Okay so this was a story I wrote for a synlet contest, I got last place (boo-hoo). Anyways I decided to post it here, because it makes me smile and maybe it will make someone else smile too. :) Please leave comments of any sort and you can even tell me if you think I should continue this oneshot. I thank everyone in advance for even taking the time to read. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Have a fantastic day and a very Happy Easter, Jesus has risen! :)
New York, I mean even the name has the word "new" in it! This was going to be a good, a fresh start, no more "Sorry, I can't… its complicated…" or "Yes, I'll do better next time, I know, I'll study more, somehow." Nope, no more, I'm free at last! I mean sure it took a whole three years to convince ol'mom and pops that the crime fighting/superhero life just wasn't for me, ya, they were disappointed, but, it felt… it felt forced. And I have been pushed around too much in my young life already to have the rest of it taken away by midnight baddies and their equally bad plans, "bad" as in complete and utter FAILURES, like I'm even needed to save the day! Anywho, here I am in wonderful New York City, home of efficient police forces and no known super villains, this is the life.
I keep telling myself all of these wonderful encouraging thoughts as I stare in disbelief at my empty, small, empty, cold, empty, apartment… So, this was how it was going to be, huh? Big bad New York wants to show me who's boss, huh? Well… just great. Peachy. I had been robbed in the less then 48 hours I had lived in NYC.
Everything was gone, or everything that mattered, brand new computer? Gone. Coffee maker? Gone. Pretty patterned purple floral sofa/my current bed? Gone. How was I going to survive? No clue. I mean sure a girl can live without her bed, the floor works fine, and her computer, that's what those new high-tech phones are for, but her coffee? Seriously, those guys are going to pay!
What to do, what to do? Of course the only thing to do was call my parents, despite every fiber in my being yelling against such action, but those fibers where quickly shut up when I discovered that my stash of cash was gone as well. I took a deep breath and started for said high-tech phone, about to dial mom's cell when I passed a window, a window that was the one main downfall of the apartment, it looked directly into the window of the apartment across the ally, I froze. There was a cape, a black cape hanging off the back of a chair in, what looked to be the living room. Now sure this cape could have belonged to some geeky kid with comics for brains but, but something told me otherwise, it was a hero's cape. The kind only the high and mighty, the strong and brave, the courageous and stupid wore. So here was my salvation, in the form of my most dreaded article of clothing. This hero could find the robbers, get my stuff, and be on his way, him happy with my meager praise and thanks, I happy with my coffee maker and the knowledge that my parents were none the wiser.
Immediately I rushed down stairs to the lobby, nearly knocking over the woman who ran the bakery down the street, I half yelled half rambled out an apology secretly thinking that the loss of her delicious donuts due to my rudeness would be a fate worse then the predicament that I was already in. Despite the one incident I managed to get to the next door apartment building, swinging the first set of doors open I was confronted with the second set, the locked set, I looked at the numerous names and corresponding buttons that lined the wall left of the doors, which one? I thought for a second and came to no real conclusion, so I just hit one, a "Yeeessssss, who is it?" was said, so garbled one could barely tell that it was a voice of a human male instead of a robot going through shock therapy, I mean seriously out dated and messed up technology. I replied with "Uh, yes I'm Betty, the realtor, I'm showing an apartment, would you mind buzzing me in, I seemed to have misplaced the key." I thought for a moment, "Well, you know how it is!" I said that a bit to cheerfully I thought. But the door made a loud buzzing sound anyways and I quickly pushed it open.
I zoomed up the stairs, estimating which floor the hero's apartment would be on, I got to the seventh floor and just stood in front of apartment 7C, was this it? Should I knock? Should I go away? Call mom and dad? I swallowed and raised my fist to knock, no one answered, so I knocked again, a bit harder, no one answered, I was about to knock one more time when the door flew open reveling an elderly woman hunched over a cane… Just great…
"Bertha? Bertha your late, I do wish you would hurry in, the cats made another mess, now you know that…" I interrupted, "Uh, I'm sorry but, I'm not Bertha…" The older woman shifted her glasses and gave me a hard look, "Oh." Was her only comment before shuffling back and slamming the door in my face. Rude. I huffed and balled my fists, so, that's a no go on the hero then…
"Miss? May I help you?" A deep voice from behind me asked.
