The Shadowverse

by Francesca Gallo

  “Yeah—that’s, uh, that was quick,” responded Dustin, no longer attached to his phone.

  “Eh, whatever. Who cares?” Ryan answered, visibly caring only about the situation in front of him.

  “But he was just…” Johnny replied before suddenly and unexpectedly fainting.

  “Holy shit! Johnny!” screamed Dustin. The rest fol owed suit and bent down to examine him. Rose got down as well. She checked for a pulse.

  “He-He’s breathing. He’s OK right now.” She felt his pulse and flinched. “Whoa.

  Whoa what the heck.”

  “What is it?!” boomed Ryan. Unconscious Johnny Sparks was beginning to draw a crowd.

  “It’s his pulse. It’s real y damn fast.”

  Ryan looked at her. “How fast?”

  She eyed him, agitated. “Very,” she responded. Ryan felt his friend’s pulse as wel . It seemed to beat with such ferocity that instead of the typical thud it gave off a higgity diggity.

  “We’re taking him to the hospital,” Ryan stated, while Dustin and Sam shot a hesitant look at him. “Now,” he finished. With that, he picked Johnny up with the classic “here we go buddy” as he slid him into the car. He shot looks back at Sam and Dustin. “All right.

  Get in your car and Rose wil come with me,” he ordered, motioning with his arms.

  “Wait, who said I wanted to be a part of this?” she interrupted with a slightly angry, bemused tone.

  Just then, Johnny shot up like a catapult. He hit his head on the ceiling of Ryan’s car.

  “Ah!”

  “Johnny!” screamed Ryan and the brothers simultaneously.

  “Are you all right? Do you feel weird?” asked Sam.

  “Yeah, I do,” responded Johnny, sounding extremely drowsy. And just as quickly as he awakened, his back fell right back down on the seat as he became unconscious.

  “And…he’s out again,” exclaimed Dustin.

  “Great,” added Sam.

  But, within seconds, he shot up again, fully conscious. “Whew! Ow!” he elided. It was so quick that Rose, now peering in, and the others, jerked away. “Wow, I feel…so good right now.”

  “Dude, you just lost consciousness twice. How can you say you feel good?” asked Dustin, puzzled.

  Sam shot him a glance. “Who cares? As long as he’s OK.”

  Ryan inspected his expression and color. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Less than the number of crushes you’ve had,” was the quick response. Ryan’s face went static. Sam and Dustin, on the other hand, burst out laughing. Rose just stared at them both and then back at Johnny, total y oblivious to the situation. It was only when they were able to control themselves when Dustin spoke.

  “That’s definitely him.”

  Ryan reddened like a vial of blood. All his life, he would be this way. Ironic, really. He was never the first to start a conversation. Especially with the opposite gender.

  After a little conversation among the five, they decided to go out to eat—Ryan insisting to pay. Rose required a great deal of convincing and a repeated use of “what else do you have to do” to get her to come as well. She figured it would be all right, since the only options would be to go home or attend a party. Those never worked out, almost always an incessant repeat of guys casting their pearls among the swine, for she denied their efforts.

  “OK, OK, just hold on. I have to call my Dad.” She took out her red phone and dialed her father. “He’d be worried sick if I was even fifteen minutes late. He’s that kind of guy, you know.”

  “Yeah, good dads are like that,” replied Ryan, helping Johnny get up from the seat.

  An urge to sigh pounced on him, but he brushed it off. “To be honest, there really aren’t many like your father. You should feel lucky.”

  “I do,” she answered, turning away. Just then, her father picked up.

  “Rosie, where have you been? You’re way late! I was just picking up the phone to cal you!” the worried voice retorted over the phone.

  “It’s OK Dad, I know. I was just out helping some friends…I mean, classmates.” The others looked up in perfect timing with Rose, the first word choice to define them quite amusing albeit exciting. She rolled her eyes and turned around and paced as she talked with her father.

  “What? When do you have friends?” was the response.

  “Dad! It’s fine! I’m going out to McDonald’s or something. I should be back in around an hour, barring anything else.”

