True Heroes (13 page)

              She grabbed at his hand and sighed slightly. “Caleb, that man loves you and me more than anyone or anything in this world. The only reason he does what he does is to provide for us everything we want and more. I’ve tried to tell him to come home more often and be with you, but he thinks that you’ll benefit more from what he does at work than what he could ever do here. Trust me, the only reason that man does what he does is because of his love for us. How about we just be a little more patient?”

              “I can try.” Caleb noticed her shifty eyes. ‘The old man seems intent on either keeping his compassion a well kept secret, or trying to force his way into my life like a square through a circular hole. A real man should know that neither of those options were the proper one; a real father would know that.’ “They haven’t told us anything about graduation yet, but I’ll let you know.”

              A knock came to the front door that had his mother rushing out of his room. He leaned over to look out his window and saw the blue and red flashing of the police through the ice and snow caked along the panes. His mom opened the front door. ‘I didn’t do anything, and I doubt Mom did anything. That leaves….’

              Caleb immediately attempted to extend his power and catch a glimpse of their conversation. ‘Is there any left to summon? It needs a long sleep to recharge at this point.’ It filled his body after a second of concentrating and he extended it out his window and as close to the cops as he could. The fists at his side clenched tighter as a pain started to split his skull, and their voices came through his power to his ears. “Is your husband home, ma’am?”

              He tried to listen to his mother’s response with all the concentration he could muster. “I’m sorry but he has a rather erratic schedule. Never do know when he’ll be home or out.”

              “Well we would just like to ask him a few questions.”

              Suddenly, a horrible, throbbing ring resounded through his skull and Caleb’s power instantly retracted and dispersed. His legs collapsed and his hands grasped at his temples in a feeble attempt to quell the painful sound. He clenched his teeth tight and his body began to roll on the ground as the piercing shriek crippled his mind completely. Eventually, the sound faded and left only the pound of his quickened heartbeat in his ears. His face was clammy from sweat and his lungs ached for air, and there was another noise coming from his dresser. Standing slowly, Caleb’s feet stumbled their way over and picked up the source of the noise. “Hello?”

              That opening was almost too exasperated to be audible over his trembling and breathing into the cell receiver. “Cale? What took you so long to answer?”

              The taste of blood seeped in through his lips. Caleb wiped away the leak from his nose and answered, “Sorry had a bit of a crisis. Who is this?”

              A scoff could be heard from the receiver, but he heard the same scoff through his open door and down the hall a bit. Caleb turned around as the voice said, “Don’t even recognize your own girlfriend’s voice anymore?”

              Carol gently pushed open the door, and Caleb’s stomach turned over as he whispered inside his own mind, ‘You still have your make up and nails on, and you’re bleeding from the nose.’ Her slight smirk disappeared as she hung up her phone and rushed to his aid. “What happened?” His black make-up came off on her rubbing fingers; his black nails didn’t go unnoticed. “What’s this about?”

              Caleb looked down to avoid eye contact. “This is what I am now….”

              ‘She caught my hand in the cookie jar this time. Goddamn why did I do this to us?’ “What the hell does that mean? How long have you been dressing up like a little punk? Since you dyed your hair black?”

              “Pretty much, but it doesn’t mean that I’m a punk or gothic or anything like that. It means that I’m a charred mess on the inside. There’s something underneath all of this,” he ran his hands around his body in a slightly frantic motion, “but I have to brush away all the ash to actually know what it is.”

                “Why not tell me? That’s not what everybody sees, Caleb. Everyone else will see this as a stupid little cry for help, and I can’t back you up on this if you don’t ever tell me about anything. You lied to me when you said you’d start telling me things, apparently.”

              Caleb’s eyes reset into hers and became almost aggressive. “Do you think that about me?”

              Carol could obviously sense his frustration and took a small tissue to his nose. “Of course I know there’s something else to you. The thing I’m more worried about is you not telling me about this.”

              “This was long before that night and it’s along the same vein. It’s just something I have to take through a process before I can share it even with you.”

              “Where did all this come from? What’s still hurting you?”

              “You’ve been here to see all of it! What happened with my father this summer, what’s still happening inside and around me at all times, and the stupid mystery of the future; that’s what all this is about! Black, to me, means the entirety of the world’s problems is on my chest and on my body. They’re mine to shoulder so that nobody will ever have to. The problem is that I’m not ready. I need more time! I can’t solve problems I don’t have all the parts to.”

              Carol sat on his bed while taking one of his hands in hers and placing her forehead on the back of their entwined fingers. They wiped the blood off his face together before he reset his posture. Caleb looked down on his beautiful girlfriend, feeling calm despite his outward expression. ‘Where did that all come from? Couldn’t have been my power; it’s all tapped out. Isn’t it? I thought it was, but maybe it hasn’t.... Maybe my power is taking a toll on my mind…gotta keep tabs on that.’ “Carol….”

              “Do you really think that? Do you really think that I don’t know you and I’m just some girl who is far beneath you?”

              “I know that you know me, and no I don’t think that. I have to dive head-first into my power to be better than you, Carol. You’re so smart and beautiful that I just took for granted that you’d see what I wanted you to see if you ever saw me like this. That was unfair to ever think and I’m sorry. My power’s so weak right now that I’m showing just how stupid I can be without it. Now you see what I truly am and why I need to wear this crap.”

              Carol’s head raised and she placed a hand on his face while smirking slightly. “See, the thing about dating a superhero with superpowers is that things just never seem normal. You are nowhere near an idiot, power or no power. I need you to be you like you usually are, but you have to be the same kind of you from one hour to the next. Whoever you are at school, be the same person around me and vice versa. Just tell me what I can do and I swear I’ll do it, because…well, because I really, really care about you, Caleb.”

