CORPORAL FRANK SMITHY WHO WAS ON NIGHT-DUTY -- was the first responder to the emergency Triple-zero call – who arrived at the Wilsons – to discover 2 drenched-wet children at the backyard, with a barking Alsatian…
… he also discovered was a badly burnt carcass of an earlier escaped from the zoo, black panther lying-dead on the grass. Corporal Smithy in a raincoat examined the scorched remains of the beast…
… but did ‘not’ to get into detail questioning of a blind-girl and a baby boy – the policeman made his conclusions that it was an act-of-God of a lightning striking and killed the animal – similarly to Treeton’s open field storm, 10 days ago – where over 30 cows were struck-dead by comparably the same-kind of occurrence of lightning-strikes.
An ambulance and a firefighters-truck rolled in a matter of minutes later, in the pouring rain…
… a fire-marshal rescued Dr Shelley Wilson who was ‘trapped’ in her bedroom – where firemen had difficulties using a crowbar to pry open the ‘mysterious’ sealed-welded locked door ajar – so much so, they have to hack the ‘enforced’ door down with an axe.
The panic-stricken Shelley rushed downstairs to discover both of her children were safe-and-sound at the living room, swathed warm in blankets, drinking hot Milo. An ambulance medical personnel was attending to the B-girl’s scraped knee and forearm from the incident…
The doctor-mother looked around for the presence of the ‘boyfriend’ -- and found ‘none’…
‘… I’m sure I ‘HEARD’ HIS VOICE just now… but…
‘… he’s a cripple…
‘… if Jane WENT TO THE ZOO with him, who…
‘… was a cripple… but WHERE IS HE NOW? Unless…
‘… it’s THE ‘OTHER’ SON of the Perth’s inspector – that one-armed -- WAS HE HERE just now…? It is ‘MORE’ LOGICAL if it ‘was’ him…’
… Shelly recalled the reckless one-armed maniac cyclist cutting over her Mazda path when she had dropped Jane in school, earlier this morning.
Anthony Wilson returned home -- and was traumatized to hear his wife relating events of the panther attack – and he was pulled aside and he was told, that the B-girl behaved recklessly and did ‘NOT’ OBEY HER ORDERS of remaining locking herself in the bedroom…
… ENDANGERING ‘BOTH’ herself and her baby brother -- by facing the ferocious beast at the backyard.
That event on the stormy Monday night -- made Shelley Wilson TO BUY A HANDGUN -- to protect her family from any future danger that stepped into her doorstep.
<><>
HE FLEW BACK HOME IN THE RAIN – and was glad-and-relived that Jane was back to her senses -- and ‘would’ return back to aid him AS A SUPERHERO – to protect and safe-guard Perth City…
… from dangers brought by the Evil One’s minions – namely, BlackStar and Popobawa…
For a moment, he thought he HAD A ‘BREAKUP’ -- and ‘lost’ his girlfriend…
… as she pressured on the first day of the school final term stress – where she wanted to ‘quit’ as StarGirl to focus on her studies. They got into a tiff that Monday morning in the canteen – that ended up her BFF Alicia ‘involved,’ accusing him of demanding-sex after the first-date…
He laughed in delight of the outcome just now – when he-and-girlfriend’ had their ‘first’ joint mission in this realm – and defeated Popobawa’s spirit transformed into the black panther…
‘… the Cursed-trio are back – yeah!’
