The Hero Nobody Asked For

Chapter 2: Shunned

"This is the tenth time you went to the office like this! The TENTH TIME! What is wrong with you!?" Fern's father yelled through the phone. "You used to be such a sweet little girl, but now... now it's getting hard to see you as my daughter anymore."

Those words broke Fern's heart, but they just replied with "I was never your daughter."

This made Fern's father explode with rage. He shouted "THEN DON'T BOTHER COMING HOME!" Before hanging up.

Fern silently put down the phone and went back to class without acknowledging Principal Moss telling them to get back to the office. It was like Fern couldn't hear anything other than their dad disowning them over and over again.

After school, Fern didn't ride the school bus back home. Why would they? There was nothing for them there. It felt like their whole world was falling apart. Where were they going to go? What could they possibly do to fix this? They decided to clear their head by going to the woods.

Fern snuck into the hiking trail that was usually off limits at this time. They did this before, so it wasn't a problem. Plus, Fern didn't plan on doing anything illegal. The saddened teen then wiped their tears and put in their earbuds to just cut themself off from the rest of the world, even if that would only last an hour.

It was about 30 minutes in when an old song from the 70s came on. It was Fern's dad's favorite song. It used to be Fern's favorite, too. Now, however, the song only reminded Fern of how much the two fought and how the father refused to understand or at least respect his child. This tune sent Fern into a fit of anger that was bottled up and pushed down a long time ago. Their hands became shaky fists and hot tears poured down their face as they yelled wildly, punching one of many trees surrounding them.

The tall Cedar-Wood swayed and fell on impact. The crash made Fern quickly open their eyes only to find that their hands had a clover-colored fog around them and that they felt abnormally strong. They sniffled and stepped back in confusion.

'Did I just...? No! No. That isn't possible. There's no way I would-' They thought before they heard the sounds of boots rapidly stamping on the ground. Fern knew it was the park rangers. The frazzled adolescent knew that they would be furious if they caught them, so they ran off the trail and made their way back to the sidewalk. They then headed to the city and snuck into a motel room that had a broken window. It wasn't the best place to sleep, but it would have to do for tonight. Plus, with all the shit that happened today, Fern needed their 8 hours of sleep for sure.