Prologue

My eyelids slid open on their own accord, they did tend to gain a sense of self awareness whenever I had a good night's sleep and just bloom open without warning.

That was such a good feeling for me which meant that I rose along with my mood towards happiness and appreciation instead of the usual under-appreciation of existence.

I hovered above ground and headed towards the window, my toes pointed at the floor but never touched it.

I looked outside at Townsville where the ginormous skyscrapers stood tall and proud and some pierced the clouds in everlasting defiance of the Earth's gravity. These were times when I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at human civilisation and its achievements and continuing progress.

My phone alarm suddenly took me out of my wonderment of society and diverted my attention towards its rectangular form.

I reached for it, my wonder suddenly returned as I turned off the alarm and stared at the small, slim rectangle in my hand as the screen turned off by itself.

This little device served as a hub for all information at my fingertips, it was a nexus of communication across the world provided that I had the right combinations of numbers. It was also an alarm clock and a gaming device...

How cool is that?

And a mirror too as I noticed my big green eyes staring back at me, I didn't realise that I was smiling at my phone.

Wow...

I put it down and hovered to the toilet to get my face washed and relieve myself of the night's buildup in my bladder.

It wasn't long until I got myself dressed for school. I had decided to wear a bright green tank top, some blue jeans and a pair of black and white sneakers.

I tended to wear green because that was the signature colour of my mother, the toughest of her sisters.

And there she was as I hovered into the kitchen and let my feet finally plant themselves gently onto the ground without a noise.

"Good morning, Betty," she greeted me. No matter how quietly I landed, even the most minute of subtle noises betrayed my presence; such are the wonders of super hearing.

I had the same powers as my mother, but my powers were weaker due to my diluted blood as a result of having a human father.

"Good morning, Mom," I responded and she turned to face me with a smile. In her hands she held my plate, her fingers being ever so gentle as if holding an object made out of foam. I fully understood her tenderness with the fragile plate because I used to accidentally rip doors entirely off of their hinges as a young child.

"You're up early, sweetheart," she said as she set my food down on the dinner table which was covered by a green sheet that had little yellow flower patterns on it that resembled buttercups. My mom told me that it was something that my father bought when they were together as he thought that it had reminded him of her.

"I had a good night's sleep," I said. I admit that these kinds of nights are super rare, no pun intended.

I fought a smirk away from forming on my face at my goofy 'super' joke. I didn't want this to be one of those random awkward moments where I am cracking myself up over something funny and others raising eyebrows in response to my stubborn and unwavering smile.

"That's good," my mom said with approval and returned to sorting something out at the sink while I plopped myself down on the seat.

"I'm going to be working a little longer today as there have been some rises in crime lately. You get straight home from school, okay sweetheart?"

"Okay, mom."

I began to eat my breakfast which was composed of those delicious pancakes that only my mother knew how to make and nobody else. I have tried many pancakes of all types made by a variety of people and no one made them as good as Buttercup.

I felt a hand gently touch my raven pixie cut hair and fingers therapeutically massaged my scalp before mom planted a kiss on top of my head and said her farewells, but not before once again reiterating to me that I must get straight home immediately after school finishes.

I finished my breakfast and then grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulders as I left the house, closing the door and locking it before turning around and feeling the wind blow through my short black hair.

I hovered above the ground and then flew up into the skies. The city of Townsville once again stood majestically ahead of me, beautiful in its size and flaunting in its pride. I shot towards it and stretched my arms out in front of me with hands clenched into fists and flying directly into the city's concrete embrace.

I couldn't help but grin as I zipped across the suburbs, the houses would normally be a blur but my brain can process information usurped from the environment by all five of my senses at super speed and slow everything down to a normal pace, or even slower if I so wished for it. I could see every house, every brick, every window, every blade of grass on every garden and every face with every movement on it within my view as if walking at a slow pace.

Then I let go of that concentration and all of it became a blur which just buzzed past me, completely incoherent to my mind. When I was a young kid, I used to scream in joy while flying at super speed. I learned not to do it at the top of my lungs though because windows used to shatter at the sheer volume and mom wasn't happy with that.

I outgrew the screaming at the age of ten however and was pretty much a flying brick. The loudest noise I make now is a sonic boom as I break the sound barrier.

It only took me three minutes to cover the entire suburbs and half of Townsville's magnificent skylines before I landed myself in front of Townsville High School.

I looked at the students and watched them dutifully go in while others still loitered outside without a care in the world.

There were a pair of guys sitting at a bench nearby, they were playing chess. I knew them as they went to my class. One was from another country and quite skinny while the other one was from England and had some meat on him. They both had milkshake cocktails of vanilla ice cream and chocolate as my sense of smell told me.

The skinny one began to drink through the two chocolate clogged straws protruding from his cup, he was sucking through those straws like it was going out of fashion; and I could only imagine his veins and arteries getting similarly clogged like that straw and then the heart showing the same enthusiasm as he does in furiously pumping milkshake-laden blood to make sure he at least wins the game.

I had no time to watch who would win that game of chess however due to the school bells singing their ringing. Some students quickened their paces while others resumed as they were. Most of the stationary ones began to move into motion and entered the building.

Except for those two chess players. I took one last look at them and they just sat there with no care in the world.

My super hearing picked up their brief mention of the school bell and mutual decision to stay behind and finish the game, even at the cost of being late for class.

I admired their dedication as it reminded me of my own very recent dedication, a dedication to something that my mother forbids me from committing myself to.