Everyone's Hero

They told me that she would die for us, for all of us. Whether bad and evil or good and kind. Everyone said that she was our hero. They told me she was strong, so very strong that she could create hurricanes and twisters in an instant. They also told me that she was gentle, so very gentle that with one word she could call a breeze that carried the scent of life. She was there always had been. When we needed her she always came. To save and to spread hope to all, which seemed to be another power of hers. Her past was unknown to us and I have a feeling that its even more mysterious to her.

Throughout the world she had a name all even more beautiful than the last. They all described what she was. Powerful. Beautiful. Mysterious. I never accepted any of these. All descriptive, yes, but none were her true name.

I had always seen her on TV. Though I did wish profoundly that if the day ever came that I would have the chance to meet her I would ask her, “What is your real name?”, “Why are you doing this?”, “Who are you, really?” And she would answer and I would know. But when the day did come I never got my chance she was up there, beyond my reach, and me, I was here, beyond her‘s.

My world, the whole world, was in war. The instant everyone was aware of this they immediately knew that it was time and when the war was over they would die. That’s what many people said and I believed them. Many begun to lose hope. That hero that was always doing good begun to falter, she could only do so much. And that is why they lost hope. I was young and what I was told I had always believed but the day that I started to think for myself was the day a flicker of hope was lit and I was, though a small part, I was still part of it.

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The other students towered above me. They pushed me and shoved me but I ignored it. None of this mattered because Our Hero would be there, I would finally get to see her in person. I saw men with cameras filming our every move. Every channel station in the world was here. It was a big event. The stadium was the candle and the outside was ours to light up. We all hoped it would work.

Our school principle was standing in front of a podium ready to give a speech that would be broadcasted live to anyone and everyone. When he spoke that would be the moment in which the candle would be lighted and we would see how far the light would go. But nobody was interested in him. The man was fat and even from a distance I could see the beads of sweat falling from his scalp into his eyes. He tried in vain to dry his face but nervousness was hard to eliminate. He was a plain man, boring and uninteresting. No, what all of us really wanted to see was her. The day before we had an assembly and the boring old man told us what was expected of us and what we should expect. My mind raced remembering at what will soon enough will be.

The students scurried quickly towards the best seats. The closer they sat the better they could see. The thunder of noise echoed throughout the whole stadium. Everyone was ecstatic. I wasn't the only one who wished to see her. She was our hero. In a world where evil existed in every nook and cranny, a hero was something we needed. Someone who could save us, protect us, and keep our hope alive. The old one's have told us that it wasn't this way before.

We loved those stories. They said that in those days of before, there was never war, there was never death, and no need for a hero. Everything was perfect. A perfect Utopia. They said even, that the Protectors were financing a study for eternal life.

The old one's said that no one ever went hungry, that the only one's who did were the prisoners of Canary Island. The loathsome filth of Earth. How everyone hated them, they told us.

They were destined to a life in prison. They weren't allowed to ever see the light of day. Not ever. They were deprived of all their rights there was no savior for them, they were forced to murder their own hope because their was no way out. Escape was futile. You could easily say that that was the second hell.

The Protectors made it that way so we would never be bothered by that filth. Those destroyers of life. There was no sympathy for them. They were at fault. Some believed that it was better to just kill them all off. Why waste space? They asked. But the Protectors believed in second chances. They were naïve enough to think that they could turn their lives around and become better people. They were furiously wrong. People don't change. They had committed a wrong against us so they were beaten and made to suffer, I believe this just.

Our peace was short-lived though. People say that it was the Protectors themselves who brought this upon us. But the more popular belief is that the Canary prisoners somehow found a way out of their hell. They say that it was an actual Protector that did this. They say that he killed his group off and took the stand of absolute leader over us using the prisoners as his weapons, he began to use his new power to demand obedience from all of us. That's how the story goes anyways.

But how ever it went, we are at war. Everyone has seen death many times over. It is a frightening place, this world. The only thing that gives us solace are those tales of a Utopia that used to exist and of course Our Hero. Our light and only hope. We all believe that she will bring us out of our misery. We believe so much in her that people around the world have gathered together at this stadium to meet her. We are going to hear what she has to say and what she plans to do.

The students of Everett High are just one group among many with expectations for change.

The lights that surround the stadium began to come on one by one. A silence ensues, such a deep silence that it seems like time has stopped completely. There is a breeze. It smells like roses, like the ocean, it is a fresh fragrance, like that of freshly fallen rain. It calms all of us and tells us that she has arrived. All the lights are on now. Some people stand up and dart their eyes all over the stadium trying to catch the first glimpse of her.

I could see the principle holding the microphone with shaking hands. I wouldn't be surprised to see him drowning in his own sweat next. He began to whisper to a teacher. He was a balding man with a thin beard, a hooked nose, and small eyes. He was sweating even more than the principle. There was lots of anticipation.

The strong breeze died down. I heard some people sigh in disappointment at that. Other's began to murmur in confusion. Where was she?

The camera crew stopped recording the event and lowered the cameras away from their face. What was happening?

I looked up to the sky and tried in vain to search for the stars but the glare of the lights got in the way. There were no stars to look at tonight. They had abandoned us as well. What would happen next?