by Bryan Cohen
"I'm okay." Ted brushed some dirt from his face. "I'm good."
Sheriff Norris chuckled. "You three sure know how to make an entrance."
"Once we're done learning how to walk–" Erica glared at Ted "–how about you tell us what we've got, sheriff?"
Ted nudged Erica. Dhiraj overheard the whisper.
"Shouldn't I take the lead on this in public?"
Erica put up both her hands and smirked before taking a step back.
Ted took her place. "What've we got, sheriff?"
"It's a robbery gone bad. Six hostages, one of whom has a potentially serious injury. At least three kidnappers. All of them armed."
Ted squinted. "I don't remember the last time there was a robbery–"
"Four years." Sheriff Norris looked past the three of them to the jewelry store. "Discounting the occasional house burglary, it's been four years since anything like this."
Dhiraj presented the cameras. "You want some eyes on the inside?"
The sheriff's eyes twinkled. "And it isn't even my birthday yet."
Dhiraj set up the equipment as the sheriff and his men guided two of the cameras in through an air conditioning vent on the back of the building. They flipped the devices on and Ted used his powers to maneuver them through two storage closets and into the jewelry store. Before long, they could all survey the scene. Dhiraj flipped a switch, and the sound from inside the store played through a speaker.
"Will you stop crying?!" A scrawny kidnapper stood over the body of an injured hostage.
There was a puddle of blood beside her, and Dhiraj wondered if it was from a knife or a glass wound – shards of glass from the jewelry cases were spread throughout the room.
"Stop looking at her!" The scrawny man gestured to his fellow robbers. "Get the cops back on the phone."
Judging by the way he gave orders, the man seemed to be in charge. That didn't seem to stop him from nervously pacing back and forth.
Ted cleared his throat. "What's the play here?"
Before Erica could say a word, a noise came from the other side of the parking lot. There were voices, one of which echoed louder than the others through a bullhorn. A group of about 50 people marched in unison and began to surround the sheriff's forces.
"Here they are." The sheriff looked over at his squad. "Set up the barricades, boys."
Erica placed her hands on her hips. "Do they have a permit?"
The sheriff nodded. "It just came in before you got here. I was hoping we'd be through already, but they work quickly."
Dhiraj marveled at the growing crowd. He recognized some of them from outside the school parking lot. Most of them were middle-aged or older and carried signs. Dhiraj wondered how any of these folks could maintain a day job while harassing Ted. He looked through the crowd to see if any of their slogans were clever. Most of them said one thing and one thing only.
"Go Home Alien!"
The Go Home Alien movement had grown from a hashtag into something much more annoying.
Dhiraj shrugged. "If only they were protesting robberies."
Nobody laughed at the joke. Erica looked angry enough to punch somebody.
Chapter 5
Erica watched Ted as he reacted to the arrival of the GHA movement. She'd seen him grow in a lot of ways over the last few months, but this was always going to be the toughest part.
How are you supposed to feel like a hero when it seems like everyone is out to get you?
Erica recalled the protestors knocking on the Finleys' door when she was over for dinner. She almost welcomed the confrontation of calling the sheriff to get them off the lawn. Erica was built for conflict, not for small talk. There were only a dozen people in the local GHA group at first, but a few advertisements here and there coupled with constant anti-Ted chatter on a few choice news channels caused the movement to grow. Now there were thousands of people who met throughout the world to talk about getting Ted to go back to his home planet, as if there was such a thing.
Erica leaned in toward Ted. "Are you alright?"
Ted squirmed and gave the crowd a final glance before turning to her. She could already see the sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
"Never been better." Ted's voice cracked. "I'm glad all my fans are here to see it."
Erica put her hand on his back and took a soothing tone. "Hey, it's okay. It's just like the lair. Just you and me."
"And a hundred protestors." Dhiraj looked around as if he were playing a game of I-Spy. "Oh, and the local news just got here."
Erica moved her hand from Ted's back to the base of Dhiraj's neck. When she squeezed, he yelped from the pressure. "We're coddling now, Dhiraj. We're not writing the screenplay."
Dhiraj shrank from the challenge and nodded. Erica watched Ted as he stared into the camera monitors. She saw a silver necklace on the far wall of the store begin to move as Ted tried to get his bearings.
"You're doing great, Ted." Erica could hear Ted's breathing grow faster. "One step at a time, okay?"
The necklace lifted off of the wall and hovered in the air. While all of the kidnappers were concentrating on their hostages, they missed the ghostly piece of jewelry floating in the air behind them. Ted's hand moved as if he were controlling the silver necklace like a puppeteer with his strings. He was about to gently place the necklace back, when a shout rose up from the mob behind him.
"Just go home!"
Ted jumped, and his powers caused the entire wall display of necklaces to come crashing to the ground.
The kidnappers turned and pointed their guns at the commotion. "What the hell was that?!"
As the men inside investigated the damage, Ted hung his head. "I can't do this, guys. It's too hard."
The shout from the ground had morphed into a chant of "Just go home! Just go home!" behind them.
Dhiraj patted him on the back. "They're just a bunch of idiots. Don't worry about them."
