Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  “Come on!” he yelled in anger, his arm outstretched. Dark clouds moved along the horizon, spreading out above him and Michelle. He continued to wait, but nothing happened. Elliot’s frustration was mounting to extremes. He looked down at Michelle’s lifeless face with desperation, then back up at the sky.

  “Give it to me!” he roared towards the clouds, and at that instant the clouds began to swirl above him and the unmistakable sound of thunder began to rumble and growl. Elliot looked at Michelle’s face again and his eyes appeared wet even in their brightness. They began to glow in colors of blazing blue combined with gold, and sparks of azure rotated around the pupils that had turned almost completely white. He looked to the clouds one more time and yelled out “Light!” and a single bright sharp bolt of lighting split the skies and made it’s way to Elliot’s left hand, only to have it’s energy transfer through his body and out his other hand. The hand that was still placed above Michelle’s heart. Michelle’s body jumped from the electrical force and she started convulsing. Elliot rolled her onto her side and watched as Michelle started coughing and vomiting up salt water.

  “Come on Michelle. Get it all out,” he whispered. Michelle barely opened her eyes to see Elliot’s concerned face above her.

  “Am I dead?” she asked in-between fits of coughing.

  “Almost, but you’re not,” Elliot said with a slight smile.

  Michelle began shivering in her soaked clothes. “Where are my friends? Where is Sam?” she asked, looking around and realizing that she was on a different beach.

  “Your friends are fine. Packing up, I assume. We need to get you out of these clothes. Do you have any dry ones?” Elliot helped Michelle sit up and she leaned up against him. She recognized that the beach that they were on was adjacent to the campground where they had spent the night.

  “We are camped over there.” Michelle pointed to a wooded area about 100 yards away and coughed again. With Elliot’s help, Michelle stood up and they slowly began walking towards the campground when her legs gave out. She didn’t fall to the ground because Elliot caught her and carried her the rest of the way. Michelle pointed to the tents and Elliot laid her down inside one of them and started rummaging thorough various bags looking for dry clothes.

  “Take your clothes off or you’ll freeze to death.” Michelle did as he said and stripped down to her swimsuit. Elliot grabbed one of the sleeping bags and told her to wrap herself in it.

  “My friends are going to freak out if they don’t find me,” a worried Michelle said. Elliot found a button up long sleeve shirt and passed it to her.

  “Put this on.”

  Michelle found the sweat pants she had slept in and pulled them on, then pulled herself up and started to head out of the tent.

  “Where are you going?” Elliot asked.

  “My friends, they’ll be looking for me.”

  Elliot found a cell phone in one of the backpacks and handed it to her. “Here, call them.” It was James’ phone and Samantha’s number showed up as his most recent call. Michelle called and Samantha picked up immediately, demanding to know who was calling her from James’ phone because he was standing right next to her. Michelle told her that she was back at the campgrounds.

  “I thought you were hanging out with Tim. Is everything ok?” Samantha recognized something odd in Michelle’s voice. “Listen, we’re packing up anyway and we need to come get the car. I’ll be there in 10, ok? Don’t leave.”

  Michelle told Elliot that Samantha was on her way.

  “Good.” he said, then stepped out of the tent and brushed the sand off his clothes. He was weakened by what he had just done, and his body needed rest. Only then did Michelle realize that the whole picture of Elliot being there didn’t make any sense. She jumped out of the tent right after him.

  “Wait a second. What are you doing? How did you get here?” she asked, demanding an answer. Elliot brushed the question away and said that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time and that he was glad he was able to help. Michelle stared at Elliot and put her hand to her head. She immediately yelped in pain when her fingers found the large gash on her forehead.

  “No, you’re lying. I remember. You were there in the water.”

  “Michelle, you hit your head pretty hard. You are confusing things. It’s normal under these circumstances.”

  “How come your clothes aren’t wet?” Michelle asked, suspiciously.

  “Why should they be? I didn’t go in the water,” he answered.

