The Reason| Hawks x OC

Chapter 3

The song Paint it Black by Ciara helped me write this chapter.

It took Hado a few hours to calm me down. Although, if I was being honest, I hadn't really adjusted as much as I told her I had. I barely slept that evening. My mind wandered over what ifs and it was becoming rather toxic inside my head. Early the next morning, I got up and turned on the television to watch the news again.

"Reports are coming in that clean-up of the collapsed building are coming along great. There's still no sign of Winged Hero Hawks which is leaving everyone baffled. Fellow journalists have tracked down the jet propulsion hero Quickstream. Videos have shown that he was the one responsible for shoving Hawks into the debris field as the building collapsed. We reached out to him to ask a few questions about the incident."

The news feed shows multiple journalists holding up microphones to him, asking him several questions: "Are you responsible for the potential death of Hawks?" "Do you think Hawks is just injured?" "Did you do it on purpose?"

The last question caused him to turn around towards the camera and grab the journalist's microphone.

"I was trying to shove him out of the way!" He bared his teeth menacingly as he spoke. "If he was too slow to dodge the debris, that's his problem! Not mine!" The camera zoomed in on his face. His eyes reflected a panic not easy to hide under such scrutiny. "He knows the risks of being a hero. Don't make it into something it isn't!" He shoved the journalist away and stormed off screen.

"You don't want to be held accountable for your actions, do you?" I murmured to myself. My fingernails bit into the palms of my hands, leaving perfect bloodied crescents in the heels. The more I thought about it, the more I pictured meeting this guy in person and interrogating him. I knew it could get me in trouble, but I felt like there were things he wasn't owning up to. His story wasn't adding up. I watched the news off and on throughout the day, mostly taking notes and looking up any information about this hero, Quickstream.

Hado had caught me scribbling webs of notes on the legal pad I'd been using for apartment hunting later that afternoon and started questioning me.

"Iris, what are you writing down?" She leaned over and tried to make sense of the information I'd gathered.

I covered part of the papers and looked over at her. "Just notes on that news story with Hawks. You know, clues."

Hado titled her head in confusion. "Why would you need to take notes for clues? Did you figure something out?" She reached for the pad.

"Not sure. I'm still checking my notes." I folded the pages I'd written on back down and hugged it to my chest, then glanced at her to gauge her reaction to my lack of willingness to share.

Hado shrugged it off after a while of us staring at each other, neither backing down. She sat down on the other side of the room and started reading a book. Every now and then I would see her eyes dart up at me, then at the pad, then back at her book. Though she would turn a page every now and then, I doubted she was getting any reading done at all. I quietly sighed to myself as I grabbed the small bit of information I wrote down and left behind the random doodles so Hado wouldn't suspect anything. I folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I quickly changed into some jeans and a light blue top, leaving for my destination.

"Hado, I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" She immediately looked up from her book and uncurled her legs from beneath. She pushed her toes into the sandals she'd left beside her chair.