The Mysterious Enemy

The Mysterious Enemy: Chapter 4

Bang.

My sleepy state of mind soon vanished when I heard the unpleasant slam of the front door. Cracking my eyes open, I saw an anxious Adam storming into the living room. I gradually sat up, eyeing him.

Something was wrong.

"Hey, Adam," I said. "What's wrong?"

He waved his hand and shook his head at me, which meant for me to stop talking. "Turn the TV on now!" he ordered. I was about to object, but he told me to just do it. "Channel five."

I did as he directed, waiting to see what he was upset about. Once we were on channel five, I raised up the volume to hear what was being said.

There was a reporter live on screen, broadcasting somewhere in our town. I looked at Adam, but he told me to be quiet. The background that the reporter was in looked very familiar. Then the realization came to me.

I was just there, this afternoon, with Max.

"Just only a few hours ago, owner of Incredible Ice Cream, Stewart Collins, reports that he was attacked in the back alley of his store by two unarmed men. According to Collins, the two men kidnapped his son for ransom. But it didn't stop there. He says someone else swooped in and scared off the men bearing his child. He thought he was being saved, but this person pulled a gun on him. However, a young woman, whose name will not be disclosed, appeared and distracted the assailant. For some reason, the assailant just upped and left the scene.

"In the other case, the two previous men ran into the woods. The young woman and her boyfriend, willing to help, chased after the men to retrieve Collins' son. They did, indeed, rescue the child, but one of the men had desperately run off. The other was taken into custody..."

Looking towards Adam, I wondered what he was thinking. There wasn't anything alarming. I just helped out. Then I recalled the words the reporter said. The young woman and her boyfriend...

Aw, no! They thought Max was my boyfriend!

"Okay," I spoke, "so they think Max is my boyfriend. Small problem. But at least they didn't say our names."

Adam squeezed my shoulder. "No, Lila, that's not it! There's even a bigger problem than that!" He gestured toward the TV screen.

"Here, with us, live at the scene, is the owner Stewart Collins. What did you think when the person, that scared off both of those men, pulled a gun on you?"

I watched as Stewart exhaled a deep breath. From the way he was standing, from the look on his face, I knew that he knew something about the person in the alley, the person that I had taken down.

"When I saw the person, I immediately knew who it was," Stewart confessed, taking a deep breath. "She was wearing that famous mask, that black mask that immediately tells you who she is. You can't mistake it. The person was the Mysterious Hero."

My heart sank in my chest. Eyes widened, I actually held my breath hoping to hear that it was a joke. But after a few seconds, I gasped for air. No joke.

Now I knew what Adam was talking about. This was my biggest problem.

Feeling panicky, I grabbed Adam's shirt. "This is so bad!" I cried, shaking him. "This is so bad!"

Obviously the person that had attacked Stewart in the alley wasn't the Mysterious Hero. Because I was the Mysterious Hero and the attacker definitely was not me. I was the one that had the famous mask. Not her.

The allegation was so surprising that the report was brought back to the newsroom. Two people, a man and a woman, sat at a sleek table ready to discuss me, the Mysterious Hero.