Chapter 1
In this world I am nothing but a background character, literally that's what the title over my head says. I am the only person that can see these titles. It started when I was around 7 years old, when I saw my mom and dad's the thought I was just a little kid with a big imagination. Most of the titles were pretty simple, schooler, worker, some also said specifically their job. "Edith will you please pay attention." My teacher, Mr. Shirley, said, his title said, "Control freak" which was definitely true. I went back to paying attention to science.
After school I was walking through the town to meet up with my best friend, Serena, who was the only one who believed that these titles were real, the only thing about her was that she didn't have a title yet. I just thought maybe it doesn't work on everyone. As I was walking to the little bookstore, we hang out at I saw a homeless woman on the ground, in my town you don't see them much, it's a small town so there's places to go, like shelters and things like that or friends homes everyone kinda knew each other around here. I went into the closest supermarket and got a premade sandwich. I sprinted out and offered her the sandwich, that's when I noticed her title, "The Forgotten Hero." I was shocked I had never heard of hero's in this town, I played it off and went to meet up with my friend. I decided not to tell her for now.
That night once I got home, I ran upstairs into the attic, we had an old stack of newspapers from the old owners. I dug through till I got tot eh stack and started to flop through. Once I got a few down I saw the headline, "New Hero Turns Bad." "What?" I whispered, if she had turned bad then her title would have been villain or criminal, not Forgotten Hero. I flipped through more of them, each one was great, she was doing great things with whatever power she had. "Edith come down for dinner!" I heard my mom shout. I ran downstairs and ate with my mother. That night I put some of the leftovers in the fridge and dished one separately for the woman, I was going to find out the truth, if she wasn't bad, I'll clear her name.
It was the weekend, so I didn't have to worry about school. Around lunchtime I took out the food, put it in the microwave then rode my bike over to where I saw her. I saw her asleep and wrote her a note, it said 'I know who you are.' Which ya, saying now does sound a bit creepy. I couldn't think of anything else to write ok! Then I went to the park to just stay outside. I didn't get distracted by titles here animals didn't have any.
Half and hour later I heard a meow, I looked down towards my feet and saw a cute orange tabby cat, it hopped up on the bench and it had a title, "The Trapped" "What does it mean trapped?" I mumbled wail petting the cat, the cat looked confused and surprised at the same time for a second before curling into a little ball. The cat fell asleep, and I just sat there wondering what it meant, I had never seen an animal with a title, not even a talking parrot. I got a message on my phone I glanced at it, and it was my mom telling me to come home. I sighed and hopped on my bike, the cat followed me for a bit before I got to fast for him. I drove up to the driveway before putting my bike in the garage. I walked up to the front porch and saw the container sitting there. How did she know where I lived? That was kind of creepy but maybe it was her power or something.
The next day I went back I didn't have any leftovers this time though, we had takeout the night before. I walked over to the spot I had seen her and once I turned the corner I was flung in the air and slammed into the ground, "Hey! What the heck!" I shouted and jumped up to fight back, I was about to throw a punch before I saw it was her, "What do you want!" She yelled, "Wait, wait! First of all, wow you're strong. Second of all, I know you are the forgotten hero." She looked stunned, "If you know who I am, then why are you here." She said looking away sadly, "I want to clear your name."
She was confused, "I know you might not believe me, but I can see these titles above people's heads, I saw yours and looked at some old newspapers and saw one that said, 'New Hero Turns Bad' if you had gone bad your title would have gone from Hero to Villain or something like that, but yours says The Forgotten Hero." I explained really fast, "How do I know I can trust you?" "I mean if I do betray you I'm pretty sure you can kill me pretty fast." She smiled, "I already you like you kid." The the cat from yesterday came running over and rubbed against our legs.
The rest of the day we just hung out sitting together, I asked her a lot of questions about her powers. Apparently, she had the power to start fires, the reason people though of her as a villain was because a ton of houses lit on fire and no signs pointed at anybody so they thought it was her. "I'll find a way to clear your name I promise." I noticed the sun was going down and told her I had to go and that I'll see her after school. On my way home I saw a missing sign of a baby. I walked up to it and looked at it closely. It read, MISSING, boy should be around 12 years old, went missing 11 years ago, reward 1,000. The kid would be my age now, I wonder why I never heard of him till now. A part of me wondered if the cat was the kid somehow. I shrugged it off and went home.
I was walking to the woman the next day and saw she was talking to a man, I crept up till I could read his title, "The Bad One." I ran the rest of the distance and kicked him to the ground. He tried to get back up, but I stayed on top of him to keep him down, "What was that Edith?" She shouted at me, "He's not good!" I yelled, and she kicked him in the head just enough to knock him out, "What did his title say?" "The Bad One, I didn't want him to harm you." "You did the right thing, I'm upset with myself not you, I told him almost everything, I thought I could trust him." She looked really upset, "Anyway where did you learn to fight that well?" She smiled back at me, "My mom made me take lots of self-defense classes when I was little, most of it is just muscle memory now." Which makes a bit more of since now that I learned about the kid. Citrus came back to the alleyway we were in and rubbed up against our legs. I got a notification on my phone, "Oh, ya I promised Serena I would meet up with her! I have to go now see you tomorrow!" I ran out and towards the bookstore.
I walked in and saw Serena sitting there, but she got her title. I sat in the chair beside her and saw her title, "The Villain." I was shocked, has she been lying to me this whole time? I told her about seeing the titles, what would she want with that? "I can see her title?" I whispered before I could stop myself, "What was that Edith?" She asked, "N.. Nothing just talking to myself." I played along with the rest of the night I didn't want her to know I was on to her. That night I couldn't sleep, I just stayed up in my room putting all evidence of me ever knowing Serena into a box and shoving it in my closer. If the titles were wrong, I wouldn't want to throw all of her away. As I was putting the box on the shelf in my closet another box started to slip and fall towards the floor, I don't want to wake my mom up she would kill me! Then, it stopped in midair, did I do that? I tried to move it up and back on it's shelf it did! I then did it to the other box to push it all the way up. Either this was some weird dream, or I had powers! Then a sharp pain grew in my skull, nope, not a dream, I think.
I finally fell asleep and woke up to my alarm about and hour later, great. I tried to lift something in my room again and it worked! That morning, since my mom was already at work, I did my whole morning routine without lifting my arms, just to see if I could, which was a mistake, I had a horrible headache at school. I still decided to show the woman my powers anyways. "Maybe you can be the new hero this city needs!" She said excitedly, we talked about her being a hero and how she felt about doing what she did, "I got to go now my mom said dinners ready, I'll bring you some leftovers if you want." "That would be great!" She smiled, "Oh, by the way you never told me your name." I spun around before leaving the ally to face her, "Jaiden." She said and I ran back home.
