Superhero

There's no place in this world for a superhero. In this world, evil does win. In this realm, there exists darkness. Every child dreams of being a superhero. But as he grows older this little fantasy grows out of range.

I was at this carnival once with my mom. One which comes to our city every year. The lights were blinding, children were screaming their hearts out. The huge machines and generators made roaring sounds. I was captivated. I found a game booth where you had to throw darts.

"I know all the carnival games are rigged."

"No. They just require skill," Mom said with a smile.

My mom pointed to the balloons. "You won't have enough force to pop the balloons lest you arch your arm and hit the top of the balloon."

"Okay." I went up to the booth and got five darts. First dart, no pop, second, nothing again, third, missed the entire balloon, and the fourth, POP! I was so overjoyed I didn't even bother with the fifth dart.

"What do you want?" asked the lady at the booth with warm smile.

"That giant teddy bear" I pointed to it up on the wall.

"Here you go," she said as she handed me the teddy bear with a kind smile.

Later that night, my mother and I were walking home, then my all of the sudden my mother realized her wallet was gone. She searched hysterically and then she said, "Wait here," and quickly dashed one block down to the carnival.

When my mother was out of view I saw the lady from the booth come up to me.

"Your mother forgot her wallet," She said as she handed me the wallet and leaned over on her knees to catch her breath,

"I was looking all over for you!" She laughed trying to catch her breath. She leaned up and started walking back to the carnival.

"'Thank you!" I shouted. Though I wished I could say more.

"No problem" she shouted back.

After two minutes or so, my mom ran up to me and shook her head as if to say it's not there.

"Mom the lady from the booth returned it" I said holding up the wallet victoriously.

My mom counted all the money.

"It's all there," she said relieved.

I realized that day. Real life heroes may not have the power to fly or punch through a wall, but they exist, and this world isn't all cruel because little acts of humanity make the biggest differences. Real life heroes do not wear blue spandex. They ain't billionaires. The lady from the booth didn't want anything in return; she did it purely out of the benevolence of her soul. She was a superhero. Are you?

-Suvanwesh Das