Written in 30 minutes.
Writing Prompt #1,207
You are a teenager who lives next door to an elderly man who has become your friend over the years. You help him out occasionally, watering his garden and chatting while he rests on the porch as well as walking his tiny, yet equally old Pomeranian every night. You both enjoy the company. Despite speaking almost every day, you realize that you know very little about your friend. You decide to interview him for a class project, and he agrees, leading you into his house. The walls are covered with newspaper clippings detailing disasters that were averted over the years, and he tells you that, as a young man, he had a very exciting life. When he leads you into the back room and you see an old superhero suit —one that's been at the center of many urban legends — you know you're in for a good story.
‟You’re the urban Cleaner?” I ask staring at the suit. Jason, nods.
‟I use to be.” He says
‟We need you to come back.” I say holding my notebook to my chest.
‟No, you don’t. The city is better off without my help.” He wheezes. ‟Here sit down.” He sweeps his hand over towards the desk with four chairs. I walk over and take a seat in one of the three chairs on one side. ‟Look, I know you believe that you guys need me but the truth is you don’t. When I was helping the police, the city was in pure chaos. I remember this one time. I just got to the downtown mall that day. I heard a woman scream. I ran towards the sound.” He says looking off into space.
‟What happened to the woman?” I ask trying to bring Jason back to the present, but he just kept staring. Was it really worse than it is now? People are being killed left and right. I don’t even think that he knows truly what’s going on outside of this little town. Someone needs to help them. ‟They need your help.” I say out loud.
‟I just made it worse.” He finally says. ‟Being a superhero brings out super villains. The criminals just want to be on the same footing as the ones charged to protect the population.” He says looking down at me. ‟Sarah, if you take anything away from this interview please understand that there is checks and balances.”
‟But people are drying out there. They need someone to protect them.” I say. Jason gives a soft smile.
‟Someone soon is going to step up. He just needs to work out the tech to help them.” He says cryptically. A flash of Kevin falling off his building with something that looked like wings that is made out metal.
‟Are you talking about Kevin?” I ask and he nods.
