Ignorance is Bliss 1

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October 5, 2011

Fortunately, I was studying in my dorm room when I got the strange feeling. My roommate Shawn had a class, and I was doing some reading for British Literature. It wasn’t until I read the same stanza of The Canterbury Tales for the third time that I even realized something was up.

My roommate wasn’t around, but saying I was alone might have been a bit of a stretch.

“Leon, is something happening?” I asked the voice in my head.

“Someone like us is coming,” he answered silently.

Having someone else’s thoughts appear in your head is strange, at first, but people really can get used to damn near anything. I can tell Leon’s thoughts from my own, at least, so sharing headspace hasn’t driven me nuts. You know the phrase “train of thought”? It’s like having two trains on the same set of tracks. We can communicate, but our minds are still separate, even though he rides around in my body.

Okay, it’s a crappy analogy. Sorry, I can’t think of a good one.

Now that he’d answered, I realized I could feel a sense of shrinking distance. Whatever was approaching, it didn’t feel threatening. It was like watching someone walking closer from a distance away, waiting for them to be nearer before talking to them. Mostly I felt a bit impatient – whatever was going to happen, I wanted to find out and have the anticipation done with.

After a couple of minutes, the feeling got close enough for me to realize it was at my building, but not inside. In fact, it felt like it was on the other side of the exterior wall and climbing.

I went to the window and lifted the blinds to look out.

Even expecting something, I was surprised to see a youngish woman I half-recognized being carried up the side of my dorm by what looked like a large feline. I wasn’t sure if it was a bobcat or mountain lion or something else, but it was obviously some kind of cat.

The creature seemed to have no trouble walking right up the wall, and its claws weren’t even digging in that I could see. Its features were hard to make out, making me feel a bit like I was looking through glasses that weren’t the right prescription, or something. The woman looked normal enough, except for her circumstances. She had dark brown hair and wore jeans, running shoes, a t-shirt and an open jacket. Her face was buried in the animal’s neck and her arms were wrapped around its neck, but I could see just enough to be alarmed. There was blood on her and her clothing, including some on her gloved fingers, and what looked like a hasty bandage on her stomach. She looked exhausted and desperate, and I couldn’t even see her face yet.

All in all, it didn’t really seem threatening, despite the weirdness.

The cat-thing reached my window and tapped on it softly a few times.

I hesitated for a second, then opened it a crack. I really hadn’t expected it to knock.

“Please help me,” the woman said, stirring at the noises.  Her head tilted up toward me, and I finally got a look at her face. She looked younger than I’d first thought, her face lacking the lines I’d expect even from someone in college, looking more like a high-schooler. Her eyes were brown, and she looked scared. There was obvious pain on her face and in her voice.

“Please,” she repeated, and I realized that I’d been frozen for a few seconds.

Glancing at her arms around the cat-thing’s neck, and mindful of the fact that she’d fall three stories if she lost her grip, I opened the window all the way. The cat-thing seemed able to secure its place with only three legs, using its fourth paw to boost her through my now-open window. I half-caught her as she slumped, drained by the sudden effort of pulling herself up, and eased her the rest of the way through the window.

I set her down gently in the nearest chair, and she let out a sigh of relief, going almost bonelessly limp, her head tilting back with closed eyes. She rested her left arm gingerly in her lap, placing it there with her other hand.

“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely. “Sorry about this. Nowhere else close enough for me to go.”

I could see her clearly now that the cat-thing was out of the way. She looked slender, but her arms were muscular; she was built like a runner. Average height.

I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask, especially when I saw the cat-thing come in, close my window, and then walk over to her side, resting its head gently against her leg. I tried to mentally prioritize.

“You’re hurt,” I said. “How bad?”

She took a moment before answering. “I think I fractured my arm, and I’ve got a cut along my stomach. Shallow, but I need a better bandage on it. The rest is just little stuff. Bumps and bruises.” Her eyes were still closed.

“I can’t set a broken bone,” I said, “but I’ll help with the cut. Left side, there?” I pointed to the bandage I’d noticed before, wrapped around her lower torso. It looked big, but it also looked crooked. The blood on the bandage and around it mostly looked dry, except for a couple of small dots of red wetness. I think the bandage used to be a t-shirt, or at least most of one.

“Yeah,” she answered. “It’s not deep, like I said. Just need to cover it with something clean, at least for now.”

I was about to take a look when my brain started working a bit better, and I took a detour to lock my dorm room’s door. It was a bad time for unannounced guests. Checking the clock told me Shawn shouldn’t be back for a while, if he even came back at all that night. He might stay with his girlfriend instead, which would certainly be convenient timing until I knew what the hell was going on.

The cat-thing got out of the way, but was clearly watching me as I approached her.

“Is your pet going to attack me if I touch you?” I asked.

She smiled a bit without opening her eyes as she deliberately slowed her breathing. “No. You should really know that already, though.”

I felt a bit startled at that. “What do you mean?”

