Ch. 2: The Packages

POV: Kyle

By the time we got back to Dylan’s house, his family had already eaten lunch, and there were plates for us sitting at the table.

“It’s cold now, but I dished up plates for you boys so there’d be some left when you got back,” his mom said when she saw us from the kitchen.

“Thanks, mom,” Dylan said half-heartedly.

“Is everything alright? You boys were gone for a while. What were you up to?” She asked.

“We just went exploring and lost track of time,” I jumped in.

“And we’re really tired,” Dylan added.

“Ok, well I’ll leave you two be. We’ll be in the living room watching a movie if you want to join,” she offered.

“Ok, mom. We’ll probably just go up to my room after we eat,” Dylan told her.

“Alright. Are you going to sleep over tonight, Kyle?”

“Nah, my parents want me home for supper tonight. I have to spend some time at my own house,” I laughed.

Dylan’s mom laughed her gentle mom laugh, “Ok then; you’re welcome anytime.”

We quickly ate our cold mac-and-cheese and headed upstairs to Dylan’s room. Dylan immediately began rummaging through his desk drawers and I plopped down on his bed. After searching for a few seconds, Dylan pulled out a notebook and a pen, sat down at his desk, and began scribbling.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Writing down what I remember from the prophecy so I can make sense of all of this,” he replied urgently.

“Good idea.”

“What do you remember?” Dylan asked me when his scribbling ceased.

“Something about seven heroes, an eighth deciding their fate, saving the dimensions, and colors of the rainbow,” I recalled.

“It also said something about the prism choosing the heroes and giving them powers,” Dylan wrote as he remembered.

“Do you think we got super powers? Like real life superheroes? That would be awesome!”

Dylan rubbed his temples, “I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that right now.”

“Ok, so what else did it say? Something about the two of us starting the eight’s destiny, right? Am I missing anything?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s about all of it.” Dylan tapped the pen on his chin.

“But what does it mean?” I wondered aloud.

“I’m not sure, but I think the prism is the key to understanding this.”

“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I took it,” I said as I pulled the prism out of my backpack.

“You what?!” Dylan yelled.

“What? I figured it was important, so I brought it with,” I justified.

“Are you crazy? It’s like sacred or something!”

“The prophecy said that the prism chose us, so doesn’t that make it ours? Besides, it needs to choose six more people; how can it do that if it’s stuck in the cave?”

“I don’t know, but it’s never a good idea to take a magic artifact from its resting place. We could get cursed or something!” Dylan rambled.

“It will be fine,” I assured.

“How do you know?”

“I don’t.”

Dylan groaned and rested his face in his palms. Then, the door slowly opened, and a little head peeked through the opening.

“Dylan?” His little sister said as she came in.

“Yes, Amy?” He replied in an irritated tone.

“What are you doing?” She asked curiously.

“Nothing.”

Amy’s eyes widened as she looked at the prism in my hands, “Ooh, what’s that?”

“Nothing!” Dylan said nervously.

“It’s pretty,” She said and walked over to me.

“It’s a prism,” I told her.

“Dude,” Dylan warned.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh, I know what a prism is! It turns light into a rainbow!” She exclaimed proudly.

Something clicked in my head; when I made eye contact with Dylan, I sensed he realized it too. How did we not get the connection with the prism and the heroes being colors of the rainbow?

“We got to play with prisms in class last week. There were rainbows everywhere,” she continued, “Can I try it under the lamp?” She asked as she reached for it, not waiting for an answer.

“No!” Dylan and I yelled in unison as she grabbed it. We flinched, expecting it to shock her, but nothing happened. Amy looked at us like we were crazy, “What?”

“Nothing, just be careful, it’s fragile,” I tried to sound normal.

“I’m very careful,” she bragged.

She blinked her innocent brown eyes and flipped her straight blonde hair as she took the prism from me. Her tiny eight-year-old hands gripped the prism tightly as she walked over to the lamp on Dylan’s desk. She leaned over the desk to hold it under the light and smiled at the little rainbow on the wall, “See the rainbow there?” She asked.

“Yes, now will you put it down? Why aren’t you watching the movie?” Dylan complained.

“They are watching a baby movie with Hannah,” She whined.

“Well Hannah is a baby; you should be nice to your little sister,” He told her.

“You should be nice to this little sister!” She countered.

“You shouldn’t have barged in. Now go back downstairs; we’re doing big kid stuff.”

She pouted, “Ok, bye Kyle.”

“Bye Amy,” I waved.

Amy left the prism on Dylan’s desk and closed the door as she left. I laid back on Dylan’s bed while he reexamined the list and looked over at the prism.

