Chapter 1.1.32 — As the World Turns

Emmett spent Saturday trying to focus on schoolwork. It wasn’t easy.

He topped off the mutagen vials with fresh ice and pushed them back under his bed. Even after Lock woke up and rushed out of the apartment, Emmett tried to keep from fixating on the vials—

There wasn’t any point. Emmett wasn’t about to take any of the mutagens blindly. He’d wait until he could take the vials by the lab on Monday and ask Dr. Venture to analyze them.

And he really did have schoolwork to do.

Last night didn’t help his concentration either. Emmett kept going back to his conversation on the rooftop with Lock and his friends—how carefree they’d been about Jessie showing off her powers.

Emmett had excused himself after only a brief conversation. He blamed it on being tired, but in truth, he’d just felt awkward about the whole dynamic—Jessie’s showing off her powers wasn’t normal. Even if they were on the roof, it was still a public place. It went against everything Emmett knew about supers.

Then there was Carter’s comment that supers shouldn’t have to hide. Lock had even agreed!

Emmett still wasn’t sure how he felt about it… Especially now that he was a super.

Supers hid to protect themselves and their families. Maybe Carter and Lock thought they didn’t have anyone to keep safe… but that was ridiculous.

Then there was something else Jessie said to Manton: “Manton, you’re just sad ‘cause you’re normal.”

Did anyone else in their group have powers? Carter probably did, considering her views on hiding… But what about Lock? They all worked for Gnosis, except for Manton…

Emmett stared idly at the table and the mass of electronics sitting on it.

That would be something, wouldn’t it? Emmett went and got an internship with a retired super, and wound up becoming one himself. Lock got an internship with a company quite literally making supers… What if Lock was a super, too?

Emmett chuckled bleakly.

What were the odds of that?

~

On Sunday, Emmett topped off the ice on the vials and left for his parents house across the city. Lock had come home late and still wasn’t awake by the time Emmett left.

Instead of jogging to his parents’ house, Emmett opted for his usual routine of taking the bus.

His parents lived in a rowhouse in a small neighborhood just outside the Heights. It was a quiet place, lined with chain-link fences and patches of lawn, seemingly full of other folks his parents' age. It was an older section of Belport that had managed to escape both the sprawl and gentrification of other areas.

Emmett got off the bus and walked the blocks of rowhouses until he came to Hayden Avenue, then walked down the block—to the home he’d grown up in.

Emmett’s childhood home was in the center, brick-faced and almost indistinguishable from the surrounding block—except for the strawberry knick knacks sitting in the window.

He walked up and punched in the door code on the keypad, then let himself in and hollered a greeting. It sounded like everyone was in the kitchen at the end of the hall.

His older brother, Darryl, peeked out from the kitchen, sporting a wide smile half-hidden behind his bushy beard. The collar of his button-up was already loose—he must’ve gotten stuck working from home before coming to mom and dad’s. “There he is. Late, as per usual. Man, I hope you read blueprints better than you read a clock.”

Emmett groaned and met him halfway down the hall for a hug. “Must be nice, having your own car.”

“My own car. Hah! It's the family’s car. I’m just the chauffeur.”

As if on cue, one of Darryl’s kids ran past—too quick to identify.

“Hey, no running in the house!” Darryl turned and stormed after them.

Emmett shook his head and walked down the hall, past the photos hanging on the wall of him and his brothers when they were young, and into the kitchen where most of the family had gathered. He answered their greetings and leaned against the kitchen wall.

Mom and Emmett’s youngest brother, Antony, were preparing dinner. Mom was getting a pot ready for instant potatoes and putting the finishing touches on a roast, moving with a whirl of purpose. Tony was at the end of the counter, chopping vegetables for salad. His kid brother looked bigger every time Emmett saw him. Antony was a junior at Rutherford High, and played tight end on the football team… or at least Emmett thought that was the position—he could only remember that Antony played defense.

Dad was sitting at the kitchen table, staring intently at his phone—likely doing a crossword puzzle. He chimed in to the conversation without looking up.

Darryl’s wife, Maci, was in the living room, booting up the old GameBox for the kids—the same one that Emmett and his brothers had played for the last ten years. His two nephews were huddled in front of the TV, controllers in hand and intense looks in their eyes. They were perpetually toddlers in Emmett’s eyes, even though they were both in elementary school now. The oldest boy, Martie, waved sheepishly to Emmett. Emmett waved back.

It might keep the kids occupied until dinner.

Darryl walked back into the kitchen and slumped down at the table across from Dad.

So Sunday at the Laraways began in an earnest and orderly fashion.

Updates were first:

Darryl lamented not being able to get a raise at the office, but at least the kids were both in school now and they didn’t need to pay for daycare anymore. Maci’s government job was going well, which helped.