  Michelle had a small flashback of the columns of water around her. The image of fish swimming around in a whirlpool, shells spinning like tops, and sand rotating like a hurricane. She looked at Elliot and started pacing nervously. Was what she saw real? Did she imagine all of that? Was she in shock? She looked up as she realized that Elliot had no intention of sticking around. She had no words to describe what she remembered, what she had seen. She was obviously mistaken.

  “I need to go, Michelle. You really should rest,” Elliot said softly, turning to walk away from her. He didn’t want to be there when her friends returned. No, Michelle thought, not this time. She wasn’t going to let him leave her with more questions than answers. Out of the depth of her lungs came a scream filled with fear, incomprehension, and agony.

  “What are you!” she yelled after him, and he paused for a second but then continued on. She ran after him and violently grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling on it as hard as she could.

  “Are you freaking stalking me? Do you enjoy this? Is this some sick little game of yours, making me beg for answers?”

  There was a couple in the next campsite just beginning to set up their tent. The older gentleman looked at his wife and asked her if he should go back to the camp office to ask for a different, quieter plot? His wife looked back at him in anger and disgust. “Absolutely not. Don’t you remember anymore? They’re just having a lover’s spat. At least they still care enough about one another to yell at each other,” she said, purposely raising her voice loud enough for Michelle and Elliot to hear. Elliot looked at Michelle and she gave him a look that taunted him to go ahead, walk one more step, and she would make sure that their personal quarrel would turn into a free-for-all entertainment for everyone within earshot. Elliot didn’t want any more attention. He was already uncomfortable with the older couple watching him and Michelle like they were at a sports arena.

  “Fine,” he said quietly, walking back to where Michelle was standing with her arms crossed. The older lady gave Michelle an approving wink before scolding her husband to mind his own business.

  “The more I tell you, the more I’m going to change your life, and I’m afraid not for the better.” Elliot told Michelle.

  “Let me be the judge of that, will you. This is my decision, I didn’t ask you to come here and be my guardian angel, you did that on your own. So are you?”

  “What?” Elliot asked, looking down the wooden path to see Samantha approaching.

  “An angel?” Michelle said, still shocked that such words would fall from her lips.

  Elliot’s eyes widened. “Oh God, no.”

  Next to Elliot, Michelle felt confusingly safe. After speaking with Samantha and halfway introducing the ever-reluctant Elliot to her, Michelle grabbed her bag and asked Samantha to tell the rest of the group that she had gotten ill and was heading back to Willow’s Creek with an old friend she ran into. Samantha didn’t have much to say; she was completely mesmerized by Elliot’s mere presence. She stood there with her mouth half open and nodded. She was by all means happy for Michelle, and finally understood Michelle’s fascination with him.

  Elliot drove back to Willow’s Creek while Michelle slept next to him in the passenger seat. He tried to drive as gently as possible because he didn’t want her to get any sicker than she already was. He was deep in thought, and the only time he broke from it was when Michelle stirred or coughed. He wasn’t sure if he should take her home or to the school, but decided that si
nce her parents were gone for the weekend it would be better to have someone watch over her. He touched her forehead, and just as he suspected she was running a fever. So fragile was the human body, he thought. A few minutes in cold water and the equilibrium went haywire. He felt sorry for Michelle because of what her poor body was going through, and everything her mind would have to process once she woke up. For now, it was better for her to sleep as long as possible.

  The car passed through the school’s automated gates. Elliot tried to gently rouse Michelle but she just shoved him away with her hand and told him that she wanted to sleep and that he could leave her right there because she was comfortable enough. At Hekademos, hours of the day didn’t really matter and it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone cooking in the kitchen or watching TV and snacking on chips at any time of the day or night. The lights were always kept on low downstairs, but that night everyone was asleep. Elliot quietly climbed the stairs and opened his bedroom door with his foot, paying special attention that he didn’t bump Michelle’s head. He gently laid her out on his unmade bed and covered her up with his comforter. He then quietly exited the room and shut the door behind him.

