Shadow-Man

7

"So some billionaire dick just showed up in his fancy car, and drove you in circles while insulting you, then expected you to just work quietly with him?" Gill asked me after I had told him about what had happened, and told him all about Steven.

"Yeah. Isn't that crazy?" I asked, not actually expecting a response.                       

"It really is. What's even crazier as that you think that he's just going to leave you alone after that."

"Why?"

"Because, based on what you told me, he seems like he has access to things you don't have. Things that could make him dangerous, and you insulted him, then told him no. That man probably isn't used to being told no, and I doubt he'll be happy about it." I thought about what Gill said, turning his words over in my mind, thinking things over very thoroughly.

"Oh god." I breathed. "What if you're right?"

"Then you may have just created a super villain." Gill told me, almost happily.

"You can at least try to be a little upset about it." I grinned. Gill smiled back at me, but his face quickly took the form of a serious expression.

"I am upset about it. I think superheroes are cool, and I think you being a superhero is one of the coolest things ever, so the idea of a super villain running around is, needles to say, cool and exciting to me. However, it would be my best friend fighting said super villain, and humanity doesn't need a super villain running the world, so I really hope I'm wrong about the billionaire. Plus, you could die fighting this man, and just the thought of you dying makes me want to cry." Gill told me, looking like he actually might cry. I knew from experience that whenever Gill cried in front of me, I couldn't help but start crying too.

"Well please don't. I can't stand to see you cry." I said, reaching over and placing a comforting hand on Gill's shoulder.

"I won't. Just, please, be careful. I'll support you through thick and thin, and I know that you love being a superhero, and that's why I love you being a superhero. But be careful. Please." Gill looked at me seriously, and i knew that he meant every word he said with every possible fiber of his being. I smiled at him, thinking about my next words carefully.

"I promise I will." I said. My words seemed to cut through the air, making any other noises around us cease to exist, and my words sounded like they were full of genuine emotion, which was the exact effect I was going for. Gill seemed happy with my response, and smiled at me.

***

After school, I bid Gill goodbye, and began to skateboard home, keeping my guard up. My conversation with Gill about Steven had put me on edge. Then again, after I had beat up that first man in the alley way, during the first mugging that I had witnessed, I had been on edge. It only seemed to get worse after I began sneaking out of my house every night to go kick people's asses. I loved being a superhero, but it did have it's down sides, and one of them was that you got to see first hand that bad people were everywhere.

Not too long after i had left school, a familiar sleek black car pulled up beside me. I rolled my eyes, and kicked up my skateboard. I mad every effort to make myself look bigger than I was, in an effort to intimidate Steven, who was stepping out of the back seat of the car, much like he did the first time. As Steve approached me, I couldn't help but think about everything that Gill had told me, about how Steven very well could be dangerous, and out for revenge against me for telling him no.

I could already see the headlines and news reports about me getting killed. It would be all over the news that 'Tanya' Lang had been murdered, not far from her school. Steven would cover the whole thing up, because he was rich and had the ability to do that, and my death would be ruled off as a suicide or something. This would undoubtedly leave Gill screaming for attention, quite literally, to anyone who would listen that there was no way I would kill myself, and that I was a boy who went by the name 'Tyler'. However, no one would really listen, and Gill would eventually quiet down, but never let it go completely. He would live his life as he chose, and how he had always wanted to, but spend his last moments of life, hoping to see me again once he's gone.