  “I’m happy for you. About time! If anything else happens, don’t hesitate to call me Rosebud.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t hesitate. I’ll cal you when I’m on my way.” They both bid their goodbyes, and that was that. She walked back to where the rest waited.

  “All right are we ready to get this show on the road?” she asked, glancing at each, hands on her hips. They nodded. By this time, the lot was emptying as people were going to parties or events.

  “Wait, don’t you have a car?” asked Ryan.

  “Oh, um, no I don’t.”

  “So how do you get here or get anywhere?”

  “I take taxis and I—” she blurted, but she made sure to cut herself off. Rose was not prepared to accidentally reveal too much.

  “You take taxis every time to go out? Seriously? Isn’t that like”—Dustin put on a confused face— “expensive?”

  “Can we just get going? Please?” That settled the matter and shut up the boys.

  Damn, she thought, they talk a lot.

  “Uh, Johnny, I don’t think you should be driving,” Sam warned. “I’l drive.”

  Johnny got up to walk to his car, slightly delirious. As he took the first step, he was suddenly pushed by an unexplainable force. A loud svsssh resounded as his body accelerated at a pace which required him to think hurriedly and dodge his car—which he would have hit. He tripped and landed on the unforgiving tarmac. The others jolted, wondering what went haywire with Johnny now.

  “What the hel was that?” he said, a sudden surge of panic overwhelming him. “Uh, guys?”

  “What?” Dustin asked, turning around.

  “Did you just see that?”

  Ryan turned as well, his attention magnetized by Johnny’s voice, which dripped with fret. “See what?”

  The shivers hit him like freight train—except it was not in a good way. “Uh, I…are you sure?” he stuttered.

  “Sure of what?”

  Johnny exhaled, desperately trying to keep his emotions and shakes in check. “Just watch.”

  He jumped forward and towards Ryan, Rose, and the brothers. Instead of moving a foot or two, Johnny zoomed forth. This time, though, he could not control himself. His body launched straight at Rose.

  Thankfully, she dodged him just as he hit the front fender of Ryan’s BMW. Due to the sheer power and speed, he flipped onto the other side of the gray vehicle, his body smashing onto the parking lot tarmac.

  “Johnny!” Ryan shouted, rushing over to the downed man.

  “Johnny boy!” Dustin and Sam both yel ed. Rose closely followed.

  On the unforgiving ground, Johnny groaned. “What…is happening?”

  “Dude, are you al right?” Ryan questioned in urgency.

  “I’m fine,” he insisted. “Just let me get up.”

  Rose, the brothers, and Ryan crowded around Johnny as if he were some celebrity

  —except their expressions gushed with fear but also amazement and astonishment.

  Slightly bent over but standing, he faced them. “Now did you see that?”

  “Uh…yeah,” Ryan answered, followed by a gulp.

  Sam’s mouth dropped wide open. “Bro, do you—”

  “Have powers?!” Dustin finished, equally astounded.

  “Do I have powers?” Johnny repeated, thinking the sound of his own words would enter his ears and wake him from this dream.

  “Why are you asking us?” Ryan replied, his striking eyebrows raised to the heavens.

  “No
, it’s impossible,” Johnny said, covering his ears and closing his eyes. As he paced back and forth, he muttered, “It’s ridiculous, wake up Johnny—it’s not real,”

  continuously.

  “D-Do what you just did!” Sam begged, but Johnny didn’t hear him. He rushed over and shook him. “Do what you just did! Run again!”

  “Again?”

  “Again,” the trio opposite him pled in unison.

  “OK, I’ll try,” Johnny said.

  And try he did. In one motion, he bolted off and away. Dust, dirt, and supercharged air blew into the others’ faces like a freakishly powerful hair dryer.

  In Johnny’s point-of-view, he zipped around the sizeable parking lot and back to the starting position. Unfortunately, he lost balance as he dropped out of superspeed, stumbling into Ryan. Both fell like dominoes.

  Rose ran over. “Are you OK?” she asked.

  “Never better,” Johnny sarcastically answered, his voice muffled by his sleeve.

  Ryan squinted his eyes and grimaced. “Johnny, I think you’re different now,” he muttered.