  Elliot went back out to the car and fetched Michelle’s backpack, thinking she might want it when she woke up. He didn’t realize that the backpack was slightly open, and several items dropped out of it as he walked back up the stairs. So much for trying to remain quiet, he thought. Elliot listened to see if he woke anybody up, but when he heard no sound coming from any of the other rooms he bent down and started collecting the fallen objects. When he got to Michelle’s cell phone he picked it up and flipped it open only to see the broken screen. He felt bad about that, more than Michelle ever knew. There was a small light flashing on the top right corner above the screen; undoubtedly her friends had left her messages. On a lower step Elliot picked up Michelle’s Italian vocabulary workbook. He leafed through the pages and snickered a bit. Just as he had finished bagging the items and was about to head back upstairs, he heard the screech of a door opening. Öndóttr appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at Elliot, who motioned to him to keep his voice down.

  “I’ll explain things in a minute,” he told him, and while Öndóttr walked down to the living area Elliot passed him on the stairs and went back to his room. He quietly placed the backpack on the chair next to his bed. Michelle had not moved an inch.

  The last time Michelle had been at the school was when she was still working for the market. After that horrible scene everyone involved agreed that there was no point in telling the rest of the students what had happened. They didn't want to stir things up just as everyone was settling into their new surroundings. But there was another thing that Elliot had not shared with the other guys, not even with Xander.

  On Halloween night when Samantha’s car had almost swerved right into theirs, Elliot had used his powers to bend the tree trunk just enough so as to prevent the collision with the VW. He most likely saved Michelle's life, because she was not wearing a seat belt that night, and if the car did crash into the tree the inertia of the sudden impact would have hurled Michelle’s body up over the front seats and straight into the windshield, most likely breaking her neck.

  The restriction on getting involved in or changing the course of natural events was something that everyone at the school agreed on. Nothing good ever came out of it. But on that particular night when they were heading into Willow’s Creek for an early morning meeting with the contractors and engineers that had been hired to build the new school, Elliot broke that rule. He never mentioned it to anyone. His instinct had been one of self-interest rather than saving whoever was in the VW. He didn’t even think about whether he or Xander would have been hurt. The only thought running through his mind was the need to prevent any unnecessary attention. They were new in town, and he was well aware of the apprehension that the local residents had with regard to the new school. Elliot knew that even though the crash would clearly not have been their fault, such a negative event would undoubtedly be tied to them and the school, and would only give more ammunition to those who had fought against its opening to begin with. The fact that his actions most likely saved Michelle was an afterthought.

  But something else happened that night when he watched Michelle climb up the ravine in her Egyptian queen costume. There was a seed of recollection, a pause of familiarity. He should have known better; it was Halloween night after all, and it was the norm for people to dress up. She was a fake, not a real Egyptian. He didn't want her anywhere close to him. It was all an illusion. But then again maybe it was something in the way she looked up at him from the ravine, wide-eyed, scared and innocent, trembling and weak. He had to get back into the car because he was ashamed of his own stupidity and weakness. Luckily, no harm was done that night and everyone was able to drive away safely.

  The next time Elliot saw Michelle was when she spotted him at the shopping mall. Normally he wouldn’t have paid any attention to her. For him, girls were just girls, pretty or not; they had been completely off his radar for many years. He simply had no interest and that's the way he liked it. He knew that if he wanted a girl, any girl, he could have her, but his ego no longer needed that type of reinforcement. Long ago he had sworn off using women to fill the gaps created by his own insecurities. At first, when the ailing Michelle walked past them he didn't recognize her at all, nor did he even register her presence. But when she slowed down, her eyes, the way they were looking at him, there was no mistaking them, and he recognized that they belonged to the little Egyptian queen from Halloween.

