Harrison
XVII
“Thank you very much!” I said, bowing. “Now anyways Carls, I didn’t save you last night. I was exhausted and fell asleep before everyone else. I’m really sorry!”
“It’s okay.” She told me.
I sat down in the living room for longer than necessary.
My brain was having the workout that it hadn’t had for longer than I could remember.
Wasn’t I the only flier in town?
Heck, wasn’t I the only flier in North America?
So who was this mysterious person?
Maybe I was sleepwalking. I thought. But I quickly dismissed the thought, as even if I had been sleepwalking I wouldn’t of been able to carry Carly to her room.
Or save her at all.
I walked to Jake’s house in silence, my brain spinning with possible thoughts.
Could Jake have bounced along on his force fields?
But then Carly would notice, after all his force fields are a light blue.
I walked up to Jake’s door without even looking up.
I was staring at the ground. Something I usually did when concentrating hard.
Jane opened the door.
“Hi Harrison.” She said, dryly. She no longer cared for my visits, as she had when I first became Jake’s best friend.
“JAKE!!” She yelled over her shoulder. With her excitement, gone too had her show of politeness. “HARRISON IS HERE FOR YOU!!!”
“COMING!!” He yelled back.
One of the reasons I liked Jake was his inability to treat me like royalty.
Suddenly Jake’s head popped into the doorway.
“Wow!” Jane said, taken aback from his sudden appearance. “Where’d you come from?”
“You know me.” He said smugly. “Quicker than lightning!”
“Dude!” I said, laughing. “The phrase is ‘quick as lightning!’ not quicker than!”
Jane and I- finding the whole scene hilarious- laughed our heads off.
“Pff.” He says, fuming. “I knew that! I was just testing your knowledge!”
“Right...” She says under her breath.
“Remember ‘Bullet’?” He asks, making a quick glance at me.
I realized the connection a few seconds later.
“Harrison?” He said. “You might want to come down to my room.”
“Sure…” I said uncertainly as he led me to his soundproof lair.
He sat me down on his bed, while pacing around anxiously around the room. No doubt thinking of how to explain.
“Jake.” I told him, getting straight to the point. “Would you kindly explain how Jane managed to find out about your powers?” I asked, with a great deal of difficulty. My anger was making it hard to keep my voice at a level tone.
It was also making me speak fancy talk.
“Well,” He began. “It happened like this..”
And then the whole truth was revealed.
How the crazy guy practically shoved a gun in his face: told.
How Jane came down to his room to look for a hairbrush: spoken.
How Jane had saw him use his powers and was told everything: That too, unfortunately, was said.
I felt like bashing his head into his neck.
An uncomfortable image of a headless Jake filled my mind.
“Look Harrison I’m really sorry!” He apologized. “But Jane saw me! And if I hadn’t explained everything people would probably come and experiment on me!” He sounded really worried and scared. “Then they would use lie detectors to find out about you guys!”
I thought carefully about what he said.
Darryl was usually the thinker, but unfortunately it was just the two of us.
“Does Jane know about Darryl, Carly and I?” I asked him.
“I might’ve mentioned it,” He said uncertainly. “But then again what difference would it of made?” he asked. “She would’ve figured it out eventually!”
I knew he was right.
“Well...if you’re sure we can trust her….then I guess it’s alright.” I admitted.
He nodded furtively.
“I trust her with my life!” He said over exaggerating again.
That was a good sign that he was over the whole anxiety thing.
“Well...I hope you placed your life in the right hands!” I told him. “Because otherwise we’ll all end up as lab rats in some dank laboratory in Antarctica or like some other really secluded place.”
Jake looked confused.
“Quiz time!” He said. “Define the definition of ‘secluded’!”
“It means...” I said, thinking of a fake definition that would fit into my sentence. “...It means laboratory!”
“Correct!” He exclaimed. “And your winner is….” Like a TV. host he did a drum roll. “...HARRISON WHITE!!”
I choked back a laugh as Jake looked at me with a smug look of satisfaction.
He was so dumb.
But then I remembered what I was there for.
“Jake,” I asked, as least suspiciously as possible. “What time did you go to bed last night?”
“Oh man!” He informed me. “I was so tired last night! I went to bed at like...eight o’clock!”
Carly would’ve been on Mt. Baker at midnight, so there was no way Jake could’ve rescued her.
“Oh...Okay,” I told him.
“Why’d you ask?” He asked me.
“No reason.” I replied.
I left his house ten minutes later, still no closer to figuring out this mystery.
Carly obviously hadn’t saved herself, nor had Jake or I.
The last person would be Darryl, but somehow I didn’t imagine him getting up at midnight to swing to the top of a mountain.
So the mystery continued.
I went over and over my theories in my head until I got to my room.
I sat down on my bed.
My phone rang and I picked it up.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hey Harrison! It’s Carly!” She sounded nervous, as if someone was watching her. “I remembered something else from last night.”
“What was it?” I asked, wondering where the conversation was going.
“Just before I lost consciousness, I felt a presence. Something that seemed to suck the light and warmth out of everything.”
“WHAT!” I said loudly, shocked to my core.
“It couldn’t be you,” She informed me. “You radiate light and heat. But this person was devoid of it.”
I couldn’t respond. My dry throat made it hard to talk.
I had an idea who this mysterious person might be.
“Do you have any clue as to who this person might be?” Carly asked.
“Nope! Not a clue!”
“Alright I’ll keep looking!”
“Oh and it wasn’t Jake either!” I remembered. “He went to bed at the same time as me.”
“That’s weird.” Carly said.
“Um. If you say so!” I told her.
“Bye.” She cut the call.
“Bye.” I spoke into the echoes of our conversation.
Talk about weird!
There was only one person in the town who was so completely devoid of light and warmth.
But what would he gain by saving Carly?
Perhaps he likes her?
What was his ulterior move in rescuing Carly?
I wish I knew what he wanted.
Why the Shadow wanted to save Carly’s life.
Jake
XVIII
The Super 4 : Dark Death Page 17