True Heroes (2 page)

              The boys were still chuckling over what Stephen had said as Caleb responded. “Yeah, and you have plenty of room to talk. Neanderthals like you have to make fun of smaller kids to make yourself feel better.”

              Caleb’s face must’ve contorted a little as Stephen smiled and added, “Aw did I hurt the little baby’s feelings? Too bad. The truth hurts doesn’t it? If you go back to your dump home back in the hole you belong in, then we’d never have to smell your trashy stench again!”

              His blood started to pump a little faster as Caleb’s fist clenched. That gigantic feeling was starting to amplify his vision and body again, but he didn’t want it to. Even as Stephen grabbed Caleb’s collar and slowly lifted his weight from the ground, his thoughts screamed control. ‘No, keep it inside…but I can feel what it wants to do. These guys have always tried to hurt me and others. I could stop it, I bet. I could beat them and that’d fix everything. If it didn’t, I’d be just as bad as them.’ While lifting him, Stephen’s grin turned into a grim line of shock as Caleb’s eyes began to light up as they had before and his fingers curled into his hand as tightly as they could.

              “Hey! Put him down, moron!”

              That shout broke the haze in his mind and Caleb’s feet almost instantly touched the earth again. The feminine voice continued to talk and move closer but Caleb couldn’t make out what she was saying anymore simply because he had looked at her face and was frozen. Her actual name was Carol. He turned away before she could notice his staring. Her usually angelic voice continued to raise its volume and become increasingly accusatory towards the bunch of bullies, most of whom were almost cowering from her. ‘I guess they’re smart enough to know that messing with her meant messing with her boyfriend, and he’s really crazy.’

              She continued to tell them off as they walked away with their heads hung. Once they were out of earshot, Carol turned towards Caleb as he was trying desperately to erase what blush was left in his cheeks and asked, “Those idiots didn’t hurt you, did they?”

              “N-no, they couldn’t hurt me if they tried.”

              His macho routine mixed with the stammer made her smile a little as she unwrinkled his jacket sleeves and shirt. ‘What the heck are you doing? Don’t mess this up.’ Her hand rubbed against his bare skin and sent a warming wave of confusion throughout his body. ‘Girls are weird, but that still feels really, really good,’ he thought. “You should be more careful with how you insult Neanderthals like him. I won’t always be around to save your little hide.”

              Caleb smiled, glad to feel some of the tension within him go away, and responded, “Hehe. Funny thing is I called him the same thing. I’m not sure he knows what that word means.”

              She laughed a sweet laugh that had the same harmonic perfection as some people did when they sang their hearts out. He watched with amazing interest as her hand moved her bangs out of her face and uncoiled slowly back down to her side. Such a simple motion was made elegant with her as the medium, and Caleb couldn’t turn away. Her voice broke his haze of interest slightly. “So, um, what was up earlier when you got off the bus? You looked pretty dizzy or something with all that stumbling you were doing.”

              The memory of those few seconds when he had no control sobered him of her infectious drug immediately. ‘I can’t ever forget about those times I lost control and hurt something.’ “It’s kinda weird. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it happens sometimes just when I run around a lot, or when I get upset.”

              She smiled slightly despite his seriousness. “Well, I think you should try to describe it for me. Please?”

              Caleb may as well have been putty in her hands; she could’ve asked him to go play in the middle of the street and all Caleb would’ve wondered is what game she meant. Because of this, his mind wouldn’t think for him. Words, however, found a way to roll off his tongue as if they were coming from another, living, thinking part of his body. “When that happens to me, it feels like someone has taken a blindfold off my eyes. Like I can finally see the world for what it really is and what happens behind what I see every day. I feel like I can reach those things through my strength and vision alone, but like I said, I have no idea why it’s like that.”

              Caleb allowed his eyes to wander for a bit before looking back up to Carol. He noticed her surprise was like she hadn’t expected such a scenic answer from someone his age and she couldn’t quite articulate an answer to follow it. Her green eyes seemed lost at sea—not entirely sure how to proceed with the conversation while seemingly probing his soul for truth and validity. She blinked away their eye contact and responded finally. “Wow that sounds like something anybody would want to experience. How about you show me sometime?”

