Mikhail, or Mickey for short was lounging around on his mothers luminescent pink sofa, the arms faded of the colour where Mickhail lay his head with his feet sprawled along the length of the small-ish two-seater. He glanced from the TV to the coffee table with the paper and a copy of the latest issued comic. Mickhail was bored on this particular sunny Saturday, while his mum was at work for the morning. As he was ten, he was allowed to be home on his own providing he didn't touch the stove, or give the cat a bath in his squirty foamed silly soap, or do anything much at all really besides watch the TV. It was school holidays and he wanted to be out playing and running about with the other kids on the estate. He sighed a big sigh and heaved himself upright. If it hadn't had been just the two of them, his mum and Mikhail would have been much happier he'd thought. Mikhail had always wanted a brother or a sister to boss around, or even a fatherly figure with whom he could share his interest in Marvel comics with, maybe even get to kick a ball around with for a bit. But it wasn't to be.
The time seemed to tock by so exaggeratedly slowly - every shifting hand of each minute felt like an hour and an age to Mickhail, who by now was very hungry and darted into the kitchen amidst the huge gurgles and rumbles of his tummy. He got out a slightly chipped green porcelain bowl, which was almost as big as his entire face (and he was only a small little nipper) and began to pour out Cheerios piled right to the top of the bowl. The coolness of the fridge was pleasant as he opened the door to get the milk from within it. After popping it back, grabbing a teaspoon from the drying rack, and with his rather massive and almost flooding bowl of Cheerios and milk, Mickhail jumped back onto the sofa spilling milk from the sides of the bowl as he sat with a firm and solid thump. He polished off the bowl with what seemed like one big inhale, slurping the milk at the end. At least that had filled some time, he'd thought to himself. Outside he could hear the fun squeals of excitement and laughter and Mickhail got up towards the front bay window, where he could see a girl around his age with blonde hair in pigtails, sporting a bright orange hoodie with the letters G A P on the front, and Adidas striped joggers on. She was playing with a football with her slightly older brother adorning similar gear and had glasses on, who seemed to be allowing her to win. Mickhail groaned and started to feel upset that he had no one with whom he could just go out and play with.
Moving back to the sofa he slumped himself beside the cat, but the cat was too busy indulging in a spot of cleaning its own paws to bother paying any attention to Mikhail and his company as he joined her on the sofa. 'Silly Nooms,' he said to the cat who was called Naomi. A scrawny looking black feline, she was quite fickle when it came to humans. She liked to mostly sleep or be by herself, it was mostly a bonus if Naomi allowed you to be in her company. Mickhail was now trying to pay attention to the TV again, however nothing that was on particularly interested him and he ended up nodding off slumped on the sofa.
Mickey was now in what seemed to be a forest, but it felt more ethereal and enchanted. There were a few bolts of shimmering glitter here and there as he stepped and trod on broken branches with ever-blooming leaves on them still. And soon he was somewhere even less familiar, a bright incandescent light in front of him as he still continued padding forward with his feet.
In his dream, Mickey stepped through the light and on the other side came out to a world which looked like the one he knew of outside his bay window. The playing field in the distance, the street with a whole number of houses stacked narrowly in a row. It was an odd feeling arising in Mickey's body, but Mickey was too busy to notice the stirrings of oddity as he was mesmerised by the figure approaching landing from up above in the sky. It was a sunny and baby blue sky, clear with the fresh hope of something fun to come. The figure was just an outline, blob-like but hurtling towards landing near the playing field. Mikhail picked up his pace to go and meet the blob-like mysterious figure as it came to land.
It turned out that the figure was much larger up close. A well-built, toned and fantastic looking man with a chiselled jaw stood before Mickey intimidatingly towering above him with his chest proudly puffed. He even gave Mickey a wink and grinned, and Mickey swore that the man's teeth sparkled as he showed his pearly whites off. Mickey took a step backwards, and as he did so an oncoming red car honked at him. Before he knew it he was being swooped off his feet, several inches from the ground and carried to the side by this strange man. It wasn't until the car had safely moved on did the man place Mickey back gently onto the solid ground. Mickey felt nauseous and couldn't fathom what had just happened.
