“Shit, I have no idea where that folder went.” I groan, looking around the living room of Alex and I’s one bedroom apartment. “Alex? Do you know where the green folder I had went? It has all the notes I need for my exam today.”

I hear the bedroom door open and Alex walks out, holding said folder. I sigh a breath of relief and as I go to grab it from him. “You know, John, you really oughta hold onto your stuff better. It could get into the wrong hands at some point.” He says, holding the folder out of reach.

I playfully roll my eyes and smile down at him. “The wrong hands? Come on, Alex, nobody comes into this apartment but us two. Now, can I please have my notes? I’m going to be late for class.”

Alex glances at the notes before holding them behind his back. “And what will I get in return?” He asks cheekily.

I tilt my head at him, my smile not leaving my face. “Whatever you want, my dear.”

He chuckles softly and leans forward a little bit. “A kiss will do, then.”

“Well, I have no problem with that.” I lean in and give him a kiss, grabbing my folder from behind his back. I pull away and he sighs dramatically, plopping down on the couch next to us.

“Now go, Laurens. Leave me all alone.” He says.

I laugh at his antics, putting my folder in my bag. “You are extra dramatic today, what’s going on with that?”

“I’m just in a good mood, I guess.” He shrugs, sitting up and looking at me. “And I’m hoping that my good vibes will rub onto you so that you ace this test. Not that you need it, you’re like, a super genius.”

I let out a nervous chuckle, shaking my head. “Super genius? Yeah, okay. Says you, Mr. Early Graduate.” Yes, I did have supernatural smarts, but Alex was the smartest person I knew. He didn’t need superpowers to outsmart me.

“Well, it was either that, or let school continue to drain the life out of me.” Alex jokes, before looking at the time. “Oh shit, you gotta go. You’re going to have to run if you want to make it to your exam.”

I smile and go up to him, giving him a goodbye kiss. “You work later, right?”

He nods. “Yep. It’s going to be a busy day, so I probably won’t be home until later tonight.” He informs me.

I nod and put my folder in my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. "Alright, then I will see you when you get home. Bye, I love you."

"Love you, too."

And with that, I was out the door and on my way to my class. I walk at a quicker pace, slightly wishing I wasn't in the middle of New York City. There's too many people here, meaning I couldn't use my powers to get to class, I had to be regular.

Not that I minded being regular. In fact, I liked it more sometimes. Sure, I miss the life of regularly being Hyperion, as any normal person would. But not having to be on call all the time was nice.

I got to live my life with Alex, with no secrets. We were open books with each other, he knew everything about me (except for the powers I rarely use anymore), and I knew everything about him.

And it was perfect.

I ended up getting to class five minutes early, so I grabbed my notes out and pretended to study for the test. We were learning physics, it was very easy for me. But based on my classmates’ reactions during classes, it wasn’t supposed to be naturally easy. So, it was yet another thing about myself I had to hide.

Around thirty minutes later, I turned in my test. I had completed it before, but waited so I wouldn’t be the first to turn it in. Since we were allowed to leave after we finished, I went and gathered my stuff together.

But just as I left the room, all of the power went out. I glance back in the classroom and see it had gone out in there, too, and then look around. It had seemed that everything went silent, which almost never happened in these hallways.

I cautiously walk, looking around me. It looks like the power is out in every other classroom, too, which means it must be the whole building. The weird part is that even the emergency lights were off, which wouldn’t normally happen unless someone had deliberately shut off the power.

I continue my walk through the dark, strangely empty building, and notice a glowing green light coming from the classroom at the end of the hallway. I take a deep breath and go towards it, looking inside.

I have no idea what I expected to see, but I can tell you it wasn’t anything like this.

There was a man underneath a mask, holding some sort of box with intricate designs I had never seen before. The glow came from the green crystal he was holding in his other hand. The same crystal my professor has been studying and we’ve been talking about in class.

I watch as he places the crystal in a slot, and he stops to hear the box play a short melody. He closes his eyes and listens to it, and I open the door just enough to slip in. I close the door quietly and crawl underneath the table he was sitting at, trying to figure out how to get the crystal from him.

“It won’t be long now.” I hear him say.

The music stops playing and the glowing dims as the power turns back on. He quickly stands up and gets ready to leave, and I debate going after him. Before I could decide, though, my phone went off.

The mystery man stops in his tracks and before I know it, the table I was hiding under was flying against the wall behind me. I sit back and look up at him, afraid of what was going to happen next. He did not look friendly, and I don’t think I could use my powers in my civilian identity against him.

“When did you get in here?” He snaps.

I look at the box in his hand and then shake my head. “That crystal doesn’t belong to you.” I state, standing up.

He looks at the crystal and then back at me, chuckling softly. “And what are you going to do about it?” He waves his hand and I feel wind pushing me backwards until I am against the now standing table. I struggle to fight the pressure, but find I can’t move at all. “Cut your losses, kid. You can’t face me.”

I glare at him slightly and he darts out of the room, the music box and crystal in his possession.

As soon as he leaves, the weight is removed and I fall to the ground, the table falling above me. Luckily I managed to not get hit by the table at all as it fell, but I did land on my arm, causing it to hurt.

Someone rushes in and looks around. “John? Are you okay?” I hear him call out.

I groan slightly and get out from under the table, leaning against the wall as I sit up. “Yes, I’m fine.” I say. I quickly recognize the person as Lafayette, the guy who sat behind me in my physics class. Also the person who turned in his test first, and thinks he’s the smartest in our class.

“What happened? All I saw was you go flying against the wall, and then some man in a weird suit and mask ran out of here.” He says, kneeling down to examine the arm I was holding.

I sigh and shake my head at him. “I don’t know who he is, but he has some type of powers.”

“Powers? Like Hyperion? I thought he was the only one with powers, though. And we haven’t seen him in forever.” Lafayette says as he grabs the first aid kit off the wall. He looks inside of it and pulls out an ace bandage.

“That’s just it, though, his powers weren’t like Hyperion’s. They were different.” I frown. ”And he took professor Lee’s crystal. I tried to stop him, but-”

“Wait, you tried to stop him? You? John, no offense, but how did you expect to take on someone with powers?” He asks, scoffing slightly as he wrapped my arm in the bandage.

“Well, I didn’t know he had powers until he threw the table without even touching it.” I roll my eyes. “But he got away, we’ve got to do something.”

Lafayette simply shakes his head. “No, we don’t need to do anything. There’s nothing we can do. I’m sure this will draw the attention of the authorities and eventually Hyperion will come out of hiding and he will deal with it.”

I frown a bit more. He was right, there was nothing I could do as John. Hyperion was just going to have to come back. Which meant I was going to have to start lying to Alex.

But it‘s for his own safety, I don’t have a choice.

1566 Words