Superhero

Chapter 48

Addison frowned at the mystery tenant's room when thuds and bangs came from behind his door. She shook her head and made her way towards her room, muttering as she did. "Superhero or not, this guy is really noisy."
She entered her room and groaned, laying on her bed and stretching. It was a long day, with a lot of customers. And with a lot of information to drink in too.
And a lot more to decipher and investigate.
Everything was still whirling in her mind. Was Jake really the Superhero? Or was it the new tenant? Who was this new tenant? And why was he so noisy? And more importantly, what was his car doing in Alford's parking lot?! Then back to the Superhero. Who is the Superhero? Jake or the new tenant? Or is it neither one of them and he lived in another dimension instead? What if the Superhero wasn't even a he at all?! What if the Superhero was this tall buff lady all this while?
Addison shook those thoughts out of her head and sat up, untying her hair. She combed through the waves with her fingers before coiling them into a messy bun on top of her head as she entered the bathroom with her pyjamas in hand.
Even in the shower, the thoughts and suspicions still cycloned through her head. Addison sighed and turned the water off before slipping into her nightdress. She left the bathroom and decided to watch the evening news for any new Superhero sightings as she ate her dinner of cheesy pizza.
Well, there were a couple, of rather funny sightings too.
Apparently, the Superhero managed to stop a group of drunk teenagers from causing trouble at the park and brought them straight to one of the teen's homes where the dad made a big scene, even making them do push-ups on the street. Of course, they stopped causing trouble, but got into trouble instead. Addison couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity of the teenagers. At least, the Superhero managed to stop the nuisance they were causing at the park and give those teen boys what they deserve.
The newscaster continued talking about the other things that happened that day then moved on.
"In other news, Spring Valley's well-known Superhero was seen enjoying an ice cream as he sat on a tree," the newscaster said, followed by a picture of the Superhero sitting on a tree being shown. If he wasn't holding a cone, no one would've known what he was doing.
"Let the guy enjoy his ice cream in peace!" Addison laughed as the newscaster went on to say how the poor hero disappeared right after the photo was taken.
The news shifted to something completely random so Addison just turned the tv off and got into a more comfortable position before calling her mother.
"Hi, Mom!" Addison greeted as soon as her mother's face appeared on the screen. "Where's Dad?"
"He's doing something in his study, you know how he is, right?" Alison chuckled. "Anyway, what did you do today? Any news on the Superhero?"
"He caught a group of drunk teens and sent them to one of their fathers. And then they saw him having ice cream on a tree. Poor guy... they didn't even let him have ice cream in peace, disappeared right after he had been caught."
Alison started laughing. "Superhero was eating ice cream on a tree?"
"You saw the Superhero?!" Edgar appeared out of nowhere. "Where?! Did he speak? What did he sound like?"
"No, I haven't met him today," Addison chuckled. "But I saw him in the news. He caught a group of drunk teens and sent them to one of the dads and was seen eating ice cream afterwards. Kinda funny, actually."
Edgar gasped.
"You're overreacting, Ed," Maddison's annoyed voice said in the background.
"Okay, gimme the phone, I wanna talk to Addison," Alison promptly retrieved her phone, smiling. "Anyway, Addison. How's school?"
"Why do you always ask about school when there's a literal Superhero in her town, Mom?!" Edgar whined again.
"To be honest, I agree with Ed on this one," Madison nodded in the background. "What did the Superhero do, Addie?"
Addison repeated the story she saw on the news earlier. She was dismayed that her family was more interested in the Superhero than they were with her. Well, she can't deny the fact that she found it interesting too.
"Bye, honey, we have to go now," Alison said at last. "Madison and Ed have school tomorrow."
Addison chuckled. "Alright, then. Bye guys!"
She smiled and hung up before going over to her laptop to finish an assignment. It wasn't much and she was almost done with it within ten minutes. Addison saved the document and looked at the time.
It was nearing midnight.
Addison quickly turned her laptop off and went to bed, overcome by sudden exhaustion.

Addison sat in the living room, painting a picture of Felicia. It wasn't finished yet, but was done enough so that the subject was Felicia. Suddenly, the front door opened. She looked up and to her surprise, it was the Superhero himself, wearing his usual hoodie and white porcelain mask with cracked designs. But this time, just like the last, he was covered in mud up to the knees.
He came towards her and took his mask off. Jake was under it, smirking.
"Hey, Addie," Jake grinned as he sat down. "Have you seen the new tenant? Maybe he's the Superhero. What do you think? He's only noisy now that the Superhero is back."
"What do you mean, Jake?" Addison said confused. "It's you! You're still trying to deny when you've clearly been caught?"
"What do you mean, me?" Jake asked confused. "It's him! The new tenant! He's really buff, Addie. Sorta like The Incredible Bulk! Dude hardly smiles too."
Loud thuds came from upstairs, followed by a hooded person in a porcelain white mask descending the stairs. He stood at the landing at the foot of the stairs and crossed his arms.
It was the Superhero. Too!
"There he is," Jake grinned. "You see what I mean? He's the Superhero!"
To Addison's surprise, Jake went to him and the two combined into one being before disappearing into a white light.

Addison woke up with a gasp and looked around the room. She was on her own bed, in her room.
'It was all a dream?' Addison thought to herself.
It was. It all was. But how real it felt. Addison almost felt disappointed that it was just a dream and not real.
She was startled out of her thoughts when her alarm suddenly rang. She sighed and stopped it before getting out of bed.
Time for another day at school and work.