Dreams of an Absolution

Fading Light (Episode 18)

A week had passed since the beginning of May, and Timothy was doing nothing but lying in his bed and staring at his ceiling. He said to himself, "I'm sooo bored. There's nothing to dooo!" Timothy then reached over and grabbed his remote to turn on the television. As soon as he did so, he wasn't happy to see what was on.

It was a news report from a week and a half ago, and it was about how two large buildings were wrecked by a boy with white hair. When they played the footage on the news, it was clear to Timothy that the boy in the video was Lucas when he scared off the black suited criminals that were causing trouble that one night. It only made Timothy feel worse than he already felt, knowing that half the public were terrified of Lucas after what he did. There was also a side report about two local villains causing destruction, but Timothy had shut off the television before going into any further detail.

Timothy clenched his heart and said in his head, "It's all my fault. If I wouldn't have forced Lucas to come outside, this would've never happened. And on top of that, I only wanted Lucas to come outside to make him feel better and loved by the public, but instead, they all hate him now."

Timothy then began breathing heavy and tearing up. He quickly grabbed his inhaler off his dresser and took two puffs to calm himself down. As he began catching his breath, he said to himself, "I've always wanted to be a hero, but at this point, I feel like I'm nothing but a villain."

All of sudden, Timothy's phone began ringing. It was Brian calling. As soon as Timothy answered the phone, Brian excitedly shouted, "Timothy! You're not going to believe this!" Timothy replied, "Why, what happened?" Brian eagerly replied, "I got a letter from The Mastery Professional Hero Academy for tryouts dude! It's the best day of my life!" Timothy smiled and said, "Oh, that's uh, great Brian! I'm so happy for you!" Brian replied, "Thanks dude! I'll talk to you later!"

After Brian hung up, Timothy rolled off his bed and onto the floor. As sincere as Timothy was when he said he felt happy for Brian, he was dying on the inside. As soon as he thought things couldn't get anymore depressing for him, Jessica sent him a text that read, "Yo Tim, I like, totally just got a letter from the new hero school dude! I'm so excited omg! So did Brian, I guess we were recognized for stopping that villian at the arcade." Timothy wrote back, "That's awesome Jessica," and turned off his phone. Timothy grabbed his pillow and yelled into it as tears soaked the pillow sheet. He felt as though his dreams were crushed right there and then.

About to sleep off his sadness, a loud crash and scream was heard from a few blocks away from Timothy's house. It instantly startled him, waking him up before he even had the chance to fall asleep. As soon as he processed what he had just heard, he quickly threw on his untied sneakers and ran outside his front door without hesitation.

He sprinted down sidewalk and onto the block the sound specifically came from, only to be met with a horrific surprise....