"So, Vain Dave. What's gonna be different this time? Another broken body to show off for my victory? Why thank you very much for the trophy," he chuckles. His breath tickles my face.

"Oh shit!" I suddenly remember that we're skipping school.

I haven't got the grades for this! I can't be a delinquent! Have you seen these skin and bones? I may be tall but these guys, woah by the way, are taller. I'm dead! Kagephobic official!

"What are you squeaking about?" Kage stares dead into my eyes.

"May my death be swift and easy." I clap my hands together in prayer.

Kage blinks a few times then starts laughing. "I think I like this guy. Why don't you hang out with me instead of those losers? You won't have to die," he whispers that last part in my ear like he just told me I could eat his cherry on his ice cream sundae.

"You're too kind, really. But I have to get to school and wait for some other death then," I softly refuse. I tried. Very softly to get him to let go of my collar.

"Are you suicidal or something?" He raises an eyebrow.

If I was a girl or gay, which I'm unsure of both, I think I'd think this guy is pretty good looking. But since I'm unsure, he's just a guy who wants to kill me.

"Is that a threat?"

"Are you being defiant?" He smirks.

What is he doing? Isn't he going to kill me? Am I being defiant of death? Yes and no. I'm scared of it but I embrace a quick one. So I count as both?

"Jackie! Show him what you got! Put your all in it!" Cassy shouts at me.

Stupid, Cassy, stupid. I'm lecturing her now in hopes she can hear me because I feel half dead right now.

"Hm? You got some better power? Come on. Show it to me."

He lets go of me then steps back. The gate, as if it was alive, starts moving back behind the wall so it is open for Kage to easily kill me. I hate you gate!

Kage lifts up one finger. Now I can't breathe. No. I can breathe. I can breathe but it feels like my feet are breathing instead of me. He holds up another finger. It feels like a huge weight grew hands and started pushing me down towards the ground. Another finger and my feet have gone delusional and think they're flowers now because they are covered in the broken tar and hard dirt underneath that.

"Wow, I'm amazed you can stay standing at three fingers. You may yet be something." He's grinning. It grows bigger with every lifted digit.

My body aches. It doesn't hurt. It just aches. Like it's strained but I'm not in pain. I think I know what this is. Nothing can go up, which is where my head is, so my pain receptors can't communicate with my brain. This is dangerous. Why is a teenage boy allowed to have power like this? It's obvious that he'd use it for evil so why give it to him? This isn't right!

And the reason why I'm not sprawled out on the ground right now or buried in my early grave, is because all my joints and muscles are locked in place. All that is keeping me up are my bones. I suppose my lack of weight is helping in my favor too but I'm not going to give that to lazy muscles. They can fuck right off.

"You have good resistance but do you have endurance?"

Isn't that the same thing? I suppose he means them differently but I don't have the time or brain power to think about this. I'm going to die if he keeps going. I'm going to die. I'm going to die a horrible and dreadful death ... I don't want that! Quick and painless! Sure, there's no pain but this sadistic bastard thinks I'm enduring this, meanwhile I can't move or tell him he killing me!

I can tell this guy has never killed someone because then he would've seen the signs. He's going to kill me and not know it. Once my eyes close, he's going to get suspicious. When he finds out, he'll be tormented by my death for the rest of his life. I'm not going to let that happen.

Now that I think about it. This whole inner monologue sounds a lot like what heroes say right before the villain almost kills them but then the hero saves the day because they magically gain control over their powers.

Will that happen to me? I mean, this is the real world so does stuff like that happen? If we thought it up then it must have come from somewhere. But where? A psycho? A doctor? Some deluded author? Dammit! What am I going to do! I'm not the Hulk so anger won't work. I'm not super smart so I can't be like Iron man.

The only factors that could make me into a superhero are; I have powers, I have one dead parent, and a supervillain is trying to kill me. How am I going to get out of this?

My power is to float. What can I do with that? Wait! Dave said I made that stone float. I look around at the people and objects. Stones. I made stones float but that was when I touched it. Can I do it when I'm not touching it?

I can't wait any longer. He's going to put up five fingers and I'm going to be dead. I need to get my body out of this deadlock and get to the ground so I can touch those stones. Oh wow, that sounded perverted.

I try to make my knees loose by moving them. I push them back and forth as much as I can, rocking my whole body too. I finally get my knees to fold and just like that I'm instantly taken to the ground. I can't really hear anything but I can see Kage's smile shrink a little.

Kagephobia. Kagephobia. I chant in my head. I need to get him to stop. My hands touch the stones but now they're trying to grow themselves in the dirt like my feet. Dammit! Move, stones, move! Maybe they understand ghostly speech too.

I manage to curl my fingers around a few stones. They cut into my skin and make the fertiliser for my hand plants blood. Come on! I use all the little strength I can muster to pull my arm back and throw the stones at Kage.

The stones are aimed right for Kage but they stop right before his face and bounce away from him. It was like those stones couldn't get past his atmosphere or something. Small asteroids compared to this huge planet boy.

All I did was make them float and bounce off him. Like I'm in space ... I float. Atmosphere of a planet boy. Huh? Stones equals rocks. Which means heavy metal. Heavy. Gravity. Okay, this is dumb. I need to stop trying to sound smart. No gravity! My power is no gravity! And Kage controls gravity therefore meaning I can defy him!

'Cause he has gravity, he can control it and everyone and thing with gravity. If I have no gravity and make things have no gravity too. That means I have the opposite power to his! This is such a coincidence to meet my opposite so easily. Man, I wish I could tell him. We'd laugh- Well, he'd laugh like a maniac but I'm sure I can get past that. Maybe we can become friends.

However, the problem now is that I need to show him my powers so he can believe me.

I look up at him and notice him staring strangely at the stones I threw. Is he confused why they were floating or why they bounced off of him? Did he try to pull the stones down or did he not expect me to be able to pick them up and throw them? Whatever, all I know is that now he's going to be watching me closely. Good. That's what I want. For friendship!

Focus on myself. It is not your time to die yet. Focus on myself. You can float. Focus only on me. You have no gravity!

I stare at the ground that now seems to be falling away from me. I look up at Kage and notice that I'm finally taller than him. Hm? I look down. My feet finally grew into trees. How nice. Oh wait, I'm just floating. Sweet. It worked. I wasn't expecting it to work. I thought I was dead already. I might actually be. I mean, I am floating. To heaven. Heavenward. Oh Hell. How do I get down now?

"Um, guys!" I call to them. "I can't get down!"

I can now hear everyone shouting and taking pictures. Oh great. More pictures. This sucks. My body turns so I am completely parallel with the ground but the height of Kage above the ground. He walks up to me and smiles.

"No gravity?" he guesses.

"Yeah."

"Cool. We're true rivals from now on." Then he walks away with that evil grin on his face.

My heart drops and so does my body. No! My friendship! My dreams are crushed. I faint dramatically.

"Good work, Jackie. Let's go back now." Dave picks me up like a dead princess and carries me back to his car.

And back to school we go just in time for lunch to end.