Rouge (25 page)

Get it over with,
she thought, taking off the EMT parka and
preparing for Joshua’s blow. The air in the room was as cold as ice, but
something about the fire in Lab 3 had given her a warmth she’d never
experienced. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe it was the knowledge that she’d
saved someone’s life. Whatever the reason, Hunter felt energized and renewed,
and nothing Joshua could say would bring her down.

He glared at her, his pale
blue eyes like crystals at the bottom of the ocean floor, catching rare rays of
sunlight. His jaw clicked back and forth, as if he were trying to hold himself
back from shouting at her.

“So you know about the fire
then, huh?” she asked, throwing out her arms expectantly. “Go on, say it. I’m
irresponsible, I’ve brought this on myself-”

“Did you not listen to
anything I’ve taught you Hunter?” Joshua’s eyes were rimmed with hurt. “I spent
months training you, I forgot about my lectures and put everything aside for
you, and you
throw
it all away, for what? So you can play
Supergirl
for the night?”

Hunter scowled. “Don’t be so
dramatic Joshua.”

“Oh so
no one
saw you
save that woman?”

Hunter hung her head.
“Well…”

“People aren’t stupid
Hunter,” he said, coming around the bench to where she stood by the counter.
“Yes, it only looked like you pulled her out from the doorway, but they will
talk. And then
other
people will know.”

“What ‘other’ people?” she
snapped. “The Agents?”

Joshua looked down at his
shiny black work shoes and sighed. Hunter expected a torrent of ‘I told you
so’s
, and ‘you should have listened to
me’s
and lots of yelling. But Joshua was calmer than a yoga master, and that’s what
scared her the most.

“It doesn’t matter, because
you can’t change anything. And now I’m going to have to cover up your mess for
you.”

“Don’t waste your time
Joshua,” she sneered, crossing her arms defiantly. “It’s going to happen again
sometime soon. I can’t help myself if there is someone
in danger
and I
have the ability to save them.”

“People die all the time
Hunter!” he said, his voice finally rising. “You can’t save everyone! It just
isn’t worth the risk!”

“Isn’t worth the
risk?”
she
shrieked. “Joshua, I saved someone’s
life
tonight. I don’t care if the
whole world knows the truth about me, because I’d rather live in fear than live
with the guilt of knowing I let Miss Smart die, that I could have saved her. So
I did.”

“You’re not going to school
tomorrow.” Joshua’s voice was still again, but there was a commanding defiance
in his expression stronger than anything Hunter had ever seen. “It’s too
dangerous. You must stay home until I can clear this up.”

“The hell I am!” she
snapped. “If I stay home, it will only look like I’m hiding something. Besides,
I’m not going to cower away while you sweep everything under the rug Joshua. No
one knows what I am. And I have to talk to-”

“Please don’t tell me you’re
still seeing that nerdy activist.”

That did it. Hunter’s hands
burst into flames, her fists curled and her eyes lit up like Christmas lights.
Usually, anything to do with fire made him leap back in fear. But this time,
Joshua wasn’t afraid. He glanced down at her hands as if she’d simply clicked
her fingers, and then stared back at her.

“Say that - again,” Hunter
seethed, the flames licking at her arms.

“It’s too dangerous Hunter,”
he said. “You’re not ready-”

“Stop saying that!” she
screamed and the fire burst into big balls of flames. She knew he was right,
that kissing Eli had been a mistake because she’d almost set him alight, but
she wasn’t going to admit that to Joshua. “I don’t need you to do anything! I
hate you! You’re keeping me trapped here like I’m some goddamn time bomb about
to explode, and I’m sick of it! I don’t need protecting, and I don’t need you
telling me what to do when you’re not even my real father!”

Her words changed Joshua.
His face fell, his eyes lost their harshness and his entire body cringed back,
as though she’d slapped him hard across the face.

“I... you’re just too...”

“Save it,” she snapped and
stalked away from him to her bedroom. A few moments later, a door slammed and
there was silence.

Within twelve hours, news of the fire at
school had spread throughout the entire student population and most of the
suburban area of New York, thanks to the local news crew. Rumors that it was
student sabotage, that the principal had died and even that the teachers were
trying to create a state-of-the-art Frankenstein of their own had circulated
throughout the internet and the range of cliques until every possible scenario
was exhausted. What wasn’t leaked by the students was said on the news report
that night. Clare had volunteered to give an interview for the media,
explaining that they heard the scream and ran to their teachers rescue.

“It was terrible,” she’d
mumbled amid false sobs. “Miss Smart was screaming for help and all we could do
was call 911 and try to put the fire out.”

And when it was asked how
Miss Smart had managed to break free of the lab before the roof collapsed,
Clare burst into tears and refused to speak another word. The reporters
cleverly gave a broad description of the accident. It was said that Miss Smart
caused the fire by combining the wrong mix of chemicals, setting the lab
alight. The flames spread before she could get out, and she had to crawl
through the inferno, which gave her terrible third-degree burns. They
generalized, saying that ‘a student’ found her by the door, unconscious, and
dragged her away from the flames before the building had fallen in on itself
and the fire was smothered. Even if the news didn’t mention who was involved,
everyone knew by the time school commenced the next day that it was she, Jack
and Clare who were there to witness the horrific accident.

Thanks to Jack, no one knew
what really happened. Clare hadn’t reached the library in time to see Hunter
walk through the flaming doorway, and Mrs. Carman was too busy calling for help
to know anything other than what Jack had told her. It was only Jack who
suspected the truth. Hunter avoided him at school the next day, knowing he’d
have questions and knowing that was only fair. But she couldn’t keep covering up
her mistakes. First it was Miss Smart, and look what happened to her.
I
can’t keep lying. It only ends up hurting people.
And what was her
solution?

