going to kidnap me sometime tonight so I need to run away with you.¡± I said as calmly as possible.


    She didn¡¯t reply immediately, in fact, she didn¡¯t reply at all, her face was frozen into an expression of neutrality, showing absolutely zero emotion.


    I was worried, I know I¡¯m not good at talking but this was just ridiculous. There was probably a more tactful way to have introduced these things to her, maybe if I had a week I could have slowly revealed more and more but there was no time and I had no patience.


    ¡°Mum.¡± I asked hesitantly. Did I cause some kind of traumatic shock to her system? Did she not even here my second revelation, being so hung up on the first?


    Suddenly she spoke. ¡°No.¡±


    I looked uncertainly at her.


    ¡°No.¡± She repeated more firmly. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±


    I sighed, exasperated. ¡°I broke in to a warehouse which turned out to be where they hid their drug stash and now they want to kill me but their boss won¡¯t allow it since he wants me to work for him instead.¡±


    Silence


    ¡°That¡¯s nice sweetie but that not something to joke about.¡± She said as clarity returned to her eyes. ¡°That was a very impressive magic trick you just did, I didn¡¯t know you practised it in your spare time but the other nonsense you said is just plain silly.¡±


    She got up, ignoring my pleading. ¡°Now I¡¯m going to go upstairs and have a lie down, we¡¯ll talk later if you need some counselling, it sounds like you¡¯ve got a lot of stress in your life.¡±


    I was stunned, not by how blatantly she ignored the issue, but by how she thought I needed counselling, did she think I was insane? What the hell!


    Fine, I¡¯ll run away on my own then. I went upstairs, pushing past her roughly in the process, grabbed my backpack, stuffed it full of food, clothes and money and tromped back down. Perhaps I was being a bit stupid but I didn¡¯t care, there was probably a way to seek protection from Murdoch but I didn¡¯t want other people¡¯s help. Even my own fucking mother thought I was crazy! What the fuck! But that was fine, I could go anywhere in the world, with these superpowers-


    Thunk


    A wave of pain and dizziness washed over me as I fell to the ground, looking down I spied a small green needle protruding from my thigh and my last thought was a sour sense of satisfaction that I was right.

 Jazz

    I woke up once again with a searing headache, but this time it wasn¡¯t in the comfortable confines of my bedroom.


    A massive area, both in height and floor space was what I saw. So big it was that the light of reflectors shining next to me couldn¡¯t reach the edges, merely reflecting dimly off the rusty walls.


    The space wasn¡¯t as empty as it looked at first glance. Strange machinations, from conveyor belts to assembly lines surrounded me, all abandoned and eaten away by time. And chains, tons of them hung from the ceiling to give the entire place a sinister feeling.


    Lastly I took note of myself. Bound to a chair with rope, shirt full of bloody holes, eye still swollen and a massive amount of anger, bitterness, and misery bottled up within the confines of my body.


    I waited there for what could have been hours, but was most likely thirty minutes and during that time I realized what a massive idiot I was.


    To begin with why in the name of the Holy Father did I think that people can so easily accept something that contradicts the very physical confines of our universe? I posed myself the question, would I believe someone if they told me they were a superhero? No, I¡¯d flip them the bird.


    So why did I expect my mum to do that for me? Because I assumed she¡¯d take my side as she¡¯s always done, God knows I¡¯ve lied to her enough to make her doubt my words. But well, she¡¯s my mother, she always understood me when things were taking a turn for the worst. Was this what it felt like to grow up? To have a mental puberty? When your foundations of adults are shaken and you don¡¯t see them as the omnipotent beings they once were?


    And then I resolved to run away and look where that got me, tied to a chair in an empty warehouse.


    And what¡¯s going to happen now? Even if I could get out of here then what?  Run away and live as a hermit in the mountains? Go South? I shuddered at that, no, I was not going to warmer climates any more than necessary.


    But that made me wonder, was Murdoch really as powerful and influential as he claimed to be? It certainly seemed so when I was talking to him back then but appearances aren¡¯t all there is to a person. I could surely ask for protection from the government right? Besides the fact that I had no proof and was accusing potentially one of the great money bags of the Kingdom for illegal activity. Yeah grow up Norman.


