I could not believe how fruitless my efforts had been, how dumb my actions had been. I had been wrong about Dylan, he did not have the bracelet. But what if he did not have it? Then who did?Out alone in the middle of nowhere, I hurdled through the night. I was still in my shadow form, unable to return to my normal self. Apparently, I had stayed in the form of Shadow Man without my bracelet for too long and now, I could not just get back to normal. That was the only explanation. Han Eduardo did say that the bracelet was left by mother just to protect me. How come I never realized this for three whole years?"I have been so ignorant..."Perhaps it would take a while before I can be Jude Rutherford again, so I decided to take a walk in the night, away from anyone's eyes until I am able to switch form again.Dylan would have returned home by now. If he told anyone about what happened tonight, about his encounter with Shadow Man, there was very little chance that anyone would ever believ
"I know your secret, Jude. I know all about it."My heart beat violently in forceful rhythm, I could hear it as loud as I could hear my breath. Ariana was staring straight into my eyes, expectant. If she knew about my secret, then it would be a disaster. I had always kept it from her, I had always kept it from everyone.How did she even know about it? Did she see me change from Shadow Man to Jude the other time? The time when I was standing in front of her house?A thousand thoughts were running through my mind, none of them telling me the answers."So you mean that you know I am sha...""You have a crush on me, don't you?"My words were nipped in the bud. So that was what it was about. Not about Shadow Man. But about my feelings for her."You figured that out...?""No." She shook her head. "Dylan told me."What? Dylan? I knew I should have left him in the hands of Rico. He never ceased to aggravate my problems, the bane of my soul in every ramifications.He not only teased me every
The past few days have been absolutely weird. I mean, even though the past three years was decorated in all shades of weirdness, coloured with the emergence of mutants and fragranced with their heinous crimes and horrifying actions, there was still some limit to how much shocked I would be.But ever since Han Eduardo showed up as another Shadow Man, wearing my outfit, everything collapsed.Since then, a lot of weird things began to occur, putting me at the edge of my seat every now and then. First, Shadow Man died. I died! Technically, Han Eduardo was the one who died but somehow... I died too.Then father decided to stay home with us. Like, who would have thought my father would one day decide miraculously that he needed more time with his family.Also, Ariana had a proper conversation with me for the first time... That was a win but still weird. Dylan ended up getting himself into trouble with dangerous mutants. Even fat Christy happened to be losing some calories!!To make matters
"What are you doing, Jude? Why are you still up?" Mrs Ricochet was standing right by the door. In her eyes was suspicion, a deep and fixated one. It was as though she knew what kinds of games I was up to."Nothing. I just could not sleep."The bracelet box was right behind me, hidden by a small emerging shadow of darkness which I created. She could not see it yet but I think she knew."I heard some footsteps outside. Did someone follow you to this place?" She was speaking in whispers. Something must really be going on."No one. Nobody..." I came here all alone. There was no way...Bang! Bang!! A noise came from the main door. Someone was knocking."Stay here!" She turned around in alert, walking slowly towards the door.I was not a kid who listened to instructions. Of course, I followed her in secret.Mrs Ricochet peeped through the security cameras, she gasped with happiness on her face. It felt like she just saw someone whom she had not seen in years."Honey..."I heard her even th
"Jude! Get your stupid legs off my school bag at once!!"That was Christine screaming at me. Or as everyone else called her, Fat Christy."Get! Your! Stupid! Legs! Away!!!" She kicked me so hard I could not hold it in anymore."Try and be nice, will you? It's not my fault that the train is about to crash!!" I yelled back. Our lives was at stake here but all she cared about was her twenty five dollar bag, or perhaps the steaming hotdogs she stuck in there.And you heard me right when I said the train was about to crash. More and more evil mutants had emerged in recent weeks, filling up the streets of Twillightoria. And for some unknown and ungodly, unreasonable reason, they had chosen to officially make going after high school students the top option on their crime priority list."Ahh!! We are gonna crash!!!" The scream of my school mates flooded my ear balls again. The rail had finished, or rather there was a hole seperating the two parts of the rail ahead. This was probably caused by
Getting to school today, my problems only grew worse. Everyone kept singing the praises of Shadow Man, the fake one obviously. And it felt as if they would never stop. In the class rooms. By the school kitchen. In the principal's office. In the rest rooms. At the basketball court. Even right beside my innocent two ears, I could hear people screaming."Shadow Man this! Shadow Man that!"They kept talking about the imposter while the real one was walking among them. But they never noticed, not even for once. They never noticed me."Today we were saved from the curling grasps of death by none other than our beloved hero of Twillightoria - Shadow Man." Ariana declared to the juniors who had gathered around her like listening sheep to listen to the marvelous tale of the miracle which we had endured today. Did I say that Ariana was a good story teller? A perfect one at that. She took her time to properly analyze the electrifying moves and the extremely cool methods which Shadow Man used t
