1 Chapter One
I stood stiffly as the man angrily approached me. Earlier that day I had thrown a milkshake at him for being a rude jerk and now he had caught me on my walk home. He had obvious anger and smelled as if he'd had too much to drink. His body stretched quite a bit taller than me and he was muscular to say the least. I froze in complete terror as I realized there is nothing I could do to stop him from hurting me. The closer he got to me the more I backed up. I pressed myself as close to the brick wall behind me as I could as I came to realize there was nothing I could do. If I morphed now then he would know who I was and where I worked when I wasn't fighting crime. I stuck my hand over the sliver watch on my wrist and pressed a button. Within seconds a red flash raced by and saved me. In a matter of a few seconds we were miles away and at the apartment I lived at. My best friend, Chase, softly set me down on the carpeted long hallway that led to an elevator and a few apartments. He cheerfully smiled at me and did a funny pose to make me smile too. I guess I was showing my nervousness more than I meant to. I laughed when he put his hands on his hips, stuck his tongue out, and crossed his eyes.
"That took entirely to long to make you laugh," Chase said in an upbeat voice. He took his hands off his hips and curiously raised an eyebrow at me. I looked down and noticed his red shoes that were smoking.
"You're on fire," I laughed. He looked down and quickly ripped his shoes off and hit them together. He laughed at himself and stood back up. He joyfully looked back down at me. He was a good foot taller than me even with his shoes off. I nervously and slowly switched my weight onto either foot. Chase knew me too well and pulled me into him in a hug. "It's okay, I wasn't going to let that guy hurt you," He calmingly said as he rested his chin on my head. I melted into his chest and managed a smile. I pulled away and happily smiled at him and then started to laugh as I grabbed a tissue out of my bag and started to wipe his white shirt.
"I'm sorry," I laughed, "I got some makeup on you." Chase laughed at me as I tried to scrub the mascara off of his white shirt.
"It's fine Carly," He insisted, "I'll change my shirt when we go upstairs."
I broke a smile as I took a step back and put my tissue back in my bag. I quickly zipped it back up and put it back to my side. I shifted my eyes across the hallway and down to the elevator.
"We should probably go up to the house," I quietly suggest.
"Okay," Chase said as he turned towards the elevator and we started walking together. We quietly pressed the up button and waited for the elevator to come down. I looked over at Chase and studied what he looked like. He was wearing a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants. He was carrying his red shoes that were burnt at the bottom. He was obviously working out when I sent the distress call through my watch. I felt bad and felt like I interrupted what he was doing. I looked down at my boring gray shoes and then the elevator door beeps and slowly opened. Chase's brother, Noah, was standing in front of us. Noah was the same height as Chase with fluffy brown hair and brown eyes. Noah was wearing a white shirt with a zippered blue coat over it, and a gray beanie. He gave Chase a hug and then hugged me. "I'm glad you're okay, I got your distress call at the same time Chase left. I'm off to work see you all later," Noah commented with a smile.
"Thank you Noah, see ya later," I pulled a smile and took his place in the elevator.
Chase said goodbye to his brother and then stepped into the elevator and clicked the button labeled level 7. He seemed happy so I tried to seem happy. I didn't want him to be worried about me, I was just shaken up from the confrontation. The elevator doors shut slowly and then we started to go up. I tried to start a conversations by asking about our roommates, "Is anyone else home?"
"Yeah, Mariah has been home all day with a cold and Trenton has been taking care of her," Chase blankly stated as he shifted his bodyweight so he could turn to look at me.
I looked into his blue eyes and responded quietly, "Awe that stinks, I hope she feels better soon."
"Yeah, I've been at home all day doing Blaze stuff," Chase laughed, "The news has been loving me lately."
"Lucky you," I giggled back. Chase seemed to be really happy about how the city has named him Blaze. He's been saving people left and right and he really likes the hero job he has. I was happy for him, for all my friends who had hero jobs. My roommate Irisha and I are the only two people in our apartment that have normal people jobs. The news calls us wannabe heroes and say that we should just leave it to the "Professionals." My job and Irisha's job support and pay for the apartment so it works out.
