THE ONE TRUE SUPERPOWER

“Get out of the way loser!” Ryan says as he pushes me away from him.

I sigh and bend to pick up my book which fell from the impact before hurriedly moving out of the way so I don’t get trampled on. I begin to walk to my class but it seems he isn’t done with me.

“Are you walking out on me?”

“N-no…” I stammer. I’m sure I just peed myself a little bit. “I…I just thought you were gone.”

“Oh! I’m so little you can’t even see me huh? That’s what you think?”

Oh God no. Not here, not now. I’m already late for class and I really need the grades. I start thinking of a good enough response but I don’t need one because-

“Get away from her Pinhead!” Penny shoves him and holds my hand.

“What did you say?”

“GET. AWAY. FROM. HER. PINHEAD. You need me to repeat that again? Or have you suddenly gone deaf?”

They have a little stare down before Ryan glares at me and walks away. “You got lucky this time, Brooke!” He calls over his shoulder.

Penny hugs me as I try to hold back the tears.

“Jamie!” she says and hugs me again. “You’ve got to stand up to him someday!”

“Have you seen the size of him?” I say, gesturing with my hands. “He’s this big. I don’t stand a chance.”

“I stood up to him didn’t I?”

I don’t respond and we walk to class in silence.

The closing bell rings and I shove my books in my drawstring bag and head out to look for Penny. Once I step out of class, I see everybody looking at their phones and chattering excitedly. Penny calls out to me and waves me over.

“Have you been on twitter today?” She asks me with her focus on the phone in her hand and her eyes bright with excitement. I shake my head no and bring out my phone to see what all the fuss is about.

Who is our mystery superhero???

Experts say the mystery superhero is most likely a teenage girl.

The mystery superhero saves the day yet again!

Mystery superhero sighted close to the city hall.

“Okay…” I turn off the phone and look at Penny. “What’s new here? It’s been the same news for a year and a half.”

Penny rolls her eyes. “What exactly do you have against Mysterio?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “Mysterio? Really?”

She waves that off and continues. “Can’t you see? They say she’s a teenager! She might even be at our school!”

“Fat chance.” I walk towards the doors. “Are you coming?” Penny picks up her bag and follows me, all the while looking at her phone. We do our normal after-school routine; go to DOGS! (yes that is an actual restaurant name) for hotdogs and soda then take the long route home so we have time to eat our hotdogs and talk. Then we part ways when we get to her house, I live a few blocks away.

“Jamie…” Penny tugs at my shirt to stop me. I turn and see a concerned look on her face. “I know what they say about you really gets to you…”

“Penny I…”

She stops me and holds my shoulders with both arms. “I just want you to know that you’re beautiful and smart…and you’re a really awesome person. I love you and I’ll always be here for you.”

I don’t say anything because I can feel the tears coming so I just smile and wave goodbye.

“If I ever meet Mysterio I’ll make sure I get her to give Ryan a serious ass-whooping.” She shouts as I walk away.

I keep walking towards my house, but just before I get there I cut through an alley to the back of a building and look around to make sure no one is here. I tap my arm just at the base of my palm and my suit forms over my body. I jump and grab the railings of the fire escape and then swing to the next one until I’m at the top of the building.

Oh I’m sorry, did I forget to mention? I am the "mystery superhero”. I have superhuman strength, believe it or not. Yes, I know, this is the irony that I am living.

Why do I let Ryan and the others oppress me? I don’t quite know. The bullying started a long time before I became the "mystery superhero". I’ve always had the extra strength, though. I figured something was different about me when I got to the third grade, I mean which other normal eight-year-old can lift a mini-fridge?

I never would have done anything about it if my dad didn’t motivate me to.

“There are many people who would benefit from this Jamie. You’ll be doing the world a lot of good.” He would say while holding my hand as he sat across from me on the table.

The bullying started when I was in fourth grade. “Why do those glasses look so thick?

“Are you blind?”

After a lot of begging and tantrums, Dad agreed to get me contacts. This obviously did not stop the bullying.

“Oh my God, why are you so small?”

“You’re ugly!”

They tried hitting me a few times but when they found out I didn’t bruise easily they let me be. Except for Ryan.

I met Penelope just after fourth grade. I didn’t think she seriously wanted to be my friend so I tried avoiding her. One day she followed me home and introduced herself to my dad as my best friend. That was one of the happiest days of my life. When school resumed, she was always there to stand up for me. She would yell and glare at anyone who tried to say or do anything mean to me. She was tall and intimidating and people stayed away whenever she was around.

