The Super 4 : Dark Death (15 page)

“
You know why!” He responded. “Kid
just got here and in a day he’ll be whisked away.”

“
True,” I said, “But why do you
have to be so mean about it?”

“
Because,” He said, turning
around. “Kids like him, they live a happy life full of adoring
parents and they get anything they want. Kids like me stay in
places like this until we’re finally kicked out on the street. It’s
not fair.”

“
Wait. I don’t
mean to be nosy but...well...how
did
you land in
here?”

Sanjit froze and for awhile I didn’t think
he’d respond. Then he said, “My Mom was a scientist. She wanted to
help a lot of people. But one of her experiments went wrong and she
died in a fire. Dad and I escaped, but she didn’t. My dad’s been
bitter ever since.

“
He got depressed, started
drinking, then he beat me. With a belt. Over and over. Until once
he went to far. I phoned the police, but by the time they got there
he was gone. They found him a few weeks later in the woods. All
torn up and bloody. Bears. I’ve been here ever since.”

“
When? How long ago was
that?”

“
Six years.”

“
Wow.” I gasped. A six year old
kid dealing with that kind of stuff. I involuntarily shuddered.
“I’m so sorry.”

“
It’s fine.” Sanjit actually
looked amused.

“
What?” I asked.

“
I was lying.”

“
WHAT!?”

“
None of that stuff really
happened! I was found on the doorstep in a box with Sanjit written
on it. None of those things really happened!”

“
Grrrr!” Sanjit laughed and
skipped away. I swung at him and missed. I was going to try again
when I noticed my rumbling stomach. So with one more frustrated
growl, I walked down to the kitchen to make myself a bacon
sandwich.

Harrison

XXI

“A-CHOOO!” I
sneezed. I wiped my nose with a tissue. I was currently surrounded
in tissues. My bin was full as was my nose. I had had to stay home
from school, so I was watching
Total
Wipeout!
on my laptop. I was now on Season
4 Episode 3. I was watching some celebrities trying to avoid
getting hit on the sucker punch. I saw a guy Dad knew getting
punched right in between the legs! I had got to mention that next
time I saw him! My laughter soon turned into a ginormous cough. I
blew my nose on the tissue and added it to my tissue
wall.

A knock came on my door.
“Harrison?”

“Yeah, mum?”

She opened the door. “I have some chicken soup
for you.”

“Thanks!”

She placed a steaming bowl of spicy chicken
soup next to me.

I picked up a
spoon and blew on the soup. I swallowed the burning soup. The
spices reinvigorated me. “H
ooot!
” I complained, Waving my hand
in front of my mouth. My powers made me impervious to actual
flames, but heated liquids were beyond them.

“
Blow on it.” Mum
advised.

“
I did!” I protested.

Mum stood up. “Well, call me when you’ve
finished!”

“
Okay!” I replied, my eyes fixed
on the screen. Mum shook her head and exited my room.

I laughed as I watched dad’s friend attempt to
succeed in the bouncing balls challenge. Then I went into another
coughing fit. I spooned some of the soup into my mouth.

Once again the spices reawoke my senses as it
passed down my throat. I continuously spooned the soup in my mouth.
The soup was soon gone.

I absentmindedly pushed the bowl of soup away
and scooted closer to my laptop. Round 2! Dad’s friend didn’t make
it.

I was watching a person attempt to cross over
the next challenge, when my phone vibrated. It was a text from
Jake:

Jake: Hey. Hows it going?

Me: Bad. my cold is really
annoying!

Jake: srry. well u didnt miss much. schools is
a boring as ever!

Me: Haha!

Jake: What u doing l8r?

Me: Um. nothing

Jake: cool. if ur feeling bettr meet me at
HQ.

Me: k

Jake: cool. c ya ther.

Me: Bye

Jake: bye

I gave my nose a final blow and checked the
time: 12:12. I had to be ready to meet Jake in three hours.
Starting with a shower.

I dragged myself out of bed and over to the
bathroom. When I was done I engulfed myself in flames to evaporate
the water and kill any leftover germs. I stepped into some shorts
and a T-Shirt. I brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I was
ready.

The time was:
12:58. I settled back into bed and continued watching
Total Wipeout!
Two girls
and a guy made it to the finals.

It was half past one when the episode
finished. I yawned and stretched. The girl with the auburn hair won
the round, followed by the blond guy and third was the brunette. I
was rooting for the brunette.

I got out of bed
to help myself to some cereal. It might be the middle of the day,
but you can’t deny the awesome flavour of cereal. Especially
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
,
which was practically bursting with sugar. Even milk couldn’t clear
it of it’s delicious ‘cinnamon’ -I’m seventy percent sure that it’s
just plain sugar!

I had completed
three bowls of
Cinnamon Toast
Crunch,
and I was well into my fourth,
when Mum came down.

“
Harrison,” She lectured, “How
many times have I told you, don’t stuff your face with that
sugar!”

“
A few.” I said, between
mouthfuls. “It’s just too delicious mum! Try it!”

She shook her head and walked over to the
bowl. At first i thought she was actually gonna try it. But no, she
confiscated my bowl of sugar.

“
I’ll give that to the dogs!” She
announced.

I groaned, “But mum! Duke hates cinnamon!” I
informed her. “Remember? Last time he threw up!”

“
Then I’ll feed it to
Yoncé!”

“
Urgh!” You see Duke was this huge
golden retriever I got when I was five. I named him. But then last
year Tessa got this small Swedish Vallhund. True it was cute, but
Yoncé? I mean come on! The dog was male! “All right! What time is
it?”

She checked her phone. “Two
twenty.”

“
Can I go to my tree house in an
hour?” I asked, innocently.

“
Sure.”

“
Cool!”

