The Real Hero

THE DAMSEL

February 10th

Hero Man had become much more clingy in the past few days. Work had made it difficult to see much of Victor, leaving Hero Man plenty of opportunities to try to hone in on her.

It began with the gifts. He would randomly show up- at the train station, in the mall, on the sidewalk, at her work- and give her some gift, generally expensive jewelry. She refused them every time,then hid in the ladies bathroom. Then, she would find them inside her apartment. Inside! He had been in her home! She felt violated.

Then, the gifts got bigger, spendier, flashier, and somehow, whenever he popped up, paparazzi was there. They took pictures of him handing her the gift, her awkwardly not taking it, him putting the gift on her anyway, her running away, and him blowing a goodbye kiss.

The oaf then had the audacity to kidnap her when she got off just so he could take her on a date! He had grabbed her hand, yanking her into a car with child lock, removing her chance of tucking and rolling, and then took her to a fancy place, where she felt she didn't belong.

They had made room for him, cleared the way, gave him the best table, offered the nicest things, pulled out the best, did everything they absolutely could for him. There was so much attention Elly thought she would have a panic attack.

"I need to feed my cat," she tried to escape.

"No need!" Hero man beamed. "I already took care of Deaval!"

"Diavol," Elly whispered under her breath.

"How was work today?"

"Oh, you know. My boss hates me," Elly muttered and Hero Man laughed. "And the cameras make it difficult to get anything done. Could you not visit me at work?"

"But they love me over there! Don't worry about your boss, Eleanor. We can work something out; she loves me! But enough about my fabulous self. How's your parents? Is your mom recovering from surgery okay?"

Something snapped inside Elly. She never told anyone that her mom had recently had surgery. That was the last straw. He had violated her time, her space, and now her personal life. Her worried expression quickly became cold.

"I need to use the bathroom," Elly mumbled in a lowered voice and excused herself. Instead of heading straight to the bathroom, however, she ducked into the kitchen and out a back door. She hailed a taxi and went home.

She ran to Victor's apartment, banging on the door furiously. Victor opened the door in a hurry.

"Elly!"

"Can I come in?"

"Of course!" Victor said and opened up the door a little wider for her. "What's the matter?"

"You've always known. You were never disillusioned like everyone else."

"Elly?"

"I need your help."

"Certainly. With what?"

"We're going to destroy Hero Man."