Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  “The longer you stay on these premises, the greater the chance that the rest of the students will come out here. If they find you here, the outcome of this situation will be out of my hands.”

  “But…” Michelle tried to interrupt again. Elliot continued on. He told her that her only option was to listen to him and leave. He would help her climb back up over the wall and into the woods. She was to say nothing of meeting him, nor tell anyone else what she saw because no one was going to believe her anyway. “Are you guys on steroids or something?” Michelle said, quizzing. Elliot let out a small laugh and Michelle couldn’t help but think that he had the most amazing intoxicating smile. She smiled too.

  “Listen,” he said as he got close to her face, “I am trying to help you. Just trust me when I say that no good can come out of you snooping around here.” Although Michelle heard the words he said, she was not listening. She couldn’t. She was entranced by waves of something she couldn’t describe emanating from his body to hers. And that peculiar scent that she had picked up on at the mall was in the air again. Elliot made a sudden move backwards and Michelle felt like she woke up from some heavenly dream. “Come now,” he said while walking to the wall and stretching his hand for her to grab, which she did while still smiling. When their fingers touched she felt even more mesmerized than before.

  Elliot crouched in front of the wall and told her to use his shoulders as a platform to put her feet on, and then he was going to push her upwards. As she put her first foot on his shoulder she asked, “Aren’t you going to just help me walk straight up the wall like you did with your friend?” telling him that she had already seen him and Haneul just somehow step up there. Elliot replied that he had no idea what she was talking about. He eventually pushed Michelle high enough to where she could straddle on top of the wall. He then jumped and pulled himself up to sit by her side. Michelle didn’t want to leave. She wanted to sit there on the wall with him forever. He reached for her arms, and with amazing strength he turned her body around and began lowering her down slowly, holding on to her until she was safely on the ground. “Goodbye, Michelle,” he said. But all Michelle could do was look up at him in amazement; she didn’t move. He looked at her more seriously. “Go!” he commanded, pointing in the direction of the woods, but Michelle could see that it was hard for him to take that tone of voice with her. She smiled at him and slowly began walking backwards. While doing so she felt the oddest sensation; it was as if she was walking against a force that was pushing her towards him. It was like pulling a metal object away from a magnet, only she was the metal and Elliot a powerful magnet. He pointed to the woods again and Michelle reluctantly turned around, realizing that he was not going to say anything else to her.

  When she was about twenty feet away she turned back to see Elliot standing on top of the wall. He was facing away from her and was obviously about to jump back onto the school grounds. What should she say? She didn’t want to walk away from the wall, or from Elliot. She knew that it would not be the last time that she would see him. She was going to make sure of it.

  “This is not the end of this, you know!” she shouted back at him right before he disappeared from her view. Did he hear her, Michelle wondered? She started walking a little faster towards her home and with each step she took, the strange euphoric feeling that she had felt whilst next to Elliot subsided. Up ahead, she heard Tim and Samantha call her name.

  Chapter 4

  Michelle changed. That was what everybody noticed. She ate less, she spent hours in her room, and she hardly talked to her parents. She rarely called her friends back. Tim called her regularly on the cell, and also on the house phone, but she didn’t want to talk and if she took any of the calls she was uninterested and short. Her parents attributed her mood transformation to boy problems, while Samantha was worried that Michelle might have hit her head when she fell over the school wall.

  By mid-January school was back in full swing. Michelle went through her days repeating her regular routine, but her mind was somewhere else. On many occasions, nobody knew where she was during recess, and when she did hang out she merely went through the motions of participating. Laughing when a joke was told, or shaking her head when something negative was discussed. Even at home, Michelle would often wake up from a daze during the daytime and then wonder what she had just been doing. Most of the time, she thought about Elliot. But she also thought about other things. She questioned everything that she had known until then. She questioned what they had taught her at school and what she had learned at home and on her own. She just couldn’t trust anything anymore, especially not her own judgment. She spent hours trying to reconcile the things she had seen at the school with her own eyes against everything she knew about the laws of science and nature. She seriously contemplated telling her parents that she might be going insane, and that maybe a therapist intervention would be a step in the right direction towards normalcy.

  Alone, Michelle wondered why this was happening to her. Why did she question everything in the world including her own existence? Why did she feel so all-alone in this state of ‘lostness’? She wondered if anyone else out there had seen what she had and felt the way she did? She wanted to seek Elliot out and ask him directly. She wanted to ask him many questions, although she doubted she’d believe him if he had any answers. The only comfort she took was in her little cat Crumb, that she held on to as if he alone understood her. He knew that there were many strange things out there in the world, and he promised to love her even if she was taken away in a straitjacket.