"Consider the necklace a practice run." Erica forced a smile. "Now you've gotta disarm them."
Ted looked at Erica like she'd asked him to do multi-variable calculus. For a moment, she even saw his lip begin to quiver.
"Okay." Ted focused back on the monitors. "I think I can do that."
"Sheriff!" Erica waved the lawman over to her. "Can you quiet down the crowd and get your men in position?"
The sheriff returned a dubious look. "We'll do our best. Tell me when he's ready."
Ted let out a huff. "Oh, you'll know." He looked back at the camera and pointed his hands forward.
In the background, Erica heard one of the sheriff's deputies attempt to silence the crowd with a megaphone. Meanwhile, Ted had zeroed in on the weapon of the kidnappers' leader. The gun was in a holster on the side of his black trunks. Through the camera monitor, Erica could see the gun begin to shake.
"Almost got it." Ted was focusing so hard, his eyes could have burned a hole in the monitor. "Almost got it."
"Boo!" A single voice from the crowd bellowed, causing the rest of the mob to join in.
The noise startled Ted, and instead of removing the gun from the man's holster, he unfastened and removed the belt. The kidnapper's black pants, gun and all, dropped to the floor, revealing boxers with pink and red hearts on a white background. While the other kidnappers laughed at their cohort, he seemed poised to kill.
"What the heck is going on!?" His face turned bright red as he fumbled for his gun.
Ted looked back to Erica with worry and pain. "What do I do?"
"Improvise!"
Ted looked back at the monitors and used his powers to wrench the leader's belt around his ankles. With a yanking motion, he tripped the robber and let his face hit the carpet. Before the other two kidnappers could realize this was no laughing matter, Ted had undone their belts and let their trousers hit the floor as well. When they tried to reach for their pants and their weapons, Ted swept their legs with a flourish of his arm and watched as they tumbled to the ground.
Dhiraj snorted. "
It's a good thing they were all wearing underwear."
Erica couldn't help but grin as Ted pulled all three guns away from the half-naked men and sent them flying to the far end of the store.
One of the kidnappers unknowingly whined right into the camera. "I feel so exposed!"
The sheriff and his men cheered. Dhiraj hugged his friend around the waist. "You're amazing, Ted!"
Erica felt a sense of pride as she gave a nod to Sheriff Norris.
He smiled in response. "Alright men, go in on my mark."
"Wait!" Ted closed his eyes. "Something's not right."
The cheering halted as everyone focused back on the hero of the hour. Erica saw something happen within Ted. For a moment, he reminded her of a different living soul entirely. The admiration Erica felt started to drain out of her.
A fourth kidnapper came out of the back room with his gun pointed directly at the hostages. "We said no heroes!"
The man was about to shoot the injured hostage when Ted made a gripping motion with his hands and lifted the man into the air. The gun went off, though the bullet landed harmlessly in the wall. Ted tossed the man from one end of the store to the other, and his gun fell to the ground. Ted removed the clip from the weapon and placed it in the corner of the room with the other weapons.
"Now you can go."
The sheriff waved in his men. Ted put his hand up for a high five. Dhiraj and several of the sheriff's men obliged.
Erica did her best to hide the feeling of fear that was building up inside her.
He used another power. This is not good.
Ted noticed her lack of cheer. "You alright?"
She nodded and searched for an answer that would change the subject immediately. "Sorry, it's just that time of the month."
Ted appeared to short-circuit for a moment before forcing a smile. "Oh."
Erica turned away. "Great job, though. Looks like all the training I made you do paid off. Though we probably could have done without the hairy legs and boxer briefs."
She walked up beside him and reached out to shake his hand. Ted took her offering and squeezed.
"Wait. Are you taking credit for me saving the day?"
Erica bit her lip. "I would never. I'm just saying you shouldn't get 100% of the credit."
Ted moved from Erica's hand and put his arms around her waist. "How much credit do you want?"
Erica moved closer to Ted. She could feel his heart pulse through his skin. "I'll take 11%."
"Just 11?" Ted grinned.
Dhiraj cleared his throat.
Erica cocked her head to the side. "Yes?"
"As long as you give me some credit for getting the cameras, you two can make out on the news as much as you want."
Erica spied the Channel 5 news van and gave Ted a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling herself away.
"Couldn't have done it without you, Dhiraj."
Dhiraj flashed his newly updated smile, courtesy of a tooth whitening regimen.
Erica looked around to take in the scene. The four kidnappers were cuffed, and the sheriff's men were pushing them into the back of a couple of squad cars. Several members of the GHA movement couldn't help but give their enemy a clap of respect. Dhiraj began to give a TV interview. Ted shook the hands of one of the hostages and received a bear hug in return.
Erica tried to absorb the happiness of the moment as much as she could. But as she looked at Ted, the anxiety built in her stomach. Memories from another lifetime began to stream back without her control.
I won't let this happen again. I can't.
Chapter 6
Jennifer watched the physical specimen from across the room. He was about half a foot taller than her with muscles that showed through his tight, sweaty shirt. Even though he'd changed after his away game at Treasure High, he continued to perspire on the unseasonably warm spring day.
