Hero

I need to escape; the train could come at any hour, he thought to himself.

He tried to move his leg trying to escape a makeshift bear trap attached to the tracks. That evening he followed his girlfriend by the tracks to find a quiet place; he thought that this night he would get lucky. Instead, she hopped onto the tracks and he did the same. She then turned around and kissed him, she pushed him making him slightly walk backwards which caused his ankle to be caught in this trap. He then screamed in pain and kneeled down to look at his injury using his lantern for his only source of light.

“What’s going on? What’s all this?”

“Oh Johnny, you know exactly what’s going on.” After that short conversation, she showed him his cell phone; while she distracted him, she took away the only device that he could use to call for help. Then she ran away, he tried calling for help but then thought that he was lost in the forest and that no one could hear him, so he tried to open the trap with his bare hands.

A person wearing a large coat, large pants held up by a belt, and worn sneakers was walking along a path that use to be a road. The asphalt was cracked with many plants growing up from the crevices. It was getting cold, so this person put on their hood, and in their hand was a pair of sunglasses. This person needed a walk to briefly escape from society; this person felt that no one would ever understand them because this person was not one of them. There was railroad crossing ten feet away and a track that looked like it traveled into the darkness. The railway crossing looked old, and this person wondered if it worked, but it did not matter. They walked over the tracks and continued walking on this deserted road.

Johnny was now in panic he was now afraid of bleeding to death then being run over by a train. Just then he heard the most terrifying noise, he froze and looked in the direction of the sound.

The barrier lowered, the lights began to flash, and an alarm started to chime signaling that a train was coming. The stranger who walked across the tracks turned around to see the display, he then stood there waiting to see if a train would come, then they heard a scream. They knew someone was in trouble, this person had the abilities to save them, and the only problem was that saving people got him into trouble.

‘Should I do it? No, I’m in enough trouble already’ the stranger thought as they turned and started to walk again along the old road.

“Oh please God, I don’t want to die!”

Hearing this cry, the stranger stopped and reflected on the situation as they turned back and look at the activated railway crossing display.

‘Alright, just one more time’ he convinced himself and ran down the track towards the cry for help.

Johnny was frantically trying to get out of the trap, every time he moved his leg there was even more pain. He stopped and sat on the railroad, he buried his face in his hands and was breathing heavily. Then he heard the most welcoming sound, he turned and saw a person running up to him and kneeled down beside him.

“Oh thank God! Quickly help me get out of this trap!” then the horn of the train was heard. The mysterious person took the lantern and moved it closer to the trap and tried to open it with his hands.

‘No, I better not use my abilities, or this person may report me to the authorities’ the stranger thought to himself. The stranger tried to get the trap out without using this gift, although this person thought it was a curse. Just then a bright light was focused on the two people on the tracks. Johnny froze like a deer seeing a pair of headlights, but the stranger responded by sitting beside Johnny and putting on a pair of sunglasses. The stranger remained calm while Johnny started to cry as the light became brighter. He briefly looked at this stranger sitting beside him and questioned why this person was not running away, this person was free and could escape from the large train that was approaching them. Another horn was heard, and Johnny grabbed the person beside him for comfort and closed his eyes while waiting for his life to end.

He heard the train go by, but he was not hurt, he was still alive. While still hugging the stranger, he turned and watched the train pass by a railway crossing that was flashing its warning lights. He was now sitting on an old road watching the train go by, he let go of the stranger who was still sitting beside him; he looked at the stranger, then back at the train. They watched the train pass by; minutes later the railway crossing stopped flashing its lights and all became silent. Johnny looked down at the ground in front of him, there was his lantern and his ankle still in the trap, but the trap was detached from the railroad. He then looked at this person with amazement, he could feel the tears running down his cheeks, so he wiped his face with his hands.

“What just happened? What’s going on?” Johnny panicked wondering how he was magically teleported off the tracks.

This stranger raised his hand telling Johnny to stop his rambling and he stopped. The stranger then positioned himself near Johnny’s injured leg and grabbed the trap. The stranger’s hands began to glow orange and so did the trap, then slowly he removed the trap; it almost seemed to pass through Johnny’s ankle with no pain. The stranger then held the trap, which stopped glowing, and placed the bloody trap beside him. Johnny was stunned as he witnessed the trap being released from his body, but he now knew who this person was.

The stranger’s hands began to glow again as they reached down for the wound “now, this might feel cold” the person waved their hands around the wound and then rubbed it with one hand. The stranger’s hands stopped glowing as he released his grip on Johnny’s ankle. Johnny leaned forward and looked at his ankle in amazement; it was completely healed with no scar. He then noticed that he felt wet, he looked down at his shorts.

‘Damn, I pissed myself’ he thought remembering the overwhelming fear that came over him a few moments ago when he was trapped onto the railway tracks when the train was coming towards him at great speed. He then noticed that he was alone, sitting on an old road near a lantern. He turned and saw the stranger walking away. Johnny quickly got up and grabbed the lantern then ran towards the hero who saved him.

