The sky over the Florida landscape is covered in lightning, like cobwebs in an old closet. Heavy rain pours down on the concrete roof, as I open the door to my apartment.
I’m in my usual garb, dark grey jeans and my black tee, complete with the ski mask over my face. I haven’t yet come around to getting a proper costume , but I’m thinking of getting one soon. Thing is I’ll have to prepare one myself, cause obviously I can’t ask a tailor to make a superhero suit for me. So I’ve been visiting a few sewing classes, and I figure I should be ready to make myself a costume soon.
I was eleven years old when I had first discovered my powers. We had just moved to the city, and it was all new to me. A new place, new neighborhood, new school, I was quite excited frankly. I didn’t have many friends back where I used to live, so I was really looking forward to making some in this new environment. It was all quite exciting for me.
It was the first day of school. I had donned the new batman clothes mum had brought me, and along with my new X-Men bag, I was ready to rock.
But the first day wasn’t how I had hoped it would be like. I tried talking to a lot of people, even invited them to come over my house to play Nintendo, but people barely paid me any attention.
This happened for a while, I kept trying to make friends, but it was like I was invisible to them or something.
Until one day I realized, I was.
So I had just returned from school, after another failed crusade trying to make friends. I went to wash my face, but when I looked at the mirror, it was missing something.
My reflection that is.
I was so startled I let out a scream. My mother had quite the green thumb, and was watering the plants. She rushed into the bathroom to see what was wrong, and with labored breaths I told her I couldn’t see my reflection. But then she came and made me look at the mirror again and there I was. She consoled me, and told me it’s okay and that I was just tired.
But I know what I saw. Or didn’t see rather.
This was just the beginning of a long list of similar incidents, till one day I realized that there was more to this than meets the eye, no pun intended.
I was special. I could turn invisible.
Then I understood why people always acted like I wasn’t there, cause I wasn’t. Or more specifically, I was there, they just couldn’t see me.
It all started making sense.
My priority now was to get a hold of my powers, learn to control them at will. It was a long and arduous struggle, and obviously I had no help nor guidance, so I had to figure it all out myself. By the time I got my first job, I had gotten a relatively good control over my abilities.
So I could properly meet my boss and coworkers, yet due to the work pressure I never got to know them very well. At times I would still turn invisible though, and as such it was really troublesome, when nobody could see me.
Work started getting monotonous, and more mechanical every passing day. It lacked the fulfillment I sought on a fundamental level.
One day, I rediscovered my childhood dream, and finally found my calling.
I would become a superhero.
One of the greatest lines in comic book and superhero history is that with great power comes great responsibility. And I was given the power of invisibility, so it was only right that I took care of my responsibilities.
And that’s how my career as a superhero began.
Now one might think why I needed a mask and wore dark clothes if I had the power of invisibility. Well I had figured that just like my invisibility kicks in sometimes when I’m busy with my normal life, say at a social event or something like that, my invisibility could also disappear when I’m using it. As such, I’d like to keep my identity a secret, and if it’s dark, then my presence as a secret too.
I have yet to come up with a nom de guerre, and I’m confused between Invisiblo and Night Walker.
So I walk out of my apartment building and onto the street, and my vigilance has begun.
I walk around the streets for an hour or so, it’s all quite quiet today. No muggers, no pickpockets, nothing really. Even the rain has stopped by now.
So after another hour or so, as I get ready to head back, I spot a man a and a woman. The man has a menacing look in his eyes, and seems to be trying to manhandle the woman. She resists, but the man is a big one, and clearly overpowers her.
Time for me to save the day, or night rather.
So I slowly creep towards the man, he is trying to drag her into an alley now. I’m right behind him, and he is a big guy, so I think of what I could do. I muster my strength and courage and jump onto the guy, somehow managing to get his head into a sleeper hold. He thrashes around and tries to get me off of him, but I had the element of surprise, and as such I somehow managed to get my hands properly around his neck.
After a while his thrashing ceases, and he slowly falls down. I get up, making sure he is still breathing. He is, thankfully, just knocked out.
As I’m about to leave, the woman comes up to me and thanks me. I welcome the appreciation, it makes me feel proud. She asks me what my name is, I tell her Night Walker. She gives me a weird look, and then checks her watch. She’s quite late, she tells me. She then plants a kiss on my cheek and leaves.
Only thing I’m confused about is that how did she see me? My powers, they must’ve gone off in the middle of the fight.
***
Name: Samuel Jordan
Age: 24
Ethnicity: African American
Height: 5 feet 8 inches
Weight: 130 lbs
Diagnosed: Delusional Disorder, Positive
Treatment: Mandatory therapeutic session thrice a week.
Special comments: Patient believes to have the power of invisibility as a result of being shunned by peers during his childhood and teen years.
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