6th of August 2020

Jack was a 5-year-old boy who was going shopping with his mother, she had beautiful blue eyes and had red hair, along with his 4 (James green eyes and red hair) and 6 (Jason, green eyes, and black hair) year-old brothers. They walked through the sliding doors and went to the car. Jack had a bat costume on and was flapping his arms everywhere “screech” he laughed as the mother placed him in the car. Jack flapped his arms in the car seat while Jason rolled his eyes but in the corner of Jack’s eye, he saw him smiling in the reflection in the window. They were on the roundabout when a truck out of nowhere bashed the car into the hedges in the centre of the roundabout. Everything went black.

3rd of March 2016

This was the day James was born they were sitting in the hospital together when the dad said he had to go she turned on the news weakly and watched “I’m Elizabeth Mary and I will be telling you the news tonight” she spoke confidently “there had been reports saying that in that warehouse a gang of thugs have been trading illegal items” she reported while showing them the warehouse that was swarmed with policemen. They had not noticed a dark figure entering the warehouse from the roof. Unexpectedly shots from a thousand guns rang from inside the warehouse then all was silent. The door flew open to reveal the masked vigilante clutching his stomach, all the criminals were knocked out, but the hero still dropped to the ground. Tears streamed from Jack’s mother’s eyes; a hero wasn’t the only thing the world lost that night but also a father.

6th of August 2020

Jack woke up in the hospital, but nothing was permanently damaged. The doctor told him the news and it wasn’t good “your family wasn’t found in the crash” the doctor worried there was an elderly woman sitting on the chair beside jack. Half of her face was in shadow and the smile on her face was stretched like a toad “you’re coming home with me dear” she said in a childish voice.

On the way home Jack thought he saw her say something under her breath, but he was more interested in the bat flying in the sky above. When they got home the grandma’s smile faded into a snarl “now go to your room or I’ll hit you with a stick” she yelled. Jack ran to his room and sobbed he didn’t know whether he imagined it, or if it was real, but he heard his grandma cackle through the night.

18th of May 2028

The sun was just rising, and Jack got out of bed. He got dressed raced to the kitchen put bread in the toaster. When the toast was finished, he spread it with butter, ate it while doing his hair and brushed his teeth when finished. He grabbed his already packed bag and raced out the door. He grabbed his bike and rode down the hill “ten minutes to school and got up before my grandma today is a good day” he cheered. He stopped at the front of the shop and opened the door and flicked the closed sign to open “hi, Arthur” he greeted the cashier “hi Jack” he smiled.

He left when he had to leave for school “bye” he spoke to the workers before leaving. “Hi jack” a girl asked as he arrived, she had flowing blonde hair and emerald eyes “hey Georgia” he slightly blushed. When they had to part to go to class a sharp pain just like every day hit him in the chest as she left.

At lunch they met up again when suddenly someone knocked him to the ground. It was George Blunt the bully of the school he had bullied him since prep “what do you want now” Jack questioned sitting on the ground like he chose to, but George ignored him and turned to Georgia “want to go out” he asked as everyday he saw her; she just rolled her eyes walked over to jack and the 2 left leaving a confused George behind them. Jack remembered when he first met Georgia.  

13th of March 2021

It was a sunny beautiful day everyone was playing on the oval except for jack who was sitting beside a classroom, tears soaked his hands that covered his face, a ripped book lay at his feet everyone walked past him as though he wasn’t there the only thing that showed an emotion was the shade that wrapped around him like a blanket of darkness, trying to swallow him in. “Hi” a sweet voice pieced the shadows. Jack looked up at the girl’s face and looked back at the floor, but she didn’t go away, she sat down beside him and picked up the shredded book “it can be repaired” she said calmly said. He couldn’t tell what made him want to tell her everything, but he risked looking at her again. That was his second mistake. Arms wrapped around him in a hug and his head rested on her shoulder. The shadows seemed to shrivel away and Jack felt the kind of warmth that had been lost a long time ago. He hugged her back”

17th of May 2028

Jack rode back to his house and sneaked to the back of the house and entered through the back door, he could hear the TV murmuring and went to the first room from the door. It was a room with crates everywhere. Jack didn’t know what was in them, but he placed his bag against one and sat down he opened the zipper on the bag and pulled a book from it that he got from the library and opened it by the dim light from the door. He lost track of time and the door flung open.

“What is THAT!” the elderly woman growled “a book” Jack winced as she grabbed his arm “what have I told you about reading it’s dangerous for minds especially ones as useless as yours” her words pieced him like spears. She looked at the book which lay on the ground “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light, what garbage is this,” she swiped the book from the ground and grabbed the other end “it’s from the library” Jack pleaded, but she didn’t listen and ripped it in two “NO” he cried and he picked up the many pages that landed on the ground “maybe that will teach you something” she snarled before leaving.

He picked up the closest page to him and looked at it, it was the same page she read. He gritted his teeth and looked at where his grandma was standing “time to turn on the light” he said finally and stood up and looked at the crate he was sitting against.

