Rising Hope

Kingdom Come

Run, run, run away

I think of Meg as the song plays. It's early, and I'm drawing in my sketchbook, and draw a mermaid. Then I draw a landscape with mountains in the background. Then another with a waterfall.

Buy yourself another day

I should get to work soon. Maybe I'll draw one more picture. I slide my phone into my pocket, and keep my earbuds in.

A cold wind's whispering secrets in your ear

The air in New York is crisp and cool as I walk to work. No Avengers, no distractions, just me going to work.

So low only you can hear

I turn my music off and grab my order pad and pen. I take out my earbuds and shove them into my pocket. Already, they're here, and my carefree day of work is over. Instead of going to their table, I go to Arena and Lara.

"The usual?" I ask, but instead of a fake smile, it's genuine.

"Yeah." They say in unison.

I bring back their normal order, and they slide me the money to pay for it. They're nine years older than me, and they faked their deaths when they were sixteen. When they leave, I take the plates and set them in the back.

"Alessa, can you take out the trash?" One of my coworkers ask.

"Sure." I say as I drag the trash bag into the alley.

I shove it into the dumpster, and I catch them staring out of the corner of my eye. I walk back inside, and wash my hands.

"Hey, where's my coffee?" Someone asks.

"Coming!" I shout from the kitchen.

I hold his coffee in my hand and walk out to the counter. I nearly drop it when I see who it was. Captain America. I hand him his coffee, keeping my head down and name tag covered.

"Thank you," he says, trying to find my name tag, "ma'am."

He walks off and I feel a wave of relief. I walk over and collect some dishes from another table. I purposefully avoid their table, because the last thing I need as the cherry of this week's awful sundae is another confrontation. I pull my hair into a ponytail and get back to work, but that also means that my name tag is on full display.

I hear them order some more coffees, so I bring them one each.

"Thanks," Cap says, "Alessa?" He seems surprised, but I just shoot him my signature 'back off before I make you' glare. He doesn't seem phased, and I don't smile.

"Yeah, that's my name." I say as my smart mouth almost takes over. I can't risk it, though. After all, each of these people probably contributed to my sister's murder.

"Listen, we want you to come back to the tower. Maybe we can help you further understand your mutation." Tony says. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

"I think I know plenty. Now, if you'll be ready to leave soon, I'd be pleased. Also, it would be nice for you to stop stalking me." I say, letting my smart mouth take over.

"We just want to help you." Steve says. Yeah, like how they helped my sister die. Have they just forgotten about that, or do they think I forgot.

"Help me? Like how you helped my sister get murdered?" I snap. I felt confident, but there was so much more I wanted to say. I had walked off before they could say anything more, and I started restocking the napkins at other tables.

They finally left, and I had finished my shift by then. I ran home, and immediately changed. I put my earbuds in, and turned the song right back on.

Run, run, run and hide

I wanted to hide in my apartment tomorrow. More importantly, I wanted to go swim to Mako Island. I wanted to swim to Rikki. I wanted to stay with her and Cleo and Emma more than anything.

Somewhere no one else can find

I wonder if they'll follow me, or ever discover what my 'mutation' is. I was never born with the power to control water. That and the tail were major accidents

Tall trees bend and lean, pointing where to go

I had been with Rikki, who was my unofficial mom. She never actually adopted me, we just grew closer and she became like a maternal figure. She was at the Moon Pool, and I was standing on the edge. I slipped and fell in, and now I have a tail.

I turn the music off and go to bed. I can hear the nightlife of the city from my window, which has the curtains closed since tomorrow night is a full moon. I kept a chart on my desk, and a few days before the full moon, I close all of my curtains. It's late October, and Halloween is right around the corner. I have a tiny pumpkin nightlight set up in the corner, and it definitely is not a real pumpkin. I have a few paper pumpkins in the walls, and I'm proud of the hard work I did working on them, even if they look absolutely horrid. The pumpkin light is the only light in my apartment as I drift off to sleep, and I am wrapped in a warm blanket tonight.