Tyrus Powers

Tyrus was having a nightmare, again. It was always the same one, and it always started off the same way: He was falling. He didn't know from where or from what height, he just knew he was falling. He could see the ground rushing to meet him, and began to prepare for the worst. Then he thought No, not again and the next thing he knew, he felt something on his back lift him upward. It felt great, the sensation of being lifted. He looked behind him, and saw what kept him in the air: wings. The wings of an angel came from his back. And he panicked. Then he woke up. As he lifted himself out of bed, he saw that the nightmare had not ended, and would most possibly never end. The wings were still there. He had them ever since he turned thirteen years old. His mom told him that they were a gift, but felt as though they were curse. He couldn't tell anybody about them for fear of being rejected by his peers, taken away for experiments, or possibly hunted down. He was only ever allowed to expose them on special occasions. Those occasions included his birthday, Christmas, and on All Hollow's Eve (Halloween). Tyrus was still shaken by his nightmare, but he wasn't going to let it bother him today. Since it was Friday, and Halloween was on Sunday, his high school encouraged all students to come to school in Halloween costumes. He was going to go as himself, fully and completely. He had shirts made special for days such as these. These shirts allowed him to stretch his wings without ripping holes in his shirt. Even though Tyrus was allowed to expose his wings, it felt strange having them exposed in broad daylight. Tyrus was used sneaking out of his house in the dead of the night and flying around the town. After three years of having wings, he still wasn't used to it. As Tyrus made his way towards the front of the school, he passed by some werewolves and vampires, wondering why they weren't killing each other on sight. With every step that Tyrus took, he could feel more eyes staring at him, and more importantly, what was on his back. Don't freak. They think they're fake. They don't know that they're actually capable of lifting me off the ground, thought Tyrus. With Tyrus' rock t-shirt, skinny jeans, and black cuffs on his wrists, he resembled a rockstar angel. At lunch, the school held a surprise costume contest. As luck would have it, Tyrus' friends entered him in the contest without his knowing. Judges of the costume contest would walk around the lunch crowd and judge the contestants from a distance. The principal of the school then made her way to the stage in the middle of the lunch area, ready to announce the winners of the costume contest. The first two winners were the vampire and werewolf that Tyrus had seen earlier. As the principal was getting the results that would tell her who came in first place, Tyrus noticed that there was a maintenance man on the roof of the school. Before Tyrus could ponder as to why he was up there in the first place, he noticed that the maintenance man slipped on something and began to lose his balance. Without any concern about what others might say, Tyrus began to run to the building that the man was at. Just as the man began to fall over the side of the building, Tyrus jumped and took flight. He didn't care that everyone he knew was there, watching. The only thing he knew was that this man would die if he didn't catch him. And catch him he did. As Tyrus gently landed on the ground, releasing the man, everybody else just stared at him in shock. "This is who I am," Tyrus said to the crowd, "a person capable of flight." Then everyone ran up to him, all at once, bombarding him with questions and trying to touch his wings. Tyrus, not being able to handle all the pressure, flew up onto the school roof, away from the crowd. When Tyrus didn't answer any of their questions, they started to become rowdy and out of control. Not knowing what to do, Tyrus flew home. As he made his way home, he could everybody from school following him. Going home isn't going to be enough. I'll have to leave town, thought Tyrus. With this thought fresh in mind, Tyrus flew as fast as he could, determined to beat the angry mob there.
