Heroes: Book III

V

Peter's POV

"Love you, slowpoke," I told her before shutting the car door and jumping out onto the pavement.

She didn't notice, but I stood there in the middle of the road for a fraction of a second and just stared at her. I looked at every detail of her face and every color tone of her hair in the sunlight. She really is beautiful, in a way that makes my eyes hopelessly glue to her like stars or the TV on Saturday mornings.

I think about moving in with her. My hands begin to shake.

God, why can't I get my shit together?

I want to live with her. I'm not an idiot. But to be honest, I don't do adultish-type stuff all that well. I mean, Jesus, eighty percent of the things I own are worthless plastic cassette tapes and sneakers I've spray-painted silver. I hate trying to be normal at job interviews, and the thought of actually getting a legit, day-to-day job made me want to stab my eye out with a plastic fork. How was I, a doofus with zero money, zero plans, and zero potential, supposed to take care of someone as amazing as her?

I thought about it as the world froze around me. A flock of birds suspended in the air above. I unwrapped the Twinkie from my jacket and stared at them. They looked like they were stuck in Jell-O.

What if I just sold a kidney and bought her a house?
No. My kidney can't be worth that much.
Wait a second...

I looked back up at the sky. Little microscopic missiles were inching up into the clouds, streaking red like sidewalk chalk. I almost turned back to make sure she was okay. And maybe I should have. But something that needed a little more time had caught my attention.

Two fingers slipped into the pocket of my jeans and I looked at the bent business card, making sure I had gotten the place right. I squinted my eyes to see the mansion in the distance. Something definitely wasn't right. The missiles crossed my mind again. It could have happened again, she might need my help. I turned back to the weird fiery mass beginning to form across the lawn.

Just let me save this whole building of people, real quick.

I clicked the cassette tape I stole from the shop into my Walkman. A little surge of adrenaline rushed into my legs. My breath sharpened in some twisted form of excitement.

I found the source of the explosion in some weird shiny hallway. Jagged fractions of metal floated toward me. I laughed to myself at their harmless threat, flicking one away. I cracked my knuckles.
This is gonna be some work.

I had to move fast. Faster than usual. Firefly could need me, and I was also a bit curious to see just how fast I could go. I flashed to and from the front lawn, transporting people.

Monkey guy. Professor. Monkey guy's wannabe girlfriend. Random chick.

The wooden floor bowed into a crescent. Long beams of light and fire shot out through the widening slats of the panels. The intensity of the light reminded of one particular summer night with Firefly. Her hands in my hair. Her breath warming my neck.
I think I went temporarily blind that night.

Focus.

There was a sharp ringing. I looked over at a couple of goldfish flying in the air and swallowed them with a glass jar. I placed it into some girl's hands and placed her onto the faraway grass.

I threw some darts, nodding my head to the beat of the music. I shoved a piece of pizza in my mouth while collecting a dog under my arm, messing a kid's hair up on the way out of the dorm room.

Sometimes I wish I could bring her with me. Bring her to this world I'm in when I use my powers and time doesn't matter so much and you can see all the stupid looks on people's faces when their muscles contort all slow. I think she'd like it a lot, and we could also live like ten more lifetimes together, which is like worth a million rock albums.

I grab another girl sitting on the window sill. I steal her drink and wrap a bed sheet around two trees to catch a couple kids suspended in the air.

The last two students were frozen in the hallway, running from the fireball trying to eat them. I searched around but all the exits were flaming. Then I spotted a window at the end of the hall and a table. I smiled and ran forward.

Crash.

Millions of pieces of glass flew ahead of me as I soared on the table, backflipping off of it like a board and landing onto the stone railing. My heartbeat filled my chest, my head pounding.

I probably look so badass.

We went tumbling onto the forgiving grass and I rolled back onto my feet. The mansion finished exploding and everyone ducked for cover.

Nothing was left but the concrete of the foundation and black, burnt pieces of wood and stone. The people around me were confused, rubbing their heads and eyes. I slid my goggles up on top of my head, smiling and satisfied with myself, knowing everything that had just occurred in the past millisecond. I muttered under my breath at the smoking remnants in front of me.

"Wow."