Writing prompt day. Today I decided to take a look at something I have never written about, nor ever had a desire too. Superhero’s. With superhero’s being all the rage lately I thought it would be fun to do something out of my comfort zone. Thinking outside of the box is a way we can advance our own stories. So…to the prompt.
Finish this sentence and write a story about it. It all changed the day I was bit by _______? So that is the prompt…here goes.
Normal, ha! What did anyone know about not being normal? I was the freak. They had no clue. None of them had any idea what it’s like for me. They’ve never walked in my shoes, and never will. I used to be the same as everyone else. I used to be what people consider “normal”. That all changed the day I was bit by a tiny black squid when I was out diving with my cousins. Since then, things have never been the same.
The changes were slow. So much that I didn’t notice them at first. In fact, it didn’t really hit me that I had changed until I was at the pool for swim class. The whole class was diving for rings. It was a kind of game the coaches set up to help us hold our breath longer. The whistle blew and I dove in headfirst with the rest of the boys. As I watched them kick furiously toward the bottom, grab a ring and then shoot back to the surface, I realized I wasn’t even out of breath yet. I scooted across the bottom gathering all of the rings I could until there were none left. Then I kicked to the surface and dropped them on the side. I wasn’t even winded. Everyone else looked at the stack of rings and me like I had done something wrong. The coach told me later that I had held my breath for over four minutes. They had almost decided to come in after me.
Okay, so that’s strange but not unheard of. When the tentacles started growing however…yeah, that freaked me out. I didn’t tell anyone, well because let’s face it, who would believe me anyway. If I showed my mom she would take me to urgent care. They would probably call Area 51 and I would spend the rest of my life in a specimen jar or chopped up on petri dishes. No thanks. It wasn’t like I handled the changes well either. I mean, I was totally out of my mind scared. I locked myself in my room telling mom that I had the flu. In reality I was trying to figure out what was happening. It was a rough couple of days. When I looked in the mirror three days later I had definitely changed. My legs were no longer legs. They were muscled tentacles. Yes, you read that right. Tentacles, suction pads and all. Not only were my legs tentacles, but I had four more that didn’t used to be there. I found I could control them all individually or I could have them act as one. In this was I was able to combine them into what appeared to be two legs. At least, as long as I kept my pants on. The rest of me looked about the same. I decided the best thing would be to pull my name from the swim team. Problem solved. At least I thought it was.
The rest of the guys thought quitting the team put me in the official loser category, which meant I was fair game for bullying. It started that afternoon in class when I handed the coach my note that I was switching classes. The coach was nothing more than an old bully himself. He figured that he would make an example of me and what a “quitter” looked like making me look like the town idiot. Before I knew it, his three prize jocks that shared half a brain cell between them, hauled me off my feet and sent me into the pool face first.
My face slapping the water didn’t sting as bad as the rush of chlorine into my sinuses. I opened my eyes to get my bearings. I could see everything clearly. The normal haze that clouded my vision under water was gone. And then I realized I was breathing. I was actually breathing under the water. For some reason this didn’t scare me. This excited me. I felt powerful. I felt free. And then, I felt mad. Everyone in the pool house was laughing. Everyone except me. No, I was pissed off. It was time I showed them what it felt like to be bullied.
I kicked out of my shoes and stretched my tentacles. I hovered just under the surface of the water watching their twisted faces smirk and jeer. My turn! I almost didn’t have to think about it. It was instinct. Tentacles shot out of the water wrapping around the legs of the coach and his idiotic cronies. I yanked hard pulling them off their feet and then splashing into the pool with me. They fought and kicked as I pulled them twelve feet down to the bottom. A mixture of panic and disbelief gave them all the same stupid expression. I could hear the splashes of the other boys jumping into the water to see what had happened. Once they saw me they were out of the pool quicker than when they entered.
I pulled the coach and the three boys close. I could tell by their bulging eyes that they were almost out of air. This made me smile. I hated bullies. They should all know what it feels like to be suffocating and helpless. They should all pay! And I was starting with these four. No more would they be allowed to torment anyone. I continued to watch as one by one they each inhaled the water causing their bodies to spasm and tremble. I held them there until they were still. They I threw each of them as hard as I could out of the water. I was amazed at how strong I had become. The coach cleared the water by a good five feet before landing on the deck like a wet fish. Yes, I was powerful. However, I would still have to answer for what had just happened. The answer came to me however without even having to think about it. I just knew what to do. I shed my clothes. I was now sitting at the bottom of the pool naked. I watched as my body began to change. Not only did I have tentacles, I had adaptive camouflage. I took on the look of the bottom of the pool and disappeared completely. All they ever found was a set of empty clothes, and no answers.
The drainage system was no problem to navigate as I could manipulate my body to almost any form. My ability to change my appearance made it easy to blend into society. What I needed I would take. Those in my way, I would destroy. I had the power of both the land, and the sea, and soon, very soon, the world would be mine.
Okay well it ended up being about a villain rather than a hero. That’s why writing is fun. You never know the story until you write it. This is of course done without much thought or revision. The sole purpose is to write. Feel free to share your own story here or with others. Please like and share if you enjoyed this exercise.
D.B. Flint.
D.B. Flint: Writing Creatively 