Mr. Johnson's Academy For The Superbly Strange~ Book One Of The Ultimates Series

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

I woke up in a small gray room thinking about cotton candy. I had no clue why I was thinking about cotton candy, where I was, or who I was for that matter. The room looked like a prison cell minus any bars. There were no windows. The only thing that produced light was the dim light bulb in the center of the ceiling. The wall was plain grey except for the metal door in a corner. There was a little hole while I assumed was for food. I sat in a small bed. It was basically a moldy mattress with a pillow and a blanket on a metal skeleton. Not very luxurious. In another corner was a toilet with a sink. Basically I had all the necessities for survival.

A sudden creak came from the door and I accidentally fell out of my bed in surprise.

A rather large (or dare I say fat) man walked into the room and saw me sprawled out on the floor. He had glasses on, and I could have sworn I saw a flash of red in the corner of them, but it could have just been a trick of the very dim light.

    "Terribly sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." The man said in what sounded like a British accent with a deep voice, "How are you feeling?"

    The first words I said in my new life were: "Uh... fine, I guess." I sounded American... or maybe Canadian. It was hard to tell, "I just can't seem to remember anything."

    "That's normal." He stopped and I expected him to continue, creating an awkward silence.

    "Will I regain my memory?" I finally asked.

    "Well, it depends," The man scratched him short black hair, "On how hard you were hit."

    "How hard I was hit?"

    "Yes, when I first found you, oh, about two weeks ago, you were laying on the ground unconscious. There was a man with a large rock in his hand running to his car.

    "I went to lift you up and I immediately knew you were one of us. That's my ability. I can sense others of our kind."

    "Our kind?"

    "Statem. Short for potestatem. Latin for power. But we call ourselves Ultimates."

    "Two questions: who are you, and who is 'us'?"

    "I am Mr. Johnson and I will be your principal. Us is the Academy."

    "And what makes you think I want to join?"

    "Because you're one of us Steven. My school will teach you how to use your power."

    That got me excited, "What's my power?"

    "We don't know yet. But you will find out at school."

    "Okay," I said, easily persuaded, "I'll go." Looking back, I had a pretty weak mind to give in this easily. I probably should have evaluated, see what each choice could resulted in.

But you never know what he might have done if I had said no.

    "Splendid! School starts Monday."

    Mr. Johnson got up and started to walk out the door, "Um, what day is it?" I asked awkwardly.

    "Saturday." Mr. Johnson said as he closed the door of what would be my prison for two more days.

* * *

So how does one get ready for a school for powered kids? Well lots of brushing of the teeth, hair, picking out clothes (the security guards have me slips of paper with pictures of clothes for me to choose one), taking a shower (which was located just outside my cell. I had to be escorted by guards to get there), and lots of staring at a grey wall.

    And you can't forget the part about trying to remember my life. I did lots of that too.

The only thing I could ever so slightly remember was cotton candy. Why in the world was I thinking about that? I tried to make sense of it- nothing came.

Finally on Monday morning Mr. Johnson escorted me on a bus (not a school bus, but a fancy shmancy bus) to a large brick building.

"Welcome," Mr. Johnson said in a dramatic tone, "To my School For The Superbly Strange."