FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #3

I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work.

Mystery Man Saves Ten in Fire.  The paper heading screamed at me from the top of the page, demanding my attention.  I couldn’t seem to look away.  Could it possibly be him?  It had been so long, yet I remembered him every day. 

                My walk home had always been a dangerous journey before I began to take the subway.  I knew this, but it had seemed like a waste to pay for fare when I would only be riding for a few minutes.  I always walked purposefully, stopping for nothing in my haste to reach my destination,  taking a thorough inspection of my surroundings with every bend.  The cherished  safety I’d experienced could only last so long. 

That night there was a  fading twilight, and I glimpsed a shadow creeping behind me, stopping when I stopped.  I quickened my pace, hoping to lose him, but he gained on me.  I screamed hysterically for help, though there was no one on the deserted avenue to hear my cry.  I felt him come up behind me and tensed.

                But all that came next was a dull thwack, and a sharp intake of breath.  I saw from the corner of my eye my assailant on the ground, motionless.  I turned around hesitantly, hoping not to find some worse fate awaiting me now.  Another man stood over at the first, looking down at the man on the ground with a sort of dazed expression on his face.  His brawny self towered over me, his muscular build rather attractive.  His face was obscured by darkness; hair falling halfway down the forehead and flipping up everywhere else, blown by the whirl of the wind.  He was still for several long moments until he noticed my staring, and then glanced up at me sharply. 

                Both of our expressions turned to surprise, his almost guilty.  He squatted slightly and jumped up in one fluid motion, leaping up into the air.  I blinked, and he was gone, along with my attacker.  I looked all around me, astonished by the miracle that I thought I had seen, but he was nowhere to be found.  “Come back,” I called. 

                There was no answer, though I called several times.  “Say something!  I need to thank you at least.”  I would talk to this empty street all night if I had to.  I needed to know more about this mysterious rescuer, I could not leave this enigma unsolved.  I looked up at the sky, feeling ridiculous for even thinking the thought.  What I thought I had seen could not have occurred, wasn’t possible, somehow I must have imagined it.  “Please, I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you want!”

                “You’re welcome,” I heard a deep voice behind me whisper reluctantly.  I spun around.  He stood in the middle of the road, frowning deeply at me. 

                “I’m sorry,” I said, looking away and growing red.  “I didn’t mean to inconvenience you any longer, I just wanted to tell you how grateful I was.  You saved me from something really awful.” 

                “Anyone else would have done the same thing,” he said, his face softening and turning to modest embarrassment. 

                He looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.  I felt anger rise in me for a moment.  He shouldn’t have saved me if he hadn’t wanted me to thank him afterward.  I hesitated before saying anything more, but my curiosity was too much to bear.  “Did you. . .I thought I saw. . .How did you get away from me so quickly?  And where did he go?”  I asked, pointing to the spot of pavement where the other man had lain. 

                He looked at me painfully for a moment.  “I need to leave,” he said quietly, quietly enough that I had to strain to hear it.  He leapt off the same way he had before, and soared off above the buildings and into the city before my awed eyes. 

                The loud intercom of the subway car announcing my stop jolted me back to the present, and I smiled thoughtfully as I stepped off the car.  Even after the months it had been, I still couldn’t fully believe what I’d seen.  Many times I’d questioned the memory, but this article proved it all.    

                In the blurry, grey smudged photo of the burning building, the half outline of a man protruded from the roof, such a small detail that it would only be noticed by someone looking for it.  I was sure it was my hero who had saved me those weeks ago.  It made me smile to think that he was still out there, saving more lives. 

                But where was he now?  Why had he run from me?  He  had seemed so lost and unsure.  The thought of him never seemed to rest in my brain, and I sighed mournfully as I realized I would never see the mysterious man again. 

                The man watched the woman walk up out of the subway tunnel, safely hidden by a potted plant at a nearby café.  She was holding the day’s paper, and he was sure she knew it had been him who had saved those people.  He wanted to approach her, to confess his secret, to share it with someone else, but he knew he couldn’t.  He couldn’t bring her into the danger and pain his life ensued, only watch carefully from a distance, her hidden guardian. 

               

back to Contest #3