by Dee J. Stone
“Oh, sorry, I was just—”
“Staring at Nicole. I get the drill.” She’s about to walk away, but I grab her arm. Looking to my right and left, I pull her into the janitor’s closet. The place is so tiny there’s hardly any room for us.
“I spoke to her,” I say. “Yesterday. I was flying and I happened to pass her house—”
She rolls her eyes. “I know that. Remember? Communication device? I heard every word.”
“Oh.” How could I forget? She heard everything I said to Nicole. That’s a little mortifying. No, a lot. It kind of makes me want to hide behind the shelf. “Why didn’t you tell me? It’s not cool to spy on me.”
She shrugs. “I tried, but your head wasn’t there. Besides, I told you that you can always switch it off.”
“I guess, but whatever. It’s not like I made a complete fool of myself, right?”
“Right.”
“And it’s not like I’m going to talk to her again,” I say.
“Suuure.”
I give her a face. “Let’s get out of here.”
She opens the door.
“Mads?”
She turns around.
“I’m really sorry for brushing you off. It’s just that—”
“I get it. She’s Nicole.” She slips out of the closet. I’m left standing there, feeling like such a rotten friend. I’m going to make it up to her. I want to prove to her how important she is to me, and not only because she’s my sidekick.
I catch up to her in the hallway, where she’s got her nose buried in her locker. “We’re going to play Death at Night after school,” I say.
Her head peeks out. “But you have to do your rounds.”
“I know, but I want to spend time with you. We haven’t really hung out.”
She laughs lightly. “We spent the last few days hanging out.”
“Doing saving the world stuff. I’m talking about normal kid stuff. You know, like playing video games and going to the movies.”
She shifts from one foot to the other. “No, I think I’d rather you do superhero stuff.”
“But—”
“I’d feel terrible if something horrible was happening to someone and you couldn’t help because we were playing video games.”
“But Mads—”
She shuts her locker. “You don’t have to feel bad for me or make it up to me. I’d feel more accomplished if we were out there doing what needs to be done. Kay?”
She doesn’t give me a chance to respond, just heads to our next class. I bang my head on her locker. I get what she means. It would be really bad to play video games when someone’s in trouble. But does being a hero mean I can no longer have my own life?
Something strong bumps into me. “Move it, loser.” It’s Matt. He and his buddies are passing by as they make their way to class. He doesn’t give me a backward glance. My own brother treats me like crap. I might as well be the garbage can.
He and his buddies stop by a group of seniors who are into things that no one cares about, like astronomy and chess and all that sort of things. There are five of them, and they look terrified as my bro and his friends glare at them.
The shortest kid makes a move to run away, but Bro grabs him by his shirt collar. I glance around for teachers, but there are none here. How convenient. I bet they’re all hiding in the teachers’ lounge because they don’t want to deal with this.
“Where’s my homework?” Bro demands from the guy.
His mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. Matt slams him against the lockers, causing his glasses to slip to the edge of his nose.
“I said, where’s my homework, loser?”
There are many things I don’t know about my brother, but I can’t believe he’s one of those guys. How could I not have seen this?
I look around again. None of the onlookers seem like they’re going to do anything about this. I normally wouldn’t either. It’s pretty much suicide to stand up to the jocks. But I’m not the old me. I can finally show these jocks what happens when you mess with the wrong guy.
I hide behind a wall and peek out. The other jocks each have a guy slammed against the locker, demanding their homework.
I wave my hand, making all the jocks’ pants slide down their legs. At once, the halls erupt in laughter. Bro and his friends look around, then down. When they realize what happened, their eyes widen and they scramble to fix themselves. It’s too late, though. Most of the kids have already taken pics, plus I’m holding their jeans in place. No matter how much they pull, their pants aren’t going to budge.
The halls erupt with even more laughter. The kids who are in classrooms come out to see what’s going on, including Maddie and Nicole.
A part of me feels bad for doing this to Bro—especially seeing the mortified look on his face—but the other feels good. Because people like my brother need to understand that bullying is not okay. Just because some kids are better students than him, it doesn’t give him the right to threaten them into doing his homework.
“What’s going on here?” Vice Principal Grady asks. When she takes in the half-naked guys, she tells them to fix themselves this instant and come to the office. I remove my telekinetic hold on their jeans.
“Everyone else, get to class,” Vice Principal Grady nearly yells as the jocks tug up their pants. Their faces are deep red and they don’t look at anyone, just keep their eyes on the floor.
“Did you do that?” Maddie whispers as I enter the classroom and take my seat.
I give her an innocent look. “Did I do what?”
She lightly slaps my chest, laughing. I want to laugh with her, but I can’t. Because I just found out something today, something I don’t like. My brother is a bully. Sure he bullies me all the time, but that’s just normal older brother stuff. Not like this.
“You okay?” Maddie asks.
“Yeah.”
“Liar.”
I tell her what’s bothering me. “Did you know?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I knew his friends did, but I didn’t know he did.”
A beeping noise comes from her sleeve. “What’s that?” I ask.
