Orion: A Heroic Novel

by Travis Johnston

  It felt really hot out, which was standard for Arizona in September, but for some reason it felt hotter than usual. Sam got me steamed up like that. Someday it would feel so great to beat him. Not just in football status, but to actually beat him—give him a good punch to the face! Beat him up like I did Stoner! Sam beat me up all the time as a kid, and I’d love to return him the favor!

  I needed to hit something. I saw a tree ahead of me. Without thinking, I clenched my fist, ground my teeth, and punched its trunk with all I had.

  And then the craziest thing happened. The tree exploded!

  Chapter 8

  Michael

  I loved getting to sleep in. Saturday mornings were the best. The first thing I did after waking up was pull open the top drawer of my dresser. Within it rested the blue stone, the meteorite that Angela and I had found last night. This was where I planned to keep it safe and hidden.

  I got out my phone and started typing a message. Hey Angela. When can we talk? I have so many questions about last night.”

  I jumped as my bedroom door flew open. I quickly pushed my drawer closed just as my little sister Sarah barged in. She glanced at the drawer I’d just closed, but didn’t mention anything about it.

  “Have you ever heard of knocking?” I asked.

  “Oh good, you’re up” she said, ignoring my question. “It’s almost noon, sleepyhead! Zack and I are waiting for you to come down and play. C’mon Michael, we need a goalie!” She was wearing soccer shorts and shoes with her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She played on the freshman soccer team, and me on varsity. We practiced together often with our cousin, Zack.

  “Okay, okay,” I said. “I’m coming.”

  I got dressed quickly and ran downstairs. I stopped mid stride by the TV. The news was showing videos of small meteorite craters in some cities in the western states. Apparently the meteor shower covered a large area, just like Angela’s dad predicted. I wondered if those meteorites had glowing stones that would zap people too. Should I warn people about that? Mr. Johnson told me not to.

  “What time did you get home, Michael?” Startled, I turned to see my mom giving me a stern look from behind her glasses. She was dressed comfortably, with her blonde hair down and sweats on.

  I frowned. “About two in the morning.”

  “You know the curfew is midnight, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “I would’ve come home earlier, but…” Should I tell her about the meteor shower? I decided against it, considering Mr. Johnson’s warning. “But…” I continued. “We just got distracted and stayed out too late. My bad.”

  “Distracted?” Mom said with a raised eyebrow. “Did you go and kiss her on your first date?”

  I blushed, grateful my black eye was mostly gone. “No, mom! We were just talking and stargazing and lost track of time… that’s all.”

  She pressed her lips together. “I’m sure that was fun, but you know the rules. Your consequence for staying out too late is to do a major chore. The backyard needs some work. It needs to be mowed, weeded, watered, oh and don’t forget to weed the flowerbeds too.”

  “Oh goodie.”

  “I know Zack and Sarah are out there playing,” she continued. “You can play with them, but as soon as Zack leaves, start working on that backyard, okay?”

  “Got it,” I said, already heading to the door that led to the backyard. Working on the backyard was going to be a pain, but I was excited to play some soccer with Zack and Sarah first. I really needed to do something to get my mind off of the meteor shower and the blue stone hidden up in my bedroom.

  My phone buzzed. Angela had responded to my text. I’ve got tons of questions too, her message said. My dad flew out to New York, said he’d be gone for about a week, and wouldn’t tell me why. I’d love to get together with you, but with my dad gone, I’ve got a lot of extra unpacking projects to do. We’ll have to get together sometime next week.

  Sounds good, I responded. Talk to you later. I stashed my phone in my pocket and sighed. That did not sound good. I wanted to know more about the stone, about what her dad was up to. He totally freaked me out last night! Apparently, though, she didn’t know any more than I did. Still, it would be nice to talk with her about it. Maybe she got sick of me after the first date?

  I walked outside and saw Zack and Sarah kicking a soccer ball back and forth. They’d set up a small goal, but weren’t using it at the moment. My backyard was pretty big, which was great for playing soccer, but terrible for mowing the grass.

