The Super 4 : Dark Death

by Harrison Wallace

  “H-hey Carly.” I silently cursed myself for my voice sounding so high-pitched and shaky.

  “Is everything okay?” She asked. I could clearly hear the concern in her voice.

  “Yeah! Why wouldn’t it be?” I responded.

  “Okay?” She said uncertain.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I discovered a new set of powers.”

  “Really?” She couldn’t keep the tone of jealousy out of her voice.

  “Yah! I have some lamo power of super vision and hearing.”

  “Oh. Well, uh…bye?”

  “Bye.” I replied.

  To sum it all up I didn’t feel any better. In fact if anything I felt a lot worse!

  Carly

  VII

  I couldn’t help the envy that was currently bubbling up my stomach. It wasn’t fair! Jake had four powers, Harrison had three and I’m pretty sure Darryl has three to. That’s if invention and super smartness are two different things. I only had my double combo of water and electricity. Now I know you may be thinking that’s a wonderful combo, because water is a brilliant conductor of electricity. But still it wasn’t fair!

  Mumbling my displeasure, I made my way towards the dining room. Laid out on the mahogany table, was a large platter of pork chops with a bowl of roast potatoes and cabbage and gravy.

  I wasn’t American in the slightest. With a strong Norway background, my family moved to America in the late twentieth century. From Maine, to San Francisco, to Washington. My family has seen enough famous monuments to last a lifetime. I’ve been to Norway a couple of times, but that was to see my grandparents, usually in Easter. Every other national holiday was spent in America with papa. I never met my mother, she died when I was but a few months old. I’ve heard I look like her and from the pictures I’ve seen I can’t deny it. We had the same light blond hair, startlingly ice blue eyes and high ivory cheekbones. The only difference, was the lack of smile wrinkles surrounding her eyes. For someone who seemed so nice she certainly didn’t smile a lot. Or, at all.

  Not that I have wrinkles!

  OMG that would be disgusting!

  I sat down at the table and waited for Papa and my cousin to fill the seats around me. When we had uttered a prayer, we started digging into the delicious grub cooked by our own Norwegian chef. I had piled mountains of roast potato and pork chops onto my plate and it was slowly disappearing. I tried to make conversation between mouthfuls but was quickly silenced by dad.

  “Svelg Carly!” I effortlessly translated it to swallow and did just that.

  “So as I was saying, or trying to say at least, how was your day, pappa?” I asked.

  “It was good, Carls. Perfekt!” He responded. “ And yours?”

  “It was pretty great, dad!”

  “I wish you be speaking Norwegian more, Carly!” His irritation bringing forth his strong childhood Norwegian accent.

  I sighed and said, “Fine! I mean bot!”

  My cousin, Hilde, or as they say in America, Hilda, spoke for the first time during dinner. “Endelig!” Once again I translated it to mean finally.

  I was offended, “Hva mener du til slutt? What do you mean finally?”

  Papa had a huge grin on his face. His blue eyes twinkling. “At hun til slutt! She means finally!”

  “Papa! Jeg tok anstøt!” I said. “Dad! I’m offended!”

  He let loose a deep guffaw, his smile wrinkles visible, unlike my deceased mother, his shockingly red hair shaking, giving it the appearance of fire. Yeah, I know fire and water. Haha. His red hair was really surprising, giving the fact that most Norwegians are either blondes or brunettes. His own parents have white blond and dirty blond hair!

  “Papa! Slutte å le!” He didn’t stop laughing.

  “Nei!” It doesn’t take a genius to work out that that meant ‘no’!

  At that point the entire table, Hilde included, fell helpless to laughter. “Stopp! Stopp!” We begged each other. The food on the table remained oblivious to us for a while.

  Then the tasty fumes from the food entered our nostrils and we suddenly remembered the banquet on the table.

  We gobbled down the food in two minutes flat.

  Papa called, “Eirik! Dessert, kan du!” Kan du meant please. I’m sure the other one isn’t too hard to figure out!

