If there’s one thing I hate more than anything else, it’s the unknown. It can range from the simple stuff: if a new movie is worth the fifteen dollar entrance fee or if a book’s sequel will be as fantastic as the first, to things that matter far more: test results, job interview results. Tonight, it was how tomorrow was going to go. To get my mind off the unknown of the next day, my roommate – darling, lovely Candace – had decided to set me up with her date’s roommate. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYHPnXgP14
Her date, Marcus, as well as his roommate, were both incoming freshmen and wanted a tour around the city. Seeing as I was the only local out of the group of four it was on my shoulders to give them ‘a proper tour.' It was another unknown I had to deal with but impressing a neighbor boy was far less important than nailing my first day at my summer job, but it was a pleasant enough distraction, I suppose. It was ever so slightly annoying though I would do almost anything Candace asked me to. I agreed because I was her friend and roommate, but also to avoid any possible conflict.
“Elia are you ready yet? You’re holding the boys up.” If there were any way to describe Candace to those who have never met her it would be in three words: sweet but impatient. Especially, oh so especially, when it came to romantic interests and encounters. I had just finished assessing my outfit when she sang her restless call. I spun on my heel, turned the doorknob and stepped into our apartment’s living quarters. Candace was the only one standing of the three; she was wearing a bohemian style high low dress that was a stunning red that made the natural red tint to her otherwise dark hair stand out remarkably well.
“You look a-dora-ble,” Candace complimented. I smiled with a wrinkle of my nose and a muttered thank you. “Boys! This is the shy and almost always fashionably late Eliana Rand.” She practically pranced towards the middle of our living room. My eyes fell on the two gentlemen I’d be spending my last free, jobless evening in the company of.
“This is Marcus,” she both hovered near and gestured to the young man that began to stand. Having an experience of being a victim of these set ups before, I couldn’t help but compare him to the past beaus I had seen. He was rather bland in comparison. He was as skinny as a twig, some muscles stuck out but he still looked pretty breakable, his sandy blond hair a high and tight that had grown out for a few weeks. His eyes were a murky brown, but he had a sincere smile. He stepped towards me and held out his hand.
“It’s a pleasure. Candace has told me a lot about you.” His voice was charming enough by itself, just the right pitch and husky or even smooth to a degree. A college age not-British James Bond, if you will.
“I hope it’s been all good things. Candace knows a lot about me.”
“Nothing but good, I promise.”
“Good, she can at least wait to tell all my secrets until after we know each other better.”
“I can’t wait.” A sly smile crossed his face, and it was just as attractive as the previous smile. It screamed Bond-era Sean Connery. I could see the appeal. He turned towards the other male, who looked positively bored and remained silent. “This is my roommate, Caderyn. He’s from upstate and just moved in with me a few nights ago. He’s not one for much socializing, but I figure it would be good for him to know someone in the hall.”
I caught eyes with Caderyn, bringing him out of his staring contest with the wall. Compared to Marcus, at least in the judgment of looks, he was much more suited to fit the archetype of Candace’s previous beaus. Marcus gestured awkwardly that Caderyn should stand. He did, but the bored expression didn’t leave his face, and his eyes never left contact with mine.
At full height, he was a head taller than me, and his shoulders alone could house almost two of me between them. His hair was long enough to be considered ‘long’ for a male, chopped before it reached his shoulders. It was also incredibly messy, as though he had just rolled out of bed or better yet stood in front of a fan for 10 minutes before arriving here. The thought made me smile, but the sound of a throat clearing snapped me out of it. Caderyn had his arm extended towards me, but his face was one of impatience. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said, grasping his hand and shaking it.
“Same,” he replied, dropping his hand. An attempted smile spread on his face. He looked rather pained with the attempt.
“All right,” Candace said, gently clapping her hands. “Let’s go, shall we?”
Our tour didn’t last long. Candace pointed out an 18 and over dance club that was a favorite hang out spot for Esmarina U students and our peaceful, quiet walk ended. When we entered the club, it took all of 45 seconds for Candace and Marcus to head to the dance floor. While I knew that Caderyn and I were just tagalongs to their date, I hadn’t imagined them leaving so fast. Personally, I considered it rather rude, but I had managed to push my bitterness to the back of my mind.
The awkward situation left Caderyn and I sitting at a table in silence for a very long time in what could barely be considered silence. Sure, we weren’t talking, but the music was blaring, and I could hardly think. I went through two refills of a cherry sprite while he barely touched his Coke. It was maddening to sit in a club with ground shaking music without talking, dancing or socializing which is what I thought we were supposed to be doing. Neither one of us fiddled with our phones. I’m not sure if it was out of mutual respect.