“What do you think the prism has to do with the prophecy?” Dylan pondered.

“Well the prophecy said it would choose the heroes who are the colors of the rainbow, and like Amy said, prisms show the rainbow,” I reasoned.

“So whoever put this together was trying to make a pun or something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just symbolic.” I said with a shrug.

“This is all too weird to wrap my head around,” Dylan said in frustration.

“Yeah," I glanced at the clock above his desk, "oh hey, I should probably head home,” I said.

“You’re leaving in the middle of this?”

“Sorry dude, mom’s orders.”

I put the prism back in my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.

“Can you come back tomorrow?” Dylan asked desperately.

“Probably.”

“Okay, well, see you then.”

“Later.” I nodded.

I skipped down the stairs and said good-bye to Dylan’s family as I passed through the living room to the front door. Then, I walked down the street to my house to find supper and my parents waiting for me at the table.

“Hey sweetie, how was your day?” My mom asked as she scooped mashed potatoes onto her plate.

“Good, Dylan and I explored a cave; it was fun.”

“Find anything interesting?” My dad asked.

“Uh, not really,” I lied.

“That’s too bad,” he said as he took a bite of his chicken leg.

I grabbed my own plate and scooped myself a pile of mashed potatoes and cut up some chicken. The whole prophecy thing was kind of stressing me out, so I didn’t eat nearly as much as I normally would. My mom glanced at my plate and then to my dad.

“Is something wrong, sweetheart?” My mom asked.

“Huh?” I looked up.

“You normally devour chicken and potatoes; it’s your favorite. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just got a lot of things on my mind. I think I’m going to head to bed early tonight,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t press the issue further.

“Oh, ok. Goodnight honey,” Mom said.

“Night mom, night dad,” I said as I got up from the table.

“Night son,” dad said, face still in his food.

I walked downstairs and down the hall to my room and threw my bag on my bed. I took out the prism. It had stopped glowing after we read the prophecy, and now it just looked like a normal prism.

“What did you do to us?” I asked aloud as I looked it over.

I sighed and shoved it back in my bag and dropped it on the floor. After jumping onto my bed, I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. As calm as I tried to be for Dylan’s sake, I was freaked out. The idea of being a member of a superhero team sounded incredible, don’t get me wrong, but who was I to be a part of something like that? I pushed that feeling aside and pulled my covers over me. Maybe something would make sense in the morning.

I woke up to a knock on my door. With a groan, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My mom opened the door slowly, “Kyle?” she whispered.

“Hm?” I responded groggily.

“A package came for you,” she said.

“A package?” I tried to recall ordering something.

“The UPS guy just came to the door; he said it was an urgent delivery.”

I looked over at my mom and saw the box in her hands, trying to think of what would be inside. Why would it be urgent? I took the box from my mom and placed it on my bed. I looked back at my mom; she took the hint and closed the door. Slowly, I ripped the tape off and opened the flaps.

“Woah, cool,” I exclaimed as I pulled out the contents.

I held up the heather gray suit with blue patches across the shoulders, chest, and down the sides. It sort of resembled a wet suit. There was also a black belt with a few pouches attached to it, a blue mask, black fingerless gloves, and black boots. I quickly locked my door and tried on the suit; to my surprise, it fit perfectly. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I noticed that it looked pretty cool on me too. The deep royal blue matched my eyes and made my blond hair look almost golden.

It was an awesome costume, but I didn’t remember ordering it. Come to think of it, I didn’t even recognize it. What hero did it belong to? It didn’t even have a symbol on it. I wasn’t planning on going to a comic con until the fall, so why would I have ordered a costume already?

“Kyle,” My mom called from upstairs.

“Yeah mom?” I responded.

“Come get breakfast!”

“I’ll be there in a second!”

As I was struggling to pull the skin-tight material off, I elbowed a glass off my bedside table. Before I knew what I was doing, I had caught the glass midair. I paused and looked at the glass, did I just-?

I smiled mischievously as I got an idea. After taking a deep breath, I threw the glass at the wall across my room as hard as I could. I ran and snached the glass out of the air just before it hit the wall.

“Yes,” I cheered to myself.

I repeated it a few more times, my grin growing with each attempt, “I have super speed.” I suppressed my enthusiasm, “Wait, is this my super suit?”

Practically giddy, I threw the glass again, “Kyle!” Mom yelled. I flinched as the glass shattered against the wall.

“What was that?” She demanded.

“Nothing! I, uh, knocked a glass onto the floor.”

“Be careful not to step on any glass!”

