I took a deep breath and walked through the doors of high school. It's my first year in Capital Avenue High but also my last year in any high school. Everyone just seemed to be having their own group to hang out with. This was the problem of coming to school early. You wouldn't have anything to do other than just roaming around trying to find someone to talk to. Clearly some were on their phones, which is one thing I hate about this generation (I probably sound like an old man). I went back outside to get some fresh air because I felt suffocated already. I was surprised to find no kids smoking, bullying or beating each other up, because the past schools that I've been to, had a pretty unhealthy environment. Moving to Long Island was one of the biggest changes in my life. I've always lived in a quiet town where I rarely saw people. I come from Forks, Washington. Oops, I almost forgot. My name is Krrish and I am 16. I know the math is not right, but I had to skip grades because I was pretty brainy. And that's mostly why I stood out from a lot of kids in my earlier school. My parents always thought that I was different from my brothers. But I didn't like that particular kind of attention.
Capital Avenue was a different kind of high school. It was well-disciplined and in a way, professional. I had a feeling that this year was going to be great.
"Yo man, sup?" Jake Austin, one of the most popular guys in the school was calling me. The first time I saw him was during the Open House. He was the kind of person any guy would like to "chill" with. I almost forgot that he was talking to me. I felt a bit nervous at first because I thought he was going to say something mean but I walked up to him confidently.
"Hi." I said.
"You play football?"
"Yeah. Hi, my name is Krrish"
"Yeah, I'm Jake. Jake Austin. You should try out for the team." He seemed pretty nice. I guess the only reason why he was talking to me is because I actually did look like the guys who care about sports, sports and girls. But trust me I'm not that kind of guy. I noticed that maybe he was a guy who acted different in front of others but had a different personality. For the first few days we hung out with each other. I met many people and I was surprised how fast I became popular, I could say.
Second week passed. It was a blur. I couldn't remember anything great that happened. My art teacher announced that we were going for a field trip to a museum because we were learning about Mythology. People say that, that the statues there have supernatural powers. Of course it is just a rumour. But I wasn't interested in all that fantasy stuff.
I packed my bags because it was a two-day excursion in NY. I wasn't all that excited because I'm not a fan of mythology but I was going to New York City. It was 7 pm on September 7th, 2001. The bus was ready to leave. The first part that I liked about the excursion was that I was going to stay away from my family although it was a sojourn trip. Yes, I've never been away from them but I always wanted to, to feel more independent. Second part, was that all my friends were going with me so it couldn't be that bad. The bus drive was fun but it felt short. It took only two hours. We reached the hotel and quickly had dinner and went to bed. I was surprised to see kids awake till 3 in the morning. It was hard to fall asleep because I felt abominable already. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
Beep beeeeep! I woke up to the sound of New York City being hustled by cars. It was a bright sunny day and I felt a hint of tranquility in this restless city. Taking a quick lazy glance at the clock, my eyes almost popped! It was 8 o'clock! We got ready as fast as we could because we were supposed to be eating breakfast at a café by then. After breakfast, we went to go roaming around the streets to shop and enjoy the city life because the Museum only opened at 5 in the evening. I did not expect to have free time in NYC. It was always a dream of mine to explore this city. I had visualized a scenario for the sets of almost every Marvel movies. I loved action movies. When I was little I'd always imagine myself as a superhero (I know it sounds cliché but it's true). We met up with our chaperones at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at sharply 5 o'clock. As I entered through the doors of the museum my eyes went wide open. I had never expected a museum to be so...magnificent. Despite the part that I was an artist I had never been to a museum. I never found myself interested in it, especially a mythological museum. Jake kept talking to me and I seemed to ignore him most of the time because I was too caught up in the sights of the statues and paintings of the Greek gods. I felt so cleaved to mythology now. A sudden feeling of passion crept into my minds. I don't think there are too many guys out there who feel the same way as I did now towards myth.