She opened her eyes, her face surprised and confused as she looked at me. “Um, can’t you hear her?”

I stood for a second, looking at her like a moron, before I had an idea. “Leon, could you pass on whatever her friend is saying, please?”

Leon actually felt embarrassed; I guess he hadn’t been ready for the two of us to meet another pair either. “Of course,” he said. “Sorry.”

That nagging sensation I’d felt before came back, but this time distance had little to do with it, although I could feel the girl and her pet a few feet away. “Greetings, David,” the cat-shaped spirit addressed me. “I am sorry we were forced to come here unexpectedly and disrupt your evening.”

“No problem,” I replied out loud, as politely as I could manage. I was used to hearing Leon’s thoughts, but this was something new. My eyes fixated on the cat for a moment, but I turned back to the girl. “So, not to sound unkind, but why did you come here?”

She frowned for a moment, but seemed to decide to take my words at face value. “Too far to get home,” she said tiredly. “Needed someplace safe and close. I know you know who I am – or you could have found out, at least. Seen me in a couple fights. Haven’t told anyone about me yet, so I guess I’ll find out if I can trust you.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Can’t your friend carry you home?” I asked. I didn’t want to sound like I was trying to get rid of her, but I wasn’t exactly used to strangers showing up bleeding and asking for my help.

She shook her head. “I’m exhausted. About ready to pass out. She can’t do anything when I’m asleep.” She breathed for a moment, then looked me in the eye. “So I really hope trusting you wasn’t a mistake. I couldn’t risk being seen or being found anywhere. I’ve got family in town. People find out who I am, they might get hurt.”

She held my eyes for a few moments and she looked determined, but nervous.

“Okay,” I told her. “I’ll help. Bandage you up, let you take a nap, then we’ll figure out the rest. Deal?”

Some of the tension left her. “Thanks,” she said.

I dug into my closet to pull out the first-aid kit I’d started keeping there last term, and quickly replaced the haphazard bandage on her stomach. There was a brief moment of awkwardness afterward, when I accidentally caught a glimpse of her bra, but I averted my eyes and neither of us said anything. I don’t even know if she noticed. Her eyes were half-closed, her jaw clenched. The cat-thing seemed to be watching me pretty closely, though.

“Lucky you had that,” she said as I put the first-aid kit away.

“Not really luck,” I admitted, looking at her. “I was thinking about taking up a new extracurricular, like you and your friend.”

She laughed softly, stopping herself with a sharply indrawn breath after a moment. “Well, we could sure as shit use the help, but I guess that’s obvious.”

I hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know what to do about the arm. I can probably make a sling you can use, but I don’t want to do more; I could make things worse.”

She nodded. “That’s fine. Thanks.”

I barely knew any first aid, and I was no medical professional. I looked up how to make a sling for her arm online – have to love the internet. It might be full of crap, but there’s useful information there too. I ended up using a Berkeleyport College sweatshirt. It’s not like I couldn’t get another one easily enough, after all; I wouldn’t miss the thing much.

We put her arm in the sling so she wouldn’t jostle it, and I helped her lie down on my bed, propped up by a couple pillows.

“How long do I let you sleep?” I asked.

“An hour or two?” she asked, hesitantly. “I don’t want to mess things up for you here, but I’m dead on my feet,” she admitted. “I was running around for a long time.” She grimaced. “Shit, you must have a roommate,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m thinking slow, that’s obvious, but it just didn’t click before.”

“I think it’s fair to say you had more immediate concerns,” I said, smiling slightly for a moment. “Don’t worry about it. If anyone shows up and asks, I’ll say our families are friends. You in high school?”

She nodded. “Junior.”

“Perfect,” I said. “If anyone asks, our families are friends and you came to ask me about college and see the campus. You accidentally hit the bad part of town on the way here and got unlucky,” I gestured to her arm, “and that’s it. I’m letting you rest, and then I’m going to take you home.”

She smiled. “Not too far from the truth, in some ways.”

I shrugged. “Hopefully that will make it easier to remember. Now go ahead and sleep. I’ll keep quiet.”

She nodded, closing her eyes. The cat-thing looked at me and I got an impression of being judged or examined, then it walked over and put its head on her lap before seeming to evaporate. In two seconds the thing was just gone.

I was about to turn away from my new guest when I realized there was a little hole in our plan.

“Shit,” I said out loud. Her eyes opened in concern, but it vanished when she realized I was laughing quietly.

“What?” she asked, smiling a bit uncertainly.

I stopped myself, but it took a few seconds. “Well, we forgot something that could be kind of important later,” I said. I extended my right hand toward her. “Pleased to meet you. I’m David.”

She chuckled briefly, then reached out and took my hand. “Raquel.”

I nodded. “I think that probably covers it for now,” I said, “but I’m not sure how reliable my brain is at the moment either.”

She shook her head. “That might have been a problem, yeah.”

