Break: An Urban Hero's Journey

by Wes Grant

  The birthday girl said, “That was quick.”

  Neil said, “It usually is.”

  She replied, “Wait, You seen this guy before.”

  Neil replied back, “Yeah, everybody in Jersey knows about Spear.”

  She replied, “He certainly has a lot of muscles. You think he’s seeing someone.”

  Neil said with alittle attitude, “I don’t know, why don’t you ask him?”

  Spear was still holding Mike against the tree and yelled to the kids, “Someone call the police, I got this.” Mike shook the daze off and said, “You don’t got jack.” He then looked up at Spear and grabbed his vest. The vest then caught on fire, and Spear let go of Mike and jumped back to put out the fire.

  Mike yelled angrily, “You’re gonna pay for putting your hands on me.” Spear spun real fast to put out the fire on his vest. Mike then started shooting fire everywhere. Trees, fences, and even the house caught on fire.

  Mike laughed sadistically and started yelling, “Told you I knew how to light up a party!” Just then the police sirens could be heard from a distance now. Mike got out of there before the police got there. Spear started to chase after him, but then he heard someone scream for help in all the confusion, fire, and smoke. Spear stopped then ran toward the house and jumped in the top-floor window and rolled to his feet. The girl was locked in the room and was freaked out a little by Spear when he jumped in. Spear told the girl to calm down, he would get her to safety. Spear went over to the window and grabbed the frame and pulled the whole window out of the wall. When he went to the opening, he saw everyone pointing up at him. With the fire department there, Spear could barely hear anything but screams and sirens.

  He heard them say something but couldn’t make it out. They yelled, “The roof.” He asked, “What?”

  They yelled, “The roof.”

  He replied, “What?”

  They yelled, “The roof is on fire!”

  Spear turned toward the girl and gestured for her to come to the opening. The girl still scared shook her head no. He mumbled to himself, “I don’t have time for this.” He ran over to the girl and grabbed her, he then ran and jumped out the hole in the wall to the front yard. Spear asked the girl if she was OK and she said yeah, so he ran off to change back into his normal clothes. All the girls at the party surrounded the girl and asked her about the mysterious man that saved her. They were all in love. Spear changed and put his clothes back in his backpack. In all the hecticness he went to his car to put his things in the trunk. After that he got back to the yard as quickly as possible. When he got back, he saw Von and Neil standing off by themselves on the sidewalk.

  Nick asked, “You guys OK?”

  They replied, “Yeah.”

  Nick said, “Let’s get outta here for now.”

  Neil replied, “OK, just let me say bye to my friend,” and headed off to say bye.

  On the ride home, Nick asked again if Von and Neil were OK.

  Neil replied, “Yeah, we’re OK . . . but, dude, you got your butt kicked.”

  Nick shook his head in confusion and said, “What! Did you not see the whole fight.”

  Von responded, “Yea, you held him against a tree.” Nick replied, “I did allot more than just hold him against a tree.” Neil replied, “Yea, you got set on fire.”

  Nick replied, “He was done. I had him pinned.”

  Neil responded, “Yeah, but like rock beats scissors, set on fire beats hold against a tree.” And he and Von chuckled about it. Nick replied, “I swear Neil, if you weren’t like my best friend, I’d Spartan-kick you out the car right now without slowing down.”

  Von said, “We’re just messing with you man.”

  Neil replied, “Yeah Nick, don’t take it so seriously.”

  Nick said, “I’m not, I’m just making it clear the only reason he got away was because I had to save the girl.” Neil said, “Yeah, we know.”

  Nick replied, “OK then.”

  It was quiet in the care when Neil blurts out, “But you still know you got your butt kicked.” Nick then punched him in the arm without looking, and Neil said, “Watch it, don’t damage the goods, the ladies want the full package not threequarters.”

  Nick replied, “You sure about that, I heard them talking more about me that you.” Neil replied, “No they were talking about Spear, not Nick.” Nick replied, “Same thing.”

