by Nye, Laine
“I wonder if she killed her own father.”
“Brad that is a terrible thought.”
“Yes. And a terrible deed. How could she know if he was killed with an ice pick to the brain if it wasn’t her that did it? How would an outsider know that he only slept three or four hours per night but that he slept so deeply that he was unable to respond to stimuli?”
“She told you that?”
“Not in those words but that was the idea that was conveyed.” Brad assured her.
“Then, she might have got away with murder.”
“It’s possible that she did. Yet why would she take a risk like that. Her crime could have been discovered by telling me these things.”
“You are trying to see this from a logical standpoint or from the point of view of one who is sane. There is no way for us to predict how she would think, act or what she would do.” Charlene stated.
“Well, I used a throwaway phone to contact her. She doesn’t have my real number or our address. I am going to throw away that phone right now. I guess we need to get out of here before they release her on her own recognizance or some such thing. We don’t want to be here when she is freed. We don’t know what kind of mayhem she has in mind. We came here for nothing. Wasted our money. Took time from work. All for nothing.”
“No. It wasn’t for nothing.” She disagreed gently. “You got your g-force ability back.”
“Yes. But at what cost? I hate the way I feel all the time and now it’s worse. It is difficult to sleep since Palawan.”
She put her hand on his to comfort him. “I guess I don’t have any more answers for you. Let’s go home tomorrow Brad and put this nightmare behind us.”
Brad had been fortunate in one way. He had not floated off the bed in the hospital while asleep. It didn’t happen every night. Only occasionally. It could have been a real problem for them if he had been discovered in the air above his bed. Charlene had stayed nights with him to wake him if he lifted off the hospital bed. They had learned to sleep under separate blankets in their home so that Charlene would not be uncovered on those occasions when he did lift into the air.
∆∆∆
Nancy Cooper spent a lot of time with Steve at the Collins residence while his parents were in Florida. Steve quickly learned that Nancy was not given to having an intimate relationship with Steve even though she seemed to be crazy about him. That was just fine with Steve. He had great respect for his parents and would never dishonor their home by using it for a place to conduct himself in that manner.
He had been raised with moral values that afforded respect towards women, and for himself. He had a few friends who were close enough to him to admit that they had gone all the way with a young woman and regretted it almost immediately. They spoke of feelings of shame and embarrassment; Of losing their parents trust who somehow seemed to sense what had happened. They told him that he thought it created a sense of commitment towards the girl they had been with, but she moved on without looking back and that hurt their feelings. All in all, it didn’t sound to Steve like the kind of complications that he wanted. Nancy felt the same way.
He sure didn’t mind her deluge of kisses though. He was very surprised as he sat with her on his family’s couch having one of these sweet sessions how quickly he had fallen in love with her. He wondered soberly when he was alone if maybe he was just attracted to her affections. No. he knew deep inside that he truly loved her. Loving her meant caring for her and respecting her. That was also why he didn’t want to become intimate with her. He didn’t want the specialness of their relationship to change.
Steve firmly believed that this was the woman he wanted to marry. Yet, he was only seventeen. He knew he could not support her yet. He needed his education so that he could have a good future like his father had. He and Nancy would have to wait. They spent a long time talking it over and she agreed that they should wait to get married.
There was something else. His mother had taught him to give a meaningful relationship a couple of years before a final decision occurred about marriage. His mom explained to him that in most cases the two years of waiting would give a person long enough to observe their intended in various kinds of situations. That way they could see if the person changed over time when the newness of the relationship wore off. If a best foot forward kind of deceit was being used, it could not last over time. The truth would come out as their behavior returned to the common negative patterns they had been hiding.
His mom had also told him that sometimes the best way to judge a person’s character was to see how they acted during a difficult crisis. If their behavior did not become hateful, or bitter or combative but endured the crises with grace, that person would be someone to consider in marriage. There would be no rushing into a marriage for Steve and Nancy. They were crazy about each other, but they determined they could wait for a more advantageous time in their life to forge their permanent bond.
They didn’t spend time with kissing only. They had long talks about each other. They got to know each other. They each told stories about their life and many things that had happened to them. This kind of closeness grew a stronger bond than all the kissing in the world could have done. Both-of them were proving to be very mature in their attitudes and decisions. Self-control was a rarity amongst their peers.
Of course, there were things that Steve couldn’t tell her about his life. Maybe someday, but not now. She couldn’t know about his ability to control gravity. Nor the way he had used it, even when he was defending her.
The last time he had a confrontation with Gary Gorilla’s egregious group of grim groupies, he hadn’t used any forced gravity at all. Just a few Coke cans had done the trick. It still made him smile in amusement when he remembered how he had assailed them before they could assault him. Using his g force and letting others see it or know it would be very troublesome for him and his family. His dad had learned that the hard way when he was Steve’s age in Utah; The way he had taken his friends out and showed off to them. Taken them up to do aerial acrobatics. Then he had done the same with his ‘hot date’ as Brad had called it, and that was when his whole world fell apart. All because of one girl he had allowed to see his abilities.
