There are few things worse than riding the 6 a.m. subway in Emerson City-home to 10 million people- but riding the subway on a Monday morning with a smelly saxophone player sitting next to you might take the cake. My name is Asena and welcome to my life of early morning commutes. Of course living in the cities of cities is any 18 year old girls dream, but the reality is crowded, smelly, and stressful.
Every morning my younger sister of 2 years, Melisa, and I get on the blue line for 6 stops till the Jefferson Hills highschool Station, and then we rush off to get to class before the final bell. A word about Jefferson Hills: It's the best school in our lower income borough of East End. Ah, My beloved East End home multiple minority groups , violent homicides, and the best ethnic food trucks in Emerson City. It's delightful.
My stomach grumbles, snapping me out of my thoughts and to the present smelly situation next to me. Today's subway is more crowded than usual. My neck cranes as I look around trying to spot my sister. Melisa sits by the doors looking in a hand mirror smacking her freshly glossed lips together. She catches me looking at her and turns to me winking. At least 3 guys sitting next to me immediately direct their attention toward her.
A word about Melisa: She is perfect. Despite both of our parents coming from Turkey and having olive skin with dark hair and eyes, Melisa has long curly caramel hair with green eyes. We look nothing alike, I resemble my Mom everyone says.
"Next Stop Jefferson Hills," Says the intercom in a glitchy voice. I snort to myself and I stand up, no one cares the condition of the East End Subway enough to fix things.
"Sena, we're gonna be late!" Melisa says using my nickname.
I pull up my army jacket's sleeve to look at my watch.
"We have 15 minutes, whats the rush?" I ask as the dingy subway doors creak open. We step into the smoky station and make a beeline up the stairs to cross the street to get to school. We step out into the hazy morning. Most of the tall buildings in our bourough are at least 25 years old and never painted. Old newspapers litter the group and half a dozen homeless men stand around a trash can on fire to warm themselves. Pushing past people and holding tight to my book bag, I can barely make out Melisa's response.
"We have another superhero assembly today, dummy"
"Oh right that thing,"
"You really don't like them do you?" She glances at me as we cross the street, Jefferson Hills High looming in front of us.
"I mean I don't see why we need to idolize these people, they're just people with secret hero identities. They could be anywhere,"
"Who could be anywhere?" A voice interrupts me from behind. I turn around to see my best friend Nouri.
"Just the superheroes, anywho see you losers later," Says Melisa sashaying away towards our school entrance.
"Still pretends to not know who you are here huh?" laughs Nouri fixing her head band as we start walking towards the meeting hall.
"Well, she can't help it as she is "popular" and all," I reply chucking. It never bothered me knowing that my little sister got more attention then I did, she at least enjoyed it. I had my own friends, well, friend. That was all I needed.
The lights in our student hall dim as we take our seats on some folding chairs.
"Here we go again," Whispers in my ear as our Principal comes out on stage.
"Welcome students to our annual superhero assembly," He says into a screechy microphone.
"Today we will not be having any heroes speak with us," An audible groan echoes through the crowd of students. I let out a sigh of relief. Something about those super leaves me feeling unhinged.
"However we will be hearing from an expert on the matter who has had lots of experience working alongside our cities heroes. Please welcome Zachary Devire!"
"Wait, as in the mayors son?" I whisper to Nouri as we join everyone else in clapping. She shrugs at me before returning her attention to the stage as a young man walks on.
It's a well known fact in Emerson city that the Devires control the city. Hell, they have the richest borough in the city named after them. At only 23 the mayors one and only son has made headline after headline. Whether by making top marks in the best university or appearing at one function or another he always makes the papers, along with the supers of course.
"It's truly an honor to be here with you all," Said Zachary. As he continued to speak I tried my best to profile him. Perks on being a cops daughter is you learn certain skills. He is tall and slim wearing a well fitting dark suit. His face is incredibly angular with perfectly aristocratic features and wicked smile to match. Apparently he won the genetic lottery I decide. Overall a clean cut rich kick who probably spent his adolescence in boarding school only to return reformed and ready to take over the family business. Typical person from the borough of Devire.
" Today we are gathered here to talk about the heroes of the city: the supers!" Zachary clicked on a small button to show the audience a picture of our cities most famous super Mr. Gold complete with a gold spandex suit and weird metal mask. I almost snicker at how silly he looks but hey the man that can lift anything with his super strength. An audible sigh echoed from the female portion of the audience.
"This is crazy you can't even see his face to distinguish his level of hotness," Whispers wide eyed Nouri from next to me. I snicker.
"Don't think it makes a difference, "
Zachary clears his throat smirking. "Now if you are done idolizing, I have a question for you all. What makes a super so special?" Utter silence. He searches the audience, and I feel his intense gaze on mine. He is looking directly at me.
"What if we were all born with a genetic mutation, and we were able to do the seemingly impossible?" I look down to avoid his hard stare. Why couldn't he look somewhere else?
"What if I told you it's possible now? What if I told you that we are developing technology to be able to perform the exact same tasks as they can? What if we all had the ability to do impossible things. Well then-" I look up to once again meet his hot gaze.
My stomach flipped as he finishes.
"- Well then we wouldn't need heroes,"
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HEY hey guys! Hope you enjoyed chapter one, don't worry things will pick up soon. But I gotta introduce the world and the characters. At the end of the chapter I'm going to include a glossary of names so everyone can pronounce them.
Asena: uh-se -nuh
Nouri: nuuuri
Devire: De-veeer
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SAVING TOMORROW: A SUPERHERO STORY
ActionShe has always known about the superheroes... but she never knew she was one of them In a crime riddled city where superheroes are considered celebrities, 18 year old Asena realizes she is one of them as her new abilities emerge. But after joining...
