Mouth agape in shock, Alex repeatedly switched glances between the empty glass and Ralph. He tried to say something but for some reason the words got stuck in his thought and only gibberish came out his lips. And the playful smile on Ralph made send his mind into a ruckus. Is it what I think it is? No…no….It cant be! He thought to himself, still trying to figure out what just happened. And the only explanation he could come up with was extremely unbelievable. So it had to be some sort of illusion or prank, right?

“What just happened?” finally, he spoke real words. Blinking his eyes multiple times to check whether he was seeing things right.

Ralph chuckled, the playful smile still on his face, he stood up and made his way to Alex. Looking him in the eyes, like he could see his soul.

“Aa….I-aa I think….” Alex swallowed from the intense look his uncle gave him. He could clearly see the smile on his face, but his eyes spoke of the opposite emotion. And for the first time ever in his entire lifetime, he could feel a danger emitting from Ralph. Ralph’s gaze was so intense that he couldn’t afford to look away. He felt that if he looked away, he would die that instant. Suddenly, the two brown orbs he was staring into started turning blue. Not just blue, as in blue, rather they glowed blue.

Wait, they have not turned blue! Alex thought when he realized something. He could still see bits of Ralph’s brown eyes. Only that they were almost impossible to spot from the numerous flashing and moving blue colour that spread to the white of his eyes. It was like he had tiny lightning playing in them.

“Crap!!!!!!!!!!!” he blurted, feeling the extreme urge to back away from his uncle. But each time he took a step back, Ralph took a step forward. Giving him an extreme feeling of dee-ja vu. And like as if the universe was against him, he couldn’t retreat any further as his back hit against the wall, with no room for him to escape. A scared whimper escaped his lips when he saw Ralph raise his hand right in front of his eyes. And the view wasn’t pleasant at all. He couldn’t make out the structure of Ralph’s hand. It looked fazed and multiplied as if it was just an after image of movement. And the whizzing sound it generated made him swallow the lump in his throat. The scene felt extremely familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen. Just when he thought things wouldn’t get any worse, Ralph’s playful smile turned into a sinister one. He looked at his hand like it was a swish knife he was going to use to slice into Alex.

Alex’s head suddenly felt light, and his lungs deprived of breath. He was finding it hard to stand until eventually, the darkness swept him away as he fainted.

Alex woke up from the wet droplets that landed on his face. His half vision became full after a couple of blinks and Uncle Ralph’s face was the first thing he saw. He wore that same playful smile only that his eyes had turned back to normal. With a forceful jerk, Alex sat up on the couch he was lying on and distanced himself from Ralph by pushing at the back of his heels. His breathing becoming extremely hastened and his heart thudding against his chest.

Thankfully, Ralph didn’t come any closer. Instead, he placed aside the glass of water he was holding while shaking his head, bemused by his actions. “Why suddenly scared of me, Nephew?” he scoffed, emphasizing on the word “nephew.”

“S-tay away from me………you’re a demon!!!!!” Alex blurted while his hands closed around the black remote laying besides him and held it with his other hand over his chest like a sword that was meant to save his life.

A loud peel of laughter resounded in the atmosphere as Ralph laughed his lungs out. “A…….a demon???????????? Haahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!” he said in between the laughter he was trying to hold in. But he couldn’t so he continued laughing. “Why are you laughing?” Alex asked with a raised brow. Still trying to retreat as far away as he could, but sadly he couldn’t anymore. Ralph’s laughter made him feel extremely anxious. He knew this kind of laughter more than anything. It was the laughter that those psychopaths did before they wore those sinister grim expressions. But seeing him fall to the carpet because of the laughter, he couldn’t help but feel a little better, at least. And seeing someone laugh their asses out made him laugh too but he fought the urge to do so as he knew the situation, he was in was extremely dire.

Anyway, why was Ralph laughing anyway? Had he guessed wrong? Isn’t Ralph a demon? Did he miss anything? Were the questions Ralph asked himself continuously!

Lucky enough, the laughter stopped. “AAAA…..you’ve really made my abs hurt this time……..I thought you didn’t get scared…..” Ralph stood to his feet, clenching his stomach as he walked closer to Alex,” Guess I’ve proven you wrong this time. You even fainted for God’s sake!!!!!!..............” he slumped into the couch, right next to the petrified Alex.

Which made him jerk away from the sofa and stand a distance away. “Crap! Is that how you scare people. I could feel my heart already to jump out of my chest without a parachute! Forget about that………..explain to me how you did that?” he blurted in scared breaths, pointing the remote at Ralph, his hands trembling profusely.

Ralph leisurely threw his head back behind his palm and crossed his legs on the table. “Why would you think that I am a demon huh?” he said, a bemused smile raising on his lips.

“You---you did that glowing thing with yo---your eyes!!!!!” Alex replied, still in his defensive scared posture.

“Well, am not………”

Before Ralph could finish his sentence, Alex suddenly yelled because he was experiencing a breakdown “Then what are you?”

Ralph didn’t mind the sudden outburst. Instead, he lowered his legs to the ground and leaned forward to lean his elbow against his knee, so his hand was folded In a 90 degree angle. Immediately, his hand fazed in and out as multiple faint images of it mixed with each other. The same threatening faint whizzing accompanying it. “I’m a homo nova.”