  Neil replied, “No Spear is a dark, mysterious, superhero with a lot of muscles, and Nick is…”

  Nick cuts him off and says, “A handsome, young, toned, guy with a sweet new car.” Neil looked at Nick in silence and said, “I hate you.” They all laughed, and the car drove off in the distance.

  The next day Nick went back up to the area where he fought the kid. He thought it was a long shot, but since the kid had powers, maybe he would be able to sense him when he was near him.

  He drove around for a couple of hours and was about to call it a day when he got the strange feeling again. It was 6:30 p.m., and the sun was setting; Nick looked around, and he saw the kid sneaking over someone’s fence and going into the back. Nick quickly got his clothes and went diesel to confront the kid as Spear.

  Mike was in the back of some stranger’s house picking fruit and whatever he could eat from the back. Spear jumped over the fence and surprised Mike. He said to Mike, “It’s good to see you’re trying to get your daily intake of fruit, but I don’t think those belong to you.”

  Mike replied, “You again. What do you want, freak?” Spear replied, “Freak, said the kid that can shoot fire from his hands.”

  Mike said, “Shut up, you’re not taking me in.” Spear said, “It’s OK, no one got seriously injured and no one got killed in those fires. And from what I hear, you only set the school on fire by mistake. I’m sure if you let them, they can help you deal with this. I bet you parents are worried about you.”

  Mike interrupted him and said, “Parent, and he doesn’t care about me. I can see it in his eyes.”

  Spear said, “Non problem man,I have a single parent too. It’s hard on them. I wasn’t a perfect kid, far from it—” Mike interrup ted again and said, “What is this, the Maury show? I don’t care about your life story bruh. Stay the hell away from me!” He then set one of the fruits on fire and threw it at Spear. Spear hit it away with his rod and moved over to Mike so quick that he couldn’t react. He then hit Mike into the inground pool.

  Spear thought to himself, “That should keep him from using that fire for a while.” Just then the pool started to boil and Mike jumped out. He was breathing really hard, and steam was flying off him at an alarming rate. Mike looked furious, he gritted his teeth and let out a roar, his hair caught fire.

  Spear stepped back and said, “Whoa, I’ve heard of hot headed, but this is taking it to a totally new level.” Mike then said, “Why does everybody keep testing me! Why won’t you leave me the hell alone.” He then threw fire at Spear, but Spear dodged out of the way. When he dodged it the garden caught on fire along with part of a fence. Mike jumped over the fence and made a run for it. Spear ran over to the pool and started splashing water on the fire, rapidly putting the fire out really quick. Spear then headed after the boy. He saw the boy jumping over a fence and running toward a soccer field. Mike was halfway across the field when Spear jumped over him and cut him off.

  Spear said, “Come on kid, I really don’t want to beat up a minor.”

  Mike said, “Stop calling me kid! I’m taller than you, and besides, I kicked your butt in front of the house last night.” Spear replied, “Why does everyone keep saying that!? That’s like if I slap you and run. Does that count as me kicking your butt just because I got the last hit?”

  Mike said, “I didn’t slap you and run.” Spear replied, “I didn’t say you slapped me… You know what, never mind. You wanna do this the hard way or the easy way.”

  Mike replied, “Come on freak! Give me what you got!”

  Spear replied, “Hard way it is then.” Mike then began to
throw an onslaught of fireballs at Spear. Spear easily dodged the attacks. Mike saw this then put his hands on the ground and the fire from his hands shot across the ground. The fire following Spear as he ran and flipped out of the way. No matter where he went, the fire was right behind him.

  Mike then said, “Who’s running now, freak?”

  Spear yelled out while running, “The name is Spear.” Mike said, “Spear, that’s a stupid name.”

  Spear was still dodging and flipping out of the way of the fire and said, “Yeah, and Mike is the type of name that strikes fear into everyone that hears it.”

  Mike said, “Well, it’s better than Spear. What is that, like a spare tire? How is that going to scare me?” Spear said while still dodging, “No, the weapon spear, like what the Spartans used or the weapon of choice for most countries back in the day.”

