The Wanderer (Book 2): Stranded

by Giancioppo, Danny

  “Here,” I offered, holding out my hand. They knew what I intended, and both got up, slowly moving over to me, and placing their hands on top of mine. I still rather painfully stretched my left arm over to sandwich their hands in mine.

  I closed my eyes, as did they, and I sent a playback of my fight with Sam over to them. I showed them everything, all the way up until my last moments awake. It only took a handful of seconds, and then I let go, and pulled away from them.

  I saw some tears falling down Bell’s face, and even Bentley’s eyes were welled up. I didn’t realize they were going to be hit by that as much.

  It was tougher on me though, I have to admit. Living through it again so vividly, and so fast… it hit me really hard. Just like that, I was crying again.

  “Jason…” Bell said. Bentley just grabbed me by the back of my neck, and pulled me into his arms, clutching me tight. It felt like I was being hugged by an actual bear.

  “I’m so sorry, Jason,” he muttered. I just fell into him, letting our stupid act slip, and gripped onto his back tightly. He ran his hand down my hair lightly, and we stayed that way for a good while. And for the first time in two weeks, I really let it all out. Not just crying, but sobbing; whimpers, sniffles, broken breaths and a shattered heart. And Bentley just held me there, stroking my head.

  In time, he pulled away, and leant back against the wall next to the bed. Bell just remained seated on the edge of it.

  “Did your friends tell you he was–” Bell offered.

  “Yeah, I know where he’s buried,” I answered. Bell nodded solemnly.

  “So, weather manipulation?” Bentley said. “That’s new.”

  “I suppose so, yeah,” I agreed, pulling myself together again. “But I think it’s more like… manipulating the atmosphere. It felt like the entire sky belonged to me. Like it was another extension of myself.”

  “Do you feel like it’s something you could call on whenever you wanted?” Bell questioned. I paused for a moment, and tried to gain a sense of control. I felt nothing, and shook my head.

  “I think that was a brand new level for me. I’m nowhere near strong enough right now to hone it in, or even feel it, really,” I said. Bell nodded. “Are you two doing alright? Alannah only told me so much.”

  “We’re doing fine, don’t worry about that,” Bell said. He grabbed his cane, and waved it around in the air a little. “I’m getting older anyway; this fits me, really.” I smiled a little, and Bell smirked back.

  “I’ve had worse headaches in my life,” Bentley said. “At least I’ve still got two eyes.”

  “Funny,” I replied. Though it did feel a little more playful.

  “We’re working on getting you a patch, don’t worry about that,” Bell assured me. “It’s not going to grow back, is it? It’s been two weeks.”

  “I don’t think so, no,” I said. “As far as I know, my body can only repair what’s still there, so long as it’s mostly there, anyway. Sam took the whole thing out, scraped away the remains… so it’s gone,” I explained somberly. “When I have the suit on, I can still… sense what’s to my left, I guess. I can’t see it, but the suit gives me all the information I need to know, to understand what’s there.”

  “So why don’t you just have it on all the time? At least on that part of your body? Especially if it’s inside you now,” Bentley suggested. I just shook my head, without a clear answer to back it up

  “I…I don’t know, I don’t want it being that obvious who I am wherever I go,” I thought aloud. Bentley scoffed a little.

  “Well an eyepatch isn’t exactly subtle,” he said, then noticing my look of slight defeat. “But fair enough,” he backtracked.

  Bell glanced at all the cards and gifts, and then back to me rather warmly.

  “So, as I’m sure Alannah told you, you’ve picked up quite the following the past two weeks,” he said.

  “She did…” I replied. “She said people thought I was a hero. That I finally could be a hero. We even had a big handful of visitors, earlier.”

  “And you didn’t have the heart to tell her that you still don’t want to be,” Bentley picked up. I nodded. “So what is your plan, then?”

  “I don’t know…” I admitted. “Part of me feels indebted to try, for her, for Sam… but after everything that’s happened, after what I’ve done– I don’t know that I can bear to be the Wanderer anymore. I’m not sure how I’m even going to go on as me–”

  “Jason,” Bell spoke up, grabbing my attention. “Be a hero, don’t be a hero, that doesn’t matter, but you will always be you. That will never change. You can’t run away from who you are because you’re upset over what you’ve done. I know that it’s not easy to live with son, but… you did the right thing. You saved thousands, if not millions and billions of people from a serious threat. You protected the ones you loved, and the world they live in. You lost someone you loved dearly in the process, but still, you did what you had to do. Don’t hate yourself for that.”

  I was trying to take in what Bell said in earnest. I knew that he was right, but still, this was so raw for me. So freshly on my mind, and heart. It was all I could do to not start screaming in agony and self-hatred all over again.

  “Look, at least for now– for the foreseeable future– I want to just be me. Just Jason. If a threat comes, I’ll handle it, but… I want to live my life, with my fiancee, and my friends, and with you two. I don’t want to be the people’s champion, and I don’t want to be hounded by reporters and civilians, fans or not. Not for a while at least,” I said. They both nodded in agreement.

  “That’s completely fair,” Bell agreed. “We already have a plan set up for you to have some private time. We’ll be giving our own statement to the press, and we’ll be telling the people to give you some well-deserved time off. Hopefully they’ll understand.”