“Wait!” Johnny yelled as he ran to catch up to the hero who rescued him, but the stranger kept on walking. “Wait!” Johnny ran in front of the hero and put up his hand to stop him, then the stranger stopped. “You’re the Hero, that person on the news, the one with powers and saves people.” The Hero backed up and walked around him. “Wait!” again Johnny had to block the Hero’s path to get his attention. There was a slight pause, he never knew that the Hero had any healing powers “You have healing powers?” Johnny tried to confirm what occurred a few moments ago. The Hero lowered his head, raised a hand to his forehead and shook his head in disbelief. The Hero sighed and began to walk around Johnny to continue his journey. Johnny ran in front of the person, but this time the Hero walked through him. Johnny was stunned; there was a rumour that this person with powers could walk through walls, so logically they could walk through anything, including other people. Johnny turned and saw the Hero walking away. “Wait!” Johnny cried into the sky. The Hero heard Johnny’s cry and stopped while lowered his head. “I need your help” Johnny sobbed. The Hero looked up then turned around to face the person he just saved. Johnny ran up to the Hero and there was silence between them.

“I thought I already gave you my help?” the stranger replied.

By the sound of his voice and height, Johnny suspected that this person was a young man.

“No, not me, for my sister.” The Hero was listening while Johnny explained his situation, “she’s sick, the doctors don’t know what’s wrong and she could die any day now.”

The Hero sighed, they knew that this teenager was starting to get the idea that the ‘Hero’ could save his sister. “How old is she?”

“She turned six last month.”

The Hero saw hope in the teenager’s eyes. “I have a weak spot for children” the Hero smiled. “Alright then, if she’s at the children’s hospital, then I can teleport us there.”

“No, the doctors recommended that she should be at home for her last few days, surrounded by her family.”

‘His sister must be very ill’ the Hero thought hearing that Johnny’s sister could live her last days at home and not at a hospital, “alright then, take me to her.”

Johnny smiled and nodded “follow me” he began to run, he looked behind and saw the Hero following him.

A few hours later, they arrived at Johnny’s house and were standing in front a large gate. Johnny went to a security panel on the large metal door and entered a password, the gate opened revealing a large mansion inside. Johnny took a few steps then looked back at the Hero was still standing there looking at the huge building.

“You” the Hero turned and pointed to him “Your Johnny Kingston.”

“That’s right.” he noticed the Hero seemed frightened. “What’s wrong?”

“You know that your father doesn’t like me.... Well, a lot of people don’t like him in return...So that’s why you were chained to a railroad track, someone was trying to get him through you.” Johnny nodded now knowing that his girlfriend possibly had a grudge against his father and tried to kill his son for revenge. “I can’t believe I save the son of the man who is after me” the Hero sighed. Johnny knew this was true, his father wanted to arrest the Hero, but he secretly knew that his father wanted to kill this person; he just did not know why his father would kill someone who has saved the lives of so many people. “Alright, I’ll heal your sister if you do something for me” the Hero turned to Johnny and slowly approached him.

“Anything” Johnny replied thinking that that Hero was going to talk about money.

“Just, don’t get me arrested, don’t tell anyone what I did tonight” Hero whispered and Johnny nodded in agreement, then the Hero disappeared. “I’ll be behind you.” Johnny then felt a tap on his shoulder; the Hero was trying to signal that he was close behind him. Johnny started to walk towards the mansion with the invisible stranger behind him. A servant greeted Johnny at the door and let him in; commenting that he was late. He walked pass the servant and walked up a set of stairs to get to his sister’s room. He was stopped by his father as he got to the top of the stairs.

“Son, where were you?”

“I was...Umm...”

“You were with that new girlfriend of your, weren’t you?”

“Yes dad, but I dumped her just a few hours ago.”

“Well then, don’t get too upset, there’s more women out there. Anyways check out this new poster.” He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Johnny. It was a wanted poster for the Hero; the description was a twenty-year old male with dark hair and eyes. It featured a popular blurred photograph of an accident; in the picture, there is a person wearing dark clothes standing in the middle of a busy road, but one of their hands was glowing while a car flew above the ground with frightened passengers inside. The picture looked incriminating since some could think that the photograph was showing the Hero torturing innocent people. However, Johnny knew that the Hero saved the people inside the car that had flown off an overpass by levitating the car gently towards the ground using his glowing hand. Johnny then felt a tug on his sleeve, the Hero was trying to signal to leave.

“Well, it looks nice dad, but do you think people would turn in such a criminal?”

“They will, look at the reward.”

Johnny noticed the reward, “that’s a lot of zeros” he commented on the amount of money his father was offering in exchange for the Hero. Johnny gave back the piece of paper back to his father. “So, dad, where’s mom?”

“In your sister’s room, go in there and try to get her out of there, she needs to eat.”

“No problem dad.”

He began to walk down the hallway; he looked back and saw his father heading down the stairs. Eventually they reached his sisters room, Johnny opened the door slowly and saw his mother in a chair beside the bed holding onto her daughter’s hand. His sister was in bed attached to various machines that made various noises. The room was large but crowded with toys and medical equipment. Just then a nurse came from behind him and went to his mother, the nurse tried to persuade Johnny’s mother to leave the room, but she would not leave.