“I will!” I finished changing and skipped upstairs.

My nose was greeted with the greasy, delicious smell of bacon. I dished my plate and began shoveling down mouthfuls of egg with bites of bacon in between. My mom got out the orange juice and poured each of us a glass. Dad was across the table from me reading the paper.

“So what was in the package?” Mom asked as she sat back down.

“Oh, just some new comic books I ordered,” I quickly fabricated a lie.

“But why did the UPS man say it was an urgent delivery?” She wondered aloud.

“He was probably just joking,” I said.

“I suppose… So, you seem to be feeling better this morning.”

“Hm,” I swallowed a mouthful of bacon, “Oh, yeah.”

“Well, that’s good,” She turned to my dad, “How’s your food, dear?”

“What? Oh, it’s fine, thanks honey,” He replied without looking from his paper.

Mom scoweled at him,“You’ve hardly touched it. Put down that paper and eat!”

“I’m trying to read, Sarah!”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Robert!”

I awkwardly looked down at my mostly empty plate and tried to pick up every last scrap with my fork. Luckily, the phone rang, so I had an excuse to get up, “I’ll get it,” I said, already at the phone.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Kyle!” Dylan yelled into the phone, clearly panicking.

“Dylan, are you ok? What’s up?” I asked urgently.

“Did you get a package too?” He asked.

“Yeah, isn’t it cool?”

“Cool? More like creepy! How do they know where we live?” He asked nervously.

“Who’s they?” I asked him.

“Exactly!” He yelled hysterically.

“Well, I think it’s awesome. I even discovered my power!”

“Me too,” He admitted quietly.

“Really? That's great, what is it?”

“Just… Just come over.”

“Ok, I’ll be there in a second,” I laughed and hung up.

I ran down to my room, stuffed the suit into my backpack, along with the prism, and ran back upstairs. My parents had stopped yelling- and talking altogether- and were now both eating their food grumpily.

“I’m going to Dylan’s,” I yelled as I waved goodbye.

“Ok honey, see you later,” My mom called as I ran out the door.

“Don’t stay out too late,” Dad added.

“I won’t,” I said while shutting the door.

When I got outside, I bolted to Dylan’s house. I was at his front door in a matter of seconds. My legs tingled, and I couldn’t contain my smile from the rush. Glancing down, I noticed the tingle was caused by a small flame that had started on my shorts.

“Ah,” I panicked as I patted the fire out, leaving a small burnt patch on my shorts between my legs.

I knocked on the door and Dylan’s dad answered. He was holding Hannah in his arms, and she giggled when she saw me; it made me smile.

“Hi Kyle, Dylan’s up in his room. You can go right up,” He said and stepped to the side.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile and walked upstairs to Dylan’s room.

Dylan was huddled in a ball under his covers shaking.

“Dylan, are you ok?” I asked with deep concern.

“Kyle? Is that you?” His voice was muffled from the blanket.

“Yes, but why are you under the covers?”

“No reason, but how did you even get here? I just called you a second ago!”

I laughed, “My power man! I have super speed,” I exclaimed.

Dylan quickly sat up and the covers fell off of him. For some reason, he was wearing sunglasses.

“Sh, dude! My parents don’t need to know about this!” He warned.

“Why not? It’s cool!”

“And dangerous! Do you want your parents to constantly be worried about you? Our parents have enough to deal with.”

“I see your point, so are we going to have, like, secret identities?” I thought of the alter egos of the heroes from my comics.

“I guess.”

“Sweet, we’re going to be like real superheroes!” I cheered.

“Yeah…”

“Ok, I know this is off topic, but I gotta ask, why are you wearing sunglasses?” I suppressed a laugh.

“Because of my power…” Dylan pointed to his lamp. The cover had two small holes in it with singe marks around them.

“Duuuude, you have laser vision?”

“Shut it,” He whispered through gritted teeth.

“Oh come on, how else are you going to explain this to your mom?” I asked.

“I don’t know… I’ll think of something, ok? I don’t want to worry them.”

“Dylan, you can’t just wear sunglasses all the time,” I laughed.

“Why not?” He asked defensively.

“It’s not going to do anything! Lasers will melt right through the plastic,” I told him.

“Whatever. What are we going to do? We’re supposed to be superheroes; that means we have to fight bad guys. I don’t know how to fight!” He freaked.

“We’ll figure it out, or maybe the mysterious sender of these suits will help us out.” I said.

“But how are we supposed to find him?” He asked.

“I don’t think we need to. I think he might find us.”

Photo Credit: Braxton Apana