This World

by Lee, TD

  Temporary living with a superhero? If it’s as straightforward as it sounds, am I just going to be with a random superhero for a while?

  “Yes, we definitely understand. Ridley’s safety is our primary concern,” my mom says.

  “What about you guys?” I ask, concerned.

  My dad answers,” We weren’t the targets so it’s safe to assume we’re in the clear. However, we will have protection from the police at the very least and have consistent monitoring be done. We agree to have you be in temporary living quarters with a superhero, as they would be directly accessible to protect you. If we do continue to feel unsafe, then we will find shelter elsewhere until we get signal that everything is safe.”

  “If you think it’s for the best,” I murmur. That’s really worrisome honestly. Sure, they might not be targets this time, but what if they attack again? Sure we have an assailant, but who’s to say that they’re the only one.

  “We love you Ridley and want you to be safe. This may not be the final attempt, but we will have protection,” my dad reassures me, patting me on a back.

  “Ridley will also be in safe hands, as we have arranged for the superhero. They will be appearing soon,” Adele remarks.

  “Wonderful,” my mom says with a gracious smile on her face, “thank you so much for all you have done for Ridley.”

  “No thank you necessary. Simply doing what is best,” Adele replies with a smile.

  “Ridley, go pack up some of your stuff,” my dad suggests.

  “Um, okay,” I say, slowly walking back into my house.

  “Here I’ll help you,” Ainia says, following me to my room.

  It’s a little weird to have Ainia in my room. I haven’t really had people in my room other than Hiro when we had time to spare before money was ever a factor. I start grabbing some clothes and essentials that can fit into my backpack or suitcase that I found buried in my closet. I tell Ainia to help roll up my clothes so they fit in the suitcase better.

  While quickly packing up, I hear Ainia shuffle around a bit. “Wow, like Meteor much?” Ainia says with a bit of discomfort. She picks up one of the comics of Drake and flips through it a bit.

  “Oh, um, well he’s okay, I guess. Those were my best friend’s, he loved Meteor,” I explain.

  “Best friend, huh,” Ainia mutters. She grabs one of the comics with Hiro and starts to look through it. “Hiro, right? He was in our class? Constantly raved about how amazing superheroes are?”

  “Yeah, that would be him,” I answer letting out a small chuckle.

  “He sure was weird nice, but had his quirks,” Ainia mutters, “girls all definitely started to give him more attention once he became a pilot.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, you kidding me?” Ainia rhetorically questions, she lets out a small laugh, “So many girls wanted that dick so hard that he even had a fan club at school. I’m surprised you didn’t know this considering you two were best friends.”

  “Guess I just never really noticed. He never mentioned it to me, and the few times we were able to hang out together, we were never bothered by random people, other than at Hero con. All Hiro was interested in, relationship-wise, was Sadie,” I remark. I wonder if Sadie knew about Hiro’s popularity.

  “Be glad. He would get mobbed sometimes. Poor guy, surprised he didn’t have any of his clothes ripped. Like one time, this girl really got a good feel on his goods, and wow I’m surprised it didn’t get pulled off of him and made into a toy,” Ainia laughs, even though her joke doesn’t really give me any sense of humor.

  I take a deep sigh. This all sounds great for Hiro, but by the end of it he got replaced. “He got replaced already though, it’s like people don’t even care that he’s dead.”

  Ainia reciprocates my sigh. Looking at me, a bit sad in her expression. “That’s just how it goes. You either go down as a legend or a nobody. People don’t really care for anyone that isn’t making a name for themselves. It’s the shit reality of being a superhero. Heroes don’t matter unless you’re popular. It’s like a whole damn high school society.”

  “How do you deal with that?” I question.

  “You’re asking me?” Ainia says, “I’m trying to run away from this shit. Not the best person to be asking about dealing with societal pressures.”

  “True, I guess,” I mutter. It’s really such a weird society. High expectations are put on super people, yet I’m sure a lot of them become irrelevant to the public eye. That’s just sad.