Paul actually disliked the ‘label’ of THE CURSED-TRIO -- ‘given’ to them by SeeIn – describing the 3 ‘victims’ of Treeton tragedy…
‘… it should be Gemini Blue and StarGirl – Peter doesn’t HAVE ANY SUPERPOWERS – unless I ‘SHARE’ IT with him, but I don’t ‘trust’ him yet -- to be Gemini Red…’
He was still baffled ON HOW MERCURY had morphed into Gemini Red, on the Aurora Australis’ aerial battlefield – where the 3 of them defeated BlackStar…
… he ‘missed’ his Red-demon friend and ally – WHOM HAD GONE M.I.A. -- since he and Jane had returned to the post-Treeton realm, 10 days ago…
‘… be well where ever you are, Merc – STAY SAFE FROM THE DANGERS of Asmodeus’ army and assassins…’
-O-
He flew over the clouds – where the rain subsided to drizzle -- with the 2nd wave of a bad storm approaching in the eastern horizon – but it was chilling cold that he could even feel in his bones of his ‘broken-spine’…
Flying over familiar landmarks – and one being the South Perth Zoo…
… where there were 3 police squad cars with flashing lights down below – investigating the ‘escaped’ black panther…
He thought…
‘… it’s the African animals at the zoo that are the ‘victims’ – where HAJJI MUST BE there ‘working’ in this realm too – and infecting them with the POPOBAWA ‘VIRUS’…
… which made the beasts feral to ATTACK THE CURSED-TRIO… so far…
* ‘one black panther dead
* one black-rhino dead
* another rhino in a coma
* and, an injured bull-elephant…’
He felt ‘guilty’ killing and hurting those exotic and endangered animals – he should put a STOP TO THAT BY…
… facing and a stand-off with the culprit and perpetrator – Hajji Ibrahim Eusoff Adeyemi…
AFTER THE FIRST FAILURE in their ‘investigation’ – to ‘weed-out’ that criminal in their recent zoo visit, that left a trail of dead-and-injured animals…
Paul sighed…
‘… maybe ‘not’ tonight – it’s a school night – but have to ‘plan’ the 2nd visitation soon…’
-O-
Paul reached the Walker house, before the 2nd wave of the storm -- only to be horrified that he had been ‘locked-out’…
‘… bloody Peter! Why you moron…!!?’
He flew over to his twin’s windows in the drizzle – and, saw him asleep at the dead of the night. His windows too were locked, because of the rain…
… Miserable outside, Paul was wet and cold as he decided his next cause of action…
‘… there is always the garage… but Mom from the ‘other-Perth’ had caught me sleeping there previously -- during the night, ‘we’ rescued Jane’s dog from the animal hospital… should I sleep there, without my ‘alibi’ wheelchair…?’
A strong wind blew and followed by heavy pouring rain – the irritated and agitated tween who was locked out ‘needed’ to get away from the wet and cold condition…
‘… I might get pneumonia – I should get out of these soggy clothes…’
He saw thunder rolling aloud nearby, the trees in the house compound yard were swaying in the storm. He flew to a weeping-willow tree branch closer to his former room ‘locked’ window, and perched above… still strategizing on ‘how-to’ enter the house…
… he was cold, wet and hungry at this point…
Dampened and disappointed, he sat on the branch hossie-like with his cripple legs hanging below, with both palms clinging-on to the branch, with the wet winds hitting hard at him…
… helpless, staring inside the dark bedroom window – feeling anger of Peter’s prank – which ‘then’ manifested negative-energy from his fingers…
… the blast broke the branch in half and -- Paul dropped down on the wet grass below…
He groaned and growled in back pain, as he sprawled beneath – seeing the burnt and singe of the 2-meter branch on top of his ‘useless’ legs…
… it gave him a ruse – based on a Netflix movie he saw recently – The Shawshank Redemption…
… just like the prisoner Andy who ‘escaped’ the well-fortified penitentiary on a stormy night – by breaking the sewer pipe as he ‘synchronized’ his rock-strike on the cast-iron pipeline, with the sound of a loud thunder…
… Paul got off his ass and levitated and picked up -- AN ORANGE BRICK – flew up to the closed-window – he smashed the glass when the next ear-splitting thunder roared – so that, ‘not’ wake his sleeping inspector-mother in the next bedroom.
He opened the window – and before he entered, he had to get rid of the ‘crime-evidence’ – flew below, and do away with brick -- but ‘substitute’ it with the broken branch…
… he levitated-up and dragged the 2-meter scorched branch onto the side of the wall – to the open window, and dropped it inside – while himself in ‘self-storytelling’ mode…
‘… so tomorrow morning, Mom would discover this branch ‘burnt-and-hit’ by lightning-strike – which crashed into the window, in the storm…a plausible and conceivable alibi…’
Paul was pleased with the fabrication which he created – where he had successfully sneaked ‘undetected’ into the house which his father had built– despite his twin had ‘sabotaged’ him so that Paul would give up his superhero identity.
Satisfied, he left the ‘crime-scene’ to go downstairs -- to his windowless bedroom…
<><>
PETER WOKE UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING for Tuesday’s school. The first thing that crossed his mind WAS HIS TWIN -- BEING ‘LOCKED-OUT’ OF THEIR HOUSE. The one-armed boy jumped out from his bed and looked out below from his window -- of the wet milieu after the overnight downpour. He went to check Poe’s former bedroom…
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
… he was shocked to see the damaged window by the wooden branch that had crashed into the bedroom…
‘… is this a coincident…? Where is Poe?’