I decided to do something for both of our sakes. “Hey,” I half-yelled over the music, “Let’s bail!” Caderyn looked up with a perplexed expression and silence. “I can’t hear myself think. You’re obviously as bored as I am. Let’s do something about that.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Marcus said you hadn't explored the city much.”
“Well, no, I’ve been doing research.”
I grabbed my glass and sipped the last remaining bit of my cherry sprite. “That’s that, then. Let’s go.” I stood, energized with newfound purpose.
“What about them?” Caderyn asked as he stood, gesturing towards our roommates. They were too lost in each other, dancing together but barely touching. They were radiating in their happiness. No way in hell was I interrupting that.
I shrugged, “They’ll be okay. I’ll text when we get back, so they don’t worry.” He nodded and let me lead the way out.
“I know this city like the back of my hand. I was born and raised here. Esmarina is a magnificent city with a great university.” He smiled, not quite looking as pained this time but stayed silent as we walked.
“You’re very quiet,” I mused aloud, looking up at the sky. It wasn’t late enough for the sun to have fully set yet, there was still a glimmer of orange. It made the sky a mix of dark and light purple. “ It’s almost in a broody, standoffish way. If we dressed you in some Victorian garb, you’d be a regular Mister Darcy.”
He softly chuckled at my words, shaking his head. “I’m not broody.”
“But you do not deny you’re standoffish.”
“Okay, fine, I’m quiet. We don’t have much to talk about. We’ve known each other for an hour, and we’ve said twenty words to each other. You’ve not been very talkative either, Eliana. Until now.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“I was enjoying the quiet. The club was too loud for me.”
“Fine, fine. You’re not fun, though.” I smiled, trying to reassure him that I was just kidding, but my smile got an eye roll instead.
“I am fun. I am the definition of fun and adventurous.”
“You’re something, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that.”
“You hardly know me.”
“I would know you better if you wanted to talk.”
“And what, do you suppose, are we doing if not conversing?” He threw his hands up in a gesture of exasperation, laughing slightly. A gush of wind blew, and his hair blew into his face. It successfully hid most of his expression from me. He was still smiling though.
I started to dig my phone out of my bag and struggled to fumble in my purse (which tended to eat my belongings anyway). However, after a minute, I gripped my phone in my hand victoriously. I pulled up Candace’s last texts, which were about Marcus, and began to type. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH74Q1NsVHT
Going to the park with Caderyn. You said he’s not been around the city much. Wanted to leave you two alone. :o) text when you get back home, I’ll do the same. See you later. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TTeiXPzws
“All right,” I said, sliding my phone back into its black hole home. “Want to see the city park? It’s gorgeous at night and always quiet.” He shrugged compliantly and followed me in the direction of the park. He was, unsurprisingly, silent until we reached the borders of the park. I looked at him. His eyes had lit up at the scenery, and there was a small flutter in my stomach.
“How did you and Marcus meet?” I asked as we walked through the gate.
“What?”
“You and Marcus. Did you meet through orientation, high school, or…”
“Oh.”
I rolled my eyes at his response and how his lips had tightened. “I just figured it’d give us something to talk about, that’s all.”
He fumbled with his hands before speaking as we walked. “My mom and his mom knew each other in high school. Our moms consider each other like sisters, so we were around each other a lot when we were younger. Mom moved upstate when I was elementary aged. Due to her work, we moved around a lot for her research, and I got taken out of school. Our house is upstate in the country, but it isn’t home. Home has always been where my mom is, no matter if that’s in a house or a hotel or apartment or a library office.”
He paused, breathing in the fresh air of the park. It was beautiful. I had forgotten how beautiful it was here. “Marcus was my constant friend. We’d return upstate every so often, and Marcus and his mom were always a part of our lives when we were there. It seemed natural enough to choose him as a roommate when it came time to it.”
“Why Esmarina?”
He shrugged again. “You’ve lived here your whole life, right? You have to know there’s something about Esmarina that’s just mystic.”
“It’s a little strange sometimes, yeah. I can see the appeal.”
“Eliana,” he said my name sharply, causing me to look at him. “You live in the city where there’s a superhero, the only superhero in the world. That’s not just strange.”
I hadn’t pegged him as the type to find the appeal in a young adult male dressed in some skin tight suit pretending to be a hero while smarting off to criminals. In my opinion —not that mine mattered much— he was just as much of a criminal as those he was fighting. He just didn’t get charged with assault at the end of the day. Masks could hide a lot of things. If you wore one, those things concealed often weren't that great.
