I was on top of Mount Everest, I was just wearing my usual attire, and my costume was back at the house, I didn't wear it, it reminded me of what happened yesterday. I was trying to push down the guilt of leaving my sister alone after I told her we would play today. I tried to tell her, I was not in the mood to soften the blow, but the dejected look on her face made my heart break into two. She tried to smile probably so I didn't feel guilty though that only made me feel terrible. I felt like the biggest bully in the world right? The leagues are higher than Jimmy Bullard.
My parents tried to talk to me about my mopey attitude from yesterday, but I pushed them away. Poochie wanted to play ball with me, but I ignored him; hearing his whimper hurt me a lot. Lately, I haven't spent time with them since I discovered I have powers. I was too busy flying or planning my future career as a superhero, which was no longer an option. But I'm actively avoiding them, staying in this mountain to escape them.
"I suck." And I am.
I felt like an utter piece of crap I cannot believe I would even think about becoming a hero after this. I knew though that avoiding them is for the best, after all, one wrong touch, one wrong move they shatter like glass. Everything was fragile, it was like everything in this world was made out of cardboard. I barely got any sleep last night and when I did I had a dream I destroyed the CN tower with people still inside it. I knew it was just a dream, but their horrified faces as they plummeted to the ground chilled me to the bone.
This is no good. I don't want to spend my entire summer moping. I kind of want to read, though returning to the house was a bad idea. There was a library, a big one in the next town near Harvest Hills, it was actually where I went to the hospital. So I flew in the sky, to my destination.
As the wind hit my face, I looked down at the cities, buildings and people who I zoomed past. I couldn't see them, they were too small. Sure the right word would be too far, but in my perspective, they seemed so small, I felt I could crush a city in between my fingers. The very thought chilled my spine. I shake my head, heading faster to where I'm going.
While I no longer desire these superpowers, I would be lying if I said flying felt bad. The sensation causes bad memories to temporarily fade into the background. After three or five minutes, I arrived at my destination, making sure I landed somewhere nobody could see me. I entered the library, and I couldn't help notice how spacious and tidy it was.
Harvest Hills is a new town, so they have yet to build a library, though I heard it was in development. There weren't many people, and they were quiet, minding their own business—my kind of people. I tried to find any novels or graphic novels to take my mind off things, though none caught my eye. There was a manga section, but I'm not interested in those kinds of things. It's all just graphic imagery depicting women in revealing clothing.
No substance. Seriously the one time I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt hoping to find a cool story, only to find my eyes greeted with a dude having Hanky Panky fun with some demon lady. Traumatizing me and I swear to avoid manga and anime at all costs. Next to the manga section were comic books, your Marvel and DC stories. I would occasionally pick one when I'm in the mood though right now I didn't want to.
I didn't need to be reminded how much I screwed up yesterday. I scratched my head as I let out a deep sigh, frustrated at my fruitless search. My eyes shifted in a random direction before blinking a couple of times. Am I seeing things? But the silhouette from my Mind's Eye confirmed that she was indeed real.
There was a desk used for studying or reading books. And sitting on that desk was that robber girl from yesterday, she was lying on the table with her eyes shut. Even from a distance, I could see the dark circles under them. She must've not slept well like me. I carefully approached her before stopping almost instantly.
Wait, why am I even going to her? Have I gone insane? That girl has powers like mine and that scares me. I thought I was the only one with powers and so I felt invincible. That shattered completely the moment I was lifted before I was sent crashing to the ground.
While I didn't hurt at least not too badly, it doesn't change the fact that she scares me. Speaking of how and why she has these powers. Was she like me who got sucked to that portal and ended up in that place and I just missed her? Or did she get her ability in an unrelated incident? Either way, I'm very curious and I also wanted to know if her dad is okay.
I grimaced as what felt like the millionth time, that memory replayed in my head. Still, what do I say or what to do? Do I just wake her from her slumber? That seemed rude and I know my lack of social skills would just make her laugh at me. Or I piss her off and now I'm crashing into buildings helplessly as she uses telekinesis to use my body like a ball.
