This is for The Hero

Chapter Five

I had to shut the clock up fast so I wouldn't wake Trenton. He was sound asleep, and after last night, I would be, too, if it weren't for the 5 Hour Energy that Jaro gave me. I wanted to cling to Trenton and fall asleep, but since Jaro and I had to do the 'technique' last night, I had to make sure she got home safe. Plus, I had her car.

I got up from my bed to find myself in the buff and scurried to my dresser. I pulled out a random pair of briefs and threw a t-shirt out of the top drawer onto the floor before slamming it back. I picked up the t-shirt and pulled it over my head and down. I grabbed the briefs off the dresser and got one foot in, but as I tried to get the second one in, I lost my balance, and fell onto the floor with a loud thud.

I groaned and looked up at the end of my bed against the wall. As soon as I saw it, my feet quickly jumped up and ran to the wall to get a closer look.

There was a hole on one side and a huge dent on the other. Damn, Trenton left a huge hole in the wall!

Note to self: keep the bed away from the wall next time.

I looked away from it and gazed at Trenton, then back at the wall. I must have been tripping balls last night because I don't remember that happening. The guy next door, Brady Wright, must not have been there last night to complain.

Then again, the nights that he is there, he's used to the noise and just drowns the noise from my room out by blaring Fall Out Boy. I had a good neighbor that actually didn't bitch at me for being too loud.

I officially got my underwear on, and before I woke up Trenton, I laid beside him quietly, as not to disturb him. His arm was laying above his head and another was under the covers, most likely laying on his chest. I brought my hand to his short, black hair and ruffled it a little bit, feeling it run through my hands like threads of silk. I felt lucky to be in his presence. He didn't seem like the social type at all, but his looks made me think that he was the guy that everyone wanted, but he closed himself from everyone and left himself alone in the corner of the party.

He awoke after a few seconds of messing with his hair, and he opened his eyes.

"Hi." Trenton said while stretching.

"Good morning." I smiled. "I can tell you slept well."

"Yes, I did." He grinned, also. I brought my hand to his cheek and I kissed him. Each time, his tongue brushed against mine, and I moaned.

I broke the kiss and looked down while I spoke breathily. "You take my breath away."

"I love that sound." Trenton said. I felt myself turning red again, and when I looked up at Trenton, his eyes were in direct contact with mine. "I don't want to leave."

"Well, that's where we have a problem. I have to go drop off Jaro's car and get ready for a shopping spree tonight." I explained.

"Please..." His eyes were practically begging me themselves.

Though I felt like a horrible friend to Jaro, I couldn't say no to Trenton while he had me under his gaze, and I laid next to him on my bed. When I laid down, though, I left some space, and Trenton closed the gap by sliding towards me and bringing his arm around my body.

"You were amazing last night, by the way." Trenton added. "I loved the sounds that you made when I made love to you."

My cheeks turned a deep red, and I became completely embarrassed. Trenton brought my chin back up with his finger so that I was looking at his eyes again. He spoke again. "That was the best night of my life."

"I loved it, too." I finally came out with it. It was the truth, though. Last night with Trenton couldn't have gone any more better. He was perfect, and he was one of the very few people that I felt comfortable around.

Trenton brought his lips to mine and left a peck. I took my free arm and wrapped it under his arm and around his hip. My head made itself comfortable on his chest, and I cuddled with him. He propped his chin on the top of my head, and we stayed in this position.

I felt myself getting drowsy. "Trenton, I'm about to fall asleep."

"I'm tired, myself."

"I need to check on Jaro to see if she got home safely."

Trenton, then, let me go and raised his upper body from the bed. "Need some help up?" he asked.

I raised up, myself, and propped my left hand against the mattress. "Not really." I yawned.

"Hey, I have to go. Do you know where I threw my clothes?"

I pointed to the wall adjacent to the bed. "Over there."

"Thank you." He stretched himself over to me and kissed my cheek before getting out of bed and getting dressed.

"Bye, Trenton."

"See you around, Shane. Text me." He shut the door.

I looked down at my covers. I muttered to myself after I no longer heard footsteps.

"I love you."

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Jaro's apartment was tiny, but perfect for her and her roommate. How they got everything to fit in there and still had space, I still have no idea.

I knocked on the door and scuffling came from inside. Then, the deadbolt clicked from the inside and Mina answered the door.

"Oh, it's you." Mina left the door open for me to come in.

I walked inside. "Such a positive attitude. I love it."

