This is a short story I thought up a few days ago about a very uninterested young man discovering he has superpowers.
Hope you enjoy it.
Waking up with the ache in my neck is always followed by the self rebuke I have grown accustomed to. Never fly horizontally. How the hell am I back in this situation after taking several days off to cure the previous ache, only to wind up back with an even worse neck ache.
I blame all those Superman comics and movies for making me believe the normal way to fly was lying flat once I was in the air. Oh my, and the bugs that get in my eye and mouth when I have to take flight on short notice. I once considered going around with goggles but I figured that would draw suspicion to me. Who goes around this city holding goggles.
I’ve tried to remind myself to move forward vertically you know, like the magneto guy in the X-Men movies used to do. I tried it for a while, it made me look graceful in the news when I caught updates. Like the time I foiled that kidnapping a few months back. I had no idea there were cameras recording but after demobilizing the car and disarming the 3 kidnappers from afar with Telekinesis (yeah, I can do that too) I really couldn’t be bothered. I was on my way to buy Shawarma when I got wind of the kidnapping so the main reason I levitated was to check if the shop was still open.
The news keeps calling me a superhero or some kind of Alien. If only they knew I had no idea where these abilities came from, or that I really didn’t want to have to deal with them. Like, what in the world does a guy like me who is only interested in watching Anime by himself all day doing with special abilities like super strength, telepathy, psionic blasts, flight, telekinesis and whatever it is I haven’t even discovered yet. I haven’t been in a fight before so I don’t know if I am invulnerable. Too scared to test myself to find out, and no, I don’t have friends like the characters in the movies and shows have, so I’m not even sharing my secret with anyone. I fear my security guard knows. He’s been looking at me funny and snooping around since I discovered my powers. I really am not sure I care. To be fair my first psionic blast took out his antenna.
Back to the foiled kidnapping. I managed to wear a baseball cap and tie a scarf around the lower part of my face because it happened close to my flat and the last place I needed people knowing I had developed superhuman abilities was in my neighbourhood. The 3 kidnappers were more stunned to see their guns being pulled into mid-air by an unseen force than realizing I was levitating in front of them. Seems they had so much faith in those guns. I wasn’t going to take any chances. Dispatching them was too easy because I don’t believe they had fully recovered from the initial shock by the time I had tied them up with wires. I took off before the poor girl I rescued could reach out to me but I heard her scream an emphatic “Thank you!” as I flew further away.
I live in a congested city of over 18 million people, how the hell am I going to find an isolated place to understand the full extent of these powers? Wait. Clark Kent had his fortress of solitude. I’m seriously thinking about this. Hell no. How do I fly all the way to somewhere like the North Pole? I never even studied science in school. I’m just a copywriter. Who watches anime. Who enjoys staying by himself. In Yaba. Some of the touts I see on my way to work look like they have superpowers already. I don’t need this added complication.
Can’t fly facing down, that’s for sure, can’t practice in the ‘serene locales’ of Ebute Meta or Oyingbo. So I checked google maps in the afternoon to check out favourable locals I could attempt to fly to. At least that way I’ll figure out how fast I can fly as long as it’s not too far. Pulled up pictures of the Mambilla Plateau. Sick.
I started to think about what it would be like flying over there. How high I would have to fly to avoid being detected or running into any passenger planes. I wondered what my destination would feel like. Would I have to wear thick clothing so I didn’t catch a cold on the flight to or from Mambilla? I soon started to feel sleepy so I figured I would take a nap. I lie down on the living room couch and the pictures I looked at on my computer screen keep playing in my head. I’m imagining the rolling hills covered in greens. I wonder if I will run into anyone.
Now I’m startled awake by something moving around me, I’m reaching for my phone as I become aware of the movement. Thieves broke in? I usually don’t get unannounced visitors. I smell grass as I open my eyes. My head isn’t resting on anything I would call soft, there’s dampness to the surface beneath me, no phone. As I sit up I see sheep all around me, they are trying so hard to focus on the grass that is their nourishment but my sudden movement has forced them to disperse. I am OUTSIDE. Morning dew and a light fog fill the air, but I see the shepherd walking towards me, speaking what I quickly assume is Hausa but I don’t even understand a word in Hause asides ‘aboki’. I don’t even say that. All I scream out loud is “Fuck! I can teleport?”