  “There’s our goalie!” Zack said as he kicked the ball to me. I stopped it with my foot and passed it to Sarah. “You were up late with that new girl, weren’t you?” Zack asked with a smirk.

  “Ooh! Did you kiss her?” Sarah asked, passing the ball to Zack.

  My mom and sister were so nosy. “No,” I said. “Isn’t it an unwritten rule that you shouldn’t kiss girls on a first date?”

  “Not in my rule book,” Zack said as he balanced the ball on his foot and then kicked it to me, his red curly hair bouncing as he moved. “I kiss girls all the time on the first date. They love it!”

  “And how many of those girls end up going on a second date with you?” Sarah asked.

  “All of them!” Zack said. “Girls just can’t get enough of these lips, baby!”

  I laughed. Sarah gagged. I knew he was lying. I doubted Zack had even gone on a date before. He always bragged about how popular he was to Sarah and me, but I knew that we were his only friends at school. And we weren’t even close friends, but we were cousins, so we still hung out with him. He had some other friends that I saw every now and then, but I don’t think they were students.

  “Alright Michael,” Sarah said. “I’m ready to shoot some goals. I don’t think you’re going to block a single one!”

  “Bring it on, sis!” I said as I jogged over to the less-than-officially sized goal. “Nothing gets by me.”

  “If she won’t make anything, then I will!” Zack said confidently.

  I stood in front of the goal and crouched into position. I felt a twinge of sadness. It’d been a while since I’d played soccer. I still had three more weeks before the suspension was up and I could play on the team again. My team had lost the game a couple days ago, and I wondered if we would’ve won had I been there.

  Sarah stepped away from the ball, ready to shoot. I shook off those thoughts and focused on defending the goal. I clapped my hands and bounced on my feet, smirking at Sarah, showing her my confidence.

  She ran toward the ball and kicked it hard to my right. I was about to lunge to block it, when the ball suddenly slowed down, as if someone had turned on a slow-motion button. I was so stunned, I let the ball fly right by me, right into the goal’s net.

  “Oh yeah!” Sarah shouted, her hands above her head. “She shoots, she scores! Too fast for you to even react, Michael.”

  I stood there, frozen. What was that? I looked at my hands. They were… tingling? My whole body was tingling, as if there were a thousand tiny needles poking my skin! The feeling slowly died down into nothing. That was weird, I thought.

  “My turn,” Zack said, placing the ball and stepping away from it.

  I bounced on the balls of my feet and clapped my hands, shaking off whatever was wrong with me. “Alright,” I said. “Lucky shot, Sarah. I’ll stop this one, Zack.”

  Zack ran to the ball and kicked it low and to my left. I reached for it, and then it happened again. The ball slowed down dramatically. Everything seemed to slow down. That tingling feeling returned. It wasn’t a painful feeling, it was energizing. I moved toward the ball. I seemed to move fast while everything else remained slow. I blocked the ball with ease, sending it bouncing away. Suddenly everything returned to normal speed, the tingling dying down.

  “Blocked!” Sarah shouted. “Too bad, Zack. I’ll show you how it’s done.” She set up to shoot again.

  “Whoa, guys,” I said. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?” Zack asked.<
br />
  “Everything slowed down, like slow-motion.”

  Sarah laughed. “Nice one! Zack’s shots are like slow-motion when you compare them to mine, huh?”

  “Psh!” Zack said. “I’ll make my next one for sure! That was just a lucky block! He guess right!”

  “No, guys,” I said, feeling a little frantic. “It was like I could move at super speed or something.”

  Sarah and Zack looked at each other. “Okay…” Sarah said. “I’m up!”

  She ran to the ball and kicked it just above my head. Again, the ball slowed down and the tingling feeling returned. This can’t be happening! I thought. I casually reached up to the ball and caught it. It didn’t even sting my hands. All I could feel was power… sheer power!

  Sarah huffed. “Nice catch.”

  “Whoa,” I said to myself while looking up at the ball. The tingling feeling died down again. What was going on?

