RED HOOD ✔

19: SO WHAT NOW?

"Nooo!" Joshua's voice broke as his brother's lifeless body collapsed into his arms. He tapped Mitchel's face frantically, trying to will him back to life. "You can't do this to me, Mitchel! You promised you'd take care of me! You're not done with that promise!" His words were desperate, raw, each one laced with a child's pain and helplessness.

I rested my hand gently on Joshua's trembling shoulder, but he shoved it away. His tears flowed freely now, his small hands still clutching Mitchel. "You're a liar! I hate you! You said you'd always be there for me!" he cried, his voice rising with each sob. "When Mom and Dad died, you promised—you promised you'd take care of me!"

I felt the weight of it all. This kid had just lost the only person he had left in the world. And now, here he was, sobbing uncontrollably, the weight of it too much for his young shoulders to bear.

"They keep taking! They never stop taking from me!" Joshua screamed into the chest of his lifeless brother. "I just keep losing," Joshua's voice cracked, and his chest heaved. "Why do I keep surviving," he muttered through his tears, resting his head against his brother's chest, shaking with sobs that wouldn't stop.

The ride back home felt agonizingly long, with the weight of loss hanging over us like a storm cloud. When we finally arrived, Apsychos and I carried Mitchel inside. The atmosphere in the house was heavy, silent, save for Joshua's stifled cries.

Anna stormed into the living room, with a look like I was about to get the scolding of a lifetime, but she stopped as soon as she noticed the corpse we had in tow.

"Is that Mitchel?" Anna's voice wavered. Her eyes grew wide with grief as she took in the sight of his lifeless body. I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

"He died because of him," Apsychos spat, his voice thick with anger. "Marshall."

But that was a lie. I clenched my fists. "You're wrong, Apsychos. This was my fault. Every bad thing that's happened in this village—it's because of me."

They all looked at me, their faces a mixture of shock and confusion.

"I'm the guardian of this village. I was supposed to protect everyone from these kinds of threats, to keep them safe." I swallowed hard. "But Mitchel... he died right in front of me."

Anna stepped forward, shaking her head. "Vincent, you can't save everyone. You're just a kid."

I shook my head fiercely, unable to accept her words. "No, Anna. I'm more than just a kid. What's the point of these powers if I can't even save the people that matter to me?"

Anna's irritation flared. "Get your head out of your ass, Vincent!" she yelled, her frustration boiling over. "You are not that important; you can't take responsibility for everything that happens in this village."

"But it's my fault he's still alive!" I shouted, my voice cracking with emotion.

Aunt Liza stepped forward, her face drawn with worry. "Vincent... I knew it was too soon to bring you here. You're still too young. Your mother would never—"

"My mother is dead!" I cut her off, the words escaping with a sharpness that stung even me. "Mitchel is dead. Mason is dead. Ruth was cursed to eternal damnation. All these good people are gone! And yet people like Marshall Crane live. The Sacred Four live. Even the Beast still roams free, ruining and taking lives. And I—" My voice wavered. "I can't stop any of them. Not because I don't have the power or the skills, but because I've been too scared to play the same games that they are playing."

Apsychos looked at me, his expression stunned, as if my words had slapped him. "Vincent, if we truly want to make a difference and be the symbol we want to be, we can't be anything like them. You told me that. Going down that path would do way more harm to us than good."