Chase's voice broke through the silence, "So how come Phoenix didn't fight back for herself?" Him calling me that almost made me break down.
I took a deep breath and answered, "I um, I threw a melted milkshake at him earlier today."
Chase laughed, "He wanted to hurt you because you threw a milkshake at him?"
"Yeah, it was pretty stupid," I nervously laughed. I was reliving it in my mind. I had called Chase during my midday break so he already knew about this story. I was working as the cashier and the tall guy came in, he was sweaty and asking for fries and a milkshake. I told him the ice cream machine was broken because it's always broken and he started getting really rude. I told him I had no control over the ice cream machine. He angrily demanded I give him a milkshake anyway, so I filled the milkshake cup up with the melted ice cream inside of the ice cream machine and angrily handed it to the man. He raised his voiced and complained it was melted and I raised my voice back to tell him that's because the machine is broken. He loudly demanded for one that wasn't melted and I filled another cup up and chucked it at him. He said he was going to complain to my manager, I said I was the manager, and then he stormed out.
"I'm sorry you've had a bad day," Chase apologized.
"It's fine, its not your fault, I'm just glad I'm home," I lightly and happily responded as the elevator doors opened to a hallway with yellow walls with white trim and maroon flooring. Our apartment door was white and just about 10 feet from the elevator doorway. There was a staircase to the right of the door that led to the roof.

We walked to our apartment's door and I pulled my key out of the bag and stuck it in the deadbolt and turned the key to unlock the door. I opened the door and walked into the living room. Our living room was centered around our glass coffee table. There was a three seated white couch on the long side of the coffee table and another one on the short side of the coffee table. On the opposite long side there was a large window with two charcoal colored chairs in front of it. There was a matching glass end table between the two chairs. On the opposite short side of the coffee table there was a white wood accent wall with a large flat screen television on it. A white ottoman sat between the accent wall and the coffee table. On the long side of the coffee table opposite of the window there was walking space behind the couch, a coat closet, a doorway between the accent wall and the closet. That doorway leads to the kitchen, and the hallway to our bedrooms.

The kitchen and dining area was very spacious and had ton of extra room. We didn't have a dining table since we mostly ate in the living room. Where the dining table should've been we had two computer desks with desktop computers on them. Chase and Trenton work from home so we needed the desktop computers but we all have our own laptops. The kitchen and dining room are connected and it creates a really big room. We have a soft, light oak wood flooring in the kitchen that ends at the island that splits the two rooms. We also have an island in the middle of the kitchen that has one little seat that goes under the counter. We only use that seat when we're cooking and its going to take a while, which isn't often because we usually just order pizza or Chinese food and have it delivered. Our kitchen itself was really pretty. We had light gray marbled countertops, white cabinets, and dark gray appliances.

The hallway leading to our bedrooms was past a doorway next to our fridge. The hallway was wide and had three doors on either side. The end of the hallway had a big window and a little stand with a baby tomato plant that Mariah was growing. The tomato's pot was labeled Steve; this was her twenty-seventh try at making a tomato plant grow, hence the letter "S" being the 27th letter of the alphabet. We all loved little baby tomato plant Steve. We, however, did not like the constant classical music being played at the end of the hallway to "Help him grow." Most of us have resorted to sleeping with earbuds in. My room was the door all the way at the end of the hallway on the right. All of our doors were white so they matched the walls. I walked back to my bedroom, opened the door, walked in, and shut the door behind me.

