For those who liked to spend their nights transformed into a water elemental and hopping the city, school hours were an ideal time to complete one’s homework.
And while Kay’s access to his alternate form was compromised, the habit didn’t leave him.
The old library was his spot of choice whenever he wanted to shack up during lunch. It was quiet but it was endearing. That part of the school was older, built in the 20th century, so a lot of decor had a classic look to it. That library was smaller than the newer one on the first floor as it was built for narrower selections of students.
The place was still a functional library although the faculty mostly used it as an office to help run YCCI. Ms Pathirana overlooked the place with a gentle persuasion, making sure that nobody was too loud and if a student had a problem, she would try her best to help.
Kay wasn’t normally alone but there weren’t many others that joined him in that chamber of study. It was usually a sanctuary for kids that had just had a break-up and needed some alone time or it was a haven for those trying to avoid bullies lurking the halls.
He had no reason to think anyone at that school was part of the gang that was after him, but holing up in that place made him feel a little safer.
The library had a row of functional computers (some iMacs) meant for student use. A trio of friends walked. Cillian, needed get some work done quick, and was accompanied by Fixer and Lana, a girl Kay knew from media studies class.
It didn’t take long for Cillian to check to confirm his English homework was done. He logged out and while the group of friends walked away from the computers, Lana spotted Kay– with his leather jacket and sunglasses– working quietly at a table across the room. As she walked over– and her friends joined her, curious to see what she knew about ‘Rockstar’– Lana spotted what Kay was working: yep, it was definitely a piece of schoolwork.
“You know,” she said, stepping up to his table, “for a guy who dresses like a rebel without a cause, you sure are diligent.”
Kay looked up and folded out a minimal effort grin. “I just don’t like to be burdened with school work when I get home.”
He got a look at Lana’s friends. Cillian was the only guy in their grade with facial hair like what he had, a mature and rugged comb over his face. Kay wondered if the guy got carded at restaurants. Fixer, who was one of the few people around to successfully give himself a nickname that stuck, was a lean kid with a short afro.
Something about the way they were standing there, all looming over him as he scratched pencil to paper, made him uneasy– the anxiety within acting up. Man, he thought, if anyone wanted to jump me it would be that easy.
Lana raised an impressed brow, charmed by Kay’s responsible nature. “Really? I’m the kind of person that leaves it to the last minute.”
Cillian piped in: “You finished your chemistry essay on a Saturday last week. I wouldn’t call that ‘last minute’. It wasn’t even due on Monday. It was due on Tuesday.”
Lana giggled and wiggled her legs nervously. “Well...” she said, but she had nothing to say.
“What do you do after school?” asked Fixer. The question was genuine even if he tone was a little accusatory. “Party?”
Kay chuckled, but he thought for a moment. He needed a cover story for all the time he spent as a frolicking water lad. But the answer was obvious; it was what he had been doing the last couple days while he elemental form was tucked away: hanging around his home and playing video games.
“I mostly play video games,” said Kay, his affect flat.
They all offered some humour. Cillian smiled. “You might be the one guy I know who gets a head start on homework to play video games.” He stuck his hands in his coat pockets. “Most of the time, video games keep people away from school work.”
Lana served a small chuckle. She just wanted to see a classmate. “Well, we’ll let you continue your studies. We’re off!”
They exchanged some byes and then Lana and her friends departed. Kay was alone once again.
For a guy that had spent the last few days with his heart beating fast, he was still able to engage in proper small talk. No one would have known that he was attacked by a blue chick with a staff the other day. Heck, probably no one would have believed him if he explained himself.
Kay had been waiting for Philly to show himself again. He hadn’t seen the fox since the day of the attack. Although Kay nor Philly ever said it, Philly was the commanding officer in that duo, at least as far as Kay was concerned. The boy relied on Philly as both the strategist for superhero affairs and also his link to the broader supernatural world, a glossary of sorts.
So what was Philly waiting on? Why hadn’t the two talked since Friday? The question frustrated Kay and stoked nuisance in his heart. He was tired of waiting. He would have to go see his fox friend and see what was up.
