Saturday - September 24

As he stands in his black suit, the current of the wind lightly pushes Kareem back and forth. He looks down from 25 stories above the ground.

He stands, tensing up his body. The black flame slowly emits from his head to his shoulders, then reaches to his waist and eventually his feet.

"YEAH!" He laughs hysterically as he looks at the bird on his chest. "Yeah." He whispers. He takes a deep breath and steps to the edge of the building.

"Holy freak."

He jumps. As the ground got closer, a slight carelessness took over his mind, feeling as if he was thousands of miles in the air already. A sudden rush of adrenaline filled every inch of his body and he feels the wind carry his wings, turning his free-fall to a still soar.

"Wooohhhh!" He laughs. Purple aura shoots from his hands, boosting his speed even more. He glides all the way home, failing to stop quietly as he tumbles into his backyard.

After successfully making his way into the house, Kareem covertly steps back into his room. He lightly closes the door, turning the knob so the clicking of the latch doesn't catch anyone's attention. He quickly throws his pajamas on and frizzles his hair. He checks his phone. 10:48 AM.

He steps out into the hallway, yawning, and lets out a dramatically loud belch that can be heard in the kitchen. He walks in to see his mother sitting next to an unfamiliar guest.

Her eyes widen. "There he is!

Good morning Kareem."

"Good.. morning."

"This is the new neighbor, Mr. Lewis. He and his family moved here about two weeks ago, almost the same time you came."

Kareem nods then looks around. "Uh, where are my siblings?"

His mom stands up and brings him closer to the guest. "Mr. Lewis..." she begins.

"Hi Mr. Lewis, I'm Kareem." He shakes Mr. Lewis's hand.

"Wow, that is some grip there."

"Yeah, I work out and stuff... Not sure if that actually helps that or not but I do work out, yes."

Mr. Lewis laughs. "You know, I have a son around your age in grade nine. He's just getting into sports and working out, if you were to meet him, I'm sure you could teach him what you know about working out and whatever else it is you do. If you'd be interested."

"Yeah." Kareem nods and then turns to his mom. "Um, siblings?"

"They are over at Mr. Lewis's house now." She says in a stern tone. "Which reminds me, we were going to wake you up but you weren't in your room. Where were you?"

Kareem looks around. "Oh, I mean...you know, I was just...over...yeah." He nods.

Mr. Lewis fails to hold in his chuckle. "I'm sorry. He's just like my son. I'm sure he'd love to meet you. Me and him we both grew up with only older sisters so I'm sure he'd appreciate having another young man who shares his interests around."

"Sure, that sounds like something he will enjoy as well. He'll be around here a lot more often so they should have more than enough time to hang out. Right Kareem?"

'"Yeah." Kareem quickly turns back to his room. He checks his phone to see a message.

[Damani: Hey we should spend some time on the phone I wanna hear your voice]

He takes a deep breath.

[ok]

7:00 PM

Having said his goodbyes to his siblings and mother, Kareem sits in his dad's car on his way home.

"Did you have fun, ibn?"

"Yeah." He ponders on the events of the past weekend. (I have super strength, super speed, and I can fly! Should I tell him?) He thinks to himself. (No, I can't. I wanna be a superhero, no one can know.)

"How was it? Did anything exciting happen?"

"Oh. Well yeah."

"That's good. I heard you got reacquainted with your friend Treasure. How is she?"

"Good." Kareem thinks about his invitation to the party. "Can I go t... Can I come back next weekend?"

"Of course you can, ibn." His dad smiles.

Monday - September 25

As soon Kareem walks through the school doors he sees every pair of eyes focused on him. He falters down the hall, bombarded with students trying to get his attention.

He steps, constantly looking around to see where the numerous "Hey Kareem's" are coming from.

He finally makes it to his locker and right as he reaches or he's greeted by Malak and Azam.

"Wasssup bro."

Kareem watches his cousin examine his hand after greeting him with a handshake. He chuckles and shakes his head.

"Hey Kareem." She says with a smile.

"Hey." He mumbles.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just I just got here and everyone wants to talk to me, it's all tiring. Not you! I mean like.. just everyone else is just talking about the fight."

"I actually didn't come to talk to you about that. That was kinda crazy though but still. I wanted to introduce you to my brother, Rahim."

Kareem shifts his attention to the boy standing behind Malak.

"Wassup man?" Rahim waits for Kareem to shake his hand.

Kareem stares for a second. "Wassup?" He shakes his hand. He looks up at Rahim, who's giving him an odd look.

