Chapter 6 "Mystery"
When there is secret in the midst, some people become intrigued. We want to find out who, what, where, when, why, how. But that is easier said than done. When we know that we're being kept in the dark, it's natural to want to get to the bottom of it.
- Michael Mules, Journal Entry
Half an hour after the fire had started, the last of its flames were been extinguished by the firefighters. On the sidewalk, the entire Jameson family was huddled together in an embrace, staring at the shard remains of their house.
Michael's parents came and consulted the Jamesons on their terrible misfortune. He stood a short distance away from all of them; he was completely afraid of little Marie recognizing him if he got close. After saving her from the fire, he had rushed back into his house to wash himself, and then change out of his smoke covered cloths in mere minutes.
It was a good thing he just owned jeans, he thought, or his parents might have noticed something. As far as anyone knew, Michael had run into room to find his cell phone when an unknown hooded stranger rescued Marie.
"I would love to hug that person," Mrs. Jameson whimpered. She held Marie in her arms quite fiercely.
"And nobody saw him." Dan asked.
Mr. Jameson shook his head. "Crater said he saw a hooded person run into the house, he didn't his face. Marie said he then disappeared after getting her out into the backyard."
"And she didn't recognize him?" Angela asked.
Again, Mr. Jameson shook his head.
"Marie could see too well for a little while," Mrs. Jameson explained. "And his face was covered like hers."
"Does anybody know how that poll broke down?" Michael asked. He walked closer to the group hesitantly. "That's what I would like to know."
"The police are checking on that right now," his father said. He then turned back to the Jamesons. "Just be thankful you are all safe."
Everyone looked back at the black shell of a former home; they were silent for a short time before Marie murmured in her mother's shoulders.
"Mommy, where's my superhero?" she asked softly.
"He went to help somebody else," Her mother stroked her back, whispering the little girl to sleep.
In his head, Michael was grinning widely. She called him a hero. It felt good. He also thought of what Mrs. Jameson had said. He went to help somebody else.
That was what Michael should do, he figured. His gifts helped him make a difference and that was the point of having them.
"Michael, why don't you go clean up that mess you left in the kitchen," his mother instructed to him.
"Right." Without another word, he turned and walked back to his family's house.
"God bless that stranger," Mrs. Jameson whispered, but Michael managed to hear it from his front door and smiled.
That next day, Michael ran out of his last class the moment the bell rang. Again, he was feeling the same anxiety and relief about graduating and leaving his academic life behind in just short of seven weeks. That was what all the seniors were feeling. While they were happy to be finished with high school, they were scared at the prospect of leaving the safety zone of their young lives.
Added to that now was Michael's fear that somebody might have caught a glimpsed of Marie's hooded rescuer.
At the front of entrance, Wendy was waiting for him with a newspaper in her hands.
"Six year-old Maries Jameson is rescued by a heroic stranger from her burning home," She handed him the paper as they walked down the front entrance steps to parking lot with the crowd of students. "Marie says he was a superhero."
"Well I wasn't in a cape or wearing a mask," he said, as he read more.
The story was on the front page and there was a sketch drawing on the right corner of Michael, his face covered in the shadow of his hood as remembered by Marie.
"I recommend keeping the hood disguise," Wendy told him as they reached his car. "But wear something else to cover your face. Maybe sunglasses, like Green Arrow."
He looked at her in surprise from the driver's side.
"Green Arrow, I didn't know you read comics."
Her eyes darted from side-to-side, as if she was checking for any eavesdroppers.
"I've been doing some research for you," she started explaining. "Figuring out what you super powered people are supposed to do and be like."
"Okay then, how am I supposed to be," he asked, in interest.
"I know that you shouldn't seek rewards or fame for your heroic deeds." Wendy sat down on the passenger's front seat and started tapping on one finger after another. "You put others before yourself and always help them when in they are in need - in other words, be selfless and self-sacrificing. You should always be ready for danger to come at anytime and also, never reveal your secret identity."
"Of course."
Wendy continued. "And you need to be courageous against whatever dangerous obstacles you face."
"All basic stuff," he remarked. "You are sure dedicated to this thing, aren't you?"
Rubbing her head, she looked at him shyly. The girl liked to smile a lot now. He liked that very much.
"Oh and if you want to keep your life private, you need to be able to get in and out of tough spots without getting caught by anyone," she added.
That was good advice; Michael started the car and drove out of the parking lot, thinking about how much he didn't want his abilities to be discovered by the public. Everyone around him would pry into his life without giving him a moment's peace.
"I guess I'll need to train on the disappearing act, too."
"You should catch up on your comic book reading then," Wendy suggested.
"I usually wait for the movies to come out," he stated as he turned on his car.
They drove straight from school to the warehouse, only stopping at a drive through. When they got to the warehouse, they sat down and ate on the hood of the car before Michael would star his workout again.
