The Hero's Conundrum/Chapter 24

I woke up in the hospital, I didn’t die and then I heard someone coming and I pretended to be asleep. I know they are treating me here, but they are taking me to jail after this. I need to escape from here, so I waited for everyone to leave the room. Everything was really quiet, I opened mi eyes and sat on the bed. My wound is almost healed but it hurts like hell. As I’m getting out of bed I saw Calvin sleeping on a chair, I try not to make noise but he wakes up anyway, and started yelling;

“HE IS AWAKE, HE IS AWAKE”

“Shh, be quiet I need to leave”

“No you don’t, you are a hero, everyone know what you did.”

“What? The more reason I have to leave, I killed all of them.”

“Stay here please and don’t say anything.” Then the nurse came in and hugged me, started crying, then said;

“The woman that was abused and committed suicide was my aunt. I was planning on killing them one by one, but I didn’t have the guts. So thanks”

I didn’t know what to say then Christopher arrived with two more cops and said:

“How are you feeling Angel?” that’s what they decided to call me

“Umm fine.”

“Good, I’m required to inform you of the recent activities that happened while you were unconscious after your work-related accident”

“What? I don’t even have a . . .”

“Wait, the doctor said your mind may be fuzzy so listen, you had a work-related accident, in which Calvin misfired his gun in a training exercise and shot you. He is being suspended for that, you were unconscious for almost two days. A little too exciting for your first week at the police academy”

“I guess” I think I know what they are doing.

“The accident was at noon. So you have missed what happened from that time until now. Since you are a police officer on training in this town, you must be informed of the criminal events that happened.”

“I understand”

“There was an incident on the town border, where a criminal gang was killed, most likely by another gang of criminals. There is no evidence linking any gang and no gang is taking responsibility for it. So, there is an ongoing investigation performed by the state but since the gang never arrived to town, we have nothing to say and we found out about it when we saw the news. Maybe some people will come to interview you, but since all record show that you have been unconscious at the hospital since noon that day, you don’t have to worry”

“Got it”

“We will leave you here in the hospital for one more week and you report to work when you see fit”

“Thanks sir”

“No Arthur . . . thank you. Now rest”

They left but Calvin and the nurse stayed, Calvin said;

“For the record, you started the police academy last week and I accidentally shot you on your first week, so I’m suspended”

“Sorry, I didn’t want that to happen”

“Oh shut up, is a small price to pay for what you did. Ask Lily there what everyone have told her.”

She looked at me and said, that one of the restaurant owners were planning on killing them by poisoning them. The guy from the liquor store said he wanted to lock them in the store and set it on fire with them inside . . . and so on and so forth. The fact is that everyone wanted them dead and I was the only one that had the guts to do it.

I got better, started the police academy and became a cop in town, a year had gone by. Calvin and I are really great friends, everyone loves me and I’m dating Lily. But I still feel in my heart a sense of guilt for the thing I did in the past, well the future I mean . . . whatever. I did what I did to survive and I don’t know if I deserve it, but I need it.

Whenever some punks decided to come here and do as they pleased, I was the one who received them. This town never had another crisis like those assholes. After five years Christopher died and they made me chief of police, I married Lily and Calvin was our best man. Years go by and the town changed, it still has its essence but, it has changed. Twenty years have passed, and I’m the town mayor, everything is going fine except the fact that Lily and I can’t have kids, but we adopted five of them. To everyone I look like forty years old but it was because this time traveling effect, I’m probably like eighty years old.

Christmas festivities here are awesome, we celebrate even dogs birthdays, even thou we are considered a pagan town, everyone is happy. Thirty more years have passed and I’m still the mayor. We make elections as the law requires but everyone wants me here, is all for show. I have made a lot of changes, now there are no churches, it was causing trouble but there is a center with different shrines, where people can go a pay respect to whoever they believe in.

I have someone writing my memoirs since I appear to have Alzheimer. One day, Calvin and I were having some drinks in my patio.

“Angel, I noticed that you are sick, you have Alzheimer.”

“Yes Calvin, I do”

“Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“Because I knew you would notice.”

“Does Lily knows”

“Yeah and I told her to keep quiet, Calvin, there is something I need to tell you that I haven’t even told Lily”

“I know, you are Bansao” I froze, what happened. How does he knows?

“What”

“Relax, I wanted to see how long you could keep that to yourself”

“How do you know? And how much do you know”

“I could be offended that you didn’t recognize me”

“Sammael”

“Yup”

“All this time”

“Ha Ha, yes, all this time”

“Why?”

“I knew that you are inherently a good being and this town needed your leadership and you needed this to redeem yourself”

“Why tell me now”

“Because you are starting to forget and I wanted you to know before you forget who you are”

“Thanks, I do needed this”

“I know”

“Wait . . . is Lily Sarah?”

“No, Sarah is me, long story. Lily is someone else”

“Who?”

“You’ll find out”

“But at this rate I won’t even remember Lily”

“Don’t worry, it will be fine”

We spent the night drinking and remembering anecdotes from the future. He explained me how he and Sarah are the same being.

Five years have passed, now I have to read my memoirs from time to time, to remember who I am, sometimes I don’t recognize my wife or my sons. I woke up and I don’t know where I am, there comes a woman in my room saying she is my wife, but I don’t know who she is.

Where am I? I woke up and can’t barely move. There are people here with tears in their eyes.

Who are they? Who am I”

I woke up, there is a doctor and he is talking to a woman and she is crying, who is she? I hear stage five cancer.

She told me I’m dying and there is nothing she can do.

Sometimes I’m in pain

Sometimes I’m numb.

Today is a very numb day, I feel life fading away. The woman is coming to me.

It is very sad to die, not knowing who you are.

I receive death as it comes.

Void

What happened? Who am I? Where. . . where am I? Did I fell of that cliff? Why am I covered in blood? What is this knife in my hand? What is going on? There are some people in front of me, let me loose the knife I don’t want them to think I’m going to hurt them. Wait, where is the knife? They approached me and I fell on my knees, one of them said

“Let’s take him with us”

So, I walked with them to some sort of military camp. I stayed with them for a while, this are good people, they fed me and train me and they are surprised of how fast I learn. I don’t remember anything, but they told me the story so far;

The year is unknown since all history records have been eradicated with the war, but the world was a very different place. USA in ruins and filled with radiation and there were many powerful men trying to rule what was left of the world. There was no running government or military, there were only small independent militias and in this anarchy, people were living either hiding in fear of being attacked or being themselves the attackers. We had a small camp and a small militia, but we did not attack anyone we only defended ourselves and whenever we went through a village or another militia, we go in peace. Not every time worked out sometimes, we had to fight but we always ended up triumphant. We have earned a name and that was a bad thing, because now people who are trying to rule, will try to take us out.

I remember like it was yesterday, we are a group of about two hundred people, everyone including kids must cooperate in order to survive. We do not encourage people to have kids for many reasons, the keep getting snatched at night, they slow us down, we have very little medicine and only one nurse, etc. None the less people keep trying to make families in this hostile environment. The only upside of a kid being born in this time was that if he survived to be 21, he is going to be one though motherfucker. We never stay in one place, we need to keep moving if we want to survive. We once tried to stay in an abandoned school, but we kept getting attacked and we lost many men, so now we stay on the move. Is sad to see villages and camps destroyed, men, women and children on the floor, dead, no one left to bury the dead.

Among all militias there was one that was succeeding in ruling all, because in that militia there was one man that everyone fear the most. We may have earned a name, but he became a legend, the boogieman. He is known by many names, but we know him as Bansao.