I Am A Hero! Part 1

A Story by Matthew Soliguen

Camille struggles to become a hero, in a world full of heroes.

"If there aren't any heroes, be the hero."

That's what Mrs. Carson told me before she died. Before I failed to save her.

While the heroes struggled to save people, I remained.

I stared at her lifeless body, crying out at my own helplessness, waiting to be saved myself.

Such are the failures of the likes of me.

A human born powerless in a world full of powerful freaks.

My name is Camille.

I'm a total failure.

You see, because of a worldwide solar event, people began developing superpowers. These powers can be as small as moving a pencil for three feet, to as big as destroying a city.

Because of these, villains came to abuse their own power.

And as villains rose, heroes stood to challenge them.

My parents were these heroes.

They retired early when a villain with immeasurable power came to challenge them.

Their injuries left them unable to fight as heroes anymore.

Then they gave birth to me, in the hopes that one day I can replace them.

Normally, powers began manifesting at the age of 5.

I was 6 years old, and my powers had not manifested at all.

My parents were utterly disappointed.

Much so, that when my little brother was born, and he showed incredible strength even as a newborn, my parents no longer showed any love for me.

At age 7 they had thrown me away at an orphanage, with a new name, and erased every connection they had with me.

Right then and there I understood, that I was, and always had been, unwanted.

That I served merely as a replacement, and even that I couldn't become.

My life only became worse from there.

Even the kids in the orphanage had powers.

They all mocked me for being powerless, and took advantage of my helplessness.

"Loser, no wonder your parents left you!" they said.

I could only cry when they insulted me.

One time, when I was 12, a boy with telekinesis tried to hold me down and molest me.

If it wasn't for Mrs. Carson, he would've succeeded.

Of course, he was pissed.

At the middle of the night he levitated me while I was asleep to the very top of the orphanage.

At morning, the whole orphanage woke to me crying and screaming, the only thing keeping me from falling was my pajamas stuck on the weather vane..

They all laughed as firefighters climbed up to save me. And even they were smirking.

One by one, everyone in the orphanage was adopted. from most powerful, to least.

By the time I was 14, no one was left in the orphanage but me.

Like I said, I am, and always will be, unwanted.

Mrs. Carson vowed to allow me to go to school.

I did.
There I met the ex-orphans.

They all smirked as I entered the class room.

Telekinesis boy lifted my skirt up forcibly, even when I tried to pull it down it kept floating up.

The class laughed as I ran screaming, the back of my skirt floating up.

People laughed as I ran past.

"Well, it's her own fault she's powerless." They said.

My first day at school was my last.

I stayed in the orphanage crying.

Mrs. Carson came to comfort me.

"Camille, give school another chance, I know it's hard, but maybe it'll get better." She said.

"Yeah, maybe." I said, in an angry mocking voice.

"The whole class saw my underwear, hell, the whole school even." I told her, trying to keep my voice from breaking.

She sighs.

"I know it's not easy to be powerless but-"

"But what?!" I interrupted her.

"Even you have a power! Everyone has except me! I hate it!" I cried.

"I hate being powerless, I hate being left out! I hate that everyone takes advantage of me!"

Mrs. Carson looks at me with concern, listening while I throw a tantrum.

"My mom and dad left me because I was powerless." I said.

"They said they loved me, they wanted me, that I was their dream come true!"

Mrs. Carson hugged me as I begin crying even louder.

"Why did they leave me Mrs. Carson? I'm their daughter, I never did anything wrong to them." I cried.

"I really, really loved them." my voice broke as I tried to breathe through broken gasps.

Mrs. Carson was crying herself.

"I don't know Camille, I really don't know. But I swear, I'm here, I won't leave you." She promised.

I didn't believe her.

My parents promised me that once.

And yet here I am.

One day, me and Mrs. Carson went to a shopping mall.

"Hey, are you Carson the subzero?" Someone asked.

"I heard you can freeze people just by looking at them. You shouldn't have retired, You're wasting your power." He said.

I stared at the ground, an action that Mrs. Carson noticed.

"Well, I love my job as it is now. Leave before I demonstrate to you firsthand my power." She said.

The man raised both arms in an "Okay, fine." gesture.

"Wish I could threaten people like that." I said.

Mrs. Carson rubbed my hair. "You don't need to."

We went on the subway back to the orphanage.

Mrs. Carson listened to her earphones while I stared at my reflection at the train window.

I sighed.

"Camille, is something bothering you?" Mrs. Carson asked.