  Eirik, our chef, or as he goes by in the U.S., Eric, came rushing in with bowls of krumkake. Krumkake was a thin layer of rolled cake, filled with whipped cream. Personally, it was the best food ever!

  “Herr Martinsen! Dessert ees sirved!” Eirik started english lessons very, very, late! He furrowed his bushy brows as he struggled to form the words of english. He nervously ran his hand through his mop of light brown hair.

  “Takk, Eirik!” We all yelled, giggling.

  “Takk, takk, takk!” We went into crazy fits of laughter.

  Eirik, startled by our many thanks, replied with his own series of ‘ your welcome’s’.

  “Errr…...Din velkommen,din velkommen, din velkommen!”

  At this point there was no cure for our mad fits of laughter. Eirik was even in the land of giggles by now.

  “Din velkommen, din velkommen!” He let loose another series of chuckles.

  Looking at his watch, he straightened up and politely dismissed himself, “Plis, escuss me, meester Martinsen!”

  Papa waved him away, wiping tears from his face. “Takk, Eirik!”

  After he left we laughed a bit, until we noticed the tempting plates of krumkake and gobbled it down. Eirik, knowing my allergies for strawberries, had instead placed several handfuls of juicy cloudberries, imported from Norway. By imported I mean snuck into our luggage as we left Norway. Hey, berries are amazing in Norway! The cold climate means the berries mature slower and has a more intense flavour. Plus in Norway cloudberries are considered a delicacy. That’s part of the reason the guards at Oslo Airport burst out laughing when they say the bags stuffed with cloudberries and strawberries.

  “Haha! Du badebukser!” Personally I was offended to be called a smuggler! But papa and Hilde just laughed.

  After the heavy meal my eyelids grew heavy and I had to fight the urge to sleep at the table.

  “Papa! Vennligst ta med meg til mitt soverom.”

  “And why should I carry you to your bedroom?” he asked, with a cheeky grin on his face.

  “Fordi jeg er lei!” I responded.

  “Oh, you’re tired! Well then I have simply got to carry you upside down!”

  Papa strode over to me and picked me up. Now most people say I’m really tall at five foot whatever. But papa was a giant at six foot, five inches. He lifted me in the air by my ankles and promptly swung me upside down, with my face inches from the floor. Hilde, Papa and I couldn’t contain our giggles as papa marched to Hilde’s and my bedroom. Hilde followed us her own brown eyes bright and alert. She brushed a strand of light brown hair out of her face. For a fifteen year old, she’s easily pleased.

  “Go, onkel Andreas!” She shouted.

  Papa flopped me on my bed and carefully tucked me in. “Natt, natt! Carly.”

  “Natt, papa.” I said yawning.

  “Elsker du.” He said.

  “Love you too.”

  “Hilde, are you crashing as well?”

  “No, onkel Andreas. I’m gonna go watch T.V.”

  And without further ado she raced out of the room. A few seconds later and the voice of Tyra Banks filled the room.

  I don’t even remember him leaving the room. My urge to sleep was too great. I was overwhelmed by the journey into dreamland.

  Usually I hope for the same dream that I had on the first day I got my powers. But since I was so tired the only thing the unconscious part of my brain could think of was krumkake. So I fell asleep to dreams of krumkake. I dreamt that I was a princess and my castle was made of cake and whipped cream. And everyday I would get a can of whipped cream and spray its’ entire contents on to a roll of cake. To make a long story short my days were good!
>
  And then all of a sudden my castle turned into a tree house. The exact tree house owned by Harrison. And nailed on the wooden door was a sign. And on that sign in big, fat red letters was: No one with less than three powers will be allowed entrance! I sobbed and sobbed next to the sign and after a while the faces of Jake, Harrison and Darryl filled the window. Except in my dream the faces were turned into one of complete and utter hatred. The Jake I knew was the kindest guy on earth. Er..and the others too! Anyway when they saw me helpless I expected them to open the door and tear the sign to shreds. And then give me a welcoming hug into the metal fortress.

  But of course that didn’t happen. Instead Jake, my kind and loving Jake, pressed a big red button on top of a silver remote. And in time with the button-pressing, the floor opened up under me and I fell into a pitch black infinite hole.