Brad had drilled those lessons into his son’s head so that Steve would never make the mistakes his father had. So far, it had worked for the most part. It was just so tempting to pull off some feat in front of others. Nevertheless, he had resisted.
He was looking forward to his parent’s return. Though he had enjoyed every minute he had spent with Nancy in his home alone, still, he was looking forward to their return. Such was the closeness of the Collins family.
Chapter Four
Gorilla and his group were still seething after the two defeats they had suffered at the hands of Steve Collins. Gorilla wanted revenge. So did the others. J had not listened to Steve’s warning. He still hung out with the group getting himself in deeper trouble. His heart was beginning to harden so much so that there was little chance of Steve reaching him. Getting him to change his affiliations and get back to be the good kid he had once had a reputation for. He also wanted revenge on Steve. Two separate worlds were about to collide. The one in Utah where Jeff Rowley wanted to make Brad suffer for what he had done to Jeff’s family and the other world where the small gang wanted to hurt Steve in California.
Jeff had two investigators in Northern California looking for Brad Shaw with no inkling that they should be looking for Seth Collins.
This too would change.
Jeff had one day recently remembered that a long time ago, Brad had mentioned that he had an uncle in California. That was the uncle who Brad went to live with when he escaped from Utah. But he only lived with him for a year before he went off to college. That uncle had since moved to Pennsylvania so when Jeff learned that, he sent one investigator there to continue the search. Still no results. Jeff was spending a lot of his hard-earned fortune to find Brad but had failed so far. That failure made his
hatred grow stronger.
In California, Citrus Heights to be exact, was where Brad and family had lived for the past decade in a fairly-nice home in a nice neighborhood. It was in that city that Gorilla and company also lived.
It was the local Safeway in the same shopping center where they had tried to assault Nancy when Brad intervened that they continued to watch for Steve because they didn’t know where he lived. It was the same store where he had bought the case of Coke that he ended up using as missiles as he threw them at the gang.
Gorilla aka Gary had suffered a concussion that still made him feel a little dizzy from time to time. He also had been having headaches from the coke can hitting him in the forehead. The top of the can had landed on his forehead so that he had a large bruise in the shape of a ring. Couldn’t easily explain that one to his father or anyone else. Especially not with the embarrassment that he felt. It was the humiliation that drove him. Motivated him to find Steve. Four guys against one on two separate occasions and the four had been soundly beaten. Well not this time. Not again. They waited and watched for the chance.
Then it came.
Brad was at work. Almost time to go home. Charlene asked Steve if he would go to the store with her for groceries. Steve agreed to go. He didn’t mind helping her when she asked. She was such a loving, giving mother that he felt he owed her for a lifetime of service. He also knew he wouldn’t be at home with his parents much longer. He was planning on going to school in the fall. The University he wanted to go to was in Southern California. He expected to be leaving in the autumn.
They took the car over to Safeway and got a shopping cart and started filling it with things they needed. They were near the middle of an aisle on one side of the store when from behind them came Gorilla and Smack. Three others were there also. Steve saw them immediately and was going to confront them. Keep them from his mother when he saw three of them pull out guns. He grabbed his mom’s arm and said “Mom, we’ve gotta go now. There’s trouble coming. He started pulling her towards the opposite end of the aisle from Gorilla when J and Spam came into view with two others. J and Smack also pulled guns. For a split second, it occurred to Steve what a poor tactical plan they were enacting. If they started shooting, they would very likely hit each other.
Not that Steve would care if they did. But he did not want his mom or himself to be shot. Still holding his mom’s arm as she saw the danger they were in though she did not know why, He said tersely. “We’re going up Mom. Right now.”
And up they went. Steve launched them toward the ceiling using his repelling ability so that they went up much faster than just floating gradually toward the ceiling. It was a trick his father had taught him. Now that his father had regained his g-force, Steve wished that he were here. The two of them could make short work of these guys just like had been done two years ago with the bomber at the library.
They touched down, so to speak, on the ceiling. Steve had turned them both upside down. They landed on the ceiling on their feet. The look of shock on the would-be shooters was priceless. But Steve had no time to appreciate that. “Come on Mom. We are going to run across the roof.” He said to her.
Charlene was handling the situation much better than most would be able to. She was used to being in a null-gravity field with her husband. Had done so in an emergency that very first time he had lifted her out of the swimming pool building when the roof was collapsing on her. She held her son’s hand and began running across the roof with him. Grocery items began rising off the shelves toward them until they passed by that location then the items would either fall back to the shelves knocking other things over or they fell into the aisles. Like a boat leaving a wake in the water as it went by, the grocery items continued to rise and fall in a path beneath them.
There were no ceiling tiles. The store roof was made of corrugated sheet metal with steel I-beams for support. They were running cross the ceiling like it was the floor and they were upright while everyone else was upside down.
Gorilla recovered from his shock at seeing them ‘fly away’. His hatred for Steve was so strong that he was willing to kill both Steve and his mom for the injustice he felt had been heaped upon him when he was humiliated at Steve’s hands. “Shoot them. They’re getting away.” He shrieked at his friends.
