To Be A Hero

Just Another Nerd

Marcus and his friends, Sean and Brian, were standing by the villains section in the comic book store, admiring the merchandise they have not yet gotten. When Marcus travels to the super heroine section, he stares hungrily at the beautiful art work of Artemis, the archer. It would be such an honor to meet her. As usual the comic women nearly wear any clothes and geeks such as them who enjoy comics are in luck. But there was always an interest for all types of heroes to Marcus. He didn't just like them, he wanted to be them.

"What do you guys think would be the price to pay to become a superhero?" Marcus asks the two friends.

"I don't know, your life. You would also get a beastly beating. I don't know, it's just unrealistic." Brian answers.

"But what if we could be like them? Minus the super powers and awesome skill." Marcus argued.

"Listen man, I don't know, nor care what you're trying to get through here, but being a superhero is impossible. Any idiot would get there butts kicked if they tried." Sean explained. "Think of it as a warning not to go there. You would die."

'But no, there had to be a way.' Marcus thought. He wanted to be a hero. To save people and fight crime. It was what he was meant for.

He had to try...

After they had finished, they walked home together in the harsh night streets of NYC. Hoping altogether not to get mugged.

Luckily for them, they made it home just in time for supper. Unfortunately for Marcus, it was the worst time of the day. For it reminded him too much of his mother and coming home to a wonderful dinner and feeling fully happy. Now it was never the same...

*~*~*~*~*~*Flashback*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Marcus and his parents walked home together on a late and foggy night from a family party. His mother had promised a nice late night snack when they would arrive home. The car wheel had popped, so they needed to travel by foot in the dangerous dark streets and creepy alleys. The two adults were quietly arguing but keeping close together, making a sandwich of their son, Marcus. Keeping an eye out for any danger signs from people around them. It was not a good time to be dressed up so richly and nice.

That was when a man came up to them, a very poor and raggedy looking man. He didn't seem like much harm, so they kept walking. But they should have ran because the man pulled out a gun from the side of his brown jacket, took Marcus in his arms tightly and pointed it at the boy. Marcus was terrified, he couldn't move. He heard his mother scream and his father raised his hands across from him, trying to calm the man.

"Give me your money!" he yelled harshly. No one was around them so they couldn't get help. His mother screeched and his father quickly pulled out his wallet, handing over wads of money. Calmly telling his family that everything would be okay. But he held the gun to the boys face.

No matter how much money he had to hand over, nothing was more important than the life of his only son.

After all the money was excluded from the now flat wallet, the man started to slowly stand back, pushing the boy back to his crying mother.

"Now just take the money and go home." Marcus's father told the man.

The man started running, right after he sent a bullet straight to Marcus's chest. But his mother, still screaming, pushed her beloved son to the ground and took the bullet to the stomach as fell. Her face showed such pain and surprise, she fell to the hard ground. She was now slowly dying.

His father who was also pushed over, quickly crawled to his beautiful wife, and cried for her to stay with him. Marcus was too young to realize what was happening, but still understood that his mother was in great pain. She held at her lower stomach and winched in pain as his father tried to keep the blood inside her.

She knew, his father knew, even Marcus' foggy eyes became clear for he knew his mother was about to die. No hospital would help this wound. She was bleeding profusely. It was all too late. With all we strength, the kissed them both goodbye and smiled. His father cried because all they had done before she was dying was fight.

"I'm sorry Carly, my darling, I love you. So much." he told her. Marcus was just so shocked that he couldn't get a word out.

"Take...care darlings. I love...you both. You can make a good...life without...me." she practically whispered. "Pay attention to Marcus, George. David," she looked at her crying son, "you're going to do amazing things someday Marcus. Make it worth it." Was all she said, as she took her last breath and died.

They both screamed and cried for help and let out their anger. Some people came to haul her to the hospital, where they couldn't save her life.

Now Marcus was left with his sad father, George. And it took George a whole 7 months after the funeral to realize that he needed to listen to his dead wife's last wishes and start paying attention to his poor son, who was now 8 years old. He realized that Marcus would talk to his mother every night before he went to bed and always did his best to keep his room clean as she always wished.

It was now only them, and they needed each other. But they still needed the one person they were always happy to see in the morning. So they moved on and lived their lives without much sadness. They made more friends and became better people, the people Carly wanted them to be. And they were okay with it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As Marcus walked up his porch and slipped the key into the lock, he heard a twig snap in the woods next to his house. He stood very still and very silent, never daring to move or breathe. He was startled by the next door neighbors dog barking loudly. Then the bushes rustled loudly and Marcus dropped his back pack and grabbed a stick on the porch floor.

"I warn you! Don't try anything stupid! I will hurt you! Please don't hurt-" Marcus cried. He had no intentions of going inside his house but just wanted to protect himself.

Just when he was about to run inside, a big fluffy rabbit came out of the bushes and chomped up a dandelion stem. Marcus let out a sigh and went inside. Ashamed of such a stupid, scared move.

There was his dad, sitting at the dining room table, waiting to eat with his only family member left. Dinner looked good, but from what Marcus remembered, it wasn't always as good as it is now. But after the death of his mother, George had lots of practice and mastered cooking.

"Hey Marc, how was school?" his father asked. "What'd you get at the comic book store?"

"Good, check out this new 42 of 'The Elite'. Seemed pretty worth it. But of coarse it just another one in the can." Marcus joked, throwing the new comic carefully into his bin of his comic collection. That was the 268th comic(and still counting) he had gotten.

"Cool, let's eat." George said, "I'm starving."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

That night after dinner, Marcus lay in bed and thought for a while. Like everyone else, he had a dream. He still wanted to save people. He wanted to be the good guy and get recognized. He wanted to be the to-go-to guy for when someone got robbed. Marcus wanted to be a superhero.