Mum walked off with the bowl of sugar. I
sighed unhappily. Then I got a plastic cup, poured some of the
cereal in it, got a spoon and ran all the way to my room. I avoided
the elevator: it would make me a sitting duck.

I started
another episode of
Total
Wipeout!.

I checked the time. 3:28. I was a little
early. School wouldn’t end for another two minutes. I
sneezed.

I flew over the wall and inspected my previous
handiwork. Everything looked fine. I made a couple fireballs for
fun and walked around the perimeter of the wall. There wasn’t
anything wrong, so I went into HQ and grabbed a soda. It was 3:30.
Jake would be here in about ten seconds.

I was wrong. He got here in six
seconds.

“
Hi J-” I was interrupted by his
slamming into the opposite wall.

Stifling a laugh, I flew over. “Jake? Are you
all right?”

Jake looked up at me with blank eyes. “Dark.
So dark! Evil! Evil!! Dar-” He looked me over, “Who are
you?”

“
Oh no.” I whispered. Jake
continued his madman ravings.

Dark. Evil. The Shadow. This was bad. No, this
was absolutely terrible!

Jake

XXII

Dark. It was so dark! I- I couldn’t see.
Nothing! It was dark. So, so dark! And, his evil ways. It cloaked
me and snatched at me and wouldn’t let me go. It was evil. So, so
evil! Evil and dark! Yes, very dark! And it was cold. It was the
opposite of- of-. I forgot who it was. But it was the opposite of
that person. Yes, yes, the Dark Cold Evil One, so different from
the Light Warm Nice One. So, so different.

Then this boy, this light brown boy with dark
hair and eyes came up to me and said: “Jake? Are you alright?” He
made no sense. Who was Jake? Was it me? He was looking at me when
he said it...So...maybe I was Jake?

My thoughts jumbled but three kept coming
back: Dark, Cold, Evil. Those three despicable words. Yet they made
the Evil Ones life story. He was cold and dark and evil. No life
lay beneath his dark eyes, no mercy, no kindness.

It was horrible.

The boy kept on asking me questions. “Do you
know who I am?” He asked.

I shook my head. He had a worried look on his
face. I wondered if I did something wrong. “Who are you?” I asked
again.

“Harrison,” The boy responded, “I’m your best
friend.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know this boy. He
was about to say something when a girl with sun hair and sea eyes
came. Next to her stood a boy with gold eyes and black hair. Then
the boy- Harrison sneezed. The girl spoke.

“What’s up?” She asked. She too acted as if
she knew me.

“Jake...he...he…” Harrison said.

“Well?” Sun Girl asked, “What is
it?”

“He...He has amnesia!” The last three words
came out in a rush. Amnesia? Wasn’t that forgetting stuff? But...I
still remember everything… right?

The gold boy and Sun Girl both gasped. Sun
Girl's hands flew to her mouth. She shook her head in disbelief.
“Jake?”

I looked around.
Maybe their was someone else called Jake. No one else was there. I
pointed to myself as if to say,
me?
She nodded and shook her head at the same time.
There were tears in her eyes. A part of me wanted to comfort her
but the other part said that I didn’t know her. She could be
another Dark One. Except… She didn’t look very dark. And she didn’t
have wavy, black tentacles like the other one. My brain fought
while Harrison, Sun Girl and gold boy fought.

“What should we do?” asked Sun Girl, with
tears in her eyes.

“Maybe we should go to the hospital?”
suggested Harrison, thoughtfully.

“Idiot!” shouted gold boy, furiously. “How’d
you explain this?” He gestured at me. I laughed. His frustration
was amusing.

I guess that was the wrong thing to do, as the
others looked weirdly at me. I covered my face and giggled. I
expected the others to laugh too, but instead they continued their
weird looks. I guessed they were trying to be humorous. So I
laughed. They shook their heads.

“Well,” Harrison said, still looking at me
funny. He sneezed. “What do you suggest then, oh smart
guy?”

Gold boy thought but came up with nothing. “I
guess we’ll take him to hospital,” Harrison smiled widely, “But
with what excuse?”

“Easy, fighting.” piped in Sun
Girl.

“Yeah, but fighting who?” asked Darryl. They
looked confused so I said,

“Dark One?”

Harrison and Sun Girl exchanged looks. I guess
they knew who the Dark One was and they didn’t like it one bit.
Gold boy looked confused. “What’s going on?” He asked.

“We’ll tell you about it later.” Sun Girl
said, “Jake’s our primary concern now.”

Pleased by their praise, I smiled widely and
ugly, I burst out laughing at their disgusted faces. These people
were very funny! Gold boy shook his head. “Let’s just say he ran
into a wall. I mean that is what happened.”

They looked at me then nodded their heads in
agreement. “Sure.” said Sun Girl.

“It’s the best we got.” agreed
Harrison.

“But how do we get him there?” asked Sun
Girl.

“Well,” admitted gold boy, “I’ve been working
on an invisible hoverboard… and it’s pretty much ready… so…
“

“YES!” yelled Harrison, pumping his fist in
the air excitedly. “Yes, yes, yes!!!”

Gold boy smiled. “Way to go Darryl!” said Sun
Girl. I guess gold boy had a name; Darryl.

“Thanks Carly.” Darryl replied. And now Sun
Girl was Carly. The name held some affection in my brain, but I
couldn’t understand why. Actually I could: her beautiful blond,
shining hair and those intelligent, big, curious blue eyes, I could
understand the affection her name held.

Darryl went to get his machine and left
Harrison and Carly to ‘guard’ me. Instead of looking at them, I
listened to a field mouse running towards it’s burrow. I looked at
the sky. A beautiful eagle, with talons ready to kill, flew
overhead. I looked away and pretended not to hear the squeal that
was slowly dying on the mouse’s mouth.