"Mike, I don't know what else to say; that's what happened…" I fell back on my bed as I held the phone to my ear.

"Liz, Liz, Liz, Liz…I love you, the gig is up…but please, understand-"

"Yes, that's what I want-" I began.

"No…hear me out; you're asking me to believe that in a matter of days you lost ten pounds-"

"Over ten pounds! I woke up this morning and I was another ten pounds lighter." I interrupted. Mike paused and said,

"Okay, whatever…you lost a lot of weight, you juggled three hundred pounds of your brother's weights then proceeded to pick up a car and move it around your garage…" I said nothing as Mike stopped. He took a breath and said, "Oh, and you went invisible and nearly got caught by your dad…did I miss anything?"

"No." I replied.

"Okay, and you think all this happened because of some box you found…in the sewer."

"It was the storm drain, Mike."

"Whatever…the point is that considering all that you've just told me, I would hope that you would understand how hard it is to believe you."

"Why is there a question of whether it's believable or not? It happened! I swear it did! I checked the weights again today; I watched my brother struggle to lift a hundred and fifty pounds on that bar. I lifted three hundred pounds with my left hand! AND I'M RIGHT HANDED MIKE!"

"Okay, okay…" I sighed as Mike said nothing.

"You don't believe me do you?" I asked quietly. Mike replied.

"Liz, I…really I-"

"Mike, can I come over?"

"What?"

"Good. I'll see you in twenty minutes."

"What?"

"Okay, bye." I turned off the phone and grabbed my pillow; I planted my face into it and screamed. After a moment I got up and walked downstairs. "DAD!" I called, "I'm walking over to Mike's to do a project! I'll be back before dinner, okay?"

"Okay Liz! Call me when you get there!" I went out the front door and walked to the apartments where Mike lived. I swore that I walked faster then I normally did; maybe because I was stronger but really I think it was because I was so determined to make my friend believe me. As I walked there I found my emotions going in and out of anger, despite, and sadness towards Mike. Why couldn't he believe me? I'm his best friend! I'd think that a story this weird would be believable because it's out of the ordinary. I was at the bottom of the stairs outside his apartment when I stopped and told myself,

"Who am I kidding? I can barely believe this story myself!" I went up the stairs and knocked on the green door. I tapped my foot as I told myself. 'This is real. I know it is because it's still here today. I can lift three hundred pounds tomorrow and today I could turn invisible and not be able to fix it.' These were out of my control. No one answered the door and I growled as I went to knock on the door again. I extended my hand but it didn't hit the door…it went through it along with most of my forearm. I stood stupefied at the sight of my arm inside the door.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I heard Mike scream from inside. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" I quickly pulled my arm out as the door swung open; Mike's eyes looked furious. When his eyes landed on me he shouted, "THAT WAS YOU? YOU DID THAT? HOW THE-" I leapt on him and covered his mouth with my hand.

"Mike shut up!" I told him as I walked inside and shut the door behind me. I let go of him and just stood there and stared. He asked quietly,

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know!" I whined back.

"Did you do that yesterday too?"

"NO!" I closed my eyes and flopped on his futon. "I don't get it Mike! My hand went through your DOOR!" I opened my eyes; Mike leaned against the wall looking totally dumbfounded. "Is this what it's going to be for the rest of my life? Everyday something new comes along? Some hitch?" I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. "Is your mom home?"

"No. Can you do that again?" Mike asked.

"I can't do it on cue, no." I said bitterly. "I don't even know how I did it the first time! What did I do to make me do that?" I looked at Mike and said, "The hand through the door thing was just like the invisible thing yesterday. I don't know how I did it. One moment I'm there then BAM! Liz is invisible..." I sat up, took a breath, and looked at Mike. "Mike?" I asked, "Now do you believe me? Now do you understand a little?" Mike still stared blankly at me. I stood, took his hand firmly, and dragged him out the door.

"OW! What are you doing? You're hurting me!" Mike exclaimed as we walked. I got to the bottom of the concrete steps and looked around. I had to make him believe me.

"Isn't there a dumpster in the back of this building?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, but-" Mike stammered in reply.

"Okay." I said and dragged Mike to the back of the building. Lo and behold there was the dumpster, sitting inside of a white fence. I let go of Mike and walked to the dumpster.

"Liz, Liz what are you doing?" Mike asked as he cradled his hand. The dumpster was filled and it smelled awful; I tried not to gag as I walked around to the back. There was rotting trash and bugs back there so I had to be careful where I stepped. "Liz, seriously, what are you doing?"

