This story is set to follow
To Be Like Me -- you don't have to read that one first, but you would probably gain a good insight into the character if you did...
I'd like to thank Julie who GE'd "To Be Like Me" for the archive - she's the one that suggested I should do a follow up. (*thank you so much!* I'm having a ball with this character!)
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~To Be Like Him~
If you had asked me a couple weeks ago to tell you who I am, I could have answered you in a hundred words or less. And that's if I add my likes and dislikes in there, else I can do it in half that amount. Seriously. I'd have told you I'm your typical, run of the mill, regular teenager. At least, that's who I thought I was.
As it turns out, a hundred words... would be several tomes short of the full story!
You might as well sit down, because this is a long and complicated tale to tell. Not to mention your knees may go weak at some point. Once I'm done, I expect you'll want to check my temperature - see if I'm not feverish and delirious. That's in the best of cases because it's also quite likely you'll start screaming and run away as though I had the plague. I'm kind of hoping you won't do that, but I know better than to have you promise you won't... Just please believe me when I tell you I haven't gone completely off my rocker or anything like that. I promise you, I do still have all my marbles, if you know what I mean!
Up until a certain day in school, a couple weeks ago, I had always believed that my life was normal. That afternoon, I learned something about myself that I had not expected; that I couldn't believe. Something that was definitely not 'normal', not by any means. From that point on, I've made some pretty amazing discoveries about myself, discoveries that have forced me to alter my own definition of who I am in a very drastic way. My life is anything but normal. *I* am anything but normal. I wouldn't say that I'm 'abnormal' either, really, simply I'm so much more than what and who I thought I was, it's almost unimaginable.
So there I was, sitting in a chemistry lab at school; we were doing an experiment with liquids that needed to be heated and mixed to produce a reaction. Well, while waiting my turn to heat the contents of my test tube, I found myself staring at it and wishing the liquid inside it would just start boiling on its own so this would finally be over with. And that's the odd thing... it did. It started boiling. Just like that.
That day, I learned that I can turn my vision into a sort of laser beam and I can literally burn through objects just by staring at them and concentrating on them a little bit. And you know what? That's not even the half of it. Oh, it's the only 'odd' thing I can do. So far, anyhow. But that was the first step on my self-discovery journey and believe me, it gets stranger and stranger after that.
I spent the next couple of days absolutely convinced that I was a mutant. Sounded like a logical deduction at the time. Well, I was wrong. I'm no freak accident of nature. I'm a normal... err.. ok, not really normal, but for the sake of argument let's say I am. I'm a normal human being. Oh wait, that's not right either... See I told you this was complicated! Let me phrase this differently... I am not an accident - not in any way, shape or form. My parents would tell you I'm a miracle, but I'm no accident. I didn't come out of a petri dish and there's nothing in my genetic makeup that's gone wild and mutated into something I should not be. I might add that I was most definitely wanted; I'm not even an accident in that respect. I'm exactly who and how I should be; I just didn't know that at the time.
So, to recap, I can shoot laser beams from my eyes and that's normal. Yep. Absolutely, 100% normal.
Confused yet? Wait 'til you find out just why that is. That's when it really starts sounding like science fiction.
Before I was told that the vision gizmo was normal, I had become convinced that I was a mutant. I thought my life was over and I was desperate to find someone I could talk to that might understand and offer some sort of guidance. But who can you talk to about being a *mutant*? I was dead afraid it would kill my parents to find out something like that and there's no one at school I would ever consider telling a secret like this... So who? I ultimately decided I would ask my parent if perhaps they might make it possible for me to have a little chat with Superman. After all, he wouldn't be afraid of someone like me and I figured on some level he would probably understand what I was going through, what with him having super powers and all that. Being different.
My folks are reporters at the Daily Planet - you must have heard of them, Lane and Kent, "best news team in the city" the billboards say - well, they have a knack for landing exclusive interviews with the Man of Steel so I thought they would probably know how to get in touch with him.
"Whatever for?" Mom asked me at the time with a worried look in her eyes. I told her it was for a school assignment, but of course that wasn't exactly true and I'm pretty sure Mom didn’t believe a word of it, but she didn't call my bluff for some reason. She told me she'd talk it over with Dad when he got home later on.
"What's there to talk over with Dad?" I wondered; since when did Mom check with Dad before doing anything? She never does! However, I can now appreciate that this time there was no going around it; if I wanted to be able to talk to Superman, I would have to wait for Dad to get home. A few hours later, I was in for a real shock when I understood exactly why that was.
First they made me sit and tell them why I was suddenly interested in meeting up with Superman. I reluctantly told them about my 'mutant theory'. They gave me a strange look. Not the reaction I expected from them - I thought Mom would panic, maybe cry and Dad would pace and try to find a logical explanation to all this. But no, none of that. In fact, they actually looked *relieved*! Can you believe that? I was floored!
They made me explain in great detail why I'd gotten myself into thinking I was a mutant. Let me tell you, this is right up there on the "talks you never want to have with your folks" list! Just a couple notches under the lecture on the necessity for one to use protection before.. um... well, you know... intercourse... We had that chat around my birthday this year; I thought I'd die of embarrassment! Well, anyway, explaining to mom and dad why I thought I was a mutant and that I had this weird special vision gizmo that I could do isn't a piece of cake. Especially with mom and dad *smiling* back at me through the whole thing and, oh my good do I ever hate it when dad asks me "and how does that make you feel?” I don't know how I feel, Dad! I haven't had time to think about that yet, I'm way too freaked out at finding out I'm a mutant!!
Once I'd finished telling them everything, Mom told me she knew for sure that I wasn't a mutant. I guess she'd know if I were, so I tried to believe that what she was saying was true. She proceeded to explain that I shouldn't be afraid of what was going on, that the vision gizmo was normal - Dad says we should call it 'heat vision' and not 'vision gizmo' - and that I ought to expect that over the next few months and years I may develop other "powers". Yeah, that's it: the laser beams are just the beginning. Now, I've never actually seen what a deer looks like when it's got headlights staring right at it, but that "deer in the headlights look" was plastered all over my face at that point. And it was about to get A LOT weirder still.
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...to be continued. 
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Part 2 can be found here. )
Let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcome.