… Peter saw a trail of unevaporated watermark drips, in the hallway upstairs leading to downstairs – he stopped halfway -- and looked up at the CCTV…
‘… gotcha’ Poe!’
He raced downstairs to check on the security footage – but before that…
… he wanted to check if his twin was ‘inside’ the house – he went to the kitchen, where the windowless bedroom was – and placed his ear on the door…
… he heard a peculiar snore – only Poe’s snores like a cooing pigeon…
‘… how did he get in – UNLESS HE HAD ‘STAGED’ that mess upstairs!!?’
He hurried to the front door where the security-recorder unit was – Peter rewind the recorded tape to discover the footage had been ‘erased’…
‘… smart move, short-legs…’
But Peter remembered 2 night ago, where he too ‘left’ the house secretly in the middle of the night ‘to-be’ in Bella Beulieu’s house…
… he rewinded the video-deck to the timeline of Saturday night – and saw the footage image of himself sneaking into the house after 4 AM, only to be cornered by Poe in-the-dark kitchen…
… he had forgotten TO ERASE HIS ‘OWN’ digital-footprint…
… Peter deleted it…
‘… crikey-close… THAT WAS ‘SLOPPY’ OF ME – thanks Poe, now we are ‘even’…’
<><>
ANTHONY CHECKED HIS FAMILY AT THE PARMELIA HILTON HOTEL that night. He wanted to get his house ‘fixed’ – of the broken kitchen and Samuel’s bedroom windows, before moving-in. The father wanted to also install a stringent security home system – with CCTV cameras and outdoor security sensors.
Jane had packed up her school uniform, and told her parents that she wanted to go to school tomorrow – despite her doctor-mother had told her to take a sickie off-day – but the adamant B-girl told her off that she doesn’t want to miss out classes during the final term.
The Wilsons took up 2 suite-rooms – the parents and her baby brother slept in one -- and the other was for Jane herself…
… the weak and battered blind-girl slept-off the moment, she hit the cosy mattress.
-O-
She woke up early the next day, all dressed up in her green school uniform, and waited in her suite, listening to music on her Boyyo. Her father then took her to the hotel’s breakfast buffet – where she ate kind-of-a lot to replenish her strength…
… since she had exerted herself ‘fully’ – both mentally-and-physically – and ‘draining herself out,’ after defeating Popobawa, the night before.
In next-to-no-time, she followed her daddy in his black Mercedes S-class -- when he was to drop her off in Stamford High, before going to work.
<><>
PAUL HAD OVERSLEPT – HE WAS JOLTED by loud arguments coming from upstairs – realising that his twin was in a tiff that morning with their mother. One look at the time in the alarm clock to realize he had forgotten to set it, last night – which sent him hurrying to get ready for school.
Outside, sitting on the dunny in the bathroom, he eavesdropped ‘what’ the argument they were having about…
… he felt ‘guilty’ that their spat-and-row was about the broken-window…
His mother was telling Peter that she could ‘not’ afford any ‘more’ house repairs as she had ‘other’ expenses too – judging by the massive debts their late-father had left behind, while the house insurance policy had maxed…
… Caroline even told that at some point soon, they have to sell the house and move out to somewhere affordable…
… which, that decision ‘had’ provoked Peter…
“No-Mom! You’re an adult – you ‘better’ deal-with-it and-you-fix-it – but, you certainly are ‘not’ going to bloody-sell my father’s house when I’m alive, and that is final!”
The house was back quiet – when his twin left to school…
… Paul ‘understood’ his mother’s predicament – wherein this-Perth, she was STUCK IN THE SALARY of a police inspector versus in the other-Perth, she was promoted to being Detective-Inspector with a pay bump…
… endorsed after she was into the manhunt case to ‘capture’ Hajji -- the criminal zookeeper turned killer.
‘… shit-you Peter – ‘why’ can’t you see the financial dilemma that we are in…?’
Paul feared the consequences that might transpire ‘soon’ – if the Walker-house was ‘sold’ – it might fuel-up PETER’S TOXIC NEGATIVE ENERGY…
… where it would make BlackStar at her destructive heights -- to bring massive natural disasters to devastate the country…
… and the Perth City, they live in.
<><>
THE MERCEDES DROVE, AND ANTHONY WAS on Bluetooth -- talking to his future business partner, in their soon furniture business venture. On the passenger seat, blind-Jane listened to her father’s enthusiast in his conversation talking about market-shares their would-be company Jansa, be into.
