Becoming Superman

Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those depicted in this story.

The warmth of the sun hit my skin as I walked out into the gravel area just outside my mom’s single-wide trailer. A large tree sat in the middle with a split in it just above the ground. I walked over examining the split more closley. Small black bugs covered the inside of the hole. One flew out, zooming right next to my head. I quickly backed away, terrified and disgusted.

A boy laughed, I looked up to see a girl and boy standing there watching me.

“My dad says those are carpenter ants.” he said confidently.

“I have an aunt.” I stated back with just as much confidence.

“One of those ants?” the girl questioned. I looked over at both of them realizing they were talking about the bugs in the tree.

“No, my aunt is a girl, not a bug.” I replied, sliding my foot in a circle through the gravel.

“Watch this!” said the boy with a huge smile. Bending down, he scooped two large handfuls of gravel.

“Run!” yelled the girl as she turned, racing away from the tree. The boy walked over, dumping the rocks into the crack of the tree. Turning, he sprinted away waving at me to follow. A haze of black buzzing quickly rose from the dark hole, I stood there mesmerized by the mass. Bugs began covering the tree, more flew out from the inside of the crack, surrounding me like a lurid tornado. Swatting them away from my face, I began to realize why they had told me to run. The large flying ants drilled my body as I sprinted from the dark swarm surrounding me.

Shaking my head, I swatted more of them away from my face. The boy started to laugh at me as I danced across the gravel trying to get the rest of the bugs off. Looking over, I could see the myriad of ants had made its way over to the side of my mom’s new trailer, and the trailer next to it.

“Won’t they be mad?” I asked, still wiping my body.

“About what?” asked the girl.

I gestured my head toward the side of the trailer, “That!” I said flatly.

The boy shrugged, “Happens all the time.” he said, kicking the rocks under his feet.

“What’s your name?” asked the girl, “My name is Abby, that’s my brother, Hunter.”

“Paetyn” I said, pulling another bug off my shirt, “Are they in my hair?”.

Abby walked over to examine the back of my head as I continued to brush my hands over my shirt. With one last shake I turned to look at her.

“Do you want to ride bikes?” she asked, cheerfully.

“I dont have one.”, I said shrugging my shoulders.

“Thats ok you can ride my other one, I have two.” she replied, shoving two fingers in my face. “C’mon ill show you!”.

“Ok, I gotta tell my mom.” I exclaimed, running up the steps to the trailer. Opening the door i stuck my head through the crack. “MOM, IM GONNA GO RIDE A BIKE WITH ABBY!”, I screamed, slamming the door behind me. Turning on one foot, I ran back down the stairs.

“Where are the training wheels?” I asked, as we walked up to her bikes.

“I dont need them.” she said smugly.

“I never rode a bike with no training wheels before.” I replied.

I examined the bright green bike, with little ribbons coming out of the handle bars. Unsure about what I was about to do, I grabbed the handlebars and walked out into the middle of the gravel road.

“Its easy.” said Abby, as she slowly pulled her bike out of the covered area. “Watch me, then you try it.”

In one easy motion she climbed on and pedaled forward.

“C’mon.” she yelled, as she rode away.

I looked at the bike, then back at her as she peddled down the road. Shrugging my shoulders, I climbed on thinking, how hard could this really be. As I pushed the pedal forward excitment enthralled me. My gut wrenched while I worked to gain my balance. The bike moved, a confident smile grew across my face. Seconds later, the bike quickly stopped and fell to the side. A laugh echoed from behind me.

“You’re supposed to keep pedaling!”, said Hunter as he stood there watching me attempt to get on the bike.

Determined to make this work I climbed back up and started pedalling as hard as i could.

The bike was moving! Happiness infused my body as I felt my hair start blowing in the wind. I was riding the bike. My mind was in disbelief as I watched the trailers zoom by.

The handle wobbled for a moment, fear struck through me as I tried to regain my balance. Straightening myself out, the bike came to a quick stop jolting me head first over the handle bars.

As I landed my body slid across the gravel to a screeching halt. I lay there for a moment, trying to succumb to what had just happened to me.

“Well you made it.” laughed a familiar voice from above. Abby reached down, pulling me up. “Do you want to go tell your mom you crashed?”

“No, I’m okay.” I grunted, brushing the gravel and dirt from my arms and knees. Blood trickled down my bony leg, slowly making its way to my sock.

“Oh you got a bleed” said Abby, quickly bending over to examine the large scrape on my knee. “I can get you a band-aid!”.

She walked over to a trailer with two girls sitting on the step in front. Abby disappeared inside while I waited next to the two girls.

“All you gotta do is lick it up.” said one of the girls.

Looking down, I noticed her trying to touch my knee.

“Thats gross!” I replied, backing away from her.

“No its not! It makes the blood go away, see!” she exclaimed, grabbing the other girls arm, she licked the sore on her elbow.

They both giggled profusely. Disgusted I turned away from them and looked down at my bloody knee. A finger slipped from behind my leg, scooping up some of the blood.

Quickly turning, I watched as the girl licked her finger that was covered in my blood.

“Can I try.” asked the other girl. I shook my head no in disgust.

“Her blood tastes bad anyways.” replied the first girl.

Frustrated, I glared back at them angrily. Looking up to the door, I checked to see if Abby was coming back. Nothing. I turned back quickly deciding to walk home instead. Picking the bike up, I winced as the pain in my knee grew stronger. Looking down I saw there was a small piece of gravel still stuck to the cut. I brushed it off. More blood poured out.

Taking one more look back, I still couldn’t see abby anywhere. Slowly I walked back home, wondering if she would come back to play. The gravel crunched under my feet as I got closer to the trailer. The bugs were still out, flying around the crack in the tree that had been infiltrated by Hunter.

“You were like Superman!”, yelled Hunter as he ran up to me.

A grin slid across my face as he gave me a fist bump. I looked down at my knee, his eyes followed.

“Battle wounds are awesome!”, he said with a big smile.

“Thanks.”, I said, smiling at him.

I looked back down the road that I had just crashed on. With a new found confidence, I decided to try again. Turning to Hunter, he gave me a nod of approval. Putting my head forward, I jumped up and pushed off again.

This time, I was Superman!