Cosmic Chapter 6

Connor deals with his future plans

Getting back was a little easier than we originally projected. A quick trip to gas station, a few lucky turns, some mindless machine walking, and we were back facing my driveway. We said little during our walk back. It was weird for Alex to not talk for once. We stopped to look down the driveway we arrived at. My driveway. It was a little sense of accomplishment. We knew each other was proud of today’s turnout. It had been a perfectly fantastic day hadn’t it? Without speaking we took the first step on my driveway as one.

We sauntered down my driveway with a newfound bounce in our steps. It’s something about a familiar place I suppose.

Alex and I ended up just going into my house instead of the madhouse. As we entered the front door we had a view of Blake and my mom talking in the kitchen.

“So they just went into town for a little bit? Which town?”

“Ahh, I can’t really say Mrs. Winter.”

Alex and Blake both called my mom “Mrs. Winter” but for two totally different reasons. Blake did it because that’s just Blake, respectful, reserved and the like. Alex did it to be patronizing. He called her “mom two” sometimes. But since he was my good friend he just thought it was funny in a cheesy way. Like Mrs. Cleaver or something. He called her that too sometimes.

“Well they better be back soon or I’m gonna bust Connor in his nuts.”

Oh yeah, that was my mom too. She was the “cool mom.” She said things that everyone thought were so cool. I always heard, “woah man, your mom is awesome, my mom would never say that!”

Yeah that was her, goofy sometimes, just her other times.

“Haha, nice.” Blake laughed.

I spoke up so this whole “nut busting” thing didn’t become a reality.

“Ahem, I’m here, Alex is too.”

My mom gave me a “You better have been behaved look”

 I swear moms have like at least two hundred different looks they can give, and it’s always so uncannily transparent with what they mean with them. Like no one has ever gotten a look from their mom and been like, “Hmm, I wonder what she means by that.”

She moved her hand toward my hair like she was gonna touch it, but no, she quickly jerked her plastic cooking spoon into my balls.

I collapsed, “What the f**k mom?”

“Watch the language.” She curtly replied

“F**k you.”

She laughed and switched plastic cooking spoons to mix her macaroni or whatever.

I lay on the ground for approximately two hours, or maybe forty seconds. Time is sucked into a vortex when you’ve been hit in the nads. Ask anyone, it’s true.

As soon as I was able to stand I shuffled off to my room with the guys. Blake decided he was going to get back at me.

“Hey Connor, your mom was staring at my a*s”

“Shut up man. We’re done with that.”

“Whatever, she was though.”

I shrugged him off, Blake never understood how messing with your friends worked. It seemed lately that Alex had been more of my friend then him, and that was my fault. I thought I should include him more. So why not almost give him a heart attack?

“Blake, guess what.”

“What?”

“I saved a lady today with my powers. No lie.”

“Where? Tell me about it.”

“Alex you saw it too right?”  He saw what I was doing,

“Yep he saved her from a knife wielding crazy f**k.”

“Nice man! That’s what you should be doing with that stuff.”

“Thanks Blake.” I replied then I smiled and delivered the venom, “She asked for my name too, I said my name was Blake Greene.”

He just looked at me for a second and then turned white when he fully processed what I said.

“Why the f**k would you do something like that?” He whispered softly.

His voice was fragile, like it was his only barrier against tears. He continued in that little mouse voice,

“That means they think I did it?”

His breathing increased and he started to clutch his chest where his heart was.

“Man, I’m gonna go to a lab man.”

The tears started and his voice took on a new edge, the kind that a crying person has, hard to explain.

“Oh god, why would you do this to me? Man I’m no hero, what if they want me to save someone? I can’t save people, I don’t have powers!”

He looked at me when he said “powers” he spewed that word with fury. He paced up and down the hall leading to my room, raking his fingers through his hair. He wrung his hands like an old lady applying lotion. He was beginning to mumble.

I saw that he was on the edge of hysteria. I couldn’t let him totally lose his s**t, so I ended it.

“Blake! Blake! Calm down! I’m joking, I didn’t say your name. I said Alex’s!”

He stopped his crazy pattern of insanity and viewed me as if I was into some dense fog and he couldn’t quit make me out.

“What?”

“Yeah dude, I said Alex’s name.”

He finally went back to normal Blake, shrugging off a weight.

“You had me for a second.”

I kind of felt bad so I just smiled and patted him on that back, I guided Blake into my room with Alex following closely behind.

“Really though Connor, tell me about saving that woman.”

“It was awesome Blake. I felt like I was someone else, I felt like a good soul.”

“What did you do?” Blake pressed

“Well when Alex told me to do something, I started running really fast at the man with the knife.”

“What was he doing with the knife?”

“What do you think retard? Anyway, I stopped running and just flew at him. I flew into him and knocked him on the ground.”

Blake was in awe, “You did that?”

“Yeah, like I said, it was like I was another person.”

“I basically had her call the police and then I left.”

“Wow Connor.” He turned and looked around, “Do you think you could do it again?”

“Yeah I suppose I could, if someone needed it.”

I thought about what he was asking. Blake confirmed what I was thinking,

“Connor, maybe like, you could be a superhero.”

“Dude I’m 16. There is no way I could fit that into my life.”

Alex interjected, “Well that’s not really true Connor. After school? During the summer?” He gave me a look like I was stupid, “Honestly Connor, that’s just a silly thing to say.”

“Alright, alright. It’s still my choice, and maybe I just don’t want to.” I shrugged at their exasperated faces. “It’s too much work. And there is so much respon-“

Blake cut me off, “ No, no no no Connor. You have superpowers okay? That is so selfish and stubborn of you. You have to stand up for people. You have the ability to stop injustice and evil, whatever may plague society. And you just want to…not?”

“Blake, that’s not fair, I never asked f-“

Then Alex cut me off, I couldn’t get a word in.

“No Connor, Blake is right. Keeping those powers to yourself without helping anyone out would be wrong.”

I was at a loss for words. They were right, I was being selfish.

“But what about my identity? I can’t have people know who I am.”

Alex gave me his best “wtf” face,

“Are you f*****g retarded Connor? Have you read a comic book before? A costume, you need a costume.”

“Oh yeah Alex? Where I am I gonna get one of those?”

We all just kind of looked around my room at that point. We didn’t know how I could get a costume. Plus it was a fanciful idea to begin with. But then Blake surprised us all,

“Well just wear a mask then. Any mask would do. Ski mask, hockey mask, pantyhose?”

I was going reply snidely to Blake, but It made sense. And I remembered something.

Hockey mask…

I quickly ran out of my room, I blasted down the stairs and past my mother. I heard the thumping of two other running feet.

“Connor! What are you doing?”

I didn’t care to reply, I just tore open my basement door. I dashed down the stairs, despite my recent problems with dashing and stairs, I made it to the concrete floor unhindered. I jogged over to the old trunk that sits by our old stuff room. I bent down and flipped open the lid of the chest and dug through it.

Where is it? C’mon. I know it’s in here.

I thought to myself. Old picture, old board game, old shorts. There! It was under an old leather jacket. I pulled it out and examined it.

“Connor! Tell us what you’re doing before you” he stopped, “Oh my god Connor, that’s perfect!”

I turned to look at Alex and then back at the old wooden hockey mask. It had two eye holes and holes along the mouth for breathing. On the forehead of the mask, scrawled in chipping paint, read, “Cosmic Defender.”

 

Author's Note

So the quality and length are lower, sorry about that. I'm working on some other things.