Super Avenged: Only Human

I snapped upright, gasping for my breath. My whole body felt drenched in a cold sweat that appeared to have spread onto my sheet. I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. That had been quite possibly the worst nightmare ever. If only I could remember the finer details of it...

“Baby, are you okay?”

I whipped my head around at the sound of that beautiful voice, thick with sleep. Her warm hand rested on my back as her sky blue eyes peered at me with concern. At her touch, the entire nightmare came back to me, and I felt immense relief that it had only been a dream.

“Yeah, now I am,” I answered with a smile. She smiled sleepily back.

“Tell me what happened, in your nightmare, I mean,” Miya said. She sat up and leaned against me, wrapping her arm tightly around my waist. I curled my arm across her shoulder and leaned back against the headboard, pulling her with me.

“Well, it all started when a guy attacked you in the apartment. I ended up saving you, but he escaped. And then another guy attacked you, and Brian saved you that time.”

“Well, you should’ve known then that it was a dream,” Miya replied, turning her head to press a kiss to my shoulder. Warmth instantly spread across my skin from the place where her lips made contact. “I would never let Brian save me.”

“So, you weren’t attacked for a little while. And then, at an art gallery they finally succeeded in kidnapping you. A couple of days later, I got sent this video. On the video, the mastermind told me that he kidnapped you to break me. He wanted to show the world that even superheroes were only human. And then...he hurt you. But after that, he gave you the camera and ten minutes to record, and that would show at the end of the video. It became like a drug, being able to see you at the end. But it hurt so much when you were crying and when I could see the bruises and cuts and scrapes...”

Miya quietly shushed me, wrapping both of her arms tightly around my neck and pressing a hard kiss to my cheek. She rested her cheek against mine; her hair tickled my ear and neck.

“I’m here with you, Jimmy,” she whispered. She pulled away slightly and pressed her head into the crook of my neck. “I’m safe.”

“And every video got worse and worse. You got hurt more and more, and I began to worry about how much you could take. And I began to break, exactly like he wanted me to.”

“Shush,” Miya demanded, raising her head from my neck. She moved so that she was straddling my lap and facing me. She unraveled her arms from my neck and cupped my cheeks in her hands. “No more talk about this nightmare, you hear? I hate seeing you sad, you know that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. Miya leaned forward and pressed a gentle, sweet kiss to my lips. She pulled back and rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, burying my face into her hair and breathing in her savory scent. “But, you know, we had an awful lot of sex in my dream.”

Miya raised her head and looked me in the eye. She had a lustful little gleam in her blue eyes.

“Really?” she answered, pressing herself against me and resting her lips against mine. “Was it anything like the real thing?”

I smirked against her lips. “Not even close.” I rolled us over so I was on top. Miya wrapped her legs tightly around my waist, pressing her body against mine. Our tongues danced together as I reached for the hem of her tank top to pull it off.

The bedroom door shot open with a bang. Both Miya and I looked around at the door to see three men dressed in all black. None of them wore ski masks, but their faces appeared to be hidden in shadow no matter where they moved. They almost looked like moving shadows rather than men.

Before I could stop them, they dragged me backwards off of Miya. They slung me down onto the floor before seizing her. Two of them held her arms and the third one looked down at me. Behind him, I could see Miya struggling against the two men, tears pouring out of her eyes.

“Are you broken yet, Mr. Sullivan?” he sneered. I stared up at him in horror, finding myself unable to fight against him, to save Miya, or to even move. He pulled a long, sharp knife out of a holster on his belt and walked over to Miya. She stared up at him in fear, still struggling. He raised the knife and slid it smoothly into her chest, right where her heart would be.

He dragged the knife out of Miya’s flesh before putting it back in its holster. The other two men released Miya’s arms, and she collapsed to the floor. As the two men ran out of the room silent as the night itself, the third man looked down at me.

“Now you are,” he snarled before following his henchmen.

“Miya!” I exclaimed, suddenly finding myself able to move. I rushed over to her. Blood already stained her torso, dyeing her tank top scarlet. She stared up at me, her entire body trembling. I pulled her into my lap, hugging her limp body against mine.

“I love you,” she whispered into my ear.

“I love you, too, Miya,” I replied, tears fogging my vision as I looked down at my dying wife. She smiled one last time. Within seconds, her eyes went blank, but the smile was still frozen on her lips.

I woke up with tears pouring down my cheeks.