The Comic Collector

The second Andy finished school, he rushed down the bus steps and headed into his house. As usual, he called to his mum saying he's back, removed his shoes, and thumped up the old stairs that led to the attic: his room.

 Ignoring his mother's singing from the kitchen, he dumped his school bag onto his bed and settled down comfortably beside it.

  His room wasn’t amazing. Ever since he moved in, he begged his mum to let him have the attic. It was the only place he could think. What with his two little twin sisters always arguing and his mum’s singing, the attic was the best place for him. 

It wasn’t much though, just a small bed at the corner, a brown heavy cupboard and a desk with his computer on it.

 But there was one thing which made it his room. Shelves. His room was covered with shelves at every corner possible. It contained books crammed at every shelf. 

They all were similar. They were all comics. Superhero comics, to be exact. 

Andy loved comics. In fact, he had a new one today. He rummaged deep into his school bag which contained bent textbooks, his half eaten lunch and bits of paper.

 After a few moments of rummaging, he emerged with a half tattered book. 

He smiled happily. It had taken ages to track this book down. He smoothed the edges and sat down at his desk, switching on the study light. 

He opened the book, and started reading. It was the last Green Lantern- Green Arrow comic in the collection. 

Andy felt a feeling of accomplishment. He found the first Green Lantern - Green Arrow comic book in January. And now, November twenty first, he had found the last one in it’s collection. He turned to the first page and started reading. 

After a few hours, Andy had reached the ending of the book. After reading loads and loads of superhero comic books, he could zoom through one quite easily, even the books that have over 400 pages. 

Like the one he just read. Right after Andy closed his book, he heard the unmistakable voice of his mother shouting form below for him to wash up and come down for dinner. 

Andy was surprised. He didn’t know that the time had passed so fast. Well, he shouldn’t have been surprised. That always happened every time he read one of his comics. 

Andy closed the book and went to the shelf behind his bed. This shelf was half full. That was the one that contained the rest of the Green Lantern- Green Arrow collection. 

There sure were a lot of books in that collection. Proudly, Andy put the last book on the shelf. 

After a few moments of staring at it, he rushed downstairs not wanting his mum to get any angrier. 

His two twin sisters were sitting at the table, wearing identical clothes and bickering. This time it was about who got the bigger piece of the steak. Andy’s mum looked annoyed as she tried to stop them.

‘Now, now i’m sure there’s no need for an argument. Sally, stop pulling your sisters hair and Sarah,  stop shouting at the top of your voice! If you both don’t calm down at once you won’t be having any steak at all!’ said mum sternly.

Neither of them seemed to be calming down. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse.

‘It's not my fault mum! I took that steak first! She grabbed it from me!’ one wailed.

‘Oh you liar! I took it first! Oh, you monster! That’s my hair! Ow!’ another cried.

‘That’s it! Both of you! No one is getting that piece of steak! Since you both can’t behave, I'm giving it to you brother!’ and with that, mum gave the huge piece of steak to Andy who felt his mouth watering. It really was the juiciest, and biggest part.

 He started eating trying to ignore the glares coming his way from his sisters. Even though Andy was older,

 he was more quiet and gentle and always gave in, while his sisters were more rude, demanding and well, noisy. 

So that’s how Andy’s twin sisters always blamed everything on Andy. So Andy quickly ate his steak and rushed upstairs to avoid the stares from his sisters. 

He settled in bed and slept soundly until the next day.

Andy was woken up that morning by the usual volley of screams coming from below. His sisters were fighting again. 

Probably about stealing each other’s clothes. That was Andy’s alarm clock every morning.  Groaning, he got up and dragged himself down to the shower. 

About thirty minutes later, Andy was ready for school and started to head down for breakfast. 

Oh, I just forgot! Andy thought. He snatched the last series of Green Lantern - Green Arrow book and stuffed it in his bag. 

His English teacher, Mrs Kindley, had asked him to pick a book for reading time. Obviously Andy chose the last book in Green Lantern- Green Arrow. It was his latest accomplishment!

 Right when he reached the dining table, he heard a horn outside. 

Oh no! Andy thought. He grabbed his sandwich and started to head out the door.

‘Hey Andy! Eat your breakfast properly here first!’ Mum shouted to him whilst holding a spatula and a flowery apron.

‘Sorry mum! The bus is here! Gotta go!’ He replied and dashed out.

He got in just in time as the bus driver gave him a look that told Andy he better be earlier next time. 

Andy made his way to the back of the bus. There, his friend Thomas was waiting for him. But instead of greeting Andy as usual, he was deep in a book.  Andy took a seat next to him and tried to get his attention.

‘Hullo Thomas! Can you see me! Hey, i’m right next to you. What book are you reading?’ Andy tried.

For all these questions, Thomas replied with a nod of his head. Finally. Andy gave up. He grabbed the book out of Thomas’s had and said

‘Thomas! Answer me please! And what book are you reading that makes you this occupied?’ Andy asks in confusion.

He glanced at the book. It was a superhero book. And to Andy’s ultimate surprise, it was a book he hadn’t collected yet. A book he had not seen before. And yet it was a comic. A superhero comic.

‘God, Andy, sorry. And yeah this comic is really good! You should try it. It’s a whole collection you know. This is just the first book.’ Thomas said delighted.

Slowly, Andy smiled from cheek to cheek.. A whole new collection of superhero comics he’d never read before. A whole new adventure to collect.