Everyday Hero

040803

"I need to freelance, or something, you know? I mean, being a superhero is tough. It's, like, a full-time job but without benefits like insurance and money, you know? How would I explain it to my boss when I hear that there's a baby trapped in a flaming house and I need to get off work, four times a day. You know?"

"So jest come out as a superhero, and make the government pay ya."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because, Shaina, if I let everybody know that I was born with these incredible powers, they'll know that there are changes being made in the genetic line, you know? I won't be able to, like, help anyone anymore. I'll be locked away in a lab and they'll test my genes and shit like that."

"Well, ya told me."

"You're my roommate. I had to tell you."

"Fine."

"That's why classes are so important to me. I need to find out what I can do with my life."

"What's yer major?"

"Undeclared."

Shaina scoffed. "A year in and ya still don't know whatcher gonna do."

"I told you, it's tough!"

Shaina leaned back in her beanbag chair and took a drink from her beer bottle. "Fine. Go take the damn test, see if I care. You're only missin' my birthday."

"Shaina, I'm sorry!"

"Look, if you're gonna be selfish, don't drag it out. Just go already."

"But, I… Shaina! I'm not being selfish!"

"To Hell with that, who's winning in dis sitchuation?"

"I'm doing it so that I can afford to help people like you when I'm out of here and looking for a job!"

"Screw it, just go, alright?"

Lisa looked at Shaina for a moment, who was staring out the window with her beer in her hand. She was a freshman, but her boyfriend, Hank, was a junior who could legally by alcohol and so she always had a ready supply. Lisa didn't drink. Ever. She couldn't afford to be drunk if somebody was in danger.

"Happy birthday?"

Shaina took another drink, and Lisa left the dorm bitter. She headed out onto the green, toward class, mumbling angrily under her breath. "Selfish, my ass. Can't even let me take a damn test without getting angry just because her boyfriend has a hangover and won't spend the morning with her. Well if this is selfish, I should take more time for myself. I…"

"Hey, Lisa." Snapped out of her trance, Lisa Swanson looked up to see Owen walking beside her. What a superhero. She hadn't even noticed when one of her best friends had come up to her. "What's up?"

"Not much. I've got an English test to take and I'm not prepared, at all."

"Lit?"

"Yeah."

"What book?"

"Um… One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

"Kesey, I like it."

"I did, too, but that doesn't mean I got the symbolism. Ask me about the plot and I've got a hundred. Ask me about McMurphy as Jesus and how the hospital makes everyone conform… Well, then I'm screwed."

Owen smiled. "Open-note?"

"Kinda. We can use the book."

"Which book? Clif-notes?"

Lisa laughed. "I wish."

"Well, good luck."

"Thanks."

Owen began to head off the campus, but then he turned back and called out, "Hey, did you hear about the train crash?"

Lisa cursed. "What crash?"

"A train derailed. I'll tell you more, later, I guess. You've got to take that test."

Lisa tried to smile, but couldn't. Be selfish, be selfish, you can help another day, she told herself. But the idea of somebody dying because she was too busy failing a test wouldn't leave the back of her mind. She slunk into class and looked at Professor Bridges. His face was pale, and he had the television in the corner turned to the news.

"There don't seem to be enough EMTs to help all the wounded, or even to transfer them to the hospital," the newscaster was saying in a completely calm, mellow voice. She'd been trained not to care. "Emergency back-up is being requested, but some worry that it won't arrive in time."

"I know students who take that train," Professor Bridges said slowly. "Most of them are upperclassmen, but…"

One of the students raised their hand. "Stephen?"

"Does this mean that there won't be a test today?"

Professor Bridges scowled. "How rude!" he hissed, and then he grabbed for the papers.

Lisa stopped him quickly. "Please, Professor. I'd like to go help, if I can."

"What makes you think you could help?"

"I'm thinking of becoming a nurse," she lied. "And they're short on nurses."

His scowl deepened. "The last time I checked, Ms. Swanson, you were undeclared."

"Well, I haven't officially gone to the offices yet, but…"

"I don't believe you, Ms. Swanson."

"Professor! No! If you'll just let me go to help, I could-"

"If you leave, you fail." Professor Bridges held up the stack of tests to her and thrust them into her hands. "Pass these out, and then you can either sit and take the test or leave and fail. It's your choice, Lisa."

Lisa sighed. There are times to be selfish, she thought, and after everybody had received a copy of the test she handed the remainder of the stack to the professor. There were more people absent than usual, and that worried her. She went over to her own desk, where a copy of the test sat, and began.

The first part was short answer, asking her to identify what the Combine stood for and what you'd expect the author to think about various issues by what you've read of his work, with textual support, and a question about religious allegories. Lisa scribbled down answers without really thinking, merely hoping that they'd work for something.

