Short Stories

Heroes

"We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay."

"Why do you wear a mask?" I asked. The girl beside me sat calmly at the edge of the roof, feet dangling dangerously close to the edge, as if she wasn't afraid to fall. "Wouldn't it just be easier to show the world your identity? To get the credit you deserve?"

She didn't answer for awhile, she merely gazed out at all the city lights. When she did speak, her voice was a low whisper, so low I barely heard her over the gentle breeze. "Maybe it would seem simple to you, you have nothing to fear."

"What's there to fear?" I inquired curiously, scooting closer to her.

"People." It was a quick and simple answer that came almost immediately after I asked her the question. "People don't like what they can't understand, they don't like whats abnormal or different. They purge anything that's not like them. A hero with a mask is different though, someone with a hidden identity, because at the end of the day, they don't have to believe they're real, they don't realize that you could be anyone, your neighbor, brother, sister, mother, father, anything. When they know your real name, what you look like, they're forced to open their eyes, and people don't like that. They don't like people like me."

"I like you."

From where I was sitting, gazing at her face from the side, I noticed the corners of her lips quirk up slightly. "You, Harper, are one of the few. But you shouldn't, I'm dangerous to be around."

"Just because you call yourself The Witch and you can control shadows doesn't make you dangerous."

She moved quickly, one minute we were sitting side by side and the next she had me on my back, her face only a few inches away from mine. "You don't know me, you don't know what I'm capable of!"

Her voice was frantic, her eyes behind the dark mask were panicked. Her breathing was quick, rapid, and shallow.

"That's because you won't give me a chance to know who you really are," I breathed, reaching up towards her face. The tips of my fingers barely brushed her cheeks, right where the mask stopped, before she jerked away. In an instant, she was on her feet and ways away from me. I pulled myself up after her.

"I save your ass once and you want to know me," She laughed humorlessly, running her hand through her dark locks of hair. "I can't get a break from you."

I chuckled and crossed the distance between us. By time she notice how close I was, it was too late for her to make her escape. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to me.

"You're not dangerous to me. You're just a girl trying to save the world. You hide behind a mask because you're afraid people won't accept you for who you really are, so you create this other personal to feel safe, to feel needed," I brushed her hair away from her face, drinking in the soft features of her face, the dark color of her eyes. She was breath taking.

"I feel safe," she whispered back, wrapping her thin arms around my body. "I feel safe when I'm here, here with you."

It was quiet between us for a heartbeat before she spoke again, "Please don't let go."

"Never."