The Super 4 : Dark Death (14 page)

“
What’s up, Carly?” She said, a
voice implying zero guilt or deception.

“
I’m gonna KILL you!” I said,
racing to the living room.

“
You do that!”

“
Gladly!” I heard the sound of
giggling and the slamming of a door.

Just great! She probably ran outside in fits
of laughter. Well I got a surprise up my sleeve!

I snuck out through the back door, and raced
to Hilde’s best friend, Mary Ann.

I rang the doorbell, while simultaneously
hopping from one foot to the other.

Mary Ann opened the door. Her fuzzy black hair
was all pinned up in a bun that complemented her hazelnut brown
skin, which was darker than Harrison’s, but lighter than
Darryl’s.

She studied me with ice blue eyes. “Hey
Carly.”

“
Hey Mary Ann!” I said. “Is Hilde
here?”

“
Um..no.” She said, still looking
at me funny. “Why’d you ask?”

“
No reason.”

“
Isn’t she at your
house?”

“
No, I can’t find her!”

“
Hang on, let me call her,” She
whipped out her blackberry, pressed a couple buttons, and placed
the phone on her ear. “Hello?...Hey Hilde!...Where are you?...At
your house?...Okay...Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either!...He did
not!...Seriously?...No way!...OH MY GOSH!...Oh no he-”

I had been bouncing up and down, but when Mary
Ann mentioned that Hilde was at the house I froze. Literally. Oh no
she didn’t!

I didn’t stay to hear the end of the
conversation.

Instead I raced to the house. I rang the
doorbell and waited impatiently for someone to answer.

Eirik opened the door. “Ah!” he said. “Salve
Carly!”

I muttered a hello back.

I raced to the living room.

Hilde looked at me and said, “Bye Mary Ann!
Gotta go.” She cut the call. “Hi Carly! Did you enjoy your daily
exercise?”

“
As a matter of fact, I did
not!”

Hilde smiled devilishly at me. “What a shame!”
She exclaimed in mock horror.

“
Hilde.” I growled warningly at
her. “I’ll give you to the count of three.
Ette..To...Tre.”

I opened my eyes. Hilde had vanished, in her
place lay a note.

I opened it. It
was a smiley face. Urgh!!! Sometimes! That girl can be absolutely
impossible to manage! A
smiley
face, how could she?

“
HILDE!!!” I screamed, sounding
very much like a guy from a movie about chipmunks. I didn’t care.
“I”M GONNA KILL YOU!”

Darryl

XX

“...Well Darryl, your recent tests and quizzes
lead us to believe two things,” said Mrs. Kaminski, “The first is
that you cheated, I know! Quite astonishing and you’re all ready in
Honor’s Class, so there is no need for you to cheat. Or someone to
cheat from!”

I nodded trying to look as if I
cared.

“The next thing is that you have been hiding
your true genius! You might skip ninth grade!”

Now she got my full attention. “I’m sorry Mrs.
Kaminski, but did you just say that I might have to skip ninth
grade!”

“I did.” Mrs. Kaminski beamed at me, as if it
were the greatest thing in the world. A few months before it would
be. But now I have friends and powers! My life couldn’t get any
better! mum’s in jail! I no longer live in fear of going to a
children’s home. FTK was the best place on Earth! I had friends!
Well a friend. But Sanjit was the best friend I ever had! Sure
there was Carly, Harrison and Jake. But they accepted me as a
person not a friend, and besides they had their own drama without
having to worry about me.

“But...Mrs. Kaminski, what about my friends?”
I asked.

Mrs. Kaminski looked surprised. “Uhh...well
you can still see them after school and during lunch, can’t you
Darryl?”

“I...I guess so,” I told her, still not
completely sure. “Can I see my grades?”

“Why
of course
!” Mrs.
Kaminski guided me to the secretary’s desk. She clicked a few
buttons, typed a few keys and then showed me my grades. My eyes
skimmed down the screen. She was right. My grades were perfect. And
since we’re now doing gymnastics in P.E….Well, I didn’t have much
trouble in that.

“Um...Thanks for showing me, Mrs. Kaminski.” I
said.

“You’re very welcome, Darryl.” She replied
with a huge smile.

I exited the room as fast as I could without
running. I don’t know why but tears flooded my eyes. My vision
became blurry, but I didn’t stop until I got to a tree in the
woods. I raised an arm and missed. I blinked furiously, trying to
clear the tears from my eyes. The second time my arm hooked around
the tree twice and stayed. I shortened my arm and reeled myself
in.

Once I reached the top I let my emotions come
forth. I didn’t cry loudly, instead I silently wept, tears
streaming down my face and my shoulders shaking a bit. I cried for
a good six minutes and nineteen seconds.

When I was certain my little -well, kinda big-
episode was over I slowly walked back to my old apartment, shaking
my head the whole way, as if to clear it of tears.

Yellow police tape went around the whole
building. The residents currently staying at a four star hotel.
Police swarmed the building like bees. They were side-by-side with
Private Investigators. In fact I think I saw an FBI guy, but with
the number of security officials I couldn’t be sure.

I sneaked around the building trying to look
for a way in. It wasn’t easy. But I finally noticed the giant noble
fir. It’s branches were an inch away from my old room. And from the
looks of it they hadn’t bothered to search my room. I silently
thanked God for the building directors decision to not cut down the
great tree.

I placed a foot on a branch, crouched down and
used the branch to propel me up a couple of feet. I repeated this
technique over and over until I got to the top.

Luckily my window was still about an inch
open. I took a couple of junk metal, screws and wires, and started
making a robot spring. When I finished a few seconds later, I
stretched a hand to place it under the window. It was a tight fit
but it worked. After that I let the robot do the work.

It slowly uncoiled itself and it’s arms and
pushed up. Slowly the window creaked open. It creaked
loudly.

