Chapter Twelve - Discoveries

{lin

espace:1.5}

Chapter Twelve

Discoveries

         When he was jolted awake, Matthew stopped floating and fell to the floor, flattening the coffee table in the process.

         "Dad!" Misty shouted, startled, "where did you go?"

         "Grandpas right here," Becca stated as she was patting something invisible, "can't you feel him? I can."

         Misty tenderly placed her hand where she thought the head was. She immediately found her dad's nose. She moved up toward the forehead and accidentally poked him in what she believed to be his eye.

         "Ouch! Be careful," Matthew said, "that could've hurt."

         "Sorry. I can't see where your eye is. Or any other part of you, for that matter. How can you do that? Are you still lying down?"

         "Yeah. Let me get up. Stop poking me, Becca. I'm right here." After standing up, still unaware of his invisibility, he saw the coffee table he had smashed. "Oh, Misty, I am so sorry about your table. Let me buy a new one for you today. Here, at least I can pick up the pieces."

         As Matthew was about to reach down to begin to pick up pieces of the table, he, for the first time, notices he couldn't see his hands or arms. "Where am I? Where did my hands and arms go?"

         "Dad, I am pretty sure you're invisible."

         "Are you sure? I wasn't invisible when I took my nap. What happened while I took my nap? Did something happen to trigger something drastic?

         "Becca scared you and you were startled awake, stopped floating, broke my coffee table, and turned invisible."

         "Well, I'm sorry I broke your coffee table. Let me get you a new one today."

         "And how are you going to do that? Walk into a furniture store and walk out with a floating table? It's ok, don't worry about it." Misty sits down. "This is too much." Out of frustration, she places her face into her hands. "I think I'm in shock. My dad is an alien. A seven-foot-tall super alien who is invisible. I need to sit down." She stands up.

         "Listen to me, sweetheart. You were sitting down. Sit back down again. I think you are just now processing everything that has happened. It will be ok. You will be ok and so will I. I am ok now, except for being invisible.

         "OK? OK? How can anything be OK again? You look or looked like before turning invisible, something from a comic book. You can't go out in public without attracting attention. What are you going to do? Stay in the house all the time? And now you're invisible. When will you change so we can see you again? And then, what will happen next? Giant height?"

         "Well, I haven't tried to become visible. I guess I have to work on it. Might as well be now," Matthew said, "Let's focus on this instead of worrying about everything at once. When did I turn invisible? The only thing I remember before you poked my eye is being asleep."

         "You're right. Focus. We came out and you were floating up and down and the girls were sitting on your chest and legs. I told them to get off and then tried to wake you by gently talking with you. When that didn't work, I was going to shake you a little. Before I could do that, Becca yelled into your ear. Needless to say, that startled you awake. You then became invisible and crashed onto my coffee table."

         "That's it, huh? I don't remember willing myself invisible. Maybe it is a defense thing? I don't know. Well, this would hide me from all the people and I could be outside again. I couldn't interact with people because they would be talking into empty air, thinking they were going crazy."

         Cindy was sitting just listening and then spoke to her grandpa and mom, "Why don't you just tell yourself to be seen?"

         "That's a good idea, dad. Try to become visible. Like when you focus on flying or seeing far away. It's worth a try."

         "Focus on being seen. Ok. Let's see." Matthew closed his eyes and visualized his body being seen. He began to try and increase his focus when Misty said to stop.

         "We can see you now, dad. Whatever you did, it worked. Try not to get startled. I kind of like seeing you instead of not being able to see you. You're easier to keep track of that way."

         "Misty looked at the mess of the smashed coffee table. "Why don't you use your power of super cleaning and pick up all the wood and magazines and put them in the garage recycle bin? The garage door is down so you will not be seen doing this."

         Matthew started to pick up the big wood pieces and magazines and carried the first bundle out to the garage. When he placed them in the recycle bin, he returned to the house for another load. When it came to the final haul, he was picking up the tiny pieces of wood and veneer from the floor when he got a splinter in his finger. He instantly felt the worst pain he had felt in his entire life. He could barely sit down on the couch before his legs gave out. He was holding his hand with the splinter and trying to activate his healing power but could not. He attempted calling for Misty, but she was out of the room. He tried talking to Cindy or Becca but could not form words.

