Scene 12: What goes up must come down
I worked harder and harder. Once, on one of the most ordinary days, I was delivering between New York and Los Angeles. Jumping between the East and West coasts become a usual thing for me.
After delivering another parcel, I go to the yards so that nobody can see me. I want to jump back home – to my company warehouse in NYC, but I can’t. I’m trying again – nothing! Ok, let’s try to jump a short distance – maybe to Las Vegas first? But right after I’ve tried it I felt a sharp breakdown and my head began to spin – I almost lost consciousness, but stood on my feet.
Hero
What is happening to me?
(asked our hero himself.)
Maybe I have overworked and my body was just tired. My power was exhausted and I just needed a little rest – since I founded the company I doubled my workload – I worked before and after school, because I needed to pay people now, we also have to stay afloat and despite on my abilities it’s not an easy task, because our main competitors were SR-Delivery and of course I wanted to earn more money too.
Or maybe this is a small reboot of my abilities – as it has happened before? This would be the second such case, and the first happened 6 months ago – when I tried to rob a bank. Before that, I did not attach much importance to that incident in the bank, how I lost my powers and how I was arrested, but already in the same night my abilities have returned – back then it seemed to me like an upgrade – my powers have reached a new level – since that night I could not just go through walls, but teleport over long distances – to places where I wanted to be. I wonder how much my abilities will grow this time – will I be able to jump to other planets?
Anyway, I need to have a rest somewhere and I headed to the nearest McDonald, where I spent the night. I’ve been rested and tried not to think about work.
By the way, let’s give the postmates tips – I would really need it now.
The next morning, our hero feels, to put it mildly, not very well. The powers did not come back, the money was running out, the phone is dead, and as the cherry on this cake of nightmares a headache that passed in waves.
The first attacks were bearable and did not differ from those that every normal person experienced. That happened when he was still in a café – he felt a sudden headache in the temples.
At this moment, a worker passed by, she looked at him and thought to herself:
The worker
He spent here all night and didn’t order anything in the last 5 hours. Don’t you have somewhere to go? Or to do?
Hero
Yes, I’m actually already leaving.
What she could think about could be understood without words, and he said it like if he would answer her question.
Today is the day when I supposed to regain my improved abilities, but something was holding them back. At the noon, I had already begun to worry – I have been imagining what a chaos must be happening in my warehouse right now. If I don’t get to work tomorrow, I can forget about the company.
By noon nothing happened to me – my powers did not return. In addition, the little money I had from yesterday’s tips have all run out and since I never carried a wallet with me I ran out of money completely. I also didn’t have any documents, so even if I had money, I still could not buy a ticket for a train or a plane. With my abilities, I forgot how important it is to have at least one document and a cellphone with you – I’ve even forgotten how to forget something – even if I didn’t have my cellphone with me – that was not a problem – I could jump back to my apartment and get it or just teleport to the person I had to speak to and just talk to him, I even forgot what it was like to go to a public toilet – I just used my own, all the time – you can’t imagine how blissful it is! Public toilets often served me simply as a station for imperceptible teleportation. Sometimes I could forget to jump back to open the cabin – so if you’ve ever had to wait too long for your turn, it probably was me – sorry for that.
Now I was very glad that I had at least a cell phone and could contact Pit. I told him I’ll be right back too many times. He doesn’t know what happened to me in the bank yet and I don’t want to tell him about that too.
Next couple hours I spent in the park. I meditate and tried to focus on how I felt. While I was doing this I remembered something from my father’s book – he wrote something about how, in his opinion, super powers can not only be gained but also lost! Is it just happened to me? If so, then I’m fu**ed! There is nothing I can wait for and I have to get home somehow! But how?
At this moment John saw a homeless person who has a cardboard with some message. Our hero realized that in such circumstances, the only way to get home was hitchhiking.
This man was not just a homeless guy, he also wasn’t right in the head! The message he had on the board – was telling that the robots were about to take the control over us and that the aliens will help us.
After John carefully approached him, he asked:
John
Hey, can I borrow some cardboard from you?
The homeless guy
Of course, but only if you tell me why do you need it!? And no bullshit, ok!? Or you’ll get nothing from me!
John
Well, I had a superpower, and I could teleport long distances, but unfortunately I lost my powers yesterday and now I can’t get back home.
Suddenly the guy become very serious, he approached the Hero, gave him the board and a marker and also gave him some money.
The homeless guy
Don’t tell anyone else about it! Now you should go! Go and be careful!
John
(skeaking to him self)
Well, that was strange but the guy believes in aliens…
He wrote New York on it and headed towards the highway.