“Hmm?” She doesn’t move her eyes from the book she’s reading.
“That beeping.”
She looks up, then pushes her sleeve up to expose her watch. “Shoot, I forgot to silence it. I programmed my watch to beep every time the cops get a call.” She reads whatever’s written on the watch. “School shooting. You need to go.”
My throat gets tight as our bio teacher shuts the door behind him. “Now?”
She nods fervently. “A few kids have been shot and the school is on lockdown. The guy has locked himself in the cafeteria with the school principal. He’s threatening to kill him if his demands aren’t met.”
“That’s terrible, but I can’t miss class!” I hiss.
“Please open your textbooks to last night’s homework assignment.”
Mr. Vasquez walks up and down the rows, checking everyone’s homework.
“Oh, no,” Maddie says as she reads more. “The principal of the school brought his daughter with him because he couldn’t find a babysitter. She’s also in the cafeteria. Nick, you have to help them.”
Mr. Vasquez is only a few desks away.
“Nick!”
I leap to my feet. All eyes shoot to me. “I have to go,” I blurt.
“And to where exactly are you in such a hurry, Nick?” Mr. Vasquez asks.
I glance at Maddie for some help, but her eyes are wide and clueless.
“Stomachache.” It’s the first thing that comes to my mind. “I gotta go.”
I dash out of the classroom, ignoring the chuckles and giggles from my fellow students. This whole superhero thing isn’t getting any easier. Maybe it never will. How am I supposed to balance a normal life and a hero one?
Once I’m in the air, invisible and far away from school, I tear off my T-shirt and jeans and put my mask on. Maddie sends the schoo
l’s location to my GPS. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I never dealt with a school shooting before. What if I mess everything up?
Chapter Sixteen
I make myself visible as I approach the school. There are many people standing outside the building and cops are trying to shove them away. I know lots of them are parents and family members of the kids stuck inside.
Some notice me hovering above and point. I circle the building, searching for the cafeteria window. I finally find it and see two people inside. An older man who must be the principal and a guy who looks around my age. He’s pointing a gun at the principal. I don’t see the little girl anywhere.
When I look at the shooter, my heart nearly catapults out of my chest. He’s pointing one gun at me and the other at the principal. With his head, he motions for me to get inside.
I swallow. I need to do this right or else someone will get hurt. I could probably heal if I were to get shot, but the principal can’t.
Shutting my eyes for a second, I focus on freezing the shooter in place. His fingers shouldn’t move and shouldn’t shoot. With his eyebrows furrowed, he looks down at the guns, unable to move his head but only his eyes. He glares at me.
Using as much energy as I can, I crush both guns, then throw them to the other end of the cafeteria. I then open the window and fly in.
“Where’s your daughter?” I ask the principal.
“I—I don’t know.”
I march over to the shooter and grab him by the collar. “What did you do with her?”
He laughs, a deep, hard laugh. “You’re too late. She’s already dead.”
The dad gasps and my stomach muscles twist. But I keep my cool. “Where is she?”
With a wicked gleam in his eyes, he moves his head toward the freezer. God, he put her in there? I throw the guy into the wall, and he falls to the floor, unconscious.
My stomach coils as I make my way to the freezer. I can’t do this. Just can’t. But I need to. Swallowing a million times a minute, I take a deep breath, then open the freezer door. She’s lying there, on top of the frozen food and the ice and all the other things the school’s got in there. I’m not sure if she’s dead. Her eyes are closed and her hands are wrapped around her little body like she was trying to keep herself warm.
After taking another deep breath, I reach inside and scoop her out. She’s like an icicle, but I’m not giving up hope.
“I’m taking her to the hospital,” I call to the dad. I crack the door open for him to leave the caf.
He rushes over to me. “Thank you.” He reaches for his daughter. “Please take care of her.”
“I’ll try.” I fly out the window, holding the kid close to me. Maybe my body heat will help.
All the onlookers watch in awe and confusion as I fly toward the nearest hospital. The police must have told them I’m coming because they’re ready to receive the girl the second I get in.
I watch the doctors and nurses frantically call to one another. I know I need to get back to school before I’ll get in trouble, but I also need to stay here and see what happens with the girl.
Some people in the waiting room stare at me. This little kid points with huge eyes. I give him a small smile.
Ten minutes later, the girl’s dad rushes into the hospital, and the doctors talk to him. I’m watching them, trying to learn how the girl’s doing, when something is shoved in my face. A mic. A woman who must be a reporter holds it. A guy with a camera is behind her.
“You’re the Blue Masked Hero,” she says. “You stopped the gunman and rescued Mr. Peterson and his daughter. Will you tell us exactly what happened?”
Voices are all around me and when I look up, I see many other people surrounding me, including more reporters.
They choose now to get the inside scoop about the Blue Masked Hero? In the hospital?
I stand up to leave the place for some fresh air, when more and more people surround me, all asking so many questions they make my head spin. “How did you get those superpowers?” and “Who are you?” “And “Where did you come from?”
