ShatteredLegacy

A novel by

Steven W. Eden

Superman and all related characters are the copyrighted property of DC Comics

2

I feel like I'm in a drainpipe in a sink, thought Jimmy, as he slowly made his way through the school hallway, and all the students are clogging it up! If I can just get to and get done with phys-ed, maybe I can head home and forget about this crappy day. Hey, wait a minute. There's Linda Kaye. Maybe I can salvage something today after all!

"Hey, Linda Kaye! Wait up! Hey...Lind-AH!" A pretty teen with blue eyes and brown hair paused and glanced several directions through the mob of school kids as she thought she heard her name in the cacophony. Jim continued to slowly ease closer to the girl but just as he was about to make eye contact with her, a huge paw grasped his shoulder and spun him around. Unable to see beyond the wall of students, Linda shrugged and continued to her next class unaware of Jim's proximity.

"Kent, whatsamatter with ya? You know ya ain't supposed ta yell in the hallway." Jimmy cursed his luck as he realized that he was in the clutches of Moe Brawn, the biggest, nastiest, and dumbest jock at Neil Coates High School. "I oughtta turn you in to old man Shayne. Or maybe I'll just do him a favor and give you a few licks myself. Oh, heavens to Betsy! I forgot! I could break my little hand on your invulnerable hide, couldn't I?"

"Come on, Moe! Gimme a break, willya? I need to get to class and I just wanted to talk to my girl friend first. I just don't have the time to mess with you now!"

"Linda Kaye Reeves? Why, whatever could be the problem, Mister Super-wimp? She's right there! Why doncha just fly over to her. Oooh, I bet there must some kryptonite around here somewhere and you just ain't got the old super pizzazz to get up in the air? Ah! I think I can help you off the ground!" Moe, laughing like a hyena, punched Jimmy in the stomach, lifting him an inch in the air. Jimmy, gasping for breath, doubled over in pain. "Ah, ya wimp! I don't know what Linda Kaye sees in you. Ya better hurry, Stupor-man! Gym class is about to start and I hear we're playing murder-ball today. You know you're my favorite target!" Like a flash, Moe was gone, but Jim could still somehow hear that awful laugh over the din of the hall. He just leaned against the wall as he tried to catch his breath and did his best to keep tears from streaming down his face. He was going to be late for another class, it seemed, and his luck was still holding at all bad. What was next...? The world coming to an end...?

"HI MOM! WHAT"S FOR DINNER!...I'M HO-OME..." Noel, all four foot five and eighty one pounds of her, was NOT exactly a shrinking violet when it came to communication, especially with her parents. As usual, her primary destination within the domicile was the kitchen for an after school snack and her favorite form of entertainment: talking to her mother about her day at school (the leading story of which almost always was about some boy she met or already knew).

"MAHH-UHM! Where are you!" demanded the sweet urchin as she investigated the contents of the refrigerator. Tuna salad seemed the best bet right now, but just where WAS her mother anyway? As she closed the door of the fridge, she began to shout again only to be startled by the sudden appearance of Phyllis Kent directly behind her. But something was wrong. Her mom was breathing heavily and perspiring like a long distance runner. Her eyes were wide with fear as she whispered heavily to her daughter, "Is Jimmy home?"

Noel had never seen her mom like this. Mom was usually the preverbial pillar of strength. If noone else had it together, you could always count on Mom to handle things. Except today she looked as if she had seen a ghost. "Mom? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Noel, where's your brother?" she hissed. "It's important. Something's happened...I'm not sure exactly what...but I know Jimmy needs to see...what that is in the attic!"

Now Noel was getting scared. A thoroughly shaken Mom was a sight she had NEVER encountered before and she wasn't at all sure of how to take it. But before she could say anything else, Jim entered the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom! What's happening, Brat? What's going...on?" Jim noticed his mother's expression and changed gears completely. "Mom, are you alright? Why are you two acting so frightened? Is Dad okay?"

"Jimmy! Thank the Lord! It's upstairs, Jim! It's upstairs...in the attic! I think I...I don't know what...exactly, but I do know it's calling you !" Phyllis was shaking as she spoke. Jimmy was worried now. He had never seen his Mom this frightened.

"Upstairs...? What? What's calling me? Mom! Get ahold of yourself! What's going on!"

Phyllis stood looking at her son and slowly composed herself as she began, "I was just cleaning the attic and I bumped into it and then...Jim, you were too young to remember Grandpa Bruce. But the old rolltop desk he said was yours? He said some day you would need it, but he never said it would actually...call you! I don't understand it! It's been bumped and jostled so many times before! Why now? What's different now?"

