ADRENALINE

Red sighed in frustration as she watched the girl return to the playground. It was the third time she was making the trip from the playground to her mom to collect another candy-bar.

Red had sensed earlier that something sinister was going on on the playground but she’d ignored it. She came to the park to take a breather and she was determined to stick to her plan. She’d done so much for so many people, today was meant to be for herself only.

The girl had just started to unwrap her candy bar when Red sensed the sinister aura again, but it was stronger this time, so she couldn’t ignore it. She took her eyes off the page of the novel she had been reading and watched the playground.

The candy-bar had barely made it to the girl’s lips when a boy took a seat beside her. He had a vicious look on his face that caused the girl to lower the candy from her lips. His expression made it clear that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Red watched as the boy opened his palm, demanding ownership of her candy-bar. The girl started to tear up, she didn’t want to give the candy-bar away but she saw no alternative. She was reluctantly moving the hand that held the candy-bar in the direction of the boy’s palm when Red shut her eyes and felt a rush of power bubbling within her as her gift was engaged.

The girl felt a sudden burst of confidence. It was something she’d never felt before, especially in situations such as the current one she’d found herself in. She felt empowered. She felt emboldened. She felt a powerful rush of strength within her that she couldn’t explain. All of a sudden, it made no sense to hand over her candy-bar. Her mind birthed new thoughts and new emotions took the place of fear, they all pointed her in one direction: her candy-bar was hers to keep.

“NO!” she said to the boy defiantly as she withdrew her hand. She rose to her feet and the boy followed suit.

“If you don’t give me the candy bar, I’ll get my friends and we’ll take it by force. And then we’ll tell everyone on the playground to keep from playing with you. Do you want to play alone?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t mind. I’ll play alone.” She said with a sneer. “I like playing alone.” The boy watched in horror as she put the candy in her mouth and relished its taste. She winked at the boy. “It tastes so good.” She pulled it out and smacked her lips. “I’m sure you’ll like it too, but I won’t give it to you.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

The boy backed away, confused at this change in behavior. None of the kids had ever stood up to him in the past. Whenever the members of his clique made their demands, the kids submitted to their will. What was going on?

The conversation had attracted the other kids, they watched the duo from a safe distance. It was a wonderful scene to see one of them standing up to one of their oppressors.

“You go, Lucy!” one of the kids cheered. 

“Yes! Don’t give him your candy!” one of the kids added right before he took cover. He liked what Lucy was doing but he wasn’t ready to involve himself in direct confrontation.

“Give me your candy! I want it now!” the boy demanded forcefully. He deepened his voice for effect but he was careful to maintain a safe distance from Lucy.

“No. I won’t. What will you do about it?”

“I’ll call my friends and we’ll take it by force!” he'd hoped the deeper voice would do the trick, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

“You said that already.” She sucked on the candy bar again. “Oh… It tastes so good!” the pleasure she was deriving from the candy and from tormenting him were clear in her expression.

The boy gnashed his teeth as he ran to meet his friends. 

The clique was furious. How dare Lucy deny Josh her candy? 

The playground was their territory, they believed, and so any snack they found on the playground was automatically theirs. It was the gate-fee the kids had to pay for access to playground equipment. 

As they formed a semi-circle around Lucy, the other kids distanced themselves from the group. They could defy Josh because he occupied a lower position in the hierarchy of the clique, but they wanted nothing to do with the rest, especially Olson.

“You better give him the candy, Lucy.” Olson said. He was the leader of the clique and was known to be brutal. “If you don’t give it to him, you won’t enjoy what we’ll do to you.”

Lucy shrugged as she smacked her lips. “Oh… It tastes so good!”

“Lucy!” Wendy said, forcefully. “Hand it over now! It’s not yours, it’s ours! All snacks on the playground belong to us, everyone knows this!”

“I won’t hand it over. I already gave him three candies. I won’t give any more. This one is for my enjoyment.” She sucked on the candy again, further infuriating the members of the clique. 

The clique was confused as to what to do. Things had always flowed smoothly on the playground. They would make their demands and the kids would submit. Lucy’s behavior was confusing.

“We’ll tell the other kids to keep from playing with you,” Olson said, smugly. “And then you won’t have any friends.”

“When you have no friends, you’ll be a sad little girl.” Wendy mocked.

“I have many friends, I’ll just bring them over and play with them here. Moreover, I have so many friends in school.” She sucked on the candy again. “Who needs friends when you can have candy?”

Wendy turned to the other kids. “None of you is to play with Lucy, if you do, we’ll punish you all and it’ll hurt.”