  “And if they don’t, we’ll just break their equipment so they have no way to interview you anyway,” Bentley added. Bell just pursed his lips, but he didn’t disagree, so it appeared as though that was still very much according to plan.

  “Well… thank you guys, really,” I said. “Do you think that I can leave this place any time soon?”

  “You’re a twenty year-old man with superpowers, you can leave whenever you want,” Bentley said. “The question is, do you think you can leave any time soon?”

  I sat up in my bed, and did my best to get out of it and stand. Everything still felt sore, but I could manage it.

  I unwrapped the bandaging around my head, and dropped it on the floor. Feeling around my left eye, there was certainly a hole there. It was all scarred up, and healed as much as it could be; The muscle from behind the eye had more or less taken up the space, and my tear duct was still intact, if the wet bandage was anything to go by. Still though, it was pretty messed up.

  I had the suit form around me, and felt the same pins and needles feeling as I did two weeks before. It came out and on through my skin, fairly quickly this time, and immediately I felt better. It was good to know I still had a crutch when I needed one, and I was pretty sure I’d need this one for a while.

  “I’m uh… I’m gonna go home,” I decided. They both just nodded, and Bell wrapped me up in another hug.

  “I’m glad you’re alright, Jason. Things will get better, in time. I promise you that,” he whispered. I hugged him back lightly, and then let go, slowly making my way out of the hospital.

  Everyone stared at me, some in awe, and others just in shock. It didn’t really matter to me at the time. I just made my way outside, and took off into the sky, making my way back to my apartment, where I was certain I wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of my life.

  Things would never be the same. I would never be the same. It was a hard realization to come to, but even harder, I found, was the fact that in time, I would be better. That I’d move on, and somehow mend from all this.

  Life wasn’t going to wait around for me, and one way or another, I was going to have t
o keep going through it, day by day, moment by moment. Maybe some day it’d be easier, but for the time being, I just really missed my best friend.

  And I guess really, that’s the problem with best friends. You spend your whole life living, until one day you find them. They become a part of that life, of who you are. But if you ever lose that person? You’ll never find that part of you again. It’s just… gone.

  Epilogue

  “Hey buddy,” I greeted, staring down at the black marble gravestone. “I uh… It’s been a while, since I last visited. I’m sorry about that. I’ve just been… busy, I guess.”

  I stared at the oak tree right off to the side of his grave. It was fairly big; it stood firm and tall… Healthy, I guess.

  “Ana and I finally got married, got it over with quiet and quick so the public wouldn’t crash it or anything, you know…” I continued. “Alex was the best man, Julia was the maid of honor. You’d have probably thrown a better bachelor party than he did, but you know, he tried his best. He got Bentley to come, which was an achievement in and of itself, you know? I don’t know…”

  I stared out at the sky. It just now started to set, casting orange and pink hues across the town. The wind blew a cool August breeze through my hair. The summer was dying out, as was the day.

  “I think Ana and I, we’re going to move in somewhere around here soon. We just decided that staying at the apartment was too…too uh, tough to do, so…” I explained. “Only one or two challengers this month, so you know, not bad. I’m still going to the moon a lot, probably more than I should, honestly. Alannah says I should see a therapist, but I don’t know… I feel like being up there, just letting myself be with myself, that’s enough, you know…?”

  I knelt down, and swept off the cut up grass and dirt that lay on the flowers and photos at the foot of his gravestone, and I couldn’t for the moment raise my head to face it again.

  “Some people were talking about making a statue for me in the city… I told them I wouldn’t allow it unless you were in it with me, so… I don’t know how that’s gonna go,” I said. “Most people still don’t hate me though, so, that’s not bad… I guess. They’re still not big on the eyepatch I think, but, you know, they’ll come around.” I paused. “I’m still...still trying to find it in me to start helping people… deal with more human stuff… I owe you that much– to try, anyway. I think I’ll get there soon.”

  I gazed back up to the gravestone at last, and put my hand on top of it, still kneeling down. A few tears dropped on the grass in front of it, but they didn’t touch the pictures, at least. Pictures of Sam with his family. With us.

  Leaves from the oak tree fell slowly to the ground at my side; some of them even landed on my head. There were cars driving faintly off in the distance. The sound of life felt so far away in that moment, but it was only just behind me.

  “I…I still miss you, buddy, a lot… Every day gets a little easier, but… they’re still pretty hard,” I admitted. “I’m still trying to believe that… somewhere, somehow, you know I’m sorry, and that I loved– that I love you… I still hope you can forgive me.”

  I stopped again, and closed my eye, gripping onto the gravestone tighter. The sun, just barely poking through the trees in the distance, crept through an opening, and hit me right in the face. It was blinding, albeit somewhat warm. Mixed with the breeze brushing softly against my face, it was… comforting.

  “I’m sorry, Sam,” I said, giving myself a moment. “I’ll be sure to uh… to keep you posted… I’ll see you tomorrow, buddy.”

  With that, I slowly rose to my feet, and after a few moments spent staring silently at the grave, I turned, and walked away, lifting off into the sky.