From a very young age, Ryan knew he was not like the other children. His parents freaked when they saw him move vertically as a toddler, even more so when he began flying through walls or turning invisible. The concept of gravity was difficult for Ryan to understand, partly since he was completely unaffected by it, and partly since his telekinesis meant he could make anything float anyway. But being a fundamentally good-natured boy, he learnt to copy his parents and walk with his feet touching the ground.
One wouldn't have guessed from his cute little smile that Ryan had powers beyond human imagination. He looked like just about any other boy - short brown hair, blue eyes and so on. He typically dressed in simple t-shirts and shorts, often whatever his parents could find in his size at the thrift shop. If anything gave him away, it was that he was a little taller than his peers and had some very faint outlines of his super-strong muscles visible, although his skin also retained its softness. Of course, if Ryan ever did want to flex his muscles people would stand back in shock, but as it stood he simply appeared sweet, cute and happy.
At the time Ryan's parents lived in a small townhouse, in a middle class suburb. His mother fell ill often, given the stresses involved in raising a boy who seemed to possess limitless power. Her family were religious nuts who would have been convinced Ryan was some kind of demon. His dad was forced to return to work to provide for the family. Ryan was always helping out around the house, but often he unintentionally caused more trouble than he intended due to his childish naivity and incredible array of powers. For example, when he volunteered to water a pot plant, the torrent of water he blasted was strong enough to instantly kill the plant, damage the wall on the other side, and flood nearly the whole house in a flash.
Then there was the pesky question of why Ryan had these supernatural powers in the first place. His parents literally consulted comic books on parenting advice, since nobody had raised a superhero before. As far as everyone else was concerned, superheroes didn't exist. Of course they hid him from the outside world, partly to protect him from what the others might think, but also to protect the rest of the world from what Ryan could do. Nobody seemed to know or understand why Ryan had these God-like powers, and sometimes that made Ryan feel sad, like an outcast. In truth, that was because nobody actually did know. Sometimes Ryan would read the minds of people around him for clues, but it was futile - there was no explanation, he simply had powers and that was that.
Eventually his parents decided to send him to preschool. They kept warning him all week not to use his powers in preschool, and of course, Ryan promised he wouldn't. Within only an hour of his arriving, however, a little girl knocked over a tower of blocks Ryan had built and laughed at Ryan about it. Immediately the poor girl suffered third-degree burns from Ryan's laser vision in a barely-controlled fit of rage. Luckily, Ryan managed to stop himself and use his healing powers to heal the girl before any of the caregivers could see what happened, but the girl cried and told everyone. The center staff thought she had too much of an imagination, but of course Ryan's parents were furious when they heard. All the students, too, became very afraid of Ryan.
That was the first and last time Ryan was allowed to go to kindy. Since then he'd done lots of work to control his emotions, seem like he was obeying the laws of physics, and just behave like a normal kid. His parents, fearful of any scrutiny, moved to a small secluded block in a rural town of less than a hundred people. A single school served the community, with teenagers commuting to a nearby larger town. The whole place was dull, but it was a much more appropriate environment for raising a boy with super-powers.
Over time Ryan did become more and more helpful. When his father needed to fix the car, Ryan would lift it up for him, for example. He still struggled with some basic concepts such as the difference between "heavy" and "light", since nothing was heavy for him, but he was learning as well as he could. His parents also learned Ryan had a fun, playful side to him. On Halloween he'd turn into a ghost, possessing things and making spooky noises, for example. He'd also make his parents breakfast in bed every morning - working at super-speed it only took him a blink of an eye. On the whole, his parents thought that he was a handful, but they were lucky that he was earnestly trying to make the best of his powers for good. They even read him comic stories sometimes as he went to bed. Ryan enjoyed the stories, but his biggest wish was to just be a normal boy so he could play with others his age.
Eventually, Ryan turned six. Deciding they couldn't homeschool him, and that both of them were incredibly burnt out after taking care of such a unique boy for six years, his parents reluctantly enrolled him in a local school. Ryan was extremely happy at the news, cheering excitedly. After more stern warnings from his parents, he sincerely swore never to use his powers at school, no matter what happened. He also promised to act exactly like a normal child while around other people - even pretending to fall or be hurt, if necessary. Ryan did his best. His parents were worried because apparently acting wasn't among Ryan's super-powers, but after a few weeks of practice he had the basics down.
Ryan's sixth birthday, which was on the weekend before he was due to begin school, was attended by his soon-to-be teacher, Mrs Rogers. She got him his own schoolbag, and helped his parents with the other equipment he needed for school. She told him how good it was that he was excited to start learning, which made Ryan very happy. He had a big chocolate cake with "Congratulations" iced on to it, and spent most of the rest of the day playing with the superhero action figures his dad got him. Both of his parents were happy that while Mrs Rodgers was there, he didn't make the figures come to life with his telekinesis or something. He was even running at the speed of a normal kid, stomping down on the ground appropriately as he did so, while holding up the figures and making wooshing sounds. Where most parents would have been upset at the boy running indoors, Ryan's parents both praised him for it afterwards. He was well on his way to learning how to act like a regular kid.
On the morning of his first day in school, Ryan got up before dawn. Excitedly he had himself ready and packed some hours before he actually had to go. He was feeling a little nervous about meeting the other kids his age and making some friends. But would he be able to control himself and his powers?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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