My bedroom was small but I liked it that way. It had an old rustic feel to it with my comforter on my bed being a pale pastel pink and all other furniture was wooden. I had an attached bathroom to my bedroom, the door to my bathroom was directly across from my bed. I had a small dresser with a mirror hanging above it. I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself. I looked defeated and obviously tired. I took off my glasses and inspected my blue eyes for any sign of bloodshot, but my eyes were normal. I reached my hands into my hair and pulled it out of its high ponytail. I let my long reddish brown hair fall to my waist as I grabbed my hairbrush off of my dresser. After thoroughly brushing my hair I decided to get changed into my pajamas. I put on a pair of my fleece pajama pants and a white t-shirt. After I was finished I put my glasses back on and walked to the kitchen and reached into one of the cabinets to grab a bag of popcorn. I steadily pulled out the entire box and picked two bags out of the box, then put the box back. I heard Chase's footsteps coming down the hallway and right as he rounded the corner into the kitchen, I handed him a bag on un-popped popcorn. "How did you know?" He chuckled as he held the bag in his hand.
"Am I not allowed to know my best friend?" I joyfully asked back, I was 7:50 on a Tuesday which meant our favorite show would be on in ten minutes, "It's Flash night, I knew you'd want popcorn."
"Thank you," Chase responded as he took a seat at the center island while we waited for my bag of popcorn to finished popping. The sound of popping filled the air; I had hopped up on the counter next to the microwave and engaged in a small conversation with Chase.
"We've only talked about my day so far, how was your day?" I bouncingly asked. I was finally happy to be home and in my pajamas.
Chase hesitantly responded, "You had more action than I did, the only time I got out of the apartment was when you sent out a distress call."
"Not a lot of crime today?" I curiously asked.
"None at all, I sat here and twirled my thumbs on the couch, I must've rewatched that new Hulk movie twenty times," Chase admitted. The sound of deep defeat crowded his usual happy self.
"Isn't that a good thing? No crime means no lives lost," I cheerfully explained. My statement sparked something in him as I watched the corners of his mouth curl upwards in a smile.
"You're right, I didn't think of it like that," Chase said while smiling, it was a sincere smile too, he wasn't faking it.
"So you just sat here and watched the new Hulk movie over and over?" I jokingly laughed.
"Yeah," Chase laughed back, "I watched it at least ten times and I still dont remember what happened in it."
We both started laughing. Our laughter was interrupted by the beeping of the microwave indicating that the popcorn was finished. I opened the microwave and hopped off the counter. In the cabinet next to the stove a pulled out a popcorn bowl and set it on the counter. I put the popcorn in the bowl and traded the bowl for the bag of unpopped popcorn that Chase was holding.
"Is this for me," He asked as he pointed to the bowl of popcorn in his lap. I turned to the microwave and up the popcorn bag in.
"Yup," I remarked as I set the microwave to 2:00 and hit start. I turned back to Chase and gave him a goofy smile that made him smile back. Being around my best friend for just ten minutes had wiped away all the anger I'd gone through and him smile was the medicine to make a bad day better.
A door down the hallway creaked open and I heard socks slide on the wood floors. Mariah came around the corner, she was covered in a blanket and obviously wasnt feeling better. She seemed really sick at this point. She sniffled and looked at us. "Are you feeling better?" I curiously asked as Mariah looked blankly back and forth between Chase and me.
She sniffled and looked longingly at the cabinet above my head. She completely disregarded my question and asked her own, "Can you get me the cold medicine?"
I nodded and reached behind me to grab the cold medicine from above the sink, pulled out the container of liquid cold medicine, and handed it to Mariah. She thanked me and then scooted back down to her room. The TV turned on in the living room to hear the deep voice of a male news anchor, "This is Gus Poland with your breaking news. There's been an attack on Crimson City, Storm Rider is attempting to keep this new enemy at bay while Winstone is getting civilians out of harm's way. I stand here, on the front lines, giving you the news as..." Chase and I looked at eachother and walked into the living room. Trenton, Mariah's older brother, was standing in front of the television in shock. We turned to look at the TV. A twenty foot, blue and green, angry 5 headed monster was walking the downtown streets and destroying everything in its path.