Jane understood the turn of events that would follow ‘next’ -- ‘based’ on the arguments her parents had in the other-Perth -- where the father ‘over-there’ suffered a stroke and almost died of a heart attack, due to his unhealthy lifestyle of excessive smoking-and-drinking.
After the phone call ended – Jane engaged into some small-talks with her daddy – telling ‘about’ some fictitious made-up classmate, whose father suffered from a stroke-and-heart attack, after starting his business a year ago…
Anthony who was driving the car was quietly listening to his daughter – but ‘not’ paying heed, as it had his wife’s ‘voice’ etched to it. He was adamant...
... to proceed as the man-of-the-house provider, where he had to secure the wellbeing of his family’s financial future in the years to come.
-O-
The Mercedes pulled into the school’s parking lot – Anthony noticed a Nissan Almera – with the driver helping Paul Walker into his wheelchair. He told Jane before she opened the car door…
“… oh-Jane, your ‘boyfriend’ is here…”
“… wha…? Who…?” responded the surprised daughter.
Jane said her goodbye to her dad – while Anthony reversed his car – seeing Jane in the RVM, of her walking enthusiastically over…
… Jane rushed to her blue-beacon, all giggly…
The sad Paul saw her running with a limp, with more bandages in her body – it broke his heart that his girlfriend was enduring the ‘punishment’ of Asmodeus in these trying-times of the post-Treeton. She had lost some weight too, looking gaunt to her bones…
… but by being blind, she couldn’t have ‘known’ – ‘not’ as she saw herself in the mirror lately -- that might have horrified some vanity-queens able-bodied classmate of his. But despite that -- Jane was always in her best-top spirits…
“Hey-Paul, you were ‘right’ the other day – my daddy ‘saw’ us kissing…”
“… oh-oh-shoots, am I in trouble?”
“Yea-silly, unless your superpower includes, making me ‘pregnant’ by kissing me!”
The teasing blind girl laughed-out alone…
“Not funny, Jane…”
The blind-girl was pushing the wheelchair of cripple ‘boyfriend’ along the outdoor corridor to their classroom – when, they then heard a call from their rear…
“Jane Wilson, one minute please!”
Paul stretched his neck-out to see a stranger – a young woman running over towards them…
“Jane, I’m Lana Lane from the Perth Herald – can you comment on the black panther attack in your house yesterday night?”
… just like her doctor-mother – the annoyed B-girl yelled out at the reporter…
“NO COMMENTS!”
Both the handicap students left to their class – Jane was mumbling to her dissatisfaction of invasion of her personal privacy in school as a minor, in the school compound…
… Paul too was aggravated and upset by the whole incident of the poor security of the school -- and ‘blamed’ the school’s Security Head, Sylvester Biggs for it…
… where in the ‘other-Perth’ -- Mr Biggs had refused TO TRUST-AND-BELIEVE HIM when he went to him…
… with the info that an armed-and-wanted outlaw Hajji ‘was’ present among the 4000 fans, who had come over to support Jane -- who was playing the PFC’s rematch.
<><>
JANE AND PAUL ENTERED THEIR CLASSROOM – every student dropped whatever they were doing and gawked at them – except for Alicia Wong -- who rushed forward and hugged her BFF, saying…
“Oh-Janey-gee – I thought you might ‘not’ come today -- but I’m glad you are alright from that horrific panther attack!”
… Jane shushed her…
… but most of their savvy classmates had ‘known’ from the online-news portal -- of every incident in ‘happened’ trends in Perth – where the blind-girl had ‘been’ involved in -- from Treeton cattle-attack to the zoo’s rhino-attack, and last night’s black panther-attack.
Even the class girl-bullies of Charlotte Thompson and Zoe Williams and their clique were gossiping among themselves -- whether Jane was an evil witch, for where ever she went – she left a trail of dead-and-injured animals behind.
At the backbenchers, Terry Donovan had earlier updated Peter that an escaped black panther had attacked Wilson’s last night…
… now the one-armed twin ‘knew’ where his ‘other-half’ was last night – flying off in the storm-weather, to ‘rescue’ his-Jane…
‘… well, come-to-think of it, Poe -- I was the ‘first’ hero – who ‘had’ crawled into the ‘same’ panther’s cage before -- to ‘rescue’ her brother-Jaheem…
‘… so-Janey, your ‘Tarzan-and-Jane’ bloody gig had been all-dull and mediocre so far – so, why is there no-one cheering and clapping LIKE THEY HAD USED TO – it’s poor marketing, I guess – unlike, ‘our-own’ PFC fame of before…?
