The Sky’s Gonna Say My Name

This story started as a thought about what it would feel like if you suddenly found yourself surrounded by super-powered individuals. Then I heard this song that inspired it an amazing tone. And then on top of that Reedsy announced this week’s writing prompts: Superheroes. In a word: Kismit. If you’re looking for great background music to read this story to, I highly recommend Heroes Fall by Hidden Citizens.


I’m floating, completely weightless as I hover just above the ground. I look to the sky as it calls my name. “Erin,” the voice whispers, “come explore.” As soon as the thought enters my mind, I’m off. Flying among the clouds, rising and falling as if controlled by the tides. 

I’m floating, completely weightless as I hover just about the ground. I look to the sky as it calls my name. “Erin,” the voice whispers, “come explore.” As soon as the thought enters my mind, I’m off. Flying among the clouds, rising and falling as if controlled by the tides. 

I always imagined the clouds as fluffy white marshmallows. Instead, they dissipate as soon as I reach for them–dewy mist rolling over my hand and through my long brown hair as it flutters on the wind. They disappear to reveal the landscape below. My little town of Mason in all it’s humble glory. How long have I yearned to leave this place, to find freedom outside the confines of this one-light town? 

“Faster,” the voice calls out again. 

I push myself, higher, farther, faster. In an instant, my hometown is gone, only a blur of green and blue lie below me now. I breathe, really breathe for what feels like the first time in ages. I have no idea how fast I’m going until the green disappears, leaving only a blurry ocean of blue. The ocean! How have I gotten all the way to the coast? I loop back around to view the coastline, over 400 miles away from home. 

A shadowy figure appears before me. I skid to a stop. Can you skid in the sky? He floats as dark smoke encircles him. I can’t make out his face. Does he even have a face? The air cools, the sky darkens around us. Something is wrong. The figure extends a dark wisp towards me. Suddenly, I feel the relentless pull of gravity tug at my legs. 

I’m falling. I reach out to the figure, begging for help, then turn to see the ocean getting closer and closer. I squeeze my eyes tight, I can’t watch. 

My alarm goes off as I feel myself crash, not into the ocean, but into my own bed. I turn over and smack the alarm off, content to continue lying here reliving my dream. If I focus, I can almost taste the clean, crisp air of the sky. I live in a world where heroes are more than just imagined stories. People can harness the powers of ice and fire, move mountains with a single push, or float on the clouds. Or at least they could. The last Super disappeared over a century ago. No one left but us norms, relegated to the world of the mundane. And none more so than my small corner of the world, the little speck on the map that is mundane Mason. 

“Mom! Erin is still asleep!” My annoying little brother Ethan is standing at my door wearing his typical superhero mask and cape. At only eight, a full decade younger than me, I firmly believe his sole purpose in life is to annoy me. 

“Shut up, Ethan,” I say as I throw my pillow at him. He runs and hides, as he always does.

“Erin,” my mother yells from the kitchen. Somehow she manages to still make us breakfast every morning despite working double shifts at the hospital as much as possible. She insists it’s her motherly duty, but we know it’s the only time she has with all three of us–me and the twins, Ethan and Katie. My Dad died three years ago, and now with my going off to college at the end of summer, I think she’s trying extra hard to hold onto any sort of tradition she has. “Get up!” 

“I am up!” I call down to my mother. The feeling of the sky lingers on my skin. It may be just a dream, but it’s the same one I always have. Every time it leaves me feeling emptier and even more trapped than before. 

Two more months, I tell myself. It’s cliché, I know, the small-town girl wanting to get out and go make something of herself in the big city. It’s not that I dislike Mason, it’s a great town to grow up in. Everyone knows everyone else. Knows their problems too, their past. I can’t walk down a street in this town and not be assaulted with the lingering looks of pity from people who knew my Dad. 