"Jude Rutherford!"He just called my full name? I turned around in suprise, and right there before me stood a shadow with white eyes and a dark, almost invisible body."Or should I say... Shadow Man?""How do you know my full name?" I responded with a sharp glare, ready to step into a fight."My name is Han Eduardo. I know many things about you, bro. Even things that you do not know."Such a weird name, no wonder he wants to be Shadow Man. And Bro? He just called me bro! This guy must be some psycho. He stole my style, my identity, my shadow occupation, he even stole my signature stance. And he thought he could call me bro? Just like that?"Yeah? Well it is good to know that you know all that about me, that means I can go all out on you!" I registered, ready to fire into my combat mode."We don't have to do this." He uttered in cowardice, trying to avoid the fight. "I have just come here to talk. You need to know that we are on the same side..."That was just an excuse so I could not
As I walked back home on the lonely road, the saddening memories of my mother's death replayed in my mind. It was seven years ago, summer had just come and the sun shone beautifully through my little window. Mother was baking a cake for my tenth birthday when a dark cloud hovered above our house.I thought it was going to rain, and it rained chaos.A giant figure was standing by my door, peering at me. Terrified, I could barely move. I only shivered in horror, my heart doing its job like an overworker.My mother appeared behind the figure, she was shocked like I was. But she got over it quickly."Don't you ever touch him!" She threatened, ironically.As the intruder saw her, he focused his attention away from me."Where is it?" I heard him say."I have nothing to give to you."From my bed, I watched as he towered over her, edging closer with each step.I remember myself thinking in that moment, "If only father was here... if only father was here..."But he was not. He was never there
"What are you doing, Jude? Why are you still up?" Mrs Ricochet was standing right by the door. In her eyes was suspicion, a deep and fixated one. It was as though she knew what kinds of games I was up to."Nothing. I just could not sleep."The bracelet box was right behind me, hidden by a small emerging shadow of darkness which I created. She could not see it yet but I think she knew."I heard some footsteps outside. Did someone follow you to this place?" She was speaking in whispers. Something must really be going on."No one. Nobody..." I came here all alone. There was no way...Bang! Bang!! A noise came from the main door. Someone was knocking."Stay here!" She turned around in alert, walking slowly towards the door.I was not a kid who listened to instructions. Of course, I followed her in secret.Mrs Ricochet peeped through the security cameras, she gasped with happiness on her face. It felt like she just saw someone whom she had not seen in years."Honey..."I heard her even th
The past few days have been absolutely weird. I mean, even though the past three years was decorated in all shades of weirdness, coloured with the emergence of mutants and fragranced with their heinous crimes and horrifying actions, there was still some limit to how much shocked I would be.But ever since Han Eduardo showed up as another Shadow Man, wearing my outfit, everything collapsed.Since then, a lot of weird things began to occur, putting me at the edge of my seat every now and then. First, Shadow Man died. I died! Technically, Han Eduardo was the one who died but somehow... I died too.Then father decided to stay home with us. Like, who would have thought my father would one day decide miraculously that he needed more time with his family.Also, Ariana had a proper conversation with me for the first time... That was a win but still weird. Dylan ended up getting himself into trouble with dangerous mutants. Even fat Christy happened to be losing some calories!!To make matters
"I know your secret, Jude. I know all about it."My heart beat violently in forceful rhythm, I could hear it as loud as I could hear my breath. Ariana was staring straight into my eyes, expectant. If she knew about my secret, then it would be a disaster. I had always kept it from her, I had always kept it from everyone.How did she even know about it? Did she see me change from Shadow Man to Jude the other time? The time when I was standing in front of her house?A thousand thoughts were running through my mind, none of them telling me the answers."So you mean that you know I am sha...""You have a crush on me, don't you?"My words were nipped in the bud. So that was what it was about. Not about Shadow Man. But about my feelings for her."You figured that out...?""No." She shook her head. "Dylan told me."What? Dylan? I knew I should have left him in the hands of Rico. He never ceased to aggravate my problems, the bane of my soul in every ramifications.He not only teased me every