    Then it hit me. My superpowers.


    ¡°FUCK!¡± I cried. Why haven¡¯t I already escaped from here? I was wasting valuable seconds. Okay okay, calm down Norman. Think of a place any place, home, my bedroom, school, the damn Churgon Formation, why was it not working?


    Was it over? Did I lose it? Was I never going to stop asking myself pointless questions? Both realizations stung more than the green dart ever could have. But if I really did lose it then that meant it was all over, they wouldn¡¯t even have to keep me here since I was no use to them anymore. That was a double edged sword though; they¡¯d just as likely kill me and be done with it then let me go.


    I was contemplating to try and shimmy over to one of the machines and see if I could cut my bonds on some sharp edge when I heard footsteps coming from the shadows, it was Thorn.


    He looked like a ghost as he came towards me with his green eyes glowing. He was dressed quite smartly, with a tux and dress pants complemented with a bow tie. I really hated handsome people.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    He stopped in front of me, legs slightly apart and arms folded, appraising me like a butcher checking the beef and finding it lacking.


    ¡°Fuck you.¡± I started, best he knew where I put him on my social ladder, however few rungs it had.


    He responded by slapping me hard, it brought tears to my eyes. I tried to tough it out and spit out some blood but I just managed to dribble some on the chin, and it wasn¡¯t even blood.


    He stood there, all high and mighty, waiting for another burst of stupidity but I refused to give him another chance to hit me.


    When nothing came he got a knife out and approached me.


    ¡°Hey-¡±


    But instead of carving my heart out he just cut the ropes and took a step back.


    I regarded him suspiciously, expecting and even hoping for this to be a trap just so I could hate him more.


    But nothing came so I ever so precariously stood up, legs still wobbly but I held my ground.


    Thorn too waited to see if I would fall but when I didn¡¯t he just turned on his heel and started walking away.


    Well if he was going to make it this easy then I guess I had to oblige him. With a start I started running in the opposite direction, hoping against hope that there was more than one exit out of this accursed place.


    Needless to say I didn¡¯t get very far, perhaps a good three meters or so before I was tripped by something and I gave a passionate kiss to the floor. These bruises were really starting to rack up and I didn¡¯t like it.


    After about five groans and three tender caresses of my nose I managed to sit up to find Thorn breathing down at me, his face not betraying a hint of annoyance. Good god I wanted to punch him.


    ¡°You never said I was supposed to follow you.¡± I accused.


    Nothing.


    With a final self-pitying groan I got up off the ground, which I noticed was made out of excellent concrete, very hard, perfect for the act of splattering people against it. Once again Thorn started walking off and me this time reluctantly following, silently cursing my legs for tripping at whatever the offending object was.


    We made our way to a door propped open by broken brick with the night sky shining through. Outside we found ourselves in a small gravel driveway completely surrounded by a dark menacing forest, the only thing of note was a black, sleek vehicle parked in front of us. The car was one of those old things that frothed diesel out of the exhaust pipe and had to be tinkered with every three days. It didn¡¯t look sporty per say but it definitely needed a level of coolness to be pulled off.


    ¡°Get in.¡± Thorn said.


    Wow, okay, yeah that was a deep voice, he definitely filled the role of supervillain. I bet he practised his evil laugh in the mirror when he wasn¡¯t busy glaring at everything.


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± I asked as I opened the side door. No answer, of course there wasn¡¯t, why would there be?


    The interior was made of dry wood and red leather, probably the skin of an endangered animal while the dashboard and wheel seemed to have been made during the federation, with the dials all sensible and imperialistic. Not gaudy though, but just tasteful enough to be annoying.


    Thorn turned the key in the ignition switch and the thing rumbled to life, a roar first then a low rumble.


    Now I don¡¯t know what kind of dark faggotry encouraged me not to put my seat belt on but I regretted it within about two seconds when Thorn pressed the gas paddle and I smacked my forehead against the glove box.


    ¡°Argh!¡± was how I responded, clutching my face. ¡°You could have been a bit more gentle!¡± I cried.


