Supercurl

"The least you can do is hear us out."

Rick looks at the older couple but begins to walk away. "I already know what you want ... The answer is NO".

"What good is having your abilities if you aren't going to use them to help people?! Is it because we are Black?" Emily asked.

These words seemed to hold Rick's feet in place. He turned to look at her and did his best to mask the frustration he was feeling.

"Please, don't go there." Rick responded. "I think my track record for helping people of all ethnic groups speaks for itself, Mrs. Levine. You don't think I tried helping disabled people like your daughter before? You don't think I want to make things better? Lady, I've done everything that I could to help solve peoples' problems for them, and what did it get me besides ... more stuff?"

"Some of us still believe in you even after you left the public eye." She replied.

"I never really left...not yet anyway. People just stop coming around once they realized that I was done with being their savior. I'm tired of trying to save a world that doesn't want to solve it's own problems."

"I'm not talking about saving the world. I'm talking about saving my girl. PLEASE!"

Mr. Levine walks up the small set of stairs leading to Rick's front porch. "I know you can do it. If you choose not to, then you're just letting her die. How is that different from killing her yourself? If you had a child, you would understand."

"That may well be true, but I can't have children of my own. It was part of the arrangement."

"What arrangement?" She asked.

"Nothing ... look, I'm sorry your daughter is dying, but I'm done with using my abilities to help people. If you need a sofa moved, fine. If you want to organize an environmental clean up, great. But no more use of any super abilities. I've had enough. Now, if you'll excuse me. I do have other matters to attend to."

Mrs. Levine quickly moves to cut off Rick's path. "You are not going to turn your back on us. Not like this."

He halted his march back towards his 10-room mansion with luxury swimming pool and just stared at her for a moment.

Rick had acquired so much over the years. Donations, paid appearances, consulting jobs for the military. The money just kept pouring in, but despite his wealth, Rick felt an emptiness that he couldn't completely explain.

He towered over the desperate mother by at least 2 feet. He looked down at her, but couldn't make eye contact anymore. Rick places a hand on her shoulder. "What's your daughter's name?" He askes.

"Samantha Jane Levine. Look at her." Emily motions with her head to a frangible little woman sitting in a wheelchair 50 meters behind Rick.

Mr. Bruce Levine finally decided to break his silence again and say something to the redoubtable strong man. "Mr. Norton, we don't want you to do anything that you feel is ethically wrong so I'll just ask you to do this - look at my daughter and tell her that you're able to help her, but you're choosing not to. I promised her that I would do absolutely everything that I could to help her. I mean everything. If you let her know why you chose not to help her, we will leave."

Emily nodded. "We've tried everything. There was no health insurance since Bruce lost his job. We used all our money to pay for experimental treatments, but this disease is worse than cancer. We used what little we had left to get a plane ticket to Florida, just to see you."

My wife hates to tell you all of this because it makes us seem poor, but it's the truth. We refinanced the house. Sold one of our cars. Even after we came here, we paid your agent an additional 3 thousand dollars for this meeting alone. If we go back, we will be going back to watch her slowly die. She doesn't deserve this. Just go talk to her."

Rick looks over to the dark skinned young woman in the wheelchair and begins to walk towards her. She seemed very weak, but a huge smile spread across her face when she saw him approaching. He smiled back and began to walk more quickly.

"Why didn;t you just fly over here? It would've been faster." She asked.

"Believe it or not, sometimes I like to walk. It reminds me of what things were like before I had thse powers. How are you, Samantha? I'm Rick Norton."

"Oh, really. Thanks for telling me. I would've never known that otherwise." Samantha replied sarcastically.

"Oh, a little smart ass, huh? How old are you?"

"I'm 18. Just got accepted into FIU."

"Ahhh a Florida school. You know, I was raised here. I never went to college though, so you're probably smarter than I am. Spent most of my 20s in the Army and most of my 30s chasing women."

"So you don't chase women anymore?"

"Well, they all seem to want me for money or fame these days. It's a bit of a curse, really."

"Well, if that's a curse, then I don't want to be blessed."

"You are blessed, child. To have a mother like yours. A father willing to do anything for you. You don't know what it's like to be me, Samantha. I actually never had caring parents like yours. I was mostly raised by my uncle and he was very old during my childhood. I grew up watching people hurt each other. In the city, on the streets, drugs, gang violence, and then again during combat operations. After obtaining these abilities, I've tried to help so many people all over the world only to see them kill more people than I could possibly help every single day."

"I've seen you on television, Rick. You're so powerful that you could take over all governments and force them to do what's right. Destroy all of our nuclear weapons, distribute food, end poverty. Cure any disease..." She begins to rub her arms as if she were cold and looks away.

Rick Norton kneels down, but still can't quite bring himself to look her in the eyes.

"Sure, I could do all of those things, but..."

"Then why don't you?!" She yells.

He remains in silence and considers his next response.

"Why don't you?" She asks again, but this time in a calm voice. .

"I don't think you'd truly grok my explanation, Samantha. It's very complicated."

"I'm not afraid of dying, you know? It's all I've been thinking about since I was diagnosed with this disorder. I don't want to die, Rick, but I'm ready if the time comes."

"That's not something that an 18-year-old should have to say, child."

"I've been reading up on people with near-death experiences. They say it's not so bad on the other side, so I'm not sca...."

"What exactly is wrong with you?"He interjected.

"It's called Prishnoria Syndrome. My cells lack an essential gene that signals my body to produce more mitochondria in response to demand. It's very rare and progressively gets worse over time, and soon I won't be able to even chew my own food. Eventually, my cell mitochondria levels will drop to almost zero."

"What would you do if you had my abilities?" He asked.