Although, Kay worried something might have happened to Philly.
After school, he took a street car down to the office building where Philly claimed home. At least this time strolling through October’s cold weather, he had a sweater on underneath his leather jacket.
Kay went to the back alley, though, trying to look as casual as possible. Doing anything unusual got Kay’s worries up– like the gang would be able to identify him by the basest of nonconforming behaviour. It was paranoia, and he knew it, but as he walked into the alleyway he took his eyes up to the tops of buildings, checking to see if any fiends were watching him from above.
Nobody was there. He made it to the back of the alley without any surprise encounters with a villainous henchman. With everything clear, Kay went to the ventilation duct that Philly used as a door, put his hands to his mouth to cone his voice, and gave a whisper-shout inside. “Philly!”
Nothing. No fox responded and nobody came out of the vent.
Kay called again, a notch louder: “Philly!”
Still nothing. It had to be expected that the fox wasn’t home all the time, but it opened a strong frustration in Kay: what was he supposed to do? He waited a couple minutes to see if Philly was just out for a jog or to visit the little kit’s room but it became obvious that Philly could be gone for hours. Kay thought about leaving a note to come see him at home, but also wondered about walking around to pass some time.
He pondered on it but opted to go for a walk. He left the alleyway, hoping no one cared about him going down a strange alleyway, and looked around for a place to hang for a moment. On the way out, he checked his wallet. He only had a few loonies on him, so getting an early supper out on the town was not an option.
He could have gotten a coffee, though.
He found a Tim Hortons a block away and got himself a double-double. It was an on-the-go order but he found an unoccupied corner and sat down to enjoy his coffee. Or consume– there wasn’t much enjoyment in sitting in a Tim Hortons alone and sipping a single coffee like an old person.
While he sat there, people exiting a nearby doorway letting in waves of cold air to chill his cheeks, Kay gave himself time to think.
Did he screw up by taking on criminals? Before trying to be a superhero, he just enjoyed himself. He had water powers. They were fun and made him see the world in a way that he never knew– a perspective nobody else could ever have. Then he got in fights with a few thugs and now he couldn’t cross the cityscape without being attacked.
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The coffee cup bent between Kay’s fingers and he gritted his teeth. He had a good thing going and he had to throw it away for some Saturday morning cartoon delusions.
Kay paced out that coffee as long as he could. By the time he finished, the breezes coming into the window had cooled it to room temperature. He tossed out the cup and headed back to alleyway to see if Philly was around.
One was getting impatient, so Kay didn’t care about shifting into the alleyway suspiciously. He practically jogged on his way back to Philly’s duct.
“Philly!” he said, trying not to shout.
“Kay?” a voice called back.
Kay was relieved. The wait was over. No more awkward waiting.
And also Philly was alright. Still alive.
There was the metallic rumble and then a brown fox popped out of the duct, glancing up at Kay with bright eyes.
Kay walked into that alleyway with a scowl building on his face, but when he saw his fox friend again the anger dropped from his eyes and he gave a soft grin. “Hey.”
“Hey,” said Philly. “What’s up?”
After everything, that was Philly’s greeting? For Kay it felt like they hadn’t talked in a month. “Nothing,” said Kay. “I just wanted to see you after what happened the other day. I wanted to see you’re alright.”
“Oh,” said Philly, stepping around the alley floor, brushy tail swaying behind him. “Well... I’m alright.”
“What happened to the backpack?” asked Kay.
The backpack again! Why did the kid care so much about the backpack? Philly chortled. “I left it there.”
“But what if we need it?” asked Kay.
“I’ll get a new one,” said Philly.
Kay gave an awkward look. “So you’ll steal again?”
Philly lowered his ears and scowled at Kay. “Well, excuse me! It’s not like I have ample opportunities to engage in legitimate commerce.” He stepped around the floor, showing off the length of his vulpine body. “Or haven’t you noticed I’m a fox?”
Kay didn’t say anything. He got the point entirely.
“And it’s not like you haven’t stolen something,” said Philly. “Think of all those movies you go see without paying.”
