Last night was probably one of the most stressful in a while. I didn’t expect Sophie to drag me out of the house, but at least she didn’t tell Mom and Dad about what I did. On the other hand, I think Sophie was grounded for taking me out with her. To be fair, she did take me out against my will.

I woke up on Sunday and decided that I was going to finish my comic book. I had everything sketched out, and a few pages colored already, but I had to color the rest of the pages and do the front cover sketch too.

When the inside was fully colored, I turned my attention back to the front cover again, trying to decide what to make it. I sketched a picture out, colored it, and wrote “Lady Rebel vs. Bulimia” across the top of it. 

Lady Rebel was a high-school girl named Sophia Scarn who was trained in martial arts and fistfighting by her hero aunt, named The Sparrow. In 8th grade, Lady Rebel was gifted the power of heightened reflexes and senses by a superpowered high-school senior in her school. From then, she used her powers combined with her training to be a hero. She cares deeply about her brother and parents, and protects the city for them.

Bulimion was a man in his mid 30s who worked as an accountant before being infected with an experimental bacteria and being unable to keep food down. He then learned how to attack other people with this bacteria to slowly, or quickly, kill them. His lofty and very unlikely goal is to rule the world.

I finished coloring the cover page and looked at my great work. Finally, a comic I can call my own. I grabbed it and rushed to Dad’s office, passing Sophie asleep sitting on a chair in front of the bathroom. Yeah, I never said she was grounded to her room.

“Dad, Dad, Dad!” I said excitedly. “I want you to read something.”

“Can… this wait, Ben?” dad asked, barely keeping himself awake at his computer. “I’m almost out of coffee and I have to make this cup last.”

“Daaaad, it’ll be quick!”

“Alright,” he said, caving in. “Let’s see it.”

I handed dad a few pages of paper stapled together. The front of it had a woman in a costume, and had “Lady Rebel” across the top. Dad rubbed his eyes and took a long sip of coffee before sighing.

“Ben, is this your sister as a superhero?” he asked.

“Daddd, just readdd!”

He opened the book and found that the pages were actually a comic book that I had drawn. Dad flipped through the book and read everything, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head every once in a while until he finished the book and downed the rest of his coffee.

“So…” he wasn’t sure where to start. “It was a comic book about the teenage superhero Lady Rebel battling against the supervillain Bulimion and rescue her brother, who he took hostage.”

“Mhm,” I confirmed.

“I’m… keeping this to show your mother later,” he said, slipping the comic into his desk.

“Wait, I need that to look back on for issue two!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give it back later. We’ll talk all about issues later.”

*   *   *   *   *

I happily sat down at the kitchen table where Mom said she wanted to talk to him about his comic. It had taken me a while to complete and I was fairly proud of it. However, I could tell from the moment Mom entered the room by herself with a frown that things were not fine. She took a seat.

“So Ben,” she said, taking out my comic book and putting it on the table. “Bulimion. Really?” I nervously shrugged. I guess she wasn’t quite impressed by it.

“It was all for fun,” I said. “Just a story.”

“Mhm, and Lady Rebel doesn’t sleep in the room next to yours?”

“It’s all made up!” I kept insisting. “It’s just superheroes, Mom!”

“If it’s just superheroes then you don’t have to get worked up, right?” Mom challenged, narrowing her eyes. I kept my mouth shut. Last thing I needed was to say something else for her to use against me. She held up the comic for me to see the front cover that I was really proud of. “The therapist is reading this next week.”

“Mommm!” I whined.

*   *   *   *   *

“What’re ya doin’?” Sophie asked, peeking into my room from her chair while eating a lollipop. Where did she even get that?

“Making another comic,” I answered. “And I’m going to take photocopies of this one.”

“Good call,” she agreed. I had told her about my comic and how Mom and Dad took it to show to the therapist. She couldn’t really move, so she had no choice but to listen. “So what’s Lady Rebel going against next?”

“I dunno,” I groaned. “She defeated Bulimion and I dunno who her next villain would be. I didn’t think this far ahead.”

“Hm…” Sophie ate the rest of the lollipop in one crunch and threw the stick away. She put a smirk on her face. “I’ve got a bit of inspiration for you.”

“Yeah?” I said, perking my head up. Sophie wasn’t usually one of the large creative types, so I was surprised she wanted to help me with this.

“Mhm, she’s this villain called… Anorexus.”

“Anorexus?” I asked. I reached to the nightstand beside my bed and grabbed my notepad and wrote something down. “What else?”

“More info, hm? Well… she used to be just a regular woman named Diana Robinson until she was bitten by a radioactive anorexic. Then she got energy-draining superpowers and uses them to make everyone malnutritious.”

“Woah… I can see it now…”

I started furiously scribbling on his notepad and sketching on blank pieces of paper, using this newfound inspiration as well as I could. I started drafting out the scenario that popped into my head in no time. Sophie laughed outside the room. She must’ve thought the idea of it was humorous.

*   *   *   *   *

Sophie and I both sat down at the kitchen table together like Mom had told us to. I probably looked terrified, but Sophie was smiling and leaning back in her chair. She knew exactly what this was about when Mom walked in with an angry look and my other comic in her hands. She sat down and slapped the paper on the table.

“Who wants to talk first?” she asked with a clenched jaw.

“I personally found the writing a large improvement from the last issue,” said Sophie with a smirk. “I say good job.”

“And you, Ben?” Mom asked, shifting her gaze.

“Um… no.”

“What’s wrong, mom?” his sister asked.

“Anorexus,” she said simply. “Do I need to go on?”

“It was Sophie’s idea!” I said, not hesitating to point that out. I wasn’t about to get blamed for that one.  Sophie didn’t look bothered by it though, and shrugged.

“Guilty.”

“You’re going to explain this though, Ben!” Mom said, flipping the pages to a panel of a woman being bitten by a sickly looking woman that was obviously meant to be her. “What made you think-”

“Ah, that was also me.” Sophie admitted. “I thought it would be funny.” Mom leered down her daughter even harder. “What? Lady Rebel beat her in the end, right?”

“I’m not amused.”

“It’s alright mom, you weren’t the target audience anyway.”

“How do you both feel about going to bed early tonight then?” she growled. 

Man, I was afraid of getting punished like this. At least it was just going to bed early though. Sophie didn’t look concerned about it at all. She looked like she reveled in getting Mom heated up like that. In hindsight, Sophie probably used me to anger Mom. Maybe just to spite her for grounding her all day. Whatever it was, I was paying for what my sister did. I guess now I know how she feels when she has to take the fall for me.