    He responded by going faster.


    I quickly buckled myself in and soon we were ripping down the gravel path through the trees, the roar of the engine drowning out any attempt at communication, not that there were too many. The road connected to another road, this one asphalt, and then that one connected to another and another and soon we were flying on the highway at a hundred and twenty kilometres per hour.


    It was pretty chill actually, just me, the trees, the night sky, a murderous psychopath next to me. Yeah, life was good.


    I was actually about drift off when I heard a crackling. It came from a radio which Thorn just turned on, he had to tune it for a bit but when the feedback faded out I could hear the soft notes of a trumpet playing a sorrowful tune.


    ¡°Jazz? Really?¡± I asked.


    No reply.


    ¡°Fine.¡± I threw my hands up before going to sleep to the sounds of Charles Peterson¡¯s Big Band. Not that I knew who that was.

 Suits

    I was woken up by the slam of the door.


    ¡°Where am I?¡± I mumbled.


    I was in a car, which was turned off, in front of a gas station. Oh, fuck that¡¯s right I was kidnapped.


    I tried to use my superpowers but once again to no avail. Man that was depressing, I shed a silent tear as my dreams once again slipped out of my reach. But I didn¡¯t have long to mourn as I realised someone was sitting next to me.


    Thorn, that handsome little shitnugget, he was eating an egg and ham sandwich with a cup of steaming coffee on the dashboard. I had a sandwich in front of me as well, packed to the brim with salad and other disgusting vegetables.


    ¡°Hey. Where¡¯s my coffee?¡± I asked as I tore open the packet. I felt like I could have eaten a horse.


    No answer, instead he switched the radio on. Which was currently reading the morning news.


    ¡°-And the Annual Rain Harvest festival was met with disaster as hooligans claiming to be crown supporters hijacked and drove a truck in to the fairgrounds. Eight killed and fifteen injured reports Miles-¡±


    The channel was abruptly switched to once again the sound of smooth jazz.


    ¡°Hey what the hell? Why do we have to listen to this shit again?¡± I cried.


    That earned me a glare but no remark.


    We sat sitting in silence, well as silent as you can be when the radio is on while I finished the rest of my meagre breakfast.


    ¡°I need to pee.¡± I eventually said. Once again there was no response so I exited the vehicle and approached the gas station. It wasn¡¯t much, just a single cashier and a couple of isles of snacks but I needed to go around the back by the look of that sign. As soon as I turned the corner I sprinted as fast I could away from the place.


    I ran and ran, only to realise there was nothing anywhere for miles, it was flat grassland in all directions. Ah shit, I slowed to a walk before trudging back to the station and taking a leak. In all honesty I could probably make a break for it, but Thorn would be able to spot me pretty easily if he drove a couple of hundred meters in the general direction.


    With dampened spirits I got back to the car only to find Thorn smiling thinly at me, the bastard. He probably knew I was going to run away from the beginning and planned the entire thing, well I haven¡¯t given up yet.


    Once I got in he started up the engine and with a rumble we were off, cruising along the open road for who knows how long, it was really relaxing actually. I probably dozed off at some point but I never realized since nothing changed save for the movement of the sun.


    ¡°What power do you have?¡± Thorn suddenly asked.


    I blinked. ¡°Uh, teleportation.¡±


    He grunted.


    We continued with only the sound of a sad trumpet to fill the air.


    ¡°Open the glove box.¡± Thorn said.


    I did so, inside was a book titled ¡®The Intricacies of Automobiles¡¯.


    ¡°Eh?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Read it.¡± He commandedStolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked again.  No answer.


    Like hell I will, I don¡¯t care about cars anyway, did he think this is what kids read these days? Was this some feeble attempt to connect with the current generation? Boys don¡¯t care about cars anymore, well not me anyway.


    I flicked through the pages, looking at the pictures. It was basically diagrams of the different parts and little descriptions for what each part did, it wasn¡¯t too bad but I put the book back anyway. Too many words.


