“So?” Genesis asked.
“What?”
“Really?”
“What is it?”
“Are you really going to make me ask the obvious question?”
“Well, what’s the question?”
Genesis reached over and slapped him across the shoulder.
“Ow,” Creed whimpered. “What was that for?”
“You know what.”
Creed couldn’t help but chuckle at the look upon Genesis’ face. There were plenty of questions to be asked, but where would they even begin? Genesis could hardly hold her tongue, but she thought they would have plenty of time for that after school. Creed himself was just basking in the undeniable fact, that yes, he had just flown. Something never achieved by anyone in humanity. Attempted probably, but up until this point, no one had ever been successful. It was just like a scene from those Superman movies but with adolescence and converse.
“You think Garrett is still over there?” Creed piped back up. They both laughed while they continued down the unknown street.
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time Genesis and Creed had made it back to school, they were already about a half hour late. They said their goodbyes and rushed off towards their first period classrooms. Creed attempted to discreetly slip into Mr. Walsh’s English class. James Welford who sat at the back of the room was one of the few that noticed Creed rush in. James was another friend of Garrett’s, and Creed wondered if Garrett might’ve told him about what happened earlier that morning. He figured ultimately, that no one would probably believe Garrett even if he did talk about it, but it was just another excuse for him and his friends to antagonize regardless. With the excitement of the morning now past, Creed spent most of his time before lunch trying to ponder what exactly happened. He now had a new set of questions to evaluate and mull over. How in the hell did I do that? The requisitions only grew from there. Could I do it again? Did anyone see us? I think I’m going to be sick. Reality was setting in. If he thought the endless distress over kissing his best friend was already plentiful; now there was this. After the first couple of classes had finished up, he finally agreed to let it go for the time being. There was nothing he could possibly do about it now anyway, and he was just going to drive himself mad thinking about it all day. Or was he already mad?
Lunch went on swiftly without the typical drama. Creed knew Genesis couldn’t wait to get him alone to ask her own barrage of questions. Questions which he knew he couldn’t supply an answer to either way. At the end of the day in French class, Genesis slipped a folded piece of paper on Creed’s desk. He opened it up and saw a tiny stick figure with long hair saying, ‘help me.’ On the other end of the paper was another stick figure with a cape saying, ‘I’m here to save the day.’ It was a pathetic drawing. A piece of work that even a fifth grader probably wouldn’t brag about, but it made Creed belt out with an awkward laugh.
“What’s going on back there?” Mrs. Bender, the French teacher muttered. “Nothing, sorry.” Creed softly responded. Genesis smiled as Creed crumpled up the drawing and threw it back at her. At least he knew Genesis still clearly had a sense of humor about the situation. Even though this might change everything. Honestly, he thought, what if I did permanently possess these supernatural abilities or whatever you might call them. Would they eventually wear off? Am I dreaming at all? And if so, when the hell is my alarm going to go off? You know, it’s not like there’s a whole army of gifted people out there like the X-men. There’s no school, no apprenticeship or anything like that. This wasn’t the movies where the main character realized he had powers before eventually saving everyone from a huge meteor, just in the nick of time. This was real life. That’s what Creed couldn’t stand about the movies, it was all too unrealistic. What was more frustrating was that the good guy always won while the villain was either killed or apprehended. The movies got better in time with the likes of Kick-Ass and Hancock. They even saved face on Batman with the ingenious Christopher Nolan as Director, who basically saved the series. Nolan rightfully so, turned Batman into a more realistic vigilante but as always, the good guy still ultimately won.
On the walk home after school, Genesis didn’t say much. She wasn’t sure what to say, how to word it. In her mind she probably thought if she acknowledged the phenomenon, it might change things between the two of them; just how some suggest that sex can change everything after the deed is completed. It was certainly peculiar how roles had changed from the other morning. Genesis was now finding herself the one with the feeling of impending restlessness and Creed couldn’t help but become slightly amused over the entire ordeal.
“So…how was your day?” Creed asked.
“Fine, yeah. You?”
“It was good. It was okay. You okay?” Genesis looked over at Creed who seemed like he was on the verge of laughing. “Yeah, why?” she replied. “Oh nothing, you just seem distant, awkward even. Was it the flying around? It’s okay, we can talk about it.” Genesis caught on to his sarcasm and smiled as they approached the Crismon and Guadalupe corner. They both turned and locked arms.
“So, 8 o’ clock tonight?” Genesis initiated.
“Wait, what?”
Creed could hardly pry any further before Genesis gave him a quick kiss on the lips and uttered her goodbyes. She turned and walked off down Crismon road. Creed was annoyed but he figured at least this time he received a kiss before she took off on him. Creed smiled and watched her leave for a moment before crossing the street.
Later that night at exactly 8 o’ clock, Genesis knocked on the window outside of Creed’s room. Creed appeared and quietly opened the window before helping her crawl into his room from the yard.
