Beyond the Western
An Altered Reality
Scott A. Gese


Image Source: Anton Darius / Unsplash

A young man thinks he has special powers. He never learns the truth.


Beyond the Western

Chad Marley had special powers. He didn’t realize it until he was in his teens. As a youngster, his classmates thought he was a little weird. Even Chad thought so, but that was before he realized his latent abilities.

They came to light one day when his parents were in another one of their heated arguments. He sat on the couch in the same room, listening to the insults they were flinging at each other. He knew he needed to get out but he didn’t dare move.

These fights had turned physical in the past and he didn’t want to be around if that happened again. So he did what he so often wanted to do but was never quite able to accomplish. He shrank himself down to a pint sized image of himself and then made himself invisible. It worked.

It was easier than he had ever thought possible. He walked right past his parents and they never even knew he had left the room.

“This is great,” he thought. “I can do this any time I like. Whenever I get into a situation that starts to stress me out, all I have to do is shrink and become invisible.”

Chad used his new found ability every chance he got. All he would have to do is say, “I’m out of here,” snap his fingers and he would shrink down in size, then disappear from sight. Most people pretended like it didn’t happen. He knew they didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he had special powers they only wished they had.

One day during a class assembly, Chad decided to play a trick with the speaker on the stage. As the guest was speaking, Chad made himself invisible and walked up on the stage. He started messing with the guy. Poking at him and rumpling his papers.

Something must have went wrong with his invisibility powers because a couple of the teachers grabbed him and removed him from the stage. He wasn’t very happy with the way that turned out.

He kept questioning them about how it was that they could see him. He wanted to figure it out so he could improve on his ability. He didn’t want that happening again.

On graduation day, Chad decided to make himself invisible and sit on the stage with the school administrators. He thought it would be great fun.

Security didn’t think so.

Chad decided that authority figures must have had the unique ability to see him. He needed to figure out how to fix that little problem.

One day he found himself in an unfamiliar building. There were others in the room with him. They seemed different. Like they had mental issues or something. Chad knew he had to get out, so he made himself invisible and headed for the door.

~~~~

Two interns stood in the corner of the room monitoring the patients. It was the first day on the job for one of them. “See that guy there? The one heading for the door? That’s Chad, He’s been lost in a dream world for a couple of years now. He thinks he’s still in high school and he can make himself invisible.”

© Copyright 2020 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved