Playing Super Hero, A Gifted and Talented Anthology

Stormy Night Part 1

It was a dark and stormy night would be the perfect start for describing the current conditions, John thought wryly. At least it was a Saturday when most of the children were home for the weekend with their families. Those that were left were feeling very jumpy as the thunder roared overhead. John Jacobsen normally would have been out enjoying the town, but the first responder unit had been put on standby. Storm warnings meant potential trouble. Prince and his other team members with family had been required to stay at the school in case of emergency.

The metal roofs were not helping as the rain pounding down sounded even worse. When the storm roared its fury directly over the school even John Jacobsen jumped. John smiled weakly. As the team adviser and one of the school's teachers, he shouldn't be showing nerves over a thunder storm, in his opinion. John realized if the storm was making him uncomfortable, the students were probably much worse.

His suspicions were confirmed as he opened the door and found Odds, Dreamy and Her Majesty huddling by the entry. Golden Girl was leaning by the wall across the way, showing her nerves only by the fact that she was floating six inches above the floor. Smiling at the girls, John went to close the door to another thunderclap. The girls shrieked and grabbed onto him as the lights flickered and went out.

John was grateful for the soft glow of Golden Girl's aura as he reopened his door and headed for the emergency kit, moving slowly as he had three children clinging tightly to his waist. Prepared for use by the team, it included multiple flashlights, which quickly reassured the girls. Grabbing out a lantern, John turned to the team.

"It looks like we have an emergency in the school. Her Majesty, can you activate the telepathic network to contact all children that are still in the school? Send those who can find their way to the cafeteria, while we can walk around to pick up those who can't see." John said.

Golden Girl looked over at Mr. Jacobsen, closer than she was normally comfortable. "I can swing by the boy's dorm and collect the children that are in the north arc of the school. My aura will help me see until I reach the boys."

After splitting up, John relied on Her Majesty to locate the children too scared to move. As he slowly gathered the terrified children, he met the other adults on duty with children in tow. After Her Majesty indicated that all the children were making their way to the cafeteria, John headed back as well.

The cafeteria was filled with the eerie glow of a swarm of floating lights. Will, the boy causing them, had a cluster above his head. The teacher's lanterns changed the lighting to a friendlier glow and brought comfort to the children already huddled in the large room. As the children started to get settled, Her Majesty pulled John Jacobsen aside.

"I just contacted Electrocutie. She said that the power is a real mess and that the power company expects that the school will be without electricity for several hours." She said telepathically, trying to keep the news quiet. "She says she has been dispatched to a major traffic accident. You know that means there are downed wires and she is the only one who can handle them safely."

John sighed. Electrocutie was a student who was assigned to work with the power companies. Her ability allowed her to be able to withstand electrical shocks and to be able to trace electrical flow. John called over the other teachers and filled them in. The ensuing discussion ended with the realization that they were going to need to keep a herd of terrified children busy for hours. John agreed to address the students with the problem.

John whistled to draw the children's attention. "I wanted to let you know that the power is going to be out for several hours. Since we are going to be together for a while, I wanted to get ideas of something to do as a group."

"We could tell ghost stories!" A boy yelled and was immediately vetoed by most of the other students.

Mrs. Betts, the English teacher then spoke up. "Telling stories would be a great idea. I think I have a way to get everyone involved. First I need everyone to write down a character or group of characters on a piece of paper. We will collect the papers and use them to tell a story."

She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a pile of cards and some pencils to write with. John chuckled. Only an English teacher would have writing materials during a blackout. Once all the students had written their character, the cards were collected into a jar from the kitchen. Then the teachers pushed the tables to the sides of the room and seated the children in a big circle.

Mrs. Betts then addressed the group. "How this is going to work is we are going to tell a story together. We will have one person start it by drawing out a card and telling about that character and send that character on a journey. The jar and story will be handed over to the next child who will draw another character who the first will meet. That child will add to the story before handing off to the next person. We will continue that way until we use all the characters. The person with the last character will get to end the story. Do we have any questions?"

Several of the children had questions. After answering the questions and explaining how the story worked again, Mrs. Betts finally asked for a volunteer to start the story. Whiz was the first one with her hand up.

Author's note:  I don't usually do multi-part stories but I found a contest with an interesting challenge.  As I am submitting the story, I will be breaking this down for ease of reading.  The good news for my readers is I am going to be publishing a lot in the next few days.  I will tell more about the challenge in the next parts.  If you are enjoying this story, be sure to vote so others can find it and feel free to add any comments you see fit.