Time seemed to fly by and drag at the same time. There was the normal flow of traffic through the store as people came in to chill after their classes this fine Tuesday evening. Nothing really exceptional happened. For some reason, every time I came to work, I was expecting some type of hocus pocus or time warp incident to occur. You know, something to liven things up. Sometimes Cardinal City was destructively boring.

As I shooed out the last few stragglers from the top floor, I knocked over a small bowl of bouncy balls that had different superhero symbols on them. A few rolled behind a bookcase that held movies and boxed seasons of my favorite shows.

I sighed, frustrated by the accident. If I just left it for the night, Mr. Powers would have his spidey-senses tingling in his sleep. He probably knows how many bouncy balls were in the bowl. He was freakishly aware like that. If I even moved something—just to get some variety around the store—he knew immediately. Usually, he didn’t have a problem with it because he liked it, but it seriously made me wonder if he has psychic abilities.

After locking the doors so no one else could enter, I went back up to the second floor to gather the balls. The ones in front of the shelves were a cakewalk, but the ones behind it were spiting me. Clearly, I didn’t give those few enough attention.

Carefully, I managed to move the bookcase and only have two DVDs fall. It was a new record.

As I reached down and gathered the three rebel balls, I noticed one of the symbols were a yellow lightning bolt. “Ooh, I had it feeling it was you, Flash. What do you think you are, the fastest ball that rolled?” I laughed to myself as I put them back in the bowl.

“Ok, bookcase, if we both cooperate there won’t be any problems, you hear?”

Just as I grabbed the sides of it, I noticed a latch on the wall. I had nearly missed it thanks to the latch being hidden behind all the DVDs. I looked at the wall more carefully and realized that there was a faint outline of a doorway.

How have I never noticed this before? I thought, tracing the faint line with my fingertip. Well, duh, it was hidden behind a bookcase. Oh, aren’t they always.

Excited by this new development, I pulled up on the latch. It was tough to move—almost like it was glued or rusted, but when I finally got it, the doorway opened with only the slightest creak.

Oh, no… I said to myself as I stared down the faintly lit staircase. This is the part in the movies where the curious, innocent bystander gets taken hostage by the evil spirit that lurks beneath the surface. Or worse… dies as an example that they’re a force to be reckoned with…

I shook my head as I started to close the door. Not today you don’t, monster. Not today.

Before closing it completely, I stopped and stuck my head in for a moment, to see if I could spot anything else. All I could make out though was a staircase that descended into darkness.

Come on, Penn, woman up! You’ve been waiting for something like this to happen to you all your life. This is the time to take advantage!

That might have been true, but not at the expense of my last sight being a fangy demon that likes the taste of human flesh.

Still though, my curiosity was getting the best of me. I felt this deep pull to investigate. Which only meant that it would nag at me until I figured it out. Gosh, why am I so nosy?

Taking a deep breath, I took the first step into the doorway. Just as I was about to go down the stairs, the church’s clock tower went off and scared the living sense into me. I slammed the door shut and leaned against the wall, trying to remember that my heartbeat was an involuntary action and not something I could regulate at will.

Damn, it’s already ten?

I needed to leave. If I stood any longer, I might actually make myself extinct, and I was a rare kind of person as it was. Probably weird, but rare.

Cautiously, I fixed the bookcase back the way it normally was, hiding the mystery doorway of possible death behind it.

I’ll come back to it the next time I work. I decided. Then, I’ll figure out once and for all what’s behind door number one.

Leaving the second floor, I shut the lights off and made my way towards the exit.

*****

I sighed as I locked the front doors to my version of Disneyland—even though not a second ago I was terrified like I was in a Predator movie.

Colin didn’t show. I remembered. Figures.

I didn’t even know why I had my hopes up. He almost never came back to POW! after he left.

“Well, if it isn’t Penelope Benson: superhero extraordinaire!”

I turned around to see Jack laughing at me. “Well if it isn’t Jack Hamilton: super-brain extraordinaire!” I mocked, sticking my tongue out at him. “And call me Penn, not Penelope.”

“Hey, most women like my super-brain, thank you very much.” He smirked, ignoring my last comment.

