“Sahil?”
“Present sir,” I raised my head to show my face to the teacher.
“Wait. Why are you wearing sunglasses in the classroom?” The teacher pointed his chalk at the elephant in the room, forcing everyone to notice.
Then the gals and the guys who had been holding the question in their guts came scrambling out of the shade with their forks and tongs to prod the elephant. It was a circus once again. Comments sailed from the north end and exploding laughter at the south. This was the sixth period and the sixth teacher today who had asked me the same question. One of them had even decided to check for the truth and realized he was in the wrong when I hissed in pain and crouched down holding my face and head.
“He’s a superhero after all,” One of my classmates added, raising some laughter.
How he’d hit the spot and missed it was both baffling and amusing to me. I ignored them and told my teacher, “I have an eye problem. The doctor told me to cover my eyes.”
“Is it an infection?” The teacher asked worryingly.
Mr. Gurcharan; was in his forties but looked a lot younger. Like one of those German scientists shown in American war movies, he had a clean shaved face with a razor-sharp jawline and sleek black hair parted at the side. Short in stature compared to the other teachers, but with an equal or straighter back. He was a prideful man.
“No, but the light and the wind are hurting me. My eyes keep watering up and so…”
“Are you telling the truth?”
“Of course sir, why would I lie to you about this thing?” I wasn’t telling the truth.
“All right, sit down.”
I didn’t have any eye problems. Actually, I did, but not in a normal way.
I had one hell of a time last night, but I didn’t know what kind of a morning awaited me. It all started after I helped my brother with his homework, thus completing the task and acquiring the superpower super brain. Then I did what any sane person would after a hard day’s work. I went back to my room to test the results. The results were good, not great, but I felt the improvements myself. The super brain improved my thinking ability. The logic that used to seem distant and convoluted straightened somewhat and the definitions that I had to read repeatedly became easier to read.
The same chapter of the physics book that I couldn’t get through after staying up for two hours a day before, I finished it all in one and a half hours and I was fairly happy with myself.
Still, not everything was great. The superpower consumed a lot of power. I stopped studying not because I grew tired. Who grows tired of their new toy so easily? I still hadn’t tested the limits of my improved brain. I stopped studying because I was hungry. It gnawed at my stomach. My first power, Disguise, also had such an effect and so did this one. I could see an endless pattern developing. In which I was in a constant and unwinnable race with my ever-growing energy needs.
Not only did I feel hungry, I also started to develop a headache. Thankfully, I had learned from my past mistakes and didn’t overwork myself. My mother would have been convinced that I was doing drugs after seeing my insatiable hunger and maniac behavior otherwise.
The hunger I displayed though still surprised both my parents, as I not only ate twice as much, I even asked for some late-night snacks, which got me booted off the dinner table. Even Abhey paid close attention to me with his eyes all squinted and brows all frowned. Who knew what kind of creepy plan brewed behind his glowing dark brown eyes?
Besides, he still hadn’t let up about my suddenly improved skin texture. He kept asking me about it yesterday while I was teaching him. I say teaching, but I barely provided input. He was not just a fool with a loud mouth, I realized yesterday. I somehow got rid of him by announcing my awesomeness to puberty and hormonal change, and he not having been through puberty yet couldn’t come up with a retort. I know he had only settled down for now. I was sure he’d be back with more questions about it after brushing up his knowledge on goggle. I was not too worried about him though. It was not like I’d become a white person overnight. I planned to tell him to drink more water and stay hydrated if pestered me about it.
Another so-called weakness of the super brain was that although it improved my intelligence and hence made it easier to understand difficult concepts… slightly. My memory retention remained the same. Meaning, that although I studied for almost two hours, I only retained a few things from the stuff I studied. I was already forgetting some of it by the time night came around. And I didn’t remember any of the problems I solved. I mean I could tell I had solved it but when I looked at the question in the morning, my mind came up blank.
So, when the clock struck midnight, I did what any sane person would do. I wished for a superpower that would improve my memory. This was the third time I was wishing for a superpower from the system, but the experience was still as novel as it was the second time. The first time was all too confusing and disjointing. Thankfully, I was now used to it enough that I didn’t scream out in hysteria like last night.
I also realized after my first two attempts that I didn’t need to specify the superpower I required. I only needed to provide a description of sorts and the system could take over the rest. I also realized that the power given by the system was of the lowest denominator. Such that even if I had asked for the power to manipulate fire, it might only allow me to move fire with my hands or mind instead of conjuring it out of nothing.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[The Daily superpower system has heard your wish!]
[Photographic memory is an excellent tool that can’t just help you exceed in your studies, but save everything and anything that you see in your daily life in varied detail.]
[Task level: E]
[Win a game of card matching at a hard level without any external aid.]