It doesn’t help that it seems like every corner holds a memory of him either—the ice cream shop where he took us to celebrate after my first softball game. We lost, miserably, but you’d never know it based on the amount of ice cream he bought. The light post I nicked when he let me sit on his lap and drive the car when I was only 12. The tree outside my window that holds an unfinished treehouse he was building for Ethan. Down the street, the cemetery that holds his gravestone. 

“Ethan, tell your sister breakfast is ready.” I can hear my mom perfectly fine, but for some reason, she loves to give Ethan jobs. Maybe it keeps him busy, but all I know is how he executes those jobs typically leaves me annoyed. 

I hear him bounding up the steps making his flying noises for the Superman toy that never leaves his side. “Mom said–” he screams at the top of his lungs from my doorway. 

“I heard! I’m coming, Ethan. Thank you,” I add—two more months. 

Finally having made my way downstairs, I grab the TV remote and flick it on; I can’t stand silence in this house anymore. “Breaking news this morning, an explosion has rocked the city of Mason overnight,” says anchorman Rob Tobin. He has one of those faces that was just made for local news: square jaw, bright blue eyes, artificially white teeth, and very-apparently-artificially-tanned skin. 

“No TV at breakfast,” demands my mother. 

“Since when?” I say. 

“Since now. I only have two more months with you, and I’m not going to spend it with Rob Tobin yammering in the background. Now turn it off, please.” The dark circles under her eyes are even more apparent today. She didn’t sleep at all. Again. I know she tries to hide it for our sake, but I can tell, even the nights she doesn’t work a double, sleep evades her. At first, she turned to the bottle, but after she missed picking up Katie and Ethan once at school, she quit cold turkey. 

I turn off the TV and take a seat at the bar, a plate of bacon and eggs waiting for me. “Mom, it’s not like you’re never going to see me again. I’m only going three hours away, it’s UNC.” Not NYU, the school I wished I was going to. I got accepted, but even with financial aid, we could never afford the tuition, room, and board. And I think deep down, my mom needed me closer to help out with the twins. So I accepted the full ride to UNC instead. “And you know you don’t have to get up and make a full breakfast every morning.” 

“I know, but I love you kids, and that’s what mothers do. They put their kids first.” She smiles as she rubs the top of Ethan’s head, despite the exhaustion evident on her face. “And on that note, I need you to help me out today. Can you pick up Katie today?” 

Katie, the other half of the dynamic duo determined to overrule any plans I had of a typical day. If Ethan was the loud and obnoxious yin, Katie was the sweet and silent yang. But with that innocence came my desire to do anything and everything she needed. We all did. There was just something about her that made people love her. Last night was the first time she’d spent the night at her best friend’s house in three years. 

“Yea, I’ll get her. Any particular time?” I ask. 

“I haven’t heard from Mrs. Keller yet, but I imagine it’ll be sooner rather than later so just be–” 

A monstrous boom echoes outside, and our entire house shakes. 

“What the hell?” I say.

“Language,” my mother claps back. 

“Mom, really?” Another boom shakes the house. I run outside to see what’s happening. 

“Erin, be careful!” My mother screams as she holds Ethan back from following me. 

I can’t believe it. There’s a massive plume of smoke just down the street, people all running away from it. Another boom sounds behind me, but this time I see the source. A transformer blows on the other side of our house. Sirens erupt from every direction. 

I run back inside and flip on the news. Rob Tobin is still there, but smoke fills the studio. His tie is loosened, and he’s standing to leave. “I repeat, attacks are occurring across the city. Reports of explosions, fires, and,” he pauses, “ice storms? Are they back?” He questions an off-screen entity. With no answers forthcoming, he turns back to the camera, “The authorities urge everyone to get somewhere safe and stay there. God help us all.” 

The screen cuts to the rainbow emergency signal. I look to my mother. 

“I have to get to the hospital,” she says. The implications of the report are starting to set in as her eyes dart back’ n’ forth. She grabs her go-bag that she keeps in case of an emergency. Being an ER nurse means you may be called into work and not be able to leave for a few days. “I need you to get Katie, bring her home, and watch the twins. Can you handle that?” 