         After a bit, Cindy saw her grandpa sitting on the couch, holding his right hand by the wrist looking like he was going to pass out. She yelled out, "Mom, I think you should be in here. Grandpa is going to pass out. He looks sick." She went over to her grandpa and looked at the hand he was holding. She saw the small yellow splinter in his index finger and small, yellow lines spreading out toward his wrist. "Hurry mom, he has weird lines over his hand coming from the splinter."

         Misty hurriedly from the other room carrying the Boo-Boo box, "I'm right here. Let me see his hand." She sat down beside her dad and took his injured hand. She immediately saw the yellow lines coming from the splinter spreading over his hand to the wrist. She saw the lines were rapidly spreading over the wrist and moving up his arm."

         "Hurry momma and take the owie out," Becca told her mom, "It be ok grandpa. Momma helps you."

         "Cindy, hand me the tweezers so I can get the splinter." Turning toward her dad, "Dad, I am removing the splinter now. Take it easy until it is out."

         Using the tweezers Misty carefully dug into the skin and grabbed the splinter. She began to slowly pull the piece of wood out. As she did so, her dad began to let out cries of pain. She almost had the splinter when he passed out. She finished the job and got up from the couch. And took the yellow splinter to the garbage can in the kitchen. After she returned, she then took a moment to look at his infected hand and arm. She saw the small yellow lines were halfway to his elbow. While holding his hand, she noticed a small green glow began where the splinter had been. It started to grow larger and brighter. Soon the whole hand was glowing and moving up his arm.

         She didn't think she should wake her dad up during the healing process. His body seemed to need healing. Somehow, the yellow piece of wood had toxins in it to cause a very bad infection to occur.

         She turned her attention back to his arm and noticed the yellow lines were gone. The green glow got brighter and then went out. There was no sign of the splinter wound or the yellow lines. She heard her dad moan as he was waking up.

         "Wha ..what happened?" Matthew stated, "I remember gathering the small pieces and then an excruciating pain overwhelmed me. I was kind of aware when you were pulling it out. I have never in my life felt such pain. I know I passed out."

         "I first saw the yellow lines creeping up your arm and to your elbow while you were unconscious. When I removed the splinter, the yellow lines began to disappear. While that happened, I saw your hand, and then your arm, begin to glow green like when you healed Becca and me. You must have healed yourself."

         "Where is the splinter, I want to see it. Maybe it had spikes on it or something to make it so painful."

         "I threw it away. Let me go get it." After retrieving the splinter and handing it over, Misty carefully placed it in Matthew's hand.

         Nothing happened.

         "Well, there goes that idea," Matthew voiced, "I thought there was something different about that splinter."

         "Oh, wait. That isn't the one I took out. Let me go get it." After looking for several minutes, the splinter is found. "Here is the yellow splinter I pulled out of you. I got the two mixed up. Sorry." Misty then carefully put the yellow splinter in Matthew's outstretched hand.

         He promptly fell over in pain, "Take it off, take it off!", Matthew cried.

         Misty quickly moved closer with the tweezer to remove the splinter. When she got to his hand, she saw it was still laying in the same spot she placed it. He was moving too much for her to use the tweezers so she reluctantly picked it up with her bare hand. Nothing happened to her.

         There was no more pain. He sat back up and looked incredulously at Misty's hand holding the splinter, "A tiny piece of wood did that to me?"

         I don't think it was the wood. Nothing is happening to me. I think it is something else because you carried all the other wood out without feeling anything, did you?"

         "No. I just carried it out with no problem. Let me see your hand with the splinter."

         Misty held out her hand and Matthew cupped it in his hand. He withdrew it immediately. "I felt something through your hand. I wasn't exactly in pain, but something else. An uncomfortableness. Let me hold your other hand."

         Misty held up her left, empty hand and Matthew carefully placed his hand on it. He kept it there.

         "I don't feel anything except your hand. It must be the splinter. I don't understand what the significance is about that splinter."

         "I think I do, dad. Just a second." Misty put the splinter in the garbage and went over to the wood pieces that were still left on the floor. She carefully dug through them until she found what she had been looking for.