              “Um, well, um, maybe when I figure out how it works—”

              “Caroline Allison Edwards! In this house, now!”

              An older lady sporting an incredibly bright blue Moo-Moo with neon-color flower patterns was waving and shaking her hand from one of the sardine-packed houses across the street. Carol seemed a bit embarrassed—‘Irritation and fidgety hands,’—by her calling, but Caleb couldn’t appear happier to divert attention away from his stammering words. She waved a little and readjusted her backpack before addressing Caleb again. “I guess I’ll see you at school sometime, Caleb.” ‘She knows my name? How’d that one happen?’ She turned and ran off towards her impatient caller as Caleb stayed in that question until after she’d gone. “Hey Caleb!”

              He spun on his heels at Carol’s heavenly tone. “Yeah?”

              “When you figure out that feeling, I’m the first one you tell, okay?”

              Caleb smiled a different kind of smile, not fueled by a chuckle or a passing necessity, but given a sole purpose by the happiness he felt over her even wanting to talk to him. ‘I don’t remember my face ever hurting when I smile.’ “You got it!”

              Another smile—‘Mine must’ve looked like that a moment ago,’—and she turned to run to her waiting relative. ‘She even runs elegantly.’ He quickly spotted the origin of squealing tires down the street. ‘The driver’s not stopping. Stop. Carol, stop.’ She noticed the car—‘Thirty feet away now,’—and froze like the most beautiful deer. Caleb’s eyes widened, like anyone’s would, but also adopted something that was all his own. ‘No! Everything stop! Jump out of the….’ The internal sirens of his mind and heart, sudden clenching of his stomach, and building grief started to calm and muffle, his teeth and fists started to resume their normal posture, and the blue of his eyes ignited into a powdery azure flame, glowing eerily bright.

              Nothing in the world mattered anymore. The song of the bird couple’s tweeting, the symphony of dogs and cats, the awareness of a catastrophic outcome by the driver of that car; the entire world blanked out except for him and the cowering Carol. The car—fifteen feet away now—finally began to apply the brakes, and Caleb’s muscles began to tense again. They didn’t uncoil until his arms were wrapped around Carol, trying his hardest to imitate a cocoon around her body less than a second before a car crashed into his back. Nothing: not the initial pain of the impact, the scalding metal now resting on his back, or the unusual feeling of Carol broke through to tell him that he was still alive.

              What felt like an eternity of numbness finally passed. The driver had exited the car and dialed some number on his cell phone, and Caleb’s eyes started to return to their normal glory. Carol looked up at him with horrified eyes and he stared back, feeling his lips move into a small grin, but sensation returned to normal. His breath began to quicken and he could no longer hold eye contact as he was hit with an overwhelming fatigue. He keeled over, allowing Carol to catch him, but her eyes started to sag from shock as she saw what was behind Caleb: a body-sized dent in the grill of what had been a brand new BMW where he’d just saved her from certain death, but also left her more scared than she’d ever been in her life.

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              Caleb breathed steadily as he started to come out of his nap to the methodic sound of a heart monitor. He blinked a few times and was instantly swarmed by his mother’s caring hands and cooing words while she ignored the fact that he was already calm and aware of where he was. ‘I don’t see why people stay in hospital beds. They’re not comfortable at all, but every time I visit there’s always so many people in them. At least I know where I am, that’s a relief. Mom’s hand is warm and everything, but I don’t think she’s making me feel all cozy. Her hands are freaking me out a little, actually. The bleep-bleep-bleep of the heart machine is kinda soothing…but this uncomfortable bed seems to be undoing that trick. I’m in control again. I didn’t hurt Carol, did I? That creepy feeling didn’t touch her did it?’ He created a small cushion before quickly asking, “Where’s Carol?”