They were slow to respond, still staring in awe at the spectacle above them. Gorilla started shooting at Steve. Gorilla was not a marksman. In fact, he had never shot a gun before. He had the general idea but wasn’t accurate with his aim. But the explosion of his very loud .45 Semi-auto jarred the others out of their numbness and they raised their guns and began shooting as well.
Bullets were plinking all around Steve and Charlene. Some shots were getting too close as they moved further away from the aisle they had been on. Soon they would be out of the line of fire with the tall shelves blocking the view, if the gunmen stayed on that aisle that is.
Steve had had enough. He threw immense gravity under the two groups and dropped them all to the ground. Finally, they were out of the line of sight of the guns. They continued running across the store, upside down and toward the entrance.
There were about one hundred people in the store. Some of them were running in blind panic for the exit after hearing gunshots. This included many of the employees. But some stood where they were looking up at the two-people running across the ceiling. They pulled out cell phones and started taking pictures. A few of them were shooting video of the bizarre situation.
Gorilla and his bunch were finally able to struggle to their feet and start running toward the front of the store to catch up to Steve. But Steve and his mom were already to the front wall next to the doorway. They ran down the wall face down until they were just six feet from the floor. “Jump to the floor, Mom.” Steve said and just like that they both came off the wall as he let the g-force return to normal and they landed on their feet next to the exit. The doors opened automatically, and they ran outside for their car. Their would-be murderers were only about 60 feet behind them trying to get through the exit but caught up in a group of people that were rushing through the doors. That slowed them down a lot. They showed their guns to the people who screamed and jumped out of the way.
Charlene was by now in the driver’s seat. Steve jumped in the other side as she started the car and tore out of the parking space and headed for the road.
“Steve. What is going on?” She asked in a very tense voice. “Why were those guys after us?”
“They’re the ones I told you about. Mom, please hurry faster. They’re the group that were after Nancy that day. Only there were more of them today.”
“They were shooting at us. Trying to kill us.”
“Yeah.” Steve said in a quiet voice he was shaken by the sudden violence. Unlike his father who had been intimidated by Milo Weathers and who had been accidentally killed by Brad, and Sherman Greene the corrupt police officer, Steve had not been afraid when he dealt with the gang before. But today, he was afraid. His mom was shaking and pale.
Neither of them considered the pictures that would have been taken of them. In their fear, they hadn’t once considered that angle.
Charlene called her husband who was on his way home from work. She told him with a shaky voice what had just happened to them. He told them he would hurry to meet them at their home. They got out of the parking lot long before the gang got to their various cars. So, they were able to get free of the group without anyone finding them on the highway. They arrived home and as they got out of their car and headed for the front door, Brad came flying around the corner and into the driveway. He stopped his car and jumped out running to them.
“Were you followed?” He asked.
“No. I don’t think so.” Charlene answered as she unlocked the front door and went in. Steve followed, then Brad.
“Okay. So, they don’t know where we live then.” Brad surmised. “We are safe for now. But Charlene, we now have-to find a place to move to in another town.”
“Why?” She asked her husband.
“Were any pictures taken of you guys running upside down?”
Charlene’s mouth came open and drew into a tight worry line. “I don’t know. Do you Steve?”
Steve shrugged. “I was too busy getting us out of there after I had pinned those guys down. I don’t know either.”
“We will have to assume that pictures now exist of you two defying gravity. That means we will have to figure out several precautions to protect our identities. If this gets out, we are all in trouble. Steve turned on the T.V. to the 24-hour news and kept an eye on it.
It wasn’t long before footage of them running across the ceiling and down the front wall of the store was being shown on the news. The newscasters were skeptical about what they were seeing in the still pictures and the videos to accept it as being real. Special effects, they believed. Couldn’t be real.
“Well, let’s hope they keep it that way. Fake news is the thing right now, but people are already tired of it. Hopefully your little escapades in the store will be entirely discounted.” Brad said thoughtfully. “Nevertheless, we are going to have to get out of this town. Those guys are a danger to us now.”
Everybody had been busy getting pictures and videos of Steve and his mom and had failed to get any shots of the bad guys. Just one quick shot of the gunmen was shown. The police would try to hunt for them but would not be able to find them. The brief shot of them was too hard to discern. Steve knew who they were, but he could hardly go the police to report them as Brad quickly proved.
“Brad. Steve knows some of those guy’s names from high school. Shouldn’t we let the police know who they are?” Charlene asked her husband.
Brad thought about her question for a few minutes. “No.” He said. “We cannot validate the story about you guys at the store. Right now, unknown people shot holes in the roof of a store. That’s all they have. But if you come forward to identify them, you will be recognized as the people that perpetrated this ‘hoax’. That you walked upside down on the roof. While being shot at? Who would do that? Who could do that? Unless, of course it was real. Letting them see you would only lend credence to the videos no matter how unlikely it would seem to them. The story might be carried all over the U.S. if it can be legitimized. We can’t afford that to happen.”
