Fiction Fragment Friday
This weeks story started with the first sentence. It popped into my mind and I kept rewriting the next few lines in my head as I tried to wake up. In the end the story went in a direction I would have never imagined when I started writing it. I think it is a very solid story.
Tree branches crack and give way under the impact as I tumble through them. I can feel the scratches start to form as the last of my invulnerability wears off. This is going to hurt I think just before hitting the ground. I am right it does in fact hurt quite a lot. In fact, I am pretty sure I just cracked a rib on impact. Every breath I try to take feels like I’m being stabbed in the chest. The worst part is I can hear the thing that punched me coming through the forest knocking trees out of its way. I am out of my league here.
Today had started so well before it all went to hell. I woke up next to my girlfriend and just watched her sleep for a while. We had just made up the night before after a particularly contentious fight. As always, she felt neglected because I had missed an important birthday dinner with her parents. I couldn’t exactly tell her it was because I had been abducted by an alien race trying to use my powers to recharge their ships power cells. As I pulled a strand of her hair back behind her ear, I decided it was time to finally tell her. If I didn’t it was only a matter of time before I lost her.
Her eyes slowly struggled open and met mine. “Morning,” I said and could not keep the goofy grin off of my face.
“Morning,” she said, and I could swear that her grin was a mirror image of mine.
“I have something to tell you, but I need you to promise you aren’t going to freak out.”
She pushed herself up onto her arm. “Well, that’s not something a girl wants to hear when she first wakes up.”
“I know, but I’ve waited too long already.” I took her hand and leaned in kissing her forehead. As I pulled away to stand, I couldn’t help but wonder if that would be the last time, I got to hold her hand. “Maybe it’s best if I show you.” I took a deep breath and tried to push away the nervousness. It was time. Focusing my power, I started to slightly glow from my invulnerability field and hovered two feet off the ground.
She gasped and pulled the covers up tightly around herself. “You’re Cobalt,” she said realizing the secret I was trying to share. “So much makes sense now. That’s why you’re so flaky.” I couldn’t decide what the expression she was giving me was and it was making me nervous.
I just floated there letting her take it all in. Honestly, I had no idea what the right thing to say was. I thought about apologizing for keeping it from her, but I had my reasons, and I wasn’t sure that telling her was the right thing to do. Knowing my secret would be dangerous. Then again as I thought about it she had been in danger a few times because of me without ever knowing that I was the cause. I suppose she deserved to know.
I floated back down to the floor and let me invulnerability field drop. I decided to take a tentative step towards her and try to gauge her reaction. When she didn’t flinch away I crawled back onto the bed with her. I tentatively reached for her hand and let out an audible sigh of relief when she didn’t pull away. “I love you,” I told her and gently kissed her.
“I can’t believe all this time…” She had not taken her eyes off of me. “How did I now figure it out? Am I an idiot?”
“No baby, no. I’ve been hiding this since I was a teenager. I’ve gotten really good at it. You are the first person I’ve ever told.” I left out telling her about the handful of people who had in fact figured it out over the years.
“Why now?” She asked and I knew that now was the perfect time.
I reached over into the nightstand and pulled out a small box. “Because it wouldn’t be right for me to ask you to share my life only knowing half of it.” I opened the box to reveal the most expensive piece of jewelry I had ever purchased. “Will you marry me?”
The tears came to her eyes and it was a full minute before she could speak through them. “Yes,” she finally managed to get out before putting her arms around me and kissing me. “Oh wow I’m going to be a Superheroes wife.”
Thinking back to that moment gives me the strength I need to stand up. My legs are wobbly, my vision is slightly blurred, and I can’t quite bring up my invulnerability field. I’m standing though and that’s a start. I need a plan and I need it fast because the thing is coming, and backup isn’t. I focus all my power on healing. I can’t think straight with each breath hurting like this so that’s priority. It takes all my concentration, so I am barely able to duck out of the way of the tree being hurled at me.
I’m almost tapped out by a single punch from this thing. My struggles for breath give me an idea. I’m only going to have one shot so I need to make it count. Flying through the air I focus every last bit of my power into a single energy blast aimed at the creature’s throat. As long as it needs to breath this might work. I unleash all the energy left in a single point blank blast. It is as effective as I hoped it would be. The creature drops to the ground holding it’s neck. It is passing out, but as my vision starts to fade I realize I am to. I just have to hope that I wake up before it does.
Leave a Reply