Ten Years Ago

The flashlight illuminated the tent where ten year old Kyle Rayner was having a sleepover with his best friend, Terry Berg. Kyle was ten years old, with short black hair. He was wearing a green t-shirt and blue jean shorts, with a pair of yellow and green sneakers sitting next to him while he sat on his sleeping bag.

Terry sat across from him, with neatly trimmed blonde hair. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and black pyjama pants, sitting on his own sleeping bag. The two were closer than brothers and were excited to have their first outdoor sleepover.

In reality, the sleepover was merely a ruse to get Kyle out of the house while his father was packing his belongings. In the morning when Kyle would go back into the house, there would be no trace of his father, a man who Kyle Rayner would not see for many years. While Kyle’s mother loved him, his father never missed an opportunity to let it be known that Kyle was an unplanned child that ruined an otherwise happy marriage. If it weren’t his best friend, Kyle’s self-confidence would be non existent.

Terry, being very small for his age, was constantly picked on by others at school. Kyle was the one constantly standing up for him, earning Terry’s admiration in return. That gave Kyle a little boost in his self-esteem, knowing at least one person was glad to have him around.

“Do you think your parents will let you go with us to New York?” asked Terry. He was two years younger than Kyle, but was almost as smart as his older friend. “We’re going to see all the art museums.”

“Mom says it’s okay, but Dad hasn’t said anything,” replied Kyle as he looked outside the tent. “They’ve been fighting again. I hate it when they fight because Dad always says he’s going to leave and not come back. What happens if he actually does leave?”

“It’ll be okay, Kyle, you’ll still have your mom,” replied Terry. “And we’ll always be brothers. I’ll never leave you.”

“You swear?” asked Kyle. Hearing his parents arguing earlier had really shaken him. “We’ll always be together?”

“Together forever,” Terry told him. “And we’ll never, ever, hide anything from each other, like our parents hide stuff from us. Like how your parents try to hide their arguing.”

Kyle could hear them arguing from inside the house as he tried to ignore it, but finally let a single tear fall down his face. Terry put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “Friends ’til the end.”

IN BRIGHTEST DAY

By Tobias Christopher

Today

In the depths of outer space lay vast mysteries that are far beyond human understanding. There are entire worlds and civilizations that are mere glimmers in the sky to the people of Earth. When you look up at the night sky, you see stars, clouds, the moon… but to those who actually live out there, it is so much more…

On the outer edge of the galaxy, an alien with pointed ears and short black hair was hurtling towards a small planet, whose inhabitants weren’t very advanced. But it was on this planet that he knew he had to find his replacement.

Da N’mal of the planet Exor had patrolling the sector when he’d been blindsided by his attacker. The Exorian knew right away who had attacked without warning and did his best to valiantly fight back, but in the end knew that he wasn’t going to walk away from the fight alive. He’d gotten away, but his injuries were too severe, and realized he didn’t have long.

The ring on his finger was guiding him as he fell towards Earth, being willed to find one person among the Earth people who didn’t have fear

The alarm clock went off as twenty year old Kyle Rayner sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as the song ‘Bring It On’ blared. Standing up, Kyle walked to the kitchen in a green tank top and black sweatpants. Kyle had managed to bulk up a bit since his high school days, having been on the wrestling team at the insistence of his mother, who was worried that Kyle needed to do more than just his art classes.

Sleeping in a small doggie bed in the corner was Kyle’s pet chihuahua, G’Nort. Kyle had adopted the dog from his former neighbors, a pair of lab scientists who couldn’t take the dog with them. Dr. Brain and Dr. Pinky had moved across the country and left the dog with Kyle. G’Nort got his name from the odd sounds that Dr. Pinky made when he was delighted.

Heading to the kitchen, Kyle slid two toaster strudels into the slanted toaster as he started the coffee. He headed to the front door to get the morning paper. As Kyle opened the door, he saw the paper was inside his mailbox, which was a modified lawn gnome, which looked like it was bringing Kyle his mail personally. Grabbing the paper, he headed back toward the kitchen, where the slanted toaster shot out the toaster strudels. Kyle caught both of them as he entered the room before going to the coffee pot and pouring a cup to get him started.

