A Guide to Being Super

Rule #2

Rule #2: Find a sidekick. In my experience, having a sidekick is very important. They're who keep you calm and make sure you're in fighting shape (AKA they make and bring you food). Sidekicks are like you're own personal cheerleaders, why wouldn't you want one?

So where did I leave off? Oh, yes, when Rachel pulled me out of the room in the middle of the night. I assure you, it was all very dramatic, much more dramatic than I described it. But I think I have been able to portray how bizarre and kind of creepy the whole thing was. What kind of person wakes their brother up in the middle of the night to drive to some random place? My sister, that's who.

She didn't say anything to me as she pulled me down the stairs. And she didn't say anything as she handed me our mom's car keys. She definitely didn't say anything as she got into the passenger seat of our mom's minivan. No, the only thing she had said was "come with me" when we were still back up in my room. For some reason I followed her, maybe in hopes she would say something. That she would give me some kind of explanation. I followed her until I was sitting in the van too. But when I was sitting in the van, completely confused, and she still didn't say anything, I decided to say something.

"What the hell is going on?"

"We have an errand to run," she said.

"An errand where?"

"You'll see."

"What if I don't go with you?"

"That would be a mistake."

I snorted. "How can it be a mistake when I don't even know where I'm going?"

"Matt, you followed me down the stairs and into the car. If you weren't planning to come with me on this errand you wouldn't have followed me all this way. So can we just get going?"

I pondered this for a moment."

"Matt?" Rachel said. "Are you ready?"

"No."

"I'll give you a moment to get ready then." She sighed and leaned forward to fiddle with the radio, setting it to the country radio station she loved. When the volume was to her liking she leaned back, putting her feet up on the dashboard.

"You ready now?"

"Nope."

"Too bad, start driving."

"All right, where are we going?"

Rachel refused to tell me our exact destination and instead gave me step by step instructions. I thought about fighting her on it but everytime I opened my mouth to speak it turned into a yawn instead (it really was late). She directed me through the city and then out of the city to a seedy looking neighborhood. It was one of those abandoned industrial areas, where all the buildings are made of cement and there aren't enough streetlights.

A little part of me was hoping that she'd tell me to keep driving right out of this seedy area, that we were going somewhere even farther away, but she didn't. Instead she told me to park outside one of the aforementioned concrete buildings and to turn off the engine. When I had done so she went to get out of the car but I locked the doors before she could.

"What the fuck, dude?"

"I'm not letting you out of the car until you tell me where we are and why we're here."

"You'll know when we get inside," she said.

"Oh no, I am not doing that. This is a sketchy enough part of town during the day and there's no way I'm getting out of this car at night. Especially when I have no clue who we're seeing or what we're doing. What am I supposed to tell Mom if you get yourself killed!"