  Mike then said, “And how is a spear suppose to scare me.” Spear yelled, “Like this!” and put his rods together midflip and speared it at Mike. The staff struck the ground right in front of Mike, making him jump back and land on his butt, causing the fire to stop chasing Spear. Spear quickly took the opportunity to rush at Mike. Mike started throwing fireballs at Spear, but once again they were easily dodged. Spear jumped at Mike, grabbed his staff still stuck in the ground, and kicked Mike, sending him flying thirty feet back. The pole bent and snapped back with Spear. Spear pulled the staff out the ground as he flew back and stabbed it in the ground to stop himself.

  Spear got up and started walking toward Mike lying on the ground. Mike started getting up and said in a disturbing voice, “Hey, freak, you’re right. I do need a better name. Before I met you, I was always angry, but now ever since meeting you, you’ve ignited an anger in me I didn’t know I had. So that’s my name.”

  Spear replied, “I’m lost, so is your name Anger?” Mike said, “No stupid, it’s Ignite!” He then began shooting a huge blaze of fire at Spear. Spear quickly put his staff in front of him and began to spin it rapidly, dispersing and stopping the flame from hitting him. He then began to walk toward Mike while still spinning his staff. He was ten feet from him, and Mike then really started putting on the heat by making the flames bigger. Mike yelled, “Hot enough for ya.” It got harder for Spear to press forward, and the heat was really starting to get to him, but he pressed on. Both of them were showing no signs of backing down. Spear was only a few feet away from Mike, and couldn’t hold out for much longer. When Spear was inches from him he stopped spinning his staff and kneed Mike in the gut then quickly grabbed him by the neck holding the staff with his left.

  Spear looked Mike in the eyes and said, “Well Ignite, it looks like I . . . Dammm that’s hot!” The staff was glowing red and you could see smoke coming from where the staff fell. Spear looked at his burning hand. Mike tried to use that chance to punch Spear with a flaming fist, but Spear sidestepped and back-fisted Mike in the face, sending him flying into the soccer goal pole knocking him unconscious. From a sky view, you can see Spear spelled out in fire across the soccer field.

  Spear tied him up with the metal wire in his backpack and left him on the sidewalk in front of the local police station. Later that night, Nick was chilling with Von and Neil at a restaurant.

  Nick said to Neil, “So I took care of that kid from last night.” Neil said with a little attitude, “Yeah, I heard. The girl that invited us to the party told me she saw it on the news and all the kids are talking about it.”

  Nick replied, “So you're gonna get that?”

  Neil said, “I don’t know anymore.”

  Nick said, “Why? What did she say?”

  Neil said, “She said that since Spear is mostly in Jersey, next time I see him, can I give him her number.” Von laughed and said, “Ah, burn.”

  Nick laughed and put his hand out in front of Neil. Neil asked, “What?”

  Nick replied, “She said to give me the number when you see me.” Neil replied, “Oh no. You’re Nick right now, so you can go somewhere else with that. I thought you said seven-year buffer with anyone under thirty is a pedophile.”

  Nick said, “Yeah, but you did the math for me, and I’m well within my range. Anyways, I can’t touch anything without being in pain. So the girls will have to wait.”

  Von said, “Yea man, that burn on your hand is pretty gnarly.” Nick replied, “I know right.”

  Neil replied, “Stop being a baby, your healing factor will have you healed up by this time tomorrow.” Nick replied aggravated, “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt now.” Neil replied, “Like I said, baby.”

  Nick said, “Whatever man, all I know is I don’t want to hear anything about hot or fire for the rest of the week.”

  The waitress came over and asked, “Are you guys ready to order?”

  Nick asked, “What’s your special for the day.” The waitress replied, “Today’s special is our Red Hot Fire Wings.” Nick, Von, and Neil looked out at each other and blurted out laughing while the waitress looked confused.

