Episode 3: The Camera Photo Chase
Matt was walking with Santi. He quickly asked him, “Hey Santi, why can’t you reverse time completely until when we got these powers? Then we wouldn’t know we ever had powers.”
“I tried that but for some reason I couldn’t do it. It’s probably because I can’t suddenly reverse my power until I don’t have it. There must be some kind of rule to it.” Santi replied.
Matt faced the other way in anger as he said to himself in a stupid tone, “He tried it without telling me…”
While the two of them were talking, a tall boy with a camera took a picture. He tried to match Matt’s back side with a certain photo he picked up from the floor near the school entrance.
~~~
Matt arrived in the restroom to wash his hands. He looked into the mirror and he raised his hands, “I wonder what I should do? What CAN I do?” He frowned and a tall boy entered into the restroom. Matt watched him go to a stall. Matt went to the sink to wash his hands again to see what would happen with his hands. He thought to himself, “It slightly burns every time I shower or wash my hands with cold water… But with hot water, it’s sort of better…” The tall boy entered but Matt was focusing on the hot and cold water.
A hand touched Matt’s shoulders and Matt was surprised. He turned around and a light flame appeared on his hands. The tall boy was startled, “H-Huh? Hey…”
Matt took a step closer to the sink, “W-What do you want?!”
“I won’t hurt you. I just want to know what the heck that was.” The boy grabbed Matt’s hand, “Why is it sort of hot?”
Matt flicked away from the tall boy, “Ergh, I was washing my hand with hot water. What else?”
The tall boy was rubbing his hand, “Where is the water? Did you already dry it somehow?” Matt tried to use common sense. Flames would make a faster drought for a moist hand.
Matt looked away, “S-Stop questioning me. I’m telling the truth.”
The tall boy grabbed Matt’s other hand, “Are you sure-…” Joey was interrupted. Matt forcefully tried to get away from the tall boy. The boy held tightly onto Matt’s arm now and Matt was struggling to get away. He got angry and his hand appeared into a bigger flame than before. The tall boy quickly let go and he fell to the ground. He said in fear, “W-W-What was that? How did you…?!” He got up and yelped a shriek. He ran out of the restroom and Matt panicked.
Matt turned his head from left to right to see what he could do. In desperation, he had an idea.
~~~
Matt held onto Santi’s collar, “You’ve got to help me!!”
Santi pushed Matt away, “Easy there. What the hell do you want now?”
Matt said in embarrassment, “Some guy with a camera was holding me tightly. I tried to get away but I got carried away and flames appeared on my hands. He saw. I know it’s bad to universally reverse time, but can you please just help me?!”
Santi shook his head, “It’s a real dilemma, Matt. If I were to do such a thing again, who knows how many more of us people are out there? They might find suspicions just like Shirley did and a lot of them would report to the announcements the same way. We won’t be able to control them.”
Matt clenched his fists, “But! Who cares what they think? We’ll tell them that we’re the same, just like what we told Shirley. They’ll understand.”
Santi closed his eyes, “It’s not as easy as you think. People are not going to listen to you as easy as Shirley did. We wouldn’t know.”
Matt was on his knees as he stared at the floor in sadness, “But… that guy might report to the announcements anyway. We’re better off reversing time.”
Santi became frustrated. His tone became stronger, “Would you rather have one confused guy know, or a whole bunch of people like us in suspicion know?”
Matt was silent. Either way, people are going to suspect him. What is he going to now? He got up and he didn’t say a word when he decided to run off…
~~~
In the announcement room, the tall boy had a form. One of his new friends spoke to him, “Joey, are you sure it’s okay to announce this? It sounds kind of weird.”
“I know it does. But I’m the cameraman. I have proof anyway. Here, look at both of these pictures. I waited for the day when he decided to wear the same jacket. Don’t they match?” said Joey, who was the tall boy with the camera.
