Heated

Prologue

He was an idiot. He had to be.
I mean, come on. Everyone knows not to bring an ice cream cone into the sandbox on a hot summer day. If that falls on the grass, the five second rule still applies, but on the sand? That's it, my friend. But unfortunately this poor child had to learn the hard way.
The toe headed five year old stared down at the cold pink mass that was now covered in tiny grains of sand and random wood chips in what looked like shock. He stayed like that for maybe five seconds before he frowned, and stomped on the ice cream, throwing the waffle cone that once held it out of the sandbox as he screeched. Naturally when I heard a noise I found unpleasant, I covered my ears, but this kid... I could hear him through my hands. And all I wanted was for him to stop. To stop screeching, to stop piercing my eardrums, and to stop drawing attention to the screaming kid angrily stomping at a once delicious treat and the horrified child beside him. I stood up then, reaching in my back pocket and dug around to see what could possibly help, like in all those shows I used to watch with people helping other people. The only things I pulled out were two corn chips and Monopoly money. But it was 100, so that was more than enough to buy another cone, right?

"Excuse me.." I mumbled, reaching out to wave my hand in front of the screamer, who for whatever reason ignored my presence. I cleared my throat and spoke louder. "Hey, kid. Listen to me!"

That time he did, stopping his screeching to turn his attention in my direction, birdy blue eyes watching me closely. "What do you want?" He asked before pointing down at the mess he'd made, not to mention the sand Á la mode stuck to his shoe. "Can't you see I'm busy? I have to save everyone from the ice cream monster!"

Now see, that sounded just straight up ridiculous to me. Ice cream monster? But there was no such thing... Right? I looked down at the screamer's shoe and shuddered, scooching back an inch. If there was one, it's gone now. But he could be right. What if he really did just save us all from the ice cream monster?
"I think you already did... Wow! A real super hero!" I gasped and smiled wide. I had one tooth missing right by my two front teeth. The tooth fairy gave me two dollars for that one.

The screamer seemed happy that I believed him, only squishing down on the ice cream monster even harder than before. "You bet your panties I am! I'm like superman, but better! Because I can kill bad guys and monsters before they can do bad things! It's my superpower! That's what my mom said." He giggled and puffed out his chest, as if to accent any muscle he could've had. In reality, all this kid had was pudge, not that I actually cared anyways.

I smiled at him, holding out the items in my hand for him to take. A reward to the superhero. "Here, have a corn chip and some money. You can buy lots and lots of ice cream that's not a monster!" I chirped and watched his eyes twinkle. He took the money and a single corn chip. I gladly ate the one he didn't take.

"Really? Lots and lots? My mom only lets me have a little bit, she says my brain will freeze up if I eat too much..." The screamer snorted and bit into the corn chip, chewing slowly so he could hear himself crunch the hard, salted shell. "Hey, my name is Alfred by the way, but you can call me Super Alfred. What's your name?" He wondered, cocking his head to the side with pure interest and innocence.

I mocked his head gesture, giggling all the while. "I'm Matthew. But you can call me Regular Matthew. Wanna go get ice cream? I have to ask my mom first though." I said as I reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the sandbox to go find my mother. I didn't bother for a response first. From the look in his eyes at the mention of something he craved so much, I didn't need to.