  She reached out her arms in assistance. Ryan looked up, a small grin plastered onto her face, vibrant red hair as striking as ever. Is she helping us up? he wondered. He stared at her helping hand longer than he should have.

  “Well, you taking it or not?”

  “Oh, sorry,” he replied.

  “Thanks,” Johnny said.

  She pul ed them up and onto their feet without much difficulty. In fact, it seemed so easy Ryan wanted to probe her, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. The superpower kind.

  Sam dusted Johnny off. “Dude, you’re a superhero now! But how?”

  “Don’t cal me that,” Johnny said.

  “Why not? Am I the only one here who reads comics besides Dustin?”

  “Plus,” Dustin intervened, “this is a scientific breakthrough. This is a breakthrough, period.”

  “I read comics,” Johnny replied in defense. “I don’t study al the time.”

  “OK good, because that would be weird. No girls. No gaming, wel , not anymore at least. No partying…” Dustin counted off the reasons with each finger.

  “I get it!”

  “Look,” Ryan interrupted, “you were just a normal millennial an hour ago. What went wrong?”

  “Or right?” Sam jested.

  “I don’t know.” He walked out towards the nearly empty parking lot. “But I know one thing. I want to test this again.”

  “Huh?” Dustin asked.

  “I just have to control it this time,” Johnny stated. “Throw that rock at me.”

  “What? Throw the rock at you?” he repeated, unsure. “Seriously?”

  “Just do it,” Johnny demanded.

  Dustin bent down and picked up a rock, hurtling it straight at Johnny’s chest. From Johnny’s point of view, the rock traveled through the air in slow motion, as if he had hit the slower speed button on a YouTube video. The others stood like candlesticks in stasis, Dustin’s body still tilted toward his own. In an instant, he caught the rock.

  “Whoa!” Dustin shouted. Except for Rose, and for logical reasons, Ryan, Sam, and Dustin all ran over to him and patted him on the back—even half-hugging—as if he just scored an overtime goal.

  “Hehe, that was sick!” he replied, laughing.

  “It was!” Ryan added.

  “Can you do it again?” Rose asked.

  “All right guys, thanks, just let me go now.” Thankfully, they did, but not until Ryan ruffled Johnny’s hair in good nature. “I think I might be able to control it this time. Meet me at Mickey D’s to figure this out.”

  “Wait, what?” Sam retorted.

  “Let’s go for a run.” With that, Johnny Sparks blasted away like a rocket, shoved forward by a tremendous force.

  “Johnny!” Ryan shouted.