To not make friends, ever
again.

At school, everyone was
talking. There were those who approached her and asked her if she was okay,
expecting her to be fragile like Clare, who was parading around as if every
object reminded her of the trauma. But her reply was a simple ‘thank you, I’m
fine’. She made a point to avoid the eye of the public, noting that in all the
movies the hero would stay out of the limelight.
Let Clare have her fame,
Hunter
thought as she pushed through the crowded hallway, acting as if it were just a
normal day at school, as if nothing had changed.
One day I might be needed
again. One day this city will beg for a real hero.

She believed it with all her
heart. Hunter was happy to stay hidden, because no matter who she called
herself or what costume she wore, the public would always judge. So what if she
became a hero, a vigilante for the city of New York. She might save lives just
like Miss Smart. She might be able to walk through fire and use her power as a
weapon against villains that might challenge her, but in the end she would
always be put on a pedestal and either celebrated and worshiped or mocked for
her mistakes.

What if Eli learned the
truth? What if he saw her as a menace, as a freak? What if, for some reason,
Hunter couldn’t save a life? Would they blame her for not living up to heroic
standards and for not rescuing the helpless? Would that be a burden she could
bear?

Hunter thought of Joshua’s
words the previous night as she walked in a daze down the crowded school
corridor.
People die all the time. It isn’t worth the risk.

Was it? Was having her powers
revealed to Jack worth saving Miss Smart’s life?

“
Ahh
,
the vacant stare.” Hunter snapped out of her daydream, realizing she’d stopped
in the middle of the hallway, hardly noticing the whispers and stares she’d
been getting until Jack came up beside her. “A popular choice in accessories,
though I don’t really follow fashion trends the way girls in this school do. I
actually started wearing clogs last year, until I found out the hard way they’d
already sailed away on the ship of all things
un-
fashionable.”

Hunter had been staring at
Jack with a little less vacancy in her expression and a little more annoyance,
until he looked down and grinned at her.

My God, I’m shit at
avoiding people.
“Do
you want something Jack?” she asked.

He looked hurt. “Ouch. Someone
woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Speaking of bad moods, you
should see Clare. She watched the news report and cried for a whole ten minutes
because she realized her face was covered in soot. ‘Oh Jack, my acting career
is over!’” he wailed in a high pitched voice.   

Hunter stared with raised
eyebrows. “Okay... thanks for the update,” she said and pushed past him towards
her locker.

Hordes of students milled
around them, gaggling with their books in hand and swapping their phones back
and forth. Hunter guessed they were watching the news report like every other
soul in the city. Apparently it was big news. Most of the student body prayed
the school would be closed, but it was a big campus. Science classes were
postponed, and those who needed the computers had to enter via the library. It
was chaos, and yet no one knew the truth of what really happened. No one but-

“How are you doing, you know
after what happened?” he asked next to her as she made a bee-line for her
locker.

“Fine. How are you?”

“I’m great. Nothing like a
bit of drama to liven a Tuesday night. At least Miss Smart is okay.”

Hunter opened her locker,
waiting for him to go away. “I’m sure she’ll recover.”

“Yeah… my Uncle suffered third
degree burns once. He’s a chef, cooks for-” Jack caught Hunter’s glare – the
same glare she gave him last night in the library – and nodded. “Right, go away
Jack. I get it.”

As he turned, Hunter let out
a frustrated sigh. “Wait, Jack!”

He stopped. She had no idea
what to say to him. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and his posture was
sagging, but he still looked at her as if she were an angel that had come down
from heaven on a pillar of glowing white clouds.

Biting her lip, Hunter took
his arm and led him through the throng of people towards a door at the end of
the corridor. It led to an empty classroom, and so she shoved him inside and
closed the door.

“Look Jack,” she began,
trying to keep her tone from shaking. “I know you saw me go into the lab last
night, and I know you must think it’s impossible that I survived, but just let
me explain.”

Jack was watching her, his
deep brown eyes waiting, stern and serious.
How the hell am I going to
explain this?
Hunter hadn’t decided to tell him the truth yet. For a long
time she simply stared at him with her mouth open. When she finally made to
speak, he held up a hand to silence her.

“Hunter... whatever it is
that you’re about to say feels kind of rushed. So you really need to think
about what you want to tell me, and what you want to keep to yourself before
you blurt it out. Wait until you’re ready.”

She shut her mouth with a
snap and looked at Jack in complete surprise.

He nodded, satisfied. “I’ll
see you later,” he said, patting her on the shoulder and slumping away. There
was a hint of a smile on his lips before he was swallowed by the morning crowd
outside.

Hunter spent the rest of the
day walking from class to class, speaking to people only when they asked about
the fire, and forever searching for Eli. She knew it was wrong to be around
him, but she couldn’t keep away. Like an addict, Hunter’s thoughts were always
on him and all the shit she’d put him through. It wasn’t fair, and she owed him
an explanation.

But neither he nor Jack were
seen at all. She was in a particularly sulky mood when the day ended, and she
dreaded going home to face Joshua. But it would seem completely rude to rock up
at Eli’s house again and demand comfort. Since she had nowhere else to go, she
decided to visit a friend who deserved an explanation more than anyone else.

This hospital smells strange.
That was Hunter’s only thought as she
eased through the sliding doors into the lobby of the New York Downtown
Hospital. With its low roof, gift shop and reception desk brimming with people,
the atmosphere wasn’t as dull and depressing as she expected. Everything was
cluttered, yet somehow exceptionally neat. Having never had to stay in the
hospital – or visit for that matter – Hunter had no idea where to go. She asked
the receptionist to point the way and walked cautiously, taking in every detail
to ensure she didn’t miss the signs.