Friends
Miles was pretty sure the whole world hated him. He wasn’t sure what he could’ve done in his past life to piss off the universe making them hate him but it must’ve been bad. His life at Vision’s Academy only seemed to go down hill from his first day. He fell more and more behind as days past. Students still treated him like he was invisible. Teachers kept giving more assignments like they were making it rain cash. His body felt like cement, heavy. He hardly get to see Ganke since they had completely different schedules. It was horrible.
However the worst was yet to come.
Miles’s cold had hit an all time low. He was practically dragging himself from class to class. His hands felt like jelly. His eyes barely could stay open during lectures. Though part of it can be blamed on his late night sessions. He spent most of the night devising a plan to get kicked out of Vision Academy. He was determined to make this plan work. He was gonna try to get kicked out for bad grades since this place was technically for the genius in the world. Bad grades means they’ve got to kick him out! Leaving him with a one way ticket back to Brooklyn Middle.
Making his whole plan easier, the uncomfortable tingle he felt all week had left him itchy and sore. It went all the way to his elbows but burned at his fingertips. It’s a sensation he’s never felt before expect for this week. It felt like fire burning under his skin. It hurt so bad that Miles had trouble picking up things and holding them. It distracted him from everything around him.
Which is why he was in his teachers office after class. Miles had somewhat intentionally failed his test. During their talk his teacher had asked him “if a person wearing a blindfold picked the answers on a true or false quiz at random, do you know what score they would get?” To which he quickly replied fifty percent. It just had slipped out. He didn’t realize that he was being played by his teacher. “The only way to get all the answers wrong, is to know which answers were right.” Miles watched in disappointment as his teacher changed his zero to a hundred. “You’re trying to quit. And I’m not going to let you. I’m assigning you a personal essay. Not about physics, but about you and what kind of person you want to be.”
Miles remembered walking back to his dorm defeated after that. He wasn’t watching where he was going when he bumped into somebody. “Woah!” Miles looked up to see none other than the blond kid from class. The one who laughed at his crappy joke. “Sorry,” She muttered before she stepped to the side. Miles didn’t get a chance to say anything since the girl walked away. ‘Weird’ He thought as he watched the blonde disappear in crowd. Eventually he walked back to his room, baffled and upset. He opened the door and dropped everything on his bed. He stared at all his belongings, which wasn’t much.
‘Ganke won’t be back until later’ his mind told him right as a mischievous thought came to mind.
Miles immediately shut the thought down. No. He’s wasn’t gonna sneak out. He was gonna sit down in his chair and then try to devise another plan.
This is a bad idea.
Miles walked down the sidewalk nervously. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. He a body pumping with adrenaline and a mind full of horrible ideas. “Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea,” Miles repeated under his breath as he turned the corner. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going or where he was. He had mindlessly walked around the town trying to find something to take his mind off the growing pain of his body and life.
Miles made another turn then stopped in his tracks. His mindless wandering had lead him to his his old school Brooklyn Middle. Okay, maybe he wasn’t completely wandering. Quickly the boy ran across the street towards the courtyard hoping to see at least some of his old friends. However he was quickly disappointed to find it empty. Not a single student in sight. Everyone must’ve gone home. After all Brooklyn Middle did had an earlier release time than Vision’s. Which is probably why it was such a ghost town.
Disappointed once again, Miles slumped his shoulders and walked away. He didn’t want to go back to Visions. Not yet at least. So he kept walking. It wasn’t long until the sun began to fall and the curfew was growing closer by the second. Despite not wanting to return he began his walk home. Making all the shortcuts he knew just to save time. He didn’t need Visions Academy calling his dad who would then call the whole damn army to find him.
Miles had turned into an alleyway, trying his best to move fast, when suddenly he felt a sharp stabbing feeling in his hands. He gasped in pain as his hands cramped up. The feeling spread all up through his arms.
Look out.