But, my need to know if her dad was okay overpowered any social anxiety I had. And so with a deep breath, I cautiously approached her sleeping form. Now that I took a closer look, the girl was beautiful. I don't notice this kind of thing in girls, usually, I give my affections to cartoon women. I'm not saying I suddenly have a crush on her or anything.
I'm saying she's pretty compared to the girls from my school. Another thing I noticed upon coming closer is her clothes. They seemed a couple sizes bigger than her and looked a little worn. She wore a large black shirt with an image of an electric guitar on the front. She also wore grey baggy sweatpants.
Overall, her clothes didn't fit her whatsoever. I took one deep breath before I carefully walked up to her sleeping form and nudged her slightly. My heart raced and my throat felt tight as she began to sturm, opening her sapphire eyes. She stretches her arms in the air as she yawns rather loudly. I bit my lip and resisted the urge to run away before she realized that I was here and with my speed, I could.
Just as I was about to give in, she turned to look at me. Her eyes are a little red.
"Oh, hello."
I audibly gulped.
"H-Hi..."
"Can I help you?"
She had that blank expression on her face. Even when we first 'Met' she had that distant look on her. Like she's looking at me but not really, it was kind of weird. It took me several moments to realize that she had asked me a question and I had not answered.
"W-well I-uh, um-" My brain had created several responses, but the amount of them made me panic so I said the first thing that sounded good.
"I'm B-Ben, nice to meet you!"
"..."
I wanted to smack my face, that wasn't a good answer to her question. What the heck was that!? Though, the girl's face continued to remain passive despite blunders.
"I'm Emily Shinichi, nice to meet you too, I guess."
Shinichi? That sounds Japanese, she kind of looks Asian. I'm guessing her other parent is white or something? That's pretty cool, I'd never spoken to a Japanese person in Canada. I heard there were only a few people here who were Japanese or of Japanese descent.
"So, can I help you?" Emily asks again.
I gulped, this time taking my time to carefully choose my words lest I humiliate myself in front of this girl again. My main objective is to know whether her dad is okay, but I can't exactly ask that for obvious reasons. I suppose I could just wing it and hopefully offhand mention her dad or something.
"I-is it all right if I s-sit with y-you."
Okay, Ben stop stuttering, it's talking not rocket science. Emily stared at me for a bit before glancing around us. At first, I was confused only to realize that there were lots of available spaces for me to sit down. I mentally kicked myself for not realizing the flaw of my plan. She looks at me once more, this time with a quirky brow.
"Are you hitting on me?"
I physically recoiled at her deduction. But honestly, I shouldn't, from an outside perspective and if you ignore that I'm ten years old and still think girls are weird. I do look like I'm hitting on her. First of all, I'm not and second of all I'm ten years old, can someone that age hit on a girl? Still, I couldn't help but redden at her accusation.
"N-no! I just wanted to sit here."
"With me, and with lots of other spaces available?"
"Y-yes."
Emily looked at me quizzically, which made me stiff in response. After a few awkward moments of us staring into one another's eyes, she shrugs.
"Sure, but if you don't mind, I'll be back to reading."
Emily broke eye contact and started flipping pages on a book I didn't notice she had. Her body must have hidden it during her little nap time. I awkwardly sat on a chair parallel to her. The table was small, only a bit bigger than the average school desk. And so we were kind of awkwardly close to each other.
Though Emily paid me no mind too busy reading her book to even take a glance at me. My eyes darted to the title of the book, which turned out to be not a book. It was a Manga, specifically a series called 'One Punch Man'. I frowned a little, I didn't think a girl would like manga. Isn't manga a boy's thing?
Wait, what the heck are you doing Ben? You're supposed to ask about her dad!? But how can I do that without outing myself!? I could already see Emily's eyes glowing as she launched thousands of books at my face. I bit my lip as I struggled with this dilemma.
"Don't know what to read?" Emily's voice called out, making me snap out of my thoughts as well as jump slightly, her eyes still glued to the manga.
"I saw you scrolling through the aisles, nothing interesting for you?"
"I-I guess..." I say back.
She hums. "Have you tried reading manga?"
"Uh, yeah I didn't like the genre."
"Really, what did you read?"