         Holding a red bobby pin, Misty asked, "Dad, I want you to touch the end of the bobby pin."

         Matthew stretched tentatively reached out his hand and touched the bobby pin. Nothing happened.

         "Now touch the blue bobby pin."

         He then touched the blue one. There wasn't any pain, just a sense of calm. "There is no pain, but I did feel something. Not sure how to describe it.

         "Now touch the yellow bobby pin."

         He did and promptly removed his finger and started rubbing it. "That stung! It hurt about as bad as when the splinter was sitting in my hand.

         "It's the color yellow. You can't touch yellow like the bobby pin, or the splinter was. It's like your weakness," Misty explained excitedly.

         "So, anything yellow can hurt me to the point of causing tremendous pain or disabling me?"

         "Yes, I believe so."

         "Well, I am not sure how to respond. I guess that is good to know. I can avoid anything yellow. I wonder if any other colors do the same thing?"

         "Try touching green. That is the color you produce with your healing power."

         Matthew then touched a green bobby pin with nothing happening. "Nope, I didn't feel anything. I think it must just be yellow. Let me try the blue bobby pin again." He placed his finger on the blue bobby pin again and felt the same sensation as before. The longer he held it on the bobby pin, the stronger the sensation got. It wasn't until about a minute passed, he realizes what he was feeling.

         "It feels like I am healing. When I spontaneously heal, this is what it feels like. A calm, soothing feeling."

         "So yellow causes pain and blue causes calm. Maybe we need to change the colors of your clothes to blue."

         "Why? They fit well and I like the color green."

         "Green is made up of blue and yellow."

         "My eyes are green. My healing power is green. There is yellow in those."

         "I don't know, dad. There is also blue in those. This is all new to me."

         "Me, too. Let's stop for now and just relax. I am sorry this is happening. Maybe I should go home or Joe's place and stop disrupting you and the girls' lives."

         "No. You can't go out and do any shopping or other errands and Joe's place doesn't have room for you. You'll stay here. I just think I need some time to relax and process all this."

         "Why don't you go for a drive or take a nap? Just get away from all this."

         Misty exhaled deeply and then started to cry. Soon, her whole body was shaking while she sobbed. Matthew held his daughter close. He just held her. He didn't say anything, just let her cry. Cindy and Becca were soon hugging their mom in the group hug.

         After crying, Misty went to bed and took Becca with her for a nap. While sleeping, Joe called Matthew.

         "Hello, Joe," Matthew answered, "how are you doing?"

         "Are you watching the TV? There is a big story on all the channels. I am watching 12. A bank robbery turned into a hostage situation."

         "Let me see," advised Matthew while turning the TV on and to channel 12, "Ok, I am there."

         ". . .with Channel 12 News up-date live on the scene at the corner of Sioux Avenue and 106th street. We are down the street from World State Bank where a robbery has turned into a volatile hostage situation. Sergeant Bakers from the 1658th Precinct Police department has stated there are nine hostages, one of them wounded, and at least 6 gunmen holding them. It is believed they are armed with handguns and one semi-automatic rifle. The Police are not stating how negotiations are except they are ongoing. The gunmen have not allowed any emergency teams in to treat the wounded. The stand-off is in its third hour with no end in sight. This is Polly McKensie with Channel 12 News live at the scene. Back to you Marcus. . "

         "Well, what do you think?" Joe asked, "Do you think you can do this one? There are more of them. There are also hostages, with one hurt. I think it is time for the Defender in Green to show up."

         "I don't want the hostages hurt by showing up at the scene. Maybe the gunmen will shoot them."

         "Then take out the gunmen first. Don't hit them, just give them a little push or something. Maybe a little poke to knock them backward."

         "What about Misty? She is sleeping. Should I wake her up? Also, Cindy is right here. Who's going to watch her?"

         "Grandpa, I am old enough to watch myself with mom in the other room. I will watch you on TV."

         "I heard what she said. You better get going before someone gets hurt."

         "OK. Keep watching."

