I lay in my bed wearing a plain shirt and shorts, I stuffed my costume underneath my bed. My eyes are wide, looking at the ceiling as events from today keep repeating in my mind. It had been more than five hours since that incident ever since then I lay in my bed unable to do anything. I quivered at the memory of the feeling of my fist hitting the man who didn't even have the chance to react. He's a bad guy, right?
He probably deserves to get punched. That was the excuse I thought though that didn't lift the weight on my shoulders, not even a little. I thought of flying across the world to clear my head but even that seemed unappealing right now. This, this isn't right! Why am I here sulking when today was supposed to be my grand debut!
I was supposed to be seen as a superhero—an actual, real-life superhero, where I would be loved and seen as the coolest person in the world!
"Don't hurt me..."
The woman's voice echoed in my head. How did everything turn out wrong? I was supposed to save the day, this was supposed to be easy. I'm strong after all. The memory of the punch replayed once more, yeah I felt strong.
"Ben!" My Mom called from downstairs.
I could feel everybody's silhouette in the kitchen, it must be dinner time.
"It's dinner time, I made your favourite: Palabok!"
Normally I would've shot out of my bed and to the dinner table to eat my favourite dish. But right now I could feel grimace and exhaustion. I wanted to skip dinner. That would be suspicious though, I don't need my parents asking me questions. I reluctantly got off my bed, I stared at the ground for a long moment before taking a deep breath and headed downstairs to the kitchen. I arrived, sat on my seat and stared at the food that was already on my plate.
"Hey." My Dad suddenly says, prompting me to look at him.
It turns out, both of my parents are staring at me with a worried expression. Athena was busy slurping down the food while Poochie was doing the same with his kibble.
"What?" I say, trying to look composed.
"You don't seem excited eating your favourite food, did something happen today, Ben?" Mom asked.
The events earlier flashed in my mind and I shuddered by accident.
"N-no, nothing, I'm just tired from playing outside."
"Sweetie, you could tell us-"
Dad touches Mom's shoulder gently. They both give each other a look before Mom backs down. I mentally thanked Dad. Every time something is wrong, he prefers to tell me straight to his face rather than pushing for an answer, while my Mom does the opposite. Dad tried to lift the mood back up by talking to Athena about her day and Mom joined in while I remained silent. I blocked their conversation and instead focused on the TV
Dad enjoys playing TV in the background when doing some work or eating, today is no different. I looked down at my food chewing quietly as I just listened to the news.
"Six hours ago, Jessica Whiteman was nearly robbed by two masked individuals, but some random vigilante stopped the attempted robbery."
My head shot up as I stared at the screen with my eyes wide as dinner plates. It's not just me, it seems everybody on the table was focused on the news even Poochie stopped eating to look at the screen. The screen showed the woman from the back alley being interviewed.
"This kid was floating up in the air and punched one of the robbers away!"
"I see, so the kid was here to rescue you."
The woman hesitates "I guess that was the intention but, he was treating it like it was a game and while I am glad he saved me from getting mugged, that doesn't change the fact he nearly killed someone!"
The interview went on, and the woman was asked a few more questions. Like what I call myself, any physical descriptions and others. The screen then cuts off to a high-quality video of yesterday's event from an upper view. The video was inaudible, but it showed everyone and how I punched the man to get pounded to the ground and leaving the scene. Suddenly Dad turned off the TV, he rolled his eyes.
"What baloney."
I blinked. "You don't believe them? They have video evidence."
"It could be just a promotion for a new superhero movie and it's not just that, you can't trust everything on the news."
My sister seems a little down. "Aw, it's not real? It would be cool if it were real."
Dad shakes his head. "No not cool, if the video was read, with that punch he could've killed that person and the woman they interviewed seemed scared of this Big Justice, lame name by the way."
Ouch, still true.
"This person treats recusing lives like it's a game, that is bad. We already have law enforcement doing their job, we don't have incompetent superpowered freaks."
Mom nods along. That stung, I knew they didn't mean it personally. But it doesn't change the fact that it hurts. The worst part is that I couldn't help but agree with them, I stared at my hands. I still remember the sensation of my hands colliding with the man's body. I felt sick, I wanted to return to my bed, even the taste of my favourite food wasn't enough to lift my spirits.
"Hey, Mom and Dad. Can I eat this tomorrow? I'm kind of tired?"
As expected they seemed surprised, Mom asked if something was wrong and even Dad was trying to get me to talk. I shook my head and gave them a smile. I hope that I can make them relax. Just as I was about to head upstairs, I gasped when Athena hugged my arm.
"Hey, Benny you haven't played with me for a while! Let's play tomorrow!" She smiled at me, failing to notice my horrified expression.
Once again my mind flashes to the incident earlier, where even one punch caused that much damage to a grown man. And now my sister, so small and so fragile, clung to my arm. I couldn't help but think about it earlier, except the man was replaced by Athena, her soft and small body would not survive. She beams at me unaware even one wrong move could hurt her. How did I not realize this before!?
I could hurt my sister, and my family with one miscalculation. I tried to steady my breathing and I forced a nervous smile on my lips.
"O-okay, I'll try, can you l-let go? I'm really tired, Athena."
She complies, giving me another toothy smile before running back to the dinner table. I hastily returned to my room, my breathing no longer under control. My heart pounded, any faster it might just pop. I steady my breathing with some effort and looked around my room. And with my Mind's Eye I could see my family still eating.
In my perspective, everything had turned to glass. The walls, door, my family, everything became glass. One wrong move, just one push, everything could shatter. I gently lay in my bed clutching the blankets as tears swam all over my face. I felt scared, I was strong.
Strong enough to hurt all of them with a pinky. Everything was so fragile. I wanted someone to console me, to comfort me, or give me advice on what to do moving forward. But who's going to relate to someone who could destroy everything they touch? I remembered the woman's frightened face. Would my parents give me the same look if they found out?
I didn't want to know. I just want to sleep, but it escapes me. I imagined if I even shifted in the bed wrong my house would collapse. I'm so scared. I thought with my superpowers I could solve my problems away, that I will never be scared of anything anymore.
Instead, I'm frightened, no longer feeling a sense of freedom when I fly. I felt trapped, no longer having the desire to move so as to not trigger the apocalypse. I wanted to feel powerful, I wanted to be strong, but now I wanted to be weak.