"Hm." Rahim lets out, slowly pulling his hand back. "I saw that video. With Vic." Rahim chuckles. "I died when I saw how he fell into the lockers." His chuckle turns into a full-on laugh. "But that means we got something in common."

"What's that?"

Rahim stands, slowly raising his eyebrows.

"You fought him?"

"Knocked him clean out too." Rahim laughs, causing Kareem to let out a light chuckle. "You're just the second to do it."

Azam and Malak watch as the two walk down the hallway. "Okay...Bye then." Azam says.

The two continue walking. "I haven't seen you before. When did you...?"

"It was like a year ago." Rahim quickly answers. "Me and Azam always had him under our control, that boy was scared of us. He grew up and stopped listening so it got boring.

"Azam?"

"Yeah, Azam used to fight a lot too. But then Vicky started fighting and working out and shit." He laughs once more. "I tried him one day and he got real mad and tried to fight me. I didn't touch him, he was trying to fight ME. And he wouldn't stop. So I made him."

Kareem stares in silence.

"Then fucking Harris made them send me to the correction center for a year. I hate that motherfucker. Is he still here?"

"Yeah. He talked to me about fighting too. I was the one defending myself."

"He's so fucking stupid." Rahim shakes his head. "What classes you got?"

"Today, Mendoza, and second, I got Mr. G"

"What about tomorrow?"

"Lattimore and Knowles."

"Ahh, today we have the same B schedule."

"You got Mendoza and Mr. G too?"

Rahim nods. "I heard Mendoza is super strict though. So we might actually have to do work."

The boys laugh before walking into the class.

A little under an hour passes and the two sit in the back of the class. Rahim looking out the window and Kareem trying to keep himself awake.

Rahim turns to Kareem. "Is all she's been doing for the whole two weeks is talk?"

Kareem laughs. "I don't know, I haven't been paying attention. My cousin does my work for me."

"My sister already knows she's doing my shit."

The two struggle to hold in their laughs, that cause a few heads to turn.

"Oh, you in a club?"

Kareem shakes his head. "Nah all that club stuff is corny to me."

Rahim chuckles.

Kareem sits back and thinks to himself. (But if someone having your back in this place feels like this, then maybe...)

He snaps his head toward Rahim. "They have a superhero club?"

"I don't know. I was thinking, what if they did?"

"You wanna find out?"

Rahim nods with a smile. "I'm down for that."

"Okay cool, we'll talk to Harris."

3:40 PM

Kareem paces with his head down as he thinks to himself. (I need to go jump off another building. But why out of all people, did I get these powers? Were they always passed down or am I the second person to have them? I hope I'm the second person that would be crazy. What if I accidentally give them away?)

"Kareem!"

He turns to see Dani standing and waving from the corner of the last block.

He stops, then walks towards her. Her smile widens.

"Hey Dani."

"Hey, K... Kareem. You kinda ran off last Friday and I haven't seen you all day where have you been hiding?"

Kareem shakes his head. "Not hiding, just busy I guess. I went to go see my mom so I was kinda in a hurry."

"Oh." Dani nods with a smile. "I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah...How's your hand?"

"It's healing, not strong enough to use though. And I'm still getting used to writing left-handed but I'll get good at it someday." She chuckles but Kareem can't help but feel bad for being the cause of her complication.

"I'm really sorry." He slowly casts his head to her shoes.

"It's okay, Kareem. But how are you so strong? I told my dad about it and he kept asking if I was sure that's what happened."

"You told your dad?"

"Duh, my hand was broken."

"Right... I don't really understand to be honest. I don't really remember being very conscious at that moment"

"Right." The two both let out soft chuckles. "Where are you headed now?"

"Oh—" He looks around, trying to find an answer. "You know just anywhere."

Dani holds a confused look.

Kareem sighs "Probably just gonna go get a gigantic cookie from... What's that place called again?"

"The bakery?"

"Yeah, that."

Dani laughs. "Well okay." She says slowly turning around.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"No actually. I'm going to visit some family in Quebec until Sunday."

"Oh." Kareem thinks to himself. "Wanna go get a cookie before you leave?"

Dani's face lights up red with a smile. "YES!"

Kareem jumps, startled at the volume of her voice.

"Oop— sorry... yeah."

He holds a slight smile. "It's okay."