Joey’s friend simultaneously looked at the picture of Matt near the flames as well as a picture of Matt and Santi previously talking. His friend said in amazement, “Wow, this is interesting. Are you sure you didn’t Photoshop it or something? You’re pretty good at it.”
Joey screamed at him, “NO, Peter! I’m dead serious! This kid is some wacko and I need to alert people that he can be dangerous.”
Peter scratched his head, “What use is he going to do with fire? Make his cold room hot or something? Even if it is true, which I doubt, I bet he won’t use it burn down houses or kill anyone.”
Joey crossed his arms, “Seriously, Peter. That’s not my point. I tried to grab a hold of him but he was using self-defense by summoning that creepy fire out of his hand. If, in the future, someone decides to attack him, fire will be his first priority in self-defense and he will be revealed and considered as a murderer. Come on, he almost attacked me.”
Peter was silent for a moment but he had a thought that had come up in his mind, “You know, I’ve seen him around in my middle school for two years. Even if I never even talked to him once last year and two years ago, I didn’t see him use fire.”
Joey complained, “No way. Maybe no one wanted to hurt him! Don’t we have him in our English class? He seems like an innocent person. It’s obvious that no one would want to hurt him.”
Peter answered back, “Don’t you think he must have done something horrible in order to act like an innocent person?”
Joey laughed, “See, you’re agreeing with me!”
Peter shook his head, “Not really. What if he physically hurt someone? I’m not asking what if he magically hurt someone with flames. But anyway, just leave it alone for now.” Peter was annoyed by what Joey had to complain about. He decided to leave but he slammed the door.
Behind the door was Shirley, who was splat against the wall. The door closed as she fell to the ground, “Mama… Cosmo…” She suddenly stood up and shook her head from insanity. She barged into the attendance office where the announcement area is, “Joey, it’s you! Hey, I gotta-…”
Joey grabbed her shoulders, “Hey, you have to help me!”
Shirley tilted her head, “Huh? What do you want?”
Joey showed her a photo of Matt near the flames, “This DID happen, right?!”
Shirley tried to grab the photo, “Let me have it! Give it to me!” Joey raised his arms so that Shirley could not get it. Their height was very different. Shirley crossed her arms, “Damn it. I’ve known you for years. Why are you hiding it from me? I just want to see it!”
Joey showed it to her without giving her the picture, “There. You’re seeing it.”
Shirley slapped him on the shoulders, “You bastard. I wasn’t even there at the time. How can I even give an opinion on that picture? Just give me it! Matt needs it!”
Joey stopped. He began to laugh, “Heh! Matt’s his name, hm?”
Shirley covered her mouth swiftly, “Oh. I mean… (Matt… Mat… Carpet…) Ahh ah yes, yeah! Carpet! I meant to say Carpet.”
Joey turned away and he handed the photo to the advisor, “I don’t know what the hell kind of a name is Carpet, but…” He said to the advisor, “Can you check down the enroll list of students with the name of Matt? You must issue this announcement!”
Shirley shook him constantly, “Damn you damn you what the heck oh my gosh no way, I hate you!” She slapped his face as she ran out of the window, shattering the glass.
Joey stared blankly at the window, “Wow…”
~~~
A few moments later, Shirley found Matt sitting down with Jen. Shirley grabbed his collar and she said in a crazy tone, “Matt, Matt, Matt!! My friend, Joey, has your photo of you in flames and he already gave it to the advisor and now she’s going to announcement in about-…”
“All students and faculty, keep a lookout for a student named Matthew Tran. If you find him, report him to the guidance office immediately. He was suspected as dead but a student had showed me proof of him alive. This is a strange matter that needs to be taken care of. I repeat, if you find him, report him to the guidance office. That will be all!” The announcement stopped.
Jen glared at Matt. Matt stared at her as well, “…What?”
Jen grabbed his shoulder and tried to run, “Oh, I’m gonna win big money from this! Let’s go Matt. Time to turn yourself in!”