My mind is swimming with questions about the news report, explosions, fires, and ice storms? Could Supers really be back? How? Who are they, and where have they been? A familiar voice echoes in the back of my mind, clawing at it, itching to be set free. 

“Erin,” my mom pulls my focus. She’s grabbing my face, “can you handle this?” 

“Yea, of course,” I say. The voice disappears. “Go, I’ve got the kids.” 

“Okay,” she turns to my brother, “Ethan, I’ve got to go, okay, sweetie? But listen to Erin. Do everything she tells you to, okay? I need you to be strong for mommy, okay?” He is crying, clutching his Superman toy with both hands in front of him. 

“Yes, mommy,” he manages to get out between sobs.

“I love you both, be careful,” she says to me before turning to leave. I can’t help but feel a finality to her words like we will never be the same again after today.

“Okay, you two,” I say to Ethan and his Superman as I squat down to Ethan’s level, “this is our mission. We’re going to get ready and then go get Katie. Do you accept?” 

“I accept,” Ethan whimpers. He’s trying to breathe through the tears, I know he wants to be brave, and he will be. 

“Okay. Race you back here?” 

His eyes light up, he can never turn down a race. “It’s on!” He runs off towards his room. I swear he’s getting faster every day. I quickly throw on a shirt and sneakers and get to packing my own bag. If things get terrible, I know we can head to my grandfather’s house. We may live in a pitifully populated town, but he lives in the middle of nowhere. The only living things within miles of his place are either furry, have six legs, or are covered in leaves. 

Within minutes we’re in my car and headed to the Keller’s just a few blocks away to get Katie. The scene is something out of a movie—houses on fire, garage doors just opening and closing at random, sprinkler systems gushing out of the ground like Old Faithful. But no people to be seen. The usual hustle and bustle of the neighborhood are stalled. 

Something slams on my car window. Ethan screams. I turn to see a man, or what’s left of him. His entire face is burned, his clothes still on fire. I quickly try and cover Ethan’s face with his hood as I pull away. From my rearview mirror, another man is standing over the burnt one, with what looks like a fireball in his hand. Is he laughing? Fire shoots up into the sky as I turn the corner. 

“What’s going on!” Screams Ethan. He’s trying to get out from under my hand, holding his hoodie down. “Why was that man all red?” 

“It’s okay, just hold onto Superman for me. Keep your head down, okay? We’re going to have to make this a stealth mission.” 

“Like when Superman had to sneak into LexCorp to save Lois after she was kidnapped?” 

“Exactly,” I try to smile. The world is falling apart, I can’t fall apart with it if I’m supposed to be staying strong for the twins. Of all the nights for a sleepover! 

“Okay, you won’t even know I’m here, then.” Ethan scoots down into his seat, pulling his hoodie tight over his face. I can’t tell if he knows what is happening and ignores it or if he’s still in a state of blissful ignorance. I’m hoping for the latter and hoping it stays that way. 

The next street seems relatively unharmed. For the most part, the houses are still intact, but quiet, no one is around. My thoughts drift back to the laughing man standing over the burnt body. Did he have a fireball in his hand? What is going on in our town? I try to call my mom to make sure she got to the hospital, okay, but my phone won’t connect. It won’t even go to voicemail, it just says, “Call Failed.” 

Breathe, Erin, just get Katie and get somewhere safe. Grandpa’s place is looking better and better with every passing minute. Only two more blocks. 

“Tree!” A voice screams. My voice. I slam on the brakes as a tree slams onto the pavement in front of us. One branch catches the corner of the car–spinning us 90 degrees. I’m met with the face of a young woman. Brianna Cartwright, we had 3rd-period science together last year. She’s leaning on her knees, panting. She stands up and proceeds to what I can only describe as conjure fire in her fist as she hurls herself forward, flinging the burning ball of flame in our direction. I reach for Ethan, to cover him, to hold him, to do something as I close my eyes and wait for the heat to explode in front of us. 