  In the midst of all this, Jake’s words rang out like a fire alarm. “Farewell Carly.”

  Just as a bottom appeared I was jerked awake by an unknown force.

  “Anne! Anne, wake up!” Hilde shook me awake. Anne was my middle name. A Norwegian name to counter my first one.

  I looked around.

  The room was pitch black, the only light coming from a small torch in Hilde’s hands.

  “Hilde Anita Martinsen! Just what do you think you’re doing?” I glanced at the digital clock beside me. “It’s eleven o'clock in the night!”

  “You were crying!”

  I felt my eyes. Sure enough they were wet.

  “What were you dreaming about, fetter Carly.”

  I stole her Norwegian ‘cousin’ in my next sentence, “Nothing! Now go to bed fetter Hilde!”

  I turned over and made an attempt at heavy breathing. I wasn’t sure if Hilde bought it, but she climbed up the ladder of the bunk bed and didn’t utter another sound except for a few soft snores.

  When I was certain she was asleep I let out a sigh. And then started sobbing.

  Again.

  Darryl

  VIII

  “Ah!” I thought. I laid down my book, Moby Dick, for the seventy-second time. I love that feeling of satisfaction you get whenever you finish a book. It makes you feel so accomplished!

  I had had ten minutes of lunch left, and had decided to spend it with my favorite book.

  Now I walked to class with that sense of accomplishment filling my head with happiness.

  I was the king of the world.

  And then someone stuck out their foot and tripped me.

  I fell.

  Everyone started laughing. And all that sense of accomplishment that had floated around my head suddenly left and went to the bully who tripped me.

  I decided to let it go. After all I could pummel him with my new found powers. Plus all the exercises we did made me feel great.

  For the first time I looked over to my… foot-sticker out? Tripper? I don’t know. Anyways I examined him. Long, shaggy blond hair that fell to his broad shoulders, muscular arms, and a tanned skin tone. Then I looked at his eyes. They were green. And the only green I know that looks like that, belongs to a superhero. A very fast superhero.

  The day flashed by in a blur.

  A blur that made me think of Jake. A blur that made me feel angry and hurt on the inside.

  In what seemed like no time at all, I was sitting on the bus. Harrison sat on one side of me and Carly took a seat to my right. When Jake saw the three of us, he made a big show of turning around and heading to the front of the bus. He took a seat next to Kevin and Karen. The twins. And I mean the twins! Kevin is the center on the football team and Karen is junior to only Carly on the cheerleading squad.

  Jake went into an engaging conversation that was so loud everyone on the bus heard it. But no one, not even the bus driver would tell the coolest guy in school to shut up. In fact almost everyone looked, enviously, at the Twins. Karen flipped her auburn hair, while Kevin ran his fingers through his own matching hair, though his was considerably shorter. They listened quietly as Jake continued his loud conversation, stopping only to check if each other hadn’t died of boredom.

  I probably would of died immediately.

  And then, for the first time Kevin spoke. “Hey Jake! Good job with tripping up Kleinazoid earlier today. Way to go man!”

  “Hey that freak was seriously freaking me out!”

  The Twins laughter rang out through the bus. It was short, but to me it sounded like it lasted a million years. Jake purposely looked over to us. When he ran his eyes over Harrison and I, his face twisted in disgust. His ex-best friend returned the ugly face. I did the same.

  But when Jake looked over at Carly his disgusted look fell into one of sadness, and perhaps hope. His green eyes softened and his gaze lingered on her for a while.

  Carly noticed and returned his look with a rude hand gesture.

  I stifled a laugh.

  Jake’s face molded into one of complete and utter sadness. He turned and listened to the Twins voices. His face held a lost look on it.

  He started nodding unconsciously, he looked like he was in another world.

  I knew that look. It was one of defeat. I often see it in my competitors’ faces. Except in P.E. But never was there a face that held so much defeat.

  I found myself feeling sorry for him. But then I waved the kindness away with the memories of laughter.

  I suddenly noticed Carly passing a note to Harrison. I looked over at the note in his hands.

