“Mother, I can’t take this challenge,” I said. I bit back the tears that seemed to slip out from under my long, dark lashes. My mother wiped them and shook her head. She sat down on the living room sofa.

“You are the one that can save the world. The government wants to do a very bad thing to billions of people, and they‘ll die. You are the one that we need most, and it is not your fault that you have to be like this,” my mother said. She gently took my hand and pulled me down, too.

I frowned. My mother was right. The world was a dark, evil place, but there were good people among that crowd. I needed to save it. But, did I really? The majority hated me in that crowd. They called me names and told me that I was ugly, and that hurt me a lot. So shouldn’t they be punished with an eternal penalty?

No, I had to think. I was Intellectual Girl. I had telepathic and telekinetic powers. But I was also plain old Elizabeth Jeannette Fritzman. Everyone hated me. So who would I be kidding? Who wanted to see an ugly girl with frizzy brown waves for hair, a plump middle section, foamy sea green eyes, and an annoying stumble? I looked around, and the balcony door opened. Again.

Liz, you are only thinking about what others say to you about what you fail to do. So why not concentrate on what you can do? I read my mother’s mind. She always called me Liz when I was feeling sad. That’s what my father used to do, but he’s gone now. She was doing that on purpose, to make me think out of my anger. The government wants to poison nearly the entire world with a disease called McGuire’s. It makes your heart stop beating for short periods of time, and some people might die. Well, your heart starts beating again, because Maguire’s has a type of after affect that helps the heart start working again. A little bit of heat, actually. This disease will lower the population of the world by more than 50%. She reminded me. Thinking about it, I felt even more angry, and a little bit afraid.

“Mom, why are they doing this? It’s not fair,” I said aloud. “And how did you know about what I was thinking? You don’t have the same powers as me, do you?”

“Dear, I don’t have your powers, but I am a mother after all. I know things,” she said, smiling. She had a beautiful face, and I always loved the way she smiled, her pink lips curving over perfect white teeth. “They are doing this because with nearly one million people left on Earth, they can start the Big Bang again. That means that they can ‘restart’ the world, or create it again. This is not going to effect the government, though.”

I gasped. I fidgeted with the arm of the sofa, and the curtains of the living room windows kept opening and closing. My mother patted me on the back. I looked up. “I have another question. Why do people need to come back to life?”

“To test the site where the Big Bang will start again. They don’t want to risk their own lives. Anyways, you’re 13, Liz,” she said. “You’re capable of making the right decisions.”

Okay, Mom. I’ll do it. I will save the world. I sent her a mind message, but I was still unsure of my words.


In the morning, I woke up and thought. I could make the right decisions, and I would. Yes, I would. I was thinking so much, that I hadn’t realized that all doors and windows were closing and opening. Oh well. Back to thinking. So how would I get to save the world? When? Where? So many questions. My mother was a scientist at Federal Corporation Authorities, so maybe she would help me?

I didn’t know. I was acting like this “saving the world’ thing was going to work out. And I was still having doubts. This was hard work.

“Liz, are you awake?” the door to my room opened. It was my mother.

“Hey, mom,” I said. The sight of my mother created a yearning to ask her about “my mission”.

It seemed as though my mother could tell. “Elizabeth, you can ask me what you want, but please don’t break anything,” she said. She walked over to my windows and closed them. She sat down on my window seat. “But, before we start to work, I want to tell you something,” she said. Her voice seemed tense, but serious. A worried expression decorated her face. She began to trace her fingers along the frilly lace on one of the pillows next to my window seat.

“It has to do with how you feel,” she began. This time I knew for sure that this was something that wasn’t ordinary. “You know the saying, ‘The grass is greener on the other side of the fence’?” I nodded my head, unsure of what my mom was trying to make a point of. “The grass will never be greener on the other side of the fence, because on either side, there is no peace. There will always be hate in the world because nobody has actually put a stop to it. Are you with me?”

“Mom, are you trying to say that everyone’s mistreating me and hating me is blocking me from saving the freakin’ world?” I stomped out of my bed, throwing the blanket that was on top of me off of me. It began to spin above my bed, in the air. My heart beat quickened. I suddenly realized that my mother was right. It really was preventing me from doing what my mother was trying to make me do. I thought that the world didn’t deserve to be saved, so I had actually made that nasty little problem into a big dilemma. The blanket slowed and fell to the bed. I fixed my bed using my mind.

“Elizabeth. This is true. You are creating a bigger problem over a tiny one. That’s not right,” she said softly. She walked over and came to hug me. I could smell the sweet perfume that she had put on. I began to cry. I didn’t have any friends or even someone to talk to. Nobody sat with me at lunch, or picked me to play on their soccer team. Nobody was there for me to share my secrets with, or have sleepovers with. Nobody invited me to their parties, or passed me notes in class. I didn’t have anybody at all.

“Mom, why does everything have to be like this?” I said through tears, and squeezed my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see anything anymore.

“Sweetie, I think you got what I meant,” my mom said. She patted my head. “And now it’s time to stop mourning over things that don’t happen, but will happen. I mean it.”


“So, mom, tell me a little about this Maguire’s disease thing,” I said. My mom took out a binder from her closet. I was sitting in the living room, and Mom was taking out stuff room her closet for me to see and understand about this special disease. “Well, after I find some notes that a scientist that had developed Maguire’s’ had written, I think I can plan out how we are going to save the world,” she said. I could here her shuffling papers, her and there with little oh’s and ah’s. I soon lost interest and started to read my book. After at least 5 minutes later, she screamed, “I’ve found it!” The notes in her hand floated in the air towards me.