It never comes. 

It flies over our car and explodes behind me. I turn to see another man, Logan Rios–Brianna’s ex-boyfriend, jump out of the way just before it hits him. In return, he picks up the truck he’s standing next to. Literally, picks it up, then throws it back at Brianna. 

She slides towards us, avoiding the airborne truck. Before I can even contemplate what is happening, she’s opening my door and pulling me out. 

“Get out of here, Erin, now. I’ll deal with Logan.” 

“Wait, what is going on?” I stammer. The questions fly from my mouth faster than I can even process them. “How is he lifting a truck, how are you flinging fire? What the hell is happening?” 

“Short answer, I have no idea. I woke up, and my hands were on fire. Then Logan comes shouting outside my house. Then he proceeds to throw a mailbox through my bedroom window. I put my hands out instantly to cover my face, but instead, fire shot out and destroyed the mailbox before it could even reach me. But you need to get out of here, Erin, take your brother and go. I don’t know what’s gotten into Logan, but he won’t talk to me, he won’t calm down.” 

“He’s a Hulk…” whispers Ethan from the passenger seat. I’d almost forgotten he was even there. The small caped crusader stands on his knees, looking out the back of the car to Logan, attempting to pull another tree from the ground. 

He finally pulls it free when Brianna yells at me. “Go!” She runs away from the car, drawing Logan’s attention away from Ethan and me. 

I slam on the gas, but we don’t move. The tires are just squealing, the smell of burnt rubber fills the air. I look out my window, and the tree that had caught the car earlier is now stuck underneath us. The tires can’t find any sort of purchase on the pavement. 

Ethan screams. I look up to see Brianna pinned underneath a light post. Logan lumbering towards her. He stops when Ethan screams, his attention now squarely on us. I unbuckle my seatbelt and fight to free Ethan. I can hear a roar erupt behind me, Logan is running towards us. I’ve never heard such a guttural sound from a human being before. Ethan’s buckle is stuck.

“Dammit! Come on, you stupid piece of–” It finally unlatches. I grab Ethan and make a beeline for the small yard between two houses. Ethan screams. I can feel the ground shuddering beneath me with every fall of Logan’s feet. 

“Faster…” the voice from my dream echoes again in the back of my mind. “I’m trying,” I scream. My foot catches a hose. I fall, cradling Ethan in my arms as I do. 

Logan lets out a loud roar. I open my eyes expecting him to be right on top of us. Instead, I see him on the ground 10 yards away, his shirt on fire. He rips it off and begins to run back towards Brianna, swatting away balls of fire as he does. She’s still pinned, but she’s firing back at him with everything she can. “Go!” She screams over the sound of her own fire. 

I pick up Ethan, and I run. I keep running. Running from Logan, from the burn victim, from the laughing pyromaniac. From the final thud that shakes the ground and the sound of fire falls to silence. 

The Kellers’ house is just around the corner. When my breath is long past gone, I slow and put Ethan down. “Are you okay?” 

He nods his little head, fighting back the tears as he does. He doesn’t need to say anything. I know he’s not okay, I’m not okay. The world has turned into a different place overnight, and I don’t even know which way is up anymore. 

“Are you hurt?” I ask as I squat down to his eye level. 

“No…,” he shakes his head. “I lost Superman.” I look back in the direction of the car. I didn’t grab it when I grabbed Ethan. Or maybe he dropped him somewhere along the way? I don’t know, but what I do know is I am not going back to find him. I’m getting Katie and getting out of this town. 

“I’m so sorry, Ethan. We’re going to find you another Superman, okay?” I tried to pull him into a hug, but he resists. 

“I don’t want another one! Dad bought me that one; that’s my Superman!” He screams as he begins to beat me with his tiny hands–tears streaming down his face, “We have to go back for him!” 

