Yeah, I'm not gonna do fancy headings, all full of mystery and intrigue. I think super villains are supposed to have better style than I do. Whatever.

So, to get into the day that should have been totally boring but wasn't, I think we'll skip to the middle. The beginning of the day did live up to its expectations. Meaning it sucked. But at least nothing was out of the usual there.

To cut a long story short, enjoyed breakfast of cold cereal, slogged through school virtually invisible, and came home to clean up mom's store. Let's start there.

Dim flourescent lights illuminated the cheap linoleum floor. Tables and baskets and tubs of craft supplies were lined neatly with beads, yarn, fabric and glue.

I swiped the mop over the floor. A shining streak trailed behind it. My mind was monotonously blank with my earbuds thumping. The music guided the motions I'd done hundreds of times. Sweep, mop, dust, wipe the windows.

The only thing that broke the monotony was admiring the new inventory. Mom had just gotten a new delivery of speckled yellow and maroon yarn. If there was some leftover, she might give me some. It would make an awesome scarf or pair of gloves.

I started sweeping the stairs, silently rocking out to my music with my head bopping like an idiot. By this point my chances of being cool would require a personal helicoptor and or a hot girlfriend. So yeah, there's not much to live up to.

After finishing the chores, admiring the new yarn one more time and turning out he lights, I headed up to the flat. Mom would be dealing with the finances right now, so I might have time to sneak a couple twinkies before dinner.

With this hopeful thought in mind, I didn't immediately register the wild haired man staring me in the face. After a moment of mutual shock, my remakably heroic and noble thoughts were,

"Shoot, I hope this guy didn't steal the last twinkies,"

Luckily they weren't my last thoughts, because I can think of a billion better things I could have used instead.

"Uh... hey man," I tried. "What... are you doing outside my apartment?"

And because I'm an idiot I couldn't help asking,

"And what the heck are you wearing?"

In my defense, his clothes were pretty ridiculous. A droopy yellow hat that looked like a deflated fedora, uncomfortably tight looking suspenders, and a homstitched pair of purple mocaisins.

The man stared at me blankly. Then he flicked a long whip I hadn't seen. I wasn't surprised anymore. Just wet my pants freaked out.

"Woah woah! I don't mean any-" I stammered as he surged forward. The whip seemed to have a life of its own, twisting around my wrist and digging into the skin. I yelped in a very unmanly way and staggered back.

All I saw was a confusing blur of wild eyes, terrible clothes, and that biting whip. He lunged again, this time with a knife in his hands. Without thinking, trusting my terrible fear and adrenaline, I dodged sideways and shoved him.

He soared past me, smacked against the wall, and fell backwards down the stairs.

There was a sickening crack and then silence. Panting, horrified, still stunned at what had just happened, I crawled over and looked down the stairs.

My attacked lay crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. A trickle of blood seeped from his crumpled form, sliding smoothly across the newly cleaned floor. His whip twitched feebly then it too was still. The man's open eyes were blank.

A scream swelled inside me, building and throbbing until it ached my body to hold it in. My hands shook, eyes watered, ears rang.

This wasn't right! Killing a guy was never supposed to happen. My heart felt like it was going to explode and tears were streaming down my face. The dead man drew my eyes until I couldn't see anything but his glassy stare.

And then I think I started hallucinating. His lips peeled back into a macabre grin, eyes still dead and cold. His whole body began to melt into a weird purple light.

I was numb, stunned, rooted to the ground. The flow of light slowly wound its way up the stairs. It was feet away, twisting and undulating like some weightless liquid. The eyes of a dead man flashed through it. They were locked onto me.

I opened my mouth to scream, and the light surged inside me.

The ground vanished. I was falling, some awful force penetrating every fiber of my body. It filled my lungs, blacked out my vision, raced into my blood. I was suffocating in darkness, screaming where nobody could hear me. I was going to die and nobody would know why! My mom would never know.

The pain she would feel ripped my insides and hurt more than the power crushing me. A terrible flash of power seized my body. I arched, pain too excruciating to even scream.

Darkness.