  When Michelle’s birthday came around she didn’t even remember it. It was a complete shock when on Friday the 22nd of January during lunchtime Samantha, Anna and Rachael surprised her by singing ‘Happy Birthday’ outside her classroom holding a cake. Of course, everybody that came out the door hung around until the girls finished singing and a blushing Michelle blew out the candles. “Did you remember to make a wish?” Rachael asked once they had finished devouring almost the entire cake between them. THAT Michelle had remembered, and that wish started with an ‘E’. Tim, who was still cute and now definitely single, also stopped by to wish Michelle a happy birthday. He and Bethany were history, he had told Michelle during one of their short phone conversations. He explained that they had made so many holiday plans that it just seemed wrong to pull out of the relationship right then, let alone leave Bethany without a date for the formal, especially since she had already bought the dress. Michelle thought Tim was a gentleman for doing that, but back then it was for that exact reason that Michelle had been forced to put up a wall of protection against having her feelings hurt by him. She didn’t want to find herself in a situation where Tim was ping-ponging between her and Bethany. She had a little more pride in herself than that. She knew that what she wanted was a guy’s complete and total attention, nothing less. Everyone was convinced that Tim liked her, and that although he hadn’t asked her out, he was planning to. Unfortunately, Michelle had just lost all interest. She tried to will herself not to, but nothing helped. There was something about Elliot that she didn’t find in Tim, and she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what that was.

  For her birthday, Michelle’s parents surprised her by starting a savings account towards her first car. They deposited $1500 into it, and it was to be untouchable unless she closed the account. A car would be great, she thanked them. But even then her mom could see that there was something on her daughter’s mind that was taking a toll on her. For her actual birthday, which was on the 23rd, they had made dinner reservations for the three of them at a posh new restaurant in town. As they drove past it there was a line of people waiting to get in, and the sight of so much commotion made Michelle shrink in her own skin. Her mother caught her looking sad from the rearview mirror of the car.

  “What is it dear? Don’t tell me you’re getting the birthday blues at your age?” she asked, and Michelle fought to come up with a good reason.

  “It just seems so loud and busy,” she
said. “I was looking forward to spending time with you, not with the entire town.”

  “Oh?” said her mother, trying to conceal her disappointment as she had held on to the reservations for over three weeks. But it was Michelle’s birthday and it was her choice. Her father called up the restaurant and asked the surprised and slightly rude host to cancel the reservation.

  “Zis is for zee Andrews’ reservation?” he asked in a most disdained French accent.

  “Yes,” her father said, stifling a laugh. “My daughter is allergic to French cuisine, especially on her birthdays. Yes, goodnight to you too sir.” They all laughed, even Michelle.

  The family ended up at their favorite pizza place, ‘Little Napoli’. It was a place that they had been going to ever since Toby was a baby. They settled into their favorite faux-green leather booth and didn’t need to specify an order because the waitress, the owner’s daughter, already knew their ‘regular’.

  Michelle was actually very content chewing on the sourdough pizza crust. It had been a while since she had felt this peaceful, she thought to herself, marveling how a simple slice of pizza can usually do the trick. She also didn’t seem to care too much that Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. Who cares what people think at school, she mused to herself. Michelle reached for her soda and took a large gulp, but just as she was about to set it back down on the table, from the corner of her eye, off to the left she noticed two people in one of the rear booths. They were almost hidden by a shadow that was cast by the arched ceiling and it took her eyes a couple of seconds to make out their faces. It couldn’t be! What were the chances? Xander was there, sitting at the small wooden table facing towards the front, and across from him sat someone who was animatedly explaining something.

  A group of people entered the restaurant and when Xander looked up out of habit to see who it was, his eyes settled on Michelle staring back at him. He tried nonchalantly to return his gaze back to his companion, but it was too late because that person had already turned to see what Xander was looking at, and a second later they were both staring at Michelle. Xander and Elliot.

  Michelle did what her instincts told her, and that was to get up and leave the scene. She had thought about seeing Elliot again so many times but when it came to that becoming reality, she felt overwhelmed. Her parents were talking about God knows what, so when she swiftly rose from her seat and told them that she needed some fresh air, they didn’t think anything of it. Outside, she could breathe at last, and could see her own breath in the night air. It was that cold, but for her it felt cool and refreshing.

  Back in the restaurant, Elliot felt trapped. He knew that he would have to pass by Michelle and her family when he and Xander were ready to leave, and he had no intention of making small talk with any of them. When he saw Michelle run off like a frightened rabbit, he seized the perfect opportunity to sneak away, although Xander was taken aback by his erratic behavior.

  “Why, we didn’t even get halfway through dinner?” Xander asked, as the waitress went to get them their change. But Elliot was already on his feet and heading towards the door. The waitress returned with Elliot’s change and he told her to just keep it.

  “All of it?” she asked in surprise, looking at the thirty-three dollars in her hand, but they were already gone.

  When Michelle saw Elliot and Xander emerge from the restaurant, she immediately ducked into the adjacent alleyway and stooped behind a commercial trash bin, holding her breath. When she peeked around the corner she saw Xander pulling at Elliot’s jacket to stop him mid-step. Elliot turned around to face Xander and he was obviously disturbed.

  “There is nothing to talk about,” Elliot said.

