Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  Spear replied, “And that does what?” Dean replied, “Bring us to our full potential.”Dean all of a sudden became diesel. One could hear his suit stretching. He then said, “Come on, Nick, let’s finish this and see who’s stronger.”

  Spear reached both hands up, brought them down, and instantly turned diesel. He looked at Dean and said, “Let’s get started.”

  They both disappeared and swung at each other but hit fist to fist, causing a shockwave in the building. They both looked at each other in the eye and disappeared. They started going blow for blow. Every punch or kick sounded like an explosion. At this point it wasn’t even about who could dodge the best, it was who could take the most damage. The continuous shockwaves began to take its toll on the building, especially since they pretty much took out all the support beams in the fight. They managed to fight their way to the floor that the fight started on. They both swung at each other and hit fist to fist; they pushed off and flew apart from each other. They both slid back to their feet, heavily breathing.

  Dean said, “Last hit all or nothing.”

  Spear nodded his head and said, “All or nothing.”

  Like they’re in slow motion, they ran full speed at each other and went for the punch. They both pulled back their fist and swung full strength at each other hitting each other’s face, but Spear’s fist turned a little on impact and you could see a small force of energy come off. They both got sent flying back through walls, but Spear backflipped to his feet and slide to a stop then dropped to a knee. Dean was sent flying and didn’t stop until he hit the brick wall for the frame of the building. The building was starting to fall apart, and the floors and ceiling began to fall through. Spear got up, ran, and grabbed his weapons then ran, grabbed Dean with his weapon, and jumped out of the building before it collapsed. Spear ran over to the trees and layed Dean down on the ground. The fire department and police were beginning to pull up to the now-demolished building.

  Spear tapped Dean in the face and asked, “Dean, you OK?” Dean opened his eyes and replied, “Yeah, I’ll be OK.” Spear replied, “That was a good fight.”

  Dean replied, “Yea, I guess you won.”

  Spear smiled and said, “I told you I’d win.”

  Dean replied, “Shut up, you cocky bastard, you’re starting to sound like me.”

  They both laughed.Spear then said, “I wanted to ask you, since you work for the government, do you have a code name?” Dean replies, “Yeah, they call me Black Ice.”

  Spear responds, “Black Ice, I like it, I like it. So are you gonna keep coming after me?” Dean replies, “I’ll try my best to avoid you, that’s all I can promise. I do have a job after all. Now get out of here, they should be tracking me by now.”

  Spear stood up and said, “Aight, see ya around. We still on for the BarKade next weekend right.” He then started to run away, but was stopped when Dean called out to him.

  Dean said, “Hey Spear! You owe me a rematch.” Spear said, “Any time you want another butt whipping, it’d be my pleasure to hand it to you.” He then ran off and went away.

  IGNITE

  Chapter 9

  Hot Headed

  T

  his story started off with a young man named Michael Delgado. He’s in his house arguing with his mother over his grades in his room. The mom said, “I don’t understand why your grades are like this, your teachers say you’re a smart kid, but you don’t apply yourself.”

  Mike replied, “Let it go Mom, as long as I pass, it doesn’t matter what my grades are.” The mom said, “D’s are not acceptable. You can do better, I know you can do better. Just last year, you were getting As and Bs. What happened, are you on drugs or something? Mickie, are you drinkin and druggin.”

  Mike replied, “Drinkin and druggin, who even says that, and No, Mom! I’m not drinking and druggin. I… I just got a lot of things I’m dealing with at school right now. So just leave me alone!”

  The Mom replied, “Oh honey, do you need your father to have… the talk with you.”

  Mike replied confused, “The talk… what do you mean.” The Mom sat next to him on the bed and replied, “You’re a growing boy and with girls, sometimes you might get urges and…” Mike jumps up from the bed and yelled, “I’m not having this talk with you.”

  Then Mom replied, “Then I don’t know how to help you honey.”

