Page 4 of Day

Chapter Two

Leon

I sat at the bar of the infamous Club V, thinking over the conversation I’d had with the four strangers this afternoon, as I got off the boat from a month-long trip.

A society of heroes. Sounds like a load of crap.

I ordered another round of good old Jack, and tried to erase any thoughts I’d had of considering their offer.  I listened to the sound of the music while my mind took a turn toward the bitter memories that could help me with my decision.

I’d been the king of high school. Football captain, ladies’ man, and was on a fast track to scoring a spot in the professional football league once I got into college a few years later. All-American man, I was deemed. Until the curse of my powers came. Yeah, it would have been easier to win at football if I could have unleashed my speed and run faster than traveling sound. But I couldn’t control them at the ripe age of sixteen. I’d messed up, and someone got hurt. And not just a bump on the head, but paralyzed.

I wished hard that it would have stopped there, but it seemed I was doomed for more. I was in the hospital visiting Charles after the incident, when he asked me to tilt the TV over more for him to see. I knocked it clear off the wall and it smashed against the floor. I barely even touched it.

Strength and speed—something most would love to have the ability to possess, but I was not one of them. I wanted my normal life back, and that feeling had never gone away.

Leon Daniels, all-star football player, became the recluse, afraid to be close to anyone, out of fear for their safety, and then became a joke to everyone he once called friends.

And now I had been given a choice to join a group of people like me, to use my powers for good.

All my powers had ever done was cause chaos.

I drank some more and turned my head around to look at all the people moving their bodies with the music on the dance floor.

This club was pretty popular, and being a Friday night, the place was packed even more so than usual.

If I’d stayed the course of normal human, I would have probably been out there with them. Wishful thinking. I wasn’t normal, no matter how hard I wished on a damn shooting star.

I started to turn around when my eye caught the stare of one of the dancers in the hanging bird cage.

Her eyes sparkled with trouble as she looked me over. A bright smile grew on her face, and I found myself staring at her lips.

For a moment, as I watched her, I thought about what it would be like to walk over to her, pull the bars of her cage back with my strength, and let the girl have at what she was letting me know she wanted through her sensual stare.

It would probably scare her.

Once my thoughts started going down that avenue, there was no going back.

Not even the taunting of her swaying hips and curling finger telling me to come to her could break my resolve.

I looked into her eyes one more time before digging into my pocket and fishing out enough to pay the bill.

Once upon a time, darling.

I turned toward the door. Time to go back to my life of solace, and start tomorrow fresh. No thoughts of sexy club dancers, and definitely no “hero society” conversations in my future.

I looked at my phone and knew Charles would be asleep by now, so my only option for the rest of the night was to head back home.

The streets were buzzing with Seahill’s night life as I walked through the cityscape.

Women were laughing; men were going on about the football game that had just finished.

Everyone was surrounded by fun and happiness.

Except me. I was alone and aimed to stay that way.

I had managed to escape my thoughts from turning to the dark side with the attractive cage dancer, but now there was nothing to distract me as they came hurdling in.