Sunshine ~ Diego Hargreaves

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The Umbrella Academy

About a week had passed since I left my home. I awoke to rain drumming against my face. I had rolled out from under the bench in my sleep and was, quite unfortunately, lying in the middle of the sidewalk. I looked up at the gray sky as the clouds poured down onto my already soaked body. I mumbled to myself as I got up, attempting to salvage whatever food I had from the past few days. Unfortunately, the leftover half of the hamburger I spent all my money on was completely soaked in its bag and the old discarded packaged food I found had been stepped on and I stared pathetically at the pieces of corn scattered over the pavement.
"D-do you need h-h-... Do you need help?" I heard a voice stutter from behind me as the sudden downpour stopped. I looked up to see a boy holding an umbrella over my head. He looked about my age but I was quite thrown off by the mask he wore that matched his school boy outfit. I stared for a moment, weighing my options.

"What kind of help are you offering?" I asked as I stood up, meeting his eye level. He looked at me a moment before answering, or at least I think he did. It was rather difficult to tell considering his mask covered his eyes in white.

"D-d-do you have a home?" he questioned. I looked down at my shoes, not willing to answer he sucked in a breath. "Come to this address. B-b-b-b..," his voice trailed off as he frowned at the ground.

"It's okay, just relax," I offered. He took in yet another deep breath before he handed me a business card.

"After 10 t-tonight," he said pointedly, wincing at his own stutter. He then thrusted the umbrella into my hands and ran away through the downpour.

I stared, dumbfounded, watching as he turned the corner. I wasn't quite sure exactly what happened. I looked down at the card and almost laughed at the irony when I saw The Umbrella Academy printed. I read the address underneath it and then looked at my watch. It was only 8:30 and I had about an hour and a half to kill. I figured I might as well try to see if I could figure anything out about this academy before I went there completely alone.

I didn't even make it all the way to the library before I saw a comic book on display. It depicted the boy I had seen along with five others, all wearing the same matching school uniforms. I rushed inside the store and picked up a copy and started riffling through the pages. It wasn't long before I learned about the six Hargreeves children and their powers. I didn't really bat an eye at that; rather I was stuck on their origin story. October 1st, 1989 was also the exact day I was born. And I knew I was adopted. Plus whatever had happened with my father the other day....

I dropped the comic and ran out of the store into the cold air of the night. This was not happening. I did not have powers. Nobody had powers that was just a completely absurd idea. Wasn't it? What exactly were my powers supposed to be anyway? All I had done was make a grown man scream. Maybe I could do it again. I sat on a park bench for the next hour, staring intently at bystanders passing by. I tried everything I could think of, but there was no difference in anyone's behavior.