Reilly grunted and tried to stretch, only to discover that he was attached to stuff. He opened his eyes, jerking down into the pillow as they focused on a face, a lovely, sparkling face, only inches from his own.


“Well,” he started, “I can’t be in heaven, or you wouldn’t be here with me.”


“Wow… Thanks a lot.” Ranelle scoffed, feigning offense.


“No, I mean…” Reilly stammered.


Pumpkin-spice scented lips pecked the tip of his nose.


“I know what you meant.”


She stood and he grabbed her hand.


“Don’t go,” he quietly pleaded.


“I’ll be back in a minute. Two tops. I’m just going to go get your parents. I told them to go grab a bite to eat and that I’d let them know about any changes.”


She paused at the door.


“I’m glad you’re alive, Reilly. Do me a favor and promise NEVER to do something so utterly stupid again for the rest of your life, hey? Or next time I’ll just have to kill you myself!” 


She flounced playfully out the door, but Reilly felt the weight of her words. He already knew he loved her, but now he loved her just a little bit more for how much she clearly cared about him. He wanted to tell her so badly it hurt. Or maybe he was just in pain from his fall through the ice. How damaged was he, anyway? More importantly, how had he gotten out of there?


His parents came rushing in a minute later, followed by Ranelle. They all gushed over him until he held up a hand.


“Mom, Dad, I’m okay, I’m okay. I’m sorry I scared you,” he paused, “I scared me too.”


A moment later, he finally asked, “Could someone please tell me what happened? I mean, how I’m alive right now?”


His dad ran his fingers through his hair, let out a puff of air and sat down. Reilly’s mother spoke first.


“We know Darrin was trying to…” her voice caught and she put a hand to the side of his face, “trying to…” a tear rolled down her cheek.


His dad gently interrupted, “He’s in jail now, son. You’ll need to press charges and testify against him later.”


“How did you find out what was going on?” Reilly pressed, bewildered.


His dad continued, “We woke up with the first explosion. At first we thought it was a gunshot, then we saw the green sparks. We knew that there was only one dad-gum fool who’d be settin’ off fireworks for no reason, and we hoped he didn’t have a second dad-gum fool with ‘im.”


Mr. Lander looked pointedly at his son.


Reilly shifted uncomfortably, unable to make eye contact.


“I know it sounds lame, Dad, and I know you don’t have a reason to believe me, but I only went out there to make sure Darrin didn’t hurt himself.”


“You should have told US, son! Your parents! At the very least, we could have told his parents, maybe even stopped the whole con-foun-ded idea in the first place!”


“John,” Mrs. Lander moved to her husband, laying a hand on his shoulder.


John Lander looked up at his wife and nodded. He wrapped an arm around her waist and looked at Reilly.


“You sure do have a knack for learnin’ things the hard way, boy.”


Reilly managed a weak smile.


“Anyway,” Mr. Lander proceeded, “We came outside just in time to see you fall through the ice. Heck, by then the whole neighborhood was out there to see it.”


Reilly nodded, “So you pulled me out of the lake?”


“That’s a mystery, actually,” said Reilly’s mother, “By the time we made it down to the lake’s edge, you were already on the shore.”


“You were breathin’, but barely,” his dad interjected.


“I’ve never felt anything so cold, but you were alive, sweetheart!”


“The paramedics got there just a minute later.”


“Longest minute of our lives!”


“And the cops came with ‘em. That idiot friend of yours-”


Reilly interrupted his dad, “He’s not my friend anymore,” he stated coldly.


“Fair ‘nuff,” his dad nodded, “Just idiot then. That idiot was hoppin’ up and down, screamin’ delirious garbage about how you were s’posed to die, and it wasn’t fair you’d cheated death, cheated him, and so on. There were a lot of witnesses, so he won’t be slidin’ outta this anytime soon.”


Reilly’s eyes clouded with confusion.


“But why did he want to kill me, Dad?”


He looked down for a second, then up again.


“And how did I get to shore without any memory of it?”


Reilly’s Dad looked at his son, concern in his eyes. 


“For your first question, the answer is simple. Seems Darrin is sweet on your girl and wants you outta the way.”


Ranelle snuffed indignantly.


“For the second question,” he looked at his son with concern, “we don’t always get all the answers. We don’t… know… how you got out of the water. There was no sign of broken surface, or a wet trail across the ice where we found you. We just don’t know.”


Ranelle stepped forward.


“I do,” she said simply. Then, “Mrs. Lander, you may want to sit down.”


Mrs. Lander cocked her head at Ranelle, but did as instructed and sat down next to her husband.


Ranelle started to pace the small hospital room, then stopped and faced the three of them. She took a deep breath, then spoke fast. Clearly, but fast so no one could stop her.


“My least favorite part of superhero movies is when the superhero refuses to tell the people he loves about his powers because then the bad guy will use them to manipulate the superhero.”


Reilly knew this about her, and nodded, but wondered where she was going with it.


“Well, I’m a superhero, well, not exactly. I’m not super, and I have never been a hero, or heroine, until today, but I do have powers, and I’m tired of hiding them from those I love because just like in the movies, the bad guy used you to try to manipulate me. He doesn’t know I have powers though; he’s just an idiot.”


She briefly smiled at Reilly’s dad.


“My powers let me breathe underwater, tolerate cold for, like, a super long time, and when someone loves me as much as I love them, it apparently creates a connection that lets me instantly transport to where the are when they’re in trouble and jump them out of immediate danger, though I didn’t know about that last part until last night when Reilly said he loves me. Well, he didn’t say it so much as think it so strongly that it triggered that third power.


“One second I was in my room asleep and the next I was jolted awake by a vision of an orange glow above water and a feeling of love and imminent death. Then I was next to Reilly in the water. I grabbed hold of him, and then we were on the lakeshore. Then I was back in my room, dripping wet and wondering how and why I did what I just did, and only sure I hadn’t dreamed it because of the aforementioned soaking wet-ness!”


Reilly stared at her. His lips parted into a grin.


“Aforementioned?” He queried?


She stared back at him.


“Really? That’s what you got out of all that?”


He held out a hand to her and she came to him, gripping it.


“I heard the part where you said you love me too.”


She leaned down to kiss him, then suddenly stood up straight, remembering that his parents were literally watching her, sitting in silence after that astounding revelation.


Reilly’s dad looked at his wife, and she mused aloud, “Do you have a more logical explanation?”


He shrugged and turned to Reilly.


“Son?”


Reilly, still gazing up at Ranelle, said, “I believe her, Dad.”


“Son.”


Reilly turned his head and locked eyes defiantly with his dad.


“Son, some friends just ain’t worth havin’.”


Reilly glared at his father. How dare he! She saved his life! He struggled to rise up on his elbows, trying to gain a more authoritative position.


John Lander stood and came around to Ranelle’s side of Reilly’s hospital bed. She turned and looked up, way up from her short stature, at him with a fear of fear and determination. All of a sudden, she was picked up off the ground in a giant bear-hug. When he set her down, she could see tears in his eyes.


He held her at arms length and looked at her and Reilly. 


“It’s true, boy. Some friends just ain’t worth havin’,” he paused, “But, Reilly, when you can find ‘em, or get lucky enough in life for them to find you,” he let go of Ranelle and stepped back, gesturing her towards the young man in the hospital bed, “some friends ARE.”