Nova's Angel: Meet the Killers

How to go from normal to Freak

If you think you might be like me, like any of my friends, stop reading. Reading won't activate your powers but hopefully not realizing you have them will slow down their activation. And if you think someone you know is "different," beware because you may be hunted for just knowing them. Let this book be a warning that not everyone will want to accept the different. But also know that this book shows that no matter what, there will be people who will accept the different.

Well, you're still here, so I guess you don't care. Either you're incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. But I can't stop you. Just know you have been warned.

My name is Nathan Martinez. I'm 16 and I'm here to tell you my story. My friends call me Nate and my enemies call me words that I shouldn't say in a book that could be read by kids. And I'm basically a hero even though everyone fears me and what I am.

I was normal for most of my life. Normal friends. Normal parents. Normal school life. And I thought it was the most boring thing ever. Every day was the same boring cycle. The only time I got excited was when I would play games or when I turned on the news

and saw Novas. People who had the strange ability to control a form of matter. Barbed wire, smoke, glass, even paper. No Nova was like the last.

Some were able to level entire city blocks and other powers were weak but still powerful enough to scare people. These powers were rare to develop but never impossible. As the numbers increased, people became scared that there might be a Nova living among them. Most fear what they don't understand. And they were right to fear Novas. According to the media, Novas would do whatever they wanted and hurt whoever they wanted. But there were others who didn't fear Novas. Like me.

On the news I would see Novas using their powers and whether it had been for good, or regular self-defense, I only thought about how cool it would be to have powers and how cool these people were. I also thought of how scared everyone around me would be. So, I tried to push those thoughts away. Guess I couldn't keep them away for long.

One day I was walking to school with my best friend Jay, talking about the latest play we got in overwatch. "Dude my Ramatra play was way better than some basic Lucio boop," I said to Jay.

"First of all, you got like two kills and a failed ult. Second, I pushed 3 people of the edge." he responded. Jay was wearing his classic outfit. Bright red hat that covered up medium length black hair, light blue jacket, plain color shirt, normal shorts, and purple and black checkered converse that somehow looked brand new every time you saw them. The only thing about him that stood out were his eyes. Solid grey like a rock. He wasn't blind, it was just his normal eye color.

"Were we playing the same match? Cause I got 4 kills and took back the point. You had them frozen by Mei and clumped together with Zarya. Not much skill needed to take their kills." I walked forward with a smirk on my face only to have the back of my head smacked so hard that I almost fell forward. "Yep, I expected that," I said while rubbing my hand on the back of my neck and laughing. Jay was always stronger than me. He almost broke my hand while arm-wrestling. That wasn't a fun rest of the week. Especially when you have to write a five-page essay. But that was Jay for you. Strong enough to take on any senior at school, the guy that was always the center of attention, and amazing at videogames but couldn't do math to save his life.

We both laughed and continued to argue on our way to school where we proceeded to have a normal boring day up until lunch.

At lunch it was me and Jay in the parking lot. We liked to sneak out to the parking lot because there wasn't anyone over there. And we could walk over to the gas station and get food from there. We would eat the school food if it was edible. Most of the time we couldn't even guess what it was supposed to be.

We were chilling like normal with our food, messing around when I looked over and saw what was probably the most cliché, normal thing in a high school, a group of bullies. "Hey," said Jay, "Dylan and his goons are on their way over here." Dylan was the classic school bully. Dressed like one too. He wore a red t-shirt with the logo of some gym I'm guessing he's never been to on it, jeans, black high-tops, and a denim jacket that he thought made him look like the coolest kid in the school. At his sides were the basic bullies' friends. One tall skinny kid and a short fat kid both covered in acne.

"Just ignore them. When we don't respond they'll get bored and leave us alone."

"That has got to be some of the stupidest advice you have ever given me." Then Dylan walked up and did his stupid routine.

"Hey nerds," said Dylan in the most annoying tone that was somehow his actual voice. Think of jerry from tom and jerry if he inhaled helium. "Where's the money you guys owe me?"

Most of the time we just sat there and ignored him, but Jay was tired of it. He glanced over at Dylan and said, "'Nerds' Dylan? You really couldn't think of anything better than nerds? And stealing our lunch money too? Did you just walk out of a Disney channel movie?" I started laughing and I could tell Dylans friends were trying to hold back laughter. "You dress like you're from one too." continued Jay. "You couldn't get more cliché even if you watched high school musical and based your whole personality off a character from that. Oh wait, you already did, and somehow did it worse."

Dylan was now red in the face with anger and tried to say something, but Jay just kept going. He was standing now a couple of feet from Dylan. "Now Dylan. I want you to take your dog whistle of a voice and your duo 'dumb and dumber' and walk away from us and never look back." Jay then turned around and was about to sit down when Dylan pulled something out of his pocket. Something shiny. It was a pocket knife. I tried to warn Jay, but it was too late. Dylan took the blade and stabbed it into Jay's arm as he was turning back around to see what I was warning him about.

"Dylan, what are you doing?" said the skinny kid in. His voice shacky.

"He had that coming." said Dylan in a voice that was too calm for this to be his first time doing this. "He dared to insult me, so he got what he had coming." The fat kid turned and looked at the skinny kid and both went running away. "Cowards both of them." Jay went to the floor holding his arm and I managed to catch him and set him down. Dylan turned to me and gave me a cold look. "Someone needs to take the blame. Maybe a best friend who just snapped one day for no reason. Yeah, that sounds like how it should go." What happened next could only be described as one of the worst and best outcomes.

I felt a power surge through my body. Like I had just drank a gallon of coffee and red bull. I felt a tugging sensation in my gut, and it felt like more energy was flowing into me. I looked down at my arms and they started glowing red with a strange type of energy. Lines of red pixels (yes pixels) were coming from every car in the parking lot and began to circle around me. The power I felt was unbelievable. I felt like I could do anything. But right now, I was filled with so much rage and hate for Dylan. "What the hell is happening?!" said a terrified Dylan. "You... You're one of those freaks! Those monsters!"

I let out a scream of rage, energy flowing wildly around me. The pixels came together and, in an instant, formed into a demon the size of a building. Fire spewed from his blood red body. It had horns the size of a bus each and claws that looked so sharp they could cut through a bank vault door like paper. As I screamed with rage, the Demon looked at Dylan and let out a terrifying roar so loud it was probably heard on the other side of the school. Dylan passed out and the demon turned into a swirl of red pixels and dispersed into the cars.

As the energy went to the cars my vision began to get blurry. I felt like I had just run a marathon and all the energy from my body had been drained all at once. I looked down and saw Jay getting up and holding his arm. The ringing in my ears was too loud for me to hear Jay but I could see he was trying to say something to me. "Hey dude," I said weakly, "guess I'm the stronger one now." I then collapsed into Jay. The last thing I remember was a crowd of students and teachers coming toward us and me thinking, "Looks like Dylan finally got something right. I'm one of those freaks. A Nova."