"Jaro is in her room, passed out cold. The cab driver had a big enough heart to bring her to my door." Mina obviously didn't have a good night.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Other than the fact that I don't like you, it's none of your business."

My hands flew into the air, showing surrender, and I walked into the hallway to Jaro's door. I knocked. "Jaro?"

No answer.

I opened the door, and she was flopped onto her bed, still in her brown dress from last night. Her hair was a huge mess, and her eyeliner was found down her face because of tears. She probably began crying because of a dude that rejected her on the dance floor at Breaker. That was the only time she cried, or at least the only time I've ever seen her cry.

I shook her shoulder. "Jaro. Hey, Jaro."

She turned over at the speed of a turtle. "No..." She let the vowel carry on, and I rolled my eyes.

"You have to get up and get over your hangover. We have a shopping day, remember?"

She made a whimper noise.

"Come on." I shook her shoulder again.

"No."

"Ugh, come on, I have to tell you about my night."

Jaro scoffed. "I'll tell you about my night: it sucked. This idiot turned me down while we were dancing when I asked for his phone number. I started crying in the middle of the floor, and the bouncer took me outside to hail a cab."

"Well, wasn't that sweet." I smiled.

"Can I stay in today? I don't think I'm going to have the strength for a spree." Jaro looked kind of bummed out, so I guess I could make an exception.

"Fine. Sleep in, then. I'll save my stories for tomorrow." I kissed her forehead. "Night, Baby Jaro."

Jaro scoffed. "Fuck you." She halfheartedly threw her arm at me, and I jumped up from her bed so she didn't get me.

"Ha. Missed me."

"Shut up before I throw my pillow at you." She smiled.

"Alright, I'm leaving."

"Bye." She held out the 'e', and I shut the door. I walked out of the hallway and into the living room towards the door. Mina was sitting on the couch, reading People magazine.

"See ya, Mina." She hated it when I said that.

I didn't get a reaction, and I just walked out, unamused. No one was in the mood today. Maybe my happiness was too much for people this morning.

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I parked my car in the parking garage near the mall, and I rode the elevator up to the level I usually shopped on. As the elevator doors opened, though, some people were waiting for the elevator, and they were shocked to see me. I gave them a weird look, but I continued by walking out and past the people. I looked behind me to see that they were still staring at me, whispering to each other and letting the elevator close behind them. What was their problem?

I turned back to face straight forward, yet even more people were staring at me while I walked past. I raised an eyebrow at people I was passing, wondering what was the matter, yet people weren't saying anything at all. They were just silent. I stopped walking for a second. Then, I finally heard it from somewhere in the crowd of people staring at me.

"It's that guy from the news... Yeah, he nearly murdered the kid and Superstition helped him."

No...

No! God damn it!

I ran out of the middle of the crowd towards the nearest bathroom, wanting to get away from the crowd as far as possible. Most people just kept staring at me while certain others chased after me, trying to keep up with me. This was absolutely embarrassing. I thought the police actually got me off the list as a suspect, not a fucking sidekick! I didn't need this!

I found a bathroom, and even though it was a public bathroom, it's where I needed to hide for now. I pushed the door in and shut it as fast as I could with the anti-slam system on the top. When it closed, I moved the deadbolt to the locked position and stepped backwards from the door. Without hesitation, I ran into a stall and locked that as well, letting my tears come down my face.

Never have I ever been so humiliated in public. Ever since Superstition had to show his fucking face, I had nearly the whole town against me and thinking that I'm his evil little sidekick. How this news spread, though, is something that I'm still not aware of.

I checked my phone to see that I had been in here for nearly twenty minutes. I heard a toilet flush adjacent to me, and someone knocked on my stall door. Apparently, I wasn't the only one in here.

"Hey, you okay in there?" he said.

I didn't want to say anything, for I was pretty sure my voice was still shaky, and tears were still running down my face. I tried my best to maintain an unbothered voice, yet I failed.

"I'm fine."

"Come out of there and wash your face, it'll make you feel better."

I didn't want to show my face, but if wanted to stop these tears, I needed something to relax me.

I stood up and covered my face while unlocking the door, and when I opened it, I immediately ran to the sink across the bathroom. Before I did anything, though, I heard voices coming from outside the door, and they seemed loud.

I turned on the cold water, and the noises were drowned out when my face became a little closer to the running faucet, trying to get my hands wet.

