Superman

" Murdered!? Did that mean that there's-" I paused and looked around before lowering my tone, "a killer on the loose?"

Roger let out a deep sigh and massaged his temples, "Apparently they still haven't found out who it is who killed him and they're conducting an investigation at the moment. They have a few suspects."

"That is so terrible! Did you know him personally?"

"He was the owner of Rodrick's Diner. He was such a nice man. I don't see how...how someone could do that to him. How someone could kill him like that."

I stood up and hugged him, "I am so sorry, Roger. I feel so bad for his family."

Roger laid his head on my shoulder, "The entire town is his family. He's going to be having a memorial soon, so we were all planning on going."

Roger and I stayed like that for a little bit before Roger's dad came up to us, "You must be Victoria." His voice was husky and deep and it made me jump.

I pulled away from Roger and looked down as I spoke, "yes sir." I glanced up to get a good look at his features. Without the mask I could definitely see the resemblance in Roger. His dad aged well and looked good for his age. It made me think that Roger was going to be a very handsome man when he got older.

"I know that you just moved here and I'm guessing Roger told you the news. I promise you that our town is a lot more peaceful than this and I will catch the killer very soon, so I'm hoping that this doesn't scare you because you're under my protection!" He gave me an assuring nod.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him, "You? What do you mean you're going to catch the killer."

Roger's dad opened one side of his jacket to expose a golden badge that was sitting on the hip of his belt. My lips slightly parted as I realized that he was the sheriff. He reached out his hand to shake mine, "People usually call me Sheriff Kent, but you can just to refer to me as Mr. Kent little lady."

I reached out my hand and he gripped it firmly with his rough hand and shook it. Wow. I didn't know that Roger's dad was the sheriff. That's pretty cool. I nodded, "I'm sure that he will be caught and brought to justice."

Johnathon hopped out of Dad's lap and ran to me.

(sign) "Did you meet the sheriff?" he smiled widely at me and seemed excited. It looked like he didn't know exactly what was going on and I envied his innocence.

I smiled and replied, "Yes, I did! He's going to catch the bad guy." I looked up at Sheriff Kent and nodded. He was going to catch the killer for sure

The rest of that day was a quiet day. No one spoke much and everyone minded their business. Roger went over to Rodrick's cafe to talk to Rodrick's family and comfort them while I stayed home and read a book.

I had been staring at the same page for the past fifteen minutes. I couldn't get it off my mind that someone was actually killed! This town is so small and everybody knows each other, so it's like someone killing someone in their family and then the entire family trying to figure out who the murderer is among them!

It was hard to relax since I couldn't shake the fact that there was a murderer on the loose. I tried my best to keep my mind busy, but I wasn't going to be able to rest until he was caught.

I'm guessing that everyone else felt the same way since everyone was quiet at dinner. Dad had been comforting Anne and Aunt Nina about it. Apparently Rodrick had been one of their very close friends since high school.

I could see that it really took a tole on Aunt Nina because she didn't even feel like eating and instead went to bed early. Anne tried her best to keep her focus plastering the cracks in the walls and also didn't talk much.

That night I had to force myself to go to sleep. The next day was my first day of school after all. It looked like no matter what happened in this town, the school still continued to teach. Education must really be important.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my room door. I slowly opened my eyes and squinted at the light that was barely shining through my white curtains. It looked early. What time is it? I lazily rolled over to face my alarm clock. 6:31 a.m.

Why is someone knocking on my door at six in the morning? I stumbled out of my bed and slowly made my way to my door. I yawned as I opened it, but my eyes grew wide when I noticed it was Roger. He wearing a red t-shirt and Levi pants. Why was he already dressed for the day?

He looked me up and down and snickered, "If you don't get up you're going to be late for your first day. School starts at nine-ten and we're leaving at seven-forty so I can give you a tour of the um.." he looked distracted, but continued, "give you a tour and show you to your classes. You got two hours superman." He smirked as looked me up and down one more time before he walked down the hall to the stairs and shook his head.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I wiped the sleep from my eyes, 'superman? What did he mean by-' my heart stopped as I looked down. I forgot I had taken my pants off last night and I was wearing underwear with the superman logo. I covered my face as it turned crimson red. Why did it always have to be me? Why can't I catch him in his boxers or struggling to speak for once?

"God, I hate my life." I mumbled to myself before closing my door.

After I took a shower and got dressed I started downstairs. I decided to wear a black T-shirt, cuffed light blue pants that had holes where my knees were, and white sneakers. I put my hair in a high pony-tail and it swung back and forth down my back as I made my way down the stairs. I checked my watch. 7:36

Roger was sitting at the bar with a back pack in his lap and was scrolling through his phone, but turned it off once he saw me, "There you are, superman. You ready to go?"

Why did he have to keep calling me that. Why? I felt my face burn as I responded, "y-yes. I'm ready." That was a lie. I definitely was not ready to leave. Public school? Why did it have to be public school!? I just know they're going to hate my guts!

Anne came out of the kitchen door with her blond hair in a bun and plaster all over her clothing. I'm guessing she was still fixing up the walls. She still seemed off and I'm sure that is was because of Rodrick.

"Oh! Victoria! I almost forgot you two had school today! Wow, you look beautiful. Nina wanted to see you off this morning, but she had a few errands to run. She told me to give you this. Hold on give me a second." Anne walked to the back and came back out with a back pack.

I took it and looked inside. It had everything that I would need for school. Well, everything that I guess I needed for school. When I was homeschooled all I needed was a laptop and a few pieces of paper for notes.

I thanked Anne and told her to thank Aunt Nina for me before Roger and I walked out.

"So is there like...a bus stop?" I looked around and asked Roger.

"Oh no. I usually walk because it isn't that far from here."

"oh...okay. Well I don't have a schedule or anything. I don't even know my home room teacher."

Roger smiled and put his arm around my shoulder which caused my heart rate to increase, "Don't worry about all of that. My mom pulled a few strings and you're going to be in my home room. My best friend and I have permission to show you around the school!"

"Your best friend?" Did that mean I had to talk to more people? I wanted to get through this as fast as possible. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to talk to anyone.

"Yeah, her name is Clasteina and she's pretty awesome!" Roger beamed.

Roger could see the concerned look on my face and pulled me closer, " Don't worry! She's really nice and she isn't scared of vampires." Roger joked about the comment I had made about looking like a vampire. Even though I knew he was joking my feelings were still a little hurt. Roger could also see this.

"Ah! Vic, I didn't mean it like that! You're not a vampire. I was trying to make a joke, but I'll make a mental not to joke about that. You're going to be fine Victoria. I promise you that no one is going to judge you. You're perfectly fine."