Diary of a Teenage Superhero

  Chapter Ten

  The hinges start to bend outwards. The door itself even starts to curve toward us as if a giant hand were angling it away from the frame. I glance at Dan. Sweat has broken out on his brow. His hands are shaking. I’m not sure how he’s doing this, but somehow he’s achieving the impossible. Brodie stares at him wide-eyed. Finally the hinges snap and the door floats free.

  That’s right.

  Floats free.

  It lurches to one side and settles against the wall. Dan drops his hands. There are a million things I want to say, but there’s no time. I stumble into the driver’s cabin. I try to ignore the blood spattered remains of the driver. The scenery outside races past the window.

  I find it hard to think. We’re hurtling along at a terrific speed. The whole carriage is shuddering violently from one side to the other. I don’t know which control to manipulate.

  Then I see it. The mechanism is obvious now that I recognize it. It’s a dead man’s switch, made to only operate when the driver’s hand is on it. But a bullet has driven itself into the metal housing, locking it into place. I grab it and pull back. At first nothing happens. Then it suddenly gives, dropping back to the off position. The train begins to slow.

  The passenger vehicle is still rocking wildly from side to side, but at least now it doesn’t seem to be in danger of flying off the tracks. Just as well, too, because at that moment we’re heading for a bend. The train continues to decelerate. Finally as it reaches the bend it gives a final lurching shudder and comes to a halt.

  Until then I’ve been holding my breath. I let it out as Brodie grabs my arm.

  “Well done,” she says.

  “Well done?” I reply. “I’m not the one who deserves congratulations.”

  We both look back at Dan still standing in the vestibule area. He looks sort of embarrassed. We clap him on the back.

  “Do you want to explain all that?” I ask.

  “I wish I could,” he says. “I noticed it not long after I woke up. I was sitting on a park bench watching a coin on the sidewalk. I thought of how that would be handy to have some money. Suddenly it started sliding toward me. I thought I was possessed.” He gives a nervous laugh. “After some practice I realized I could move metal objects. I started with small things like coins and later moved onto larger objects.”

  “And you didn’t mention this to us?” Brodie asks. “The reason being…”

  “I didn’t want to seem like a weirdo.” Dan shrugs.

  “You’re not a weirdo,” I say. “You’re a damn…superhero.”

  “You’re super…Dan,” Brodie finishes lamely.

  “Super Dan,” he says. “That’s great. Real catchy.”

  I shake my head. “Let’s worry about names later. I think we should get out of here. I don’t want us to try explaining this to the authorities.”

  We make our way down the length of the train. It looks like the fire brigade, ambulance and police have turned up. A ladder extends to the elevated line and people are being helped down one at a time. When it comes to our turn we get to street level, but it turns out the police have grouped the passengers together for questioning.

  A police officer starts directing people to a diner. Obviously they intend to personally interview everyone as to the events on the train. I nervously look for an opportunity to escape, but the only way out of here would seem to be breaking free of the group and running at full pelt down the road.

  Not a sensible plan.

  Everyone is crowded into the diner. We position ourselves into a booth at the end. After a few minutes a man comes over to talk to us. I recognize him as the one we spoke to on the train.

  “You three seem a little quiet,” he says.

  “Uh, yeah,” Brodie says. Then, “What do you mean?”

  “It was you kids on the train who stopped it,” he says. “You saved everyone. Why don’t you just tell the cops?”

  We look at each other in silence.

  Finally I speak. “We’d rather keep a low profile. We don’t want to attract attention to ourselves.”

  The man nods, giving it some thought. “I suppose we owe you all our lives. If that’s how you want it to be…”

  “It is.”

  “Okay.” The man looks over to the counter. “There’s probably an exit through the kitchen. You’ll just have to go round the serving area. If there were a diversion you might be able to leave.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Dan asks.

  The man glances at the two cops at the door. “Just be ready for anything.”

  We watch as the man slowly saunters to the door. He starts speaking to the cops in an amiable sort of way. After a moment, though, we start to hear him using words like equal rights and freedom of passage. Everyone in the diner turns to watch the altercation as he raises his voice. After a minute, he’s shaking with anger and pointing at the police in a threatening way.

  In the next instant he clutches his chest and grabs both the cops. It looks like he’s having a heart attack.

  “Come on,” Brodie says. “Now’s our chance.”

  I’m so entranced by the stranger’s performance that I’d forgotten it was all simply an act to create a diversion. I don’t know what his profession is, but he should consider acting. As the crowd assembles around the man who has now fallen to the floor with the cops trying to revive him, Brodie leads us around the counter and into the kitchen. A black haired woman is standing at a bench cutting up tomatoes. She looks at us curiously and says something to us in Spanish.

  I have no idea what she is trying to communicate so I simply smile and point to the back door. We keep moving. A moment later we’re in a back alley behind the diner. Just as we start away from the eatery, a voice yells from behind us.

  Two cops hurry down the alley toward us. Obviously they were patrolling the area and saw our escape.

  “You kids were on that train, weren’t you?” one of them says.

  I look confused. “What train?”

  His partner frowns. “I think we’d better have a little talk to you.”

  Dan frowns at them. “You don’t need to talk to us.”

  Both the men look at him. For a long moment it’s as if time has come to a halt. They stare at him, mesmerized. Finally one of them nods in agreement.

  “That’s right,” he says dully. “We don’t need to speak to you.”

  “We weren’t on the train,” Dan says.

  “You weren’t on the train,” the other cop says.

  My mouth drops open. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Dan is somehow brainwashing the cops into following his instructions. Obviously this is another little aspect to his powers he has forgotten to mention to us.

  Of course, what’s that thing they say about the corruption of power?

  “We’re not the droids you’re looking for.” Dan is now in full swing. He’s smiling broadly now and gives us a big wink.

  “Star Wars?” I murmur. “You’re giving us Star Wars?”

  “They’re not the droids we’re looking for,” the cop says, although even he seems puzzled by what he’s saying.

  “May the force be with you,” Dan says gravely. “Always.”

  The cops nod, turn and head back down the lane in the opposite direction. At the end they turn and disappear from sight. Brodie and I look to each other and then to Dan.

  Brodie grabs his arm. “You can control minds?”

  “Did it occur to you to mention this?” I ask.

  “I was about to,” he says. “I didn’t get a chance –”

  Brodie looks furious. “Don’t you ever do this to me without –”

  Dan holds up his hands. “I promise I will never do anything to you guys. Ever.”

  He seems sincere, though I can understand Brodie’s anger. It’s a horrible idea to think of someone manipulating you against your will. Someone taking away your free will and using you like a puppet.

  “So where do we go
from here?” I ask.

  Dan’s smiles. “Wherever you want.”