“That’s different,” said Kay, walking up to follow Philly as the fox idled around the alleyway. “The movie is playing whether or not people are watching. I go in and I sit down and I watch it. The backpack is a solid object– a physical good.” He shrugged; it wasn’t the conversation he wanted to have. “Listen... I wanted to talk to you about what to do next.”
“What do you mean?” asked Philly.
“What I mean is...” Kay sighed, gesturing his hands out like he was trying to grasp something. But there was nothing to grasp, so he dropped his hands. “What am I supposed to do now? Those guys are after me.”
Philly dropped his snout and gave an uncertain look. “Oh... that.” It was something the fox had been reflecting upon, but he hadn’t figured out anything that would be satisfactory to Kay.
After a moment of silence, Kay spoke up. “I want to be the water elemental again, but those gang guys are after me. How am I supposed to be ‘Ghost Thing’–” and Kay’s tone was full of spite when he said the name– “when I’m being hunted down by psychic ladies?”
“I don’t know,” said Philly, walking up to a throneless trash can lid and idly flipping it upwards. “I guess the first step is finding out who these guys are... or something.”
Each second that Kay took to think about that suggestion unnerved him. Any interaction with an actual gang sounded potentially deadly. He wasn’t looking for trouble, not anymore. He needed to get back to normal.
“I can’t do that. That’s dangerous!” he said.
Philly couldn’t disagree. He sighed. “Yeah. Yeah... it is.”
Kay saw that Philly didn’t have any great answers for him. He resigned but then grew angry at his fox friend. The scowl came back. “This was your idea in the first place. Superheroing. Didn’t you have a plan for this sort of thing?”
Philly’s expression relaxed. He stepped away from the lid. “No, I didn’t expect it.”
“Why not?” asked Kay, his voice getting loud enough to roll down the alleyway. “You wanted me to fight crime and you didn’t have any idea on how to handle this situation?”
Philly shrugged, his voice dismissive. “I guess I didn’t think about it.”
Kay furrowed his brow, glaring at Philly. It was like the fox didn’t care. “So what am I supposed to do? Just wait for them to forget about me?”
Philly broke out of his apathetic fugue and offered a sympathetic half-grin. “Maybe the cops will get ‘em. Maybe you’ll turn on the news one day and you’ll see a bunch of blue people being put away.”
Oh, it was the playfulness in Philly’s voice that got Kay’s fuse to break. He groaned almost looking like he was about to kick the fox, but he stopped himself. What a waste of time that had been. Kay threw his hands up. “Well I guess I’m out of luck, then! Thanks for nothing!”
Kay stomped out of there, settling his expression as he just got back to the sidewalk so he didn’t raise too much attention from the public, although some people figured he was the guy shouting just then.
Philly watched his human friend leave, more angry than the fox had ever seen him. He was genuinely remorseful that he had introduced Kay into a world that had seemed to cost him a lot of freedom, but the fox didn’t have a lot of opportunities to socialize and have relationships, so his social skills weren’t up to par.
He sighed. It truly was bad for the boy, but Philly couldn’t do anything at the moment, so he went back inside to where it was warm.
Kay, on the other hand, waited for a streetcar to come and took it home, fuming every minute along the way. He was under threat from a mysterious group of criminals. How many of them were there? What kind of crime did they do? Was that blue lady the worst among them? Not a single one of those question did Kay have the answer.
The sky above was a dark grey sheet of cloud, hiding the sun. Kay let the blinding grey reflect off his sunglasses and sighed. That seemed about right.
When Kay returned to his apartment, nobody was home yet: not Mom, Aubrey, or Urban. He went to the fridge to get himself a nice slice of salami, took an apple, and went to the couch to watch TV.
Browsing the satellite’s guide, Kay didn’t find much. 4:30 in the PM had a reputation of being a desert of things Kay wanted to watch: for years actually. Even when he was younger, it was the slot that was slim pickings when he was binging television. He had marbled memories of the real-life Addams Family show airing at 4:30 slotted between the animated Sabrina and Johnny Bravo.
