Everything is NOT okay! We haven’t even met a superhero yet! What the fuck?!

“Everything is NOT okay!” I was still pacing the room. Vanessa was watching me, sitting cross-legged a couple feet in the air.

“What? Oh, I forgot I even asked that.” I forgot to mention I’d been pacing for about ten minutes.

I was thinking about everything. The horrors I’d seen, the danger I was in, the surprises I’d stumbled upon; it all weighed down on my mental.

“Listen, man. You can pace all you want, but that’s clearly getting you nowhere. How about, I don’t know, talking about it?” She flipped upside down. Her long dark hair was close to touching the floor.

“Oh, like you talk about your shit! It isn’t like you explained fuck all to me last night!” I snapped at her. I knew she didn’t deserve it, but I was stressed. The testosterone that made it where men can deal with horseshit piling on them for inane amounts of time was starting to fail me. The camel’s back was breaking.

Vanessa’s face scrunched up. It was weird looking, since it was upside down, but she only seemed mildly annoyed.

“Okay, I can see you’re going through some shit. You are not going to take it out on me, though. When I can explain my situation, I will. You, however, can tell me everything.”

“Actually, I can’t! They- they fucking- they-“ I was finding it hard to talk, hard to breathe. My thoughts were going to fast, the fear was creeping up my spine. I started hyperventilating. Was this a panic attack? I’ve never had one, I don’t know what it feels like or what to do. My chest hurt. I felt lightheaded.

Vanessa was beside me in an instant. Well, for me it was in an instant. I don’t know how or when, but I’d collapsed on the floor. She held my head in her cold lap. She was running her nails through my scalp. It was… tingly. Nice, though. My chest didn’t hurt anymore. She was smiling softly down at me. “You good now? You stopped crying.”

Crying?

“Crying?” I asked, putting my thought into words. I touched my face and felt moisture.

“Dude, you had a total breakdown. You started sobbing and fell to the floor. If I wasn’t, yaknow… the way I am, I wouldn’t have been fast enough to stop you from busting your head open on the ground. You’ve been breathing pretty hard, but you weren’t dying or anything.”

“Christ, I… damn. How long have I been… uh…”

“In my lap?” Vanessa giggled. “About fifteen minutes. Any longer and I would have had to get help. Maybe I should have, honestly. I can’t… go far, but I think I could get Ava, maybe. It would be a bitch to explain a ghost seeking medical help, so I’m glad we didn’t need it.”

I started to get up, but she gently held me down. “Shh… it’s okay. Just sit with me here. Talk to me. I’m here, Michael.”

Was this what having a motherly figure was like? Her physical self was cold; but the warmth of her reassuring me, holding me, touching my hair… it was wonderful.

I told her everything. Every single detail of the last two days. I wasn’t ready to address anything before that. Anything before Lovus. But she wanted to hear it, and I felt so safe. Why did I feel so safe? She wasn’t even alive!

But neither was my mom.

Vanessa listened to every single word. She didn’t speak once. She didn’t even react to anything. She’d heard some of it before, but I feel like any normal person would give some sort of face during the rat-wall part, right?

After my spiel, she didn’t speak for a moment. She looked down at me as I looked up at her. This was a weird thought, but she was very pretty.

She broke the silence. “I’m sorry, Michael. This… sucks. No other words for it. I mean… horrors, tests, ****… no wonder you broke down.”

I didn’t have a response.

“I wish I could help. I don’t… I don’t know what I could do. I’m… weak. I won’t be forever. But I am for now.” Vanessa finally broke eye contact, looking away.

“You keep saying stuff like that. Why? Why can’t you talk to me? I want to know more about you.”

Vanessa bit her lip and looked back down at me. “I… I know. I know I’m being shitty. But, I promise, I can’t yet. I will be able to one day, and I’ll be completely open with you; but, for now… my hands are tied. All I can really do is tell you that my abilities aren’t fully developed yet. I kind of messed up… imagine I’m a battery. Every time I use an ability, it drains that battery some and I need to recharge. Making that ‘window’ last night took a lot out of me. Stuff like letting you be able to see me doesn’t take much. Make sense?” I nodded slowly, not completely getting it. She sighed. “Admittedly, I am surprised at how well you took everything last night. I mean, even discovering me would be enough to scare most people away. What, have you never seen a scary movie?”

“Scary Movie? Like, the Wayans bros?”

She gave me an incredulous look. “What? No, retard; I’m talking about horror movies. Why the fuck would I be asking about that?!”

“I don’t know! That’s why I was confused!”

She laughed. Hard. It started as a small giggle, but the laughs got harder and louder. Her laughter was contagious. I started laughing too. It was a nice moment.

After we got it out of our system, she gently pushed me up. We went back to the bed, cross-legged across from each other like last night.

“You should leave, Michael. Just leave Lovus, try and hide from Hana and Vocx.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. I guess we were back to the serious stuff. “I can’t. There’s no way they’d let me leave and not kill me.”

“Then go to the police!”

“And tell them what? Which part of the story would convince them? And, again, I think they’d just kill me before it went anywhere.”

Vanessa huffed. “You don’t happen to know any surgeons? Like, five-star shit? I saw the bomb, it can only be removed by a top-of-the-line doctor.”

I shook my head. “Unless I could somehow convince Hana, I don’t know anyone else. Ava’s a nurse, but I don’t think that’ll be good enough.”

“Shit. Well… it sucks, but I think you may just need to play along for now. Just hope that an opportunity arrises. I’m sorry, but that’s all I have.”

“What if the shit they’re testing on me kills me? What if it’s, like… super-AIDs?”

She snorted. “Well, I hope it’s not that. Realistically, they’re testing something non-disease related. Could be something as simple as a way to grow more hair, or something as drastic as gender-swapping.”

My eyes went wide. “You don’t actually think it’s that, right?!” I liked girls, but I didn’t want to become one!

She laughed at my expense once again. “I don’t think so, I’d be able to notice something like that when I was inside you. Whatever it is is far less invasive.”

That was a more than a little comforting. It wasn’t something too hardcore. That’s good.

“Alright, I need to get going. I have… things to do.” Vanessa stood up (I assume as a symbolic gesture, considering she could just disappear at any time).

“Already?” I looked up at her, hoping I didn’t sound too ****. The connection was comforting, I didn’t want to be alone.

She gave me her wiry grin. “Oh, did someone expect a repeat of last night? So needy….”

Before I could deny the allegations that weren’t completely inaccurate, she was gone with a laugh. One second she was there, and now she wasn’t.

Damn.

It was a good talk at least. I had gotten the emotions out, and I could see things clearly again. I needed to find an opportunity to get fixed. I also needed to be aware of this truth serum shit.

I went to sleep, mind racing with ideas of escape and cold handjobs (what can I say, she’d brought up the memory!)