The two make their way to the bakery and as they wait, Kareem notices frighteningly familiar sounds coming from a few blocks away. The same sounds he heard when the lightning man was chasing him. He feels as if his heart stops. He turns to Dani, who's talking to the cashier. He freezes.

"Freak." He whispers, shaking his head.

He speeds out of the doors and into the nearest alleyway. Running, he throws his bookbag on the top of the dumpster and launches himself upward using his wings.

His entire body quickly goes black as his suit materializes onto him.

"I love that." He laughs. He propels himself higher and then looks to see where the noise is coming from.

He sees him. On top of a building stands the electric man. He zooms toward him. He looks down to see people running toward the man, who's shooting lightning bolts out of his hands.

"What the freak? Are— are they dumb? The danger is right there!"

As he gets closer to the man, he sees the man evading projectiles being launched at him and then returning large blasts of lightning from his arms toward the ground.

He flies closer. He stops, taking in the sight of a man holding two staffs with a skull covering his face. His eyes glow red through the mask.

Kareem stares in awe.

"You wanna help?" The electric man calls out.

Kareem hesitates. (HOW would I help?) He thinks.

He swoops down to the masked man and delivers a punch, sending him flying.

Kareem stands over him, staring. He turns back to look at the electric man.

"Holy freak, I think he's de—" The strength of the blow delivered to his torso forces him to exhale.

Kareem catches himself after tumbling back a few feet. He sees the man now standing, holding a shield. "Oh okay, good. He can take a hit... So is that shield a part of you or did you just make that?"

The masked man lunges towards Kareem and the two exchange numerous impactful blows. He looks over his shoulder.

"Are YOU gonna help with this...skull..face guy?" He says grunting.

He gets knocked back once more before turning to zoom back delivering a strike with even more power than the first. Kareem stands tense, waiting for the man to get back up.

He slowly gets closer to see the skeleton mask shattered, revealing the face of a slightly older man.

"Who is that?" He asks himself.

He quickly turns to wing his way to the top of the building the lightning man is on.

"Who was that?" he asks him.

"My biggest enemy." He turns toward Kareem. "Who are you?"

"What's his name?"

"His name is Skullossis."

"Woah. That is such a cool name. He was strong."

"What? Nah, you can't say that. That's the enemy. You're complimenting the enemy."

"Oh, you're right sorry."

The man stands confused. "Are you new around here? I have not seen you like, ever in my life."

"Who's asking?"

"Literally me. Why are you being complicated?"

"Who's me?" Kareem asks.

"My name is Tronic."

"Oh, that's cool too." He laughs. "How'd you come up with that? I mean, you have lightning powers, you could've called yourself..lightning...man..."

Tronic shakes his head. "That is the worst name anyone could've ever come up with. And I don't HAVE lightning powers. What I can do is manipulate all technology to work how I want. I use this exoskeleton on my arms to conduct and hold lightning, which makes it seem like I have lightning powers. Really I just shoot it out of these gauntlets. I'm working on some other stuff too."

Kareem stares, silent in awe.

"Don't ever call me lightning man again."

"Sorry."

"You're really bad at this supervillain thing man."

"Villain? I'm a superhero."

"What?" Tronic lets out an hysterical laugh. "You don't look anything like a hero."

Kareem drops his shoulders.

"You're new to this, aren't you?"

He stays silent, causing Tronic to laugh and shake his head even more.

"Oh my god! That's crazy."

"So you're a villain?"

"Eh, I have my good and bad days. I'm more like an anti-hero."

"So we just fought a good guy."

Tronic nods.

"Oh no." Kareem throws his hands on his head. "People are gonna think I'm a bad guy." He looks up at Tronic. "You said that was a bad guy."

"No, I didn't, I just asked for help."

"Why were you fighting him if neither one of you are bad guys?"

"He made me mad."

"Ohhhh myyyyy goddddd." He sighs as he drops his head backward.

"So you gonna answer my question?"

"What?"

"Your name?"

Kareem freezes. "Oh. Um... I am...uhhh..."

Tronic throws his hands up in the air. "You don't even have a NAME?" He laughs out his words.

"I mean I kinda have a name I'm like halfway there. You know I was thinking maybe..Shadow Man or Black...man, maybe."

"Shadow...Is already taken. Literally, the greatest hero to live."

"I mean I'm a fan but I wouldn't say the greatest, I mean he's up there, my favorite even but I—"

"You're better off letting someone else pick the name because you're 0-3 right now. Lightning Man, Shadow Man, and Black Man are honestly on another level of horrible. Especially if you're not black.." He chuckles. "What can you do anyway?"

