Aaron scowled at Darrin’s house for a while before he finally tucked his hands into his pockets and slouched for home.
Now I mentioned that the stage was being set up for a possible tragedy. But this story much prefers irony over tragedy, so this was when fate intervened to turn things around for this poor kid. And one of fate’s agents just so happened to be lurking nearby…
He had watched the trio. Since they had left Terrence’s house he had watched them. He had waited while Derrick had gone into his house. He had waited while Darrin had gone into his house. Now Aaron was alone. Now the mysterious agent of fate could make his move…
He slipped out of the shadow of a lamppost (agents of fate are resourceful that way) and crossed the street toward Aaron. He slipped into step behind our timorous friend, bowing his head and tucking his hands into his gray overcoat, looking to all the world like a normal man going about his business.
But Aaron heard the man’s steps behind him. He stopped and turned.
The stranger walked up to him, stretched out his hand, and said pleasantly, “How are you?”
A little taken aback, Aaron accepted the hand and replied, “Good.”
“Oh you say that,” responded the stranger in the same pleasant voice. “But really, how are you?”
“Why’s that your business?” Aaron asked, trying to sound polite yet was wary all the same.
“Well,” said the mysterious man, “I’ve noticed how those two friends of yours teased you about being a scaredy-cat. And I wondered if this was a common thing?”
Aaron jerked his head up and fixed the man with a suspicious glare. “Have you been spying on me?”
“Heavens no!” exclaimed the man, sounding genuinely surprised—to Aaron, of course. You may remember that he was watching Aaron since he and his friends had left Terrence’s house.
But Aaron didn’t know that. He only had his own observations to rely on to determine if the man was lying or not, and unfortunately he was not a skilled lie detector. As a result, he took the mysterious man’s word for it. He nodded and told the stranger, “Yeah, they like to tease me for my… timidity.”
This mysterious agent of fate nodded sadly. “A pity they don’t show you more respect. You are obviously quite intelligent.”
“Sure. I suppose,” said Aaron, who couldn’t help but feel flattered.
They continued to walk. The mysterious stranger allowed him a few moments to bask in the praise. Then he suddenly stopped, turned to the twelve-year-old, and said, “How would you like to prove them wrong?”
Aaron stopped in surprise. “What?”
“How would you like to show them you’re not a scaredy-cat? Show them you’re more fearless than they think you are? That you’re more fearless than they are?”
Aaron would have loved nothing more than that. He would have loved to see Darrin and Derrick’s mouths drop open when they saw him doing things they would never dare to do: exploring the sewers of Poolington where the fabled giant sewer eel lived, scaling the Fat Ballerina Rock that stood just outside town, taking on the town bully, Hector Vower! But…
“How am I going to do that?”
The man said carefully as though afraid his words would set off alarms, “I would need to hypnotize you.”
Our young friend was stunned. He thought it was going to be the usual grown-up advice. You know, the, “You’ve got to work at it and never give up” speech. But here was this friendly albeit mysterious stranger offering him a shortcut. A miracle cure!
But hold on, folks. Our young friend wasn’t that stupid and naïve. And certainly not that desperate. With that gift of intelligence he was endowed with, he grasped at reason and asked skeptically, “Hypnotize? Wouldn’t you have control of me? You could make me do things I don’t want to do.”
“Actually,” said the stranger with a friendly smile, “that’s somewhat of a misconception. While it’s true that I could suggest actions you should take while in your subconscious state, the truth is that I cannot force you to do anything that you morally will not do—robbing banks, for example.”
“Okay,” said Aaron, not wholly convinced. “So you can make me fearless. Is there something you want me to do for you?”
“Not at all.” The stranger beamed innocently.
The youth studied the man’s face. He seemed trustworthy but something still bothered Aaron.
“Why would you do this for me?” he asked.
The mysterious stranger placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, “I understand you’re suspicious. The truth is I want to help because I know what it’s like to be taunted relentlessly—by your friends, no less. I know I sometimes wished that some guardian angel would come down and make my problems disappear. I guess now I feel that’s a chance I can give to someone else—it’s a sort of obligation. And I want to help you stop them from teasing you so much. I want to help you rub it in your friends’ faces.”
The mysterious stranger stared into Aaron’s eyes as he spoke. Aaron looked back and found a strange pull from the enigmatic man’s eyes—one rich brown eye and one smoky gray eye—that siphoned all of his concerns from him… And our young friend knew that he could trust this man. This man really wanted to help him. It would hurt this man’s feelings if he didn’t let the man help him. Besides, it was something he wanted…
Slowly, Aaron nodded. “…Okay.”
“Excellent!” the stranger exclaimed, snapping the twelve-year-old out of a daze. “Shall we begin?”
Aaron was startled at the direction things had taken. “Uh, sure.”
“Okay,” the man said. He deepened his voice and spoke mesmerizingly, “Look into my eyes.”
Aaron did as he was told. The last thing he remembered before his mind disconnected with his body was the man’s peculiar eyes pulsing ever so subtly… then he was gone.
At this point we probably should be concerned for our hero. A mysterious stranger that Aaron had never met before in his life—the sort of person all mothers warn their children about with great emphasis—had him under his hypnotic control and could now make him do some terrible things like squawking like a chicken! But as neither you the reader nor I the narrator can do anything for him, the best we can do is wait and see what happens.
The man spoke in his mesmerizing voice, “You will become fearless…”
“Fearless…” Aaron repeated dully.
“You will know no such thing as fear…”
“No such thing…”
“You will not feel fear even when confronted with the most horrifying, terrifying, petrifying monster!”
“Petrifying…” Aaron said with no emotion.
“Spiders will not scare you… dogs will not scare you… cats, heights, small spaces, the dark, haunted houses, horror books, horror movies, tax forms—NOTHING will scare you!”
“Nothing…”
“And you will be this fearless person when you hear the name…” The hypnotist cast his mind for a good name. But as the time stretched and nothing truly inspiring came to mind, he finally decided with as much gusto as he could muster, “Superkid!”
“Superkid…?” Aaron almost asked in his subconscious state.
“Yes, Superkid,” the mysterious hypnotist said emphatically and then cleared his throat. “And you will only return to your former self when you hear your own name…” He searched his memory for the name but it seemed that day was not a good day for names. He was relieved when he finally remembered and burst out, “Aaron!”
“My name…” echoed our hero.
The hypnotist smiled. “Now, when I say, ‘Superkid’ you will become fearless, understand? Ready?”
As ready as a half-conscious person could be.
The enigmatic hypnotist took a breath. “One… two… three…”
Whoa, hold on there, buddy! All studies show that oxygen is actually quite good for you, so take a few breaths there. You breathing? Okay, just keep that up and we’ll get through the rest of this issue. He survives, I p
romise you. Okay, back to the story.