18th of May 2028

The next day he ate breakfast and got dressed before his grandma got up and rushed to the crate room. He tried to open one, but it was nailed shut. He heard the door from the room next to him open and quickly hid within the maze of crates and hid behind one when the door creaked open. footsteps faintly touched the stone floor as the old woman grew closer. She eventually gave up and exited and Jack spotted a flat piece of metal that could slide underneath the lid, and he pulled it off. All that was in there was some kind of ski wear “my parents must have travelled” he thought as he grabbed the suit he dug deeper into the box and found thin ropes with triangular shaped hooks on them “but why would he have these” he whispered. The only thing else in the box was bank records and a picture of a figure dressed in black running across the roof with a full moon behind him.

He laid them out on the ground and thought to himself “why on earth would my parents have this stuff” he thought. He sat in front of the stuff and scratched his brain, he took some bracelets out of his bag that he made in a design class “was my dad a superhero?” he thought he tried to think of the last moments he heard his dad but his grandma never talked about him but he did remember the sound of mom crying and him opening a door to comfort her, then they went to the shops. A sick feeling came over him as he couldn’t fully remember what happened next except a bat and his grandma telling him to go to his room.

“Was the bat an omen from him” he started to think but retracted it “no, that would be ridiculous”. His mom’s face sat on his mind “but what did happen to my dad” a thought occurred; the thought never occurred to him. He took the metal board and opened another crate.

In that one there was a bunch of black boxes, he opened another crate and there was a TV on it. He found an outlet and plugged it in. he also found a remote but when he pressed play it went to a news broadcast from 12 years ago “I’m Elizabeth Mary and I will be telling you the news tonight” the news reporter spoke confidently “there had been reports saying that in that warehouse a gang of thugs have been trading illegal items” she reported while showing them the warehouse that was swarmed with policemen. They had not noticed a dark figure entering the warehouse from the roof, but Jack did. Unexpectedly shots from a thousand guns rang from inside the warehouse then all was silent. The door flew open to reveal the masked vigilante clutching his stomach, all the criminals were knocked out, but the hero still dropped to the ground.

“Why would there be a TV set exactly to this… unless this was the last thing she was watching at that time” his stomach felt worse now he grabbed the ropes and opened the bracelet revealing a mechanism he wrapped the rope around the inside of the bracelet until the hook was the only thing showing. He closed it up and pointed it at the board and slightly tensed. It shot out at wrapped speed and pierced it, he quickly relaxed, and it recoiled with the board still attached and he caught it the door suddenly swung “what was that” a voice snarled.

He quickly put the TV back in the box and closed the lid and closed the lid on the other but grabbed the stuff and disappeared into the darkness. He sat in the shadows while unhooking the board and placed it against a crate he snuck around the room till he made it to the door and snuck out.

19th of May 2028

 He was locked in his room even though she had no real proof he was in there or the sound could have been a rat knocking something over. He took out the costume and an arts and craft box “I’m so glad it isn’t summer” he groaned as he looked at the suit he searched under his bed and found some goggles and put them on the inside of the mask. He kept searching when he found a wooden box. He flipped 2 clips and opened it. It was a bat costume that didn’t fit him anymore. He chuckled. He looked at the wings and felt the material and grabbed a roll from under his bed which was the same material.

He grabbed scissors and measuring tape. He measured him then cut it until it resembled bat wings. He opened his closet and took 2 belts from it. He sewed the wings on the suit and attached the goggles to the mask. He cut some more material and made a hood that he attached to the suit. He grabbed the belts that his grandma painted blue because ‘who in their minds would wear blue belts’ and just like the other times she was wrong.

He looked at the watch and quickly stuffed them in his bag and got up. The door flew open “that door isn’t even supposed to go that way” he thought “in the car now” she growled, and they both went drove through the city.

Thunk! A head hit the ground as Jack pinned his opponent to the ground. The master walked towards him “you’ve gotten better” he said, and they both bowed to one another “I had a good teacher” he said before helping the other student up and they shook hands. He walked out of the Dojo “probably not a good place to leave me when you need a break from me” he thought to himself about his grandmother.

A car sped right as Jack was about to cross the road followed by police “I thought I would al least have a little more time” he thought before running back into the Dojo. “the cops are going to get us” the driver said “just keep driving” the passenger said before a figure landed on the hood he was dressed in black except for his hood and 2 belts which went across his waist and torso. He thrusted his fist at where the wheel was and the driver suddenly lost control and they skidded on their side.

Jack was able to jump just in time and a robber kicked the door open and climbed down the underside of the car “are you going to give up” Jack questioned “what are you” the robber said brandishing his knife. “I’m The Bat” Jack announced. The robber looked at him in confusion “is it really not that obvious” The Bat asked as he looked at his costume “hands in the air” the cops shouted. The Bat lifted his hands up. He was about to shoot a line when a cop car exploded. It flew 10 metres in the air and was about to land on him. he shot a line, but something knocked it off course and it landed on the ground. “Plan B” he shot into a run, but pain shot through his knee, and he fell to the ground. He looked at what hit him, it was a shuriken. The shadow got bigger; Jack tried to get up, but he was in too much pain. First time as a hero and he was going to be crushed.