Chapter 17 "Preparation"
We don't always know what lies ahead, but when we do know, we ready ourselves. If it's danger that's coming, then having a plan is key. Otherwise, you're in for hell.
- Michael Mules, Journal Entry
It had been a half hour already, but Michael kept running.
The images of everything that had occurred since his abilities first surfaced replayed in his head: the Jameson fire and Marie trapped on the kitchen table; the couple unconscious in their turned over car; Tracy screaming as a flaming ceiling nearly crushed her, and Wendy lying trapped under a pillar, helpless.
All this made Michael continue.
This maniac would do it again, unless he stopped her.
He could feel the sweat cropping out of him, he licked it over his lips and relished in the progress he was making. With this girl, agility would be an asset in the fight.
As he passed a neighbor who was raging leafs in his front lawn, Michael barely nodded in response to his greeting. This neighbor would always start a long conversation with anybody who came along and Michael couldn't be distracted right now.
He ran another six long blocks before finally returning home where Wendy and Tracy were sitting on the steps to the front door, Tracy holding her watch and clicking the timer to stop once he made it to the door.
"How was it?" he asked between his exhausted breaths.
"You beat your old time by two minutes." Tracy put her watch back on her wrist and stood. "Can we call it a day now?"
"Michael, she's right," Wendy said pleadingly. "It has been nonstop jogging, pushups, and pull-ups for you since the hotel. You're overworking yourself."
"I need to be ready." Michael leaned against the wall beside the opened door.
"I'm hoping you're wrong about this, Michael," Wendy said, looking out into the view this street had of the city, including their school. "I don't want this to end up as a fight to the death."
"I don't have a choice," he argued.
"You could run," Wendy blurted out. "We can get in the car and disappear."
"Running doesn't solve anything," Michael protested. "Plus, this woman could just attack Tracy and our family in retaliation."
"Yeah, thiswoman obviously doesn't care if she fries some innocent people in the crossfire," Tracy stated, looking at Wendy angrily for suggesting her brother leave.
Michael walked into the house and went to his bedroom, closing the door behind him, leaving Tracy and Wendy to quietly argue while he changed out of his sweat-dripping cloths.
Once he stepped out of the bedroom, his girlfriend and sister seized the verbal battle and followed him to the kitchen where he got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.
"Again, I think Wendy and I should be there to back you up," Tracy argued to him. "We could have a water hose with us."
"I already told you, no," Michael took a gulp from his bottle and sat down on the table. "I have to face her alone. I don't want the two of you in harm's way, again."
Both girls sighed in unison. They may not like it that Michael was preparing to face a fire-throwing she-villain solo, but it was the way it had to be.
The next day, Michael locked himself in his room, isolated from the constant berating of Tracy and Wendy. He pushed himself even farther than before. He had emptied his closet hanger and worked on his pull-ups.
I have to be ready. I need to be able to beat her.
His high school graduation was supposed be a day to look forward to. While his other classmates were in the happy and impatient state, Michael was wishing he had the power to control time so as to never end up in that day.
But there was no changing what was coming. Down in his core, he knew a fight was coming, so he had to be ready.
You think I'm going to be easy to take down; well you're in for a surprise.
He started on pushups, then sit-ups, ignoring all his body's ongoing pleas to halt and rest. Sweat continued to drip down from him, but it just made him work harder.
Finally, after over an hour of work, he dropped onto his floor in exhaustion, breathing heavily, motionless.
I'll be ready for you.
"Michael Mules, will you open the door?"
Tracy was walking out from her bedroom when her mother was standing outside Michael's door, knocking on it every few seconds rather aggressively. She was in another of her agitated states; this wasn't good at all.
I'm going to have to approach her carefully here.
"Mom, what did he do now?" she asked, sounding as if she wanted the juicy details on a possible misdeed of her brother's.
"Nothing, except keep me standing out here." Her mother emphasized on those lost words.
"I think he fell asleep. Wasn't he working out earlier?"
Her mother frowned. "He's been doing that a lot lately. Do you know what's gotten into him?"
Tracy shrugged and crooked her head. Inside though, she felt guilt over keeping these certain things from her mother. "I didn't know there was something in him."
Her mother ignored the attempt at the light humor. Finally Michael's voice sounded from inside his bedroom, "I'm up, and I'll be out in a minute."
Their mother sighed and rubbed at her face with both hands. "I need you to take some things to your aunts fro me, I'm late for work."
"Fine," he answered back rather aggravated.
"As if he's doing anything important," she blurted to Tracy and to herself.
Tracy followed her mother to her parent's bedroom and helped pick up a mountain of dirty cloths from various places and drop them into two laundry baskets.
"After what's happened with Missy," her mother started to say but trailed off. She looked to Tracy. "Do you know if your brother is keeping anything from me that I should know about?"
Now she was in the hot spot. Wendy had been giving Tracy tips on how to perfectly lie to people; she seemed to have had enough experience with lying to her own parents, that Wendy. Tracy looked to her mother right in the eyes without flinching and resisted the great urge to curl the side of her lips like she always did when being cornered on a secret.
"I don't know, mom."
She stared at her for a long moment, as if trying to read her mind. I'm glad you're not one of those who can, Tracy thought. Her mother blinked and picked up one of the filled up laundry baskets, gesturing her daughter to follow suit.
In the time it took the two of them to split the whites from the darks and lights and dump the first batch into the washing machine, Michael had barely left his room. Their mother went back to her bedroom and came out to the hallway with a taped-up box.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Just take it to your aunt's, please," she said flatly tuning around and rushing back to her room, closing the door behind her.
Michael seemed to ignore their mother's annoyed attitude and went to his car with the box. Tracy got into the car with him and they drove quietlyfor a few minutes.
"I know you have something to say, so just say it," Michael finally said without looking at her.
"Well, mom is getting suspicious with all the working out you've been doing," Tracy explained. "She just asked me before we left if there was anything you were keeping from her."
Her brother sighed. "Did you tell her anything?"
"No. I said I didn't have any clue whether you were keeping something secret." She paused before continuing on. "Michael, I didn't like lying to mom. Doesn't it bother you, too?"
There was a short moment before he answered, "Yes."
"Then lets tell her and dad everything," she said, half expecting him to instantly answer 'no', but he just stayed quiet and drove.
"Aren't you tired of all the lying and covering up about your abilities? Don't say you aren't."
He bit his lip and parked the car into an open space in the middle of the street.
"Okay, this is what's going to happen," he told her. "Once graduation is over, and I've taken care of this woman and gotten a hold of Doctor Suresh, we can tell them. No more secrets."
He raised his hand in a fist, except for his pinky finger. "Deal?"
She took the finger in her own. "Deal."
In just a short week, it would all be settled; it made Tracy breath a little easier. Of course, she knew this was another big step Michael was taking, and she would be there to help him ready for this important day as well.
We prepare ourselves for what we know is inevitable. It's OK to be afraid, but we have to be ready at the veryleast. Of course there are things you can't be ready for, no matter what you do. So we just have to be ready to be surprised.
- Michael Mules, Journal Entry
To Be Continued