November: I Might Be A Superhero

002: Weird quirks?

November's heavy eyelids fluttered open at the buzz of the alarm. He fully opened his eyes and then gazed right at the ceiling.

It seemed as though he was having a nightmare after all. But his brain felt like it got smashed and patched up. Like doctors did a craniotomy on him

It was morning and he was meant to prepare himself for school.

Another day of surviving in the hellhole with a bunch of bullies. He thought and then puffed out a distressed breath, and then flinched when he felt his body floating from the bed.

"Holy Dumbledore, this must be some sort of illusion!" He shrieked when he noticed that he was a foot away from the ceiling.

"Jesus H. Christ!" He scream, shuddering violently just as the duvet slipped from my body and fell back on the bed. "This isn't happening! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"November!" His ears went on full alert when his mom's voice boomed through the thin walls.

That means last night wasn't a dream? The alien ships and their missiles, ground breaking, buildings collapsing, people dying and the alive ones running to seek safety.

The pain in his brain that was affecting his whole body made him have flashbacks of a sharp tool from the alien ship, continually drilling hole in his head.

Why am I floating? He pondered deeply.

"No, this isn't a movie where the boy gets powers and becomes a superhero. This is a real entity in your life! You're just having some weird lucid dreams that looks and feels real. Maybe something is wrong with your brain, maybe the world is going crazy. Or it boils down to you losing your mind." He was soliloquizing with his eyes still closed, thinking when he open them, it'd all be over because he thought he was picturing the whole thing.

His mouth parted and a low heave escaped, just then he was taken by surprise when his body slammed against something.

"Dammit to all hell and back!" He cursed, opening his eyes to see his face getting crunched on the ceiling. And his hands were holding on to it for support.

"November! What's going on!?" Shit! His mom was ascending the stairs, heading to his room.

He flinched when he heard a knock on his door.

"November!"

"Go away, mom." His voice sounded muffled because the side of his face was glued to the ceiling.

"Why? I just heard you screaming." She persisted and he could swear she had her face twisted in confusion, "are you okay?"

"I…" he wanted to explain but couldn't fathom the words because he couldn't let her see him like that.

"That's it, I'm opening the door right now." She informed him.

"No!" He yelled.

"Honey, I just want to see if you're okay. You know with last night's drastic incident."

"No!"

"Are you hiding something?"

"No, no. I'm…I'm naked...I'm naked!"

There was a pause and he could tell she was trying to process his words.

"November?" Her voice suddenly rang out quietly.

"Mom?" He answered through frustration.

"Don't tell me you sneaked a girl into your room?"

"What!? No!" He exclaimed through gritted teeth. "How could you even think that?"

"Because you're freaking me out!" She defended herself, "Indiana experienced an earthquake, there were loss of lives and kids are being freaks. So I'm sorry if I'm being touchy and you dislike me for it, I just care about you too much," her voice mellowed down into sadness and care.

"I'm fine, mom. There's a gigantic boil on my groin, next to my Uhm..you know." He lied, blinking severally.

"Oh, that's surprising. Well, you could've just told me instead of making such a fuss. I'll call in doctor Stiles, you don't have to go to school today." Her voice was laced with worry.

"No, I'll self-medicate. Now would you just go away? I don't mean any offense but I have rights to my privacy." He carefully and respectfully let these words out, as he tried to take his hands off the ceiling, believing he'd fall back on the bed. But he didn't.

"Fine, just call me if you need any help."

"Okay,"

"Now hurry up and come down for breakfast, you don't wanna be late for school." With this, she left.

His mom was been struggling to make ends meet ever since their dad left them to be with a younger woman. They left everything in Alaska and moved to Indiana two years ago when November was fourteen. His mom foot every other house bill and provide food for the family, while he worked to pay for his tuition fees and other school expenses.

Slowly, November heaved in relief that she was gone. Then he felt the qurik pull him back down on the bed.

His mouth parted in horror when realization slammed through his ache-stirring brain that last night wasn't a dream. It was real with this alienship thing, deaths, the sharp tool that got installed into his brain.

Good God, what have I become? He wondered in puzzlement.

Gradually, he got out of bed, making sure he didn't blow anymore breaths because this quirk inside of him was highly stimulating to his senses.

To the extent that it activated itself when he drew in or released breaths.