[Would you like to accept the task to acquire the ability? Yes/No]
The task was simpler than the last two. I presumed so. Thinking back, all three tasks so far have been simple and easy to complete. Be it breaking the mirror or helping my brother with this homework. There was nothing tedious about either of the tasks. Though they had profound after-effects on my life.
A card-matching game I found was a game in which you have a 2x2 or more grid of cards laid face down on a surface. The computer randomly flips them over once so you can remember which cards are laid where so when it’s your turn you can match cards. And only when matching cards are flipped do you score otherwise, all the cards flip over once again and you have to start over. You win when all the cards are successfully matched.
At hard level, I was given a ten-by-ten grid of cards that flashed their faces all at once for a couple of seconds before turning over. It was a hard game to win. By the time, I completed the task it was already three of clock in the morning! I didn’t test the superpower out of fear that I wouldn’t be able to sleep later. I was also exhausted by then. It proved to be the right decision because when I woke up in the morning my life changed for the worse.
The system wasn’t kidding when it said I would remember every detail I saw in varied detail. I believe there is a filter in our brain that removes the useless memories and only keeps that which it deems important. Memories that have strong emotions associated with them. Your first love; the most delicious meal of your life; your first time riding a bike at 100km/hr; that day your mother slapped you. Things like that. Some people practice hard to adjust that filter so they can remember the world better. The superpower completely removed the filter.
Although it was only a memory of everything that I saw, when you remember everything to the littlest detail it quickly becomes a burden on your brain. Especially when you also have a super brain working in the background. Thankfully, I only retained the visual memories and not the audible or sensory data of my daily life.
So came the sunglasses. My mother had a few words to say about my choice and so did my brother. He called me a show-off. As if he knew the meaning of that word! If my mother only jokingly thought I was taking drugs before, then now her delusion had evidential backing. It was one of the memories from that morning that I remember with clarity. The anguish and disappointment in her eyes had never been so clear and hateful. The anger on her nose and her clenched fists; I’m sure she had called my father after we left home and told him her positively certain train of thoughts and ratted me out as an addict.
Even though I wasn’t taking any kind of drugs, the so-called proofs suggested that I was.
The glasses were a panacea but not the solution. I needed to get rid of the skill. I asked the system and it told me in clear words that it was impossible with its silence. Since the system was no help. I decided to take the matter into my own hands and decided that when midnight strikes, I would ask for a superpower limiter that would block a specific power while the limiter was active, and working, I didn’t know whether it would work, but I had full confidence in the system. That was how I deceived myself.
Now my head felt like it was gonna explode and to top it all, I was feeling hungry. This thing was very power-hungry too. The pattern was clearer than ever. Superpowers were good, but if each of them were gonna take a limited amount of energy from my body then I needed to find a way to absorb energy from food, from the environment, faster, because my body’s natural absorption was already feeling stressed. It was either that or I kept munching power bars every hour. The latter was impossible. It was a money problem. I didn’t have an allowance. My parents didn’t believe in it.
There weren’t only downsides to the superpower. Not only did photographic memory improve my knowledge retention and improved my learning capability by over 100%, it also made it easier for me to disguise myself. Being able to remember everything, I no longer needed to carry a reference photo with me. What photo did I need when my mind was the clearest mirror in existence?
That was not all. I looked at my test paper that the teacher had just returned. The result could be imagined. After a year of failure, for the first time since I entered high school, I passed a test.
“I still don’t believe it,” Kartik said staring at my paper. Clenching it, so hard he was crumpling the sides of the paper. “How did you do it? You are not only getting more handsome by the day but also starting to wake up academically. Did something happen? Is it love?”
I scoffed at the idea of it. “Do you think someone could fall in love with me?”
He looked me up and down and said, “The old you? No way,”
I punched him playfully in the chest. He grabbed my hand and started laughing. “I’m joking man. Why be so serious? But on that note – what do you think about her?” He said gesturing behind me.
I looked back and saw Sonam looking toward us. She panicked when our eyes met and looked away in a hurry as if that would make a difference.
“Is there something going on between you two?” Kartik whispered in my ears.
“Hell if I know what’s wrong with her,” I said after turning back to face him.
“You might not get another chance you know? She might be interested in you today, but who knows whom she’ll be interested in tomorrow? I think you should strike it while the iron’s hot. Leave an impression on her that she can’t forget.” The devil whispered.
I took a breath and got up from the seat.
“Hey,” Kartik jumped after me. “Are you really going to ask her?”
“No. I’m going to get you some water. You need to cool down, man. Geez.”
I did say that but inside I knew he was right. If I wanted to do something, I had to do it now. No point crying over spilled water. Unfortunately, even the superpowers weren’t good enough to boost my confidence enough to jump over the line. Besides, I didn’t think I was ready to fall for someone again so quickly after last time. Anjali was still on my mind, heart, and soul. My mind was still a prison and I was still its captive. Nothing had changed.