After the highs of saving Emmanuel, the rest of Brad’s day was dull and colourless. He spent most of the day sat at his work station not doing a great deal of work. Brad had bigger things on his mind than bus stop method and the features of a newspaper report. His work station was separate to the rest of the class. It was for when he was feeling too much and was getting overwhelmed. It had these great walls on the desk for shutting out the rest of the children and he got to decorate the walls however he wanted. He had chosen a calm and soothing grey colour and covered the inside with it. Only the inside though, what was the point of covering the outside? He couldn’t see that. He opened his books up to pretend he was working and his teacher left him alone when he was in there. She would check on him every now and then, but it was just to keep up appearances.

“You are working in there, aren’t you?” sneered Mrs Bluster. Brad ignored her and she took that as a yes. What Brad was doing was practicing. He was moving in and out of his safe space in his mind. It was something he normally only ever did when was stressed but today was different. He tried to have the same effect on time he had that morning. He was not having any success.

He banged his fist on the desk after yet another failed attempt. No one looked round at him. They were all caught up in their own grief and misery. Everyone had loved Mr Splendid and, as news spread through the school that he had been killed by the She-Borg, people were weeping in the corridors and shouting at each other. There had been an assembly to talk about it but Brad didn’t want to go. He was just thankful his name was never whispered in all the rumours circulating about the cover teacher. It was not revealed he was the Shock either. Brad knew more than all these people so why would he want to go to an assembly about it? Mrs Bluster frowned and stamped her foot when Brad refused to go to the assembly. Brad, however, needed to practice. An assembly would serve no purpose. There were other people in his life that he had met and will never see again. The nice old lady at the bus stop with sweets, he met her two years ago and never again since. The teenager who served them at McDonalds, he hadn’t been back to McDonalds so who knows what happened to him. To Brad, Mr Splendid’s death was the same. Except this time Mr Splendid had left Brad a job to do; to save the world from She-Borg. Besides, a piece of the Shock lived on in Brad. A glowing marble shaped piece that gave him powers. When they worked.

The day dragged by slowly, whether this was to do with time manipulation or frustration and boredom, Brad wasn’t sure. The end of the day eventually arrived, and Brad had to go home. He didn’t want to. His parents were rude and mean. They said cruel things and shouted all the time. Brad remembered the cutting words his father had said that morning, the ones he pretended didn’t happen. He wasn’t sure he could pretend if it happened again. As a result, he ended up dragging his feet all the way home so he was late back. Then he stood around outside for a while. He stepped back inside his safe space, but not to freeze time this time, just for security. He wished he could spend the evening unseen, like he had at school. Mrs Bluster and the rest of his class were happy to disregard him, and he was glad they did. If only his parents would do the same. Safely locked away inside his mental armour like a knight entering a dragon’s lair, he opened the front door and crossed the threshold.

“Hello?” shouted his mum in response to hearing the front door, “Brad, is that you?” Brad didn’t answer, of course it was him, who else would it be. Her head popped around the corner to look into the hallway but she didn’t acknowledge him. She just shrugged and returned to the other room. Brad hung his coat on the hooks behind the door and looked at the pictures on the wall. They showed a happier time, when Brad was a baby, but he didn’t remember that.  He walked through to the front room where his mum and dad were watching a show about buying a house in Australia. His dad muttered discontented things like, “What about spiders?” and “It’s too hot for me.” His mum stared blankly at the screen, clearly not taking any of it in. Brad left them to it, he was sure they would turn their attention to him eventually but he enjoyed these first few moments of peace. He was hungry too and he wanted to eat before they started on him, so he snuck into the kitchen. He fixed himself a plate of his favourite things as quietly as he could. Biscuits from the bottom cupboard and tomatoes from the fridge went on to his plate. He left the crisps in the draw as that draw squeaked when it opened and crisps were too noisy anyway.

He sat himself at the breakfast bar and listened to his mum and dad bellyache and complain about life while he ate. They weren’t making a great deal of sense. They said some strange things. Things like, “Shouldn’t Brad be home by now?” His mum had seen him come into the house, why would she say this?

“I’m starting to get worried.” His dad had never worried before, why would he start now?

“I’ve been worried since the boy could talk.” That was more like it.

It was so rude to talk about him like he wasn’t there. He had always worried that his parents didn’t care as much as they should but to not even notice that he was in the kitchen was awful. He stood up too quickly and almost knocked his plate off the table. He caught the plate, but his food went scattering across the floor. He stormed into the front room, brandishing his plate like a weapon before him, “I am here you know!” he shouted. They still acted like they couldn’t hear him. His mum was looking through the window at the front of the house like she was waiting for a delivery. His dad still stared at the tv. Brad wanted to get tonight’s lecture over with so he could go to bed. His day had been full of failure and disappointment. He was tired and wanted to lay down now that his belly was full.

Still with plate in hand, Brad started leaping around and waving his arms. This got their attention at last. The colour drained from their face and their eyes fixed on him. They watched him move from left to right with shocked expressions, like they had never seen him move before. His dad’s mouth dropped open. Then Brad realised they weren’t looking at him. They gaped at the plate in his hand. He swung it high and they watched. He held it low and their gaze lowered. When he threw it up in air, he thought his dad was going to be sick.

Either they really loved that plate or… Brad couldn’t even think it, it was so outlandish. But was it that bizarre after the day he had had? Could it possibly be that he had got his wish?

He was invisible!

He passed the plate to his mum. She screamed and let the phantom plate, as it would appear to her, fall to the floor. Smash! The plate shattered into a thousand pieces and the sound reverberated off the wall. Brad headed straight for the hallway, where there had been a mirror since he was small. He looked for his own reflection but only saw the opposite wall. Testing his new powers, he left his safe space, where his mind had sheltered since before entering the house. Suddenly he was stood in the hall, by the front door like he’d been there all along. In the space, invisible. Out and visible again.

“Outstanding!” he exclaimed when he became invisible again. If he looked closely, he could just make out a shimmering outline where his head should be. It was like the surface of a road on a hot summer’s day. Real but twisted.

“Brad, is that you?” cried his mum from the other room. Her voice quivered. He heard his dad squeak. He was trying to talk but appeared to have lost the ability.

“Yes, I’m home. I’ve been in my room. I need to go out.”

“What…” was all Brad heard before he darted from the house.

He had to make a start solving the mystery that Mr Splendid had left him. Where could he go for answers? Where could he figure out what was happening to him? There was only one answer. He had to go back to Mr Splendid’s house.

He walked down the road with a newfound confidence, and it oozed from every pore. He swaggered down the street. There was a new hero in town and he had a job to do.