“So what do you know about him?” Caderyn stopped walking on the trail to look at me. If he could have read my mind, he would’ve heard the truth, but I wanted to avoid discussion on my unpopular opinion. I had many a conversation, even in university classes, about the ‘hero’ known as Amori.
“I know he’s our age or around it anyway. He’s known to be an absolute smart ass to the supposed criminals he fights. He got a severe costume upgrade a few months back. It went from like this spandex-y looking thing to something that resembles armor, and he has this hover board thing — I don’t know when that happened but he’s shown up a few times with it on the news. I mean, I don’t know anything that hasn’t been in the news if that’s what you wanted to hear. I’m not involved with him or anything. Did you come here for him?”
He hesitated, “I—No. I didn’t come here for him. I just find him fascinating.”
“A lot of people do,” I replied and resumed my walk. “I don’t think you will get lucky enough to see him in person though. He’s like a falling meteor,” I bit my lip, unsure if I should continue. Most would have preferred the shooting star comparison. Shooting stars were considered lucky; meteors had the possibility for ending in mayhem — or disaster. “You can find them fascinating, but at the end of the day, I don’t think you want to see a falling meteor. If you do see him, it’s likely you’re not doing the right thing, or you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do you plan on robbing any banks?” He turned and stared at me, deadpan expression, and there was coldness in his eyes. Well, it wasn’t that reassuring of an answer, but I continued anyway. “That’s probably the only way you’ll see them. In handcuffs, with a black eye and broken ribs depending on his mood of the day.”
He laughed, the coldness had moved to the sound. It wasn’t as cheery and pleasant as it had been earlier, but it seemed to have amusement from something. “If I were to rob a bank, there would be a little more of a fight than you’re thinking.”
“He has super strength,” I snapped back, “You’re seriously underestimating him if you think you’d even have a chance.”
“I am not a weakling.”
My eyebrows rose involuntarily, and I was silent in response. Caderyn was an eighteen-year-old kid who just had graduated high school, and he was comparing himself to the world’s first and only superhero. How delusional was he? I was sure that he wasn’t weak he had the body of an ox. He didn’t have powers, though, right? What kind of world was I living in to second-guess the ‘normality’ of my hall neighbor? When I looked at him again, there was a difference in his stride. He took longer steps, steps where I had to double my walking speed to keep up. He was standing tall, shoulders broad and there was no attempt to hide how large he was. Though if he was trying to impress me, it wasn’t working.
But stranger than Caderyn’s confident stride was the way that the air felt. It was thick with something I couldn’t identify. My whole body was tingling from my nose to my toes. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and caused me to shiver. I pushed away whatever this feeling was and decided to focus on the park.
Esmarina’s Central Park was gorgeous, especially at night. Esmarina lacks in natural parks around the city; Central Park is one of the few. Although the city’s other recreational public areas all surround the water nearby with minimum trees, the trees here though are immense and luscious, no doubt dating back decades and decades of life. The garden lights illuminated the flowers that surrounded the path that we walked on. They were bright enough to make the vibrant colors – reds, yellows, and blues primarily – illuminate in the dark, but they didn’t blind you when you looked at them. The aura that surrounded the park made it feel incredibly peaceful, homey, and especially safe. If there was ever any real Mother Nature spirit, she was alive here.
We were silent as we walked. I didn’t want to respond to the strange outburst, but I wasn’t uncomfortable enough to abandon the idea of getting to know him or trying to. He appeared to have a lot of shields up, and I wasn’t entirely ready to try to pry them down just yet. I looked at him again. The confidence was still radiating off of him, but the edge that was there earlier was gone. His hands were by his side, not shoved in his pockets like earlier and there was a hint of a curve to his lips. He was relaxed, just as relaxed as I was here.
At least this had been a good idea.
“’Ey lovebirds!” The quiet bonding moment that I felt like could have been happening ended as soon as it began when the raspy voice called from behind us. We turned in surprised unison, and I inhaled sharply when my eyes focused on what exactly was in the man’s hand as he strode towards us. It was a small revolver, six shots if I sized the barrel correctly, and it was such a strange weapon that I found myself wondering about his choice of gun rather than how I was going to get out of the situation alive.
“Get behind me,” Caderyn said softly, his voice a growl. The tingling feeling from earlier was back, and the hairs on my arms were standing up as my body froze. The sensation wasn’t from panic; I knew that much. As much as I tried to appreciate the chivalrous gesture of Caderyn standing in front of me, the man did have a gun. I was sure that he was just as vulnerable to bullets ripping through his skin.
