Super Avenged: Only Human

“Hey, Jimmy,” Miya sniffled, brushing her thumb along her bottom eyelid to sweep away the tears lingering there. Glistening tear tracks ran down both of her cheeks. Miya struggled with her tears, trying to stem the flow. Finally, she gave up with a sigh and looked back into the camera. “So, this is the fifth video they’ve sent you. If it was a less gloomy occasion, I would probably cheer because five is, like, my favorite number. But, as you can clearly see, I’m not up to cheering right now.” She wiped her palm roughly across her cheek, but fresh tears quickly replaced the ones she swept away. “This staying strong thing is really, really hard. I shouldn’t be crying right now. It’s a sign of weakness, and I know that if I stay strong, you’ll stay strong too. But why does it have to get so bloody difficult?” Her lips began to tremble, something that always happened when she cried and really, really meant it. This crying thing wasn’t a passing fancy of hers; it wasn’t caused by hormones. It was caused from pure, raw emotions: fear, sadness, loneliness.

“What I wouldn’t give to be with you right now,” Miya continued, her sky blue eyes bloodshot and watery with tears. “But I’m not, and I’m dealing with it. It doesn’t look like I am, but I am, Jimmy. I’m just having a lapse in strength. It must be the full moon or something.” She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and wiped the tears away from her cheeks. When she reopened her eyes, the tears had all disappeared.

“I love you, Jimmy,” she finished with a strong voice. She blew a kiss, and then the screen went blank.

I put the DVD back into its case and slid the case into the envelope before walking into our bedroom. I pulled open the closet door and dug around in the bottom for a little Tupperware plastic container. Finally, I found it and pulled the lid off. Inside there were several DVDS. I grabbed two of them before heading back into the living room. I slid the first one—Wedding Reception—into the DVD player and pressed play. I was determined to watch something where Miya was happy.

“I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. James Sullivan!” the DJ announced as Miya and I entered the reception hall, hand in hand. The place erupted with cheers and applause, and I heard several wolf whistles from the guys sitting at the head table. The camera followed Miya and I over to the table, where she sat down next to the bridesmaids and I sat next to the groomsmen. She had an ear-to-ear grin super glued to her face, and she almost seemed to glow. I soaked in her smile, feeling as though I hadn’t seen it in ages. Well, I hadn’t seen it in two weeks. Yeah, that’s how long she’s been kidnapped. Can you believe I haven’t become an emotional wreck yet? It’s coming, though.

I fast-forwarded through the speeches to the cutting of the cake. The camera zoomed in on our hands as we cut a piece of cake out of the three-tiered white edible masterpiece Miya ordered. I let her pick out everything for the wedding, unless she asked for my opinion. She had a blast planning it, so I just let her do her thing. I went with her to order the cake and buy the tuxedos and pick out the centerpieces. I even helped her put the centerpieces together, so I contributed in some ways.

We turned so that everyone could see us. We both tore off a sizeable chunk of the cake. Miya, being the usual sweetheart that she always is, calmly fed me the cake without smearing it all over my face. But I am not nearly as nice as her, and so I took the liberty of smearing the cake all over her face. In the background, Monica could be heard complaining about Miya’s makeup. Miya just laughed and leaned in for a kiss. I grabbed a napkin and helped her clean her face off before we danced our first dance as a married couple.

I watched us dance before skipping through to the throwing of her flowers. All the single ladies at the reception grouped together behind Miya. She slung the flowers back over her head before whirling around to see who caught them. Monica dived for them, and they landed right in her palms. Miya clapped happily, hurrying over to help Monica back to her feet. Meanwhile, Matt dragged a chair into the center of the reception hall. He pulled Miya over to it and she plopped down onto it.

I walked over to her, standing about five feet away from her. Turning my head away from her, I stretched out an arm until I felt my hand brush against her ankle. I slid my hand up her leg and underneath her skirt. I could feel her shaking with laughter as I hooked my finger over the garter belt and pulled it back down her leg.

“You’re such a show-off!” I saw Miya say to me, even though it wasn’t possible to hear her voice on the video. I shrugged and walked over to kiss her. I already knew who caught the garter—Johnny, which prompted Brian to tease him about not even having a girlfriend to marry—so I turned the video off there and put the other one in—Honeymoon Fun.

No, I did not videotape us having sex. Because that’s just...strange, I think. The first scene showed the early morning interior of the little house we rented on our honeymoon. We went to Jamaica, and it was warm and beautiful and I got to see Miya in a tiny little bikini...but anyway.

“Well, here’s the Love Cottage,” I announced, turning the camera to show the interior of the living room. I called it the Love Cottage, because that’s really all we used it for. We ate there every once in a while, but mostly we were out on the beach or swimming or spending time in the city. “Miya’s still asleep, though. And I’m lonely, so I think I’ll wake her up.”

I quietly pushed the bedroom door open. The curtains had been drawn over the windows, but some light still seeped in, making the room just dim enough to see. Miya slept soundly on the bed, looking peaceful and so beautiful I hesitated in waking her up. But then, I stretched out my arm and snaked it under the sheets at her feet. I wrapped my arm tightly around her leg and wrenched her right out from under the covers.

I dangled her upside down over the bed. She began to rile at me.

“Jimmy, put me down this instant! I was sleeping just perfectly and you had to wake me up! I wasn’t ready to wake up! Put me down! Jimmy!” Miya yelled, crossing her arms angrily. It didn’t look at all intimidating with her hanging upside down.

“But I’m lonely,” I said from behind the camera.

“Then deal with it! Put me down so I can go back to bed.”

“You’re wasting daylight, though.”

“Damn it, daylight! Like it’s so rare anyway.”

“You’re sleeping your life away,” I told her. Miya sighed.

“Yeah, whatever,” she said. I gently put her back down onto the bed. She climbed out of it and started to push past me. You couldn’t see on the camera, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her lips against mine. She instantly melted into my arms, all forgiven. I started to direct her towards the bed. “You talked me into it,” she muttered with a giggle. I turned the camera off.

With a sigh, I stopped the DVD. Those videos had been a bad idea. Now I wanted to hug her, to kiss her, to just see her smile again even more. Seeing those videos, and everything that I was missing out on now, made my soul crumble just a little further.

“Have you broken yet, Mr. Sullivan?” Miya’s kidnapper’s favorite question rang in my ears.

Not yet, I haven’t. But soon, I will.