'Hi, Mickey,' the deep voice boomed from above him extending a muscular arm. Mickey now understanding the guy had just saved his life gave his hand to the man in what seemed to be an incredibly firm handshake. 'H--Hi' Mickey replied in a timid voice not quite being able to string any other words together, but still wondering how the mysterious man had saved his life some moments ago.
Noticing the puzzled look on Mikhail's face, the man spoke and nonchalantly said 'You're probably wondering, my name's Daniel and I'm just a regular superhero here on these mean streets. I fight the good fight, with all my might. And I noticed you were in a spot of bother, so there I went again, saving the day.' Mickey thought the guy was so full of himself at this point, and could he really be a superhero - with a name as plain as Daniel and donning a pair of very tight jeans, a plain red t-shirt and a gold chain around his neck. Mickey gave him a chance to answer a question though, 'So uh... how did you know my name?' Daniel craned down to Mickey and double-tapped the side of his nose with a grin and a wink simultaneously. 'Ahh, that my boy, is a secret. Top superhero secret.. But, would you like to play a game of footie?' asked Daniel, producing a black and white ball in front of Mickey's bewildered eyes. 'S-s-sure,' Mickey replied apprehensively. He had wanted to stop being bored, and go and play outside after all. Who was Mickey to question the gift that had quite literally landed in front of him!
Kicking the ball up and down the playing field, Mickey was having the time of his life as he zoomed the ball in between the makeshift goal posts. 'He shoots, he makes that ball right at the back of the net!!' yelled Daniel boisterously cheering his little friend on. They passed the ball to each other for a bit, and then Mickey gasping for breath landed bottom down upon the roughly cut grass.
He took a minute or perhaps a few and realised that he felt a big bubble of joy emanating from within him, despite his wet and prickly bottom from the rough cut and slightly dewy grass. He felt more seen and acknowledged with Daniel than with anyone else in his life! Sure, his friends always liked to play Pokémon with him on the Nintendo DS but it wasn't the same as the feeling of fully being alive in the moment with another like this. He let out a small chuckle intended to be just for himself in his private realisation but it made Daniel grin, showing his polished and shiny teeth as he did so. 'Ah, it was a pleasure to have had this fun time with you Mickey,' Daniel exclaimed as he sat beside his little pal. 'I must be on my way now, though. Maybe we can catch up again soon? See what we can do about those front forward passes!' Mickey's face dropped into glumness as he realised he would be alone once more, and for who knows how long. 'Okay,' he sulked. 'When will we meet again?' Mickey asked in hope that it would be very very soon. 'Well how about tomorrow, I am always hovering around this playing field so you won't miss me when you're ready!' Mickey nodded and with that, there was a whoosh when Daniel flew up and away and Mickey was alone once more.
In a flash, Mickhail was back on the pink sofa in the living room back home. At the same moment he'd returned dazed, Mickhail was awoken by his mother lightly shaking him and complaining about the ring of milk splashes on the sofa from where Mickhail had made the mess earlier and left it. 'Mikhail! What on earth?!' rumbled his mother, while Mickey wondered whether he'd just had a very pleasant dream or whether any of what he thought he'd experienced was in fact true.
When getting up to gather a piece of kitchen towel to wipe up his mess, Mickhail glanced at the coffee table beside the sofa which had the latest edition of a local comic, pulled out from between the local newspaper his mother had probably left for him he'd thought. On the front cover was drawn a well-built man donning a pair of very tight jeans, a plain red t-shirt and a gold chain grinning and winking whilst simultaneously handing a couple of thieves with big bags of money to the police. Mickhail beamed a gigantic smile and remembered he was not alone while doing his mundane task. Or at any time, for that matter.