Matt shook her off, “Seriously, Jen! Stop, stop! What if I get detention for causing them trouble, or Saturday school, or even worse…, suspected, or maybe even expelled?! NO! Or maybe they will put me to jail or sentence me to death. Jen, you’ve got to help me!”
Shirley slapped Matt, “Wrong person to ask.”
Matt paused then he suddenly grabbed Shirley and ran off a few meters away. He whispered to her, “Hey, how did this happen?!” Shirley explained to him about how she found Joey and how he reported to the advisor. “You and your shortness. That just revealed me from the whole school!!”
Kalpesh appeared out of nowhere, “There he is!!” Stan was next to him. Kalpesh ran towards Matt and Matt ran off. Stan stood there. He seemed uninterested and bored. Shirley was freaking out. She was vigorously messing with her hair.
As Matt and Kalpesh kept running, a crowd started to follow in. Matt was running away from over 50 people after a few minutes. An exponential growth began to develop and many more people decided to jump in. As usual, Matt was not able to run from every single person. At least two people caught up to him and grabbed a hold of him. Everyone else caught up and did the same. Matt tried to attack all of them as he thought to himself, “No… I’ve got to calm down… or else…!” He closed his eyes, thinking of all the goodness in his life.
Suddenly, a small piece of ice fell from the sky onto Kalpesh. Kalpesh looked up, “Ow! Where the heck did that come from?” Everyone watched as the piece of ice fell into the floor. After that, over 100 pieces of ice fell at once near Matt.
The ice inflicted Matt. He jumped up and screamed, “Ow! Ow, it’s cold! It burns!” A large amount of flame appeared from his whole body. Everyone watched in fear. Matt’s heart was racing but as he saw all of the students, the flames dispersed. Matt fell to the floor in exhaustion, “I… No… This can’t be happening…” Shirley, from afar, knelt down in exhaustion as well. She expelled so much ice that she could not even handle. Matt had no more feelings to express. He knew it was over for him. He might even be sent to a research lab or wherever else…
At that moment, a man dragged him away and ran. Everyone was too afraid to follow after a maniac who would excess flames out of his own body. In an alleyway, Santi dropped Matt onto the floor. He yelled, “How the hell did this happen?! Are you freaking crazy?!”
Matt looked away, “I’m sorry… they all did this to me…”
Santi punched Matt on the top of his head, “This is really starting to get on my nerves. Now you’re forcing me to reverse time. I have to do it.” Matt felt ashamed. Santi closed his eyes as he began to think of time. Matt’s stomach paused and then everything else did as well. Slowly, and faster and faster, Santi began to reverse time…
~~~
Matt and Shirley ran towards the attendance office. Shirley barged in before Peter could open the door. Shirley stared at Peter and smiled. She knocked him down with a punch as she stepped on him while talking to Joey, “You! Give me that picture!”
Matt was behind her. He spoke up, “Sorry, whoever you are. I photoshopped that picture for my friend. She said she loves animation.”
Joey looked at the picture, “It’s not animation, really.”
Matt jumped in surprise. Matt did not know much about photoshopping as he didn’t know what he was saying. Matt chuckled, “Ahaha, of course it’s not. I was just kidding. I only edited the picture.”
Joey handed Shirley the picture, “Oh, is that it? I made a big deal about it for no reason then. Hrm, I guess I’ll be going. Peter, let’s go.” Peter was on the floor, in pain and with shoe marks all over his body.
As they both left, Matt and Shirley sighed. Shirley gave Matt the picture and a thumbs-up, “Nice one!”
Matt did the same with a smile, “Yeah, and it’s thanks to your help!”
They both laughed together. A boy with crazy hair and glasses was glaring at them. He thought to himself, “Something is not right…”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, Santi and I had been experiencing more frequent earthquakes only nearby them! Something strange is going on. No one else had felt the earthquake but when I notices something strange, I decide to focus on it by following the shakes. It turns out to be a disaster for me and my new friends! Next chapter... The Earthquake Abuse!
ShirleyC: Remember, don't fall!
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