Powerless: In a world of superpowers, what happens when you have none?

by Niall McCreanor

  Walking five hundred paces or so, following the track that his brother had left, Tom was able to see where Lee stopped to pick up firewood. He took a moment to silently thank his father for preparing him so well. Tracking was now like a second nature, although the signs were subtle. Lee's tracks stopped abruptly and Tom found a small pile of firewood that Lee had gathered lying on the ground at the base of a tree.

  Looking around, but unable to see his brother, Tom heard another twig snap followed by the sound of heavy breathing. Tom spun around, but the chilling figure that greeted him was not that of his brother. Instead his eyes met something he had not anticipated for a second.

  Tom’s heart dropped in his chest. It took a brief moment for his brain to process the unexpected sight before him. But the large black bear was looking right back at him, challenging him. The bear was fully-grown. Sheer terror gripped Tom as he looked down from the bear’s eyes and saw its mouth was dripping with blood. His brain fought with the reality that this could be the blood of his younger brother. Slowly and deliberately he reached for his knife, only to find it wasn't there. He then realised that it was left back with all the equipment. He held his breath and waited to see what the bear would do. Tom knew he was strong enough to kill it, but did not know if his strength made his skin impervious to an attack from a beast such as a bear. If the bear was to make a swipe at him it could be the end of him.

  He bit down his fears and looked the bear directly in the eye, waiting for it to react to his presence. Standing very still the bear looked at him and then reared up on its hind legs in a display of dominance before landing back down on all four legs.

  As the bear landed it seemed content that Tom was no threat and turned to walk away. Tom let out a breath of relief and mindlessly shifted his weight from one leg to the other. But before he could do anything about it he heard a snap under his foot, unknowingly having stood on a twig.

  The noise disturbed the bear and it turned to face him, but this time there was no show of dominance, there was no warning, the bear began to charge for Tom. There was only one of two things he could do; the first was to play dead; to hit the ground and hope the bear wouldn’t see him as a threat. The other option was to hit the bear with all his might before the bear was able to land a blow to him. This was kill or be killed and every nerve in Tom’s body was alert to his instincts. His sense of invincibility kicked in and he decided very quickly that if he was going to die that day it would be on his terms, clenching every muscle in his body, standing tall, he braced himself for impact with the bear. The animal covered the ground between himself and Tom in a matter of seconds and as the bear grew closer Tom could see no soul in its eyes, only a beast set on ending his short life.

  The bear was about three meters away from him when he heard a loud roar from above his head and the bear’s gaze moved up. It was his brother high upon a tree branch, who had flung himself outward from the tree. Flying through the air towards the bear he aimed for its head. As he landed, the animal began growling ferociously. The bear shook his head so Lee would fall, simultaneously trying to grip the boy in his mouth, but Lee held on tightly to the bear’s head while trying to free his arm so he could swing his knife at the beast. As the bear let out another growl, he managed to free his arm and plunged his knife into the neck of the bear.

  The growl turned into an empty hollow gasp as it tried to recover from the blow. Lee fell off the bear and landed on the ground right in front of him, but the bear had lost interest in the boys and was struggling to stay upright.

  It wrangled a bit, stumbling slowly and hitting the forest floor with a pronounced impact. Getting to his feet again, Lee picked his bloodied knife off the ground and went over to the bear, which by now was in a vast amount of pain. Taking his knife and sticking it into the bear’s neck once again he freed the animal from the pain it was in. Even though it was the humane thing to do it was not glamorous or glorious. Pushing the knife in, Lee could feel it tearing against muscle, bone and cartilage. Crossing a line that Lee didn’t realise he had. His stomach shrank and it pained him to kill what was a beautiful beast. Lee fought his body not to expel the contents of his stomach.

  Looking round at his brother, Lee saw Tom frozen, in a state of shock at what he had just witnessed. Seeing something in Lee's eyes he had not seen before; the look of a man possessed.

  Moving back to the bear panting heavily, he pulled his knife from the bear’s neck, wiped it on his sleeve and turned back to Tom. Lashing out angrily at him he said, “Where is your knife?” But without giving Tom the time to answer he said sternly, “Tom, this isn't a game. You could die here...” pausing to take a breath he began to adjust back to himself, with a tear rolling down his cheek and red in his eyes. “Tom you’re my big brother and I need you, I'm not strong like you, I can't take risks like you, but I won't stand by and watch you risk everything...”

  Tom saw that the possession in Lee's eyes was in fact fuelled by the fear of losing him and conceded to his younger brother. “You're right, Lee. I’m sorry...”

  While the two trekked back to the camp, Lee explained, “I went to gather the firewood and I came across the bear tracks, hearing the twig break in the bush across from me, I scaled the tree and waited for the bear to pass hopefully unseen.

  However, when you happened below where I was, I had no choice when the bear attacked but to use the element of surprise. I had to take action.”

