The Bubble Boy

by Stewart Foster

  I’ve got to find it.

  00:10

  I smile. Here it comes. It’s probably a picture of Henry giving me the finger.

  Here it is

  00:11

  He sends a link to click on.

  What is it?

  00:11

  Don’t know. He just told me to send it.

  00:12

  I’ve got to go now. Mom says I gotta go to bed.

  00:12

  OK.

  00:12

  Chat tomorrow? After school?

  00:12

  Sure.

  00:12

  OK. Bye, Joe.

  00:13

  Bye.

  00:13

  Are you still there?

  00:14

  Yes.

  00:14

  I got to keep the remote control car too!!!!

  00:14

  I smile. The pencil stops scribbling and the light is gone.

  I scroll up and click on the link.

  A video starts to play.

  Henry is sitting on his bed looking right at me. It’s like he’s still alive. He blows out his cheeks and makes his face go fat.

  ‘Ha, what? Were you expecting the finger?’

  ‘Yes,’ I say, but I know he can’t hear me. My eyes fill up. Henry looks just like I remember him. He doesn’t look like he’s going to die.

  ‘Hey Joe, this is gonna be weird. Just me talking to you, but maybe I’ll imagine what you would say and fill the gaps. That okay?’

  I sniff and wipe my eyes on my sleeve.

  ‘Hey . . . this is supposed to cheer you up, not make you cry! Did I get that right?’

  I smile.

  ‘I’m not gonna talk about being ill. I’m sure Brett has told you about that. Just wanna show you something. Come on.’ He stands up. ‘Connect your laptop to your screens. I’ll give you a minute.’

  I slide my feet down onto the floor and take my laptop over to the cables.

  ‘You done yet? . . . Great. Now switch your screens on.’

  ‘Wh—’

  ‘Don’t ask, why! Ha! I bet you did!’

  I look around the room. It’s like there’s a sensor picking up all my thoughts and sending them to him.

  I turn my screens on. They all stay blank except for screen 1 in the top left corner. It flickers and then Henry appears, waving at me. It’s amazing. It’s like he’s actually here.

  ‘Hey, Joe. Watch this.’ Henry walks to the edge of the screen. ‘See you in a second!’ He disappears. Screen 2 flickers on. Henry jumps into the middle of it.

  ‘Taddah!’

  I laugh. How did he do that?!

  He holds up a finger. ‘One second,’ he says. He crouches down and jumps into screen 3.

  ‘Ha. What d’ya reckon . . . think it’s cool?’

  I nod. It’s cool.

  He walks into screen 4, then pretends to make a massive leap and arrives back on the other side of my room in screen 5.

  I step backwards and bump into my bed. He’s jumping all around my room.

  ‘Like it? Told the tech guy from NASA about your screens and he showed me how to do it.’ He walks into screen 6 and he’s walking in a park, in screen 7 he’s on a beach, in screen 8 he’s in a field full of cows.

  This is brilliant!

  Henry keeps walking. In screen 9 he’s standing in front of Buckingham Palace.

  ‘Just around the block!’ he says. He jumps again. In screen 10 he’s in front of the Eiffel Tower, in the next he’s holding the camera on a rollercoaster, in screen 12 he’s in the middle of a baseball park.

  I put my hand up to my face. I’m smiling so much my jaw aches.

  Henry stands up and pretends to dust down his trousers. ‘You finished gawping?’ he says. ‘. . . One last thing before I go.’

  I walk over to him. I don’t want him to go. I could press pause and freeze him and he could stay there on my wall for ever.

  ‘Hey, don’t get upset. This is the best bit!’ He takes a TV remote out of his pocket and puts his finger over the green button. ‘You ready?’

  I nod.

  He presses the button.

  ‘Here you go, Spidey!’

  The screens go blank. I walk in front of them, waiting for him to reappear but all I see is my reflection. I sigh. Maybe he didn’t have time to finish his video before he died.

  I pick up the remote, then stop. There’s a little flicker of light in screen 11. I press my face so close to the screen that my nose is almost touching it. Orange and red lights begin to glow. They start to mix together and grow bigger. I look at screen 10, then screen 9. The orange and red lights are bubbling in them too. They start to spit and spark across the rest of the screens, bubbling like a volcano. The speakers rumble. I hear Henry laughing somewhere.

  ‘Hang in there, Joe!’ he shouts.

  What’s happening?

  I have to lean back against my bed. Pieces of earth break apart and fly across the screens from one to another and disappear off the edge. My heart jumps in my chest. This is the most exciting movie I’ve ever seen.

  ‘Hey Joe, you might want to cover your eyes for the next bit. It gets really bright . . . Oh . . . you might want to cover your ears, too.’