              Caleb dropped down on one knee in front of her—any anger he’d harbored fully evaporated away with her last statement—and smiled softly. He readjusted his body until they were staring into each other’s eyes, and then, everything melted with a kiss. All the mental pain, nosebleeds, problems, and future plans hit the floor like spent wax from the flame of their sparking kiss. He broke away after almost an eternity in embrace and whispered, “I really care about you too.”

              As they embraced each other, fifteen people—men, women, and children—lost their lives on a near-by highway because of icy roads, poor brakes, and nobody around to help.

                            -                            -                            -                           

Caleb was drowning in an endless void; white stretching beyond all cognition of space until his feet felt pressure against the soles of his shoes. He felt the crunch of gravel through his tread and felt a brisk wind splash his face. His feet carried him forward as his eyes looked around, seeing brown and bare trees set against the white backdrop, like risen skeletons wandering through a hovered land where not even stars dared to venture. Carol suddenly appeared beside him with her foot caught in some sort of hole. After a moment of thought, he recognized she was caught at a railroad crossing, and a train was sending vibrations to them from only a few hundred feet away. As she struggled, various objects started coming into sight. A road appeared out of nowhere next to his gravel standing point and Carol’s car appeared on top of the new pavement, all the while the train whistled its warning from a small opening of the oncoming white mass. The sun appeared overhead, allowing for heat to harass his skin and sweat to sprout up under his hair line as Carol continued to struggle her foot free and mouthed something he didn’t understand. Her eyes were blank slates without color or emotion; every bit of personality burst from her gaping mouth and unheard words with clay features surrounding. Whatever the syllables were, they moved his feet without a conscious command from Caleb’s unconscious brain.

His body swayed between the oncoming train and the struggling Carol. Suddenly, his mind filled with detail: the white sky turned blue with intermittent clouds, the train began to chisel away and turn into a detailed engine with steam pouring from open valves, and a very real bead of sweat dribbled down the back of his neck. The train was dangerously close now and Carol was still struggling with her foot, so Caleb readied himself. He gathered his power and prepared his body. ‘Only one chance to save her.’ The train whistle sounded frantically now as it closed in, and Caleb exploded all of his power forward. Just as the train was about to make contact with his outstretched aura, it suddenly retracted on its own and, just as the train made contact with his body, he woke up in his sweaty, train-free bed.

His body half sat up and quickly caught his shortened breath. ‘That last part…. I’ve never seen so many details in a dream.’ He glanced at the clock. ‘Five minutes after my alarm should’ve sounded and five minutes until I need to be ready…can’t be late for Carol today. Yesterday’s problems gave her the idea for a relaxing Saturday, which I completely agree with for more reasons than she knows.’ Flipping off the covers, he threw on a new shirt and new pants. ‘Took a shower last night so I’m fine there…spray some deodorant just in case…man that dream won’t leave the backdrop of my mind. It was so vivid; how can I be sure that was the dream and this is awake-world? I don’t ever have emotional aspects in dreams. They’re all of running or whatever, but that fear…palpable even now.’

He glanced out the window to see Carol’s gorgeous car in the driveway awaiting his arrival. Travelling down the hallway from his room, he shouted out, while speeding his pace as soon as he hit the living room, “Going out with Carol. Be back tonight sometime.” He took two more strides forward before a slight extension of his power revealed both parents in the driveway next to Carol. Backing up a few steps and looking out a window, his mind processed this. ‘Dad’s home…and they look happy….’ He took a step back from—‘When’s the last time I saw them together? A month ago, maybe…no, that was two months ago, and he’s home on a Saturday, what’s that about? Both of these blue-moon type events probably caught Carol as off guard as I. Better go save her.’

The door opened, allowing a gentle and brisk breeze to slap Caleb in the face, drying more moisture from his features. He threw a hand up as a wave, and was a little surprised—‘I’m not angry but definitely surprised,’—that his father gave a wave and a smile of his own. It actually filled him with a small sense of delight to think they actually had a normal family, if only for a split-second. Caleb let that moment pass and walked around Carol’s car to hug his mother. His father knew better than to ask for one. “Heading out so early?”

His father’s voice was deep and almost a perfect match to his fully-bearded chin and his iron-clad, grey eyes. ‘He always struck me as the type of person who, while intimidating as all get-out, tries to conceal it under a professional demeanor. Whatever it is my father does, he looks good and sounds good doing it,’ Caleb imagined. “Afraid so, Dad.” ‘First time I’ve called him that in a while.’

Mom took over the questioning. “Where to?”

Carol looked up and answered, “Little R-and-R type places. Nowhere too special.”

“That’s what she thinks.” Caleb smiled widely and moved closer to Carol. “She doesn’t know of a little surprise I have planned for her.”

Carol smiled and wrapped her arm around him for a second before Caleb walked by and into the passenger’s side door. “Well,” his father leaned down to his open window, “make sure you protect this boy of ours. He’s gonna make us all proud one day.”

‘Curiosity and memories…. Dad doesn’t know anything about what’s inside me. I remember Mom telling me that last year. I wonder what he actually knows about the entire situation. Asking would be a waste of time and he’s not around enough for me to make any informed deductions, and so I’m stuck. Yeah, Mom, I get it. You can put away the look: I won’t ask anything.’

“Don’t you worry, I will.” Carol’s smile was the icing on the cake that was comforting Caleb’s father. As the parents gave a last smile and walked away, Carol moved her hand to her shifter and placed it into reverse. Both parents, sporting nothing but pajamas and robes, wrapped one arm around the other and walked towards the front door of their house as Carol quickly drove away from the strange scene. The silence between them didn’t last as Carol broke it a half block later. “Well, that was one of the least expected things I’ve ever seen.”