  M WAVE

  Chapter 10

  Burning Hatred

  This story starts off in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, with a young man named Larry Swanson. He isn’t your everyday, ordinary kid. He’s a little different. The category you would put him in would be called gothic or emo. He pretty much keeps to himself and only has one friend. The friend’s name is Jessica. Her style is a little on the punk rock side, but she is nothing like Larry or, as she calls him, Elly. A childhood nickname she gave him that he hates. She was fun, energetic and Larry, let’s say he was a bit on the frail side. They grew up together, and as much time as they spent together, they were nothing alike. Jessica had no problem speaking her mind and making new friends. She had a dry sense of humor, some say sarcastic, while Larry had no sense of humor whatsoever but somehow they where the best of friends.

  Larry’s is the only child and his parents are very successful in their careers. The father has a very successful business in exports, and the mother is a top realtor realtor within her firm. Most of thetime they’re not home and they don’t participate much in Larry’s life. They’re more work oriented than a loving family. They work late nights and leave early in the mornings. Being an only child, Larry pretty much gets whatever he wants. They gave him a credit card so they didn’t have to go with him to buy whatever he wants. Although Larry has all the money a kid could ever want, he was still very different from all the other kids, which made him a target for picking on.

  Larry wasn’t new to being bullied or being picked on, but most of the time Jessica was there to defend him. He never asked for her help and he never thanked her either, but she knew he appreciated it even if he never said so.

  One day at school during lunchtime, Larry and Jessica were sitting at a lunch table when one of the main kids that picked on him knocked over his food and acted like it was an accident.

  The kid’s name was Jeff, and he always hung out with his two friends Mike and Todd. They constantly picked on and bullied Larry. Jessica would always come to Larry’s defense so they started doing it when she wasn’t around. Jeff used to make fun of Jessica’s style at first but then realized she was pretty cute. He actually started being really nice to her and would pretend to be nice to Larry when she was around.

  Normally Larry wouldn’t do anything when Jeff picked on him, but this time it was different. When Larry’s food got knocked on the ground, he stood up out of his seat and gave Jeff a look of disdain. Larry didn’t say a word, he just stood there looking at Jeff with his fist clenched. All the kids in the lunch room turned to them expecting a fight.

  Jeff put his hands up and said, “Dude, don’t get your panties in a bunch. Everyone saw it was an accident, and you know, accidents happen.”

  Larry stood there and looked Jeff in the eye with dead silence. Jeff said, “Why do you keep looking at me like that, you like me or something?” His two friends start laughing and said, “Yea, I bet he likes you. He looks like he’s sweet on guys.”

  Jessica jumped up fr
om her seat and went between the two of them to stop it from escalating any further. She stood in front of Larry and looked him in the eye and said, “It’s not worth it.” But Larry’s eyes did not stray from Jeff. She looked over her shoulder and said to Jeff, “Jeff just get lost.”

  Jeff replied, “He’s the one trying to start something. I knocked it over by accident. Everybody could see that.” Jessica responded, “Just go, I’ll see you later.” Jeff replied, “Yeah, listen to your bodyguard, little Larry.” He shook his head and said, “You’re lucky she’s here. Real men don’t have girls fight their fights.”

  Larry was so angry he spat over Jessica’s shoulder, hitting Jeff in the face. Jeff wiped the spit from his face and said, “That’s it queer, Your dead. Your bodyguard can’t help you now.” Then he told his boys, “Yo. Get him!” The two friends grabbed Larry by the arms, and Jeff pulled Jessica away from him. The kids in the room started yelling, FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

  Right at that moment, a teacher came in the lunchroom and yelled, “OK, OK, break it up. Do you guys want detention? What happened here?”

  Jeff said, “Nothing, Mr. Kowacks. We were just playing around.” His two friends let go of Larry, and Jeff walked up to Larry and stood next to him then put his arm around his shoulder. He then said, “Weren’t we, Larry?”

  Larry just kept looking at Jeff angrily. Jeff then pulled Larry closer to him and whispered to him, “You’re going to pay for this, and there’s not going to be anyone around to help you.”

  The teacher said, “That’s enough not take your seats and eat your food. Lunch periods almost over. And you better be in class on time.”

  Jeff took his arms from around Larry and joined up with his friends. He turned around and walked backward andsaid, “See ya later, Larry,” then turned around and went to his lunch table with his friends. They talked amongst themselves while looking at Larry.