I took a handful and splashed it across my face, feeling slightly better. I did it a couple times more, and I felt the temperature of my face go down.

I looked to the right and grabbed a paper towel and dried my face off, trying my best to get all the water off.

I, then, washed my hands and looked in the mirror, noticing the guy behind me just staring at me.

...Just like everyone else in the middle of the mall.

"Dude, you're the sidekick of Superstition! Oh, my God, you're a huge hit around the whole town! It's even in the paper! What's his face look like? You have to tell me!"

I turned around and ran towards the door, unlocking it.

"Hey, wait!"

I didn't want to. I opened the entrance to the bathroom, only to find more people behind it. They began to crowd around me, and I tried to push through them.

"What does Superstition look like?"

"How are you coping with the fact that you turned Superstition evil?"

"Why are you here in a shopping mall? Are you looking for another victim?"

Since when did everyone become a reporter from the National Enquirer?

"MOVE YOUR ASSES!" Thank God I didn't have claustrophobia because this would have killed me trying to get through.

"People have a right to know! Let us know!"

I pushed the last stranger out of the way, and ran back towards the elevator to the parking garage, but something stopped me.

There was a store in the mall named Neighborhood News that held everything news related as to national and local. A paper caught my eye.

It was a picture of my face next to a silhouette of a man.

'Superhero to Super Villain with A Successor: The Story of A Fallen Hero'

I ran at a full sprint towards the elevator again, and people were still just staring at me as I zoomed past them.

I hated this town. I absolutely hate this town. Why I haven't moved away yet, I still don't know. The people here are pricks that don't give a rat's ass about anyone else; only what people tell them. I can tell you one thing that aren't here for anymore.

Superstition. The town's apparent fallen hero that I 'submerged into a life of crime'.

I got to the elevator. I pushed the button many times, wishing that the doors would close faster, yet I knew it wouldn't help.

I began to go down to the floor, and when the doors opened, I peered around the side to make sure that the coast was clear.

When I didn't see anyone in sight, I began to run to my car, looking around me.

"There he is! Get him!"

I looked towards the voice behind me, and there were around four people coming towards me with baseball bats from where I could see. I ran again at my maximum speed, and I got in the car, but before I could slam the door, someone held it open and yanked me out of my car. They threw me onto the concrete, and I wanted to scream, I didn't have the strength to do so.

"Where do you think you're going, pledge?" It was the fraternity boys again. Randal was absent, though.

Herman and Swadley were within the group, as were a few familiar faces from the meetings.

"If you thought that you could scare us away with that stunt you pulled the other day, considered yourself fucked."

"I didn't call Superstition to help me! He was just there, and you and Herman both know the truth that I am not the bad guy here!"

"Yeah, well, let's just say that the truth won't be coming out anytime soon." He smiled at me, and then threw his finished cigarette to the side. "Give it to him."

Everyone except Swadley began to come at me with their bats, and they swung behind them.

They didn't follow through, though. Their bats were still in the air, and they were trying to pull them down with the strain that was in their eyes. Damn it...

Superstition was here to save the day again. I stayed on the ground and kept my eyes shut so that I didn't get involved in any way because I not becoming blamed for this again.

I heard many screams and groans of pain coming from around me. I came up from the ground and looked around and found Superstition standing in front of me and five guys on the ground, yet this time he was wearing a matching motorcycle helmet-like thing covering his face.

"Come to me." His voice was stern, but I wasn't budging. There was something about his voice, though...

"NO!" I heard Swadley behind me, and when I turned around and saw him behind my car, a baseball bat came closer and closer to me.

SLAM.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and held my left arm, for he swung and hit the top of it hard. The baseball bat hit the ground, and I leaned against my car frame, breathing intensely because of the agony in my shoulder. It became uncontrollable, and I began panting hard.

Superstition took his hand and held it in the air, and I heard Swadley's screaming way above my head. Superstition, then, took his arm and slung it towards one of the columns holding the parking garage, and Swadley's cries zoomed from my right ear to mostly my left ear. Then, I heard a thud, and the screams stopped.

My panting was still on full throttle, and Superstition began to come towards me. I tried to bring myself back up by pulling my knees into the locked position.

"Not...One...Step...Closer..." I growled through my teeth, pain still going strong.

"Let me help you..."

"You've...Done enough!"

Superstition stayed there for a second, but then flew away from me and outside the parking garage. My crying multiplied from earlier.

The elevator opened from afar, and I yelled out to the person, "CALL 911 NOW!"