  The two boys returned to where the camp was set, cooked and ate the rabbit and bedded down for the night. They were both in a degree of shock, still having adrenaline pumping from the bear attack and were unable to sleep. Stretched out, looking up at the night sky through the cover of the trees, they struggled to settle. Tom spoke up and broke the relative silence.

  “I actually can’t believe you jumped from the tree.”

  Lee began to laugh. “Well, what was I supposed to do?”

  Tom was bemused. “I don’t know, but I definitely didn’t expect you to do that… Ninja style!” Both the boys continued to laugh, naturally falling silent after a moment, Tom reflected. “Lee?”

  Lee answered “Yea, Tom?”

  Tom lay silent for a few minutes and simply said, “Thanks, Lee.”

  Lee calmed his mind once again thinking of the feat he had performed and the odds of him getting away unhurt as they both thought hard for those few moments about what he would risk for his brother.

  “Anytime bro.”

  The next day they woke and walked at a steady pace the rest of the way back to the cabin, where their father seemed surprised to see they made it down so quickly. Inquiring about the hike, they told him everything about their days in the wilderness. About how they didn’t bed down on the first night until they got below the snow line and how they found fresh water, and how they snared the rabbit for dinner. Fearing the repercussions of their actions regarding the bear they decided not to tell their father about that as he wouldn’t have approved of the risk either of them took.

  Philip, being the protective man that he was, didn’t leave his sons alone on the mountain, but rather had tracked them from behind, to ensure their safety. Not being able to see the incident with the bear, as he was further back, he came across the bear’s body and from the tracks left on the ground he worked out what had happened.

  The only thing he didn’t know was which of his two sons killed the bear and which of his sons was nearly killed by it. Removing both the large and sharp incisor teeth from the bear’s mouth, he placed them in a handkerchief and put it carefully into his bag.

  Philip assumed that it would have been Lee that got into trouble, him being younger and more vulnerable to attack, which was the case until he was sorting their gear out after their return. Both of the boys’ blades had small traces of blood and animal hair on them so he was unsure, but when taking Lee's shirt and seeing where he had cleaned the blade on his sleeve it became clear that it was Lee who saved the life of his older stronger brother.

  Phi
lip did not expect that Lee had strength in him to undergo such a feat and come away both unhurt and stronger for it. He was proud that he knew the boys were looking out for each other and would work as a team to protect each other even from him, but he was also fearful that Lee would risk everything for his brother.

  Lee took the knife and wrapped it in a cloth and slipped it into his bag. Once again sniggering to Tom that his gift was something he already owned, but really knowing that it was a lot more.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The two boys were close their entire life. Tom would often take Lee to sporting events and take him out while playing golf. He liked golf as his strength allowed him to hit the ball further than most, but he struggled with his putting game, as he didn’t have the delicate touch needed. This frustrated him at times, but it wasn't so much about the game to Tom as it was about spending time with his brother. They got along as strong friends and although the typical sibling relationship was never far from erupting into an old-school style scuffle, their underlying respect for each other kept these scuffles friendly and as they grew up their friendship only became stronger.

  One Saturday the boys were playing a morning round and midway around the course Lee was struggling to carry Tom’s bag, so he took it from Lee and led the way over to a big tree in the middle of the fairway. Tom sat down under the tree, unzipping the pouch on the side of the bag. He reached his hand in and pulled out a brown bag of fries that he had bought the night before. Tom opened the bag, reached inside, pulled a hand full of fries for himself and offered the rest of the bag to Lee. “Here Lee, have a couple of these!”

  Lee reached his hand out, taking the bag from his brother. Lee pulled a handful out for himself and ate the first few, even though they were cold and didn’t taste very appealing. Happily Lee ate away, never complaining as they were something shared with his brother, something special for the two to share with no one around as the world would pass by. And this was how it always was between them. Somehow, losing their mother at such young ages had created an unbreakable bond between them, leaving them happy in one another’s company, against the world together.

  After a while other golfers would play while the two boys sat watching them try to perfect their swings. Tom watched the technique of the different players in order to further his own game. Lee watched more bewildered than anything with the style of clothes and all the audacious colours. Palette combinations that he would have never seen before brought an expression of amusement to his face.

  “I think that would look good on you,” Tom said, observing his brother.

  Lee looked back befuddled, “I don’t think so.”

  Tom packed away what remained of the fries into the golf bag, pulling out a bottle of flat cola offering some to Lee. Each quenched their thirst and continued to finish the round of golf.

  This memory lived with Lee, comforting him for the rest of his days, secure in the knowledge that his big brother was there for him and would remain there. The time they spent together was precious, each knowing the lifelong cost of losing those important to you, making them respect each other and their father in a way that most teenagers wouldn’t learn until later life.

  By the time Lee turned sixteen he was attending school like any normal kid his age and was on track to becoming a great man. The principles that his father had taken great time and effort to instil in him were evident in the way he treated his friends and teachers. To all around he seemed to be a hard working boy, with an understanding of the world that you would expect from a much older man. But when it came down to it, he was still a teenager, trying to find his place in the world and struggling without the presence of his loving mother. Over time he developed a major passion for music, finding that the sentiment of songwriting often mirrored his own feelings. He listened to the bands of the day and was partial to the older music that his father was interested in, finding it easy to relax and shut off from his constant inner monologue about his shortcomings from not having an ability. Philip would often watch as Lee sat staring into space with headphones on, oblivious to the world around him but with a look on his face that spoke volumes. He worried for his son, so much more introverted than Tom.