“What are you doing here?” Creed asked. “I told you 8 o clock.” Genesis snipped back. She walked over to his bed and sat down. Genesis petted the bed, motioning for Creed to sit next to her. Creed rolled his eyes and sat down. Genesis hastily turned towards him right as he got comfortable. “Alright, so tell me the truth, how the hell did you do that?” Creed immediately chuckled in response. He shrugged his shoulders while nodding his head. “I literally have no clue.”
“Really? So, you can just fly?” Genesis replied exasperatedly.
“I guess.” Creed didn’t know really what to say or how to explain it. The fact that they were even discussing it was odd for him. This would’ve been odd for anyone. It wasn’t like this was an all too common topic of discussion. Not only was it uncommon, it just didn’t happen at all. It was a surreal situation to say the absolute least.
“Well, so…what else can you do Superman?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Well, can you walk through walls? Do you have metal claws that burst out of your knuckles when you’re angry?”
“Shut up.” Creed insisted.
“Or how about turning liquid to ice? Maybe manipulate fire –” Creed couldn’t help but laugh at Genesis’ presumptions. To be fair, until she had suggested it, he really hadn’t even thought about there being other abilities. Creed was overloaded enough with trying to process how intense flying alone had already been.
“Wait, have you attempted to fly again? What if it was just a supernatural anomaly of energetic neurons firing off? Or shit, better yet; what if it’s artificial intelligence? I had this cousin who claimed she could move things with her mind, and that she believed she contracted the powers from visiting one of those corn fields, you know, with the writings -”
“- Alright stop.” Creed cut in. “Look, enough. There is no artificial intelligence, I wasn’t abducted; I’m pretty sure I can’t manipulate fire or turn anything into anything else. I’m not sure what it all means, or how this happened. I’m not fully sure what this changes, if anything. I’m not positive I could even do it again, and right now I’m not sure I want to, or what I would do differently if I could. I’m a sixteen-year-old junior. I want to be with you, and that’s pretty much all I know, or want to know.”
Genesis gazed at
him while he babbled on trying to make plain of his unique situation. That was enough to put a hindrance to her meddling.
“You want to be with me Creed O’Connor?” Genesis spouted in response.
“Yes.”
Genesis smiled and then pulled him forward. They both lied down slowly on the bed while sustaining a kiss the entire time. Creed’s hands cascaded across Genesis’ waist while her hands grazed across his. Creed’s hands made their way back across her stomach, pushing upwards towards her chest, all while his hand lied underneath her shirt, pulling it up and revealing her bare skin. He began caressing her breasts before Genesis suddenly pushed his hands away and quickly sat up on the bed.
“No, not yet. I mean, trust me I want –”
“No, no it’s fine,” Creed cut in. “You don’t have to explain.”
Genesis leaned over and gave him a kiss. She unraveled her shirt back down and then stood up.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Genesis inquired.
“Of course.” Creed stood up and Genesis gave him one last kiss before sneaking back out of the bedroom window. Right before she scurried off, Genesis turned back and peered at him through the window.
“What about reading minds?”
“Goodnight Genesis.”
Creed closed the window as Genesis finally disappeared out of the yard and took off down the street.
After school the next day, Creed wanted to see if he could duplicate the results of the other morning. Creed had about an hour before his parents arrived. He quickly grabbed a banana from the kitchen and disappeared into his backyard. Creed wanted to know if it was a fluke, or like Genesis said; some unique anomaly. He finished up the banana before venturing out to the middle of the yard. He was giving himself enough space in either direction just in case something went wrong and he couldn’t quite control it. Creed quickly glanced around to see if anyone was outside before motioning upwards. Immediately he started to feel the same energy force below his feet that he felt two days ago. He was now floating a few inches above the ground. It was quickly after liftoff that Creed realized he had the ability to manipulate this supernatural source and move in any direction his mind requested his body to go. He felt the same thing when he first flew, but it felt exponentially more tenacious now. It was as if the particles were on the same wave lengths as his mind, and it was only growing stronger. Creed continued practicing different aerial tricks while up in the sky. Eventually he was able to move and stop on a dime. Creed suddenly remembered his parents would be home any minute and began floating back down, just inches above the ground before finally touching the grass. Creed was understandably in awe. He couldn’t believe this was all possible. He held his hands up to his head, and then instantly threw them outwards in delighted disbelief. In the blink of an eye, a huge crack ripped through the brick of the house.
“Woah, what the f-” Creed exclaimed. He glanced down at his hands in mere fright. Before any type of an ethical thought process could be reached, Creed threw up his arms and thrusted towards the house again. A chunk of brick instantly burst out of the previously cracked piece on the wall. “Holy fuck.” He yelled out. Just then the sliding door opened and Creed’ mother popped her head outside. She noticed he was in the middle of the yard, kneeling.
“Creed? What are you doing outside?” She asked. Creed straightened his body and looked towards his mom hanging out the back door. “Nothing. Not a thing, nothing.” He answered.
“Alright well start getting ready for dinner.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Right as his mother shut the door, Creed gasped a sigh of relief before looking back down at his hands again. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. The first thought that crossed his mind was telling Genesis. She was going to get a kick out of this. But how were other people going to react? He knew that Garrett was a punk that nobody would believe him. However, Creed couldn’t help but think what would happen if these abilities were ever put on display somehow?
