Chapter Two - Not All Heroes Where Capes
"You can not be a hero without being a coward" - George Bernard Shaw
Dedicated to @ChristinaHuang for being an incredible friend. Thanks, Chris.
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Night. I have always been confused as to how people can sleep at night, when it seems to be the best time to for thinking. You can not see anything that could affect your opinions, and you are more often than not alone, so there is no one to inflict their thoughts on you. This way of thinking may be the reason I suffered from insomnia, but I liked to think it is because I lead a busy lifestyle that doesn't allow me much time to sleep. This is what I liked to think.
If I still had an alarm clock, it would probably say '12:04' or even 'get some sleep, idiot'. However, my alarm clock was at the back of my wardrobe, in multiple pieces. I would have bought a new one, nut the people who work at the local Tesco questioned me last time when I bought my fifth alarm clock in two months. That was two weeks ago. And I would rather not face their exasperated sighs when they see yet another alarm clock sitting in front of them with me sitting behind them.
I could hear someone downstairs. Probably Charlie, in need of a late night drink or a slice of walnut cake. Mrs Weston was fantastic like that; she baked various treats for us constantly. It meant we were never short on food,
With a sigh, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and got up. I figured I could use a coffee, despite the late time. It wouldn't exactly help my sleeping difficulties, but at least it would make me feel some what better. However, when I went downstairs, it wasn't Charlie sitting on the couch - it was Ben.
"What the hell?" I near-screamed, clearly not used to having people I barely knew come into my flat uninvited at 12:17am.
Ben looked up at me as if the situation was entirely normal. "I'm reading," he announced, holding up a book. It was 'Twilight' yet again. I stared at him as if he were insane, which probably wasn't far off the truth.
"Reading?" I repeated in an agitated whisper. "Reading? BEN TAWSON, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
"I don't think so," he said, his eyes drilling into mine. "Anyway, I thought it was obvious. I hold a book in my hands; what else would I be doing?"
I gritted my teeth together in frustration.
"Is there a problem, Rose?" he asked, flipping a page of his book as he spoke.
"Ben," I sighed, feeling suddenly tired. I remembered why I had come down there in the first place; coffee. I turned and started the coffee machine before sitting beside his long legs on the couch.
"Ben, it's not normal to come into someone's flat at 12:17 in the morning and start reading, especially if you only met that person recently," I explained, feeling some what awkward. Ben was looking at me.
"Didn't you know?" I said, more gently. He shook his head.
"I have a form of autism, Rose," he almost chuckled, his deep voice no more than a whisper in the darkness. "I have difficulty in functioning like a regular person, and in reading other people's expressions."
Autism; it made sense. I had a 14 year old cousin who lived with autism, and she too found it hard to act normally and understand right from wrong. She was quite young, and yet she was my hero. She would never let her autism get in the way of her life.
When we discuss heroes, we talk of men in capes and women with powers. We talk of extraordinary, gifted people who save they day. These heroes are no more than figments of imagination; they do not exist in the real world. Every human being is as special and gifted as the next, and we wear everyday clothes and deal in everyday situations. The real life heroes, though - they exist. The very normal, very regular people around us, being great in the smallest of ways. The people who don't wear capes, who don't have super powers.
YOU ARE READING
Rose's World
Novela Juvenil❝My life has always leant towards the 'slightly pathetic' side of life. I mean, I'm 27 and I'm still waiting for a miracle of sorts. Still holding out for Prince Charming to come save me from my agonizingly mundane life. Nothing ever happens to me.❞...