"Mike!" I yelled as I examined the back of the dumpster, "Watch this!" I bent my knees as I said to myself, 'God I hope this works.' I put my hands where I could grip and lifted. I felt the dumpster lift into the air; it was a lot heavier than three hundred pounds. As the huge dumpster leaned into me the smell of rotting garbage filled my nose as trash grease dripped onto my skin; repulsed by this I was motivated to move faster. I waddled with the trash as far as the white fence would let me then shouted at Mike, "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" I lifted the dumpster high and threw it over the fence. I watched as the dumpster flew over the fence and asphalt then into the trees; the dumpster tumbled sending trash everywhere. When it finally stopped rolling it hardly looked like a dumpster any more; it was dented, bent and ruined. I emerged from the white fence and found Mike off to the side; it looked like he was in the process of standing up from cowering. He looked at me with scared eyes as I said, "Now do you believe me?" I was slightly out of breath, but all the adrenaline in my body made me feel warm and excited. Mike stood up slowly and began to walk back to his apartment. He didn't say anything and I felt heart broken. I looked down at the ground and wiped my dirty hands on my jeans.

"Well, are you coming?" he yelled back at me. "If you're coming back in you better shower; I can smell you all the way over here." I sighed in relief as I walked behind Mike to his apartment.

Mike let me shower and lent me some of his mom's clothes. Once I was clean we sat in the kitchen and watched as people slowly gathered around the white fence. People were astounded and baffled by the missing dumpster and were even more shocked to find it destroyed in the field behind the apartments. I drank my glass of water as Mike munched on potato chips. We hadn't said much to each other, (A) because I was positive that Mike was still digesting everything he had just seen and (B) I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. As a patrol officer arrived outside to investigate Mike said to me,

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?" I asked. Mike put aside the bag of chips and explained.

"Well, you can do these things…what are you going to do about it?" I took a large gulp of water before I said,

"Nothing."

"What? Why?"

"Because-" I stopped and rephrased what I was about to say. "I'm capable of these things…you're right, and I don't know what you're suggesting but there's still the fact that I can't…well, I can't really-"

"You can't control these new powers that you mysteriously got." Mike finished for me.

"Yeah, and I still don't know what it means. So I'm not going to do anything." I looked at Mike who had an obvious expression of protest on his face. "And I'm not going to tell anyone. I don't know what else has happened to me. I don't know for sure where these…powers came from. I mean what if tomorrow I become something terrifying? Some weird creature?" Mike laughed and I asked, "What's so funny?"

"You!" he said. "An answer is staring you in the face but you don't want it!" I looked at him, begging him not to suggest what he was going to suggest. "Use it! You could help people! You could save lives! Stop crime!"

"Mike, shut up."

"No! You could do it!"

"You've been watching way too much T.V."

"So what if I have? You can't say the idea of becoming some super hero hasn't crossed your mind…" He was right, the hero idea had crossed my mind but it made no sense to chase that idea. Heroes are for comic books. "Come on Liz, derring-do…heroics…you could do that! I mean look at the Teen Titans! They do it all the time! They save the world! You could do that-"

"Mike stop!" I interrupted loudly. Mike looked at me and I paused before saying, "I'm no good to anyone—including myself—when I can't control these powers…of course I've thought about it too. I see the Teen Titans on the news just as much as you do, but I can't do anything about it. I just need to keep this quiet and forget about it…" I stopped, looked out the window and saw multiple police cars outside. I watched the security, police, and civilian witnesses interact as Mike said to me,

"This is so typical of you Liz." I looked at Mike in surprise.

"What?"

"I'm serious! You freak at the slightest sign of change."

"What?" I replied.

"You do! It's what you're doing now! No matter what I tell you you'll turn it down because that's the way you are! That's how you're thinking right now!" I opened my mouth but Mike cut me off. "You've always been the victim, Liz, and you let it get by so much! It's not right! I know because now, when you are given a chance to be something more than mediocre you're terrified! Wake up Liz! You're bigger than you were before! You're bigger than your brother and you're bigger than other people at school! They're normal and you're exceptional! You're better-"

"NO I'M NOT! I'M NOT ANY BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE!" I stood and screamed. Mike stopped and I held my breath; I couldn't believe that I burst out like that. "Mike…I-I'm-" I stammered but Mike just looked down.

"You're right, Liz." Mike said coolly. He looked up and said, "You are just like everyone else." He walked to the front door and held it open for me. "See you later." I got up and left his apartment. When I was just outside the door Mike said to me, "By the way, I forgot to tell you, you look great. I can tell you've lost weight." With that he shut the door. As I walked down the stairs I felt so awful for yelling. He was trying to help me and I shut him down.

When I got home I fell on my bed and stared at my ceiling. I couldn't believe that he compared me to the Teen Titans. 'They're professionals!' I thought, 'They're specially trained! They're…not normal…' I remembered what Mike told me: you're bigger than your brother and you're bigger than other people at school! They're normal and you're exceptional! I rolled onto my side and thought on this. After a while I got up and looked into the mirror; I couldn't see much of a difference in my weight. That moment I felt a surge of thanks and gratitude for Mike. He knew me, and he was right; I was hiding behind excuses. Now that I was losing weight I had one less wall to hide behind. 'What ever person this is,' I thought as I looked at my reflection, 'this person is me, and this person can throw dumpsters, turn invisible, and ghost through doors.' I smiled as I thought, 'You know? Mike could be right…because I see this person…and I think, with a little practice, this person could save a life…a bunch of'em.'