    But as I sat there looking at the empty fields I quickly grew bored and started looking for ways to amuse myself, I played with the plastic wrap of the sandwich for a while but that grew tiresome as well. I looked around the glovebox some more but there was nothing of interest, just some writing utensils and a spare notebook. Finally with a defeated groan I grabbed the textbook again and flipped to the first page, seeing another thin smile of Thorn from the corner of my eye.


    I was head deep in what was called a catalytic converter when the car started slowing down. Looking up I noticed that we weren¡¯t in the grasslands, in fact we were surrounded by tall pines that reached up to twenty meters in to the sky, with snow peaked mountains poking up in the distance.


    The road was rough and bumpy, full of potholes and bridges that went over sudden drops, like some fantasy movie sequence shot. And it had a sort of rugged beauty in the landscape that you could only appreciate with Downtown Blues.


    A small town came in to view in the base of one of the valleys, the afternoon sun casting scant light on the houses.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Seoul.¡± Came the reply, which was just as much as a surprise as the name. Seoul was famous for its tourism, being one of the northernmost cities of Gordon, located right on the border of the Kingdom of Fergus. Hundreds of thousands of tourists part through here every year and as a result it was a veritable hotspot for all kinds of attractions, it was a pretty expensive place.


    As we made our way down the mountain the road became smoother and smoother until we were once again cruising effortlessly along. But before I could get used to the feeling Thorn abruptly turned off the road and we were on gravel. But he didn¡¯t go far before he pulled over and switched the engine off.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked as we got out of the car. I really should have known better by now but the recent answer gave me hope.


    Thorn went to the back and opened the trunk, inside was a series of cases, all different sizes. Grabbing the largest one we started a long trek up a mountain trail that was hardly visible in the gloom.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like this.¡± I complained. ¡°I¡¯m cold, I¡¯m hungry and you¡¯re taking me into a dark forest.  A place that is famous for people getting murdered in.¡±


    Silence. How fucking comfortable must it be to only answer questions when one felt like it.


    The walk was a good half hour and by the time we made it to wherever the hell we were my sneakers were thoroughly drenched from the wet grass. And I was really fucking cold but Thorn looked like he was having a stroll in the park.


    But when we did make it, which I mean by the time I was swearing my ass off, we were quite high up, with a little ledge just above us, when I peeked over it I could see the entire valley. Not the one where Seoul was located in but a different one, this one still full of pines and rocks and other nature stuff. Right at the bottom I spied a little creek flowing through the very bottom, it was very beautiful.


    ¡°Hey Thorn do you think you could-¡±


    A pair of binoculars was thrust into my hands, which surprised my but in a pleasant way, allowing me to look out into the great beyond with a great deal more scrutiny. As I looked through the trees I spied a number of people actually, most in fluorescent vests and hard hats. They were taking measurements on the ground and had little clipboards with them, probably geographers measuring the erosion level of something. I also spotted some campers on the other side of the valley, setting up their tents and campfire in the wilderness, I smirked, good luck to anyone going camping in autumn. And I also saw a car parked up somewhere with a bunch of men in suits talking, they even had little suitcases with each other and doing the whole handshaking shebang.


    BANG


    ¡°FUCK!¡± I shouted, jumping in the process. My heart was going at a thousand beats per minute as my fight or flight instincts kicked in, ready to bolt. Looking next to me I found Thorn lying on his belly, tux and all, holding in his hands a fucking sniper rifle with its barrel smoking right next to where I was.


    ¡°SHIT ON A STICK! MAKERS ASSHOLE WHAT THE FUCK!¡± I cried, my voice hysterically high pitched.


    The motherfucker was smirking as he stood up but his voice didn¡¯t betray any emotions, as always. ¡°Look at the car.¡±


    ¡°What car you fuck? Did you just shoot someone? Fuck!¡± I was still being stupid.


    He got twitch of annoyance at that and pointed.


    ¡°What?¡± I looked through my binoculars and saw the car.


    One of the suit dudes was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. His fellows nowhere in sight, probably ran after they saw him topple over. I was slightly shaking from the entire ordeal but Thorn was already walking back.


    ¡°Fuck.¡± I breathed.