A Moment to Capture

The second and final week we have to get the Mysterion picture, Jeanine and I don't go searching the city as much. Whenever I try to bring her out, she tells me she's busy with photography club. But I still wait outside of her newspaper class at the end of each day anyway.

It's Thursday, the last possible day we have to find Mysterion because Jeanine's article is due Friday. I stand, leaning against the lockers in front of the newspaper room. The hallways are already empty and through the classroom door's small rectangular window, I see that only a couple of students linger behind, including Jeanine. I listen to the muffled voices behind the door.

"So how's that Mysterion story going?" asks a girl's voice.

"Great," replies Jeanine's voice, sounding apathetic.

"Weren't able to get a picture of him, huh?"

"No."

The door then opens and two random girls walk out, snickering quietly with each other. I overhear one whisper something about Jeanine being dumb for wasting her time. I frown at them as they walk away.

Jeanine is the last one to leave the classroom. She turns off the lights and walks out the door, not surprised to see me.

"Hey, Kenny."

"You busy today?"

"Yeah, I have to run errands for photography club."

I look at her, my face unsmiling. I'm kind of disappointed. "Don't lie."

She sighs. "There's no point anymore. Let's just forget about Mysterion, okay?"

"You're giving up?"

"Well since you put it that way.. Yeah, Kenny, I give up."

"You can't give up," I say without knowing why. But how could she? Just days ago, she was always so excited about our little project. Then again, asking her not to give up would probably make things worse in this situation. Because I have no way to help her.

She sighs. "Well I didn't completely give up. I already wrote the article and it's going in the newspaper. I just won't have the right picture for it. I tweaked the story a bit, anyway. You'll see it next Monday."

I'm ready to walk away, feeling frustrated that I failed Jeanine. But then she says, "And I wasn't lying. Wanna go with me downtown? Not for Mysterion. I need to pick up some new film for one of my cameras."

"Okay."



This time, Jeanine drives and she parks her car along a street not too far from the camera store. We get out of the car and begin walking there, her leading the way. Tall buildings surround us and from a distance we can see the eight-story building that I jumped off of the day of the robbery. I wonder if she remembers.

Eventually we reach the small camera store at the corner of a street. While she talks to the man up at front to make her purchase, I browse around the store. The shelves contain films, chemicals, filters, lenses, and so much more. There is still so much about photography that I don't know.

"Ready to go?" she asks me when she finds me in the Polaroid section.

"Yup."

We leave the store, Jeanine with her new pack of film, and me with a grumbling stomach.

"Do you have time for a snack?" I ask her.

"Sure."

We take a detour around the city then, to find an affordable place to eat. We are walking in comfortable silence down the sidewalk when we hear someone scream behind us. It echos down the street.

Jeanine and I turn toward the source of the sound, which is directly behind us some feet away. The woman screams again as she is in a tug-of-war with a hooded man.

"Let go of my purse!" the woman shrieks. But the thief is stronger than her, and he yanks the leather purse out of her hands, causing the woman to fall back on her rear. He makes a run for it, sprinting fast in our direction to escape her. "My purse!"

I gently pull Jeanine out of the way so that the man can run past us. The speed of his running creates a gust of wind against our tense bodies. In seconds, he disappears around a corner. I know what Jeanine is thinking.

"Where's Mysterion when you need him?" she thinks out loud.

I want to run after the man. I really do. My backpack is in Jeanine's car. I could easily run back to it, put my suit on, and track the man down. But I have to fight the urge. I can't do it while Jeanine is with me. I don't realize how heavy I am breathing with anger until Jeanine asks me, "What's wrong?"

I force myself to calm down. There has never been a time where I had to hold back from changing into Mysterion. The desire to run after the man required more strength than I thought.

"Nothing," I say. "I just hate assholes like him, that's all."



After grabbing a small snack with Jeanine, she drops me off at Kyle's house. The weight of my backpack on my shoulders bothers me as I step out of her car. Not because it's heavy, but because I know it contains the suit I could have put to use earlier.

"Thanks Jeanine, see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

I get inside Kyle's house, hoping that hanging out with him will help me forget the events of the day a little. First, Jeanine tells me she gives up, making me realize that I have failed her twice. I couldn't help her find Mysterion and second, I couldn't be the hero she wished to see today.

Kyle and I play videogames, and it takes my mind off of everything for a good amount of time. But an hour into it he brings them up again.

"I thought of an idea, Kenny. I don't know why I didn't think of it before," he tells me as he reloads his gun on screen.

"Really? What?"

"Why don't you take a picture of yourself as Mysterion, say you took it, and give it to Jeanine."

By now I knew Jeanine enough already to know that she wouldn't accept any photos of Mysterion unless she took it herself.

"No, that's not gonna work. Not with Jeanine," I say as I watch my character on screen get cornered by zombies. "Fuck."

Kyle sighs. "Then you're screwed, man. Maybe you should just give up, too, then."

My character dies and my half of the screen pulses as it fills with pixelated blood splatters. I drop my game controller to the floor and watch Kyle play the rest of the time.

The thing is I feel like I already have given up, with only a day left and having attempted nothing more since the cemetery. But I am screwed, aren't I? I can't be in two places at once, I can't be Mysterion in front of Jeanine unless Kenny is there with her. Well technically I can, but would it be too fishy for her to finally find him and I'm not there as Kenny? I don't want to risk her finding out my dual identity.

But what I also worry about is.. after this week is over, I won't have an excuse to hang out with Jeanine anymore. I wonder what that's gonna be like.