Heroes

Chapter 3: Someone From the Future

   A red flash of light blanketed the woods. A woman of about 35 years stepped out of a red portal. The figure had one black eye. The other eye was covered by an eyepatch. She wore a grey T-shirt and a black overcoat. She wore black jeans bunched up by bandages around her leg and held up by a brown belt. She had a silver, prosthetic arm replacing her right arm. She wore her black hair with a magenta highlight in a tall, messy bun. The woman ran off through the woods, but unbeknownst to her, four other adults were following behind her. There were 3 women and 1 man. "Come on, we have to stop her before she does anything brash," a woman with lavender hair half-down and half-in-a-bun, snow-white skin, and brown eyes wearing a black turtle-neck, a medium-length orange jacket, grey leggings, and tall, tan, lace-up boots.

  The others nodded as they ran off after the woman. It was clear that whoever she was, she was bad news.

    It was Saturday morning and I walked downstairs to the living room in my PJs. Lou was making biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I plopped down on the couch with my laptop. I was working on a screenwriting exercise Professor Balázs had given us.   It was to write a three-page script set in one location at one time of day or night with only two characters. I wrote about two employees at a haunted hotel at midnight trying to figure out why the hotel is haunted. Lou walked over and handed me a plate of biscuits and gravy. Taking it from his hands, I said, "Thanks, Lou."

      I set my laptop aside and started eating. My phone was sitting next to me and it chimed. I reached over and grabbed it. Looking at my notifications, I saw there was breaking news. I clicked on the link and read the article. I read that some of the woods near us had been burned down. Lou looked over my shoulder. "Well, that's weird," he commented, "I didn't see any fire or smell any smoke."

     Yeah, that was weird. Arianna came upstairs from the basement where she had been weightlifting. We heard a knock on the door. I got up and looked through the peephole. I saw four people. A female Guest wore a black turtle neck, an orange jacket, and grey leggings. The woman next to her had long red, wavy, long hair that she wore down. She had ivory skin, black eyes, and a small scar beneath her left eye. She wore a long, white coat, tan khakis, light blue slip-on shoes, and a black top. There was another woman. She had pale white skin, blue hair, messy bangs in a low ponytail, and black eyes. She wore a brown and white, long-sleeved shirt, baby blue, ripped jeans, and black slip-on shoes. The final person was a male. He had black eyes, short black hair with swooped bangs and a black beard, and dark skin. He wore a grey beanie, a light brown, button-up shirt with a baby blue shirt underneath, bunched-up, black pants that revealed some scars, and yellow and white tennis shoes. It was uncanny. They were adults, but they looked like Arianna, Briar, Hinata, and Lou. I opened the door. Lou and Arianna were behind me, looking at the people in confusion. "Uh, hello. May I help you?" I questioned.

    The woman with the orange coat looked at me coldly before lunging at me and picking me up by my shirt. Looking irritated with me, she yelled, "Damn it, you idiot! What the hell were you thinking? Why would you do something like this?"

      "Hey!" Lou yelled at her, "Let her go!"

         "Yeah! What's the big idea? Who do you think you are, roughing up my best friend like that? Don't you know she's been through enough?" Arianna interrogated fiercely.

           The red-haired woman grabbed the woman with the orange coat. "Don't be irrational," the red-haired woman told her, "remember we are after a different, well, her. She has no idea what's going on."

          The woman in the orange coat scoffed and dropped me on the floor. I rubbed my head as I stood up. Something the red-haired woman had said caught my attention. "Another me?" I uttered, confused.