Superheroes Suck

Chapter 20: Secrets Unveiled

"Nothing too special." Murphy shrugged, "It's fancy which may seem exciting and amazing, but what I have in expensive things and I make up for with lack of parental guidance. That's something I envy about you and Penn."

"You mean Penn, since I haven't seen my parents in a week. My father in a month before that. My mother is a lot better about checking in and telling me she hasn't died in a fiery car crash yet. She makes sure to text me at least every other day."

Suddenly Murphy's face fell, "Seriously?"

"Unfortunately," I grumbled, "I guess we have a little more in common than you thought, minus a swimming pool in my bathroom. You've got me beat there."

"Yeah." Murphy still seemed a little shaken by my words. "Why don't we go to my room. No pool but I have a pool table?"

"I'm guess Penn didn't tell you about the time we snuck out of Geometry."

Penn certainly had not. Unfortunately for Murphy, he was unaware that Penn and I snuck out and I conned two bikers out of fifty dollars each at some dive bar on the outskirts of Belhurst. Murphy stared open mouthed as I sunk ball after ball, winning four times in total before I decided to head home.

Neither of my parents were expected home, but I still had a few shows I wanted to catch up on. It had been a long day overall, I deserved a little time to myself to decompress.

Murphy offered to walk me over, but I decided I was fine on my own. There was no reason he had to walk me down the street when I was perfectly capable of doing so myself. The sunset fell over the neighborhood, so I made my way home unwilling to dilly dally in the night. My neighborhood was fairly safe but, it's still pretty frightening walking alone at night.

I found my front door unlocked and surprisingly, most of the lights on the first floor were turned on. There was no way I had left everything on, it had been day when I left so there was no need to turn on anything. That left two options, either someone had broken into my home or one of my parents had arrived home. I wasn't sure which was worse.

Carefully, I walked through the house cautious as I tiptoed through the front foyer My heart beat louder with each step, and nothing I did could quell my fear. Sounds were coming from the kitchen and despite every fiber of my being screaming for me to turn around and flee, I continued on towards the dimly lit kitchen.

I peeked around the side, trying to plan out how to react to whoever or whatever was in my kitchen. Inside of a burglar, or some Super-fied, I found my mother sitting at one of the island seats chomping down on a bowl of chips.

"Mom?" I stepped out into the doorway.

The chips flew all over the and my mother stared up at me, wide-eyed. "Noves? I wasn't expecting you home yet." She wiped her eyes and glanced at me. "I think there are a few things we need to discuss. Why don't you grab a drink and we can sit down in the living room. Talk there."

"Okay." My mother breezed past me without another word.

I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it to the brim with some sugary drink. God knows I was going to need it for whatever my mother had to speak to me about. Having her home this early was a bad sign itself but she only wants to talk to me when something is really wrong. The last time I saw her for more than a few passing moments was when she and my father, in the same room for the first time in a while, confronted me after my near death experience.

She sat on the couch closest to the door, leaving me to choose the one directly across from her. I placed my cup on the coffee table between us, careful not to spill any. For the first few moments, we sat in completely silence, each waiting for the other to break it.