He got there with some time to spare, but he knew the crowd would be arriving soon. He began to pack the necessities (food) into a duffel bag, left a note for his parents, grabbed some cash from his emergency box ($200), and took off in flight. Tyrus made sure to fly high, in order to hide from any gazing eyes. Tyrus began to descend as soon as night began to fall. Tyrus stopped at a hotel to rest for the night. Tyrus checked in, paid for his room ($65), and made his way to said room. After setting his stuff down and taking a much-needed bathroom break, he switched on the TV. Flipping through all of the local channels, he was relieved to see that there was nothing about a flying boy on the news. After switching off the TV, Tyrus went to sleep. Tyrus woke up in the morning (7:30 am) and made his way to the lobby for the free breakfast (no point in wasting any of his food yet). As he ate, he listened to a television nearby for anything about a winged-boy. Once he was done with his breakfast and had heard nothing about him on the news, he made his way back to his room. There, he began to formulate a plan on what to do next. I can't fly during the day, thought Tyrus, because there's a chance that I can be spotted from the ground. I'll have to fly in the evening. Tyrus began to think about his parents. I can't call them, thought Tyrus, because the police or the FBI might have the phone lines tapped. There was one more thing that Tyrus needed to decide upon: where would he go? And what would he do when he got there? Tyrus decided to go to the mountains that he stayed at with his dad last summer. He remembers finding a private area at the top of the mountain. It was large and private; no one else ever went there. He knows this because found a sign that said RESTRICTED AREA and put it on the fence in that area. Tyrus also remembers his mom telling him that others of his kind were said to have special abilities. Now is a good time as any to figure out what they are. As the sun began to set, Tyrus checked out of the hotel, checked to see if the coast was clear, and took off into the night sky. Because of Tyrus' photographic memory, he remembered the exact path that his dad took to get to the mountain. Tyrus managed to arrive at his abandoned spot within minutes of sunrise. And his training began. Tyrus first started training by meditating. He found this to be the best way to realize who he was. He did the same thing for a month. At some point, Tyrus ran out of food. He was forced to hunt the wildlife. This was how he discovered his first power. Tyrus was walking through the woods, following a rabbit (lunch) when he heard a twig snap behind him. He turns around, seeing a hungry wolf. Just as the wolf begins to jump on him, Tyrus gets on one knee and claps his hands over his head. He doesn't know why he did that to this day. It may have been instinct. But by doing this, everything slowed down. Tyrus managed to slow down time. Tyrus couldn't believe it. He stepped behind the wolf and did it again. Time went back to its regular pace and the wolf pounced on thin air. Just as it was about to jump on Tyrus a second time, Tyrus once again slowed down time. As the wolf hung in mid air, Tyrus pulled out his hunting knife and walked towards his meal. Tyrus could not believe it. He could slow down time. He began to wonder what the extent of his newfound ability was. He went to the nearest cliff, dropped a rock over the edge, waited a few seconds, slowed down time, and went for the rock. It barely went any farther than a yard. As Tyrus made his way back to his campsite, it began to rain. Tyrus hated the rain because it made his wings soggy and wet and he couldn't fly. Just as Tyrus was wishing for a way to keep the rain from hitting him, it stopped raining. But as Tyrus began to look around him, it began to rain everywhere else except for on him. He looked up and saw a glowing circle floating above him. When Tyrus touched it, he felt energy course through him. Not entirely sure what it was, Tyrus figured it must've been a shield of some sorts. This was how Tyrus discovered his ability to project force fields. Late in December, while Tyrus was huddled in his makeshift tent, he could hear movement outside. When Tyrus poked his head out of his tent, he spotted hikers off in the distance. Desperately not wanting to be spotted, Tyrus ducked back in his tent, waiting for the hikers to leave. But he could hear footsteps approaching his site. Don't see me, don't see me, don't see me thought Tyrus. The hikers opened the tent flap and saw… nothing. They shrugged their shoulders and left. Tyrus was now confused. He looked down and realized that he was invisible. To everybody else, he was completely invisible, but Tyrus saw himself as transparent. He figured that this was to make it easier to see what he was doing. Later, Tyrus flew around the park, invisible, to see what was going on. From a nearby campsite, he saw someone sitting down, watching the news. Interested as to what was on, he flew over. He looked at the TV and saw… his parents. They were looking at the camera, speaking. "Tyrus, if you're out there listening to this broadcast, we want you to come home. And not just us; the whole town wants you back. They want to apologize for the way they treated you and want a second chance to redeem themselves."
Tyrus, touched and emotional after seeing his parents again, took off for home at once. But at some point during his flight back home, he realized that he shouldn't be going back home with his eyes closed. So, when he got back to his town, he made himself invisible and stayed like that until he arrived at his house. Before going inside, he looked through the windows to see if his parents were home. He saw them at the kitchen table, crying. He became visible and knocked on the window. His parents, seeing who it was, rushed to open the door. They quickly brought him inside and hugged him with bone crushing force, crying at the same time. As soon as they all calmed down, they sat down and had Tyrus explain everything that's happened to him the past two months. After everything was said and done, Tyrus' parents told him that they were going to alert the town, telling them of Tyrus' return. As Tyrus' parents went to call everyone, Tyrus went up to his room. When he got there, he wondered if he should've told them about his newfound powers. But in the end, Tyrus planned to tell them as soon as they were done with their calls. And as Tyrus lay down on his bed, he couldn't help but smile at the thought that tomorrow was going to a brand new day.