The boldness spread.

“But I like Lucy.” One of the younger kids said, defiantly. He’d had enough. “I like playing with her. You can’t tell me to not play with her! You’re not my mom!”

“Yes. You’re not our moms!” another kid said. The others murmured in agreement.

As Red tightened her fist, Lucy felt another burst of boldness and inspiration. “If you don’t give the kids their snacks back I’ll report you guys to my mom, and she’ll report you to the playground authorities, then you won’t be able to play here again!” she stomped her foot on the ground to drive her point home.

Emboldened by Lucy’s defiance, the other kids closed in on the clique till they surrounded them. When the clique realized they were surrounded, they did the only thing that came to their minds, they turned on Josh.

“This is all your fault!” Olson complained. “Why didn’t you just leave her alone? Why must you be so greedy?” he whined.

 “Yes,” Wendy agreed. “It’s your fault this is happening!” she poked Josh’s chest and he began to sulk.

“Hand over the snacks now!” Lucy demanded.

“Yes! Give us back our snacks! They’re ours, not yours!” one of the other kids said. “If you don’t hand it over right now, we’ll tell our moms!”

“Yes, we’ll tell our moms!” the other kids chorused. When Olson noticed they’d all picked stones to use as weapons, he knew the game was up. 

One by one, the clique pulled out the snacks they’d taken from their pockets and dropped them on the ground. Olson ran away as soon as he’d emptied his pockets and the others followed suit. 

The kids cheered as they watched their oppressors take to their heels. They also hailed Lucy, the leader of the revolution.

Red looked on with a smile on her face as the weakness that usually accompanied the deactivation of her gift replaced the adrenaline rush she’d felt moments earlier. It would take a few minutes to recover her strength, but she didn’t mind. The end result of the revolution on the playground was worth suffering for.

It was situations like these that made her happy to have her gift. Although she used her gift to help adults facing much tougher situations most of the time, that didn’t take anything away from the scene on the playground. While her gift had different effects on different people, the effect she enjoyed the most was when it inspired the oppressed to stand up to their oppressors. 

***

The smile on her face disappeared the moment she walked through the door. As she closed the door behind her, thoughts of Lucy and the kids were pushed to the backburner by something more urgent, something more immediate.

She sensed a terrible aura, an aura of rot, an aura of something wasting away… But it wasn’t something, it was someone. Someone she deeply loved.

Each aura had a unique fingerprint, so there was no mistaking this one for any others. She knew whose it was and she knew what it meant.

She flung her bag on the ground and ran up the stairs to her parents’ room. She turned the door knob and pushed the door open with her body as she rushed into the room. Everything in the room was just as she expected, with the exception of the condition of the person laying on the bed.  

Her mum was covered under multiple layers of sheets while her dad sat beside her. He was just laying a warm cloth on her mother’s head when Red barged into the room.

They locked eyes, and without saying a word, his expression answered all the questions Red had in her mind.

Red rushed to her mother’s side and held her hand. Her mother’s face was ashen; her breathing was shallow, she took in just enough air to keep her frail body alive; dark spots scattered across her body, competing for prominence with the purple lines that transported blood around her body. Her lips, which were normally deep pink, had darkened significantly. Her eyes stared blankly into space, there was no trace of life in them.

Her dad sighed. “I don’t understand it. She was feeling better earlier in the day, but all of a sudden her condition worsened.” He sighed again. “I tried everything! Nothing works. The hospital won’t take her in, they say they’ve done everything they can do for her.”

Amidst sobs, Red shut her eyes tightly and mustered all the strength she had within her. She squeezed her mother’s hand as she felt the familiar rush of power bubbling within her. The windows flew open and ushered in a flurry of wind. The house began to shake and the walls eased themselves of the picture frames attached to them with nails. A loud crash informed the occupants of the room that a cupboard somewhere in the house was sitting on the floor in pieces. The lights began to flicker. The wind poured in through the windows. The body on the bed shook violently as the room filled with energy.

A few minutes later, Red’s body collapsed on the bed as the house quietened. Although she couldn’t move her body, she kept her eyes trained on her mother’s face. As always, nothing had changed.

Tears streamed down her eyes as she wondered if the results would be different had she had a different gift, or if there were different rules to its use. Her gift worked for everyone except the people she loved the most. It was situations like these that made her wonder what use her gift was if she couldn’t use it to help the people she loved the most.

Her dad reached out and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her forehead and whispered, “Superheroes don’t always save the day, and that’s okay.”