         With that, Matthew went to the garage, opened the door, and began to run downtown. He knew exactly where he was going as the World State Bank was his primary bank. As he got there, he saw the bank was cordoned off for two blocks in all directions. The Police were approximately two hundred feet away from the bank. He had not seen that many Police in one spot for a long time.

         As he ran up to the door, he was about to open it but remembered when he opens the door at super speed, he pulls them off its hinges and damaged the doorframe. He stopped suddenly and opened the door quickly and went in. He assessed the situation and thought what had he just walked into?

         He saw the hostages kneeling with their heads on the ground. It looked like the bank teller with the name tag was the one wounded.

         He started walking with his hands up toward three of the gunmen; the rest were spread throughout the bank.

         "Who are you and how did you get in here?" the apparent leader demanded, "Stop where you are or the hostages die."

         The Defender in Green stopped. Looked around at all the gunmen and stated, "I am here for the hostages. Nothing else. Just let them walk out of here and no one gets hurt."

         "Except you," smirked the leader. He pointed his gun at the Defender in Green and fired one shot. It flew directly toward his head. Flattened and fell to the floor.

         "My turn." He ran to the farthest gunman first, brought his hand to their chest, and pushed lightly. The gunman flew backward into a wall and crumpled down, unconscious. He then ran to the next closest gunmen and did the same. He did this until the first three gunmen he saw were left.
         "Who do you think you are?" asked the leader.

         "Hey, man, I think this is the Defender in Green guy the news talked about on TV. He is like a Superhero or something."

         "I don't care if he was the President. Shoot him!"

         With that, all three opened fire on Defender in Green. The leader had an automatic and emptied the cartridge on the Defender in Green. When the last shot was fired, all three gunmen couldn't believe what they saw. The Defender in Green was still standing, his shirt and coat were riddled with bullet holes, the ground was cluttered with empty shells, and flattened bullets were around the superhero.

         "Don't move, superhero," the leader threatened, "I have a remote control to set off a bomb that will blow this building sky high. Make a move or twitch and I press the button." The leader stepped aside and uncovered the bomb.

         By this time, the police stormed the building with their guns pulled and ready to fire. The scene they came in on made them pause.

         A very large man was standing in a pile of bullets, all but 3 of the 9 gunmen were unconscious, and there was a bomb in the bank.

         Everyone froze except the leader. He pushed the button on the remote.

         The Defender in Green ran toward and grabbed the explosive device, ran outside, and curled up around it. He waited for the explosion. It happened right on cue from the timer. He heard the explosion and felt heat against his stomach and chest. Smoke rolled out of where the bomb went off. He stood up and noticed the front of his coat and shirt were shredded from the explosion. There was a shocked silence among all the onlookers, police, and paramedics.

         Someone from the crowd was the first to say something. It was a scream, "There's the Defender in Green!"

         It was instantaneous when the onlookers began cheering and taking pictures. The police were walking toward him with their hands on their guns and stopped when they were within twenty feet.

         "I don't want any trouble," putting his hands in the air, "there is an injured man in there along with the other hostages. I don't think the Police inside can handle all of them and the gunman. Oh, and send in paramedics. There are six unconscious gunmen in there, too.

         He paused a moment before he stated, "I got to go. I need to get back to babysitting." With that, he focused on flying and felt himself lift into the air and flew straight up.

         "As he flew up, he realized he could not fly home. It would be awkward why the Defender in Green was making a social call. He grabbed his phone and called Joe.

         "Matt, is that you?"

         "Yeah. I am flying now. Have you been watching the news? Was I on it?"

         "You sure were. Great job. Did the bomb hurt when it exploded? That was a pretty powerful explosion you took. It looked like it tickled you the way you just got up and looked at your clothes."

         "I felt it, but not in a painful way."

         "So where are you flying to? The television crews can't see you anymore. They talked about using a helicopter to find you, so be careful."

         "I need to get back home. I was thinking about landing and just running home."

         "Too bad you can't fly as fast as you run or turn inv . . ."

         "What did you say? You are breaking up. I think I am getting too far away from you. Joe? Joe?"

         He didn't know what to do. He thought he should stop going up, so he focused on that. He stopped going up and was hovering, what looked like 3 miles above the ground. He thought about going down and was, rapidly.

3600 Words