"Hey, come over here…" Jennifer grasped for his name and came up empty.
The visitor's dark shirt against the pink walls of her room made for a sharp contrast.
"Yeah." The boy responded as if each word were a challenge. "I can do that."
His eyes were dim, but Jennifer didn't call him over to her after the game because of his smarts. Jennifer clicked her computer trackpad to start a contemporary playlist and put her arms around the boy's waist. She took in the aroma of his post-game scent as covered over by an emergency dose of body spray. It only half-worked.
Was it Stuart? I think it started with an S.
The visitor looked down at Jennifer and ran his hand through her hair. She could see the veins showing on his wrist and biceps. Jennifer wondered what Erica would have thought of her muscular catch.
"Nice place you've got here." The boy's face squinted into a smirk.
Jennifer knew her room looked mostly as it had in elementary school. The pink walls matched the pink princess dresses on a row of dolls that kept her old picture books company. She'd always fought to keep it the same, even when Erica and her cousin Winny made fun of her for it. She'd been having second thoughts about the room ever since she'd found out what happened to the old Erica.
Jen sighed. "Don't talk." She pulled his mouth to her neck, and he began kissing her. A layer of hidden stubble scratched her as his chapped lips touched her skin.
He's not a Stuart. Maybe a Steve. Or a Stannis.
As the boy without a name moved up to Jennifer's check, she felt a buzz in her pocket. She placed her hand on his shoulder to gently nudge him away as she checked her phone. It was the third text from Dhiraj in the last hour.
"They should totally make postcards for this situation," Dhiraj said. "Wish you were here and fighting crime with me."
Jennifer laughed and began texting back. She felt the boy's eyes land on her before he looked up at the ceiling and crossed his arms.
"Or Greetings from Robbery/Kidnapping Parking Lot," she typed before sending the text.
Jennifer looked back up at her guest. He moved his face right back to her cheek, as if he'd left a bookmark there. Jennifer closed her eyes and wondered what Erica had gotten out of these semi-anonymous encounters. As the thought crossed her mind, the boy's hand moved up her midsection. She gripped his wrist before it could reach its destination.
"I was just stretching." He tried to make himself look suave, but most of his facial contortions reminded Jennifer of a neighbor's pug.
"I thought you were supposed to stretch before the game."
The visitor put his hands underneath the back of her shirt. The calloused palms felt good against her sensitive skin as they slowly moved upwards.
"Before, during and after."
As he pulled her hips against his, something changed about him. It was as if his hair grew longer, his face and frame wider. As his fingers crept under the back of her shirt, he had aged in Jennifer's eyes. The sweaty t-shirt had been replaced by a familiar sheriff's deputy uniform. No matter what his actual name was, all Jennifer could see was the visage of Deputy Daly, the man who'd killed her best friend.
When his hands reached Jennifer's bra strap, she pulled away. The boy with the face of Deputy Daly snorted and put his hands in the air like he'd been busted for jaywalking.
"Alright. Alright." He took a step back. When he looked into Jennifer's eyes, his features softened. "Hey, are you okay?"
She wasn't. She couldn't talk or move, aside from her shaking hands. Jennifer felt all the life and color drain out of her. She shut her eyes tightly and opened them again. Still, he looked exactly like the murderer from her nightmares. Her pulse raced as she shook her head from side to side.
"I didn't mean to–" The boy looked toward the exit. "If you're not comfortable–"
"I'm alright." She let out three quick breaths through her nose. "Really, I am."
When he moved back toward Jennifer and put his hand on her side, she shrieked. He nearly fell over backward at the sound. Jennifer closed her eyes one last time, and when she opened them, the teen with an S-name looked exac
tly as he had when he'd walked in: sweaty shirt, broad shoulders and the teenage beginnings of a beard. The only thing that was different was the look of horror on his face.
"Good meeting you, Jennifer, but I… forgot about some homework–"
Jennifer's would-be companion grabbed his jacket off the bed and left the room much faster than he'd moved on the field.
It took her several minutes to get back to normal breathing. When she did, Jennifer realized just how crazy she must have come off. She put her hands to her face and took in a deep breath.
"I've gone insane." She looked around her room. "I've gone insane… and I'm talking to myself."
Jennifer's phone snapped her back to reality. She took the phone off her desk and let herself collapse onto the bed. She swiped the screen, which then displayed a new picture of Ted and Erica sharing a moment.
Jennifer looked away from her phone and toward the front window. She considered opening the light pink blinds to get one last look at a person she'd never see again. Instead, she examined the picture more closely. Ted had his arm around Erica and she was smiling about something. Knowing the new Erica, Jen figured they had finished the mission. After all, the mission was always the most important thing with the new version of her best friend.
"How sweet." Jennifer looked at the words for a few seconds. She wondered what she'd type if she were being honest, as she hit the send button.
I'd say that's not Erica. That's not my friend.
Jennifer heard a car pull out of the driveway and speed down the residential street. She rested her head against her pillow and deleted the picture.
My friend is dead. And I'm the one who should've protected her.
Chapter 7