Fallen Hero:
There was a time when I was famous. Everyone knew who I was, and every burglar and villain feared my name. I could fly at a sped that not even today’s super-jets could match. I could balance a semi-trailer on a single finger. Easily. I dedicated my life to saving others. I was Mr. Fantastic!
Was. Now I’m here. Some kind of institution in London they use to stow away the elderly and sick. In the hallways you can hear heavy breathing from some poor guy trying to get from one room to another. The walls are groped, having specks of grey and yellow here and there. I think they were white once upon a time. Probably back when I was a hero. This place is just like me: worthless.
All I do is sit here and rot. Day in and day out. If only I could travel in time! Even though I can with my mind, my body will always be here. Withering. I know that when I wake up, I’ll be back into this boring life. But it is worth it. As I close my eyes, I feel myself getting younger.
I soar through the air, picking up people who fell out of an exploding aeroplane. I make them form a chain. There! The last one. Gently, I let go of them, just above the water surface. They thank me. They adore me. Because this is what I do. I save the day.
“Mr.Benson, it’s dinner time,” the nurse says as she wakes me from my slumber. That’s all I am now. No more Mr. Fantastic. I am no longer a hero. I am merely another citizen. James Benson, my alter-ego during the hero days, is now my full time identity.
As I take the last few steps with the help from both a nurse and my walker, I feel completely out of breath. Me, who could extinguish the fire in a burning building with nothing but the air in my lungs. I sit down by my usual spot at the cafeteria. Todays special: Grey slime with chunks of mystery meat. My favourite.
Halfway through my meal a nurse hands me a cup with some pills in. I don’t like the pills. They make me forget. They make me forget my life as Mr. Fantastic. They replace all of my memories with someone else’s life. Someone who married, got children, and got old. But that’s not my life.
Therefore I replace my cup with the empty cup belonging to the guy sitting beside me. He’s already taken his pills, but he’s got Alzheimer’s, so he’ll take mine too. He probably need them more than me anyways.
By the time I’ve reached my room I’m hungry again. It’s not like I didn’t eat as much as I should, it’s just been that long of a time since I started walking back. As I enter the room I see the only person adding colour to my life these days: Tom. The young man, tall, thin and fit. With piercing blue eyes and blonde hair looking like he just got out of bed.
I start telling stories to Tom. About my life as a super-hero. “I wasn’t the only one with super-powers. There were many of us. Some born with them, others were gifted with them of various reasons at some point of their life. I got mine due to radiation-exposure,” I say, as Tom take in every word I say.
“Unfortunately, not everyone used their powers for good. They only thought about about themselves. What they could gain, and what they could achieve. And some of them were just downright crazy.” Tom looks at me with big eyes and asks: “What do you mean crazy?” As an answer I snort.
“Well, for instance, there was this guy who thought that anyone with super-powers was the next step in human evolution, homo superior, and that we needed to exterminate the weaker kind, the homo sapiens. Of course we…” I am interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
“Talking to ourselves again, are we Mr. Benson.” the nurse more states than asks. “No, can’t you see Tom? He is literally sitting right… here.” What started as an angry sentence quickly fades away when I realize he is no longer here. In fact, it is like he never was. “Yes, of course Mr. Benson,” the nurse says with a sympathetic smile. And just as I realize the truth, she says: “Now, let’s have a second try with those pills of yours, shall we?”
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I wrote this after watching x-men... If you didn't notice. Yeah, and by the way, Benson never was a super-hero. Just in case you didn't get that.
