by Wes Grant
Neil said, “Sound familiar?”
Nick replied, “It can’t be him, he’s locked up. There has to be another reason.” Neil said, “You know what, maybe you’re right . . . I hear spontaneous combustion is coming back in. Or better yet I bet the principal used too much Jerry Curl Juice, an old microphone that sparked, and voila, principal well done.”
Nick said, “Shut up Neil. I’m not saying it’s normal. I’m just saying maybe it’s not him, maybe it’s someone different.” Von said laughing, “Ain’t it illegal to have the same powers as someone else.”
Nick replied, “Tell that to Crank.”
Neil responded, “Oh yeah, I forgot about him. Man, he really kicked your butt the first time ya’ll met.” Nick said, “Any ways, back to the death. I gotta figure out a way to check out that school . . . Von, do you think you could hack me into the school system as a new student?”
Von said, “Dude, like 21 Jump Street.”
Nick replied, “Yea, I guess, like 21 Jump Street.”
Von chuckled and replied, “Why don’t you ask me to do something hard?” Neil said, “OK, I get that you could still pass for a seventeen - year-old boy when you shave your peach fuzz, but . . . Don’t you work?”
Nick replied, “It’s OK, I’ve got holiday hours saved up.” Neil shook his head and said, “I don’t know how you still have a job. You call out every month to heal from injuries doing your superhero side gig.”
Nick replied, “First off, I don’t call out every month. It’s more like every other month. And I keep my job cause I’m that damn good.”
Neil replied, “Whatever you say man. Let's get you Undercover Brother.”
Nick replied, “I love that movie.”
NEXT SCENE The next week, Nick went to Lyndhurst High dressed like a regular kid. He decided to go by one of his middle names. So he decided to call himself Wes. Nick thought to himself, if there was someone with powers here, he’d be able to sense it. All he had to do was not bring any attention to himself. In his first class, two girls slipped him their numbers. Nick thought to himself, “Oh god, I feel so dirty.”
Nick’s plan was to go to each class, ask to go to the bathroom, and walk in the hall by each classroom to see if he would sense a Breaker nearby. Halfway through class he asked to go, and the teacher allowed him.
Meanwhile in gym, Larry was sitting off to the side on the bleachers while everyone else was doing gym activities. Jeff was sick, so he didn’t go to school that Monday. Today’s activity was climbing the ropes. Todd, Jeff’s friend, was up and he was very confident.
He told the coach, “Don’t worry, I got this. Keep the timer running ’cause I think I’m gonna beat the record today.” The coach said, “OK, ready . . . go!” Todd shot up the rope and touched the top. The coach said, “You did it, a new record.” Todd showed off and held himself on the rope with one hand and waved to everyone with the other. Larry pointed his finger at the top of the rope and focused. While Todd was waving, the rope started to smoke. He was to busy showboating to notice the smoke. When he saw the smoke and frantically tried to grab the rope and climb down. Unfortunately it was too late and the rope broke having Todd plummet to the ground, breaking his neck. Everyone screamed, and some gathered around Todd. The coach told everyone to back up. He checked Todd’s pulse and said he’s dead.
Nick heard the screams and ran to the gym. He saw the dead kid on the floor and sensed a Breaker nearby. Nick couldn’t tell who it was, with the gym filled with kids and the fact that other kids from other classes started to come in to see what happened. Larry sneaked out in all the commotion.
The first day was a bust for Nick. The only good thing that came out of the day was he now knew for sure that there was a Breaker there and he had to stop them before they killed someone else. He had to figure out the pattern between the two deaths.
The next day Nick went back to the school. He began asking everyone if they knew the kid that died. Jeff had come back to school that day and was met with the shocking news that one of his best friends had died. The whole day was pretty hard for him and his friend Mike.
Meanwhile Nick was asking questions about anybody that was there when Todd fell or if anybody knew him well. In one of his classes, he ran into a girl a dark sarcastic girl named Jessica. Jessica told him the little she knew about him. Nick didn’t want to give away his suspicion that someone was killing these kids, so he kept the questions very vague. He asked what kind of kid he was and if he was well liked. He went on the ask other random kids about Todd.