Then she got to the essay on sexuality. She looked up at Professor Bridges, and saw that he was still watching the muted news report. They were still talking about the rapid death rate at the wreckage site.

She looked down at the paper again and wished that she had some ability to help her with tests. She was already writing faster than everybody else, but she didn't know what to write and it was killing her grade.

She was just writing about Big Nurse's abnormally large breasts when she heard Professor Bridges gasp. Her head shot up to look at him, and she saw in his eyes that he'd seen something so horrible on the screen that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on class anymore for the rest of the day.

Lisa's eyes darted to the screen, and her pencil dropped.

Shaina's boyfriend was lying on a stretcher, gasping for air, blood trickling down his neck. Medics were trying to save him, and they were failing miserably.

Professor Bridges shut off the TV immediately and turned to his class. He looked at them for a moment, gasped, and then said, "I'll be back in one moment." He turned and headed for the door.

Lisa doubted that the professor was coming back. She realized that if she didn't leave now, she wouldn't get a chance to at all. She leapt to her feet and shouted, "Mr. Bridges!" He didn't hear her. He grabbed the doorknob and walked out. "Shit!" she cried, and collapsed in her seat. She looked down at her test, and then the closed door, then the test, then the door. "Hey, guys, how is the repression of sexuality portrayed in the book?"

The class turned to her slowly.

There was silence for a moment.

"It's a bad thing," somebody said from the back of the room.

"And conformity?"

"Is worse."

"Right."

Lisa looked down at her blank paper, sighed, and then turned to the blank television screen. She finally gave up, scribbled down some fake answers, and stood up. She ran to the front of the room, tossed the paper onto Bridge's desk, and turned on the television.

"Paramedics are still in short supply…" the anchor was saying.

Below her, the AP wire was running. It gave her the name of the train, and she turned off the TV and ran for the door.

It opened just as she got there, and the knob dug into her thigh. She lost her balance, slipped, and hit Steve's desk. His pencil slipped out of his hands, spun, and jabbed into her arm. Lisa screamed.

Bridges stood in the doorway, dumbfounded.

Lisa rose up to face him, took the pencil from her arm, and threw it at Steven. He caught it, yelped, and tossed it to the ground. "The test is on your desk," she said. He turned, looked at it, and nodded. "I'm leaving now." He nodded again.

Lisa ran out of the doorway and down the steps, out onto the greens. She needed a place where she could fly. She needed a place where she could be out of everybody's sight. She needed a place where she could- "Lisa!"

She spun, arms flapping wildly. It was Owen, running across the green. "Lisa! I'm so sorry, oh my god, I'm sorry."

"What the Hell are you talking about, Owen?"

"I just heard, I… Oh my God, you're bleeding."

"It'll heal."

"No, you need help."

"Trust me, they always heal."

"What?"

"Owen, I have to go."

"Go where? Lisa, you're hurt, you need to go get help."

"No! They're already running short on paramedics, I won't let tie them up for a wound that'll be gone by night!"

"Lisa, don't be stupid!"

"No! Owen, leave me alone!"

"Lisa, stop it!"

"No!"

She turned to run, wishing that she could run as fast as she was able in front of Owen without giving away her secret. Finally she got away, and hid behind the chapel. She looked around and saw that she was alone. "Time to go," she muttered, and then she was in the air, she was flying, she was flying.

"I've got to get to the train in time," she told herself. "I've got to get to the train in time." She repeated her mantra, over and over, chanting and chanting as she soared through the air.

Pain.

She lifted her hand to her head and felt warmth. When she pulled her throbbing arm down, she saw that the back of her head was bleeding. She shook her head, her vision beginning to blur, and looked at the ground. She hadn't even gotten off yet. She hadn't even had a chance, and somebody had pushed her into the wall. She looked up, and Owen was staring back at her, mouth wide. "Oh my God, no, I'm so sorry. Lisa, I'm sorry, but you were thrashing, I…"

Lisa fell to the ground.

When she awoke, she was in a hospital bed. Only one nurse, all they could afford, was in the room with her. She groaned and looked around. Owen was sitting in a corner. He saw her wake, but didn't move. "Her boyfriend died in the train wreck, and she was panicking when I found her."

"Were there any other factors that may have triggered the breakdown?" the nurse asked.

Owen looked at Lisa. "I think it was her roommate's birthday."

The nurse paused. "How could that have triggered it?"

"Oh!" Owen blushed. "Her roommate died in a car accident last December."

The nurse nodded. "Is that when she started acting differently?"

Owen nodded.

"Okay," said the nurse. She turned and looked Lisa in the eye. She smiled widely. "Welcome back."