“Hey look at what we got right here! Guys come look at this!” A group of adult men walked up from behind him. Miles tried to make a break but was immediately pulled back by his backpack. “Aw come on kid! Don’t leave yet! The party is barely started!” His head began to spin. His legs felt like jelly as the men cornered him into the wall. They loomed over him threateningly making Miles extra nervous. These men were ten times bigger than him meaning they were more than able to handle him.
“Like your bag kid.” Miles looked around in confusion before suddenly one of the men pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at him. “Give it to me along with your phone and wallet.” The teens breath was caught in his throat. Never in a million years did he think he’d be stuck in a situation like this. How was he supposed to put run a gang of men who look like WWE wrestlers and a gun without revealing his secret?
Miles slowly removed his bag before handing it over. He then took out his phone and held it out for the man to take. He tried to ignore the pain in his arm as he did. The man reached out to grab from him with a pleased smirk on his face but once their hands touched the man was suddenly blasted full of electricity. The teen watched as his the man and his stuff fell onto the wet concrete ground. All the other men backed up in surprise as they watch their leader crumple onto the ground yelling in pain.
Miles looked at his hand which was now sparking bright blue electricity. He stared in complete amazement. All his pain was now replaced with a strange buzzing numbness around his palms. “What the hell?! What’d you do?!” Miles eyes widen as he was suddenly grabbed by the collar of his shirt and slammed into the wall. “You’re gonna regret doing whatever the hell you just did.” Miles eyes screwed shut. He tried to repeat whatever spark thing he did earlier but nothing happened. Realizing it wasn’t gonna happen again the teen feared what would happen next. He did just piss off a bunch of guys with guns. His dad would be proud if his life wasn’t on the line.
“Hey! Put the kid down!” Suddenly the man holding him up dropped him onto the ground. Miles didn’t see much of what happened next but he heard the sound of his attackers yelling, “Who the hell do you think you are?! What makes you think-” There was a beat of silence before the sound of running footsteps caught his attention. He wasn’t quite sure what made them so terrified that they were running away.
“Hurry up! Run!” Miles watched the men run out the alleyway before somebody held their hand out. He looked up to see a tall black man standing over him. He took the man’s hand and stood up. “You okay? They didn’t hurt you did they?” The man asked.
“No...uh...I think I’m okay…” Other than being completely being in shock he was okay. Miles began to brush himself off and slid back into his shoes. “You know, you gotta be careful around here. Not everyone is as friendly as me.”
“Thanks for helping me out.” The man brushed him off saying, “No problem man.”
Miles reached for his backpack which was laying on the ground open and all his art supplies scattered around. It must’ve been pulled off when they grabbed him from it. “Aw man…” Miles watched as his loose paper drawings were carried off in the wind. He immediately bent down and tried to grab everything that was on the ground. “I’m sorry about that dude,” the man apologized as he picked up his bag from the puddle it laid in.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t your fault.” Miles sighed. So much for having a nice night out before walking straight back to hell. He looked at his laptop which laid victim inside to his wet backpack. “My dad is gonna kill me.”
The man sighed. “Hey look. Maybe it still works! My apartment is right around the corner. We can dry off your stuff there and I’ll see what we can do about your laptop. What you say?” Miles hesitated. It was getting late and curfew was in about an hour give or take. The responsible kid within him wanted to go back and try to beat the clock. However after the long day he had he’d give anything that keep him out of Vision’s walls. Plus he didn’t know why but he trusted this guy. “Alright, but I need to make a text and call first. Can I borrow your phone? Mine is kinda...” Miles held up his cracked screen which covered the whole phone making it impossible to see what was happening on the screen.
“Yeah, here you go,” The man handed him over his phone. “I’ll be over there. Just tell me when you’re ready to go.”
Miles nodded and waited for the man to leave before quickly sent Ganke a quick text saying he’d be late and that he’ll explain later. He then typed his dad’s number into the phone before hitting call. He listened to the phone ring and stared down at his shoes. The longer the ringing lasted, the more anxious he grew. How does one explain to their dad that they electrocuted a man after they tried to robbing him in a alleyway without being scolded for leaving campus without permission?
“Who is this?”
“Uh...dad it’s me. Miles?”