  Rose ran out to see if she could spot him, but his form had vacated the area. “What in the heck is going on?!”

  ~~~

  Johnny did not break a sweat but propelled by like a locomotive on steroids—moving so fast that he was only a blur to most people. The silence sang a peaceful tune, the quietness calming his senses. He only heard the heartbeat-like pounding his feet made on the ridged terrain.

  He raced past the Brooklyn Bridge and wel -nigh cannoned into several civilians, who shrieked from the force of his by-pass. What he felt was pure speed. It intoxicated him like a drug and although he had just started that very minute, he wanted to do it forever.

  No matter the sights, the sounds, or the hustle and bustle of everyday reality, Johnny sped beyond it al into something new.

  He stopped on an old dirt road somewhere on Long Island. “Holy crap,” he said to himself, “I’m a speedster!” He took off again, retracing his steps over the Brooklyn Bridge and into lower Manhattan. He quickly stopped to fumble for his phone and cal Sam.

  “Sam! Sam, I’m OK! Meet me at Mickey D’s!” he spoke into the phone.

  “Johnny? Johnny! Wait hold on!” Sam pled, but Johnny had ended the cal . Sam’s lanky body jerked back as he looked at the others. “He’s going to the Mickey D’s, boys…and girl.”

  “He’s at the McDonald’s? Already?” replied Dustin. “Holy crap.”

  Ryan’s hands were on the sides of his head in disbelief and total astonishment. “This is nuts!” he blurted. He turned to Rose, who stood there like a model in her red jacket.

  “So, uh, do you want to come along? You don’t have to.”

  Obviously, there was not one alternate reality of differing decisions where she turned down the offer. “I’ll go. Just let me call my Dad while we’re getting there. And before you protest or whatever, yes I have to call again.”

  Ryan smiled, stunned by the fact she consented. Did he just ask a girl out? “Of course! My car isn’t a dictatorship, you know!”

  “Who said I was going in your car?” she retorted.

  Thankfully, Ryan got some quick wit at that moment. “You don’t want to ride with those dweebs, right?” A second past and he dropped the mischievous face. “Wait, do you?”

  “No,” she replied. “No, I was only joking.”

  He let out a big grin. Looking over at Dustin and Sam, he teased them. “Yo Sam, don’t forget the hundred bucks!” Sam let out an uneasy laugh. It would not be the last.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE FUTURE

  Running at a speed off the charts, Johnny was in awe, no words to explain it. As if on skis, he slid to a stop in an al ey, a street filled with humming cars and a moderate number of people forming a barrier between another al ey across. The noise of the city was like music, Johnny relished in it. Everything seemed so much different now, as if he had been blinded yet now could see.

  He raised his hand in front of his eyes, staring at it in disbelief. Thanks to the extreme speed, his dirty blonde hair was in disorder.

  This is crazy…how is this even possible right now, he pondered.

  Blinking several times to contemplate what just happened, he whispered, “I must be dreaming.” While his hand still hovered near his eyes, he looked upward—a wonderful sight. Although there were very few stars, he cherished the view from the spot he stood in the urban playground of New York, a tiny corner of nowhere. The air had chilled, yet, for the first time, the temperature made the scene all the more rememberable.

  For the first time, Johnny could relate to the saying: I feel infinite. The good and bad of life faded away as he looked down to his hand once more, astounded this was all real.

  Across the street, he made out a figure. It was a brunette girl, stomping out of a Cricket Wireless store, carrying a garbage bag like it did her an injustice. He watched from a distance. Pretty girl, bad habit.

  A few seconds later, the girl, in the dark al ey across the street, was assaulted by a man. Luckily, Johnny saw it in time. His eyes bulged out of their sockets. He was afraid, unsure if he should intervene. He had never done this before. But, al those martial arts
lessons had to come in handy at some point.

  Looking around to make sure nobody watched, Johnny bolted away and towards the girl, meandering through light traffic. Within a few feet of her, he tripped and spoiled his first rescue.

  As if Providence was his ally, Johnny had actual y accomplished what he set out to do, ramming into the man’s back like a Formula 1 race car with an ill destiny, which shoved the girl onto the ground and her assailant as well.

  Letting out a groan, Johnny got up and watched the man attack once more. Now prepared, the girl was ready for the assailant this time. She raised her arm and the man buckled. Johnny stumbled backward, afraid once again. He was not the only person with powers. There were more like him.

  She’s like me, he thought correctly. What is this? A comic-book?

  “Stay away from me!” said she. “Stay away!” Using her telekinetic gifts, she threw him right back into the wal , knocking him out.

  Finally, Johnny approached her. Telekinesis, he noted. His knowledge of science fiction and fantasy served him well. He had not blinked for well-nigh a full minute, trying

  to grasp what he just witnessed. “Are you OK?” he said, trying to pretend he had seen nothing.

  Turning, she glanced up to him. She arranged her chestnut-colored hair nicely, the bangs strewn across her forehead not obstructing Johnny’s examination. Even in the dim light, he could make out a few freckles dotting her cheeks.

  “I’m-I’m fine,” she replied, dusting her coat off. “You shouldn’t have seen that.”

  Oh forget it, just ask her. “Ar-Are you”—he thought for a moment— “like me?”

  Her expression changed, amused by his wonder. “Look, just don’t tell anyone about what you saw and forget I exist. It’l be good for both of us.”

  “No, I can’t do that.”

  “Why?” she replied.

  “I just…I have been introduced into a new world. I have…abilities too.”

  She studied his expression, weighing the situation. “Did…you hit him?”

  “Yes, I tried to. I tripped so I flew into him,” Johnny replied, trying to show the events with his hands. “It was unintentional. I have just received a gift today.”