  A couple of footsteps echo from the hallway. Popping in is Adele and a surprise appearance of Drake. Drake looks like he’s barely awake, only dressed in gym shorts and a tank top. Drake yawns widely, while Adele announces, “Ah, are you packed yet Ridley?”

  I look at my suitcase and backpack, realizing I did most of the packing while Ainia just read through some of the comics. “Um, yeah, as ready packed as I can be. It’s not like I’ll be gone from this house forever right?”

  Adele shakes her head, smiling, “No, of course not.”

  “What’s flame boy doing here?” Ainia asks.

  “Drake will be the superhero that Ridley will be staying with temporarily,” Adele answers.

  A huge relief lifts off my shoulders. I’m pretty glad that it’s Drake that I’ll be staying with rather than some random superhero. Sure I don’t know Drake that well, but he’s at least a familiar person to me. Oh man, if Hiro was here he would freak out! Living with Drake, even temporarily would’ve been something Hiro dreamed of. Part of me feels guilty for getting to know Drake and be part of a team with him. Hiro deserved to be in my position now. He deserved to be close to his idol. Damn, the world just isn’t fair.

  Drake yawns a bit loudly and stretches his arms out. “Lucky, lucky you,” Drake manages to say returning from his yawn, “is that everything you’re taking with you?” His eyes look around my room, but take a long glance at the stack of comic books that feature him.

  “Yeah, I’m not going to need much, I hope,” I say. I’ve never stayed away from home before. My heart is pounding a bit now. The nervousness finally settles in, my fingers tingle a bit. My legs unexpectedly start shaking.

  Drake’s eyes return to me and he raises a brow. “You alright there?”

  It takes me a moment to regain my composure. I shake my head a bit just to make the room stop spinning a bit. “I, um, I’m just nervous.”

  “You were attacked after all, normal for you to feel that way. You’ll be fine,” Drake reassures me, “if it helps, I hardly ever actually sleep properly so I’ll burn anyone that comes our way.” A small chuckle escapes my mouth.

  “Ainia, I spoke with Blind Justice and you are free to continue your guardianship over Ridley or temporarily halt it just until Ridley comes back to this residence. It is ultimately up to you,” Adele says, “you do not have to decide now, considering there are rather large changes.”

  “I’ll think about,” Ainia sighs, and nudges my shoulder a bit, “it’d be nice to not have to be babysitting someone for a while.”

  “The choice is yours,” Adele smiles. Adele the turns her attention to me, “I will call your school and inform them that you due to the incident, you will not be attending class, at least not today.”

  “I can help back it up too,” Ainia chimes in.”

  “Oh thanks,” I say, I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that I have school today.

  Drake grabs my suitcase and begins heading out the door. He yawns again and says, “Let’s get going and get your stuff to my place at the very least. Maybe I can take a nap or something too.”

  I follow Drake outside. Adele and Ainia are close behind us. When we make it outside Adele says, “Please come by the agency at about seven. That should be good time for a catchup after I speak to the perpetrator.”

  “Don’t break them,” Drake says.

  “No promises,” Adele chuckles.

  “Alright Ridley, you might want to hang on tightly,” Drake warns me.

&
nbsp; “What do you-”

  Without any actual warning, Drake lifts me off the ground and quickly ascends into the air. My heart skips a beat as I start realizing that Drake is flying fast and high above the ground. In one arm, Drake is holding me over his shoulder, in the other he is holding my suitcase. I grip onto what I can of his tank top as if my life depends on it because it does. He makes all of this look so effortless, but I guess that’s the joy of having super strength.

  As we soar through the air, I get more and more chilly. It’s really cold up here. Doesn’t help that Drake is flying really fast too, making the cold wind hit my skin. How do people with flight handle this? I feel almost like I might suffocate just because the air is so violently going into my face if I look in the wrong direction. What I can see up here is the line of the horizon with the sun slowly rising and blurry clouds. Then I look down.