  It read: ‘Tree house at 5’. We nodded. On the paper I wrote: ‘What’s with the note?’ Carly’s eyes skimmed over it. After a while, she wrote: ‘Jake has super hearing’.

  My face fell when my eyes saw the words she had written. “WHAT!”

  Every face in the bus turned to look at me. The Twins blue eyes sparkled when they saw me.

  To make a long story short I spent the rest of the ride home being bombarded with spitballs. To make a short story shorter, it didn’t feel good!

  At four forty-five I headed and took the walk to the tree house.

  It takes me fourteen minutes and 38 seconds to walk from my house to the tree house.

  As I walked I wondered what we were going to do. We couldn’t do fights, so I don’t see what else there was to do.

  As I neared the tree house, I took out my amulet and placed my hand on the hammer. I felt the engravings for a while. Then I turned it around and examined the back of it, where the microphone and tracing chips were placed.

  Exhaling loudly, I pushed the “Find” button on the amulet. A 3D map appeared. It showed Harrison in the sky doing flips, it showed Carly underwater, looking around at all the different species of fish and newt. There weren’t that many. It showed Jake at the…the…Tree house!

  My heart thumping quickly, for some weird reason, I quickly pressed the ‘Call’ button of the amulet. Once again a 3D map appeared, I picked the amulet numbers that appeared in the sky and in the water. It answered immediately.

  “What’s the problem, Darryl?” I heard Harrison ask.

  “Jake’s waiting for us at the tree house!”

  “What!” They responded simultaneously.

  “Mission abort to...” At the last minute I remembered about Jake’s super hearing and I whispered the last word, “the washington monument.”

  “Roger that!” And with that the call disconnected.

  “Well...um...Bye!” Carly said before hanging up as well.

  I turned around and once again opened the 3D map. I saw Carly and Harrison heading in the same direction. In fact Harrison was almost on top of Carly.

  I shrugged and headed in the direction that they were heading. After all I didn’t know which way to go. My motorcycle had a GPS but I left it at the tree house.

  I followed the direction they were going and found it led deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest.

  For the first time I looked at where Jake was. I saw a large tall spire labeled: The Washington Monument. I wondered just how strong his super hearing was. I silently
cursed myself for not bothering to think of that. That explains why Harrison and Carly were so close. And they weren’t walking along side each other, because they’d be tempted to talk.

  I started running.

  Harrison

  IX

  Something jumped on me from behind. A hand found it’s way onto my mouth. I regretted walking. I had started walking for no reason other than the reason that it just felt right. I could see the city in the distance. Then I remembered the person on top of me. I struggled to get the person of me. I made a fire sword and wielded it at the person. It was Darryl.

  “Darryl? What do you think you’re doing?” I asked struggling to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

  “Sorry, Harrison!” he apologized. He looked around.

  He picked up a small stone and threw it right in front of me. Carly sprang forward brandishing an icy sword of her own.

  “Jeesh guys! Easy with the swords!” Darryl yelled, with his hands in the air.

  “Ha...sorry ‘bout that.” Carly looked at the ground in shame.

  “It’s ok.” He touched the ‘Find’ button on his amulet and a map appeared. Silently, he pointed to the 3D picture of Jake standing at the Washington Monument. My jaw dropped open. Darryl put a finger on his lips. The universal sign for ‘Shut Up!’. Carly and I both nodded. He drew a house and wrote ‘white’ on top of it. He pointed to me.

  I nodded.

  We entered my house and went straight to my room. But something was wrong. My chair was swivelled in the opposite direction. But I could see the few strands of blond hair poking on top.

  “Jake.” I said, my voice colder than Carly’s icy sword.

  “Hi Harrison.” he responded.

  “How did you get here?

  “I found the tracking chip. I put it on top of the Washington Monument.” He looked at Darryl as he spoke.

  Darryl checked his amulet. Sure enough it said that Jake was at the Washington Monument. Darryl swore silently.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I want to apologize to Darryl. It was an accident tripping him. But I missed the feeling of being on top.”