The Little Big Hero
875 Words
Football was cancelled for the rest of the week.
The rain had turned the AVHS field to mud again.
So Ether had too much time to think.
And when Ether thought too much, his head hurt.
It started 10 years ago.
He was 9.
Same dusty field behind his primary school. Same hot sun.
He was dribbling alone when it happened.
The world went silent.
Then a flash.
Like someone switched on a big screen in front of his eyes.
He saw it clearly.
His big brother, Victor, lying on the floor in their sitting room.
Mum shouting. People running. A white cloth covering Victor’s face.
He could hear his own voice screaming.
Then the screen went black.
Ether dropped to his knees, gasping.
His heart was beating like he had run 10km.
He ran home that evening, terrified.
Victor was there. Eating rice. Laughing.
Alive. Healthy.
Ether cried that night and didn’t know why.
For the next few days he prayed and fasted.
"God, what was that?"
Nothing happened again.
After a month he told himself it was just stress.
A bad dream.
He tried to forget it.
Three months later, it came back.
It was evening.
The sitting room smelled of mosquito coil and fried plantain.
Victor, Mum, Grandma and Ether were gist-ing like they always did.
"I'm going to light coil in my room," Victor said and stood up.
"Don’t sleep there o," Mum teased.
Less than a minute later —
THUD.
A heavy fall.
Then silence.
"Victor?!" Mum screamed and ran.
By the time Ether got there, Victor was on the floor.
Eyes closed. Body cold. Not breathing.
Mum was dragging him, crying and praying.
"Go and call for help! Run!" she shouted at Ether.
Ether bolted out of the house.
His legs were moving but his mind was blank.
Then something impossible happened.
One blink — and he was standing in front of their neighbor’s gate.
The same place he was running to get help.
He didn’t question it.
He banged the gate. "Uncle! Please come! My brother!"
Another blink — and he was back inside the house.
"Go and get help!" Mum shouted again.
"I already went," Ether said, voice shaking.
She didn’t hear him.
Two minutes later, the neighbor and two other men arrived.
Mum had already carried Victor outside, looking for people to help her to the roadside.
Our house was far from the road.
The man looked at Victor once and his face changed.
But he helped them carry him anyway.
At the roadside, they were waiting for a taxi.
Then one of the neighborhood gossips passed and said it loud:
"Ahh, this boy have died sha. Shey his family did not know ni? Abi na mortuary dem dey take am to?"
Mum broke down.
"Give him water! He will come back!" Ether was hearing it in his head. Overlapping. Like a radio with 10 stations.
He took water from someone and poured it into Victor’s mouth.
It didn’t go down. It didn’t pour out either.
It just stayed there.
The taxi finally came.
At the hospital, the doctor checked and shook his head.
"We’re sorry. He’s gone."
Ether stood by the roadside for over 2 hours after.
Numb.
The picture from 3 months ago was playing again in his head.
Déjà vu. Precognition.
He saw it first. And he couldn’t stop it.
Then Mum came back running.
"Ether! Victor is okay!"
"What?"
"At the hospital. Less than a minute after they said he died... he opened his eyes. Like nothing happened. Doctor said it’s a miracle but they still want to run tests."
When Ether saw Victor later, he was sitting up.
Eating.
Asking for meat.
From that day, strange things started following Ether.
He couldn’t control them.
They just came when he needed them most.
Precognition - seeing things before they happen.
Retrocognition - seeing things that already happened which he wasn't there.
Hyper-motility - moving from one place to another in a blink like super speed
Super senses - Sensing danger before it happened
Enhanced endurance - fighting and not feeling pain until later.
Enhanced inner strength - his physical body is like a random guy but the power that comes from his punches and kicks are extraordinary.
He never told anyone.
Not Victor. Not Mum. Not even Prosper and Mechy.
Because how do you explain that you saw your brother die before he died?
But for the past two years now, he only gets to use few of his powers like Enhanced endurance and enhanced inner strength which he do use in street battles.
Back to present. SSS3. AVHS.
It was Thursday evening.
Ether was alone on the field, kicking ball against the wall.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A girl’s voice. Shaking.
"Ether... it’s me. Tonia."
He frowned. "What’s wrong?"
"I don’t know how to explain this... but I just saw something. Like a movie. In my head."
Ether’s blood ran cold.
"What did you see?"
"I saw you in a gathering. In the middle of the day.
And there were people around you.
There was a fire outbreak there and you are trying to help
Silence.
Then Tonia whispered:
"Ether... I think you’re going to die tomorrow."
- Writer
