The Accidental Superheroes

Ben

I have no idea where I am. I think that I’m in the middle of some wood somewhere. All I know is that I’ve been here for about a day. I can’t really remember much, it’s all kind of a blur. I just remember running faster than I ever have in my life. Hell, I ran faster than anyone has in his, or her, life. I remember being really, really tired. Like I had just run a marathon. Twice. I remember reaching here and thinking: ‘Stop.’ So I did. I literally stopped and collapsed.

I sit up and take a look at my surroundings. Trees. And rocks. I move forward a little and feel a pounding in my head.

“Oh shiiit.” I moaned. I cradled my head in my hands for a few minutes, waiting for the pain to stop. When it finally ebbed away, I stood up shakily and tried to get a better feel for where I was. There was something familiar about this place, I felt like I had dejavu, but at the same time I knew that I had never been here before. Odd.

I still felt like I wasn’t thinking straight. I put my hand up to my face, noting that the outline of it was blurred. I brought my hand to my nose to push my glasses up, when I realized that I wasn’t wearing any glasses. They must’ve fallen off when I was running. I guess having a super power doesn’t instantly give you good sight, because things were blurry and the shapes appeared to be mixing together. Oh well. I’d just have to deal with it until I could work out what was going on.

Suddenly I heard a twig snap behind me. I whipped around, and grabbed a stick off the ground. My hands were shaking slightly. What if it was some kind of bear? What if it had just awoken from hibernation, and was now hungry and looking for something Ben Redmond sized to eat? As you can probably tell, I’m not an expert on the wilderness. But then again, I had never needed to be. I heard the crunching of leaf litter underfoot, and then I heard someone curse. Do bears swear? No, of course not. I slowly lower the stick to the ground, and listen. Another swear word floats through the bushes, from a voice that sounds distinctly female.

“Hello?” I call out, tentatively.

“Ben?” I hear the other voice reply in surprise.

“Um, yeah?” The footsteps get quicker, almost as if the girl is now running. When she bursts through the bushes, my mouth drops.

“Angie?” I ask, “What are you doing here?” She is breathing heavily and has twigs and leaves caught in her hair.

“What are you doing here?” She asks me back.

“Same thing as you I guess. Just with less clothes.” I indicate to her bag.

“Right.” She looks nervous and scared, her eyes constantly darting back and forth.

“Angie, what happened?” She starts to speak really fast, I only catch a few words.

“Whoa, Angie, slow down.” I say, holding my hand up. She nods her head and takes a deep breath.

“Well,” she begins, “It all started when I went to your house yesterday, to see your mom.”

“Why did you want to see my mom?” I ask confused.

“Because I figured that no one had told her what had happened to you, and I know how much she worries about you.” I gritted my teeth. I knew that Angie was referring to the time in fourth grade where I forgot my lunch. My mom drove to school, ran through the halls and burst into the classroom holding up my lunch bag.

“This is Ben’s!” she exclaimed to the teacher, who looked a little startled. She then located my seat and rushed over to give it to me. I was known as Lunch Bag Ben for the rest of the year.