"I want to be a hero." I mumbled to myself.

Mrs. Carson tilted her left ear towards me.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I want to be a hero, a hero better than my mom and dad, I want to make them regret ever abandoning me." I told her.

"That's a nice dream. but-"

She pinches my cheek.

"Heroes don't think like that. Heroes think of good things, wonderful things things that benefit all, and harm none."

She gives me a reassuring smile.

"Heroes always-"

Her words are cut short when the roof of the train exploded in a burst of brown and black.

The train stopped immediately, throwing all passengers forward.

I hit the cushion of a nearby seat, but the side of my head hit the armrest.

I became temporarily blind.

"Mrs. Carson!" I screamed.

I realized I wasn't blind, the train's power was cut off.

The tunnel had collapsed, and the train was cut off, the front smashed into a large boulder, and the back was also blocked by debris.

The faint light coming from Mrs. Carson's cellphone illuminated the horrifying scene.

People bloodied and bruised, running away, clawing at the open roof of the now derailed train.

I tried to walk towards Mrs. Carson.

My leg felt numb. I knew it was broken.

The adrenaline is the only thing keeping me from collapsing from pain.

Mrs. Carson was stuck, her lower body was covered by a boulder.

From the faint blue light of her cellphone I can see she was coughing up blood.

I tried to push the boulder.

No luck, It was too big.

"Camille, stop, it's impossible-"

"Shut up!" I cried.

"I can save you! I have to I can-" I grunted as I tried to push the stone away.

Mrs. Carson's face filled with tears.

"Camille-" She pleaded.

"No, I will save you." I cried.

"Somebody help me!" I shouted, but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

Everyone was trying to save themselves.

"Mrs. Carson I-" I knelt beside her, face welling up in tears.

"I'm sorry. I can't save you." I cried.

She lifted her hands towards my cheek and brushed off a tear.

"The heroes, they'll be here soon." I told her.

"They'll save you." I added.

She softly shakes her head, smiling.

"My body's crushed. They won't make it." She said.

"I'm sorry, if only I had powers-" I cursed myself.

"If only I was a hero."

Mrs. Carson smiled.

"Stop obsessing for your power. It'll find you eventually." She said.

"Camille, grant me a wish, a last request for a dying woman." She grins as she speaks.

"yeah?" I asked her, trying to hold back tears.

"Go back to school will you? Make some friends, be successful, I don't want you pitying yourself." She said.

"Why?! Why do you care so much about me?" I ask her.

"Because I was like you once. I was also unwanted." she smiles.

"In a world full of heroes, it's hard to stand out, to become a hero yourself." Her eyes slowly closed.

"People will always look for heroes in their most desperate times. If there aren't any heroes-" She touches my cheek, one last time.

"Be the hero." She breathed her last.

Light poured into the train.

Might Man, the most revered superhero, floated to my left.

I could see him from the corner of my eyes. His signature blue and white suit, his overly muscular build, and his smile that can give hope in a desperate situation.

When he saw me kneeling, face filled with hopelessness, even his faced turned glum.

"Kid-" He stopped when I began to run towards him.

I started punching his chest, punching so hard that my fists cracked and broke.

My hands bled as I hit him even more.

"If only you arrived sooner! Then maybe you could've saved her!" I screamed.

A shadow fell across Might Man's face.

All around me, people began to clap and cheer.

Finally the hero had arrived.

A paramedic saw me punching Might Man and fired a tranquilizer, presumably to keep me from harming myself.

Everything faded to black, the last thing I saw was Might Man's troubled face.

I was in the hospital for a week.

When I got discharged, I came back to the orphanage.

It was empty now.

Truly empty, the only people here were the caretakers and a few stray cats.

Once again, I am alone.

When I finally finished making my bed for the night, I took a picture of Mrs. Carson from the main hall and brought it up to my room.

And I talked to the picture. All night long. Talked to it about how I was sorry for being powerless.

That I was a total failure with no future in sight.

I went back to school because of Mrs Carson's wish.

The Ex-orphans, as per usual, began picking on me.

I ignored their insults and acts of physical harm against me.

Then Telekinesis boy pushed me too far.

"Hey Cami, bet you wished you had powers when Mrs. Carson died now did you." He said with a grin.

I turned my back to him.

"She never cared about you. You were nothing more than a responsibility to her, a mere helpless civilian in front of a hero." He insulted more.

I stopped dead on my track.

"Take it back." I growled.

"What are you gonna do, huh, preach me to death?" Telekinesis boy raised his hand.