Kyle started the shower while he brushed his teeth with a toothbrush he’d moulded himself to look like a dragon’s claw before rinsing with mouthwash and shaving. Stepping into the shower, which was painted like a giant canvas with a variety of shapes and colors, Kyle continued listening to the radio. Stepping out of the shower, Kyle grabbed a towel and started drying himself off just in time to see Terry standing at the doorway. Kyle jumped back, quickly wrapping the towel around his waist.

“Oh, relax, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before,” replied Terry as he tossed Kyle his business suit in a dry cleaning bag. Terry was eighteen, and still relatively scrawny for someone his age.”Fresh from the dry cleaners just in time for your big interview.”

“Thanks,” said Kyle as he took the suit to his bedroom while Terry took a seat on the couch. “I appreciate you picking it up for me.”

“It’s on my way to community college,” replied Terry as he leaned back. “Too bad I’ll be in class while you’re scoring points with your new boss. We could have celebrated after.”

“Potential new boss,” Kyle reminded him as he stepped out of his bedroom in a black business suit. “And if I get this job, we’ll celebrate tonight when I tell my mom and Alex that I finally have a steady job. No more temp jobs for this guy.”

“Oh great… Alex,” said Terry with a slight sneer.

“I thought you two said you were going to try to get along,” said Kyle with a raised eyebrow.

“Try being the operative word,” replied Terry. “I don’t get why you’re with her. All she does is harp on you and how you’re never going to amount to anything. You were doing fine with temp work before her.”

“I need something permanent,” Kyle told him. “A nice, steady job for once. It has nothing to do with Alex. Besides, I don’t complain about the people you date. I mean, who names their kid Marvin?”

“Who names their dog G’Nort?”

“Comment withdrawn. How do I look?”

Terry got up and helped Kyle adjust his tie. “Absolutely perfect. You’re going to knock them dead, I just know it. And when you land this job, we’ll have two things to celebrate.”

“Two?” asked Kyle.

“I got the internship,” smiled Terry as he finished tidying Kyle up, including restyling his short black hair. “Starting Monday, I’ll be working in the mailroom at Feast Magazine. The first step towards becoming a real journalist.”

“Then we definitely have to celebrate. But how does working the mailroom get you to journalism?” asked Kyle.

“It’s the ladder of success,” replied Terry with a smirk. “You start on the bottom rung, and work your way up from there. You’ll see, the entire world’s going to know my name one day.”

“You said the same thing in high school when you got the lead in Hairspray,” reminded Kyle.

“Travolta can suck it; I was a better Edna Turnblad,”

Kyle was about to respond as he looked at his watch. “Oh, damn, I’ve gotta go! I’ll be late!”

“Then get going, Rayner!” Terry shouted as he pushed Kyle toward the door. “Get your ass in gear and get that job, already!”

“Feed G’Nort before you go!” Kyle told him before Terry shut the door behind him.

Kyle was driving his green Pinto to the job interview when the tire blew out, forcing him to pull over to the side of the road.

“No! Not now!” shouted Kyle as he kicked the flat tire upon examination. “Dammit! I’m not too far from the bus stop, I can still–“

Kyle was cut off by a screaming from across the street. A fire had broken out in the small house, where a woman was yelling for help. Kyle hesitated for a moment, hoping for the fire department to come, but a woman trapped in the fire wouldn’t last long with the smoke.

Kyle sighed as he ran across the street and kicked the door in before running into the fire, which was quickly spreading. He made his way towards the room upstairs where he’d seen the woman in the window.

“Come on!” shouted Kyle as he took off his jacket and put it over her to protect her from the flames.

“Wait! My baby’s in the nursery!” she shouted as Kyle guided her outside. He tossed her his cell phone.

