Andrea watched from her window as the taxi driver pulled away. She watched the clouds roll by imagining that it spelled her name, like Lois Lane. Andrea smiled and whispered to herself, “My superman is coming… Maybe a little bit late. He got stuck at the Laundromat washing his cape.” Andrea sighed and stepped away from the window, placing herself on her bed and looking around her small, yet cozy room. She fixed her gaze upon a picture on her wall of Superman holding Lois Lane in his arms as they flew through the city. “When will he come…? I’ve been waiting for a while now…”
Andrea stepped outside of her old, vined apartment and took a deep breath in, breathing in the soft snowflakes of the winter sky. She sat down on the stairs and enjoyed the nature around her. Although there was not much nature in the New York City atmosphere, she enjoyed every last bit of the city. Andrea wrapped herself up with a tiny blanket and watched as the cars passed by or stopped for traffic. Honking noises were as loud as fireworks on the fourth of July. Andrea still couldn’t help but make a wish on a passing car. She stood up from her spot and roamed around her block. Andrea looked down as she walked, not expecting to be pushed towards a wall, a speeding bike passing by inches away from her.
“What was that for?!” She yelled to the boy who pushed her. “I could’ve gotten hurt!” But this was no ordinary boy. He looked about the same age as her; maybe a year or two older.
The boy just stared at her, “You could’ve gotten more hurt if you got hit by that bike and I’m not just going to stand there and watch as the bike hits you.” The boy walked away after that one sentence.
Andrea walked into her art classroom and sat down on the stool behind her easel. She placed her torn up, raggedy bag against the stool and took out her paint, paintbrushes and pencil. No one was in the classroom to bother her; it was silent as a cool summer night without the cricket sounds. As Andrea placed her pencil against her canvas, her imagination flowed throughout her mind. Sketching as carefully as she could, she blocked out any other sound and issues in reality and got sucked in to the best place ever created; her imagination.
Andrea placed down her paint brush and wiped the droplets of sweat that rested upon the soft skin of her forehead. She took a deep breath and stepped back, admiring her artwork that took hours to make. The canvas was covered in black and white and a drawing of a girl looking out her window was drawn on the canvas. The girl seemed a bit sad. There was no color in her world. It was all black and white. The city outside her window was black and white. Everything was drawn and painted in dark, gray colors all except for one thing… Her superman flying outside of her window.
The next day, Andrea walked back into the art classroom, seeing all of her classmates surround her painting she made the previous day. Andrea slowly approached the large crowd and listened to the tiny whispers that escaped like tiny mice squeaks. ‘What is this?’ ‘This looks so stupid.’ ‘Is this what she calls art?’ ‘This is too depressing. Why would she draw this?’
“Excuse me…” Andrea managed to speak out.
Everyone turned their attention to Andrea. “Why’d you make this? It’s too depressing!”
Andrea stepped back, terrified out of her bones. “I umm… I don’t know… I don’t know why I made this. I never should have made this. I’m sorry. I’ll get rid of it.” Andrea pushed through the crowd and grabbed her painting, heading out the door. ‘I never should have made this. I knew I would get bullied by it. What was I thinking?’ Andrea’s mind blew up.
Andrea was about to leave when she was blocked by a body. She looked up and saw the same boy she saw the other day. She let out a tiny gasp as he spoke. “Hey! Leave her alone! What gives you the right to put someone down when they’re doing something that they love. Opinions are opinions but you should never use your opinions to bully someone and make fun of a drawing that she made which clearly shows that she spent a lot of time on it and she is proud to call it her artwork.”
The room got dead silent. Car horns sounded throughout the room. No one had anything to say; feeling ashamed; they look down and left the room. Andrea turned to the boy and smiled, “Thank you…”
The boy gave a warm smile back, “Anytime.”
“I never caught your name… All I know is that you’re the guy that pushed me towards the wall… Oh, and I’m sorry for yelling at you that day, I was being rude…” Andrea looked down at her shoes.
The boy let out a musical laugh, “My name’s Kian. Kian Lawley.”
Andrea looked back up at Kian. “I’m Andrea. Andrea Russett.”
Kian nodded and sat down against the wall of the art room. “’Mind telling me why you’re drawing looks so sad? It’s really good though. I just want to know the story of it.”
Andrea sat down next to him, holding the painting in front of her to examine it once more. “I don’t know actually… I think I made it based off of my story. It’s a stupid story though.”
Kian smiled, “No tell me. I wanna know.”
“Well, you see that little superman in the sky right there?” Andrea pointed to the man in red and blue. Kian nodded. “Well, I guess that signifies that I’m still waiting for my superman to pick me up in his arms and take me anywhere like Lois Lane. I never really liked my past and I just want to fly away from it. ‘Ya know? Like flying away from reality.”
Kian turns his attention to Andrea, “You know, I never really liked my past either. I’ve gotten bullied and I saw you get bullied. No one stood up for me when I got bullied and I never want anyone else to feel the pain I did. All those days of being alone and being pushed around. I hated it…”
They sat through a few minutes of silence. Andrea processing what Kian said through her mind. Kian spoke once again, “These are the lyrics to my favorite song and I live by them every single day… ‘If you’re lost and alone, or sinking like a stone, carry on. May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground, carry on.’”
Andrea turned her attention to Kian. She has found her Superman… And he was out saving the day without asking for anything in return. Her superman dropped off his cape at the Laundromat and dressed up as Clark Kent to protect her. She may have been rude to him, but he still protected her. “Thank you Kian… Thank you.”