November wanted to understand this thing and if the other teens last night got the same infection induced powers as he. He wanted to figure out a whole lot.

Jamming his fingers through his hair and then pulling it back, he paced back and forth for some time, before stopping in front of the mirror to stare at his reflection.

He was wearing his pjs.

Just how did he get home and snuck in bed last night? The last thing that occurred before he blacked out, was the sharp tool getting drilled into his brain and other kids were in the same position as he.

He took a peek through his window and saw the crack lines still on the ground, demolished buildings with smoke erupting, people walking around with blackened faces and dirt clothes.

What made him pause at the window was a headless body walking around. People recoiled and stepped backwards or ran away in fear. And November could feel his jaw dropping when the head took a high leap from no where and connected to it's body.

"Jesus!" November clamored.

A newspaper delivery boy who should be around his age, was swaying his head sideways as he rode his bike. He looked around at the houses and cleared his throat. Immediately, these newspapers started heading in different directions and landing at the doorsteps.

A wingless boy was flying without permit and several people paused to take footages of this.

Then another kid used his right hand to form ice on the rooftop of a burning house. Before letting it melt into water.

They broke out in a run when uniformed National securities began chasing them, catching who ever they could and shoving them into vans.

Something unbelievable happened as these teens used one quirk or the other to escape.

Could it be most teens in Indiana gained these quirks through the alien invasion last night? November was flabbergasted.

His eyes captured Macey Brightside through his window. She was a geek at school who had this obsession for aliens and got avoided by everyone like she had the plague because she loved fabricating alien tales with weird cringe-worthy drawings on her sketchbook.

She was November's neighbor, her room half a yard away from his. And most times they just stared at ourselves and communicated with paper sheets through their window when she raised her blinds up. But they never held a proper conversation at school because they were both the bullied and the freak. So they ensured to stay five feet away from each other at all times.

Macey was engrossly typing something into her system with her glasses hanging loosely on the tip of her tiny nose.

And as if sensing being watched by someone, her head rotated and faced his window.

November hurriedly looked away so there wouldn't be an exchange of eye contact.

His own quirk closed the curtains immediately, before Macey could see him. And his jaw touched the floor for the fifth time.

"Woah," he made this exclamation in amazement because it was strangely cool. But he was still trying to wrap his head around everything. The fact that Macey Brightside had a quirk too, she could whirl her head to face behind her.

"Can you try something else?" He spoke to his quirk because it felt like there's more to it. Like it can be controlled.

His hand unconsciously held itself out and formed a C, then his dirty clothes on the floor started floating.

November swallowed the sudden lump in his throat when his wardrobe opened and the clothes fold themselves before moving into the wardrobe.

"Cool." He blurted out, visibly relaxing his shoulders even though he was trying so hard to restrain himself from yelling the roof off in fear and overwhelming wonder.

His head turned to the vacuum next to his study desk, and he could feel his eyes hastily swaying sideways, controlling the vacuum as it sucks dirt all over the floor.

"What else can you do?" He breathed out, keeping his free hand akimbo.

His hand lowered itself down and faced the restroom door, slipped out his toothpaste and toothbrush from where he had them kept. Then it uncorks the lid of the toothpaste and spread its content over his toothbrush.

As much as he was frightened right now, he could not deny the excitement seeping through him.

He headed down for breakfast after washing up.

"-in which the extraterrestrial lifeforms invaded earth to exterminate and supplant human lives. Although the government claimed it was an earthquake and not alien invasion of any sort. The collapsed buildings and ground cracks were attributed to the devasting failure of the earth on this side. However Indianapolis residents are against this regarding to the loss of lives and properties. Kids around the age of sixteen are also being apprehended because they're with infection induced powers. The national security team are at work because these kids are a threat to the citizens." November overheard this from the TV and then paused to take a look.

There was a footage of a boy's tongue stretching outwards until it was 300 meters long and the width, 171 meters wide. A girl's black haired changed itself into white as she touched the brain of someone and his thoughts were shown like a movie. The second boy took of his dark shades and someone lost his memory.

"What in the world is happening to this town? Thhis is beyond unbelievable." November's mom muttered with her eyes welled up in their sockets as she kept her glass of coffee aside and averted her gaze to her son.

He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it. He repeated this action twice because his mom was staring at him like he was a freak.