"Your powers? I...I don't know. I suppose the first thing I'd do is cure everyone in the world that had this disease. I would try to help people like you did...back in the day."

"Would you take over the world if you were strong enough to do it?"

"I can barely take over a seat in a movie theater, let alone take over the world, Rick. Even with your powers...I don't know. I honestly don't know what I'd do. The world is big and there's so much I have to learn before I can just ... start changing things, I guess"

His smile returns and he places a hand on her head. "Thank you." He said. "Thank you so much."

"For what?"

"For being honest. Most people when I ask them what they would do with my powers go on and on about saving the world and creating world peace and ending all crime and curing all diseases. Even you started off with that crap, but when really pressed to consider your course of actions, you told me that you weren't sure what you would do. I think you might actually be starting to understand things. Maybe ..."

"What the hell are you talking about, Rick?" Samantha asked.

He stands up and looks over to Mr. and Mrs. Levine. "I'll make sure my agent gives you back your 3 grand ... times 2. You'll also be compensated for any airfare and transportation costs. Enjoy the time that you have left with her. This is an amazing young lady, I can tell. You two are absolutely amazing parents. I know things are hard, but they will get better ... and then ... they will get worse." Rick sighs, but manages to smile at Emily and Bruce Levine before turning to face Samantha one last time.

"I'm sorry, Samantha. I really am, but ... you'll understand my actions in the end. I promise." He leans in and kisses her forehead before levitating a few feet off of the ground and saluting her. "Don't be a bitch, or there will be consequences, Samantha. I mean it" He winks at her.

"Um ... okay." She replied. "I'll...try not to be? What?" She replied.

Rick Norton rapidly lifted off and disappeared into the clouds above. Samantha's mother slowly walked over to her husband and embraced him. She could feel the tears running down her face and her heart sink, but she knew that she had done what she'd promised her daughter.

"We tried, Emily. Let's just head back. We still have at least another 6 months with her. It's not like she'll be gone tomorrow. Her birthday is in 2 weeks. We still have something to look forward to."

Emily wiped the tears away and smiled. "You're right. We'll throw her the biggest birthday party ever."

"Damn right, we will." Bruce replied. "We are still a family. Let's head home."

November 11th. 3 months later.

"This was actually fun, but ..."

Jazlynn interrupted her best friend before she could finish the thought. "Hey! You promised we wouldn't talk about this while I was here. Nothing but good times today, right?"

"I know" replied Samantha. "I just wish I had more time."

"It was great of everyone to show up tonight though. Look, if you wanna talk about it, we can talk about it, Sam."

"There's so much that I wanted to do with my life, you know?"

"Run for congress?"

"Um...no." Sam replied.

"Win a nobel prize?"

"Possibly..." Sam scratches her chin and looks upward to feighn interest in the idea.

"Have sex?"

Sam looks at her friend with curiousity. "How do you know I haven't done that already?"

They both laugh as they continue to nurse their bottles of Smirnoff. The two friends remained upstairs well into the AM and relaxed in Samantha's bedroom upstairs.

"Well, at least you can cross off getting drunk with your BFF." Jazlynn said.

"There's that. Although, I gotta be honest, I'm not really feeling a buzz. What time is it?" Samantha asked.

"Almost 2 AM. I'd better get a Lyft home before my parents send out the FBI to come and find me. You need anything else before I head out?"

"Some more Cheez-its would be nice."

"You got it. I'll be right back." Jazlynn headed towards the door.

"Could you also bring up some more oatmeal cream pies?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, no sweat."

"Since ... you're going down anyway ..." Samantha said.

Jazlynn sighed, rolled her eyes, and slowly turned to face the birthday girl.

"Think you could bring me a bag of the chipotle kettled cooked Lays potatoe chips?" Sam asked.

"Anything else, you're majesty?"

"Girl, I am litertally dying here. You gonna deny me my right to consume as much junk food as I can while not feling guilty?"

Jazlynn responded only by putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head.

"Just bring the chips ..." Sam said.

"You got it." With the order complete, Jazlynn now walked out of the room.

"Seriously, that's all. Just the chips." Sam yelled to her.

She's such a good friend, Samantha thought to herself. I bet she'll mss me for about a month and then find another girl to hang with. I suppose that's normal. I don't really even want the chips any more. I should just get an apple and some water to drink. Fiji would be nice right about now.

Jazlynn returned a few minutes later and shook her head in disappointment.

"I'm glad you changed your mind about the chips, but there is no Fiji water in the fridge; only Desani. I got you an apple too."

"I didn't ask for an apple or water. I told you to bring me potato chips."

"Yeah and then you said you didn't really want the chips any more. You said you were in the mood for Fiji water and that you should get an apple."

"Jazlynn, I DIDN'T say that!"

"You did ... I heard you say it when I was downstairs."

"I appreciate the water and apple. It is what I was craving to be honest." Sam takes a drink of Dasani water and stands up to throw the bottle away in a small trash can.

Jazlynn's lower jaw nearly hits the floor and her eyes widen. "What the hell, Samantha?!"

Samantha halts halfway to the bin and looks down at her feet. "Oh my God!"

"Oh your God?!" Jazlynn replied.

"Oh my God!" Samantha nodded.

Samantha screams with excitement sending waves of sound through the entire house, which shatters every glass object including windows and bottles. The walls in the home crack and metal objects become warped and twisted. Jazlynn instictively covers her ears as best she can and drops to the floor with her head to the carpet.

Samantha stops her screaming and observes the destruction she has caused around her home. She helps her friend up to her feet and they walk out of the bedroom together. Broken glass, a creacked floor, chunks of drywall, and once mounted pictures, all lay broken on the living room floor.

"I just wanna say one things, Sam. And I really mean this." She looks seriously at her friend and places a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not helping you clean any of this shit up."