Being Invisible (20 page)

“You sure?”

Colin nods. “I’m sure. Question
is, are you sure? I don’t want you to do this if it’s too much.”

“Positive. Let’s do this.” I mean
it too. I’m not thinking about how Ruth is going to flip out, or the fact that
I am going to be in front of the camera. Right now all I can think of is doing
what it takes to keep Colin alive.

It’s surprisingly cold out here
right now. Considering that it was 82 degrees out earlier, I wasn’t really
expecting this level of chilliness. Since Colin is jumping up and down while rubbing
his hands together, I’m guessing he’s feeling it too. That’s Ohio weather for
you.

 
Colin sees me shivering, so he walks over
and starts rubbing my arms.

Drew is busy comparing the camera
on his phone to Liz’s, to see which one has the best video. I don’t know why.
He really only needs to worry about the audio, since no one’s going to see
Colin, or care about looking at me.

I take a deep breath, trying to
make sense of how this is going to go. It’s not helping that the wind keeps
blowing my hair, and it keeps getting caught in my mouth. Luckily Liz sees my
frustration, and digs through her purse until she finds a hair tie.
 

I fix my hair and reapply my
lipstick.
Okay. I’m ready...
Maybe a
few more deep breaths.

I can feel Colin behind me. When I
turn around to see what he’s doing, he places his headphones over my ears. The
beginning of ‘The Way I Am’ fills my ears.

When Colin pulls me in for a hug,
I bury my head in his chest. The combination of the words of the song and
Colin’s strong arms calms me. We stay like that until the song is over.

“I’m ready. I pull away from Colin
and hand him his headphones. He gives my hand a squeeze then disappears.

Drew starts the camera, and
signals me to start.

“This is Lucy Sayre, for Channel
Ten news.”
This is it.

“Talk about being at the right
place at the right time. Today I was taking a walk in the woods, and I
literally ran into our very own superhero. That’s right. The Vapor likes to run
on the trails of our state parks, and he doesn’t always watch where he’s going.

He felt so bad about almost giving
me a concussion that he agreed to his first ever interview. So, Vapor. I know
the one thing everyone is going to ask is, ‘Is this real?’ Can you show
everyone that this isn’t just a hoax?” Drew pans to Colin, giving me time to
move around to warm up.

“Sure.” Colin makes his voice
deeper to keep people from figuring out who he is.

As we planned, Colin pulls a few
leaves off of a nearby tree and hands them to me. The leaves seemingly glide
through the air, continuing until he’s hands them to me.

“I’ve always wanted to get flowers
from a superhero. I guess this is the next best thing.” Liz smiles at me and
gives me a thumbs up. She warned me ahead of time that she was planning on
encouraging the hell out of me.

“So Vapor, it must be difficult
being a superhero. Does it ever feel like too much?” I look in his general
direction, which feels really weird.

There’s a pause before he answers.
“Sure, it has its moments. Of course it’s hard to see people struggle. And it’s
even harder when I can’t help them. There’s so much pain in the world. We are
really lucky to have such great people protecting us. The police officers and
Fire Department are amazing. Even with all of us working, we can’t save
everyone. So, sometimes... yeah it does.”

“We all know that you are a
superhero, but from what I understand, you are also a regular guy. Everything
you do to help others is you, not a power. Is that correct?”

“Uh, yeah. I train a lot. I can
fight. I run, of course. That all helps.”

“Do you put a lot of pressure on
yourself to be a superhero all the time, or are you good about cutting yourself
some slack?”

“I guess. I mean, I know I’m
human. I don’t have superpowers of reasoning or decision-making. I make
mistakes just like everyone else. It’s such a privilege to have this ability. I
don’t want to feel like I am taking it for granted. So, sometimes that means
putting pressure on myself.” I can tell by his tone of voice that he’s not sure
where I’m going with this.

“I’m sure you have a lot of people
who support you.”

“Most people who know me as The
Vapor are really supportive of me. There are always those that have devoted
entire Facebook pages to Vapor bashing, but most people are great.

“What about people who don’t only know
you as Vapor?”

“I try to keep my life as Vapor
completely separate from my life outside of the superhero. But, yeah. I have
amazing people in my life who have seen me at my worst and still stick by me.
Sometimes they are the only thing that gets me by.”

“What do you think would happen if
you lost your superpowers? Do you think you would lose friends?”

“Not my real friends, no. They
don’t care if I’m a superhero or if I scrape gum off the bottom of shoes for a
living.”

“You must be a pretty amazing
person to have those kind of people in your life.”

“Or I just got lucky and found
really amazing people to surround myself with.”

“Or maybe it’s because there is so
much more to you than being invisible.” I try to sound like I am teasing, but
start to get nervous when Colin doesn’t answer right away.

After several seconds, I finally
hear his voice. “Nah, I think it’s the luck.”

“That’s probably true,” I laugh.
“But still, it must be nice to know that no matter how confused you are, no
matter how mad or frustrated or exhausted you get, you have people who love you
no matter what.” I hate not being able to see him. I can tell he’s feeling
hesitant, but I don’t know to what extent.

“Yeah. It is.”

I know he gets worried about
talking about his personal life, so I decide switch to easier questions.

“Do you ever use your invisibility
for evil? Girls in locker rooms kinda stuff?”

He gives a light laugh, and I can
tell this is an easier topic for him. “Locker room stuff? No. I would never
disrespect a woman’s privacy like that. A few innocent pranks? Now
that’s...well that’s between some college buddies and me.”

My eyes wander to Drew whose eyes
are looking everywhere but my direction. How did I not know this?

“Anyway... There are a lot of
stories about you from women who have claimed to have not only met you but say
they have seen you when you are not invisible. Any of these alleged stories
true?”