“Call 911!” shouted Kyle as he rushed back in, coughing as the smoke got worse. Debris was starting to fall as he got back upstairs and found the nursery. Picking the baby up and realizing he’d left his jacket outside, he took off his dress shirt and wrapped the baby in it to keep it from breathing in the smoke, leaving his upper body unprotected from the flames and heat.

He got outside just as the fire department arrived; handing the baby over to its mother he started coughing from the smoke inhalation. He was slightly burned, covered in soot and his clothes were ruined. He was helped over to the ambulance to get checked out, where his burns would be treated.

“That was a pretty brave thing to do,” the fireman told him as he put the breathing mask on Kyle’s face. “You saved that woman and her child. You’re a hero.”

“I was…just…doing the… right thing,” replied Kyle as he breathed into the mask. He lay back and closed his eyes for a moment, just as the ambulance workers went to check on the mother and child. As he was left alone, a bright green light flew towards the ambulance and into the back of the van where Kyle was trying to catch his breath.

Moments later, the ambulance workers returned and found that Kyle was gone, having vanished without a trace.

Kyle found himself laid on his stomach in the middle of a large field, still coughing from the smoke inhalation. Picking himself up, he saw a large smoking crater not too far away. Stumbling toward it, he saw a creature that resembled Spock laid in the hole, wearing a purple jumpsuit. He looked pale and near death. Da N’mal turned his head and looked up at Kyle.

“You have arrived,” said the alien as he willed the ring to float towards Kyle. “You have been chosen, human.”

“Chosen? For what?” asked Kyle nervously. “Please don’t say an anal probe.”

The ring slid itself on Kyle’s finger, instantly bonding itself to him.

“You are one without fear,” said Da N’mal. “You now wield the power of the Green Lantern. Use it well, human.”

“Green Lantern? Power ring? This sounds like a bad comic book,” said Kyle as he saw the alien was evaporating. “Wait, what do I do with this?”

“You will know when the time is right,” were the last words of the alien as he turned to dust, leaving only a purple jumpsuit behind. Kyle looked down at the ring on his hand, then realized he was in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone, car, or clean clothes.

Hours later, at Kyle’s apartment, Terry and Kyle’s mother, Maura, were waiting for Kyle to return home. They had a cake waiting, and decorations put up. Terry was sitting on the couch with G’Nort in his lap, stroking the dog’s back.

“I wonder why Kyle didn’t text me after his interview?” asked Terry as he looked at the clock.

“He probably wanted it to be a surprise,” replied Maura. “And why isn’t Alex here?”

“Did I forget to invite her?” asked Terry, acting innocent before flatly saying “Oh, well, I guess we’ll just have to force ourselves to have a good time without her. Poor us.”

Meanwhile, Kyle was walking down the empty city street, still miles from home. His feet were aching, and he still had a bad cough, not to mention that he’d missed his job interview. All he had to show for the day’s activities was a sore body and a flashy green ring on his finger. Kyle didn’t think the day could get any worse until it started raining.

“Great,” said Kyle. “No shirt on my back and no umbrella over my head.”

The ring on his finger grew a bit brighter, as if responding to his thoughts. Kyle suddenly found himself wearing a bright green sweater with an equally bright green umbrella in his hand. “What the–“

It was then that Kyle found himself with a gun pointed at his back. “Don’t move! Give me your wallet!”

“Sorry, pal, I don’t have a wallet,” said Kyle, having put it in his jacket pocket earlier. Otherwise he’d have had money for a cab ride home, or at the very least, a quarter to call Terry from a payphone.

“Then what do you have?” asked the man as he saw the ring on Kyle’s finger. “Give me that ring, that’s gotta be worth something.”

“Whatever just take it,” said Kyle as he tried to pull the ring off, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s- it’s stuck.”

“I said give me the ring!” shouted the man as he got angry enough to put the gun to Kyle’s head. Kyle closed his eyes, expecting to die right there as the ring flashed again. Sounds of punching were heard as Kyle opened his eyes, seeing the robber was lying unconscious on the ground. Kyle looked down at the ring on his finger. “What the hell is happening to me?”

To be continued…