  “But I haven’t seen you act like this in a long time,” Xander replied, scanning Elliot’s face to try and comprehend his state of mind. Elliot searched for a way to explain himself, but all he could muster up was that he didn’t like the food. Xander laughed. “We’ve eaten here three times and suddenly you don’t like the food? I think that’s the worst lie you’ve come up with yet.”

  Elliot knew he wasn’t making sense, so in a lower voice he told Xander that he didn’t like the company. Xander was puzzled.

  “The Andrews girl? She’s a nice kid. I don’t see the problem.”

  “She was there on Halloween!” Elliot said more urgently.

  “So what? So were the other two girls, and none of them saw you,” Xander answered, confused.

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Elliot said, less patiently.

  “You mean at the mall, during the holidays? She just glanced in our direction. Nothing more. Just a young woman looking at some young men, like you haven’t seen that happen before. Please. Unless there’s something else you’re not telling me.”

  Elliot was not satisfied. “We’ll just have to be more careful when we plan our outings.”

  “But there’s no possible way she saw anything tonight or that night to raise suspicions. You’re just being overly analytical, that’s all,” Xander said, putting his arm around Elliot’s shoulder. “Maybe we should eat in more often.”

  Elliot looked at Xander thoughtfully and agreed, “You’re right. It must be the new setting. I guess I am being somewhat paranoid.”

  “Somewhat,” Xander said laughing, as they crossed the street and got into the Thunderbird.

  When Michelle heard their car pull away from the curb, she emerged from the alleyway and stood at the front of the restaurant for a few seconds, trying to remember the exact words of the conversation she had just heard. But before she could put any of it into a logical form, her mother peeked her head from inside the doorway and asked her if she was all right. “Yes Mom,” Michelle said, faking her best smile possible, and walked back inside.

  That night, Michelle couldn’t sleep at all. She didn’t even try. She was going around and around in her head thinking about everything she had overheard. She wondered if Elliot hated her; she actually worried about that a lot. Why did he not want to see her at all, even to say hello? What did Xander mean about, “not seeing anything that night”? What was she supposed to not see? She wondered why Elliot didn’t tell Xander about busting her on the school grounds, or that he had helped her escape. What was his reason for keeping their meeting hush-hush? Michelle reflected that whatever the reason was, it was most likely a good sign. Elliot and she shared something that no one else knew about; they had their own secret. She must talk to him again, she thought before falling asleep. She would have to find a way.

  For the next few weeks, Michelle was busy trying to find a job. The savings account her parents had started had motivated her to earn more so she could buy her own car by summertime. Her parents worried about the time commitment a job would require, when she also needed time to study and do homework. But Michelle assured them that she would make sure to find a job that gave her the flexibility. She needed time, not just for her schoolwork, but also for other necessities, like finding a way to see Elliot again. She couldn’t stop conjuring up his image; he was always there in the background of her every move and thought.

  Michelle scoured the internet want-ads, posted her name and phone number and the hours she was willing to work in every public place she could think of, and even asked her father to ask around. For about a week nothing happened, and she was ready to give up on the whole car thing. But her luck changed midway through the second week, and she was hired to help with food deliveries from the local grocery store. Her job was to take orders from clients, schedule the weekly afternoon deliveries, and occasionally even go out with the driver to help. It seemed to be pretty basic stuff, and she only had to come in three times a week. Fridays she would take the orders for the following week, and on Mondays and Tuesdays she would help with collecting the items for the deliveries and call the clients to confirm that they would be home. The pay wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing.

  Michelle fit right in with everyone else that worked at the market. Since the store was s
mall and independent, it was much friendlier and warmer then the big-box food conglomerates. Of course, everyone knew who she was because of her ‘famous’ father, and since she was also the youngest person working there, they gave her some extra leniency. Michelle enjoyed her job, and developed a rapport with many of the regular clients. Most of them were older folks who didn’t drive much, but there were other clients as well. A few private chefs ordered food for entire households, and the rest were regular people that were just too busy to shop. In less than a month, Michelle could recognize most of them over the phone, and she even got a beautiful thank-you card for great service from sweet Mrs. Bianchetti. When these special clients phoned in their orders she would take extra care with their produce list, personally choosing their fruits and vegetables to make sure they got the best stuff.

  One particular Friday, Michelle received an unusually large order. It was a new client who ordered multiples of many items. Michelle was her naturally friendly self and joked that it sounded like they were about to feed an army.

  “Yes,” the client joked back, “almost.” When Michelle asked him for the usual name and delivery address, the answer she got was an answer to her prayers. Michelle nearly dropped the phone out of shock and excitement. The client said to put it under Mr. Xander De Costa’s name and to have the delivery made to the Hekademos Learning Center at #84 Argos Vela Way. “Are you still there?” the voice asked when Michelle didn’t respond.

  “Yes, I’m here,” she answered, trying to steady her voice. “Who am I speaking to? For our records of course. And I will need a phone number to confirm the delivery.”