SUPER

Saving the Day

I always thought superheroes were terribly overrated. 

Hunky guys in skintight costumes with flowing capes and charming smiles. Spandex clad crusaders who swoop in and save the day from some maniacal villain's doomsday device. Vigiliantes with exceptional moral codes; standing for truth, justice, and the American way and blah, blah, blah. All that comic book stuff never really interested me. Maybe because they were supposed to be fictional.

But then my life turned into a comic book. 

It all starts as I walk out of the skyscraper and into downtown Vertigo City after running an errand for my father. I have headphones on and my messenger bag slung across my shoulder. My boots click against the pavement with every step.

For one, incredulously long, second as I step through the door of the lobby and out into the streets, time seems to stand still.

There is a scream.

And another.

And another.

And one more... Only, that last one came from me.

Storming through the streets of downtown Vertigo is a hoard of giant, gurgling blobs. They look like big, tar monsters.  The sun glints off their slimy skin and the there's the faint smell of sulfur in the air. 

I'm frozen in place as I watch the chaos unfold around me. The blobs tear through downtown and I can't help but feel like I've accidentally been transported to a 1950s horror movie. I watch as one blob steamrolls over an entire van, gobbling it up and leaving nothing behind. People are running and screaming in every direction as if World War III just broke out and yet I can't even move my legs.

Then one makes a beeline towards me.

Part of my brain is still sputtering sparks in disbelief over the whole situation but I don't have time to sit and wonder how any of this is possible.  I can't just sit and have a nervous break down over the fact giant, goo monsters have taken over downtown. All I can do is run for my life.

So I turn and sprint away as fast as I can.

My earphones have fallen out and start thunking against my neck with every step, my hair whips against my cheeks, and for some odd reason instead of worrying about my impending doom I'm more upset over the fact all this is happening on the day I wore my cutest shoes.

Cutest shoes maybe, but definitely not running shoes.

Yet some how, miraculously, after I run what feels like thirty blocks (but in all actuality is more like two) when I turn around nothing is following me. I can still see the goop monsters down the street but its seems like I'm in the clear. My heart is pounding so fast I can hear it in my ears, my whole body has been sent into panic mode. Get out of here! my brain yells.

I'm about to turn and keep running until I reach the safety of my apartment and can write this entire episode off as a hallucination. It's hot out and I'm tired and I didn't eat too big a lunch and all this is just a wild daydream. That's it.

Only, I hear another scream.

It sounds like a little kid and daydream or not I turn around to see a young girl trapped underneath a pile of debris. Her legs are pinned down and one of those blobs is making its way towards her.

My heart and brain explode into an instant game of tug-o-war. My heart says to run and go help the girl. No one else is, they're all just running by without a second glance. But my brain says that its not my responsibility, if I leave now I'm in the clear but if I go back I'll just end up dead.