  Shit, I looked down!

  My heart panics, beating faster and faster. I accidentally release my grip on Drake and violently writhe in his grasp. I slip through his arms and I’m falling.

  Shit! Shit, shit, shit! This is how it happens, this is how I die. If a murder failed, then of course I’m just going to splatter all over the concrete ground like a water balloon. I’ll be seeing you soon Hiro, I couldn’t do anything after all.

  I’m violently stopped, but then caressed in strong arms.

  “Why in the hell did you kick around so much!?” Drake frustratingly yells at me, “you kneed me in the stomach. Not that it hurt, just tickled.”

  “S-sorry! I just looked down and I got really freaked out,” I reply, shutting my eyes.

  “That’s why people say to never look down if you’re high up,” Drake sighs. “Then again, I look down all the time so, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Well hold on tight, we’re almost there. If you fall again, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to catch you next time.”

  My heart skips a beat again. “Please, don’t say that.” I hear a small chuckle come from Drake. Good to know my fear and misery can bring somebody a bit of joy.

  Drake begins descending and I feel him stop. He lets me down on a balcony of an apartment that overlooks the cityscape. The building is on an incline and I can tell that if it was night time with all of the city lights, this would be an amazing view. We’re not too far from Adele’s agency either. From what I can tell, we’re about halfway between the agency and that bad part of town where the Fatum bar is.

  Drake opens the sliding door that connects the balcony to the actual apartment room. When I enter I see a surprising mess of an apartment. There’s tons of scattered wrappers, cans of alcohol and soda, and food just all over the place, even on the small couch that sits in front of a TV. A pillow and a comforter rests on the couch. A coffee table littered with junk stands on a square rug. The kitchen, which is just as messy, takes up about less than half of the current room. Several bookcases and shelves decorate the room, each of them with some photos or books, but they are mostly empty of anything. If it weren’t for there being just so much random things scattered around, this entire apartment would look a lot more spacious. The room is surprisingly really chilly, colder than it is outside.

  Drake sighs and scratches the back of his head. “Sorry for the mess, couldn’t really clean up, but make yourself at home the best you can. Help yourself to anything in the fridge or watch whatever you’d like out here. Well, don’t drink any alcohol, you’re still a minor,” Drake says between yawns. He then leads me to a rather large room with a large bed, desk with some picture frames, a TV, a connected bathroom, and a rather large closet. A large window looks out at the orange glow of the horizon. He sets my suitcase down next to the desk and says, “Have my room while you’re here. Don’t snoop too much, not that there’s much to uncover anyway. Bathroom is through that door and there’s another down the hallway. Any questions?”

  I look around the room, finding it to be pretty messy too, but not as bad as the living room. It’s comfortable enough though. “I should be okay for now.”

  “Alright,” he yawns. Well, if you need me, I’ll be taking a nap on the couch. He walks out of his room and returns to the living room.

  I set my backpack down then sit on the bed, just looking around. This is so weird, just being in an unfamiliar place like this for a while. What’s even more weird is that I’m in Meteor’s apartment. Meteor of all people. Honestly, I thought he would live in a giant house at the very least. Not an apartment. Maybe the recent years have taken a toll on him. Still, he’s being pretty welcoming for the sudden situation.

  Hiro would’ve loved to be in this place though. I can’t believe that it’s me here instead of him. I’m staying in his favorite superhero’s room. Not just that, his favorite superhero is going to be protecting me from any potential threats. I’m still a little wary about having Drake of all people watch over me, but he’s done some good fighting so I guess I can’t complain. It’s funny, I have both Drake and Ainia protecting me, or assigned to.

  Now that I have time to fully process what happened without any other people looming over me, I’m shaking. Someone tried to kill me. Yeah, they were caught and all, but it’s not just the fact they were going to kill me. That voice was in my head again. That damn voice that always comes up at the worst time. Was I mind controlled again? It would make sense since I couldn’t move at all.