  Mike yells, “Stop calling me honey! I’m not a little kid! Just Leave Me Alone!” In a temper tantrum he ran out of the room towards the stairs. He stumbled a little and put his hand on the carpeted floor to catch himself, leaving a black handprint. He ran downstairs and put his hand on the couch to grab his keys, once again leaving a handprint; he then grabbed his skateboard and ran outside slamming the door behind him. He jumped on his skateboard and skated away.

  The mom sat on her son’s bed and put her hands to her face. She began to cry, asking herself, “What did I do wrong? Why won’t he listen to me?”

  Meanwhile the black handprints started to smoke and catch fire on the rug upstairs and on the couch downstairs. The smoke turned into fire, and the carpet and couch caught fire very quickly. By the time the mother smelled the smoke, it’s too late and she was trapped in her son’s room.

  The dad Karl was on his way home from a job site that his construction company was working on. Upon arrival, he saw the police and fire department in front of his house with smoke coming from it. They had just put it out, but they were too late and the house had been fully engulfed in the fire when they arrived. The dad jumped out of the truck and ran toward the house. The police tried to stop him.

  Karl screamed, “I live here!”

  The police held him back and told him, “Sorry, but we can’t let you through yet, they’re still checking the area for anybody that might have been inside.”

  Karl stopped and pulled out his cell phone and called mom's cell phone. He paced back and forth saying to himself, “Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up.” The voicemail came on. He hung up and tried again, but as it started ringing, he saw the ambulance pulling a body out on a stretcher covered with a sheet. He ran toward the ambulance and pushed past the police and their barricade. The police went after him.

  He mumbled to himself as he ran toward the body, “No, no, no, no, no, no.” When he got to the body, the paramedics tried to stop him from looking, but he screamed, “Get off me,” and pushes past them and pulled the sheet off. He saw the bracelet that he gave her for their sixteenth wedding anniversary. The body was burned so badly he could barely recognize her. He turned away, fell to his knees, and threw up. He began to cry when the police got to him and tried to help him up.

  He screamed , “GET OFF ME!That’s my wife! This can’t be happening. Sara, you can’t leave me like this!” He then looked up and said to the police, “I have a son. He wasn’t in there was he?” The paramedics covered the body up.

  The police said that so far, she was the only body they found in the house. They also said that the fire spread through the house fairly quick. Too quick for an electrical fire, but they’re still investigating. At that moment Mike skated up to his house surrounded by police, ambulance, and fire trucks. The police at the barrier told him he can’t go any farther.

  Mike saw his dad and told them that his dad was over there. They let him through. He ran up to his dad, and his father turned and hugged Mike.

  He then said that he’s so glad he’s safe.

  Mike asked, “Where’s Mom?”

  Karl said, “It’ll be OK.”

  Mike saw the stretcher being put in the ambulance and asked his dad, “Is that mom?”

  Karl began to tear up and said, “It’ll all be OK.”

  Mike pushed off from his dad with his eyes watering and screamed, “That’s not what I asked! Is that Mom?”

  Karl looked at his son in the eyes and said, “Yes . . . It’s your mom.” Mike stepped back slowly and grabbed his chest. It felt like his heart was on fire, it hurt so bad. He began to mumble,
“It’s my fault, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have left Mom by herself. She was only in the house because she was yelling at me. She was suppose to go somewhere but cancelled cause of me. I’m the reason she was here, I’m the reason she’s dead!” He then dropped to his knees and began to cry.

  Karl walked over to the son and tried to comfort the boy. Mike grabbed the dad’s arm and pushed him away as he screamed, “Don’t touch me!”

  Just then the Karl’s shirt sleeve that Mike grabbed caught fire. He backed up and tried to put it out. The boy was scared at what just happened and ran off with his skateboard; he pushed off a tree and skated off. Just then the tree caught on fire, but the firemen put it out with the fire extinguisher. Only Karl had seen this.

  After everything was done, the fire department and police left the area. Karl was driving up to the burned house after hours of searching for Mike. Mike was sitting on the front steps with his arms crossed, hunched over his knees. Karl got out of the truck and ran over to Mike with open arms. Mike saw his dad, got up, and ran to him and hugged his dad.

  Mike began to cry and said, “I’m sorry.”