"I can fly, I have super strength, I can run fast and... yeah."

Tronic nods his head. "So all the basic stuff."

"Yeah, whatever." Kareem lets out a heavy sigh.

"What's your real name? I can help you."

"No thanks. Even if I wanted help, I couldn't tell you that."

"That's fair I guess."

Kareem thinks to himself. "Okay, I'll tell you if you tell me yours."

Tronic scoffs. "I'm not telling you my name. What, do you think I'm stupid?"

"What? You just asked me for mine! You think I'm stupid."

"VERY!"

Tronic turns his head to see Skullossis slowly getting up.

"I gotta go Black Guy."

"I said Black Man but... I guess that's not any better."

He watches Tronic run down the side of the building and then zoom down the street as lightning emits from his arms.

"Freak, he's cool. I gotta learn how to do more with my powers. MY powers."

He shakes his head.

"I wish there was someone I can talk to about this. Azam? Rahim? Nah— HOLY SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA, Dani! What the freak?!"

Kareem speeds off of the building, a gust of wind following.

"Please still be there. Please!"

He swoops down to the alleyway where he dropped his bookbag. It's gone. "There's no way. Which one did I put it on? I could've sworn it was this one." He smacks his palm on his forehead, and sighs in disappointment. He looks at his hands.

"Freak." He says before checking his surroundings, making sure no one is watching. He makes the suit disappear and pats his hair down. He runs into the bakery. Dani's nowhere to be found. He sighs in disappointment.

Once more he runs out of the bakery and back into the alleyway. Glancing behind him and then in front of him, he jumps, spreading his wings and begins to zoom through the air.

He lands on the lower level of a parking lot across from his block. After running to his door, he quickly opens it seeing Maya and Dani.

They both silently stare. Keeping his eyes forward, he slowly backs out the doorway, closing the door.

Just before the door closes he feels a force, pulling on the other side. It opens and Kareem stares at Dani as she holds an infuriating gaze.

"Where were you?" She asks in a loud tone of voice.

"Uhh...I went to the bathroom."

"For thirty minutes?"

Kareem's dad walks in the room, peering over.

"Yeah...I was holding it in for like...three days." He says rubbing his stomach.

"What? And if you had to go so badly, why was your bookbag outside?"

She asks, lifting the bag in her hands.

"The bathrooms...were all full."

Maya and Dani both stare at Kareem with a mixture of disgust and shock on their faces.

"Look—" Dani scoffs. "I get you don't feel the same way I do about you, but you had no reason to play me like this."

"Dani I wasn't—"

Dani gives Kareem his bag and walks out of the door. "Your cookie is in there." She says before walking off and wiping her eyes.

He sighs and slowly looks up at Maya and Azam who's peeking out of his bedroom door.

"What was that?" Maya gestures toward the door.

"I don't know, I honestly think she was overreacting."

"Kareem."

"I had something important to do."

"What was it that was so important? You can't even give a decent explanation? Everything you just said sounded extremely stupid."

"I really don't need to be reminded of that anymore today." He drops his head backward.

"You asked her— you know she likes you and you asked her on a date and then left. Is that not dumb to you?"

"It was NOT a date."

"What was it then Kareem?"

"Why are you so mad?"

"That's my best friend, Kareem and ever since you got back, you managed to make her cry twice. You said you wouldn't hurt her and here you are doing exactly that."

"What? She told you about that?"

Maya scoffs and shakes her head as she walks off into her room.

Kareem looks at Azam who's walking toward him.

"Look bro I know that was a lot. And you already know you messed up. But how did you manage to get TWO of the most tolerant people on earth mad?"

"She only got mad because she likes me. I really had something important to do. She couldn't really be around for it."

"Drugs?" He whispers, checking down the hallway.

"Wh— what? No!"

"Okay, but whatever it is, if you didn't want her around, you could've at least told her to wait or something. Girls do anything for a guy they like. She's trying to stay on your good side, so if you tell her to do something you think she's gonna do the opposite and risk doing that?"

Kareem shakes his head.

"You gotta be smart, bro. Sometimes you just gotta think a little before you make the next move man."

"Yeah." He whispers, softly nodding.

Kareem sits on his bed, looking at himself in the mirror.

"Dang I'm not even a superhero yet and I'm already messing up. It's not like I can just apologize again, this is twice now."

He stands, still keeping his eyes on his reflection.

He sighs.

"Do I...tell her?"

Daniel C. Forrest