"What are you two talking about?" Lisa hissed.

"Hush, now." The nurse patted her head. "You had a nasty fall. You need to rest."

"What happened?"

The nurse turned back to Owen. "We're going to run a CAT Scan," she said. "I don't like what I see here. We might also call in a psychologist."

Lisa perked up, and pain shot through her head. All the sounds seemed amplified. She could hear the beeping and whirring of every machine in the hospital; it was one of the downsides of having enhanced senses. She leaned back down and closed her eyes. "Why a psychologizz?"

The nurse looked at her. "Honey, you're ill."

"No! I need to get out of here! I need to help!"

"Lay down."

Lisa slipped into her sheets. "I need to help…"

"We know, sweetie. We know you need help. And you'll get it."

"No…" Her cry warbled as pain rippled through her. "I need to… I need to give-"

"Shh. Don't strain yourself."

"I… But…" Lisa didn't have the energy to finish.

"Lisa, before you fall asleep, I need you to answer a question for me."

"Kay…"

"Who is Hank Grimm?"

"Shay… Shay's boyfren."

"Shaina's boyfriend?"

"Yez."

"Thank you, Lisa. Sleep, now."

"Wait… Know that… Know that I… channel him to her."

"Hush."

"Mm."

Within moments, Lisa had slipped back into slumber. The nurse took Owen outside and they walked down the halls. "I want you to identify a body for me. It's from the train wreck. Can you do that for me?" Owen nodded, and she led him down to a dark, musty room filled with dozens of bodies from the wreck. She pulled one cart toward Owen, checked the tag, and took off the covering.

Owen looked at the head, with it's thick stubble, messy hair, and large nose. "That's… That was Hank." He gazed over the rest of the body, which was separated from the head. Red strings slinked over the cart like tentacles.

"This is her boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"What did she say, though?"

"She said she was channeling him to Shaina."

"Did he and Shaina go out before the crash?"

"Yes. Yes, they did."

The nurse nodded, grabbed the sheet, and pulled it over the body.

"How is she?" Owen asked.

"Lisa? Physically, we could hand her a bottle of Advil and let her walk out of here today. The only thing that worries me are these delusions. This isn't my field, per say, but it seems to me like she suffered a mental breakdown after her roommate's death."

"It was hardest on her, come to think of it."

"I'd imagine."

Four stories above them, Lisa heard somebody shouting her name. She awoke with a start, and leapt out of her hospital bed. She looked down at her arm and ripped off the gauze that some attendant had wrapped around it. She saw only a small mark where the pencil had ripped through her skin; it was almost healed. She unwrapped the bandage on her head and gently touched her fingers to the back of her scalp. She winced, but the pain was minimal.

"Nice," Shaina said.

Lisa spun around and looked at her friend, nuzzled in Hank's arms. The two were both smiling at her. "I'm sorry I yelled earlier," Shaina said.

Hank stepped forward and extended his hand. "Thanks for everything."

Lisa grinned. "Hey, it was my pleasure."

"Hey!" Shaina shouted, pulling Hank toward her. "Hands off."

The three of them laughed, and then a silence fell over the room. Lisa sighed. "Do you know that the two of them think that I'm crazy? That I'm making all of this up?"

Shaina sighed. "Well, what're ya gonna do?"

"I can't stay here," Lisa responded. "When they come back, they'll drug me and send me to a shrink. They'll make me repress my powers."

Shaina nodded. "I know. That's why there are so few of you these days."

Lisa sighed. "Think I should just fly away?"

"Hell yeah, girl! Screw college."

Lisa walked over to the window and looked out. She looked down at the ground, more than fifty feet below her. There was a parking meter and some asphalt. She looked at the pane of glass. It didn't open. "I'd have to jump through," she said.

"They'll never see ya again, anyway."

"True." She paused. "What if they're right, though? What if you're an illusion?"

"We're not, and you know it. Yer just scared you'll cut yer pretty skin on the glass."

Lisa sighed and spun around. "But they might be right."

"Nuh uh, the only people who say they're crazy are the one's who aren't, sugah. And besides, what's the werst that could happen? Yuh'd join us."

Lisa smiled. "We'd have to kill a cute boy to join us."

"You know how I do, girl. It ain't no thang."

"Good, cause I won't be a third wheel, you know." Lisa turned back to look at Shaina and Hank. The two paused, then turned to each other and embraced passionately. "For that, I get two guys." The three of them laughed. Lisa turned back to the window.

"The nurse is coming back," Hank said.

Lisa nodded. "I know. I can hear her."

"Ya gotta jump now, kid," Shaina said.

Lisa took a deep breath, nodded, and jumped. The glass shattered around her, and she was in the air.