“Miles’s? Who’s phone are you calling from? Why aren't you calling me from your phone?”
“Mine is kinda broken…” There was a weird shuffling noise coming in from the background of the call and grunting noises. Miles’s looked back at the man who was waiting for him before looking back at the phone in confusion.
“Dad where are you?”
“I’m-” There was a loud explosion in the background, cutting off his dad’s voice.
“Hey! Mind keeping it down! I’m on the phone!” The sound of gunshots filled the microphone making Miles’s believe his dad was on another one of his Spider-Man adventures.
There was a brief pause as the sound of people being kicked around filled the mic. “Sorry about that! What’s up?” Miles’s lowered the phone from his ear. “Uh...It’s nothing. I shouldn’t have called. Sorry to bother you.”
“Mile-” The teen quickly hung up the phone, not wanting to hear the rest. He walked towards the man who had saved him and handed back the borrowed phone. “Everything go well?’ Miles shrugged. “Well,” the man took the hint and backed off, “my apartment is up there. I have a heater to dry your stuff off with and few things that can help with your laptop.” Miles nodded. He didn’t have high hopes for his laptop. It was probably in the computer heaven in the sky.
“What’s your name kid?”
“Miles. You?”
“Aaron.” Together the two crossed the street to an apartment complex and walked in. Miles followed the man up the stairs and to his door. “So you go out and walk through shady alleyways for a living or was today special?”
“Special is one word for it.” Aaron smirked as he opened the door to let them in. “I see. I’ve had a few special days in my life though they never ended with me being robbed in an alleyway. You must be special.” At that Miles let out a small chuckle. “I’ve been told I inherited my dads bad luck,” He muttered, flashing a bittersweet smile.
“Here, hand me your bag and stuff.” Miles handed over his stuff and watched as Aaron took them over the heater and set them down to dry. “Now let’s see what we can do about that laptop.” Aaron walked out into another room for a second and came out with a box of tools. The younger teen followed the older fellow to a table and sat down next to him.
Miles watched as Aaron opened his laptop and tried to turn it on. They waited a few seconds and when nothing happened he sigh.
“It’s official. My computer is dead,” Miles announced the bittersad news. “Now hold on. I haven’t even worked my magic yet.” He gave the older man a look of disbelief. “Come on. Don’t lose hope yet. Tell you this, I’m gonna order a pizza then I’m gonna prove you wrong and fix your laptop. Sound good?”
Miles pretend to think about it before smiling. “Yeah. That sounds good.”
“Wait. You telling me that you’ve never putting your art up? Not even once?” Miles shook his head as he took bite from his pizza. “Nah man, my dad is a stickler for rules. He’d kill me if he found out I broke the law by graffiting up a wall!” The teen spun around in his swivel chair. Miles himself enjoyed the art of graffiti but his dad doesn’t. Well not graffiti specifically. He just disproved of anything that was against the law. His job literally consist of stopping people who break the law. Like a policeman except not having the correct certifications and stuff but who need that anymore nowadays.
“Man how do you expect people to see your fantastic art if you never show it to anybody?” Miles didn’t know what to say so he shrugged. He never thought about it truthfully.
“Well if you ever want to piece together something, I know the best places and I promise you your dad ain’t ever gonna find out.”
“Really?”
“Hell yeah! You can always find me here anytime before six or if you feeling like a grown man you can meet me here any time after seven.” Aaron handed him a business card.
“Starlite Lounge?”
“Just ask the front waitress for ‘Aaron Davis’ when you go in. They’ll know what to do.”
Miles nodded and quickly saved the card in his pocket. He felt joy flood his body. He liked Aaron. He was a cool dude and always had something interesting to say. He was excited that his newfound buddie wanted to see him again. They had a lot in common as well! It was so refreshing to have somebody who he could relate to and talk to about normal stuff. Plus he was so laid back and chill. Down to earth type of guy. Also he was funny. Like really funny.
“Alright let’s see if this bad boy works,” Aaron muttered as he set down the laptop in front of him, “cross your fingers.” Miles crossed both of them. He need all the good luck in the world to pull this off.