  I tossed the ball to Zack and he set up to kick. I took a deep breath, trying to compute what had just happened. Before I had the chance, Zack kicked the ball. It went way too high, far above the goal. The power surge returned. The ball flew slowly, high above my head. Out of reflex, I jumped to catch the ball even though I knew it was far out of reach, but when I jumped, I jumped!

  I caught the ball quickly, but then I kept going up! I looked down at the ground as I started to fall. I gasped. I was about thirty feet in the air! Higher than my house! I plummeted to the ground and landed comfortably on my feet. No pain at all. Just that tingling feeling that started to die down again. I looked up at Zack and Sarah. Their jaws hit the ground, looking absolutely stunned. And I felt as surprised as they looked.

  “Whoa…” was I could say.

  Chapter 9

  Ray

  My fist went all the way through the tree, bark and wood went flying in every direction. I fell forward, off balance. The tree creaked, and then thundered to the ground, crushing a parked car on the side of the road. The sound was terrible, awful!

  I knelt next to the newly formed stump, my eyes wide.

  I couldn’t move. I was frozen in disbelief. What had just happened?

  The stump was on fire, small flames dancing around it. So was a part of the tree. Had the tree been struck by lightning?

  I looked at my fist. Not a scratch. No pain. But it was bright red, as if it were about to spontaneously combust. There was a strange burning underneath my skin, throughout my whole body—like when your foot falls asleep, but instead of a painful and annoying feeling, it felt invigorating.

  Yes, I had just punched a tree down with my bare hand. That was impossible! And it was a big tree! Maybe 30 feet tall with a wide trunk!

  I stood up and checked the crushed car. Fortunately, nobody was inside when the tree came down on it. I heard a door open nearby. A large lady walked out of her house next to the street, wearing sweats. She looked at the crushed car and shrieked, “My car!” Then she saw me standing next to the stump. She looked confused at first, and then infuriated. “What did you do?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. What would I say? Sorry, but I punched your tree down? Would she expect me to pay for the car? How did this even happen? I shouldn’t be in trouble! I had no idea the tree would fall down like that! I just touched it! Without a word to the lady, I turned and ran.

  Something strange happened the moment I started to run. The burning under my skin ignited, as if a small candle had turned into an uncontrolled forest fire. It seemed like I had tapped into some unknown power within me. The feeling didn’t hurt, it felt great, and terrifying. The moment I felt it, everything around me slowed down—like slow-motion. The leaves stopped blowing in the wind. A car in the distance seemed to stop, but I could tell it was still moving slowly. And I was running fast. Really fast!

  My legs pumped faster than humanly possible. Wind instantly slammed into me, as if I’d stuck my head out of an airplane. Before I actually realized what was happening, I was already at my house. I lost balance and rolled into my back yard, a cloud of dust following me. I started panicking. I couldn’t catch my breath. WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO ME?

  I couldn’t be thinking straight. Something had to be wrong with me. I remembered running every step of the way home, about a 200-yard run. But it felt like I’d run that distance in less than a second! That’s impossible!

  I sat down in a lawn chair, about to pass out. My breaths were short, I was shaking.

  After a moment of sitting there, the burning feeling in my stomach died down into nothing. I started breathing normally again. My head cleared up, but I still couldn’t wrap my mind around what’d just happened.

  Somehow, I’d punched a tree in half and started it on fire. And then I’d run a 200-yard sprint in less than a second. That couldn’t be! I must be hallucinating or something! I’m going crazy!

  Did that lady recognize me? Would she call the cops on me? How am I supposed to explain what happened? No one would believe me! I shoved my head into my hands.

  After a long moment, I raised my head and I looked at my hands. They weren’t red anymore. I closed my eyes and concentrated, searching for the burning feeling I’d felt earlier. It was there, in my gut, dormant, but there. I thought about punching the tree again, and the burning returned. “Whoa,” I said out loud. The inner fire spread under my skin, down my legs, my arms, and through my head. It felt like pure energy surging through me. I felt powerful, invincible. My hands didn’t change color like they had before, but they felt stronger. How strong? I wondered.