  Karl said, “It’s OK, it isn’t your fault.”

  NEXT SCENE It had been two years since that day, and Karl moved him and his son back to where he grew up in Bensonhurst, New York. Karl was raising Mike as a single parent now. He still did construction and had stayed single till this day never quite getting over the loss of Mike's mom. Mike had taken it pretty hard too. He had become the local bully at the Bensonhurst High School and had become almost uncontrollable. Mike had spiraled down into a hole so deep no one could get him out. Mike had no regard for authority, and his father struggled just to keep him in school.

  Back at the schoolyard, Mike had pushed all the kids at school to the point where they couldn’t take it anymore. After two years of Mike’s jokes, pranks, and bullying, all the kids he had bullied stood up to him.

  All the kids stepped up to Mike and said, “We’re not gonna let you bully us anymore.”

  Mike replied, “You wimps are in for a world of hurt. I’ll beat you all one by one if I have to.”

  The kids said, “You don’t scare us anymore. You’re just a momma’s boy without his momma.”

  Mike grind his teeth and said, “What you say?” with anger in his voice. The kids said, “You heard us, we heard all about your mom dying. In fact the rumor is youkilled her.”

  At that point Mike felt a rage and anger unlike any he felt before.

  Mike yelled, “Take it back!”

  The kids said, “What, the big bully Mike can dish it out, but he can’t take it.”

  Mike said more slowly and more intensely, “Take . . . it . . . back.”

  The kids said, “Or what, you can’t beat us all up at once.” Mike let his anger take over; he clenched his fists, and he screamed out with everything he had, “You’re all going to be sorry! AHHHHHHH.” At that moment his hands burst into flames. He screamed in panic, “What the F…! What’s happening!?” He then began to shake his hands frantically to put out the fire. But when he shook his hands, fire would fly off and set things on fire. His hands were in pain with a burning sensation which would be expected from your hands being on fire.

  All the kids screamed in fear and one of the kids yelled, “What the hell are you? Some kind of mutant freak.” Mike screamed, “Somebody help me!” as he tried to move toward the crowd for help.All the kids screamed, spread out, and ran in panic. Mike ran toward the school doors to try and get help from anybody, but there were kids already inside holding the door shut. The fire alarm went off in the school. He tried to go to the side to get in through the windows, but the bushes caught on fire instantly. He backed up and ran toward the street. The police pulled up right in front of him. The police got out the car and saw Mike with his hands on fire and said to themselves, “What the hell?”

  They then said, “Just calm down and come with us.” Mike screamed, “Get the hell away from me!” and s wiped his hands at them for them to go, but fire shot from his hands and set the officers’ pants leg on fire. With them distracted, Mike made a run for it. He grabbed a skateboard lying on the ground and skated off.

  Later Mike was in his secret chill spot in the woods where he went to get away from everything. He was sitting up against a tree looking at his hands. They weren’t on fire anymore. He was concentrating on his hands when they burst into flames once again but this time it didn’t hurt. Then he concentrated again and the fire went out.

  He held his hands up in front of his face and turned them slowly, facing him and turning away, and said, “This is so bad ass.” He then smirked and said to himself, “Time to finally get the respect I deserve.”

  NEXT SCENE

  It was nine thirty on a Friday night, and Nick, Neil, and Von were heading to a party in New York. Nick was driving and said, “So you’re sure there will be girls of legal age at this party, because I don’t feel like getting locked up tonight.”

  Neil said, “Yeah, man, the girls will be around our age.” Nick said, “Yeah, you’re eighteen, girls around your age can include seventeen and sixteen. You got that twoyear buffer. I’m twentyfour, there’s no buffer. There’s just me and jail.”

  Von said, “Yeah, man, I hope the girls there aren’t all seventeen or around that age, I could go for an older woman.” Nick said, smiling, “Shut up, Von. You’re nineteen, you still have that twoyear buffer. I don’t . . . Count from seventeen to my age. Seventeen . . . eighteen . . . nineteen . . . twenty . . . twenty-one . . . twenty-two . . . twenty-three . . . twenty-four. That’s like seven years.”