Time flew by so fast. The museum was closing. We saw the statues of all Greek gods but I felt like we were missing one. I saw a door by the corner. There weren't any lights that could make it noticeable. No one really went there. I couldn't resist but make my way towards it. But before that, I turned around to find everyone gone. They were probably waiting outside for me. I walked up filled with excitement to check it out. The door had the name 'Apollo' carved on. That's it! That's what was missing. My favourite Greek god after all. I tried to open the door but I couldn't. It wasn't locked but I couldn't open it. I ended up banging myself through the doors and flying in. The door automatically closed! It was dark inside but there seemed to be a light coming from behind me. I walked up to the light. The statue. My mind went blank just looking at it because it was just so extraordinary. It stood out from all the other ones. I reached out to touch the garish statue and a blast of light blinded my eyes.
I slowly opened my eyes. I couldn't hear or feel anything. I felt unconscious. Where was I? I took a look around. I was still in the room. The statue shattered into pieces! Everything but Apollo looked perfectly fine. I looked at my watch. It was 8: 45 am on September 11, 2001. I got up to find myself feeling heavier, stronger and prowess. Suddenly the ground started shaking. A fast boisterous sound deafened my ears. I saw an aircraft flying as fast as the speed of light. The next thing I heard is a big blast almost like a nuclear bomb. People were screaming at the top of their lungs. I tried to escape from the room. I ran so fast through the door and couldn't believe that I broke it. I felt much stronger. Without time to think I ran so fast outside. The security guards were trying to stop me because they thought that I was a thief. I tried to tell them that I wasn't. They started to question me. I couldn't answer and so I took off.
I've never ran so fast in my life before. I had absolutely no idea what had entered in me. I ran so fast through the traffic and the weeping crowd. I could see the blazing fire burning the World Trade Centre. At first I thought it was a plane crash. But then the next one arrives. It didn't seem like a crash. The plane went right through the building like a bullet. It was planned. It was an attack. A terrorist attack. People started mourning the loss. I had to do something. I couldn't figure out what to do. A force was pushing me as I was running. I wasn't intending on anything. A sudden creep of darkness entered my mind. It was pitch-black. I could feel my legs moving through the air. Was I flying? I could feel it but I couldn't hear or see anything for a moment. I shot through the air and into the tower. The fire did not hinder me from going in. I couldn't feel any sense of dismay or panic. I was conscious but fatalistic. There were so many people lying on the ground. Most of them were dead. Their bodies burned and turned into crisp. I saw a man lying in the corner of the floor. I had to do something to save him. His face was bloody and black. As soon as I got near them, my hand reached out and touched their hearts.
The same blast of light was the next sight. Now I was getting vexed. I couldn't believe it! The man stood up! His wounds were gone. His face was shining bright and the light faded away. I couldn't figure out what I did. He was perfectly normal.
"Who are you? What did you do to me?" he asked. I had no answer or any idea what he was talking about. I couldn't answer him because I did not know what was happening.
"Come with me", I said. I carried him down to the ground and shot back up again. This time I was obliged to fly around the tower. As I flew around, I noticed that the fire was calming down gradually. People were staring at me. Now I was the one who felt like a Marvel hero. The sound of the crowd faded away as my eyes shut.
I woke up on my bed in Long Island. I knew it was a dream. I knew it. But how did I get here? There were so many questions in my head at the moment. None of them which I could answer. I turned on the T.V to see the news.
"Breaking news. Obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Centre. And we have unconfirmed reports this evening. Few hours ago, a plane went crashing through the tower. An extraordinary sight of a young man flying through the air extinguishing the fire. He has completely saved a man who was wounded by the crash. Clearly something devastating has happened. Who is he? And what is his mission?"
"I don't know who he was or what he did to me," said the man, "he surely had some miraculous supernatural powers. I had no chance to survive at that moment."
I really could not believe it. There was absolutely no chance of me getting those "superpowers"―wait! It was Apollo. He did it. The god of healing and power. The statue shattered because I was given his powers. I felt a wide sense of bewilderment. It is not a rumour anymore because now I am a living evidence. But I had no intention of sharing this to anyone. I didn't feel that great because I knew that this would become big news. All I could do was go back to sleep and recollect everything that happened to start a new life.