I go invisible and fly out the window, hovering outside. I’ve never been in the center of attention like that before. My whole life I’ve always been on the sidelines, as invisible as my power. Having all those people around me is going to make me suffocate.
Many of them gasp when they realize I’m no longer in the room. A few whip their heads around like they think it’s some trick and I’m going to reveal myself any second.
I peek inside to make sure I don’t miss an update from the doctors. The girl’s father is in the waiting room, too, but unlike with me, no one is bombarding him with questions. A few reporters try to squeeze in a question or two, but he seems to be in his own world. A world of horror. I squeeze my eyes shut. How long until we know if the girl will be okay?
I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear a howl from inside. The father is crouched on the floor and a doctor pats his shoulder, saying words I can’t hear. The others in the waiting room give him condolences. My heart skips a beat. She…she didn’t make it?
The dad’s got his hands over his face, his whole body shaking. “I’m really sorry,” the doctor says before leaving the waiting room.
The entire world spins and I feel like I’m going to crash to the ground. Heat pours all over me and I can’t breathe. The little girl…I can’t believe she didn’t make it. I tried. Tried so hard.
I go visible and slip back into the waiting room, where the dad is still on the floor with many people around him. They look up as they see me approaching, but no one makes a move to swarm me. My chest heaves as I try to get some oxygen in. A lump the size of Jupiter is stuck in my throat.
With a trembling hand, I reach for the dad. My mouth opens, but no words come out. Tears pour down my cheeks. I can’t believe she didn’t make it.
The dad’s head lifts and when he takes me in, he clutches my hand. “Thank…thank you.” His voice cracks.
I hear the cameras all around us, but I ignore them. “I didn’t do anything.” My voice is nearly as choked up as his.
His grip on my hand tightens. “You tried to save her life. I’m forever in your debt.”
I shake my head and am about to tell him he’s not, when the reporters attack.
Giving the dad an encouraging nod, I fly out the window and turn invisible. My thoughts are a mess, blaming myself for not being quick enough. If I wouldn’t have hesitated in class, I would have gotten to the school sooner and could have saved the little girl. Why was I so scared about cutting class? A girl is dead because of me. Sure, maybe not because of me, but I did have a part in it. Five minutes could have made all the difference.
“Nick,” Maddie says into my earpiece.
I ignore her and zoom to wherever. I don’t know where I’m going and I don’t care.
“Nick!”
I push the button to shut off the communication. I don’t want to talk to Maddie or anyone right now. Just want to be left alone.
I don’t care if it’s crazy to blame myself, but I do. What good are these powers if I can’t save a little girl? I’m a failure, that’s what I am.
My phone rings. Pulling it out of my pocket, I see it’s Maddie. I slip it back inside and pick up the pace. I don’t care if it’s dangerous to fly this fast. I can’t deal with this.
The thoughts and memories of what happened today attack my mind and no matter how many times I shut my eyes, they won’t go away. Why, why did that guy bring a gun to school? Why did the principal choose today to bring his daughter there?
Why couldn’t I be faster?
The hours pass and I’m still flying. I don’t know where I am and I don’t care. I just continue going. Maddie calls many times, but I keep ignoring her.
When my phone rings for the hundredth time, I want to chuck it, but I see it’s not Maddie.
“Mom?”
“Nick, where are you?”
I look around. I knew I was flying f
or a while, but I didn’t realize it’s getting dark out.
“I went looking for you at Maddie’s, but you weren’t there. Where are you?”
I look around. Uh…Ohio? “Out,” I tell her.
“Where?”
“I just went for a walk.”
“You were supposed to be home hours ago. What did I tell you about letting us know where you are and who you’re with? I thought you were with Maddie all afternoon, so I didn’t worry.”
“I was with her,” I lie. “But then I left to go for a walk. I’ll be home soon.”
She sighs. “I don’t know what’s going on with you lately.”
The sadness and worry in her voice makes me feel guilty. But she wouldn’t understand. No one can understand what a complete failure I am. A little kid froze to death because of me.
“I’ll be home soon,” I promise before hanging up.
I turn around and jet toward home.
Chapter Seventeen
After slipping into my window and throwing on some clothes, I find Mom in the kitchen. Dad must still be at work. He sometimes stays late at the office. She stands up as soon as I walk in. Has she been waiting up for me?
I hear the TV on in the living room. Matt must be watching. I think it’s the news and I can swear I hear my alter ego being mentioned. Are they talking about what a joke the Blue Masked Hero is? How he couldn’t save a little girl?
Mom motions for me to sit, then takes out some leftovers from the fridge. The sight of food, of the fridge, makes me want to puke. All I see before me are the lifeless eyes of that girl.
After warming up the food, Mom places it before me. I look away as she lowers herself onto the chair across from me.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asks.
“Not hungry.” I can’t look at her. I don’t like lying, but I can’t tell her the truth. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m done with this whole superhero thing.
She takes my hand. “Sweetie, what’s going on with you?”
I don’t answer because I don’t know what to say. I kinda want to be left alone.