  Together the boys played on the football team in his school and like most sixteen-year-old boys, they had an eye for the ladies. The two boys passed their weekends watching sports and movies. They spent hours debating over them, arguing about team tactics and the plot line in their preferred films.

  Whilst always shying away from the topic of his powers, in general this was seen as a personal one, like a person’s sexuality or age. No one really discussed it as for every power that a person had there was also a corresponding weakness; as unique to the individual as the ability itself.

  Most people didn’t know about their own weakness unless they were exposed to it and in general if they were exposed to it they would not live to talk about it, unless intervention from an outside source came to help. Sometimes within the bravado of the schoolyard people challenged each other. On these occasions his brother helping him conceal the fact that Lee lacked any hidden ability.

  He took joy in setting up elaborate feats, where Tom would use his strength and make it look like Lee was doing it. It would be something as simple as Tom lifting a small car off the ground then challenging any of his classmates to an arm wrestle, beating them easily then challenging his brother and always letting Lee win after what seemed a titanic struggle between the two. This was a regular sight in the schoolyard.

  On other occasions the pair would appear to fight over things that were irrelevant. Sometimes Lee would win, sometimes Tom, forgetting to let Lee win. They were a team and they protected each other and most importantly they protected Lee’s secret. Seeing Lee’s feats of strength, no other student would dare challenge him and on the rare occasion that they did, either Tom would have Lee’s back or Lee depended on his heightened awareness and intellect to get him through whatever obstacle was thrown in his path. As a team they worked very well together, but when Tom went off to college things were a little harder for Lee.

  Without his brother around Lee no longer had someone to keep an eye on him, to watch over his actions from a distance and, if need be, to come to his aid. But Lee proved himself as capable and self-reliant as he had when he came to his brothers’ aid from the bear. Lee had never taken Tom’s efforts to conceal his lack of ability for granted. It was above and beyond the call of duty, and without these little tricks Lee would have been left exposed to the reality of the world that he just didn’t quite fit into. He was strong willed and determined to be able to protect his own secret without the help of any other person, so he actively resolved to spend the rest of his school life going unnoticed.

  Never meeting his potential as a student or as an athlete, Lee remained under the radar for the rest of his school life. In a world with no powers, Lee would have excelled, with his keen intellect and observational skills, but in this world he had no choice but to keep to himself, maintaining the relationship with his family and choosing not to connect with others for fear of being exposed. Other kids involved in sports weren’t allowed to use their power as it was seen as an unfair advantage and it also taught kids that relying on your capabilities wasn’t advisable to get ahead in life. Given this restriction on sporting prowess Lee had a natural advantage as his father raised him as an athlete. But he never used this advantage, never finishing last in a race and never finishing first. Lee went unseen throughout the rest of his schooling life.

  Without his brother in the school to support him he reverted inwardly with the burden of the secret he had to carry. He felt like he was lying to both himself and the world, as if he was being untrue to his character and his inner self, holding back and being false to the world.

  It seemed to weigh on him, a fact that was not lost on Philip who always kept a watchful eye over his son. He grasped that this was a burden his son would have to carry for all his days and that it was something he would hav
e to learn to deal with himself. For this reason he was reluctant to intervene and hoped that his son would be strong enough to face the challenges that lay ahead of him. Despite the heavy weight of this burden, Philip saw his son growing into a man with strong principles and an objective view of the world around him, his heart filling with pride for the son he had dedicated his life to raising. He knew that his wife would be proud of the man Lee was growing up to be, regardless of whether he had a power or not.

  Every so often Lee found the tediousness of school getting to him. He struggled with hiding his intellect and often found himself bored in class learning things that were unchallenging to him. He’d find himself sitting there, looking around at his classmates who he neither knew well nor cared about, refusing to get caught up in their childish games and bullying. He would always finish the work set for them in record time, leaving him with nothing to do but wait for the others, while he became lost in his head, dreaming of a time when he was his own man and could do what he wanted with his time.

  When the tediousness and boredom became too much to handle he would skip class. Leaving for school like normal in the morning, then waiting for his father to leave for work, Lee would sneak back into the house and spend the day on the couch watching old films. He knew that if he was caught out, the disappointment in his father’s eyes would cut right through him, but sometimes the thought of walking into that school, totally invisible to those around him, was just too much to bear. Whereas, the comfort of his own home and the pull of a lazy day on the sofa felt like a more constructive use of his time.

  The days of skipping school became a bad habit that crept into Lee’s week. On one such day after exhausting his collection of movies and resigning himself to channel-hoping, he sat mindlessly flicking through the stations looking at what passed as entertainment. Boredom had set in.