  I wrap my arms tight around my head. The noise rumbles deeper and longer, so loudly that I can feel the vibrations on the floor a little bit. I sneak a look under my eyelids. The light is white bright, like Superman and Cyclops are fighting and burning each other with their laser eyes. I close my eyes again and wrap my arms so tight across my head I can feel my heart beating in my ears.

  Then suddenly, silence. Nothing.

  I unwrap my arms away from my head. The only sound is the wind from the air-con and the beep of my monitors. I open my eyes slowly. I check the floor for bricks and earth, but all I see are the tiles.

  ‘It’s okay, you can look now.’

  I lift my head.

  ‘Wow!’ I suck in air like the Lizard’s tail has just whacked me in the stomach. There’s hundreds and hundreds of little lights on the screen, shining out of tiny windows. My eyes start to water and the lights go blurry. Henry walks onto screen 12 and holds up his arm.

  ‘Like it? 6500 windows. 102 floors.’

  I blink..

  ‘I love it!’

  Henry gives me a massive grin. He’s the only person who knows I’d love to live where Spider-Man hangs out – right at the very top of the Empire State building. I put my hands on my head. Henry turns and faces the camera. He’s still grinning and his eyes are sparkling. He looks up at the Empire State, then back at me and shrugs. ‘Guess I can’t stick around here all day.’

  ‘No.’ But I wish he could.

  Henry lifts up his hand. ‘Don’t cry.’

  I won’t.

  ‘See you around, Spidey.’

  Henry fades away. The lights on the Empire State twinkle in the dark.

  The building’s so big I can see in through every window. I drag the chair away from the door but when I stand on it I still can’t reach the top. I look around my room. I could stand on my monitors but I might damage them. I could climb onto the window sill but I’m scared of falling off. The only way I can reach the top is if I stand on my bed.

  I try to move the bed, but I don’t want to wake up anyone sleeping below. But I don’t want to be stuck on the viewing deck either. Maybe if I try quietly, no one will hear.

  I walk over to my bed and bend down. The brakes click as I unlock them from the wheels. I put my hands on the bar at the end of my bed and pull it gently. I’m not very strong, but little by little the wheels move across the tiles until my bed reaches the screens. I climb up onto it until I’m stood beside the lightning rod. This is where Spidey goes to catch a breather, to look out over the city. He sees the skyscrapers reaching up into the sky, the cars with their flashing lights and all the people walking along the pavements like ants. A warm feeling grows from my feet through my stomach to my heart. I might not be able
to go outside but I can still see the world from my room. I can watch all the people on CCTV, I can see if they need my help if they are in trouble. I can watch them all from my bed, just like Spider-Man watches everyone from the lightning rod.

  I reach out and touch a screen. I want to tell everyone what Henry has sent me. I can’t wait to tell Beth. She’ll love it. I think Greg and the doctors will like it too. Maybe I’ll tell Hannah. Maybe one day she’d like to visit me and see it. I’ll look at the building every night before I go to bed and I’ll remember Henry and maybe one day if the doctors fix me I’ll go to New York and see it for real.

  I glance at the clock.

  It’s after midnight. Greg will be coming back to check on me soon. He told me to rest. I climb down off my bed and push it back against the wall.

  I pick up my phone. He might not be awake but I have to tell Amir.

  Amir, guess what?

  I wait for a few seconds for a reply. The light on my phone screen goes out. It’s too late. I put my table and pick up the TV remote. I look up at the Empire State Building one last time. The lights flicker like candles in its windows. I wish I could hang out all night like Spidey, but I’m tired and need to sleep. I press the ‘OFF’ button. The screens zap off and my room turns black and dark.

  Room temp: 19C

  Air purity: 97.6

  Heart rate: 82

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  The monitors never stop. Superheroes’ hearts never stop. They don’t die. They don’t even go to sleep. They might get knocked out by a massive punch but it only takes a second for them to bounce back.

  I close my eyes. My room might be dark now, but in the morning, when I wake up, it will light up again.

  My shining lights

  Lobes and Tal

  My guiding light

  My omnipresent friend and editor, Jonathan Bentley-Smith

  Bright lights

  Special thanks to:

  My agent, Nicola Barr, for falling in love with Joe and Bubble.

  All the chocolate frogs I ate in the last year.

  My daughter, Lois, Sam Drew and Jade Craddock for helping me over the line.

  And finally, Rachel Mann, my brilliant editor at Simon and Schuster, who pushed and cajoled me, and splattered my manuscript with red ink, until we finally got a story worthy of all the superheroes up and down this land.