"Does it look like I need help, huh? Mister?" I snarled back as I turned on my heel to face the new annoyance. Then I froze for the second time today, no….
Not possible… Not at all possible… this was the thought that just played over and over again in my mind as I sat on the quite expensive looking sleek black bar stool watching a broad shouldered redhead stir a spoonful of sugar into my coffee. This of course all happened after my initial shock of trying to swing my purse and basically mutilate the guy, where in which he grabbed my arms and muffled my screams with one big meaty hand and drug me into his apartment across the hallway. He all but threw me onto the stool and proceeded to stomp around the room fuming, rambling and cursing with arms flying into the air to illustrate various points. He stopped and glared at me, I was too stunned to do anything but ask for coffee, and then he broke into a fit of laughter before strutting over to the kitchen.
After he handed me the shiny blue mug I took a sip, totally ignoring all possibilities of poisoning. He leaned against the counter, watching me with those blue calculating eyes, a thought came to me.
"Your eyes match the mug." I said in a sort of dream like state.
He chuckled and rubbed his eyes, "Violet, what on earth are you doing here of all places." I shrugged.
"I could say the same to you." I frowned, "Does this mean I have to be the hero and destroy your dastardly plans?"
"Dastardly plans? Do they teach you to say that or are you just naturally a few 1's and 0's short of a binary code?" Then I laughed, he was right, it was so, so, super hero typical for me to assume he was the bad guy, I knew otherwise of course, I mean it was only a HUGE moment in Incredible family history when it was discovered that not only was Buddy Pine alive and well but also working for the good guys! Dad about killed the poor guy who's job was to break the news.
I sighed deeply, "I'm sorry…" Now he shrugged, I noticed that when he shrugged his ever flaming hair bounced, it was cute. Cute? Ugh, bad thoughts.
"So, I hear your one of us now…" I was playing with the coffee mug, slowly turning it in circles, I didn't want to look at him, it was just too painful and awkward.
"Us? Last I heard you quit." This was said with a raised eyebrow. I just nodded my head, clearly uncomfortable with this nonchalant conversation with my worst nightmare.
And thus this horrid little talk went on for thirty minutes or so, he talking of work and obviously avoiding anything to do with my family, I just nodded, though I will begrudgingly admit that he made me giggle a few times, hey, he was funny when he wasn't trying to kill you. As the time passed he sort of grew on me, I lightened up a bit and started talking more, mostly about school, then his phone rang, he picked it up to see who it was but pressed cancel.
"You know it's pretty late… you should probably get home." He mentioned after studying his phone's digital clock.
Then it hit me, home, I had no home, that was the start for all of this! " Uh, ya, about that, that's why I came over here, well, oh it is complicated but, I got robbed." Then I broke into hysterics, who wouldn't after being robbed and founding out that your neighbor is a killer, no matter how reformed. I started rambling "They took every thing! My coffee maker! My blasted coffee maker! And my rug and me sofa! My beautiful purple sofa with big flowers all over, ya I guess it is a bit gaudy but, it was mine!" He looked perplexed and then he gabbed my arm, I still rambling like a crazy person as I struggled but soon gave up as he drug me over to the window and pointed. I shut up and looked over, not knowing what he was doing, and there it was, my sofa, sitting ever so innocently in my living room, "WHAT?"
So long story short it was discovered that I had walked into the show room apartment on the 6th floor of my apartment building instead of my apartment on the 7th floor, hey don't judge I was half dead from school when I stumbled in. Buddy and I became fast friends; after all it helped that we could talk from our windows. We went to museums and hung out at coffee shops, I don't know how but, we worked together, he in all of his bright sarcasticness and me in all of my dark shyness. It really was a new beginning, a new everything really, a new city, a new apartment, a new friendship, and maybe, just maybe, a new relationship, if you know what I mean.