“Nope. None of them. If a woman
tells you that she knows what I look like, she’s lying.”

“Huh. I guess you can’t believe
everything you hear then, right?”

“You can’t believe most of what
you hear, at least when it comes to me.”

“What do you think the biggest thing
is that you’ve heard about yourself that isn’t true?”

“Hmm… probably that I look like
one of the Avengers. People who know me tell me that I actually look a lot more
like Chuck Norris.”

“So you’re in your seventies?” I
ask, biting my lip to keep from laughing.

“Oh, no. But I look like I am.
Turning invisible for so long doesn’t fare too well for the skin. I’m really
only in my sixties.”

“So have you found love after all
this time as a superhero?” I wasn’t planning on asking him about his love life,
but I kinda want to know how Chuck Norris answers this.

“Of course, I find love all the
time. I remember that girl who named me Vapor. I wish I could have turned
visible for her. She was really into me. If you’re out there honey, I never
forgot about you. I hope you like ‘em distinguished.”

I so hope that lady watches this.

“So I guess it’s safe to say there
was never one true love in your life?” I roll my eyes, knowing he is going to
give a ridiculous answer.

“Actually, yes. There was one.
Back when I was a younger man, I found my soul mate. She is one of the greatest
people I have ever met. The first day I saw her, I wanted to marry her. I don’t
think she knows that. She’s one of those people who is so beautiful, you just
know there is no way she could also be a good person. But then you talk to her,
and you find out that she’s a great person. She’s smart and funny and
incredibly caring. I fell in love with her before she even knew she liked me.
The first time I told her I loved her, and she told me that she loved me too...
That’s the first time I ever really felt like a superhero. Because if you can
get a girl like that to love you, you can do anything.”

It takes me a few seconds to
realize that we are still taping, and I am not saying anything. I try to
recover and think of what to say next.

“So, uh what happened to her?” I
have to ask; because that’s the question anybody in my position would want to
know.

“What? Oh, she moved… to China.
Haven’t seen her since. I heard she got married and had five kids, so no chance
of her ever being in my life again.” Looks like I’m not the only one who’s
trying to recover.

“Well that’s...sad.” Not really the
happy ending that fans want to hear, but what are you gonna do?

“Looks like we have time for one
more question.” Shoot, my mind just went blank. One question. That’s all I
need. Just one….

“Boxers or briefs?” I can’t
believe I just asked him that.

Colin chuckles. “Who needs either
when you’re always invisible?”

Nice visual, Colin. Now I can’t stop picturing Chuck Norris naked.

“Okay, on that note, thanks for
talking to me, Vapor. Anything you want the world to know before you get back
to your superhero stuff?”

“Appreciate what you have. You
never know when it might be gone...or move to China.”

“Words we can all learn from. This
is Lucy Sayre from Channel Ten news.”

As soon as it’s over, I simply
turn and walk away, with Liz and Drew close behind. I pause a second before
getting in the car, pretending to tie my shoe but actually giving Colin enough
time to slide into the back seat. As soon as everyone is in, Drew speeds off.

Colin remains invisible just in
case anyone is nearby, but he grabs my hand and holds it in his lap.

“I can’t believe you freaked out
when I went on one date. You kept in touch with your ex-girlfriend even after
she moved to China and had a bunch of kids.” I jokingly punch him in the arm.

“Ow.” Colin pretends like I hurt
him, but I know better.

“I can’t believe you think you
look like Chuck Norris,” Drew adds.

“You’re right. I actually look
more like one of the Avengers. I was just trying to throw the ladies off, so
they’ll stop throwing themselves at me all the time.”

“I think you had it a little more
accurate when you said you caused them to move to China.”

Liz looks back at me from the
passenger seat and mouths
boys
while
shaking her head.

I nod and roll my eyes.

The rest of the car ride home goes
on pretty much the same way.

The closer we get to home, the
more my emotions get the better of me. As soon as we get back to the apartment,
Colin is going to turn right around and leave me again. It doesn’t help that I
have been this close to him, and haven’t been able to see him since we left to
go to the interview.

I really need him right now. I
unbuckle my seatbelt and sit on his lap. I lean my head against his shoulder
and close my eyes.

He kisses my head, and begins
stroking my hair. Every once in awhile, he kisses my cheek or the top of my
head, occasionally pulling me into a tight hug. By the time we get to Colin’s
house, I have fallen asleep in his arms.

“Hey, Lucy?” Liz wakes me up. “I’m
going to stay here with Drew. Colin, do you mind following Lucy home to make
sure she makes it okay?” I appreciate what she’s doing. I know she wants Colin
and I to have some time alone, and she knows Colin would never say no to making
sure I’m safe.

“Sure. No problem.”

Colin heads into Drew’s place so
he can make himself visible again. Since he left Drew’s house while invisible,
anyone who sees him leave will just think he’s been here the whole time.

The drive doesn’t do anything to
improve my anxiety. The adrenaline of the day is wearing off, and it’s giving
me time to absorb what I just did. I already emailed the video to Alex on the
way to Drew’s, so there’s no turning back now.

Ruth is going to kill me. Everyone
is going to see me on TV. From now on, I am going to be associated with The
Vapor.

What have I done?

The truth is, no matter how freaked
out I get or how much backlash I receive, I won’t regret doing it. I will do
anything to protect Colin.

By the time I’m home, my nerves
are spent.

“Hey, hon. Doing okay?” Colin
reaches around me from behind and kisses my cheek.

“I’m relieved it’s over, that’s
for sure.”

I head into my family room. I’m
still cold, so I sit down on my couch and throw a blanket around me. Colin sits
beside me and grabs the remote. He starts surfing through the channels, but
stops when he sees us on the news.