Penny has always loved superheroes; she would buy comics and movies and action figures of them, and we would talk for hours on end about having superpowers. After reading a comic, she would fall back on the bed and with a wide grin say, “It’s not just about the extraordinary powers Jamie, it’s the fact that they’re willing to help anyone in trouble. Kindness is the one true superpower!”

It was because of this, that on that very day after my first day of ninth grade, I decided to put my ability to good use and become a superhero. I decided to remain anonymous because I knew with one good glance at me, the world would see through my façade. They would see through the mask and suit and find out that it is only ugly little Jamie Brooke. And they would be even angrier with me for trying to ‘act cool’.

So here I am on cool Thursday evening on my way back home after making sure the neighborhood is safe. Kindness is the one true superpower. I made that into a poster and pasted it above my desk the day I first heard Penny say it. As I make my way up the stairs and into my room, I ask myself the question that has been on my mind ever since I decided to help people. “Why can’t I help myself?”

“Jamie!” My baby sister screams and jumps on my bed. She’s so cute and bubbly, I can’t help but smile.

“Hey, chump!” I grab her and ruffle her hair. “How was school today?”

“It was great!” she squealed. “I can count to twenty!”

“Oh, that’s so cool!” She giggles excitedly and runs out of my room screaming, “Daddy, Jamie says I’m cool!”

I smile and go to sit at my desk. I bring out my diary and write in it: Why can’t I help myself? Why do I let people oppress me? I can very easily send Ryan to the other end of town with just a punch, yet I cower before him. Why am I so scared of him, of all of them? I flip the pages to one of my previous entries.

Lucy called me a gremlin today at lunch and everyone in the cafeteria laughed at me.

I flip a few more pages.

Dad asked me to go with him to the mall today and I said I didn’t feel well. I feel fine. I just don’t think anyone wants to see me.

A tear drops on the page as the answer dances around in my head. I close the diary and lay on my bed. I’m not scared of them, I’m scared of their words. I’ve heard them so much I’ve begun to believe them. That’s why I feel weak whenever I’m around people. The only time I feel the strength surging in me is when I’m in my suit, and that is only because then I see people who I believe are weaker than me.

Maybe they’re not. Maybe I am the weakest of them all. My special power doesn’t make me so special after all. Maybe I’m just ugly and weird and…and…

I have trouble keeping my eyes open and I just realize I feel very weak. It’s probably because I’ve been crying so hard. I’ve cried every day for the past week. Have I been eating? I don’t think so. I just…I need…rest.

“Jamie?”

I slowly open my eyes and cringe as the light rushes in almost blinding me. “Dad?”

“Jamie.” He says again and hugs me. I feel weak and my head is throbbing. How long have I been asleep?

“Dad? What’s going on?”

“You were…” His voice breaks, “I…I thought I had lost you.”

I hear him but I have little or no physical strength to be able to react properly so I just weakly mutter, “I don’t understand.”

“You were barely awake and you kept on crying and saying you wanted to go…and then you would pass out for a few hours, and when you were up you’d begin crying all over again.”

I don’t remember any of this.

“Jamie I think you’re suffering from depression.”

I try to sit up but my body fails me so I slump back onto the bed. “I’m not depressed.” But as soon as those words leave my mouth, I know they’re a lie. I am suffering from depression and I need to get help quick.

My dad takes my hands in his and I can see the tears flowing freely. “Jamie, I know you’re just trying to be strong for those who need you, but you need to take care of yourself first before you can truly take care of anyone else.”

Now I’m crying too and he hugs me. Someone walks in and we turn to look.

“Jamie!” Penny exclaims and starts crying. My dad leaves the room as she comes towards me. “I was so scared.”

I look at her and smile. “I’m okay now Penny.”

“I brought you hotdogs and soda.” She raises a bag and grins despite the tears. Then she starts to tell me about school and how after she saw my condition she went over to Ryan’s and had a long talk with his parents. “Turns out his parents are really strict and never knew their ‘sweet little Ryan’ could do such things.”

“Thank you, Penny.”

“Anything for you Jamie. Oh by the way…”

As she rambles on, I turn to look at my poster on the wall, Kindness is the one true superpower. I look back at Jamie, all happy and talking, and I burst into tears.

“What? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“Oh, Penny…” I say in between sobs as I pull her in for a hug. “…you’re a superhero!”