Free Keep Me: A HERO Novella by Leighton Del Mia

purse my lips. “Sure.”
    “So you’ll come with me? That’s the only way I could do it.”
    I search his eyes. “Why? What are you afraid of?”
    “Would they be proud of the choices I’ve made? Or would they regret giving me that formula?”
    “I know what you sacrificed by taking off the mask,” I say. “I also know it hasn’t been easy.”
    “You missed the worst of it. The weeks right after I stopped were hell on my body. There are still moments where I think I need to inject, where I can’t imagine another moment without it.”
    “But you’re better now, Calvin.”
    “Am I? What about how I handled you the other night?”
    “I was wrong before when I said the K-36 made you bad. It only fed what was already there.” I push my palm into his chest. “You have a darkness not even I can deny. Now I think I have it too.”
    He catches my hand in his. His Adam’s apple jumps when he swallows. “Why doesn’t that scare you?”
    Truthfully, I don’t think I’ll ever know how to exist around Calvin without some level of fear. But it’s not enough to keep me away. “Even though it’s hard for you, one day you’ll see how you’re better without it. Do I make you happy?”
    “Very.”
    “Then what more could they have wanted for you?” I ask, and he nods lightly.
    Later, I walk him out, but we both linger in the doorway. We wear the same smile when I tell him I’ll miss him and eventually, we kiss goodnight.
    My sleep is halting, and the next day, work drags. I take my camera outside when the sun is highest. I bloom under its subtle warmth since there was a time I watched it rise and descend each day without ever feeling it.
    My storefront is well maintained by the building’s owner; it’s clean and welcoming, shiny to attract passersby. Behind the building are dumpsters, a half-full parking lot, and piles of brown-orange leaves. That’s where I go to take pictures. Its ugliness attracts me, especially today.
    After half an hour, when the sky turns grey for a few moments, I lower my camera and look around the deserted lot. I wonder what Calvin’s doing—if he’s at work, and if he’s thinking of me.
    When my stomach alerts me that it’s lunchtime, I walk back around to the front of the building. A police car out front kicks my heartbeat up a few notches. There are other businesses up and down the block, but it’s parked directly in front of mine. And, I think to myself, it’s not all that unlikely they’d be paying me a visit.
     

That my legs won’t move fast enough is just another reminder I’m not who I used to be. As I stride to the gallery, I replay Melinda’s phone call to my office again, searching for hints.
    “Is this Calvin?”
    “Who is this?”
    “It’s Melinda, Cat’s co-worker.”
    “What happened?”
    “I hope it’s okay to call here. I remember she said you own a media company so I looked up the number, and—”
    “Melinda,” I snap. “Why are you calling?”
    “Oh, I was wondering if she’s there with you? The police are here asking for her.”
    “The police?” I repeat. “And she isn’t there?”
    “She was earlier, but she disappeared around lunch. I thought maybe she was meeting you.”
    “I’ll be right there.”
    My brain works in overdrive, considering all the possible reasons they’d be there. Our past, full of wrongs and sordid details, is at the front of my mind. I should’ve pressed her for the exact story she told about her months-long disappearance.
    I’m jogging by the time I reach the gallery, noting the squad car out front before I fling open the glass door. “Where are they?” I ask the woman at the front desk.
    “She returned right after I called you,” she says. “They took her in the back, but she looked pretty nervous. Maybe you should—”
    I don’t wait to hear her suggestion but go directly to the gallery’s office. I enter the room without knocking, causing everyone to jump and one cop to reach for his