The love that illuminated the darkness

That was just another cold night in the city of Linnetown, which was known for being full of people who had superpowers and ended up becoming heroes, but for me, Scarlett Timber, it was completely different, I was running through the dark and empty alleys of the city, running away from those people who have been chasing me every day since I chose this life, when I made the decision a few years ago to follow the path that everyone calls "wrong".

Well, at least those heroes consider it that way, what they call evil I call survival.

Many always told me that I was an evil-path villain for not following their rules, but I never cared about the comments of those heroes, for me the option was always this one, the heroic world seems cute and incredible, but in my reality, it's nothing more than a fairy tale with a terrible happily ever after.

– GET BACK HERE GIRL, YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER! – Shouted another one of those heroes who were always trying to arrest me while dodging the objects I threw at them with my mind, my telekinesis was child's play to me, my power was always considered one of the most powerful and dangerous in this city, even more so in the hands of someone who has controlled them so perfectly since childhood.

Heroes really are pathetic thinking that one day they will manage to capture me, they always think they are the best, do everything right, always spread good and want to create their beautiful perfect society, but traumas from my past showed me the true reality, that all of this is just children's stories, real heroes don't exist, they are just people considered correct for "following the rules" that the corrupt society itself decreed.

My long black hair flutters in the air of the streets as I ran, every alley I turn is as if it were nothing, as if I were in a children's maze and had passed through there several times, I've already gotten used to this life, I've been living like this since I was 10 and today I'm already 17, running away from police officers and heroes who try to capture me somehow has already become part of my routine, it seems tragic but I don't even care anymore, they don't understand that they won't make it, they say I need to go back to "the right side of the law" it even sounds like a joke coming from people like those.

Their side, considered the right one within society, only exists because they are the ones telling the story with their version, always placing themselves as the good guys.

I stop behind a wall while covering myself with objects that I moved with my mind myself, I stay standing there just waiting for them to finally give up on that idea, but I know it won't happen.

– Did that girl run away again? It's not possible, there must be something we are doing wrong, she can't keep running away! We need more precise searches, that little mind witch can't be this powerful all the time, there has to be some way – Said the chief of heroes, Jack Blackwood, frowning, whose power is over mental control, the one whose annoying blue eyes and perfectly styled brown hair I'm tired of looking at, he always thinks he will manage to rehabilitate me one day, but all of this is just stupidity to me and he should understand that, but he is too stubborn.

Darkness is already part of me, you can't just take it away just because they want to, do they really think I love being here like this?

Do they think one day I woke up from a beautiful life and said "I want to beat up heroes today and become a feared villain".

Those heroes keep using their stupid nicknames "mind witch" "iron mind" just because they don't understand my power, they don't even know my real name, nor should they care about that either.

They pass by me countless times and can't see me, they will probably give up soon and leave me alone, I'm not afraid of them capturing me, they are not good enough for that.

Or at least they never were until today.

– She must be close, she couldn't have run through the entire city, she always thinks she's smart, but that will disappear as soon as we manage to stand face to face with her, a coward who hides – Says the new recruit of the heroes, Liam Blackwood, son of that asshole leader, he has the same strong blue eyes and blonde hair as his mother, Liam is still a student but has high capability to already be working as a hero, actually just pretending like all the others.

His powers are shocking around here, even though his father has his own too, his is better, anyone he touches is controlled instantly.

His sentence makes me grit my teeth, who does he think he is to call me a coward? If they were that good they would have found me already, his father always got on my nerves, it seems like that idiot is exactly like him, they think they are the best heroes in the world, everyone of that type always thinks they are superior to others.

That's why here I am, on the other side of this asshole coin.

I sneak through the shadows as if I were part of them, she is already used to all this fighting, in the end the result is always the same, they search endlessly until they get tired, find nothing and I can finally go to my hideout.

I walk to their other side and stand there in the middle of the darkness, they can't even notice me, it's as if me and the light hated each other even though we were once best friends, that is my place indeed, since I can remember.

My place.

In the middle of pure darkness.

In the middle of pure loneliness.

Always being friends with nothingness, or just having gotten used to it way more than I should have.

Nothingness was all I had.

The dimness of the night seems to welcome me, this good feeling, I look at that cloudy, sad sky, without a single star, but it's better that there's nothing indeed.

My mother loved stars, in childhood we would spend hours watching the night sky, ever since everything happened, I hate stars, I prefer that, the pure pitch black of the night, it's more comforting, it makes me forget when I shone like them, I didn't run away from them afraid of losing that too.

Missing when I wasn't here in this situation, alone in the dark of the night, with no more light in my path for years.

I stay standing there for long minutes, hearing only the noises of heroes' footsteps, birds singing, cars passing in the distance, I think a little about everything, seeing that teenager just like me, who still lives in the fairy tale of believing in heroes, who didn't have to go through any of the worst things I went through, that's why he is on the heroic side, he doesn't know how bad they can be.

How bad they were to me.

– Sir, I think we should stop for today, you know she is crafty, she has probably already run far away from here – Said a low-class hero who was helping on patrol directly to Captain Jack.

– Maybe it really is better, we need more reinforcements if we want to capture that girl, in so many years we couldn't, it won't be now with a few more hours that everything will change – Says Jack gritting his teeth and rubbing his forehead, clearly already annoyed with all of that, tired from all the effort he had already put in.

– She might be fast and powerful but she can't simply stay loose out there any longer, I know she is close, we just need to look better – Says Liam totally focused on his first mission, he meticulously analyzes every detail around trying to find something different or any clue of where I might have gone.

– No, we can't stay here any longer Liam, we've already wasted too much time with this girl, at some point she will show up again and we will manage to capture her, we just need to be calm, rushing doesn't help at all – Speaks Jack now with a more serious tone, reprimanding his son.

– They always think they will find her one day, that's why they haven't found her yet, because they give up easily, if she was around here this is where she's going to be! – Says Liam stomping his foot on the ground clearly with no intention of giving up now, he is totally focused on the goal of finding me.

Seeing the determination in his eyes gives me a strange feeling, a feeling that I don't remember much of what it was like.

Hope.

– You are too stubborn, I won't waste any more time with this, I already said, we've been after this girl for years and nothing, it won't be now that we will make it, if you want to stay, stay alone – Says the captain turning his back on his son without caring.

Liam stands there for a bit while everyone leaves, he knows this is a waste of time, but he is willing to succeed, even if it takes a long time.

Right after, he follows the others and leaves, but now with a more confident and determined expression, for him his goal will be achieved regardless of everything.