  My heart starts pounding faster and faster, breaths are becoming harder to take. I can’t let this overtake me again. My eyes starting darting around. I need to find something to take my mind off of it, I just need to find something to distract me.

  I pace around a bit, just to kinda find something to focus on. My hands go for the TV to turn it on. I try to find a show or something that can grab my attention. Nothing really stands out to me, so I just leave it on for some background noise.

  My eyes then find the pictures on the desk. There’s a large picture that shows a rather heartwarming image. Drake is a lot younger standing among many others, sharing a uniform look. Behind them is a large academy and tall fenced gate. Drake and many of the other people around him are smiling happily, except for a couple, but there’s always that one person that doesn’t like to smile. Engraved in the bottom border of the frame reads: Titania’s Academy of Higher Evolution. This is the Deviant school that Drake was a part of. It’s interesting to see him so young and among so many other people.

  Another picture frame has a photo of some of his fellow students from the academy with Drake, posing in front of the same gate. On the picture there are words that say: Noir Team. The name is familiar, I think I read it when I was reading the comics about Drake. This is where he started his superhero career. He looks pretty happy, having the time of his life.

  There’s another picture frame that’s a bit hidden under some notebooks and papers. I grab it and blow off some of the dust. I wipe it off and it reveals a loving picture of Drake embracing and kissing a beautiful woman in the glow of the setting sun. What makes this picture so much more dramatic is that there’s flames coming from his hair and surrounding Drake and the woman has a mist of ice crystals around her which creates a rainbow within the dust. Both of them look so in love with each other. And damn, they both look so good, what a power couple. The woman has some patches of ice on her skin and where she touched Drake leaves some icy residue. Who is she? She looks a little familiar, probably from the comics, but I don’t really recognize who she is. She’s not in any of the other pictures.

  I feel something shift behind the frame. I turn it around and lightly lift up a flap to reveal a folded up piece of paper. Unfolding it reveals a letter with some water stained splatters ruining what would be a perfectly preserved letter. Hand-written in beautiful strokes reads:

  Just like Fire and Ice, opposites attract. No words can describe how you make me feel, especially with that handsome smile you show me every single day. No matter how down or sad I feel, you always brighten my day without fail. Every day I feel so honored to be able to call
you mine. No matter what anyone says, we can endure it and continue onward. My love for you will never melt.

  Happy Anniversary,

  Jackel

  Jackel, huh? I really don’t recognize her or her name, but she is a stunning woman. I see another paper hidden within the frame. I manage to slide it out and it’s an article detailing Jackel’s obituary. Shit. According to the obituary, Jackel was known as the superhero Diamond Dust with the powers to manipulate and create ice particles. She can harden her body into an ice form, just like how Drake can become fire. She gained her powers through an accident where she was involved in some nuclear explosion in the tundra expedition. Unfortunately, she died during an altercation with a notable superhero and villain at the time. Damn, that’s an unfortunate way to go, but also really vague. I want to ask Drake about Jackel, but I doubt he’ll want to answer me.

  I place the letter and article back behind the picture and continue looking for something to distract myself. There’s pictures out in the living room too, wouldn’t hurt to see what they are. I open the door and step into the living room. Drake is completely passed out on the couch, I can hear him lightly snoring while some sort of TV program is playing.

  I move over to a bookshelf and see a photo of Drake during, what I would assume, is the ceremony when he became a superhero since he looks really young in the photo. Another photo on the same bookshelf is a solitary, candid photo of Jackel under a light layer of dust. I move to another shelf to find a surprising photo with a familiar face. It’s Drake kneeling down to a young Hiro. Next to the photo is a note written:

  You are my favorite hero ever! Thank you for everything you do!

  Your #1 Meteorite,

  Hiro Watanabe

  Cute. I’m a little surprised that Drake even has a photo of Hiro. I wonder if he actually knew who Hiro was before Hiro became Lancelot. Considering Hiro did whatever he could to see Drake whenever he could, I wouldn’t be surprised if Drake started to recognize him.