1 The Hero in the Red Mask

She ended her shift tiredly while ambling her way through the dining tables over towards her aunt's office that was in the back corner of her cafe. "Are you finished?" Her aunt asked inquiringly, her eyes were glued to her computer. It took a couple of seconds for Charlie to respond, but she uttered a grunt that corresponded to a 'yes'. Bearing her aunt's silence as an answer, she turned away while huffing out an exhausted sigh-- she made her way to the break room.

Dressing herself up in warm clothes, she squeezed herself through the snug cafe, trying her best to not bump into any tables. Once she made it outside, she felt a brisk breeze--placing her hands over her mouth, she blew warm air inside and massaged them together. While warming up her hands, Charlie took the time to make a loud yawn and began to stroll away from the cafe. Thinking it was another dull night through New York City, she didn't fixate on her surroundings even though her nerves were on its high heels because safe is not much of an operative word anymore when the crime rate in this part of the city has gone up at least five percent. Trudging through the cold, Charlie began to softly hum a mellow tone to keep herself busy from snapping her head back and looking to see if anyone was behind her or following her, but as expected no one was there. "Damn paranoia," she murmured bitterly into her hand as she frantically pulled one away to massage the back of her neck intensely.

This overwhelming paranoia caused her to duck quickly, fastened her eyes and covered her ears, so all she could hear was her erratic heartbeat. She detected a screeching sound that was still loud even if she covered her ears. Reluctantly she opened her eyes and realized she was still alive. Trembling in fear, she gathered the courage to stand up and stare at the damaged car that sat still on the concrete. Her breathing hitched as she continued to stare at it, wide-eyed, confused about what just happened. Charlie would finally blink and heave a sigh of relief, beginning to wonder uneasily about the car that was about to allegedly flatten her.

Charlie, however, suffered the uneasy feeling of paranoia, causing her to feel light-headed with all just what happened and trying to bear it. Her eyes were still fixated on the damaged car as she still tried stomaching it, trying to pretend like it didn't happen. She merely tried taking a deep breath but scurried away to a corner of a dark alleyway and abnormally dry heaved out air, saliva slurred down from her lips as she performed this. Wiping the saliva away from her lips, panting, and clutching convulsively on the side of the corner, beginning to ponder to herself, wondering if she could continue going on with her life like this. Scraping and crawling her way in life with a single strand of sanity left inside her disordered mind, pushing all her doubts to the side.

"Yeah I can keep going," she muttered arrogantly.

Thrusting herself away from the corner, she trudges unsteadily onto the street, gesturing her way towards the damaged car. She gawked at it as her hand lightly traced the dents that were engraved into the car door, its shadow blocking out the shine of the faint street lights that were farther into the distance. Charlie took a minute as her hand continued to lightly scan the dent on the car door, her mind beginning to be occupied with an instant buzz of voices. The voices became more ear-piercing to hear as police sirens added to its roaring, but her hand remained still, as she unknowingly closed her eyes.

Charlie felt herself being dragged into a vision. Where everything surrounding her was blistering, burning pieces of paper were lolling in the open out of nowhere, landing on the windshield wiper. She sat there panting frantically as she checked the backseat out instinct, seeing a little girl in her car seat, her face mortified as her voice stood out in Charlie's head, "Mommy, what's happening?"

"I don't-" She choked out. She was scared too because she couldn't answer the little girl, she didn't know what was happening, she didn't know what to do, who to call, she felt trapped sitting in this car, waiting to die. That's until the hero came.

She instantly pulled herself away from the car door, panting, light sweat forming on her forehead. Charlie instantly felt the feeling from the vision and slowly began to hate it, she hated relieving someone's memory as if it were her own, it sickened her to the core. She didn't like using her powers, she didn't like it when she slipped and unknowingly began using them. She didn't like them at all, they made her dangerous and vile, discrete from her own species. She hated her powers with a passion as they were monstrous to her, they gave her minor episodes because of that day that happened. The flames were huge as she watched the building burn down.

Reluctantly Charlie reverted back to her old ways--digging inside her coat with panic, she slipped out a carton of cigarettes. She tore off the plastic sloppily, flipping open the top of the carton, and picking out a cigarette. She plucked the cigarette between her lips casually, switching out her carton of cigarettes for a lighter. Flicking the lighter at the bottom of her cigarette, taking a few drags and puffing out some smoke, she instantly felt better.

Continuing to inhale and exhale her cigarette, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand straighter than a pole, she felt the feeling that someone was behind her. She made the choice to throw her unfinished cigarette on the concrete, stepping on it and smearing it, taking another deep shaky breath, she looked back. Her eyes were met with a male in a red mask. He stood straight and tall. Silence filled their "welcome wagon".