Hero

by Maya Beebop

You should never try to hurt someone from the inside...

Johnny kept walking. He didn't listen to the simple pretext of the saddening events that would come to pass that evening. Didn't hear the whispers of his past mistakes that told him to guard his feelings from the world. Because when you forget to keep those memories inside, they can be used as weapons against you. Someone will turn you on yourself, and there's nothing to keep you safe anymore.

He was walking through the dirty alleys of his city; just remembering what life was like before. Before Devi, before the Doughboys, before everything within him had completely turned around. He tried to remember those carefree days when all he had to worry about was when he was going to play with a friend, or what was going to be for lunch that day.

Johnny didn't care when a man just ran by him clutching a smallish pile of cloth. Didn't notice the frightened yet hardened expression on the man's face. But what he did notice was the bear.

The small, stuffed bear sticking out of the side of the bundle.

Squee.

There's a hero

If you look inside your heart

You don't have to be afraid

Of what you are

There's an answer

If you reach into your soul

And the sorrow that you know

Will melt away…

It's a funny thing that happens when someone tries to hurt you from the inside. Especially if it's happened before. Your heart contorts and twists into a knot of pure overflowing emotion and you can't stop it. All you can do is hope and pray that it's over soon, because you know that if it isn't, your soul will just disintegrate and you'll be left as nothing but an empty shell of your former self.

Johnny bolted after the man. There was no way in hell he would let this completely obscure man shove the blade of hurt deeper into his heart. Johnny had taken too much of that to let it happen again.

He caught up to the man in an alley. How perfect. It looked like a showdown in an old western movie. The man tossed the bundle aside and from within it came a muffled cry of pain. The man readied himself for a fight. Squee even managed to wiggle his head out from the top of the sack to stare in awe at his savior.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive

so when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

then you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you…

Johnny braced himself as he took the man's flying blows. But that didn't last long. The man tired himself out before he could land three punches. Johnny whipped up like some demonic yet angelic creature, bent on destroying this foe.

He landed several good punches. The man's nose was bloodied, but no worse than Johnny's face, which bore several paper-thin cuts and a bruise or two.

To Johnny, it didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was taking Squee away from this man and doling out his retribution. And Johnny fought harder, as a few first drops of rain started falling.

The man's face now showed several deep gashes from when Nny caught hold of his head and bashed it into a brick wall. The drops turned into a downpour, and the rain mixed with spilt blood on the pavement. But then the tables turned.

The man was a lot more muscular than he seemed, and took Nny up and threw him against the wall. Johnny looked up through a blood-soaked face to see the man grinning. They both knew no one was going to come. No one to save anyone. No one to stop this man from all but kill Johnny and take Squee away.

It's a long road

when you face the world alone

no one reaches out a hand

for you to hold

you can find love

if you search within yourself

and the emptiness you felt

will disappear…

Johnny would never know where the strength came from. He would never know what kept him going in the face of such a dire situation. But it was there, like wings on the feet of a terrified person.

Johnny got up, and proceeded to pummel the man until there was nothing left but a carcass of someone who dared try to hurt him more. All the time, Squee had sat there, amazed at what Johnny was doing to his captor.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive

so when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

and you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you, ohhh…

Johnny kept punching the dead man until he could raise his fist no more. He was devoid of all signs of life. He just sat there, in the rain, drenched to the bone, as Squee looked on. In the falling water, Johnny waited. Waited for love. Waited for hope. Waited for an absolution that would never come.

Lord knows

dreams are hard to follow

so don't let anyone

tear them away

hold on

there will be tomorrow

in time

you'll find the way…

Squee waited. Then, getting up, he ran over to Johnny and hugged him. A quick, short, soft hug. But it meant the world to Johnny.

But Johnny didn't show it. Not even as Squee ran off home. Not even as the rain continued to pelt him. He just sat there on the muddy pavement and watched the blood run off with the rain down into the swirling excess waters in the sewer. He thought many things in that time, many that came and went as quickly as a raindrop can fall to earth; so fast, in fact, that Johnny could barely grasp them before they slipped away. And just before the pain swirled around him and brought him down to earth, making him lie face-down on the pavement, sprawled out next to a failed person, Johnny thought to himself;

It's a funny thing that happens when someone tries to hurt you from the inside.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive

so when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

then you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you.