Power Shift (Book 1)

Chapter 8: The Ones Who Knock

Winning Choice: “I’m going to slip out the back and see what’s going on.”

“I’m going to slip out the back and see what’s going on,” I tell Nicole, already dashing to the back door. 

“Brandon,” she calls after me. “The police have really been great in this. Don’t do anything crazy, okay?”

I give her a half nod, more that I heard her than I really agree. The guys at the warehouse said there was a group that planned all this, and for all I know the cops could be part of it. Spinning as soon as I step out of the back door, I leap onto the roof. If there is something about to go down they may be looking for me on the street, but I doubt they’re looking for me up in the air.

Our place is a small, single story house with a tile roof that’s pretty easy to walk on without slipping traction. It’s not as easy to do it without breaking a tile, I discover, as one cracks under my feet. Who knows how many chores piled up on my list while I was gone, and I’m just adding to them. 

Crouching down to look less conspicuous, I do a kind of a crab walk across the roof to avoid breaking any more tiles. I make my way to the spot right over our front door. Nicole apparently didn’t wait after I bolted out the back because I can hear voices. No luck with my new ears hearing exactly what they’re saying. They’re probably at the doorway under the eve which is muffling the sound from up here. I’m going to have to get closer.

I don’t see any police cars on the street, or anything going in out front yard. I inch closer and closer to the edge, straining to see what’s going on without falling. I hear two male voices, and I can almost make out what they’re saying. They’re asking Nicole about… Jesus?

I blink, and see two young men walk away from our door, waving back to Nicole. With matching black pants, white shirts, and black ties I realize that I’m on my roof ready to pounce and attack a couple of Mormon missionaries. 

The tension drains out of me, and I’m just about to hop down when I hear a car engine start. Down the street the blue sedan I saw earlier pulls away from the curb. It was behind a tree and I couldn’t see it from here up here, and I forgot all about it! It drives slowly past our house, down the street, and turns right. With the tinting on their windows I still can’t see who is inside or if they see me up on the roof, but I freeze in place. 

It’s pretty clear the paranoia is getting to me. I almost took out a couple of kids while the real thing I should have been worried about got away.

The Mormons have disappeared off to their next house so I drop off the roof onto the walkway and go inside. Nicole is waiting for me. She holds up a Mormon pamphlet and gives me an Are-You-Happy-Now look complete with raised eyebrow. She drops the pamphlet on the table.

“Fine,” I say. “Let’s go to the police.”

After a shower and some fresh clothes we drive over to the police station. On the way we try to get our story straight.

It’s always good to keep a lie as close to the truth as you can, so we agree that I don’t know who did it or why, and I woke up disoriented and made my way home. That’s mostly true. What we change is the part of town where it happened, the experiments they were doing on me, and, yeah, we leave out the super powers.  

“The main cop I’ve been talking to, Gorman, he really seems like an honest guy. I wish you’d consider telling him the truth,” she says.

I stare out the passenger window. Nicole’s driving in case the police want to keep me longer for questioning. I really hope they don’t. “There’s just no way I can see that ending well,” I tell her. “I’d end up at worst a lab rat for government experiments, or at best be on the run for the rest of my life.”