I had waited all my life for Superman, I didn’t really know who he was but I knew he was there, ever since I was seven and my parents abandoned me and my whole world turned upside down. I wish I hadn’t but I can still remember that day like it was yesterday.

We were in the car driving like we did everyday, then my parents turned into an old parking lot. They got out and I followed them wondering what this mysterious place was, I was sternly told to stay in the car so I did. The last I saw them they were disappearing into the building their backs faced towards me. They never came out. I don’t know what happened to them, maybe they were murdered, or maybe they didn’t love me and just left me.

Ever since then I’ve been on my own. Scrounging for food in trashcans, and sleeping in thrown away cardboard boxes. I have met others like me but they all go away eventually, none of them staying long enough to have a real friend. The only serenity I have now is dreaming of that day when I finally do meet superman.

I am thirteen now and that fateful day started of like all fateful days. It was and overcast day and I was hungry, tired, and wet. I hadn’t anything to eat for the last three days and it had been raining non-stop for what seemed like months, each raindrop now was piercing my skin sending cold up my spine and into my nerves.

I was walking the alleys that I had come to call my home with my head down kicking an old coke can, the raindrops rolled down my back to the seam of my pants were they were soaked up.
I heard a lid smash down as the sickening smell of garbage filled the alleyway like a tidal wave filling a city, making me gag for air and my eyes blur with water. Quickly I fought my way through the smell to the dumpster and opened the lid to see if they had thrown away anything good.

Sitting right in front of my nose was a whole meal of sweet and sour chicken with fried rice and fortune cookies, my favorite. Why would anyone throw this away? I picked it up and carried it to a corner were a makeshift hut was built that protected me from the rain like a bunker protecting its soldiers from enemy air strikes. Slowly I opened the lid and let the sweet aroma fill my nostrils.

I started stuffing my face, scooping it in with my hand, the sour tingling my tongue, and the sweet washing it away. I was enjoying it so much I didn’t even hear the loud booming footsteps approaching.

“What are you doing?” boomed a voice from the entrance of the hut as a man standing about 6’5, with muscles the size of a UFC wrestler and tattoos covering 90% or his body loomed in the doorway. “What are you doing here?” he asked again.

“Uhhhhhhh, I’m staying dry” I managed to say having to crane my neck up to see his giant, ugly, grime covered face.

“Well get out!” he yelled getting right in my face jabbing his fist in my stomach to prove his point. I high-tailed out of there before he could say anything or do anything else and once again I found myself stuck out in the rain.

I turned a corner and came across an old abandoned warehouse were the door was ajar. Quickly I ran inside relieved to be out of the rain. I made my way over to a corner and sat down with a heavy sigh. Looking down at myself I was filthy and soaked, I hadn’t had a hair cut besides when I found a pair of old shears in three years and my hair fell down at my shoulders and it was intertwined with stray pieces of noodle, and covered in dirt.

Tears starting stinging my face, cascading down like a waterfall. Why, why couldn’t they have just stayed in the car with me I screamed in my head, pounding my fists against the walls making dust fall on my head. Settle down Brad, everything will be ok. I thought to myself as I tried to rub my eyes clear but they were still blurry. O who am I kidding, I’m hopeless.

“Who’s there?” said a man as him and three other men who looked like they were in there mid 30’s and about to die from starvation came around a corner. I could see their ribs perfectly clearly like when you goggles on I a pool vs. just your eyes, and their faces were sagging and looked like a suction cup had pulled them in them pushed them back out. “What are you doing here? No ones supposed to be in here except us,” said the one in front sticking a bony finger in my direction.

“Trying to eat without getting wet” I replied smartly through a mouthful of fried rice.

“You have food?” he asked. “Give it to me” he said as he made a wobbly step toward me and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull out of his grasp but for a starving man he was pretty strong.

“No!” I yelled at him, still struggling to get away.
“O, I really think you should give me it,” he said pulling a gun out of his pocket showing it off so I could clearly see it. I tried to pull my arm free again but he wouldn’t let me go so I did what I had to do.

The one good thing my parents had done for me before they left was enrolling me in karate, I was a fourth degree black belt and could beat up a middle aged man with no problem at seven.

I started pushing the food toward him and just as he let his guard down I lashed out my fist smashing his face. He fell back to the floor dazed looking around with a what-the-heck-I-think-I-just-got-beat-up-by-a-kid look on his face and his buddies came at me. I kicked one with a high kick to the head and elbowed the other in the side of the neck and he yelped as his eyes shut and he hit the floor sending dust swirling around in the air.

Before they could recover I snatched up my food and ran out the way I came in breaking into a heavy sprint, gasping for air because of my life long asthma. Stores were blurring by me and I realized I had been running for awhile so I stopped and looked back to make sure the coast was clear and when I saw it was I then receded to walking. I cautiously made my way back into the labyrinth of alleys and was walking when I heard the BANG of gunshots close by.

I slowly and cautiously turned on my heels to find the source of the shots but there was no sign of anything. I shrugged it off and turned around again when they rattled my head again. Bang Bang Bang. Quickly I spun a full 90 degrees sensing danger. A stabbing pain shot up my gut and into every part of my body. Like a bomb had gone of creating a chain reaction of mini bombs throughout my whole body, sending me sprawled out on the ground, convulsing, and gasping for air. I looked down at my stomach and found two bullet wounds plunged into my stomach like torpedoes. Everything around me started spinning and my vision was blurry. A warm brew of deep red blood found its way my throat and onto the pavement, splattering on the ground and lining the walls. My hands found their way to the slippery wall of the alley and managed to stand up. All around me the world was spinning and I could hear muffled voices in the background like someone was talking to me through a glass window.
My stomach felt another stabbing pain in my gut, but it was driven deep into my maze of intestines and jammed up rupturing my stomach. I tried to cry out but blood filled my mouth threatening to drown me.
Around me men were standing, laughing, and pointing at me. I don’t know how but I recognized the man who tried to steal my food. He was the one with the knife. My gaze was ripped away when my heart beat skyrocketed I slumped into a pile on the ground. My eyes slowly closed as I exhaled my last final breath.

I was Finally with Superman.