However, any sarcastic response died in my throat, and I found myself behind Caderyn anyway. “I would put the gun down,” he spoke, and the cold seriousness returned to his voice. I was shaking as he reached towards the man. “What are you going to do? Gun down two college kids in a park for a couple of bucks? It’s not worth it.”
The man’s gaunt hand shook with what could only be anxiety. The park lights dimly lit his face, but his eyes were unlike anything I had ever seen: lifeless, dead beyond the reflection of us in his irises. There was no hope in his face. I could only imagine what he had gone through to bring him to this point. He was starving, by the looks of his large, baggy clothes, and homeless by the smell of him. The thought made my stomach curl, and the reality smacked me dead in the face. This amazing city contained some things that weren't so pretty as I had grown up believing. Perhaps that’s why this place was the home of the only superhero.
Caderyn was stepping closer to the shaking man when I snapped out of my thoughts, arm still stretched out for him, if not to grab him then to at least disarm him. His words repeated in my head. I’m not a weakling. He was proving to be brave but also very stupid. “Stay back,” the man said, voice shaking just as much as he was. “Just gimme ya wallet and the lady’s purse, and I’ll leave ya alone.”
“That’s not happening, sorry.”
Time slowed. The gunshot made my ears ring; Caderyn ricocheted back with the hit. My body was tingling again, this time there was something else. It was the feeling of static electricity in the air, as though there was a storm swarming and lightning was going to strike nearby. The man stared with wide, sunken eyes as Caderyn stepped towards him. He rolled his shoulders back, as though that was going to get rid of the bullet that had hit his shoulder.
“I said that wasn’t going to happen.” Caderyn snarled when he stepped closer.
Another gunshot echoed through the air. And another as Caderyn moved. A fourth made a noise emit from Caderyn’s throat, and the fifth went off when Caderyn grabbed the gun from the man and crushed it.
I struggled to breathe as I watched the scene unfold before me. My eyes stayed on Caderyn looking for blood, an injury, anything that would arbitrate the stupidity of his actions. There was nothing except the crushed metal a few feet away.
He seemed taller now as he hovered over the terrified man and his lips moved, but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying. The man backed away clumsily, tripping over his own feet as he stumbled backward. I felt myself take my own step backward, still choking on air.
Caderyn turned, the apparent bullet holes in his shirt were clear now. However, there was no blood just burnt fabric and pale skin underneath. Though I felt relieved that he wasn’t bleeding to death, questions of how entered my head. There was anger in his eyes; his fists still clenched. He walked past me as though I wasn’t there. Despite all of the fear that had boiled up inside of me, I followed him.
“Are you okay?” It wasn’t the first question that came to mind, but it was the first one to stumble out of my mouth.
He didn’t look at me. “I’m fine. He had rubber bullets, not real ones.” They didn’t make rubber bullets for revolvers, did they? Where the hell did a homeless man get rubber bullets?
My feet moved faster despite what my brain wanted to do, and I stepped in front of him and pressed a hand to his chest. “Rubber bullets leave wounds just like metal ones. You could still have internal bleeding or something. You need to go to a hospital.”
“No,” He was firm as he grabbed my wrist and struggled against my weight to push it away. Eventually, due to his grip (and biceps) of iron, I faltered and dropped my hand.
“That hurt, jackass,” I grumbled while I massaged my wrist.
“I’m sorry,” he said it so quickly that I barely heard it.
“It’s okay, just don’t grab so hard next time.” He offered a weak, apologetic smile before looking down at his feet.
This went well. I thought to myself as I struggled to keep up with Caderyn’s long strides. Try and show him the marvelous city and we get held at gun point, and he gets five plastic bullets into his chest. He’s going to hurt tomorrow, that’s for sure. I opened my mouth to ask him if he honestly didn’t want to go to hospital but the sound died with an ‘hmm.' It was enough noise to make him look at me. “Did you say something?”
“No, let’s just go home.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
As we walked back to our apartment building, I thought about many things. Heroes such as Amori weren’t always there when you need them; it’s other brave souls that step into the line of fire when others aren’t there. I had always thought myself brave: I had gone skydiving last year, I had swum with (small) sharks when I was young but put an armed man in front of me, and I fought to breathe to fight off what I could only call a panic attack.
Caderyn as much as a stranger as he was to me had stepped into the line of something that could have killed him. It turns out they weren’t metal, but neither one of us had known that. He was willing to die for someone he had known for hardly an hour. That was brave, if not reckless and in my eyes, he was far more of a hero than Amori would ever be to me.
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