  In hindsight, Elliot realized that his mistake was allowing their eyes to lock. He should have looked away and not given her the chance to see something more in him than he cared to share with her. Even Xander, taking notice of their passing exchange, had reminded him that if he looks at other people in the eyes, some would sense the anomalies rather quickly. It was just that no one ever knew who could and who couldn’t.

  Öndóttr remembered the sick looking girl at the mall. “Yeah, how can I forget? She was running a pretty high fever. I felt it when she walked by.” Elliot came clean about what took place when Michelle fell over the wall and he helped her get back to the other side. He also told his friend about the time she showed up and tried to take a photo of the bottle and ended up losing her job.

  Öndóttr shook his head in disbelief. “All of this happened while we were playing basketball outside?” He couldn’t believe that they hadn’t heard the commotion.

  “Must have been a good game,” Elliot joked.

  “It was,” Öndóttr assured him. Despite everything that Elliot had told him, Öndóttr still didn’t understand why he was sharing all this with him. He didn’t see any harm done by Elliot preventing the car crash, and he was sorry that the girl had lost her job and all, but that was part of growing up in this world. You break the rules, and most likely they will break you too.

  “Maybe he’s not telling you everything,” Kahl’s voice was heard from the upstairs balcony. He joined his friends downstairs and sank down into one of the empty couches, resting his feet on the ottoman. He then dramatically pretended to look at his watch, which he was not wearing, and added, “It’s 2:46 am. Perfect timing for small talk, no?” He looked at Elliot with a mischievous smile and asked, “And why are we discussing her now?”

  Elliot took in a lungful of air, then exhaled deeply and stated that Michelle was upstairs asleep in his room.

  “What?” both Öndóttr and Kahl asked together. Kahl stood up from his comfortable couch and sat closer to the other two. “You mean to say that the girl that sent you the glass from Leta Memmia’s brooch is upstairs?”

  When Elliot heard Leta’s name mentioned it always pained him, and this time was no exception. “Yes,” he answered solemnly.

  No one was supposed to be bringing anybody from the outside so close to them. It was a rule, and Elliot was the one who had fought the hardest to establish it. Any human interactions need
ed to be minimized, and always conducted far away from Hekademos Learning Center. Ironically, he was the first one to break it. Elliot told them about what had happened earlier that day, and how Michelle almost drowned and that he needed to bring her to the school because there was no one to watch over her at her home.

  “You saved her?” Öndóttr asked.

  “Really saved her?” Kahl wanted to know.

  Elliot couldn’t face his long time friends any longer. He got up and walked around the room, fidgeting with the paintings on the walls as if they needed to be straightened.

  “I saved her. All the way.” All the way, those three words were the code that meant that one of them had brought somone back from cetain death. Basically, without their intervention the person or creature in question was sure to die.

  Elliot felt ashamed and didn’t know how to explain his actions. He couldn’t tell them that for some stange reason he cared about Michelle, because he hadn’t admmited that to himself yet. And he had no idea how to explain his presence up north at Fort Bragg either. The last time Elliot cared about anyone was almost a hundred years ago. And before that, it was as far as 2000 years ago. He rationalized to them that he didn’t think Michelle would remember anything since she was in shock and had hit her head pretty hard. “She will undoubtedly suffer from memory loss,” he added, and he was going to take her home as soon as she woke up and be done with it. But Kahl was not convinced in the least, and just shook his head at Elliot, who looked away from him.

  Michelle opened her eyes and looked up at the white washed ceiling. Where was she, she thought? She carefully sat up in bed and immediately noticed that her entire body ached. She looked around the room. She was in a full-sized bed, covered by a comforter and a blanket, and everything had a slight odor of salt and sand to it. She saw that her backpack was on a chair beside the bed and that reassured her a little. The room was spacious, and beyond the bedroom area it opened into a large seating area with a picture window facing the woods. It all started coming back. The cold water, the panic, and then Elliot showing up. She must be in Elliot’s room because she remembered riding in the car with him back to Willow’s Creek.