Apple in one hand, remote in the other, Kay flicked through the guide to see what was on. Maybe Kay was getting old, but Cheers– the archetypal dad sitcom– spoke to him quietly. He sighed and clicked on the show, taking Kay into the midst of an argument between Cliff and Frasier over psychiatric bills.
Kay knew Frasier as the star of his own sitcom but he was confused. “What’s Frasier doing on this show?”
Watching a cozy old sitcom was nice, but it felt like a punishment– a reminder that Kay’s fantastical life was over and now he was reduced to watching old sitcoms after school like some dirtbag from the 1990s. A week ago he was flying through Toronto’s buildings. Now he was watching a TV show for men triple his age.
Just as the episode wound down to its conclusion, Kay’s mom came through the door.
She chuckled but smiled at Kay. “Oh, you’re home,” she said, “Nowadays you’re usually out and about. It’s weird seeing you home and settled in.”
Kay needed an excuse. “Friends have been busy. And I wanted to take it easy.”
It sounded truthful.
Mom put down her purse on the island and took off a coat– stylish, but heavy enough for the incoming winter. She hung it on a hanger by the door. She glanced at Kay let out a playful chuckle. “Not that I’m complaining. I always wanted you to get out more instead of holing up in your room or in this apartment all the time.” She rolled up her sleeves. “I guess with you being gone so much recently, I started to miss you.” She gazed at him from beyond the island, then gestured an open-hand shrug. “What can I say? I’m a mother.”
That broke through Kay’s shell. The Cheers ending theme served as background music while Kay’s heart warmed and felt beloved. A small grin cracked on his face and he blushed.
Mom went to the fridge and got out a pitcher of milk. Taking a cup from the cabinet, she poured herself one. She continued talking, not needing Kay to contribute much to their conversation.
“Actually,” she said, turning her voice low, “I get worried sometimes– with you walking around late at night.” She stopped and slouched backwards. “I just worry sometimes that you’d get mugged. There’s some bad people out there late at night and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Kay’s heart sunk. Flashes of all the fights he had since becoming a superhero crossed his mind, images of attackers as vivid as oil paintings. He had to turn away from his mom, looking off in an unimportant corner of the room, as his eyes burned.
Come on, man, Kay told himself. Don’t cry.
He clenched his fingers on his pants and let a tear escape from the eye farthest away from his mom. Taking up a finger to his face, quickly, he wiped away the stray tear. Turning back to his mom, he made sure his throat wasn’t grasp by any emotion and said, “Don’t worry about that. I keep safe.”
‘I keep safe’ were the words that hurt to say.
Mom took a good drink of milk and set the glass down. She wiped her hands. “Well... since you’re here, did you want to help me make dinner?”
Kay smiled. “Yeah... Yeah, okay.”
He took the remote and turned off the TV but then his mom said, “You can leave it on. That was Cheers right?”
“Yeah,” said Kay as he flicked the TV back on and walked over the kitchen to join his mom. “Iunno. Nothing else was on.”
“Your uncle Brant loved that show,” said Mom. “Watched every episode pretty much from the first one to when it ended.”
The show was over, though. Kay wasn’t sure what the next show up was but it looked like a twentysomething sitcom. Friends-esque.
Thinking about the men in the family got Kay wondering about his dad. “Did Dad ever watch Cheers?”
Mom got a spatula out of the drawer. She thought for a moment, fiddling with it in her fingers. “I don’t think he didn’t watch it. I don’t think it was a favourite.” She shrugged. “He wasn’t a TV guy. He had his books. He always read books while I watched TV.”
It wasn’t an answer that thrilled Kay. “Oh...”
Mom got out a package of chicken breasts from the fridge. She got out the cutting board, ready to tenderize the meat, but then she looked over at Kay. “You know, since I have an assistant– I was going to just to bake these things, but we could get out some pasta and make a casserole.”
“Yeah, okay,” said Kay with earnest enthusiasm.
Kay would be staying in that night. Once again. But for some reason his apartment felt more safe than usual.