Running For My Life

I woke up to the sound of thunder, except that the thunder made some weird noises this time.


‘Thud! Thud! Crash!”.


I jumped out of my bed. That is when I heard ‘regular’ thunder rumble elsewhere.


The first thought that hit me was, “Did that lightening just blew our roof off?” I looked across the room expecting to see my little brother asleep in his bed. But he was gone...missing!


He must have gone to sleep with mom and dad, I thought. But still I went to my parent’s room to check on him. I knocked on their door. No response. I knocked again, louder this time. Again silence. So I opened the door slightly and peeked in. Then I realized why no one answered, the room was empty.


I barely had time to register the shock when someone grabbed my left shoulder and flung me with super human strength...By super-human, I mean, ‘super’ , because that definitely wasn’t human. He was so strong that I went through a wall and out of a window.


I wish to tell you that somehow a bed of roses or pillows were there for my soft landing. But only if a Chevrolet Camarro would qualify as a bed of roses.


“Owwwwww’, I groaned. It was probably midnight. I looked at the window I was flung through. Suddenly, the wall cracked and exploded revealing a dark, bulky human figure amidst dust. Soon the dust dissipated and I could see that figure clearly. An over six foot tall male with black hair, all dressed up in blue except with red boots , a flowing red cape and a red underwear worn over his pants. On his chest was an all too familiar logo of an “S” in a diamond shape.


“Ha! Ha! I am hallucinating”


I mean, the most famous super hero, guardian of earth, kidnaps my family, blows up my home and tosses me out of a window .Pretty weird huh? But I didn’t know then that my night was about to get a whole lot weirder.


“Give me your pyjamas.” Superman said in a loud gruff voice. I didn’t think Superman had a gruff voice and was interested in eighth grader’s pyjamas.


“Yeah sure, I’ll just get one from the wardrobe in my room.” “Now!” he shouted as he clenched his fists and landed on the ground.


“Yeah right! Over my dead body! “ I shouted back without even thinking of the consequences.


Suddenly the Camaro on which I was still perched, started shaking and it threw me off at Superman’s feet. Then as I watched with awe, it transformed and a yellow robot was in the place of the Camarro.

“I'll Stand So Proud and Cry So Loud, Over Your Dead Body” ,said the robot using the voice of ‘Mister Monster’ from his car radio.

No way punk

Walk on home boy”. This time it was Pantera. You might be wondering about the song thing. Bumblebee actually lost his ability to speak in some battle. So he uses his car radio to do the talking, with songs.

You must have figured out who the yellow Camaro transformed to robot…by now. But for those who don’t ,he is one of the alien robots from the movie “Transformers” .


He held me by my collar, while my brain was in an overdrive trying to devise a way to escape, without surrendering my pyjamas or my life. Meanwhile Superman and Bumblebee were debating on how to kill me. As I was thinking, hanging there in Bee’s hand, I turned my neck and saw the mirror which is used for assisting car parking. Then, just like an important number in a Sudoku puzzle, a plan started forming in my head.





“Hey Knucklehead” I shouted. They both looked at me. Bumblebee lifted me higher and said,


“Are you talking to me?


“ Ooops!” I thought. I need to get me back in the same level for my plan to work.


“No, not you, him!” I said.


“You must be really desperate to kill me and take my pyjamas! Lois Lane must be really disappointed and your pal Joker must be making a sick joke over it right now.


“Why did Superman cross the road? To get the kid’s pyjamas. Ha! Ha ! Ha!”


Even Bee started making weird noises which seemed like laughing .While I was making these noises, I was slowly slipping my arms inside my shirt. Superman’s expression changed.


“Watch out Kid. Or I’ll..”


“You will what?” I laughed.”I finally know what your real name “Kal-El” stands for. It means ‘Kal-Loser’. The El must stand for loser now. Ha! Ha! Ha!”


Now Bee really started laughing. He lowered me just in front of the mirror. But now Superman was really pissed off. His eyes started glowing red and he said “Now you die kid!” and the laser beams erupted from his eyes.


In that split second, I let go of my shirt and fell down. Bumblebee tried to grab me again but the laser beams bounced off the mirror and caught Bee. Superman didn’t even notice that he is frying Bumblebee instead of me.


I ran. I knew my plan just gained me some precious minutes and he would come after me. I was barefoot and that is when I saw it. A pair of Nike sneakers. As I came close to it to try it on, it clung to my feet. I didn’t have time to be amazed, I had to just run for my life. I ran , the cold wind was ruthlessly lashing at my bare torso..But the shoes somehow gave me power to run faster than I ever imagined that I could run.


I must have run for a mile or so, away from home ,when I heard a loud bellow which was definitely my super enemy catching up with me. I looked around and saw a bike with its keys as if someone left it there for me. There was even a complimentary jacket. I sat on the bike, wore the jacket, and realized that the shoes had magically started transforming. Now socks had grown out of comfortably covering me till my shin.

I rode as fast as I could .I heard Superman yelling, “I smell you boy”. I knew I couldn’t outride Superman .I need another plan to save myself. That is when I saw an oil tanker a few metres ahead and another ingenious plan came up. I jumped off the bike, and as it skidded off towards the tanker. Superman whizzed past me, his laser beams aimed at the bike .Then an eruption, then another, ”Kabooooom…” was the last noise I heard when I took the side road and ran as fast as my Nikes would carry me.


I sat on the pavement to catch my breath. No Superman following me. The sun was coming up and I realized that I was near Manasarovar railway station. I started calculating on the odds on what to do next, with my family missing and my home destroyed. After much debating with myself, I realized what I had to do. Something that I never thought I would do on my free will.


Go to school!


My school was at Kharghar, nearly five kilometers away from Manasarovar.I thought of taking a train. When I reached the platform I knew something was not right. The station was empty. The clock showed 7:15 and it had to rush hour. By this time my shoes had grown a jean which fitted me snugly.


Then a train arrived and as it opened, zombies started pouring out. The first one came straight at me. I sidestepped and planted it a spinning kick. How did I do that? Maybe it was my magical Nikes. Hordes of zombies came at me. My legs went in an autopilot, kicking, jumping and doing crazy martial arts moves.


The train started moving again. I took one gigantic John Carter leap and landed on the roof of the train leaving the zombies behind.


In another 15 minutes, I reached the school. Those shoes had grown and covered my whole body now...At the gate I ran into my friend Melissa.


“What’s up” She said.


“You will not believe the night I had” I said and narrated the whole story to her.


She didn’t seem impressed. Her expression changed .She spoke in a raspy voice “So you think you can escape?” As I watched, he fingers turned to talons, her hair into hissing snakes and she lunged at me.


I got up panting in fear. I was just dreaming. But still what kind of person would come up with a crazy dream like that. Me, of course, with my overdose of superhero stories and Roman and Greek mythology.





Right then, my little brother came in and said the words that made me want to get my head pounded by Superman again.” Wake up, time to get ready for school.”