I could not believe how fruitless my efforts had been, how dumb my actions had been. I had been wrong about Dylan, he did not have the bracelet. But what if he did not have it? Then who did?Out alone in the middle of nowhere, I hurdled through the night. I was still in my shadow form, unable to return to my normal self. Apparently, I had stayed in the form of Shadow Man without my bracelet for too long and now, I could not just get back to normal. That was the only explanation. Han Eduardo did say that the bracelet was left by mother just to protect me. How come I never realized this for three whole years?"I have been so ignorant..."Perhaps it would take a while before I can be Jude Rutherford again, so I decided to take a walk in the night, away from anyone's eyes until I am able to switch form again.Dylan would have returned home by now. If he told anyone about what happened tonight, about his encounter with Shadow Man, there was very little chance that anyone would ever believ
Network man was some crazy maniac with the ways he attacked me, different styles and different methods which I had not seen before, but I just had to stay on my feet.My battle with him was stale, because even though I had the advantage of the dark, I did not want to tap into the darkest of shadows so I would not go out of control. The black bag was still with Dylan."I just need to collect the bracelet and wear it. Then I can take this guy out!"I thought it would be easy, but Dylan proved me wrong."Give it to me!" I landed right in front of him, trying to collect the bag.But that nimbo was just too stupid to understand that his life depended on this, and not on the money he was hoping to receive."No, I can't!" He declined, foolishly."Listen to me, this is important..."I tried to convince him, but Rico was coming behind me again.Swarm!!I dashed back to defend the large electromagnetic wave of attack. But another one followed right after, I was not able to defend this one. It
The time was 8:55pm. At Stephanie Lane Subway.I was hanging within the darkness, waiting for my cue.Dylan was right there already, oblivious of my presence. He was waiting for the men who had struck a deal with him on phone, they would be here in five minutes. But I could see the signs of panic in him. He knew that if he stayed too long in that place, anything could happen to him. And when I say anything, I mean anything! Stephanie Lane was definitely the most dangerous place in the entire city.The golden lights shone from above, spreading through the entire landscape of the Twillightoria community, but not even a single ray could make it to this evil part of the hellhole. That was really suspicious, why did Dylan's buyers choose this place as their exchange location?If there was anything my city never lacked, despite the troubling activities of its mutants, it was electricity. Lights and lights all around at every part of the city. So if there was any place where darkness persist
"You petty thief!" I sneered at Dylan. He responded with a dismissive wave and continued to speak on the phone, negotiating the price for the precious bracelet my mother bequeathed to me and me only. But I was not ready to allow him to conclude his negotiations. Not in a lifetime."It is not for sale!" I made that as clear as light, screaming into his phone and forcing him to end the call. "What is your problem, Jude?"My problem? He wanted to know my problem! My problem was that I had a whole city getting ready to be consumed by the roaring flames of mutant fires! A whole city waiting to be saved by me and I was not even able to use my powers, scared that I would become a shadow monster again all because some random kid that lives in my house wants to become a pirate of bracelets. "You are not the one who found it. I found it." He defended his theft immediately, almost as if he had been preparing for my confrontation."And that's because I left it there where you found it.""That
"Should I go back?" I asked myself. "Or should I go forward and talk to her??"All my time in school, I had always watched Ariana from afar, trying to somehow get her attention. I followed her halfway from school each day just to make sure she was safe from the deeds of evil mutants. But now she was right in front of me, and I could not bring myself to walk forward and speak.Not that I was scared or shy or anything like that, it was just that there had not been enough time for us to get to know each other. I mean, it had only been a few years... Regardless, I was ready to speak to her today. Afterall we were both skipping classes and we were both missing my second identity, Shadow Man."Okay, Jude. You can do this..."I walked forward briskly. She had not noticed me yet. Just a few more steps."No... I should not do this..."She was probably still in pain about what happened to Shadow Man. I should just leave her to get over it.I turned around."He is the only reason I am still ali
"Just this morning, a lifeless body was found lying within the soils of our land, right in the centre of the newly built Twillightoria Passersway. The police examined the body which at first glance struck the pose of a mutant. But not just any mutant, the budding hope of the new age, the only sign of light which had come in the form of darkness, our breathe of life in the smoke of science eruptions. Unfortunately, the celebrity mutant, our celebrity mutant Shadow Man, has passed away to an unknown cause."As the voice of the news journalist emitted from the screen of the tablet, I saw Ariana's eyes grow into two larger balls, riddled with shock and distress."No..." I could hear her quivering whispers. I could feel her shattering heartbeat. I could see her blistering face, almost shedding with tears."His death come as a shock to the entire city of Twillightoria, and to the world at large. Even though there are some who do not like Shadow Man, all of us can agree that if there was eve