Jim looked slowly back and forth at his Mom, his sister (who was now shaking and crying herself), and the stairs that led to the source of his mother's distress, the attic. As calmly as he could, he spoke to her. "Mom, I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Can you settle down a bit? Noel is shaking like a leaf, she's so scared. And I'm not feeling too heroic myself right now, but if something upstairs is linked to me somehow, you've gotta help me out a little here, okay? Now what is the deal with this desk?"

When Jimmy mentioned his sister, Phyllis suddenly realized how much she must have scared her daughter and instinctively she embraced her. "I'm sorry, honey. It's okay. Really, it is. I was just carried away a little, that's all...I'm not hurt...Noone is...It's just...even with all that...stuff...up there...nothing ever..." She seemed to have it together again now and reached for Jimmy to include him in the group hug. "Listen up, Jimmy. I don't understand it all, but up in the attic that desk is somehow...calling you! Grandpa Bruce used to tell some strange stories about it that I took with a grain of salt, but now it looks like he was right. You'll have to go up there and see about it. There's no danger to anyone, I'm sure of that now that I've had time to think, but there must be a reason this is happening now and you have to go upstairs and find out what this is all about."

Brave is not something we ever know we will be until we must face an adversity that calls for it. Oh, we all want to believe that we will be and we probably need to believe it. But the truth is that until the moment that you must act with bravery, you really don't know if you've got it or not. And that's when you find out that bravery is not acting with the absence of fear, but meeting your crisis positively despite that fear. Jimmy never thought of himself as heroic, no "Man of Steel" despite his lineage, but his mom was right about one thing, it was calling him - he could sense that now - and he had to go to it, no matter what.

"Stay here. I'll be back in a minute," he said as he slipped away from his mother's embrace and slowly - grimly - ascended to the attic.

As Jimmy entered the room, he was astounded by the emerald aura emanating from somwhere within the rolltop desk. To his surprise, however, he found his initial fear replaced by a sense of calm and belonging as if he had known for years that this moment was inevitable. Instinct seemed to draw him to the desk and he did not fight the urge. As he peered into the light, he could swear it was speaking to him. Speaking in a language that he had never heard before, yet somehow understood. Scenes, sounds, pictures, knowledge all were imparted to Jimmy with the speed of light. It should have been more than a human brain could handle all at once, but Jim remained rooted in front of the desk and continued to weather the assault to his senses until everything went black.

"Jimmy! Are you okay? Jimmy! Thank God, he's coming around. Noel, go downstairs and get him some water!" As his sister disappeared through the hide-a-stair portal, Jim looked around and slowly regained his faculties. the green light was no longer illuminating the room, and he was surprised to find himself crumpled on the floor, his head caressed in his mother's lap. She was going on about how she should never have sent him up here and parents were supposed to protect their kids from harm and what right did she have to tell him to put himself in danger anyway, and all the time she was saying this, tears were coming down her cheeks.

"Mom...I'm okay...I think...oooh, my head...What happened, anyway? Last thing I remember was getting up here and then coming over to the light from the desk. It felt like I was staring into the light for hours!"

"Son, you were only up here for a few seconds when we heard a thud and came up. The glow was gone and you were on the floor and out cold." Noel returned with a glass of water and a wet towel. "Thank God you're all right! Thank God! I never should have let you..."

"It's okay, Mom. Really. I think I actually understand it...maybe..."

Noel handed the towel to her mother. "Here, put this on his head, I think he may be delerious." Phyllis must have agreed as the wet towel found its way to Jimmy's forehead, but Jim took it off immediately and gingerly he found his way to his feet. He felt in control but then it was if he were on a tightrope with too much play in it and he had to fight the urge to fall down again.

"Wow! I must have gotten a knock on the noggin! I thought the house was trying to toss me around just now!"

"No," his mom replied, "I felt it, too. I don't know what it was, but it happened before that green light started glowing, and again, just now, when you tried to stand up. It wasn't as bad this time, though. Are you okay, Son?"

Jimmy mumbled something to the effect that he was fine, but the mention of that spellbinding green glow made him remember. It was coming back to him now, the light, the incredible attraction to it, the way it spoke to him...but what did it say? He couldn't remember it all, just glimpses of so many things. He ambled to the now ordinary looking rolltop and opened it fully.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but I believe I need to find a switch or a button or...something...under this..." Jim's hand felt along under a shelf in the desk and suddenly a panel opened revealing a hidden compartment. In the compartment were a green crystal, a journal, and a large empty bottle with some sort of hose attached to it. "Answers?" he wondered, "or more questions?"