“Stop it, Ethan, stop!” I demand. “I’m sorry, but we have to get Katie first, okay? Don’t you want to go get Katie? Remember the mission.” He grabs my neck and pulls himself close. I feel the softness of his hair as he nuzzles his head against my face. I remember when Dad bought him that Superman, it was only a month before… before the accident. Don’t think about that now, Erin. I inhale, trying to force the tears back where they belong. Now is not the time. 

“Are you ready?” I ask Ethan as he slowly releases his grip on me. 

He responds with the most pitiful nod, “let’s get Katie.” 

“Let’s get Katie,” I echo. I look down the Keller’s street, they’re only a few houses down, and everything seems quiet. No hurdling balls of fire, no airborne trees, just silence. 

As we get closer, the air begins to cool. North Carolina in June has never been, nor will ever be, cold. But the chill is unmistakable. And it’s growing. As we approach the Keller’s home, I feel an ice-cold drop on my arm. Then another. And another. I look up to see the sky filled with snowflakes gently wafting down around their house, just their house. 

I leave Ethan on the front lawn as I step toward the front door. I knock, but the door slowly drifts open. I can hear the sound of cracking ice as it does. 

“Katie?” I call out, “Mrs. Keller?” I can see my breath. The entirety of the house is covered in ice, tiny snowflakes flitter across the room as if riding the air conditioning current. My hands begin to hurt, burning against the icy air. As I turn the corner into the kitchen, I see her. Katie. She’s sitting in the middle of the kitchen, the snow almost frozen still around her. She’s petting the dog sleeping on the floor. 

“Katie!” I yell as I run toward her, I almost slip three times on the slick floor. I finally slide in next to her and grab hold of her. My hands are now completely numb, my teeth chatter as I try to talk. “Katie, are you – are you okay?” I manage to get out at last. 

She sits in silence, still petting the dog. The dog that now upon further examination is rock hard. It’s not sleeping, it’s not moving a muscle, it’s not breathing. The poor thing is frozen solid. I look to Katie, she doesn’t even seem bothered by the cold. “Katie, sweetheart, we need to get you out of here, okay?” 

I struggle to my feet, the icy floor combined with my now frozen toes makes for an incredibly difficult time. My feet finally find purchase, and I carefully lift Katie up, she’s still not said a word, but she lets me pick her up. As I pass the living room again, I notice something I didn’t the first time. Amber Keller, Katie’s best friend, asleep on the couch. No, not asleep. She’s not moving either. Everyone in this house is frozen solid, everyone except Katie. 

“Katie!” Ethan screams as we walk outside. I can feel the warmth of the sun begin to thaw my hands, and I put Katie down.  

“Ethan!” She yells as she runs toward her twin brother, the pair lock each other in a solid embrace. “You came and got me.”

“Of course we did,” Ethan says with a beaming smile, “we’re a team, and no one gets left behind on a mission.”  

Katie giggles in return, then the pair look up at me. As if wordlessly asking ‘where to next?’ Where do we go next? I think. My phone still isn’t working, the car is unusable, but I’m sure we could… The Kellers. I turn back to their icy abode and the vehicle in the driveway as a grim thought crosses my mind. They won’t be needing their car…

“Alright, you two stay here. I’ll be right back.” 

“No, don’t go!” Screams Katie. “Please, it’s… It’s too cold in there.” Her head drops as if she knows what happened to the Kellers. She knows who’s responsible. 

“It’s okay, Katie,” Ethan says. “Erin likes the cold, right, Erin?” The little kid winks at me, actually winks at me. These two are smarter than I give them credit for. 

“That’s right,” I say, “I’ll be fine. And I’ll be right back. I just need to borrow Mrs. Keller’s car because we’re going to go see Grandpa.” The idea elicits a smile from both of the twins. Visiting Grandpa always involves cozy bedtime stories, plenty of games, and lots and lots of hot cocoa. Even in the dead of summer, those two would drink their weight in hot cocoa, and Grandpa knew that better than anyone. “Alright, you two lookout for each other, okay? If you see anyone, anyone at all you hide and wait for me to get back. Okay?” 

