"Mack, you look like mess."
I slop into the penthouse, my boots still squeaking with monster slime and reeking of rotten eggs. My hair is in a wild tangle all around my face, my makeup blurred down the side of my cheek, and my clothes are all rumpled up. Normally I'd be offended but mess is actually pretty accurate.
My father is behind the counter in our kitchen, a lit up phone in one hand and wearing a finely pressed suit. I can see it in his face when the realization hits him, "Oh no, don't tell me you were downtown today."
"Was your first clue the slime or the smell? Because either way I'm in desperate need of a shower," I grumble, "I had to deliver those papers."
My father quickly puts down the phone and rushes over to inspect me for serious injuries, but thanks to super boy Finn I luckily have none. "I'm so sorry Mack. I had no idea that truck would tip over like that."
Um, excuse me?
"What truck? There was no truck. All these mo-" But my fathers already flipped on the news and showing is some story about how a giant eighteen wheeler crashed in downtown, spilling fuel and black sludge onto the main street. No monsters, no Finn.
The pictures are right in front of me but I don't believe it. I know what I saw. "That's not what happened," I tell my dad, "There were these giant sludge monsters like the size of mini vans that were rolling through downtown and I almost got eaten but this car falls out of the sky and..."
I stop when I realize my father is just staring at me. I must sound crazy.
"You sure you're ok?" my fathers asks, "Did you hit your head?"
I sigh. My father was not the type to believe the unbelievable. I could prattle on here all night and the only thing would me ending up in a mental hospital. "No, I'm fine," I say quietly deciding to keep todays events to myself. It sounds so silly when I say it out loud but I know what I saw. "What's all the food for?"
I nod to where behind him are huge boxes of takeout. Smells like that fancy Italian place down the block.
"Work dinner," he says. We live in a pretty nice penthouse in the center of Vertigo City and every now and then my dad has his meetings here. "You sure you're ok? I can cancel if-."
"No dad! Seriously I'm fine," I say, trying to muster a big smile. My dad was plagued with the curse of being a single father with a demanding job. I try my best to make things easier and not be too needy.
Mr. Flowers comes first. He's a portly man who has desperately been trying to hide his rapid balding for the last three years. He's worked with my father so long he even knew my mom. He says I look like her.
"Hello Ms. Mack," he says with a big smile as soon as he walks through the door, "Is that Marco's Pizza I smell?" I smile as he immediately moves closer to the food.
Next is Piper Green. She's younger then the rest, mid thirties with blonde hair always pulled back into a sleek ponytail. Piper gives me a hug when she greets me and then my father a hug which she holds just a bit too long.
"Hey Mackenzie! Junior year treating you well? The homecoming dance is coming up, right? I bet you're so excited." she flashes a row of pearly whites with her vulpine smile. Piper is deceptively smart for someone so pretty.
No one ever calls me Mackenzie but I let it slide and instead plaster a nice, fake smile back, "Piper! Junior year is the best. I'm totes excited for the dance. My dress is going to be ah-mazing!" Piper always does this thing were she talks to me as if I'm some air headed high schooler. I usually respond by playing along and then kicking it up a notch.
As the rest of my father's coworkers pile into our penthouse I grab myself a plate of food and retreat into the safety of my room. My father works at an accounting company, super boring stuff, but they act like they were creating life. Even though my father offered to make me a place I decline knowing I couldn't stand more then five minutes with that crowd.
Walking to my room, holding a giant plate of spaghetti, I stop in the hall where the picture of my mother is hung on the wall. She has olive skin, dark hair, and hazel eyes. We really do look alike. We have the same shaped eyes, our noses have the same little crook. In a couple of years I may look like my mothers twin.
Sitting down on my bed I begin to munch on my food in peace, repeating what happened today over and over in my head. Why would anyone try to cover it up?
It had all just happened so fast: the monsters, superpowers, Finn. It's like my brain can't even process what I saw. I should be freaking out right now. I should be telling my dad and the news and the F.B.I./C.I.A/W.T.F or whoever else is responsible for the unexplainable.
But my mind still lingers on the boy. He had been flying. He lifted an entire car above his head. Finn is definitely not human, but then what is he? My head is filled with images of costumed crusaders with capes and spandex tights and masks. Superheroes aren't real though... right?
Glancing out my window I try to think of some logical explanation, some reasoning but all I'm left with is the shining cityscape.
I don't like heights but the view is so great it cancels out any fear I have. I can see the everything from up here. We're thirty floors up and when I press up against the glass I feel like I can see where the bright lights of the city disappear over the horizon.
I hear a knock.
Only, it doesn't come from my bedroom door, it comes from outside.
A shiver runs down my back as I squint out into the night only to see a dark figure floating outside my window.
"Gah!" I scream, frantically running around my room trying to find some sort of weapon. In a last ditch effort I grab the desk lamp and hold it like a baseball bat.
"Hey, hey! Calm down its just me," a muffled voice says from outside my window. The figure flies closer and I can make out his features. Finn.
"Exactly," I hiss back, "It's you. The mysterious, super-powered boy who may have saved my life but that doesn't mean he's allowed to follow me home. How in the world do you even know where I live?!"
"Just let me in," he says, dark hair flopping into his eyes. He presses slightly against the glass and the window creaks and I silently curse myself for not locking it. Silly me, I just didn't think that someone would break in THIRTY FLOORS UP!
"No," I say, standing my ground. I saw this boy lift a car with ease yet I'm planning to hold him off with a lamp. Today is not the day for bright ideas, "You're not allowed in. I'm not sure if I gave you the wrong impression earlier today but we're not friends. I don't know you and in all honesty you're sort of freaking me out with the whole hovering outside my window thing."
"Mack I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't important-."
He slides the glass over and very slowly tries to step into my room like he's worried I'm about to explode any second.
"Dude, I said back off!" I swing the lamp at him and it shatter against his skin like an egg on the pavement. The pieces crash down to the floor and Finn just stands there looking totally unharmed.
"Uh, ow? Seriously though, stop you're going to hurt yourself," he says, "Look, I know I'm being super stalker-y but I need to tell you something and trust me you want to hear it. You saw some strange things today, things people are trying to cover up, don't you want your answers?"
I stand my ground with eyes narrowed. For some reason Finn is the one looking uneasy even though it should be the other way around. I should tell him to leave and never comeback to my house ever again.
"Mack? What was that noise?" my father calls from the living room.
I don't have much time before he comes to investigate and explaining to my father why I have a mysterious boy in my room late at night might be even harder then explaining why said boy is floating.
"Meet me on the roof in ten minutes," I whisper to Finn, "And you're telling me everything."
Finn grins before bursting off at super sonic speed.
"I'm fine dad!" I call out, "My lamp just, uh, fell."
I pause for a moment. Am I really about to do this? I saw what that boy can do, he's dangerous and I don't know anything about him except for the fact he saved my life. Is that enough to trust him? I should tell my dad or call the cops or even the entire army.
But instead I grab my coat and head up the stairs to the rooftop to get my answers.