Our smiles died eventually, but the laughter still helped both of us feel better, I think. There’s nothing like laughing at yourself to take the tension out of a situation.

“See you in a couple hours,” I said, turning off the light by the bed. I grabbed my computer and moved my desk chair so the monitor’s light wouldn’t be on her face, plugging my headphones in and putting an earbud in one ear so I could listen to some music while I went back to reading.

“David – thanks,” she said quietly.

“No problem,” I answered automatically. It only occurred to me after I’d said it that it was a fairly obvious falsehood, but I figured she knew what I meant.

It felt sort of awkward to stay in the room, but I didn’t want to leave her alone, either. Shawn might come back. More importantly, whoever had broken Raquel’s arm might show up. I didn’t really want to be in a super-fight, but I couldn’t just leave.

Part of me felt weird about helping a stranger this way, but then again I knew Raquel was one of the good guys – or girls, in her case. She’d even been in the news a few times, helping the police when a crook with powers surfaced. It hadn’t happened often, but people with powers were still big news, so it always got air time.

Berkeleyport, New Jersey had been the site of a few tussles between supers in the last few years, but we weren’t a hub like Philly or New York, where all of the northeast’s nutjobs seemed to congregate. I’d only seen two super fights in person, and at least one of those had been pure luck. The other had just taken a long time, so when I heard about it I managed to get a vantage point before it ended. The first had been a fight with Raquel and a super-strong good guy – someone had dubbed him “Heavyweight,” but I wasn’t sure who – on one side, and some guy who’d just discovered his powers on the other. He’d had them for less than a week, I think. The bastard beat his girlfriend, and apparently she’d mouthed off to him more than usual – he responded by chucking her across the room with his mind. Unfortunately for himself and a random jogger, he’d also blown out the window of their apartment, which had gotten police attention. The first officer on the scene had to go to the hospital, along with the guy’s girlfriend and the jogger, and Raquel and Heavyweight had shown up and fought the guy for a few minutes until they managed to knock him out.

The other one I’d seen in person had been strange – a guy who turned into some sort of six-legged thing had been chasing Raquel, and she’d led him around in circles for a while. The cops tried to subdue him with tear gas, but it didn’t take. Eventually two heavy hitters from the Philly Five had shown up and knocked him out, including their leader. That had been last year. From what I’d read later, it seemed like the guy might not have meant to do anything wrong – he’d tried transforming himself and messed up his brain chemistry by accident, or something, or at least that was the running theory. It made him act strange, people saw him and freaked out, and things turned violent. He’d apparently reverted to normal once he fell unconscious, and cooperated with the police since then. He’d gotten lucky enough not to hurt anyone, so they weren’t even pressing criminal charges, just making him pay damages for the stuff he broke. I’d heard that a court in Vermont was considering whether people might be less liable for damages caused during the first use of a super power, since they didn’t necessarily know what they could do and might not even realize they had a power until they used it. Either way, the guy had gotten off easy for now. He was staying out of trouble since, had been interviewed a couple times, but was actually getting back to his life – as a mini-golf course owner, of all things. I wondered whether the publicity had been good or bad for his business.

When I’d seen the fights, I hadn’t realized Raquel was just in high school. It made me wonder how many other superheroes and wannabes were that young. I’d thought about helping, but opted out for a few reasons. I thought the police had handled things pretty well in and around Berkeleyport, and throughout the USA in general, really. People like Raquel were helping in some places, but some of the would-be heroes just made things worse, and I didn’t want to be one of those.

And of course, I’d never been in a real fight in my life. Superpowers or not, I might just get in people’s way. Jumping in without being ready could even get someone killed, and I knew it.

Alternatively, I might just have chickened out. The “someone” who got hurt could also be me, after all. It was hard to say. I’ve never felt like a coward, but then I’ve never thought of myself as particularly brave, either.

I tried to see if there was anything on the internet about Raquel’s most recent fight, but couldn’t find anything online about today – not yet, at least. It wasn’t too surprising. I guess whatever had happened, no one with a cell phone or camera had been close enough and quick enough on the draw to get a recording. If they had, they hadn’t uploaded it yet, and the local news was probably still prepping the story.

I bit my cheek and glanced at my unexpected guest.

Raquel wasn’t even out of high school and she was helping the police, fighting hard enough to get a broken arm and bleed a little on my chair.

Fuck, I thought, closing my eyes and feeling guilty.

I might have to reconsider my decision to avoid getting involved.

Especially since I had a strong suspicion that Raquel would be going back out to fight again in the near future, broken arm and all. It was a lot easier to assume she had her side of things well in hand when I hadn’t met her yet. Now she had a face and a name, and I’d seen her hurt.

I spent a couple of minutes trying to pretend to myself that I hadn’t already made up my mind, but gave it up quickly. If I didn’t try to help now I’d feel like a shitty excuse for a human being.

Dammit, I thought. I guess I’m going to be a superhero after all.
 
 
 
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