It was the end of the day and Nick was leaving the school with just a little more info than yesterday. Meanwhile after school, Mike and Jeff was at football practice. The whole team was taking Todd’s lost hard but continued practice. Mike was a very superstitious person, so the practice before every game, he takes a shower at the third stall from the wall because that’s his lucky number. Mike always took this shower by himself in the locker room, but this time he wasn’t alone. Mike turned on the shower and started to clean up. Larry was waiting in the locker room, and he knew the stall Mike always used, so he tampered with it so it couldn’t turn off. Larry waited until Mike was washing his hair and had soap on his face before he started to use his powers to super-heat the water pouring on Mike. At first it was a little hot, and Mike could take it, but it started getting too hot to take. He tried to turn off the water, but it wouldn’t shut off. With soap on his face he frantically fumbled around trying to make his way out but Larry hit him with a burst of energy sending him flying back into the pouring water. He screamed out in pain but the team were to busy and loud to hear the cries from the field. He started going into convulsions from the boiling water showering all over his body. He tried to crawl away as his body was twitching and going into shock from the boiling hot water. All over his body, blisters were forming, but every stall he crawled under the water was burning. The water washed the soap from his eyes and as he opened them he saw a blurry vision. Mike lying on the shower floor saw a figure standing at the entrance to the shower stalls. As the figure got closer he saw it was Larry. He muddled the words, “He...el..p mmmm...e…” Larry reached out his hand and turned it slowly as he heated Mike up to finish him off. His body still quivering from the shock,Mike’s eyes rolled back and he died as Larry turned his hand into a fist.
After Mike was dead, Larry sneaked out the locker room and tried to get out of there quick, but in the midst of getting away he went around the corner and bumped into Jeff.
Jeff said, “Whoa queer, watch where you’re going.” and pushed him down. Larry looked at him rage in his eyes and tried to go around Jeff, but Jeff stepped in front of him and said, “What’s the rush? Is there a gay parade you have to get to. And wait a minute, ain’t you suspended still.”
Larry looked at him and said in a low sinister voice, “You really don’t want to push me.” Jeff said, “Oh really. Well your little body guard ain't here to save you now.” Then the rest of the football team surrounded Larry.
Larry looked around slowly then started balling up his fist to release his powers to burn them all.
Jeff said, “What you gonna do queer, scream like a girl and run?” Larry was about to release his power when the coach called out to the boys and said “If you guys have enough energy to mess around with that little runt, you have enough energy to do a couple more laps, right?”
Everybody backed away that instant, but Jeff, he walked by and said, “You lucked out this time.” Larry mumbled, “You’ve got it backwards.”
Je ff said, “What you say?” The coach then said to get to the showers, and Jeff turned around and went to the locker with his teammates. When Larry got to the street, he looked back and saw some of the kids ran out of the locker room to get the coach. The kids talked to the coach for a second; then the coach ran to the locker room. Larry smiled and walked off.
When Larry got home, he saw Jessica in front of his house. Jessica asked Larry where he had been.
L
arry said in a sinister way, “Just taking care of a couple of loose ends,” as he opened the door to his house.
Jessica said, confused, “What does that even mean?” Larry replied, “Don’t worry about it,” as they walked to his room.
Jessica asked, “What’s going on with you? Ever since that incident at school, you’ve been acting different.”
Larry said, “Why, ’cause I’m happy for once.” Jess said, “Yeah, that’s the thing. You hate the world. I mean I don’t have a problem with you being happy. It’s just that it’s out of nowhere, especially after what happened. I mean I would be messed up for a while.”
Larry said, “Can’t people change a little? Geez. Get off my back. You want something to eat.” While he’s saying that, Jessica saw a hoodie in his room that looked familiar. She asked, “Since when do you wear hoodies?”
Larry replied, “It’s my dad’s.”
Jessica asked, “Yeah, but why is it in your room?”
Larry said, “What’s with the twenty-one questions? Do you want something to eat or not?”
Jessica replied, “No, I’m good. I gotta get home to do some chores. I’ll take a rain check.”