The two boys watched the screen in anticipation as Aaron pressed the on button. A few seconds past of no activity before magically the screen turned on. They both jumped up in joy and exclaimed, “YES!” They high fived each other.
“I can’t believe you actually fixed it! You’re like a wizard!”
“I work with a lot of computers in my job, picked up a few tricks.” Miles didn’t miss the grimince on the man’s face at the mention of his job however he didn’t think much of it. Maybe he just hated his job? Or his boss was a total tool. Anyways Miles didn’t get much time to dwell on it anyways, he glanced at the clock before looking out the window. His eyes widen and mouth dropped open at the sight of the dark night sky. He hadn’t even noticed how late he stayed out until now.
“Oh no! I’ve got to go!” Miles quickly closed his laptop and scooped it up. “You gonna be okay walking back this late?” The teenager nodded as he rushed to stuff all his stuff into his dry bag. “Thank you for helping me. I’m sorry I can’t pay-“
“Don’t stress. We cool Miles.” Miles smiled. They were cool. Okay he totally wasn’t gonna let that get to his head. “I’ll see you around,” Aaron took his left hand and pulled him into a side hug then pat his back. It was a strange gesture but Miles didn’t seem to care. He was too focus on other things.
“Bye!” With that Miles was out the door with a huge smile plastered onto his face as he left.
He left Aaron’s apartment feeling for the first time in a while like he was on top of the world.
That night when Miles crawled into bed he fell asleep and dreamed again.
Miles didn’t know why but he was standing in the middle of a sidewalk in the cold. It was raining. He could hardly make out what was happening. Before him a small raggedy dirty blue blanket laid on the ground. It was too small to be a normal sized humans blanket, plus it kinda looked familiar to him. Not making a single movement despite there being pouring rain and high winds that would surely have made it moved somehow. However that didn’t seem to be the case now. It just laid there, staring straight at him soaked wet and covered with dirt. He tried to move, walk away but he couldn’t. He was just stuck. Not a single part of could move or speak.
Then the blanket before him faded leaving him in a dark office room. He was standing in some of room and before him two figures stood. He felt exposed as he stood completely still behind the two taller figures. One was a tall, purple, wearing a purple and black suit however he didn’t get as good of a look as he did with the other figure. This figure he could make out the shape of a woman and part of her face. She was pale, thin faced, and wore some sort of green tinted goggles over her eyes making it nearly impossible to see her actual eyes. Her hair was frizzy and tied up in a large messy bun that resembled a beehive almost. Or the remains of one. The woman looked like she’s been dragged all through downtown by a speeding bus. He could tell she was extremely upset. They both were standing by a desk, that had a computer facing towards him. He could lightly make out the word ‘Alchemix’ floating on the off screen. The woman’s posture completely tense, her hands shaking as she gripped onto the desk in front of her.
“How could this have happened?!” The woman got no response. “Did you know that they were planning this?!” The figure paused for a few seconds before they shook their head.
In a fit of anger, the woman threw all the stuff on top of the desk off before turning around to face the silent purple figure. She was face to face the figure before she yelled:
“Tear down all of New York if you have to! Find them and bring them back to me!”
There was heavy beat of silence. Hesitation. The purple figure, whose back was toward him, said, “I’m on it. They couldn’t have gone far. I will bring them back.”
“Don’t fail me Prowler.” There was a beat of cold silence as the woman and the office grew darker. Miles tried to back up, ready to leave this place feeling like he shouldn’t be there. He was stuck again. His body refused to cooperate with his brain leaving him paralyzed. If he was stuck in place, he’d probably be shaking. However the fact he was stuck didn’t stop his stomach from doing summersaults. He could feel his pulse pounding on his temples.
It felt like a scene in a horror movie as the figure, Prowler, suddenly turned around and was looking straight at Miles. The glare the figure gave him burned through him and into his soul. The two just looked straight at each other before the larger threatening figure charged towards Miles. Before the teen could scream a darkness consumed him leaving behind a faint shadow of the Prowlers glowing white eyes.