Presentation Date: 8/12/24
Location: Strongsville Public Library

Suggestions Provided by the Audience:
Superpowers - Invisibility, Ability to See in the Dark, & Ability to Summon the Dead
Personality Traits - Evil, Sarcastic, & Humorous
Origin of the Superpowers - Born with it, Chemical Fire, and Demon Gave Them (Yes, they gave me 3 origins, one for each power)
Superhero Name - Death Row & Shadow Boy (Yes, they gave me two names to use, this will be fun)

Dexter wandered the streets of London every night. He didn’t really know what else to do. Since the age of sixteen he developed the ability to turn invisible, and he really didn’t know how to turn it off. His family thought he ran away, and any time he called for help, people assumed they were being haunted by some ghost.

For a while Dexter decided to have some fun with it. He would pull people’s chairs out from under them before they sat down. He would hide keys, wallets, and shoes. When he was hungry, he would eat half of someone’s sandwich when they looked away. He had a good laugh at the expense of others. He was truly a wicked boy. That was until the night of the fire.

He thought one night that it might be fun to toss some matches into the sink of his old school’s lab. Tossing some fire as the janitor walked by might give him a good laugh. He was on his third match, tossing them way up in the air when instead of the sink, it landed in a strange liquid in a beaker nearby. A huge explosion ignited and set off a chain reaction around the room. Chemicals splashed about and some landed in his eyes. He screamed in pain and ran out of the room. He found a water fountain nearby and splashed his eyes clean. It had to be a sight to see for those around, water just mysteriously splashing up in the air like that.

Dexter looked up after his eyes were cleared of the chemicals, and he thought the night must have passed quicker than expected. All around him the night looked bright as day. It was an amazing discovery at how well he could see in the cover of night. The amazement did not last long because when morning finally did come, the sun was almost blinding to his new eyes. Dexter found now that he would need to remain in the night and shadows if he was ever wanting to see. And this brought us to this fateful night that would forever change Dexter’s life.

He was stumbling along around midnight when he heard a call from behind him. “Oy! Boy! You there! Come have a chat with me!” Whoever it was could not possibly be talking to him. No one could see him, so he did not bother to look back. The call came again, “Oy! Boy! You there in the jeans and black jacket! Turn around and let’s have a look at you!” Dexter had indeed been wearing jeans and a black jacket. They were the last things he was wearing when he first turned invisible, but he thought only he could see them now. Did his invisibility powers turn off finally? He needed to know, so he turned around in the direction of the caller.

There sitting on a bench was a sight Dexter could not believe. It was a little red demon imp just swaying his feet back and forth like a child would do when their feet didn’t touch the ground and juggling a few silver balls between his hands. “There he is!” The imp exclaimed. Dexter could think of nothing else to describe what he was seeing before him.

“You can see me?” Dexer asked.

“Just as well as you can see me…though, you probably don’t see the likes of me too often. You probably don’t see the likes of me ever really come to think of it,” the imp thoughtfully stated. “But then again, you’re special aren’t ya? Not many seeing you either I reckon.”

“No…no, they do not,” said Dexter solemnly.

“Oy! We’ll have none of that sad face around these parts! We’ve got work to do,” the imp directed to Dexter as he hopped off the bench and tossed the silver balls to Dexter who caught them instinctively.

“What kind of work could you and I possibly do? I mean, no one can see me, and you’re…well, you’re a demon, aintcha?” Dexter questioned afraid of what the response may be.

“Close, but I am an imp my dear lad, and I follow my own rules thank you very much!” Dexter took a small amount of pride in knowing he was right about what he saw before him from his first glance. “And what I have decided is that this world could use a little bit of help from the likes of you
and I,” The imp continued.

“Oh, yeah, I’m a lot of help,” Dexter replied sarcastically.

The imp gave a little kick to the shin. “Ow!! What was that for?” Dexter was growing tired of this exchange no matter how bizarre it may have been.

“That’s enough sass out of you! You’re the only one who can see me, and I’m the only one who can see you. So we’re stuck with each other, and I want to help people. So put aside your wicked ways and help me,” the imp implored. “And we’ll start by me showing you how to raise the dead.”

Dexter was truly puzzled now. “How is raising the dead going to help anyone?!”

“We’re going to need some helping hands if we’re to help others, and only humans can cast the spells needed,” the imp explained. “So follow me, and bring those silver balls. We’ll need them. It’s going to be a long night.”

“Bring the silver balls. We’ll help people by raising the dead. Oh yeah, this sounds like a really great idea,” Dexter mockingly replied as he followed the imp.

“Don’t make me kick you again,” the imp retorted.

Over the next several nights, Dexter was a solid student. He learned how to call upon the dead, and they told them of unfinished tasks from their lives that they think could help others. It was just little things here and there, painting of a fence, planting a garden, or fixing some plumbing. All little tasks, but every morning people woke up with something new and better around them. Over time, Dexter started to realize the good he was doing by doing these small things left behind unfinished before. He also realized what a weird pair him and imp were to be doing these things, and it gave him a laugh that he had not had in a long time. After a few weeks, they started leaving a little calling card taking a small amount of credit for their work. It may have creeped others out a bit, but it gave Dexter another small laugh.

The card would read, “Your day will be a little brighter thanks to your friends Death Row and Shadow Boy.”