“Okay,” they echo in unison. 

I cross the creaking doorway into the Keller’s home for a second time, though thankful to find a hoodie conveniently draped on a coat rack next to the door. I try to avoid looking at young Amber on the couch, but I can’t. She almost seems peaceful. Frozen in an eternal dream. 

Thankfully the Keller’s are–were–the epitome of organization and I find their car keys dangling on the hook next to their refrigerator. A photo catches my eye. It’s the Kellers–Amber, her parents, her older brother, and their dog–all smiling at some picnic. Despite the cold, I feel that familiar heat forming behind my eyes. They were always there for us after the accident, bringing meals and toys for the twins. Her brother Tony was one of the few that didn’t look at me like I was only there to be pitied. Now they were gone too. Casualties of… I don’t even know what. What is going on? How did Katie not… Did she…? The answer was too painful to consider. I quickly grab the keys and head back for the door. 

I hear a scream. Katie

I run for the door to find Katie hiding behind Ethan. He’s staring defiantly down the street. I follow his gaze to see… No! Logan must have followed us. He’s barreling down the road directly towards Ethan and Katie. 

“No!” I scream. I run for them, desperate to push them out of the way of the juggernaut charging full force towards them. Time slows to a halt. Everything is still. I can see Logan down the street. I can see Ethan standing before him, his cape frozen mid-flap, Katie cowering behind him, her eyes closed so tight. They look so little, so helpless.

“Faster…” the same familiar voice echoes in my mind. It’s soft, barely a whisper. But this time, I let it grow. 

“Faster,” now the voice finds purchase in my soul. Time begins to move. With every step, the voice gets louder and louder.

“Faster!” it demands.

Logan is still bearing down on them, now only a few feet away. 

“Faster!” Now the voice is my own, screaming out for strength. I reach out to them. I push off into one final leap to protect them. To protect the last little bit of my father that exists in this world. I grab hold of them and brace for impact. 

Instead, a comforting sense of weightlessness comes over me. If there is pain, it’s not registering. I only feel like the soft embrace of air surrounding me. The warmth of the twins fills me. The only sound I hear is the tiny heartbeats drumming in their chests. I could fall asleep to the steady beating knowing that in this moment, this one moment, we’re together and we’re okay. 

“Erin!” yells out Ethan. I open my eyes to see Logan getting smaller and smaller. Ethan’s eyes are darting from me to Katie to the ground. The ground! It’s ten yards below us. We’re hovering just above the house. Logan never caught us, he never had the chance. I squeezed the twins tighter to me, afraid they would fall. 

“Higher,” whispers the voice in my head. I look skyward, the whole of the world opening itself to me. I pull the twins in closer and took off toward the sun. The sounds of girlish squeals and childish roars fill the air as we soar this way and that. From the clouds, we can see all of Mason below us. The twins call out each landmark as I fly through the sky. Flying, am I really doing this? I expect fear, concern, trepidation at being so high, but I feel none of it. It’s as if I was born for this, to walk amongst the clouds, to breathe real freedom. 

“Grandpa’s house!” calls out Ethan. We made it. I can’t believe how fast we made it here, but we did. I swoop in low, careful to land gingerly and set the twins down without alarm. We knock on the door and wait for what feels like an eternity for him to answer. I can only imagine what we look like based on his face when he finally does come to the door. Windswept is probably an understatement. The twins, especially Ethan, begins his regalement of the day. From the booms that shook the house to the fire lady, then the ice house, and finally to his big sister that can fly. My grandfather looks at me, not with fear or apprehension, with something else. Understanding? 

“Come in,” he says. “Your Mom called, I had a feeling you’d show up here.” 

Before I walk in, I turn back toward town. Only one thought pervades my mind, things will never be the same.