DT 03 "Showoff"

A Chapter by dw817

I walked down the hall to tell Dad there was a burglar when SOMEONE grabbed me and shoved a kerchief up my mouth. Well you know it, I BIT THEM. I bit them hard, I'll bet he'd need stitches afterwards.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE

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D O U B L E T R O U B L E
(When one is not enough ...)

© July 2016 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 3 - "A Wish Amiss"

* * *

This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

If I thought it was going to be difficult to hide these weird powers from my parents, I was mistaken !

Outside of using it again once or twice at school where no-one could see, I lied and told my folks that I lost the 'ability' and isn't it better I'm normal like that ?

My sister didn't believe me at all, of course there was very little she would give me credit on. Being 2nd born was no picnic for her. As I arrived before her, I still got all of the attention and interest almost as if she weren't there.

I know this wasn't fair for her. By why wouldn't she go postal on the parents instead of me ? I was still pretty young so I couldn't answer that.

As the days went on, my bravery grew and I started duplicating more and more items. That is until that one fatal day I was walking home from school and bought a paper-wrapped ice-cream from an ice cream truck that passed my way.

That in itself wasn't very surprising, but I thought it would be nice to give my sister one as I was only less than a block away so right up at the counter I duplicated it. Perhaps because I hadn't been caught at this for several days made me a little careless and it was clear the vendor of the ice cream truck saw what I did.

He wasn't frightened however. No, instead he pulled out a portable phone and started talking to someone on a speaker phone. I felt it important to leave the scene immediately but was curious to know what was happening.

Some of the words on the phone were, "You're sure ~~ You saw it ~~ Okay, try and keep him there ~~ We're on our way."

As mentioned from the start, I was only 10-years old and perhaps a little trusting. I started to back away. He certainly seemed friendly. Seeing I was watching him intently he waved me to approach.

Then he spoke and his voice was full of pride and amazement. "That was an amazing trick you did there. Do you think you could teach me to do that ?"

"No." I said, as he really was a complete stranger and I didn't want to talk to him.

"You don't know how it works ?" he asked.

"No." I said. Then quickly, "Look I got to go - bye !" and started running off top speed.

"Wait !" he called out. "Wait ! That's very special what you did ! Come back and I'll give you a gift card, free ice cream for every single day ! Wait, please !"

But I was already running. And I started out running smart too. Instead of straight home I skirted around the block and darted in and out of alleyways and people's back yards.

The ice cream truck engine roared to life and it was clear he was looking for me. But because I was in the back of people's houses and hiding and junk, he didn't see me.

I sat behind one empty dog house and ate my delicious ice cream. The one for my sister was melting. I had to get home fast if I still wanted to give it to her.

The ice cream truck suddenly turned and slowly went in the opposite direction I was traveling. Curious, I walked away. He was still going away from me, apparently having lost my trail. I got to my front door and the duplicated ice cream was all a melted mess.

Disgusted I threw it to the side of the porch, wiped my hands on my shirt, and walked in.

Inside everything was fine. Mom and Dad prepared a great dinner for me of Corn Dogs, spinach, and cream cheese bagels, my favorite ! I watched a few cartoons on cable TV and went to sleep.

Unknown to me the ice cream truck meandered around the city block well after 2 in the morning where everyone was asleep. Silently he shone a bright light from the front of his vehicle - looking for something.

Suddenly he stopped the truck. He went over to one of the houses and picked something off of the ground. Can you guess what it was ? Yeah, the paper left over from the melted ice cream I was gonna give my sister. But now he had evidence of where I lived.

* * *

The next day at school was better than the last. Anytime somebody bothered me I did the duplication thing and it scared them off, them thinking I was a witch or something. Eventually I was given a wide berth when walking down the halls.

One teacher called me in and asked me why the other students were afraid of me. Was I hurting them ? I said no ma'am. I'm just quiet, that's all. Keeping to myself.

The explanation seemed to satisfy her and she let me go.

Now I remembered that ice cream vendor getting really excited about giving me a lifetime pass for the treat but I had a bit of a brain and asked myself WHY would he do this ?

I didn't look especially cute, I wasn't a movie TV star or anything. I was still pondering this when I got home that night.

About midnight I finally fell asleep. I woke about 2am to get a drink of water when I looked through my bedroom shutters and saw a fancy vehicle in the driveway that looked like a combination of a limousine and a police car and a bunch of guys in business suits outside near it.

I started to walk down the hall to tell Dad there was a burglar when SOMEONE grabbed me and shoved a kerchief up my mouth. Well you know it, I BIT THEM. I bit them hard, I'll bet he'd need stitches the way I chomped down on him !

But there was something weird in the kerchief, a liquid and it made my head swim and I fell over dizzily away from him. He angrily reached to grab me again when finally someone else just brought his fist down hard on the top of my head. I blacked out after that.

As for Mom and Dad, they awoke in the morning to find the front door handle had been burned through with some kind of powerful acid and the police they called arrived to investigate seeing at least 3-people broke in our house the night before.

What they didn't understand was why they wanted me and not any other valuables from the house like our big TV or Mom's jewelry.

Dad kept the weird story of my duplicated Birthday cake to himself, but he knew at some point he would have to trust someone in authority and tell them the strange tale - and maybe that would help isolate who it was that kidnapped me.

Days passed and no ransom note was sent. Dad was convinced that the ability to duplicate items had not in fact vanished from me, and I was showing off somewhere and someone - someone interested in kids with special abilities like I had - saw me and made plans to kidnap me.

Mom cried a river and even my sister was sad I was gone. I suspect she missed teasing and torturing me. But right now I would be more than happy to have my sister beating the crap out of me rather then be where I was right now.

(to be continued ...)

END OF CHAPTER 3