By the time Creed finally entered the house, his Dad was already home and comfortable, lounging in his favorite arm chair while watching the news. Creed’s mother soundly prepared dinner.
Now Creed’s father was not typically a politically opinionated guy. He took a minimal interest towards some issues, but he never had enough time or energy to really become more hands on with it all. Occasionally, Creed’s father would go on about certain discrepancies within the current administration, past administrations, etc. Of course, like most people, he never really had any experience within the political realm, but he picked up things rather quickly. Another thing Creed’s father was picky about was watching the local news. He thought that the local monotonous humdrum was useless and irrelevant, and instead would affix himself to CNN. Creed’s father would attest to how the local news paid more attention to murders and robberies. ‘At least CNN will include a more positive story occasionally,’ his Father would say after watching some feel good story about a mountain climber who finally reached Mount Everest summit in honor of his father, who had previously died from Cancer. Creed’s Father would say these were the stories that reinserted people’s hope for humanity. Now Creed’s mother on the other hand was a driven and idealistic help-meet. She worked furiously at work as she did at home. Creed felt like she never stopped until it was bedtime. It was just in her nature, which was engrained into her by her mother that had passed it down to her. She didn’t mind or hardly complain at all about anything. Except if the house was a mess, then you’d hear her rummaging through the house like a cock-eyed sailor.
“Holy shit did you hear that?” Creed’s father bellowed out. “What?” Creed inquired.
“There’s supposedly a rift brewing between the United States and China.”
“You’re kidding?”
Creed walked into the living and sat down on the love seat right next to the arm chair. He watched as the headline at the bottom of the screen read Tension at U.N. meetings today.
“What happened?”
CNN was going back and forth showing clips of the Chinese President and the U.S. President while the anchor continued the story.
“I don’t know exactly. They’re saying something about how the President was accusing China of causing duress by having part of their armament in India and Thailand. The President shouted strong language at China’s Prime Minister after the Prime Minister refused to pull them out.”
Creed’s mother hadn’t looked up once the entire evening until she heard her husband talking about what was going on. A detested look befell upon her face once she noticed the headline scrolling across the television.
“What’s going on honey?”
“I don’t know Dolores.” Creed’s dad replied.
“What do you think is going to happen now Dad?”
“I don’t know Creed, but –”
Just then a loud knock on the door forced Creed to jump from his seat.
CHAPTER FIVE
Creed swung the door open to find Genesis waiting on the other side. He was a bit thrown off since she never mentioned stopping by earlier that day. His curiosity was eventually suppressed as he caught a glimpse of her brother sitting in his truck, parked along the curb. “You coming?” Genesis insisted.
“Hold on, just one sec.” Creed retreated inside the house, leaving the door slightly cracked. After a few seconds he reappeared, and the pair walked out towards the street.
“What’s up Creed?” Kuruk shouted.
“Not a whole lot, how you doing?”
“Doing great man. So, you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Genesis and Creed jumped in the bed of the truck. Kuruk let out a loud whoop before peeling out and driving off down the street.
They were on their way to Sky Harbor. It was their annual ritual. The routine started shortly after Genesis’ mom had passed away. Times were hard for both Genesis and her brother after her death, and what made it worse was their father really didn’t know wha
t to do in order to console them. Their mother was always more of the affectionate type. So, one day Paquala decided to pack them all up in his truck on a whim and just drive. He would continue driving all the way down highway sixty, until interchanging onto interstate ten, eventually passing Salt River on the one forty-three before ending up at the blinding lights of Sky Harbor airport. Paquala would then park the truck by the fence near one of the runways where all three of them would hop out and wait. They would then lie in the bed of the truck and just talk. Talk about anything until an airplane would excitedly interrupt. The engine of the plane would start hollering as it got closer. For a moment it felt as if the plane was suspended in the air and at any moment it would just fall right on top of them. The tingling rush of seeing those planes so close to the ground and hearing the shriveling screeches like a Banshee, momentarily took their minds off the sullen yearning reality for a bit. This eventually turned into a yearly event. When the kids got older Paquala eventually stopped taking the trip out there. It wasn’t until Kuruk was old enough when he found a job and saved up most of his money. When he turned seventeen Kuruk eventually bought himself a truck with his savings, like his Dad’s. That’s when Kuruk and Genesis started up the tradition again. After Genesis and Creed became friends, she asked Kuruk if he could start tagging along. Hell yeah Kuruk would reply.
“Isn’t your brother supposed to be at school?” Creed yelled out while the wind was blowing heavy, making it almost impossible to hold an elaborate conversation. “He said he was taking this semester off. Said he needed a longer break. Dad is pissed.” Genesis answered.
“Oh yeah?”
“I think he’s just getting bored.”
As the truck whizzed through the blackened desert on its way to Phoenix, the setting sun made the city appear ablaze in the background. It felt like a mystical arrangement of divinity watching the sun continue to fall below the atmosphere. These were the moments that Creed loved about living here. He couldn’t imagine a more marvelous and delicate scene.
Goodbye Sky Harbor Page 3
