Free The Last Superhero by Astrid 'Artistikem' Cruz Page B

get a
hold of Steven's ankle. He kicks her and she's sent skidding through
the asphalt until she hits a lamppost, halting her cries.
    I'm about to aid the woman
when Steven himself is standing in front of me. The bloodshot eyes
looking down at me through the mask are pitch black and I can't help
how my knees wobble.
    He's looking at me. So
young. Staring at me. Oh god. While an outstretched arm and hand are
still pointing at the man lying on the street, writhing in pain, the
same man who starts squealing like a pig as Steven closes his fist
slowly in the air.
    I'm frozen, my breath
hitches and I have no idea how to feel while he's... grinning? Can I
call that a grin?
    He's savoring killing that
man. Murdering that man. Extinguishing his life.
    I can't think as tears start
streaming down my face.
    The man stops squealing and
now the hand is coming for me.
    All I can do is make an
about-face and run for it.
    A glance back and he's still
standing there and the asphalt under us is changing to sand.
    And he's raising a hand to
the sky before dropping it all the way to the ground.
    ((BOOM))
    Giant ripples form around
him, expanding at a rapid pace towards me and I'm thrown through the
air, landing on all fours some feet away.
    Spit sand, brush my tongue,
my face.
    I'm pulled up and dragged by
the back of the collar of my shirt.
    I struggle to no avail and
see there's someone struggling beside me.
    Another woman, this one in a
red dress, the pearls around her neck strangling her, her fingers
trying to stop the pressure, her dress billowing about her,
thrashing, and the sudden gasps of salty wind that hit us.
    I'm dropped, but my
companion is not.
    She's pushed to the sand a
few meters from me and wrestles with her captor until a hand is
brought to her forehead and she enters some sort of trance.
    The man in the tuxedo
wearing the purple mask is concentrating, hard.
    Steven.
    The hand on her temple stays
there while the other pushes up her skirt.
    Steven, no!
    No, no, no!
    Grab handfuls of sand and
start throwing them at him.
    A force pushes me and I fall
on my back.
    I roll to my stomach, get on
my knees, look for something.
    Fuck it, wet sand like
snowballs and I hit him square on his back.
    He turns his darkened eyes
at me and, for a moment, I see them light up before the hand comes
out from under the skirt to point at me and I'm flying through the
air and landing with a crushing noise on my side.
    “ AAAAAHHHH!”
    I'm on the floor and
Steven's hauling me up, but I start delivering punches to his chest.
    “ Giana,
calm down.”
    I pry my eyes open and I'm
in the library, on the floor, having fallen from the divan.
    “ Get
the fuck off!” I manage to push him away and start crawling to
the nearest corner.
    Can't breathe, can't stop
the tears.
    He goes for one of my legs,
but I kick him off.
    Let me pull my knees to my
face and rock myself back to normal.
    “ Giana.”
He's inching towards me. “Breathe. Calm down. What you just saw
wasn't true.”
    “ Then
what the fuck was it?!” I shout and it makes him wince.
    His eyes are bright,
sparkling with the moisture of tears forming around his hazel gaze.
    Not black anymore.
    “ Nightmares,
Giana. I'm sorry. I fell asleep next to you. It won't happen again.”
There's horror in his face. “I'm so sorry you had to see that.”
    “ You
were in my head again!”
    “ No.
I was not,” he shifts to sit in front of me. “It's not
intentional. I can't control it. It was stupid of me to think I
wouldn't fall asleep so easily.”
    He slides closer and I can't
help but stiffen.
    “ Nightmares?”
    “ Yes.
My nightmares. Not meant to be seen by anyone yet my mind, somehow,
projects them to everyone within reach.” He's looking at me.
He's pleading at me. He's tearing up at me. “They're not true.
They're juxtaposed images between reality and fiction. Giana, you've
got to believe me. It's something I've had to learn to live with.”
    He reaches for my hands
clasped together over my