  I walked over to our pool and spotted a huge boulder at the pool’s corner. It had to weigh several hundred pounds. It was propped up by other decorative boulders in a perfect position for me to get my hands underneath it. I took a deep breath. Moment of truth, I thought. I bent down, grabbed a hold of the boulder, and lifted.

  The fire within me burned stronger, and I easily lifted the boulder off the ground and above my head. Dirt from the bottom of the boulder fell down around me. I could tell that the boulder was heavy because I had to keep it centered above me, but it honestly felt as heavy as a bowling ball. I was strong. Really strong! This was crazy! I dropped the boulder back in place with a loud crunch.

  I looked at my hands in front of me, the burning sensation dying down. I couldn’t believe it. This was freaky…. and it was pretty cool. What could I do with this power? I thought. How did I get it?

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the red stone I’d found last night in the crater. It wasn’t glowing like it did last night. Nothing seemed peculiar about it, except for its brownish red color and smooth texture. The rock seemed to be the only logical explanation for what’d happened to me. I think it gave me superpowers.

  Chapter 10

  Michael

  “Wha—” Zack stuttered. “What was that?”

  My mind was racing as I sat on the grass in my backyard. “I… I don’t know.”

  “Michael,” Sarah said with a shocked expression. “You just jumped higher than our house…”

  “No, that’s impossible,” I said in disbelief. “No one in the world can jump that high!”

  “But, you did!” Zack stated. “We all saw the same thing, right?”

  Sarah and I didn’t answer. We remained silent while trying to wrap our minds around the impossible. What I’d done was impossible. The tingling feeling and power I felt were impossible. Superpowers only existed in the movies, didn’t they? But, this was real life. Super speed and super jumps shouldn’t be real! “What’s wrong with me?”

  “Wrong with you?” Zack said. “Michael… you’ve got powers! Like superhuman powers! This is so cool!” He paced back and forth, ecstatic. “You know what this means? You could be a superhero! Fight bad guys, save the day, just like in the comic books and movies.”

  He paused, formulating an idea. “I could be your sidekick! And Sarah… we could be your team! We will look for all the bad guys, we’ll communicate with you through ear pieces, and we’ll ge
t an underground lair—”

  “Whoa, Zack!” Sarah interrupted. “Slow down! Give Michael a moment to breathe first!”

  Zack stopped and looked down at me. I still sat there on the grass, unaffected by Zack’s enthusiasm, just trying to take it all in. I had… powers. Superhuman abilities. What would that mean?

  Sarah knelt down next to me. “Do you know how you got these powers, Michael?”

  I shook my head.

  “Has anything out of the ordinary happened to you?”

  “No. Everything has been normal.” I furrowed my eyebrows. “Except for last night when I…” My wheels started turning. Last night I was zapped by the glowing meteorite, the now-non-glowing, blue stone hidden in my bedroom. Did the stone do something to me? Give me superpowers?

  “When you what?” Sarah asked. “What happened last night?”

  I hesitated to answer, trying to decide if I should tell Sarah and Zack. Mr. Johnson told me not to tell anyone about the stone. Was that because he knew it would give me powers? How would he know that? Why didn’t he tell me?

  “Did something happen during your date last night?” Sarah asked.

  I stood up, ignoring her, and started heading to the house.

  “Does this have to do with the blue rock in your dresser?”

  I stopped in my tracks, and turned back at her. “How do you know about the stone?”

  She stood up too. “I saw you trying to hide it this morning, remember? What’s so special about that rock? And why are you trying to keep it a secret?”

  I groaned and ran my hands through my hair. “I… I don’t even know!”

  “Well there’s no use in hiding it now. I saw the rock, and I’m assuming it has something to do with your crazy jumping ability. Am I right?”

  “I think so,” I said. That secret didn’t last long, I thought. I decided to tell Zack and Sarah about the meteor shower and how Angela and I found the glowing blue stone that zapped me. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows trying to put the pieces together. Zack hung on to my every word.