‘… suffer-Janey-suffer… since you had chosen ‘short-legs’ over me…’
Peter was too-glad that he broke up with Jane – now, he had a clear mind-and-path, to pursue his dreams ‘once-again’ -- which was to play tennis…
… that was ‘why’ last night -- he had composed his 2nd ‘convincing’ email to the blind girl's scientist uncle.
<><>
Meanwhile, across the Indian Ocean in the Washington, US…
… Dr Jack Turner received an email from Perth – with Peter thanked him for ‘gift’ of the prototype SIM study device which he sent…
… and mentioned that his niece Janey-Wilson was programming it for him.
The scientist from Kimura Star noticed A VIDEO FILE attachment that was accompanied the email – that was a live recording that the one-armed tween shot of himself with his iPhone…
… of convincing him with a ‘confession’…
… that he was from ‘the future’ Perth – that he had ‘time travelled’ to this-present-Perth – TO THE TREETON TIMELINE WHERE he, his twin and the scientist’s niece were structed by lightning and were cursed in a-good-way, WITH SUPERPOWERS…
… where Jane Wilson could physically fly and shoot thunderbolt blast from her palms – so, did his twin…
… but he didn’t possess those powers, but…
… Treeton lightning strike had changed his Blood-type -- from a regular B-Rhesus type to a rare ‘Golden Blood,’ where over-there…
… ‘Jack Turner’ had ‘sent’ employees of ‘Hiro and Taro,’ of ‘other-Perth’ -- who had tested-and-said ‘that’ so…
The scientist ‘paused’ the video -- LAUGHED IT OFF WITH DISBELIEVE of the bizarre concept of ‘time travelling’ which was ‘not’ scientifically proven nor possible -- other than in quantum physics’ theories…
‘… superpowers…? What a dilutional lad…?’
The scientist thought in his amusement that the tween had an active imagination as he watched too much of the superheroes pop-culture fare in the media...
‘… who does he think I am – that Doc E. Brown from the movie ‘Back to the Future…?’
He continued to watch the video, of the one-armed Peter proclaiming…
… that, in the ‘other-Perth’ the ‘other-Dr-Jack-Turner’ -- had built him a bionic robotic-arm to play tennis… Hiro and Taro had ‘demonstrated’ the prototype of the ‘arm’ to him during their visit…
‘… this one-armed-boy is really ‘desperate’ to play tennis -- and he had ‘been’ online researching my Kimura Star’s employees -- so that he can drop names of ‘Hiro and Taro’…’
Into the final 15 seconds of the video…
… the scientist saw the frantic attempts of the boy pleading him to ‘believe’ him, by-saying…
“Please doc, ‘build’ me this arm -- so that I could ‘live’ my dreams once ‘again’ of playing tennis, which I had been destined to… it doesn’t have to be as sophisticated as ‘your-lady’ cyborg’s – yea, Janey ‘had’ told me of the ‘one’ you made for your DEA agent who lost her arm when that Mexican bazooka-ed her … err, Osbourne or something her name was…
“… please help me, doc – I’m thanking you in advance that you ‘would’ grant me this one-wish – bye, for now.”
The video ended…
… with the stunned Dr Jack Turner, who then sat-to-ponder hard…
‘… Renee Osbourne…?
‘I ‘NEVER’ TOLD Jane or anyone of this enhancement that the ‘subject’ had received -- which was TOP SECRET CLASSIFIED US’ Cyborg project for the Défense Department…
‘... is there a ‘cyber-leak’ online…? HOW COULD this boy ‘know’ about this…?’
What puzzled the scientist more was the Jane’s ‘SIMY’ device – where before it was ‘destroyed’ in the Treeton thunderstorm – it had self-programmed itself for self-preservation – before it went, renegade….
… by deleted of its ‘existence’ from the Alpha-mainframe system – afore it went ‘dark’ online…
… but 3 days ago, …
… the defector-SIMY-system had openly emerged in the cloud – hacking’ Facebook Groups by taking-up -- the identity of his eldest sister – Jane’s mom, Shelley…
… but ‘calling’ itself by the moniker, Jan Wilson.
Dr Jack Turner took the Peter Walker’s bizarre and mysterious video seriously – and, wanted to ‘investigate’ the background of the Cursed-trio…
… who ‘claimed,’ that the 3 COULD TIME-TRAVEL.