True to his word, women did find Jack appealing. And he really wasn’t that bad to look at. Some would even go so far as to call him hot. Those poor souls… As for women liking his super-brain, I sometimes wondered if it wasn’t because they could easily convince him to do all their homework for them.

“Uh huh,” I replied, walking away as he followed—just as I knew he would. Not that I think of myself as all that, but Jack tended to get a kick out of annoying me. “Sure they do.”

“Heading back to CSU alone?” he asked, an almost foxy smile still in place.

“Yeah, closed up shop for the night.” I watched him wearily. “Why?”

“I’m going that way too. I’ll join you.” After a blissful pause, he said, “So, no lover-boy tonight?”

I felt myself twitch for a second as he referred to Colin. I swear half the city knows I like him.

“Nope. No science project tonight?”

Jack—as irritating as he could be—was a brilliant scientist-in-training. You could throw any field of the subject at him and he picked it up like a penny off the street. It honestly didn’t matter what it was: cellular, chemical, biological. He reveled in it, always working on one new project or another. It’s probably the only thing I know for certain that he’s serious about.

“Just got a break from it actually.” I could feel his eyes on the side of my face. I glanced over at him, catching Jack’s caramel colored orbs. “It’s a really amazing project. Probably my most interesting one yet.”

“What is it?”

Jack looked at me sternly like he was contemplating whether or not to tell me. “I can’t say. It’s top secret.” He winked.

“Oh, come on!” I shoved him lightly, making him rock a little as he chuckled. “You can’t just say something like that to me. It’ll drive me nuts for weeks! Please tell me?” I stared up at him—just above the rim of my glasses—in an attempt to give him my best puppy-dog face. But if Jack was anything like my little brother, it wouldn’t work on him. “Please!”

Jack managed to put a lid on his laughter as he ran one of his slightly tan hands through his short curly hair. Suddenly, he grabbed my arm and pushed me into an alley and against one of the brick buildings. No one seemed to notice us as they walked past.

I wasn't sure what was more appalling to me, that Jack had me in this position or that nobody in CC gave a damn that I just got shoved into an alley. I found my head tilting up, forcing me to really notice how much taller Jack was than me. I'd guess around five foot ten... maybe five foot eleven.

What the hell does he think he’s doing!?

I glowered up at him. His face was very grave. He leaned in close, and for a second, my heart forgot how to work. As I realized he was just going to whisper in my ear, I rediscovered how to breathe.

“Penn, it really is top secret.” He confessed. “The government asked Professor Blake to develop a specific type of material, and the good professor offered me a lab assistant position on the project.” He pulled back a bit to grin. “Pretty epic, right? But I really can’t say anymore. You won’t tell anyone though, right? The government could kill me for just revealing to you that much. They make us feel like rats in cage sometimes. It makes me want to break the rules.” He smirked.

“Of course I will. I’m snapping it right now.” I joked. Jack instantly gave me this paranoid face that I couldn’t help but laugh at. “Jack, obviously I won’t say anything. Don’t worry. But I do have a question. By material, do you mean like a cloth or fabric? If so, it sounds like something Des should be doing.” I snickered as I pushed my arm out of his grip and finally restarted walking on the sidewalk.

“Possibly,” he shrugged, not giving me any more clues to his new assignment. “It’s pretty cool nonetheless.”

After a few more minutes of brief chit-chat about nothing in particular, we walked in comfortable silence to our apartment complex. Cardinal State University had some of the best apartments around. Part of the reason people tend to lean towards CSU is for the sweet digs that the university supplies. It also helps that the school is one of the top colleges in the nation—thus having all the cool toys like the Olympic-sized swimming pool and the awesome lounges that were in each dormitory for public use. It was a cross between an arcade and a movie theater. It was pretty sick.

When we reached our building, the two of us raced up the stairs. Jack and I lived on the same floor. Something that irked me, but that I’m sure gave him a reason to jump for joy at the convenience of only having to scream down the hall to vex me.

“Well, here’s my stop.” Jack gestured towards his door. “Nice talking to you, Penelope. See you around.” He winked one more time at me tonight and rushed through his door before I had time to smack him.

“I told you to not to call me that!” I growled, flustered as I walked over to my own apartment.