I paused, trying to recall the title of the manga I read. It was about a year ago and so I forgot the name.
"It was my first manga and had been a year and so I forgot the name but I remember the first page shows, uh, a guy doing scandalous things with a lady who turned out to be a demon...lady."
For the first time, I see a ghost of a smile crept in Emily's face. Her smile was tight and it quivered slightly as if she was trying not to burst out laughing. She finally looks at me with an expression, not of mockery but of amusement.
"Out of all the manga you could read for the first time, you read one of if not the most hardcore stories of all of manga? Bet you were traumatized a little."
I blush faintly rubbing my head. "More than a little."
This time Emily giggled and after a few moments I began to join her. After laughing like a bunch of goblins for several moments she gets up and tells me to wait here. A minute later she returns and gives me another copy of 'One Punch Man' manga. Except this time it was the first volume rather than the eight volumes she was reading. I gave her an unsure look which made her roll her eyes.
"Just try it, no harm in doing it."
Emily gives me another nod before returning to her seat and book. I looked at the book in my hands, it seemed like a superhero story, something I'm trying to avoid currently and add the fact it was manga. I wanted to put it back, but I glanced at Emily who was busy reading. I didn't want to be rude and honestly, I don't think I could get any info about her dad so I might as well give up.
That leaves me nothing to do once more. So I guess I'll just read this. So I read the manga known as 'One Punch Man'. I expected lots of mid-writing and many women with barely any clothing with large watermelons. What I didn't expect was for the story to be pretty good and epic.
I could especially relate to the protagonist, especially in my current situation. My eyes scanned the well-drawn pages with excitement. However, the mood was cut off when I heard a vibration. I blinked and looked up to find Emily fishing her phone out of her pocket. She put the device on her and murmured a hello.
It didn't take long before her usual impassive face turned into a grimace.
"I'll be there." She said coolly.
The way she says it sends chills down my spine. Emily got up from her seat, bit her lip and looked at the ground, I could see her eyes glow slightly. The lights flickered for a moment. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I opened my mouth.
"Are you okay?"
My voice brought her back to reality. Her face returned to her passive expression, though I didn't need good vision to see she was forcing it.
"Yeah, I just got a phone call from the hospital. My old man got into an accident yesterday, you see."
"Oh." I gripped the table.
My body felt heavy and suddenly I didn't want to read or even be here.
"Is he going to be o-okay?"
Emily was silent for several moments before slowly nodding. "Yes, he only had minor concussions and several broken bones, he'll live but he hasn't been awake yet. But they called me to let me know he's going to undergo surgery soon."
"I...see..."
A part of me wanted to sigh in relief that I hadn't murdered anyone, but the larger part made my heart grow heavy with guilt.
"Yeah, it's pretty crap. So I gotta go to the hospital to check up on him."
"Alright, don't let me keep you," I said in a hollow voice.
She stared at me for a moment before opening her mouth again. "Give me your cell phone number."
I blinked a little confused, but did what I was told. After exchanging contact numbers, she gives me another small smile. But I was still confused as to why.
"Hey, why did we just exchange numbers," I say dumbly.
Emily blinks. "Don't friends have to exchange their numbers to communicate."
I stared at her. "Friends?"
"Yeah, aren't we?"
I can't help but let a smile form. "Y-yeah, I guess we are."
Emily gives me one more curt nod before turning around, and waving me goodbye.
"I'll see you around, Ben."
"Y-yeah, I'll see you whenever..." I say back.
I kept on smiling even as she disappeared from my sight. However, as soon as she left the building, my smile dropped and the sinking feeling of guilt hit me like a train. What a joke. After so long, after trying my best to make friends at school, my first friend in a while had to be the person whose dad I put in the hospital. She seems like a chill and nice girl. Do I even deserve her friendship after what I just did?
As a selfish part of me wanted to hang out with her more, talk about random stuff or even Manga. Our encounter was brief and awkward but I couldn't deny that I wanted to be friends with her. But wouldn't that be messed up? She doesn't know I was the one who attacked her dad, while I do, but I continue to hang around her. I slump in my chair, utterly defeated and confused.
"I really do, suck."