              His mother smiled at him passionately, as if he’d just passed some great test, before answering. “Well, out of the two of you, she got the worst of it, but it’s still nothing more than a few scrapes and scratches, dear. All thanks to you.” Caleb barely registered the little compliment. ‘The curtains in that small window on the left are moving. Three shadows behind the green sashes. Fevered mumbling and lots of hand movements, and it looks like two of them have hats on.’ “There are some people outside that want to talk to you about what happened. Just tell them the truth, baby, okay?”

              He nodded his head and noticed that a corner of the curtain shifted slightly and a single knuckle knocked itself against the window. His mother grabbed up his hand and pecked her lips against it before standing and trying to walk away, but Caleb wouldn’t drop. “Can’t you stay?”

              The door opened and a female police officer walked in and offered his mom a hard stare, giving Caleb a reflection of the answer he knew he’d get. She carefully slid her hand from his grasp and walked out with the officer closing the door behind her. The curtains were slowly pulled open—‘Mom really doesn’t like this officer lady,’—as the officer began to scribble random words into her report packet. ‘Why did she leave me in here with a stranger if she doesn’t even trust her? Why can’t she just bring Carol in here and take this lady away? She looks too serious to care about me or my dumb questions.’ “All I want to do is ask you a few questions about what happened with you, your friend, and the car accident earlier, okay? I’ve already talked to the few witnesses and your little friend, and I’m honestly hoping you can shed some light on what really happened. So, just tell the truth and I’ll go nice and easy.” Caleb refocused and nodded slightly as she began her questioning. “Let’s get started then. Were you and Carol both hit by the same car?”

              Caleb wandered beneath the surface of that simple question. “Yes, but didn’t the other people already tell you that?”

              The lady, apathetic to his question, continued her own. “You shielded her body with yours, correct?”

              “Yes, but—”

              “And the car hit you in the back with your body covering hers and her in your arms?”

              He took his time answering. ‘She’s acting like my answers don’t matter, like I’m a little kid. Whatever just keep it up.’ “I think so, yeah. Those few seconds before the crash are a bit of a blur. I haven’t really had time to sort it all out.”

              The lingering tone of his voice still reverberated through the dead air with nothing but the woman’s furious writing and the harmony of the heart monitor as background noise. Suddenly, she threw the pen into a nearby chair and slammed her report on the foot of his bed before storming out of the room. He watched her with a slight smile. ‘I’m glad you’re angry. Keep yelling at your poor partner. She’s not going to calm down, pal, stop waving your hands at her.’ Caleb turned the report around with his foot and pulled it up to his chest so he could skim its contents. His eyes began pulling out random words that formed images of the accident. ‘2000 BMW…man driving…fifty in a twenty-five zone…Caroline Allis—’

              An unmistakable memory of Carol’s horrified eyes bolted into his brain like a painful lighting strike. ‘I need to see her.’ His back slowly came up from the white sheets and the blanket on his lap quietly started to slip to the floor, but a loud alarm suddenly blasted his room and the cavernous hallway outside. He quickly leaned back to his bed, silencing the alarm, but not before he received two pairs of glaring eyes from the police as a consolation prize. They went back to talking and his door opened slowly, revealing a friendly face in Doctor Fink. “Hello again, my boy. I guess you decided to come back and see me rather than wait for our yearly check-up?” Caleb smiled slightly and nodded quickly. “This was a bit of a big accident this time around, though. Well, bigger than your usual nothing at least.”

              ‘Nobody but Doctor Fink. I couldn’t ever have another family doctor. It just sucks I don’t get sick more often. Once a year, I get to come in and have tons of fun with him. I miss the early years when I’d come in here for weeks at a time and we’d have so much fun. He respects me. He sees me as a grown-up like Mommy. Every time he brings up space, time, politics, or anything that’s just outside the home life. He must talk to Mom about those things. Any test he runs on me barely breaks the string of words from either of our mouths. I wish everyone was like him. I wish I was like him.’ “Yeah, I’m a little early this year. Maybe I should start getting sick to talk to you more often.”