His mother then turned and noticed her son enter his sister’s room, “oh Johnny, your back...”

“What’s that smell” the nurse commented.

Johnny looked down at his shorts realizing that they were still wet with urine when he accidently urinated his pants in fear thinking that he was going to be killed by a train. “I’ll be right back” Johnny then ran out of his sisters’ room and headed towards his room. Inside his bedroom, Johnny changed his underwear and shorts; and was now wearing a pair of clean and dry jeans. He was looking at himself in the mirror when the Hero appeared behind him. “Where you here the whole time?” he raised his voice thinking that the Hero had just watched Johnny change his clothes.

“No, I was in your sister room, I need your mother out of the room. She’s very vigilant.”

“How did you know I was here?” Johnny questioned wondering how the Hero found his room.

“I have...the ability to see through walls. I just walked pass each door until I saw you. Then I walked through the door to get to you.”

“Man, I wish I could see through walls to watch the ladies, if you know what I mean” Johnny chuckled.

“No, I don’t know what you mean” the Hero sounded serious “now, back to the task at hand, I don’t want to be here longer than I have to.”

“Right” Johnny nodded then Hero nodded before he disappeared; Johnny ran out of his room and returned to his sister’s room. As he opened the door, Johnny noticed that the nurse was gone but his mother was still there. “Mom, its late, why don’t you go to bed?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“How about you go to the kitchen and get yourself something to eat?”

“Would you be a dear and look after your sister while I’m gone, I haven’t eaten all day.” She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes.

“Sure Mom.” She got up and kissed her daughter on the forehead, she slowly she let go of her daughter’s hand and walked towards the door. Johnny’s mother was now finally out of the room and Johnny closed the door behind her. Johnny turned back and saw the Hero on the opposite side of the bed looking down at the unconscious little girl. The Hero then took off his sunglasses and pulled back the hood.

“How did this happen?” she turned to him. John was stunned; the Hero was female. That was why she did not get the joke about seeing through walls, he thought. She appeared to be around his age, it explained the Hero’s height and voice. He did not notice she was female because the clothes she was wearing were large. With the hood back, he noticed that she had short hair, a large hearing aid that wrapped around her right ear, and a necklace of guitar picks around her neck. “Let me rephrase the question, what’s wrong with her?”

“The doctors don’t know, all I know was that she became a fussy eater. It got to the point that she would only eat white rice. She complains that everything makes her stomach hurt. And... She.” he could not continue explaining about his sister.

“Is there a small blanket around here?” she looked around the huge but crowded room. Johnny went over to a dresser and opened each drawer frantically to find a blanket, he finally found a small blanket and gave it to her. She examined it, it almost seemed that she was measuring it, she then handed it back to him. She walked to the end of the bed and looked at the dying girl. She began to move her hands and they started to glow while Johnny watched her in amazement. She took one hand and waved it over the bed, just then she grabbed something in the air, it looked like a sheet with the same dimensions as the blanket he gave to her. She then walked around and placed the glowing sheet onto his sister, then the sheet disappeared.

Johnny looked up at her in astonishment. “Did it work?” he asked but in response the Hero disappeared.

Just then his mother re-entered the room in tears. “I’m sorry, I know I should eat but I can’t leave her” she walked over and sat in the chair beside the bed and continued to mourn for her dying child.

Johnny walked out of the room, closed the door and sighed. Then he heard a whisper “go to the kitchen and get her something to eat” Hero instructed him. He nodded and started to walk down the hall and towards the kitchen. Moments later he was walking up the stairs holding a tray with a plate of food and a bottle of water. Two nurses ran pass him, he stopped and looked up the stairs.

He then noticed his father running up the stairs “son, do you know what’s going on?” Johnny shook his head in reply, His father then grabbed him by the arm which caused him to drop the tray and they ran up the stairs. They ran to his sister room and opened the door.

“It’s a miracle” his mother ran up and hugged her husband, she then turned to Johnny and hugged him. The three walked over to the bed and were shocked to see that the little girl was now awake.

“How do you feel dear?”

“I’m hungry” she complained as she looked up at her father. Every servant immediately left the room and presumably headed to the kitchen to retrieve something to eat for the child.

“Hey sis” Johnny walked up to her bed.

“Johnny?”

“Yes?”

“Who was that girl who was with you?”

“Pardon?”

“Is she an angel?”

The next morning they were at the large table eating, ever since his sister was sick his parents ate in her bedroom while watching her, but now she was at the table and she had a large appetite. That night various doctors arrived and could not explain how she got healthy so fast, his sister kept saying that there was an angel in the room with her brother, but Johnny was trying to lie saying that he did not see anyone else in the room. Currently people were in her room and removing the various medical equipment. Johnny watched as his mother would kiss his sister every few minutes as she sat beside her daughter with joy. His father would look over at his daughter with a smile every time he turned the pages of his newspaper.

“Son, you seem quiet this morning” Mr. Kingston said after finishing his morning paper.

Johnny put down his fork and looked at his father, then to his sister, then back to his father. “Dad, I have to ask you something.”

“Anything son.”

“Why is there an arrest warrant for the Hero?”