The Beginning

I always wondered what it would be like to have superpowers. . .

"I walked past that same generator house everyday. Twice. It never registered much on my radar, it was a blip. Less than that in fact, it was just, there. I guess i may have wondered about it once or twice, but there was never anything that interesting. Just a way to take my mind off the walk.

I never suspected that it'd be the single most important building in my life.

It was a normal day. It was evening, and I was on my way home from college. Walking past the generator house again, same as ever, barely registering its existence, when all of a sudden, there was an explosion. A car blew up in the car park on the other side of the generator house. They said that if it had been parked in the next spot along  the explosion never would've affected the generator house. If it had been in the next spot in the other direction, the explosion would've killed me, just like those other two.

Maybe it was destiny.

The flaming debris flew in every direction, showering over the car park. A piece of the engine flew straight into one of the outer generators causing it to explode, or, something. Anyway, the whole building was ripped apart and thrown outwards in a ball of electricity and fire. Most of which, hit me."

"Wow." She sipped her tea and looked at me, a sort of half smile crept across her lips and she studied me. "It truly is a miracle Mr. West, you're one of the lucky few. Not everyone would have been so lucky. What happened next?"

"Well, I woke up in hospital and was told the same story I've just told you."

"And you were dead . . . for how long?"

"Seven minutes. Seven and a half really."

"Fascinating." She quickly scribbled in her notepad and paused for a second before saying, "well, I think that's everything. Thank you again for agreeing to meet with me." She stood and shook my hand.

"Any time."

I waved as she walked out of the cafe and again as she walked past the window.

Now, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not trying to feed my ego with interviews, I swear that was the only one. Well OK, maybe I was feeding my ego a little, but anybody would have done the same. Plus my parents could use the money.

I finished the last of my drink and got ready to leave.

I walked home, it wasn't far and I didn't mind the walk, it's safe to assume I didn't go past the generator house. It's not that I didn't want to, I was alive, and I wanted to see where it had happened, but they had closed the area off.

The accident had changed my life, Everybody knew me now, which was strange, but I knew it would go away sooner or later, once a new story came along. What I couldn't get used to were the smiles. Don't get me wrong it was nice to see everybody happy, but it was creeping me out.

But of all the ways the accident had affected me, none had a bigger influence on me than what was to come.