True Heroes Read Free Page A

sole purpose by the happiness he felt over her even wanting to talk to him. ‘I don’t remember my face ever hurting when I smile.’ “You got it!”
                  Another smile—‘Mine must’ve looked like that a moment ago,’—and she turned to run to her waiting relative. ‘She even runs elegantly.’ He quickly spotted the origin of squealing tires down the street. ‘The driver’s not stopping. Stop. Carol, stop.’ She noticed the car—‘Thirty feet away now,’—and froze like the most beautiful deer. Caleb’s eyes widened, like anyone’s would, but also adopted something that was all his own. ‘No! Everything stop! Jump out of the….’ The internal sirens of his mind and heart, sudden clenching of his stomach, and building grief started to calm and muffle, his teeth and fists started to resume their normal posture, and the blue of his eyes ignited into a powdery azure flame, glowing eerily bright.
                  Nothing in the world mattered anymore. The song of the bird couple’s tweeting, the symphony of dogs and cats, the awareness of a catastrophic outcome by the driver of that car; the entire world blanked out except for him and the cowering Carol. The car—fifteen feet away now—finally began to apply the brakes, and Caleb’s muscles began to tense again. They didn’t uncoil until his arms were wrapped around Carol, trying his hardest to imitate a cocoon around her body less than a second before a car crashed into his back. Nothing: not the initial pain of the impact, the scalding metal now resting on his back, or the unusual feeling of Carol broke through to tell him that he was still alive.
                  What felt like an eternity of numbness finally passed. The driver had exited the car and dialed some number on his cell phone, and Caleb’s eyes started to return to their normal glory. Carol looked up at him with horrified eyes and he stared back, feeling his lips move into a small grin, but sensation returned to normal. His breath began to quicken and he could no longer hold eye contact as he was hit with an overwhelming fatigue. He keeled over, allowing Carol to catch him, but her eyes started to sag from shock as she saw what was behind Caleb: a body-sized dent in the grill of what had been a brand new BMW where he’d just saved her from certain death, but also left her more scared than she’d ever been in her life.
     
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                  Caleb breathed steadily as he started to come out of his nap to the methodic sound of a heart monitor. He blinked a few times and was instantly swarmed by his mother’s caring hands and cooing words while she ignored the fact that he was already calm and aware of where he was. ‘I don’t see why people stay in hospital beds. They’re not comfortable at all, but every time I visit there’s always so many people in them. At least I know where I am, that’s a relief. Mom’s hand is warm and everything, but I don’t think she’s making me feel all cozy. Her hands are freaking me out a little, actually. The bleep-bleep-bleep of the heart machine is kinda soothing…but this uncomfortable bed seems to be undoing that trick. I’m in control again. I didn’t hurt Carol, did I? That creepy feeling didn’t touch her did it?’ He created a small cushion before quickly asking, “Where’s Carol?”
                  His mother smiled at him passionately, as if he’d just passed some great test, before answering. “Well, out of the two of you, she got the worst of it, but it’s still nothing more than a few scrapes and scratches, dear. All thanks to you.” Caleb barely registered the little compliment. ‘The curtains in that small window on the left are moving.