"Make one move and you'll splatter on these hallways like roadkill." He threatened.

Anger took the best of me.

I ran towards him with my fist raised.

Immediately, an invisibleforce kicked my navel pushing me backwards, scraping my skin to the floor.

The school was attracted now, they began chanting for Telekinesis boy.

He waved both his hands like a gladiator saying "Cheer for me more!"

He raised his hand towards me again.

"And this, would be your last." He did a half grin at me.

I hate it.

I hate them all.

I hate that they're cheering for the strong one.

I hate that they're leaving me helpless.

Where are the heroes?

Will no one come and save me?

"If there aren't any heroes, be the hero."

Mrs. Carson's words filled me with courage.

"Do it, a*****e!" I screamed as I ran towards him again.

To my surprise, he lowered his hand and stared at me in horror.

"Wait-" he managed to stutter before I punched him in the jaw.

I heard an earth shattering CRACK! as he flew backwards an incredible distance.

He began groaning and coughing up blood.

The hallway was silent.

Silent, except for what seemed to be the sound of roaring flames.

I looked behind me, and I saw It.

A carbon copy of me, except It was made of fire.

It looked terrifying, It had my figure, my shoulder length hair, It was me.

Except It was made entirely of pure blue flame.

It's face was contorted with pure hate, eyes filled with hatred, teeth gritted in rage.

It growled, and the some students began backing off.

"Oh f**k-" Telekinesis boy raised his hand towards me again.

But It was faster, It pushed me aside and took the full blow of the telekinetic blast.

It dissipated and reformed again, looking more angry than ever.

It began floating towards Telekinesis boy who was now crawling for his life.

It grabbed him by the legs and began slamming him on the hallways, on the floor, the lockers, everywhere that was hard enough to break human bones.

For some reason, I felt pity for him, instead of anger.

Like all the hate I felt manifested as It.

A teacher finally arrived, the hero by the name of Generator.

His body crackled with electricity, and he fired a bolt of pure lightning at It.

An explosion of blue and white blasted the hallways.

The sprinklers began to spray water everywhere.

When the mist disappeared, It looked more angry, but was grinning.

It's old target had managed to get away from the confusion, and It's new target is now Generator.

"Stop." My voice sounded small and puny.

It began to rapidly fly towards generator.

Generator began charging up a new bolt.

"STOP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in panic.

Both Generator and It stopped.

It looked at me in confusion.

"Why?! Let me kill them! I hate them all! I hate them! I'm not powerless anymore, I'll kill them, kill!" It spoke in a voice that's just pure rage.

"No." I said calmly.

It reared back in confusion.

"What?! But we-"

"I know, but I won't let you." I told It.

It looked like she wanted to object, but she changed her mind.

She grunts angrily at me, and begins to finally die out.

I understand now.

She was a manifestation of my anger.

My anger reached a point that it actually became a real physical object.
She is my power.

Generator looked at me with utter disappointment, but deep beneath his eyes, I see, is that, pride?

"Well Ms. Powerless. You are a complete liar."

"Come with me." he asked.

He led me outside, as the police began interviewing students.

"Caused quite a lot of trouble have you. Can't control your power yet?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I have a second power you know. It's called power identification."

I looked at him in shock.

"So you can tell someone's power by looking." I asked.

"No, by experiencing." He answered.

"What's mine?" I asked excitedly.

"Emotion Manifestation." He answered.

"By focusing on one emotion you can make a version of yourself with powers that correspond to that specific emotion."

"Powers?" I asked."

"Yes. Not power. Powers. Although it seems you can only control rage at the moment." He shook his head in disdain.

"You caused so much damage here, I can't let you stay in this school." he added.

"Do I have to pay for it all?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"As a hero I can make all of this seem like nothing. Of course, in one condition." He handed me a paper.

"Here is a form for the Power contest invitational. I decided that you, and a few select students, will enter a school dedicated to improving the powers of people like you." He said.

I gulped. This is it. My chance to be a hero.

"And if I decline?" I asked.

"Well, I hope you like jail." He smirked.

I quickly pulled a pen from my pocket and signed the form.

"Congratulations Ms. Camille, you made an excellent choice. though a sixteen year old girl isn't my first choice I'm sure you'll do fine."

He began to walk away, turning his back on me, reading the form.

I began to walk away myself.

"Oh and Ms. Camille." He added.

I stopped and looked back to see him smiling.

He waved the paper at me.

"I'll see you at Hero High." He walked away.

I walked home, smiling.