“…” Alex blinked twice, his brows farrowing in ignorance and confusion as he tilted his head slightly.

Sighing, Ralph stopped his excess hand movement and stood up from his seat. “I am a speedster!” he said, with a proud smirk plastered on his face.

“…”

*

Calvin's face lit up, seeing Alex from afar; "Alex" he called out, waving his hand at him.

Alex, who had his hands in his jacket's joint pockets and was looking down at the pavement under his feet, snapped out of his daze and rose his head to see who called hi

“Bro………..your fine, are you okay. How are you feeling now?” the blond boy bombarded poor Alex with a series of questions in a single breath, touching his face to check for any injuries.

“I’m fine….” Alex rolled his eyes at Calvin, pushing against his chubby chest with his palm to make some space between them.

“Are you sure…..” Calvin said coming closer to check on him again, but Alex retreated a step back to evade him. “I’m okay.” He placed his hand back into his jacket’s pockets.

“Alright, Alright……” Calvin said scratching his head awkwardly, probably realizing he had created a scene in the middle of the road, “But seriously though, what did your mom say about the accident you had yesterday, I mean, bro……..I found you lying in the schools halls. Bleeding! Luckily your mom had passed by the school.” He continued, still expressing his worry for his best friend.

“mm……” Alex walked passed Calvin, continuing his journey back home, and he followed right behind him.

“I don’t know, I mean, she doesn’t know. There was nothing wrong with me.” He stated maintaining his gaze ahead of him, his mind still mindlessly having flashbacks of the incident earlier at Ralph’s place.

“How come! We both know that what happened yesterday isn’t normal. So how come your mom couldn’t find anything wrong with you?” Calvin denied Alex’s claims almost immediately. His voice coming out a bit raised. In actual sense, he would have believed Alex if he had just fainted. He would conclude that he was sleep deprived, making his excuse completely understandable. But the fact that he had bleeding ears the day before was completely peculiar. And him saying that his mom couldn’t come up with any diagnosis was completely unbelievable. Alex’s mom was one of the best doctors he had ever met. She had once diagnosed a disorder in him that no other doctor had noticed. Yet now, she can’t discover the cause of the life-threatening incident that almost took away her child’s life.

Upon reaching home, Alex fell into his bed and looked at the ceiling quietly. A faint smile making its way on his lips as excitement rushed through him. “I am a metahuman.” He whispered, feeling the sudden urge to jump around in excitement. Finally, his life as a nobody dumb student was coming to an end. Yes, he was still dumb. But at least he had something he could live up to. Something that made him proud. Though he didn’t know what it was. Uncle Ralph had told him about the accident that happened to him in his childhood and that it’s the reason he heard those voices yesterday. He was a methuman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why wouldn’t he be excited?

*

“Get out your chemistry books and do the experiment on page 332” A messy-haired short and slightly chubby professor said. Scribbling a bunch of symbols and letters on the chalk board. He wore a brown coat with dark brown elbow patches and a pair of black trousers. He tossed aside the short piece of chalk he was using and turned around to look at the students. His gaze locking onto Alex with cold intensity. “Julie……...” he grumbled, “Make sure he does it right.”

“Yes Professor. Dior” Julie obeyed, taking a disgusted glance at Alex who sat right next to her. Inwardly, she cursed why the hell the teacher would partner her up with Alex of all people.

“Now, I’m only giving you 10 minutes to do that experiment. If you can not do that simple experiment, I’m sorry I will not want to work with another bunch of wasted investments.” He stated so coldly, taking his seat. Though his voice was low, every student could hear it clearly. Though the professor always spoke so coldly, they wouldn’t dare to object him or stand up against him. In actual sense, they were even grateful that they had gotten a chance to be part of his class. But were afraid it wouldn’t last. Professor Dior was the best and most well-performed teacher in the parish. Many schools had offered to buy him at high amounts and luckily, theirs was able to offer the highest amount. His position in the school was as high as that of the principal. He had the freedom to drop an entire class and take up a new bunch of students if he wanted. He had the freedom to decide when and where he would teach students. And if he didn’t like a student, he would have them leave his class. He was like the god in their school.

The sound of pages flipping filled the atmosphere as everyone searched for the experiment Mr. Dior had talked about. Everyone’s jaws were left hanging in despair when they landed on the page.

“It’s official……we can’t do this!” someone blurted. Earning him a mocking expression from Mr. Dior.

“But …. w-we didn’t study this sir.” Another student stammered. And low murmurs raised throughout the class as everyone found a bit of courage to speak up.

“Oh really?” Dior turned his gaze to the student that said those words, a mocking smirk on his lips. “Impressive.” He rose from his seat and looked at everyone, silencing the murmurs. “I teach the best. And I am not supposed to spoon feed you all the time. If you can’t comprehend, your free to leave the class. Your ten minutes start now.”

“Alright, I got this.” Julie muttered in her deep breaths as she braced herself for what she was about to do. Looking at the set of equipment in front of her.

Professor Dior simply smiled, seeing that at least one of his students was making a move. But his gaze turned cold when he saw what the foolish boy sitting beside Julie did.

“What do you think your doing?” Julie asked pushing away Alex’s hand that reached for the apparatus.