Dad was counting down the days until retirement with the steadfastness of a soldier on the front lines. ‘How long until retirement, Dad?’ ‘Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days, and this morning.’ Meanwhile, Mom was the opposite, she loved her teaching job and said she never wanted to retire.

Meanwhile, Emmett had started to sweat.

So, it turns out that Dr. Venture, you know, my eccentric inventor-mentor, is a retired hero and gave me superpowers. Also, I almost died. I forgot about that. It’s okay though. I’m totally fine. Better, actually.

Also, I have a metal arm. I met another mask. I can leap across rooftops, and I got shot at! It’s okay though. I’m totally fine.

Yeah… Emmett couldn’t tell them any of that.

So, when expectant glances turned to Emmett, he shrugged and stammered out what he could tell them: About classes and his radio locator project.

After his short update, Dad eyed him suspiciously. “Keeping those grades up?”

“Of course.”

“That’s my boy,” he replied, turning back to the puzzle on his phone.

Emmett looked to his kid brother, and on cue Antony updated them on his recent games—excitedly mentioning his multiple sacks and interceptions.

The youngest nephew, Justin, ran into the kitchen, shouting, “I won! I won!—”

And promptly got intercepted by his grandpa, who snatched him up absently with one arm. “What did we say about running? What did we say about running?” he asked, jostling the boy. Justin was giggling too much to answer—

Until grandpa put him down and Justin ran back toward the living room, exclaiming, “No running! No running!”

Darryl watched the boy go with a look of defeat.

“I blame you,” Maci called good-naturedly from the living room.

So it went. They talked about work and school and the grandkids until dinner was ready. And the longer the day went on, the more silent Emmett became. At one point, Mom asked about Lock, and Emmett responded that Lock had been busy working and studying before Emmett deflected back to Darryl and the grandkids.

The less Emmett said, the less chance he’d accidentally say something he wasn’t supposed to. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt self-conscious about sharing something with his family. Emmett had always been an under-sharer, but this time was clearly different—not just for the superhero nature of it.

Maybe it was the magnitude of getting powers or of almost dying. Maybe it was how getting powers felt like it affected everything in Emmett’s life…

Yeah, maybe that was it. Everything was different now.

It reminded Emmett of when his grandparents died. It had been a car crash—sudden and unexpected. Emmett had to go pick up groceries for Mom because she was so distraught. Dad still had to work. Up until they got the news, it had been such a normal day.

Emmett had barely kept it together himself as he wandered the aisles of the grocery store. Everyone else was just going about their lives because it was a normal day for them. As much as he wanted to, Emmett couldn’t just stop in the middle of the aisle and tell someone that his grandparents had died.

At one point, Emmett stood in the middle of an aisle, unmoving, while shoppers browsed and shuffled around him. All he wanted to do was stop and the world just… kept going.

That day, it had been hard not to feel spiteful at all the normal people going about their day while Emmett felt like his chest was turning inside out. All he wanted to do was stop and plant himself out of spite while the world kept turning around him.

While today felt so similar, it wasn’t quite the same…

Emmett tried to listen, tried to participate, but he felt walled off from everyone. Like every minute that passed, every back and forth that he didn’t participate in was placing another brick between him and the rest of his family.

He decided that was the part that felt strange. Any other time something was eating him, Emmett told himself that the feeling or the situation would pass. Even his grandparents' deaths had gotten easier with time. In time, it was just like walking past a picture in the hallway.

But being a mask wasn’t something that was just going to go away. This was Emmett’s life now, and he needed to make peace with it.

~

Thankfully, dinner was the quietest part of the afternoon; it was hard to carry a conversation over Mom’s cooking, but the nephews carried enough of it for everyone, talking about elementary school.

After dinner, Emmett busied himself rinsing off dishes and loading the dishwasher. It was his usual chore, but it was a welcome reprieve today.

While he did dishes, the rest of the family cleaned up, and Mom packed leftovers for Emmett and Darryl’s side to take home. She saved the rest for Dad and Antony, joking that they would make short work of whatever was left behind.

Emmett would never admit it, but he was ready to get out of there. He held off until Darryl’s family was ready to leave, for fear of eating and running, then made his rounds hugging everyone goodbye.

He was the first one out the door.

“Hey, man,” Darryl called from the door as he tugged both nephews along with him. “Do you want a lift home?”

Emmett shuffled awkwardly. “It’s okay. I’m going to take the bus back.”

Darryl nodded. For a moment, he looked concerned, but it passed as quickly as it came. “Next time then.”

Emmett forced a smile. “Next time.”

Then he walked down the block, waving to the car when Darryl and the family passed.

When Emmett was far enough outside the Heights and the buildings were growing taller, he climbed up to the roofs and started the long jog home.

~ ~ ~