  Von said, “Damn! Man, you’re old. Maybe you can give yourself a sevenyear buffer.” As he chuckled. Nick said, “Yeah, OK, you mean a seven-year sentence, because that’s what I’ll get for messing with jailbait. That seven- year buffer only works if the girl is 18 and I’m like 26 or something. Anything other than that and you’re a pedophile.”

  Neil said, “Stop exaggerating, you only have to be twentyfive for that sevenyear buffer.”

  Nick replied, “Wow Neil, it seems like you really did your research. Do I see a pedophile in the making?” Neil said, “Shut up, Nick. And besides, the girl I know and her sister are throwing the party. She’s turning eighteen and her sister is twenty, so there will be college girls there too.”

  Nick said, “OK, that’s all I had to hear, college girls.” He then shifted down to four gear and punched it.

  Neil and Von got thrown back into their seats, and Neil said, “Damn, when was the last time you got some?”

  Nick’s car drove past all the other cars on the highway and into the distance.

  NEXT SCENE Nick pulled up at the house, and there was already a good amount of people there. Everyone outside stopped what they were doing and looked at Nick’s newly-hooked-up car. His car looked like something out of a comic book or import car show.

  Nick, Neil, and Von went out of the car with all eyes on them. They wentup to the front door and rang the doorbell. Neil’s friend came to the door and screamed then hugged him. She then said, “Neil, oh my god, you came!” Neil then introduced Von and Nick to the girl. They said, “Hey, what’s up?” and joined the party.

  About two or three hours into the party, there was a commotion in the front. Nick at that moment sensed something. Nick, Von, Neil, and the birthday girl went to the front.

  The girl said, “Oh my god, what’s he doing here?” Neil mumbled, “Who is this guy?”

  Theintruder said, “What, everybody’s throwing a party and no one invites me. I feel hurt.”

  Nick asked, “Hey, who is this guy?”

  The girl said, “His name is Mike. And no one has seen him since he set the school on fire.” Nick said, “That’s messed up, I heard of being bad, but setting the school on fire . . . that’s just messed up. How’d he start the fire, in a trash can or something?”

  She replied, “No, he started it with his hands.”

  Neil said, “Of cou
rse he used his hands. Where did he start it?”

  She replied, “No, you don’t understand. Fire came out of his hands, and he set the school on fire.” Neil and Von looked at Nick because they knew what Mike was. Some kids stepped up to Mike and said, “Dude, we don’t want any problems.”

  Neil’s friend looked around and saw Nick gone. She then asked, “Where did your friend go?”

  Neil said, “He drank a lot he probably went to the bathroom.” Nick used that time to slip away and got back to where he parked the car. He always carried his Spear outfit just in case. Back in front of the house, Mike was determined to ruin the party.

  The kids said, “Hey, come on, Mike, we don’t want any trouble.” Mike said, “Trouble, who’s starting trouble? I just want to finish the conversation we were having the last time we talked . . . Now whatwere you saying about a momma’s boy?” He then fired up his hands.

  The kids began to back up slowly.

  Mike said confidently, “Where are you going? The party’s just getting started.”

  Spear jumped down in front of Mike and said, “You got a permit for those things?” pointing at Mike hands.

  Mike said, “What! Who the hell are you?”

  Spear replied, “Before I tell you my name, how ’bout you put away the fire show?”

  Mike replied, “How about you get the hell out of my way and I don’t make you well done?” Spear replied, “Hey nice one, but seriously, I’ve been doin’ this for a while . . . You’re not beating me,” as he shook his head no.

  Mike said, “No one can beat me, especially not some freak in a Halloween costume.” Spear replied, “OK, but I warned you. I’ ll give you to the count of three . . . one.” Mike clenched his fists tighter making the flames on them grow even bigger. “Two . . .” Mike’s face turned real angry, and he began running toward Spear. “Three . . .” Spear quick stepped forward and elbow Mike in the chest knocking the air out of him causing the flames on his hands to go out as well. He grabbed him then tossed him against a tree and as he started to fall Spear slammed him against a tree. Mike was dazed from the impact.