The High Price

Alice looked at the man in awe. She couldn't believe that she had gotten this far, and was starting to get cold feet.

"Now, are we going to start this little interview, daughter?" Dr. Frost sneered.

"So," he continued, "Why lie? Why not just tell my gracious receptionist the truth? That you are a barely trained superhero coming for revenge on an evil nemesis that has powers three times the amount of your own?"

"Why don't you tell her that you mutate people? Why don't you tell them about all the people you have turned into villains? I think I'm smart enough to figure things out, but you seem to underestimate me. Why is that?”

“Do not pry into things you don’t understand.” Dr. Frost snapped

“Then explain because I’m willing…..”

“NO!” Dr. Frost roared. Alice could see his eyes blazing and his nostrils flaring.

“…to listen.” Alice continued. She stared into his hard eyes, trying to cover her fear of him. After all, he was right. She barely knew anything, but that didn’t stop her.

“I have to get back to work….see ya around, kiddo.” Dr. Frost walked swiftly to the door, glanced over his shoulder like he had something to say, but changed his mind. The door swung shut with a bang as he left Alice alone in his office.

“Ugh!” She picked up one of the plush pillows from the chair next to her and chucked it after him.

She absolutely hated when people called her kiddo. She was 17 for crying out loud! She didn’t understand how every adult in the English-speaking world could call her a child. She had a great job, better than most of her friends, and she was still the underclassman.

Alice left the room and quietly exited the hospital without a glance at anyone. Her car, a silver Lexus, was parked in the handicapped parking. She must not have realized that, for her haste to get in the hospital had almost paralyzed her. Now, she was starting to wish she had never gone in the first place. She groaned as she pulled the yellow ticket from her front window and climbed in the driver’s seat.

The Lexus started with ease and pulled out of the parking space. Alice was barely paying attention to anything as she pumped gas into her car at the Chevron. She was lost in thoughts of Dr. Frost, why he was so distressed and frustrated, and the fact that gas was extremely expensive, and never seemed to be getting any cheaper. Outrageous!, she thought. Completely insane. I’m going to have to work overtime tomorrow. She slid her credit card through the machine and replaced the gas pump.

Her head had started to hurt by the time she had managed to climb in the car and buckle her seat belt. She started the car and began the long drive home. The radio was playing a noisy rock song that screamed too much and hurt her head even worse, so, in a matter of mixed frustration and anxiety, she altogether just turned it off. What am I missing??, she asked herself over and over again in the silence that seemed to engulf her. What is it that I can’t see??? Alice trudged into the house and upstairs to her room. All she really felt like doing was taking a nap, but her mind was practically whirring inside her head. She knew there was more to this story.

“Where ya been?” Her mom called to her.

“Oh just…out.” Alice replied airily.

When she had first talked to her grandfather, they had both agreed that nobody should know about her powers. They didn’t want to take the chance someone close to her being held hostage by a villain.

“Where ‘out’?” She asked as she entered the room.

“Just visiting Grandpa. No big deal. By the look on your face you’d figure that I was robbing a bank or something. Sheesh.”

“Oh...well…you can never be too…never mind.” She dropped the paper she had been reading on Alice’s bed and strode from the room.

Alice looked closer at the paper:

MYSTERIOUS DISAPEARANCES HAVE POLICE WORRIED

Last Saturday, at 12 p.m., police made a statement about the mysterious disappearances all over the city. They gave us one statement and left the podium as fast as possible. “Although we have no leads to who would be a suspect at this time, we encourage everyone to follow the safety instructions that have been mailed. We ask people to be patient with us, as this is very serious and we don’t want to provoke the person who is doing this. Thank you.” It may just be me, but this reporter feels the police aren’t being completely truthful with the city.

The paper went on to explain the safety precautions, their flaws, and what to do in case someone really does try to abduct you. At the bottom were all the ads, but Alice didn’t get past the part that said ‘disappearances’. It had taken her 3 times to fully comprehend what the paper was trying to say. How had she missed all of this? She watched the news almost every night to see the weather, but never noticed anything about disappearances and kidnappings. Out of instinct, she glanced at her alarm clock on her nightstand. 4:30, she thought, I’ll watch the five o’clock news. Maybe I missed it. She flipped off her light and headed downstairs to turn the TV on. She wasn’t very good on time and didn’t want to miss this.

But as she walked into the kitchen to get a snack, she got an eerie feeling. Someone was in the kitchen, and it wasn’t her mom.

Reviews

[Mogan]

Good story, i'd like to see how it ends :)