"Are you excited about graduating?" Wendy asked him after swallowing a large piece of her burger. "I know I will be next year."
"Yeah I am. College isn't my next step, though, it just isn't for me" Michael admitted. "And be saying goodbye to so much come June."
"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head to her shoulder.
"My friends are not really close friends," he explained. "It's like when we're out of school, they wouldn't bother to call me up and see how I'm doing or they wouldn't care to get together. The thing is that it's felt like they only hung out with me at school because I was around."
"It feels like you're leaving the party and no one notices or cares," Wendy added. "I feel the same way. I guess that's something else we have in common."
Their eye met and neither looked away. Slowly but surely, they came closer to each other, their lips inches away -
And a loud clanking sound came from outside. Michael spun his head around to the closed doors.
"What was that?" Wendy asked in startle.
Concentrating his hearing, Michael heard the rushing pair of feet as they ran from outside the warehouse. He jumped off the car's hood and raced to the doors, sliding one open and hurrying outside. He heard the running footsteps being mixed into dozens of other walking pedestrians in the street. Passing cars and many voices also joined in; he had to focus.
Michael stayed in the middle of the alleyway, trying to find those running steps again, but suddenly, a screeching overlapped everything else, enveloping his ears. Michael shrieked, falling onto the concrete floor, holding his head.
Wendy ran into the alley and kneeled down beside him. "Come on," she said to him, supporting his upper body as he nearly crumbled on the floor, trying to block the assaulting sound with his hands covering his ears.
He tried to focus on closing them off. The screeching noise was too much to handle - then it stopped. Just like that, it was gone.
"It stopped," he told Wendy. She helped him up to his feet, not letting go of her hold on him. "I don't know what it was but whoever made that noise knew what I could do."
"How could they." Wendy started looking around the area in fear.
"Let's get out of here."
They rushed back into the warehouse and into his car. They were half way towards Wendy's house without saying a word, until Michael took out his cell phone and started dialing a number.
"Who are you calling?"
"Doctor Suresh, he's the only other person who knows about me," he said in unrest. The phone rang and rang until a recording started playing. "Great, answering machine - hello doctor Suresh, its Michael Mules, please call me back as soon as you can. I need help. I think someone is stalking me because of what I can do. You know where to reach me."
When he hung up, he threw the phone onto the backseat in frustration.
"First I forget eighteen hours of my life, and now somebody is stalking me." He rubbed his head because it still ached from that screeching attack. "This is getting crazy."
"You're telling me," Wendy squeaked. "Why would somebody want to hurt you? You haven't done anything wrong."
"But somebody is hurting me." When they stopped at a red light, Michael started tapping his hand on the panel. "So what should I do?"
The seemingly quite moment was ended by a loud honk that caused the both of them to jump from their seats. A long truck then passed on their right and turned at the corner. Michael groaned in displeasure; everything was starting to scare them now.
"Maybe you should spend some time acting normal." Wendy shrugged when he looked at her, unsure of her own suggestion. "If you don't use your abilities at all, then there is no reason for someone to be watching you. Whoever's stalking you could just get bored if there's nothing interesting going."
The idea seemed like a long shot, but Michael nodded in agreement. He glanced at his cell phone which was still in his hand, hoping that Dr. Suresh would call him at that instant with answers, but that was pointless.
"But if it doesn't work, I'm going to need to figure out who it is that's doing all this to me."
Looking back at Wendy, he saw that she was frightened, with her eyes darting side-to-side and her throat shifting in and out. Where before, he had been glad to have her to share his secret with, now he wished that she had not seen him make that miraculous jump. He took her hand in his and smiled as best as he could.
"Let's just not talk about this for a little while," he said. "We'll just go about normal things, like prom."
She looked at her window, now seeming shy again. "It sounds like a plan."
CHANDRA SURESH'S APARTMENT, BROOKLYN
The front door opened and Gabriel Grey - who now wanted to be known only as Sylar, stepped in. While Dr. Suresh was on his shift in his taxi cab, Sylar would wait here and read through some of his research files once more. The old man was reluctant to share his list of evolved people with him, so he was only able to find one when Dr. Suresh gave the information to him.
The answering machine on his desk was bleeping. He pressed on it to play and a young voice spoke.
"Hello Doctor Suresh," he said in a bit of a stutter. "It's Michael Mules, please call me as soon as you can. I need your help. I think someone is stalking me because of what I can do. You know where to reach me."
Sylar played the message again. This was the youngster the doctor had gone to see last month. So somebody else was already targeting him as a prey. If that was so, at least he wouldn't have competition from this one, after hearing doctor Suresh's description of the boy's abilities.
And so this meant that they didn't need to get distracted from the people that Sylar could still get a hold of. He pressed another button on the machine, erasing the message.
What is unknown can scare us. Still, we have to face it and solve the mystery if it's important. Otherwise, what dangers we don't fully know about can haunt us.
- Michael Mules, Journal Entry
To Be Continued