"November.. " His mom attempted to speak but he beat her to it.

"Mom, how did I get home last night?"

There was a pause and more of stare exchange.

"On your bike? You pushed me away when I rushed to hug you. Acted like you got possessed by something. Even scared your little sister by standing in front of her like some statue at the museum. And then took high jumps into your mom like a crazed person." She paused then sent him an alarmed look. "I contemplated if my son was high on something, but I let it slide because no one would survive last night and remain sane." She paused and stood up, "don't tell me you have a virus in you like those kids."

"No, I don't, mom. I'm completely fine, just traumatized about the incident." November denied because he didn't want his mom to worry over him.

He discerned his quirk controlled his body the whole time. Majestically took him back home. It might be he was unconscious the whole time but it exercised its influence over him and drove his bike home.

Stacey, his four-year-old sister bounced in hugging a stuffed toy.

"Hey, Stace." November offered her a lopsided smile, trying to ease the tension because his mom was still staring at him suspiciously. He attempted to ruffle her blonde curls when she flinched like she got whipped in the back.

"Stay away, fweak." She frowned at him, showing him the gap where she had her two incisors missing.

November grind his teeth and took a step back.

"Manners, young woman." His mom directed this warning to his little sister and then turned to him with eyes examining him, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Just drop it already, I'm fine." He feigned irritation and moved away when she tried to touch his head.

"I'm skipping breakfast," he announce, grabbing a half granola bar from the dining table and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Have fun at school and be careful." His mom yelled after him as he closed the door shut. While he just rolled his eyes in their sockets because she didn't know he was that kid at school who got picked on by literally everyone.

If you're feeling down, November is there to be your punching bag.

Do you have a difficult assignment? Slam him against his locker and then force him into doing it.

You get detention for bullying him? Well, feel free to throw him into the school dumpsters during lunch break.

He gets picked as your partner during P.E? Always kick the ball into his face so he can feed on the flattened grass like a South African goat.

Do you want something epic during the first period at school? Put pure methyl glue on his seat and make him spend the rest of school hours trying to get his butt off the seat until he gets taken along with the seat outside school by the lunch monitors. And eventually gets his butt freed after being pulled out of his trousers.

November hopped on his bike and started heading to school when the school bus suddenly drove past him, and some kids pop their heads from the window to shoot him mocking looks.

"Hey, November. Eat this." Someone bit into a tomato and threw it on his face.

The impact made him tumble backward with his bike and sent them to the corner of the road.

Just then, he saw a toddler gradually crossing to the other side of the road to meet his mother, and there was a truck speeding.

Adults and kids are shouting at the top of their lungs in fear because the truck was driving close to this baby. Even the baby's mother had fear on her face as she ran to grab him off the road.

The truck driver was trying to stop, November can see him continually stepping on the brakes but it was to no avail.

November contemplated whether or not he should jump in and save the toddler.

'Do you think you're superman or something? You're just a normal hormonal teenager who might die in an attempt of risking his life for the baby's. His subconscious disapprovingly made this known to him.

But would he stay back and let the death of an innocent child unfold right under his gaze?

An energy builds up from the pit of his stomach and started to overwhelm his body.

Suddenly time held still for him.

And he could see and hear everything in slow motion.

Screams, the steps of the baby's mother, the flapping of a dove's wings as it flew.

November could feel his eyelids getting severe in blistering heat as it accepted the extension of an electrifying spark.

His pupils dilated and something incredible happened.

The truck slammed on the anchors as if it was slowed down by an invisible hand.

It went to a screeching halt inches away from the toddler.

And baby tipped his head to look at the truck and giggled as his tearful mother ran to pick him up.

A collective gasp erupted from the crowd.

Everyone was puzzled at how the truck went to an abrupt halt when it was close to knocking the kid over.

Miracles do happen, don't they?

Because there could've been an accident.

The chubby truck driver swore under his breath and hopped out of the car, with a bewildered facial expression as he went to see if the baby is okay.

But the person who is in a more confusing state was November

Did I do this? He pondered.

"No, that's impossible." He gave out a slight shoulder shrug because superpowers only existed in movies. Maybe he should get rid of this pent-up energy inside of him because it seemed like he was close to losing his sanity.

Shaking his head, he stepped on his bike's crank arm and continued his drive to school.