Thinking she was lying and probably going to see Jeff Larry blurted out, “Whatever, if you wanna go just go.” Jessica replied, “What’s that supposed to mean?” Larry replied, “Nothing. I’m tired anyways.”
Jessica went to the door and shook her head. As she turned the door knob she said, “You’re getting weirder and weirder by the minute. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” Then she closed the door behind her.
NEXT SCENE The next day when Nick got to school, it was all a buzz about Mike’s death and how unusual it was. Nick was in the class with Jessica again. He waited until the end of class to ask her if she knew the guy Mike that died yesterday. She told him yeah he was the friend of Todd that died the day before.
Nick asked Jessica, “Doesn’t it seem strange two best friends died one after another? Just like it was planned or something.” Jessica said, “That sound crazy. Let me give you a little advice, you’re cute and all, but if your small talk is about craziness conspiracies on death, it won’t matter how cute you are.”
Nick replied, “OK, last question then. Do you know if they were best friends with someone else or maybe any reason why someone would want them gone?” Just then there was a big commotion in the hall. Nick and Jessica ran out the classroom to see what was going on. When they got to the center of the commotion, it was Jeff confronting Larry. Nick instantly sensed a Breaker.
Nick asked Jessica who were the two about to fight. She told him the two kids that died were Jeff’s best friends and Larry was the kid they picked on the most.
Jeff was yelling, “ WHAT DID YOU DO TO MIKE?! I know you did something, you were the only one around there!” He then pushed Larry against the locker. Nick jumped in between them and stopped it from escalating. At that moment he knew Larry was the Breaker. He pushed Larry away.
Larry yelled, “I don’t need your help.”
Nick said, “I know you don’t. I just don’t like seeing violence.” Jeff yelled, “Who the hell are you?!”
Nick said, “Me, I’m Wes, I’m new here.”
Jeffsaid, “Well Wes, get out of my way if you know what’s good for ya. This isn’t your problem. It’s between me and him.” Nick replied, “Sorry, but I have a thing against people picking on people smaller than them.”
Jeff then stepped up to Nick stood face-to-face and said, “Your smaller than me. Maybe I should pick on you.” Nick replied, “You could try, but I really don’t want to embarrass you.” Jeff stepped a little closer. They were so close that their noses were almost touching, but Nick didn’t flinch. Jeff stepped back and said, “Ok, new guy wants to be touch.” He turned pretended to walk away. Nick turned for a brief moment to see if Larry was OK, when Jeff swung at him. Nick leaned out of the way.
He said, “Wow, a sucker punch. That’s how you was gonna take me out.” Jeff swung again and Nick just leaned back. Jeff swung over and over but Nick effortlessly dodged and sidestepped his attacks.
Meanwhile Larry was watching and getting angry. This was gonna be his big moment to take down Jeff in front of everyone and this new kid stole his glory. He bald up his fist and got angrier. Nick could sense the Larry’s power growing so he dodged under Jeff’s attack while at the same time tripping him. Everyone began to laugh. The way Jeff fell was also funny to Larry so he calmed down.
Jeff by this time was furious. He got up an ran at Nick. Nick grabbed him and pinned him against the lockers. He leaned over and whispered into Jeff’s ear, “Dude, I’m saving you life here. That kid Larry isn’t as weak as he looks. I think your friends found that out the hard way.”
Jeff replied quietly, “What do you mean.” Nick replied, “Just let him go for now. I don’t care about winning this fight, so throw me against the locker, but let him go for now, for everyone’s safety.”
Jeff grabbed Nick and pushed him off him. He ran at him and threw him against the locker. Nick put his hands up and said he’s done. Jeff held Nick against the lockers with one arm and pointed at him as he said, “You’re new here so I’ll let this one slide. But crossme again and you won’t be so lucky.” He then pointed to Larry and said, “This ain’t over between me and you queer.”
Nick turned towards Larry and said, “Are you OK?” He walked over and put his hand on Larry’s shoulder.
Larry moved his shoulder from underneath Nick’s hand and said, “I didn’t need your help.”