“
Did you hear that?” I heard a
deep voice say.

“
Hear what, Jay?” asked a
woman.

“
I could’ve sworn I heard
something coming from the kids room!”

“
Well get off your lazy behind and
go check it out!” shouted the furious woman.

“
Okay, Okay. Relax Anna!” Jay
said.

“
GO!” yelled Anna.

“
Sheesh!” I heard him mutter. But
I couldn’t laugh. Instead I stretched and grabbed the robot,
reeling him to safety. I scrambled skywards in the dense canopy
leaves.

“
It was just a squirrel!” I heard
Jay shout to his partner.

“
Well, get over here!” Anna
replied. “ I think I found some money!”
Jay scrambled over, excited to see the money. I quickly hooked a
hand to my old iron bed and pulled myself in.

The iron leg of the bed hit a floor nail and
ripped a board out. I hesitated, waiting to see if someone had
heard. It was all good. I sneaked silently into the room and
inspected the board. I noticed a bit of green sticking out. I
pulled it. It was a dollar bill. A hundred dollar bill!

I turned it over in my hand and stared at it
in disbelief. I stuck my hand in the hole. I touched a bunch of
papery stuff. I pulled my hand out. A bunch of dollars came
out.

There were more hundred dollars, some twenties
and a couple of tens. I put the hundreds back in their place and
tucked the twenties and tens in my pocket. I placed the board over
the stash of money and crept out the window.

I crawled down the tree waiting for a break in
security. When it came I sprinted all the way to the FTK. I raced
up to my room. No one was there.

I took the cash out of my pocket and stuffed
it under my mattress. I breathed a sigh of relief and went
downstairs.

Today was T-night. That meant you had a choice
of tortillas or tacos. I always chose beef tacos.

I was sprinkling some cheese on top of my taco
when Sanjit came over.

“
Urgh!” Sanjit said, turning his
nose up at my beef taco.

“
What?” I asked.

“
Your choice of food...It stinks!”
He replied, backing away like Jake does when he sees a French
textbook.

I laughed and we headed over to our table. Two
other guys, Matt and Jerry, were already tucking in to their
tortillas.

“
Hey Darryl,” said Matt without
looking up from his meal. His long red hair covered his face as he
ate.

“
Hey Matt.” I replied, “Hey
Jerry.”

Jerry brushed back his short black hair and
nodded at me. “S’up.”

I could tell
they didn’t want to be disturbed, so instead I focused on my meal.
I took a large bite. Cheese and beef fell on my plate. Jerry raised
his eyebrows, his brown eyes were like,
where’s your manners, kid?
Embarrassed by my mess, I tucked a handkerchief in my shirt
before continuing. Matt’s green eyes looked
amused.

I hurriedly
finished my meal and rushed upstairs. I opened my
Lord of the Rings.

Bill Ferny's price was twelve silver pennies;
and that was indeed at least three times the pony's value in those
pans. It proved to be a bony, underfed, and dispirited animal; but
it did not look like dying just yet. Mr. Butterbur paid for it
himself, and offered Merry another eighteen pence as some
compensation for the lost animals. He was an honest man, and
well-off as things were reckoned in Bree; but thirty silver pennies
was a sore blow to him, and being cheated by Bill Ferny made it
harder to bea-

“
Light’s out!” A voice called. I
reluctantly folded the top of my page and closed my book. Guys
started entering the dorm.

“
Goodnight Sanjit!” I
called.

“
Night.” He replied.

“
Night James.” I said.

“
Night.” James called.

“
Good night Tom, Good night David,
Good night Huntley, Good ni-”

“
Darryl?” Sanjit said.

“
Yeah?”

“
SHUT UP!!”

“
Oh. Okay.”

I wriggled into a comfortable position and
closed my eyes. My last thoughts were of the money that lay safely
beneath me.

I awoke the next
morning to the theme song of
Spongebob.
Rubbing the sleep from my
eyes, I crawled out of bed.

“
Who lives in a pineapple under
the sea? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! Yello-”

I spotted a tuft of dark brown curls sticking
out of the sofa. I walked over. A small kid, about six-years-old,
sat in the big chair. He had olive skin and green eyes. A bowl of
coco pops sat in his lap. A big white smile was planted on his
face. He was obviously the youngest guy here.

I decided to introduce myself.
“Hey.”

He looked startled. “Good Morning!” He
answered, “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“
Not at all!” I lied. “What’s your
name?”

He smiled and told me.

“
Why hello, Carlos! I’m
Darryl.”

“
Hi Darryl.”

“
How old are you?”

“
Six!” He responded with a huge
grin of accomplishment.

“
WOW! Aren’t you a big boy!” I
said in a babyish voice.

Carlos’ eyes twinkled and his smile took up
most of his face. I grinned at him.

“
He’ll be gone by tomorrow.” I
turned towards the spiteful voice. It was Sanjit.

“
What do you mean?” I
asked.

“
All the cute young ones get
picked, the rest of us stay here until we’re legally adults.”
Sanjit walked over to the couch. “A face like his...He’ll be
adopted upon the morrow.”

I secretly agreed. Carlos’ bright, intelligent
green eyes and perfect olive skin...He’d be an easy
pick.

“
What does he mean, Darryl?”
Carlos’ voice shocked me out of my thoughts. I adopted my kind,
child-speak voice.

“
He means that you’ll be picked to
go to a nice family and have lots of candy!” Sanjit rolled his
eyes. I frowned at him.

“
Will you come too?” Carlos
asked.

“
Maybe,” I lied.

Carlos seemed happy with my answer and
returned to his Spongebob. Sanjit walked back up the stairs. I
called after him.

“
Sanjit, wait up!” He stopped but
didn’t turn. “Why are you so bitter?”