I was sitting on a skyscraper, my feet dangling off of the ledge. The whole world sat below me in colors of gold and silver. I watched as the cars sped across the road like little ants below me. The wind was a cool breeze on my face. I sighed as I heard the footsteps behind me. My heart thudded at the sound of his approach.
“You’ve really made a mess of everything.” Danny said behind me. I knew it was a dream. But that didn’t make the sound of his voice any less painful. “You’re living with criminals. You’ve completely abandoned your responsibilities. To your friends, to your family, to the people you were supposed to save.” He scolded me.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have ever saved anyone. It was stupid. I was going to get myself killed.” I whispered.
“You’re losing sight of who you are.” He said, with sadness.
I didn’t dare look behind me. Because I knew I’d have to face him.
“Don’t listen to him.” A voice said from below. I looked down. Standing on a ledge, staring up at me, was Jack. The first person I’d saved. I rescued him from Jones. It felt like a million years ago now. “The way you were going, you’d have blown your head off before you ever died from cancer.” He said with a smile.
Staring up at me with those colorless grey eyes. They looked almost red in the sunlight. I stared straight forward at the never-ending street of the city. Stared at that massive silver bridge that sparkled so beautifully.
“That’s not true. You were getting better. You had your friends at your side. You were going to change the world, before you lost sight of it all.” Danny exclaimed. I shrunk back as I heard him start to move closer. The breeze was beginning to pick up.
“It was never about any of that. You never wanted to change the world, or save anyone. It was about the joyride. What’s the difference between saving people for the fun of it and helping out these guys for the fun of it?” Jack argued. “These guys never forced themselves into your lab. They’ve never tried to barge their way into your life when they weren’t welcome.” He continued. He looked up at me with a sharp smile. “And they’ve never pitied you.” I forced myself not to look again. This time I looked up at the sky. The clouds were forming above me.
“Don’t listen to him!” Danny yelled. “He was never your friend. He never sat and talked with you, through your worst moments. He never tried to help!” The storm was starting now. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
“I have something to show you.” Jack smiled as he grabbed my ankle. His face became bruised and beaten. His grey eyes were swollen. His lips were red with blood. He was an exact copy of his beaten self from the night I met him.
…
My mind became a flash of images.
The woman tied down in her own backyard, throat slit open and soaked with blood. While her son squirmed and screamed beside her, his face beat in.
Civilians shot dead in the street.
A house full of burning innocents. People I promised to come back for, burning in a ball of fire as their loved ones watched from below.
High schoolers being mowed down by a madman in a suit of armor. Soldiers ripped in half and decapitated in the streets. Children who had done nothing, men and women with families back home. Ripped to shreds. The psychopath responsible soaked in their blood with a crazed look in his eyes.
A little girl with broken legs. A girl I couldn’t save. Her face dripped with blood. Her eyes sad and hollowed out.
Gary with a bloody gash in his throat. His pale face and terrified eyes. The hollow empty look in Danny’s eyes.
…
“Was all of that worth it? Seeing innocent people die over and over again? What did you gain in the end?” Jack asked. His face had returned to normal. He was still holding my leg.
“It was worth much more than anything you can imagine. It gave your life meaning, Jacob. It gave you a life to look forward to…” Danny argued. “It brought your friends closer than they ever were before.” He was right behind me now.
The sky was pitch black. The rain was falling all around us. I saw phantoms of corpses around us. On the roof, on the ledge, on the ground, in the air. They were as bloody and gruesome as when they were killed. The ones I couldn’t save.
The lighting shook the ground. It knocked me off the roof. I began to fall. I was going to die. But I stopped suddenly. Someone grabbed my wrist. I looked up at his face and the rain began to fall harder. It was the first time I’d seen a friend’s face in over two weeks. Danny smiled as the rain grew harder and harder.
“I have something to show you, too.” He said.
…
The images began to flash.
Jack was on the news. Healthy and alive, because of me. He was in the hospital thanking me for saving his life.
An old man in the hospital from a heart attack. His wife by his side holding his hand. A smile creeps across his face as tears cover her eyes. He was alive.
A pregnant woman and two children safe from a fire. Their faces covered in soot. They held each other’s hands as they watched the building burn.
A group of hostages running out from a building full of terrorists. They looked back at their rescuer leaving the building, as they got to safety.
An unconscious Cement Suit laying flat on his back.
A party raged on and cheered as they watched me fight Kathy. The girl I couldn’t save. But I saved everyone from her.
The hostages leaving the tower, terrified and bewildered. The puppets set free.
My friends were alive and safe, I made sure of that.
…
The sunlight started to bleed through the clouds as I looked up at Danny’s face.
“You have to wake up now.” He said quietly. “But make the right choice this time.” Then he let go. I started to fall. The storm disappeared above.
Leaving only the sun.
…
I was on the floor next to the couch when I woke up. The details of the dream were becoming groggy, fading away. Gar appeared above me, looking down on me from behind the couch. He was shirtless and in the process of putting on clothes. He had a sense of real urgency to him.
“Get up, fast, now, hurry!” He huffed as he got his shirt on and began loading a pistol.
“What?” I said as I began to stand up, unwrapping myself from my covers.
“They found the dinosaur guy. Get your suit on.” He said with seriousness behind his eyes.
And excitement
