My Life as a Superhero

It was a typical weekend morning. The kids were glued to the TV watching cartoons and scarfing down their sugar coated breakfast cereal, (which was nothing more than sugar coated sugar actually) and having a great time. I made my way to my recliner, settled in with the Sunday paper; which they always brought in for me, and put my feet up.

I had seen a lot of these Sundays in the last few years since my wife passed; sometimes I wondered what was left for me to do. Why was I still here? The joys of being surrounded by my two beautiful grandchildren, (Samantha, 7 and her younger brother Jonathan, 5) my only daughter Angela and her husband Tony brought me no joy to tell the truth, and neither did much of anything else.

I had had a full life; though few knew the details of what that life actually entailed. The only other person that knew the truth was my lovely wife whom I had lost three and a half years ago now, Maria.

So what about this Sunday was different? Well, the grand-kids for some reason decided to ask their grandpa what life was like when he was their age. "Were there video games and computers?", "Did you have an Xbox?" and so on. I decided to tell them the truth; a truth that even their parents didn't know.

You see, I'm not human.

I told them to turn off the TV, get comfortable, and I would tell them a story that would knock their socks off! They of course were very excited and complied immediately. If it's one thing I've learned about children, it's that when you want them to do something you will get immediate results by making it fun and exciting, and get only resistance and fighting if you yell and are forceful with them.

I then gave them roughly the following explanation of my life as it had been up till that point.

My life started many, many years ago and somewhere so far away you can't quite grasp just how far it actually is. It's not much to look at where I come from, in fact I don't believe there is anything that you could see. The place exists, but there is nothing there.

It took several human lifetimes for me to reach Earth, but that was not a problem for me. How did I survive such a long journey? I am able to survive anything, I am what humans call immortal. I had no need for a "spaceship" or food during my journey as I simply travel at will anywhere I wish to go. So why did it take so long to reach my destination?

Earth was never a "destination" on my journey. I was heading nowhere, and just happened to stop at this planet because I was curious as to the nature of the indigenous lifeforms that populated it. And then I met a girl... but more on that later.

I came to this planet not at a young age, or as some accident. I wasn't a scientist searching for answers, nor was I running away or hiding. I wasn't here to conquer or pillage, nor to make friends of your species. I just was. It's as simple as that: I was.

I observed for a time from the shadows, so as not to be seen, and found myself to be enjoying my stay. Humans could sometimes be very hateful, stupid creatures but I didn't feel as though I should interfere. Let them be what they are and do what they do, it's none of my concern.

An amount of time had passed, I'm not sure how long as I had no reason to mark the passage of time, and I grew restless. I had had my fill, and thought it was now time to move on. That was until she happened to pass by. Up until then I hadn't been interested in contact with humans, but there was something new with her. She was an amazing example of a human female, which to this point had never stirred up such emotion in me.

The human form suited me well enough; I'm able to take on any form of my choosing. I choose to be a male, slightly taller than the average, light skinned and what seemed to be an average build and appearance so as to not draw unwanted attention to myself.

I was in New York City, which I had grown to despise, "hanging out" just observing life on the planet and wondering what to do next. Out of nowhere, I caught a glimpse of an angel (to use the human vernacular). There was something animalistic that drew me to her... she was mesmerizing, like no human had ever been before.

It was her overall demeanor that made her so alluring. She was smiling lightly, she glided down the sidewalk towards her destination with a light step and it was all I could do to not rush over to her.

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Dear reader, I hope you enjoy my work in progress short story! I will keep updating it and hope it have it complete shortly!