Jessica said, “The least you can do is said thanks.” Larry replied, “Why don’t you thank him since you two seem to be best friends? I didn’t need his help, I don’t need anyone’s help!” He then stormed off.
Jessica said, “Sorry, he’s always like that or at least he’s been like that the last couple of days.”
Nick said, “It’s OK, I know how it is to be picked on.” Nick then asked, “What was that kid’s name again?”
Jessica said, “That kid is my best friend Larry.” Nick replied, “Not the same Larry that was stuck in the stage.” She said, “Yup, by Jeff and his friends.” He said, “I understand why he might have a grudge on his shoulder.”
Jessica replied, “Yeah, he doesn’t really have any friends except me, and his parents are never home . . . but I’m a little worried about him, he’s been acting different.”
Nick asked, “Different, how?”
She said, “Never mind, it’s not important . . . Well, I gotta get to class and so should you. See ya.” She then headed off to class. Nick now knew the identity of the Breaker, but he was a little torn because even though he had to stop this kid, he felt bad for this kid and what these bullies put him through. Nick decided to watch Larry because if Jeff was the one that put him in the stage, there’s a chance that he’d be the next one to have a mysterious fatal accident.
After school, Larry didn’t wait for Jessica like he normally did, he just left for home, but he wasn’t alone. Jeff was following him. Larry walked until he got to the Lyndhurst municipal park fountains and stopped. Without turning, he said, “So you gonna come at me, or are you not so tough without your friends?”
Jeff stops and said, “What did you say?”
Larry turned around slowly and said, “Sorry, let me dumb it down for you. You not so tough without friends.”
Jeff said, “That’s it. I’m definitely kicking your butt now.” Larry smirked and said, “OK, tough guy. Let’s see what you’ve got.” Jeff started running toward Larry, but when he got ten feet from him he suddenly dropped to his knees and began to hold his chest.
Larry said, “What’s wrong? I don’t hear that big mouth of yours talking anymore.”
Jeff began to sweat profusely. He then muttered, “How the hell are you doing this?”
Larry said, “Why should I tell you? You’re way too stupid to comprehend it anyways.”
Jeff mumbled, “When I get up, I’m sooo kicking your butt.” L
arry laughed and said, “You just don’t get it. You have no chance right now. You are outclassed, outsmarted, and outpowered. How’s it feel to be the one powerless at the mercy of others.”
Jeff mumbled out, “Did you do this to Mike and Todd.” Larry replied, “Oh no, what I’m gonna do to you is allot worse than what I did to them. I want you to suffer just like you made me suffer all these years.” He then aimed at Jeff’s pants. Jeff grabbed his crotch and begged please don’t. Larry continued, “You think I don’t know about you and Jess.” A look of shock came about in Jeff’s eyes. “I’ll first make it so your junk is so burned they won’t be able to tell if you’re a boy or a girl. Then I’ll slowly burn your insides until you pop like a boiled egg in the microwave. Jeff tried to plead sorry and beg for mercy but Larry had made up his mind. Jeff was going to die today. Larry said, “Sorry not taking request right now, shut up and die.” He then began to focus on Jeff, and Jeff grabbed his chest and began to gasp for air. Just then a rod stabbed in the ground right in front of Larry, startling him and breaking his concentration. Larry jumped back away from the rod and looked around to see where it came from. Just then Spear jumped out from a tree and flipped to the ground.
Spear said, “I hate to interrupt your little playdate, but tough guy over there didn’t look like he was having fun,” as he walked up to his rod in the ground and pulled it out.
Larry yelled, “Stay out of this! Who the hell are you anyways?”
Spear said, “Sorry, I can’t do that, and if you really want to know, I’m Spear.” Then he put his rod on his back. Larry said, surprised, “Spear.”
Jeff, onhis knees, said, “I thought you’d be taller.”
Spear looked down at Jeff and said, “Hey tough guy, first tip, don’t point out negative things about the person saving your life.” Larry said, “What are you doing here?”
Jeff then said, “And don’t you usually come out at night?” Spear looked at Jeff and said, “You really don’t know when