“It’s so interesting, what he’s written. I hadn’t actually met with him, but my friend thought that I might want these notes,” my mom said. She kept fidgeting with her hands.

I looked at the paper. It read:

“Maguire’s will be implicated in all foods by March. Everything that will be eaten on March 1 will have Maguire’s in it. Maguire’s will be put into action . Millions of people will die. Maguire’s will be in foods everywhere, and people must it the food and die, in order for us scientists to start the Big Bang again.”

I nearly laughed. Was this guy kidding? It was like poison. Anyone could die. So simple. My mother waited for my response, as if it would be extremely enthusiastic. “Mom, what do we have to do?” I asked. “It looks pretty simple.”

“Dear, I have it all planned out,” she said. She quietly looked around the room, and went back to the closet. I groaned.

“Mom, do you have to go into your closet like this all the time?” I asked. I walked to where she was rumbling around in the closet. Books, papers, and binders fell out of the closet. A noise like a little puppy whimpering came out of the closet. I frowned. Bursts of air was coming out now, too.

“Um, Mom,” I began. She pulled my arm and we both went into the closet. Big computer screens were everywhere. Machines recording data moved swiftly in the right corner of the room, and I suddenly felt as if I belonged here.

“Honey, this is where you can be who you really are. It is designed especially for you,” my mother said, but quickly walked away. Strange. My mother always tells me stuff, but now she wasn’t.

“Anyways, Elizabeth, I want you to do something. Sit in that cubicle,” my mom said. I hadn’t noticed it. I ran to it, because my instincts were telling me to go there. I walked on. It seemed all about me, then. A feeling that I had never felt before. There were mirrors everywhere.

“Honey, that’s the Incrimicle,” she said. She walked in and pushed a button.

WHOOSH! I was suddenly on the other side of the room. It was a teleporter. “This will help you do your job, and I think you can figure out the rest,” she continued, and a heavy gloom began to form in her voice, but she didn’t tell me what was going on. She opened a compartment under the dashboard and pulled out a blue and red striped suit. It looked like a dress, and had a mask and tights underneath. “Well, like all superheroes, you will need a suit,” she said.

“How cute!” I said, immediately pulling it over my day clothes and trying on the mask. It was stuffy and tight, but I liked it. It felt good to be a hero, or heroine, at that. “When do I start?” I asked, trying to hide my glee inside of me.

“Tomorrow,” my mother said, still worried. I couldn’t wait!


“Okay, sweetie?” my mother asked. I nodded my head from inside the Incrimicle. I straightened out the outfit, trying to make it fit better. A pair of specially designed shoes glimmered from underneath me. I was ready. “Ready, 5...4...3... 2... 1...”

WHOOSH! MOO! I opened my eyes. I was in the middle of a meadow, and cows were grazing close by. Suddenly, a pair of bells on a boy’s bike were ringing. I looked up. A boy, 12 or 13, was bringing a package to a farm. I immediately used my mind to take the package. SWOOOP! It landed in my hand. The boy turned around, a bewildered look on his face. I went back into the grass. My cover wasn’t blown. I opened up the package. It was a bottle of medicine, designed for heart disease. Or to create heart disease, in other words. I took out a ten-dollar bill from my pocket, and it landed in his hands. Boy, don’t go get the medicine now. Get it after the world is saved. I said in a mind message. The boy looked up, and then around. He smiled and walked back into the farm, and I knew that he was going to but it after the world was saved. I pushed a button on my suit. “Mom,” I said.

WHOOSH! I was back in the Incrimicle again. “Mom, I did it!” I said, happy that I could really help someone. “I’m proud, dear,” she said, and I could see tears falling from her eyes. “This time, we have to go to the real place where they store the real stuff, and then continue.” I walked back into the Incrimicle, and was zipped to a factory.

Armed agents guarded wooden boxes, and several were discussing something. They laughed when someone made a joke. These people were bad, but they led on the lives of regular people. Ho sad, to be treated like this. But I had to do my job. I brook the box, and a green substance leaked everywhere. The men began to look up, and started to shoot some things. I hid behind a shelf of more green stuff, and pushed it down. I walked around, and kept on doing this, until there were no more things left. After that, I pressed the button, and said, “Mom.” A fatal reply was heard, and I was back at home again.

I got out of the cubicle, and looked around. Where was Mom? “Mom!” I called. I walked around the lab until I stepped on something. It was a pale hand. It was underneath a desk that had been pushed over, and saw my mother’s dead body. Her head lay on her shoulder, and her legs akimbo. Her body sprawled across the floor, I tried to see if I could have saved her. No. Dead. For sure. Tears slipped out from my eyes, and I knew who had done it. Them. I had to pay them back with revenge. I was going to save the world if it was the last thing I was going to do. It was the only thing to do. I took a remote from inside the dashboard and put it in my pocket. I was going to save the world.

All day, the night, next day, next night, I went through the world saving people. And on April 4th, I had visited every place that could have been on Earth. That day, I slept. The next day, I woke up to the doorbell ringing. I opened it. It was my mom’s scientist friend, Deborah. “Hello, Elizabeth. How are you?” I asked. She placed a bag with flowers and a steaming basket of croissants and muffins on the living room table. “Hi, Deb. Come sit?” I said.

We sat and I started to eat. She talked about my mother’s death, and I felt so sad, that she had to stop talking to me. I suddenly felt like reading her mind. I can’t wait till she dies. Then I can recover the money that the company paid me to kill this brat and move on in life, to say that I had saved the world from this Maguire’s thing. Wow, it really pays to be who I am, she thought. The chocolate chip muffin I was eating suddenly made me want to choke. “Deborah- no- they- they are try- trying to -trick you…” my vision blurred, and I could feel my heart stop and I knew that this was the end.