Chương 2: Pain

Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound dragged me from the void like some pain-inducing alarm clock. My eyelids were glued shut, my brain was being squeezed for juice, and my mouth tasted like I'd chugged acid. I cracked one eye open. Blinding white ceiling. The steady whir of machines. Definitely not my bedroom unless Gran had finally caved and upgraded our apartment decor to "psych ward chic".

"Easy there." A voice floated in, male. I tried to sit up but my body vetoed that idea by shoving a lightning bolt of pain down my shoulder. My eyes squeezed shut again and someone lowered me carefully back down to the gurney. My head tilted enough to see the guy. Red hair with a sprinkle of freckles across his face. Probably my age, or at least with the face of someone who got carded for energy drinks. Costume didn't help either with its primary colors and choice of design.

Bet he'd get on a lot of kids' training pants boxes what with his blue speedo over yellow tights. He was leaning over me with trembling hands, a mask that kept slipping off his nose, and the unmistakable look of someone way out of their depths. Precisely what you want from your healthcare professional.

"Uh- you dislocated your shoulder," he said, voice rising at the end like he wanted someone older to swoop in and take over.

"So I'm gonna- uh- I'm gonna fix that." Ah. So that explained the feeling that someone had chopped my arm for wood. My head swiveled to look at it. You know how shoulders are supposed to be nice and smooth, rounded? My shoulder bone is sticking out from a place it shouldn't be, and it looks like it has a mini skull protruding from under the skin. I'm expecting a tiny alien to burst through; it'd be a lot better than from a stomach.

"Define 'fix'," I say through gritted teeth. He blinked at me.

"Uh like, put it back where it's supposed to go?"

"Cool. Love the confidence. You know this isn't like a Lego arm, right? You can't just jam it in as hard as you can."

"Well-" A head popped around the doorway to look at us. From her blue jacket with the EMT insignia on it, I'd guess that's the person who was supposed to be taking care of me.

"Looking good there, Moth Boy. Just hold her wrist firmly and pull her arm. It should go back in the socket. You'll hear a pop sound letting you know when you did it right." Her head ducked away, but I heard her voice continuing some conversation with what sounded like Solaria.

"So you use it before putting on the face mask or after?"

"Hey!" I called out.

"Can't you do it inste-" But Moth Boy had taken my arm and I was trying to not scream. I assume he was being careful, but careful is a relative concept. This was either going to be fine or I was going to meet Jesus in the back of an ambulance.

"Okay, pull it… wiggle it around and then…" Maybe it was the sweat covering his hands, maybe he was just jumpy, maybe he was pretending to be a hero precisely because he could then inflict as much pain as he wanted and just label it all as "accidental". I'll never fully know because there were only two things that existed in the world after that: my endless scream and absolute hellfire. Guess I should have known I belonged with Satan. I still didn't have a shoulder. I had a firecracker exploding from my arm socket.

At least it got their attention.

The EMT popped her head back in.

"You're doing great… just try more pulling, less wiggling." Satan Jr. gave one last tug on my wrist and the tide went out on my ocean of pain. I laid on the stretcher panting for breath. My throat should be bleeding from my banshee impression.

"Did it go in?" Moth Boy's voice broke as he asked the question.

"I couldn't hear a pop over her screaming."

"Yep, you did it! Great job!" My absentee paramedic gave him a firm pat on the back.

"Are you sure? I don't think it's supposed to hurt like that."

"Well, you know, it's one of those things you learn with time. But you gotta start somewhere. Use your healing powers to smooth it over and it should be fine." She hopped off of the ambulance again.

"So about that recipe-" Glad she could discuss hor d'oeuvres while I was stuck in a horror movie. Moth Boy held a hand to my newly refurbished shoulder and his palm felt like hot stones. The heat straddled the line between spa-like and radioactive, and beneath my skin, the fibers of my muscles were being twanged and strummed like a guitar. I was ready to go full on Linda Blair on him, when he stood up, holding his wrist with his other hand, sweat dotting his face along with his freckles. Pseudo EMT was back.

"Looks great! I think our super friend here just reduced your recovery time by months. How ya feelin', hun?" She smiled at me. I didn't smile back.

"Like I just had my arm ripped off and then glued back on by a toddler." Her face faltered.

"Well, it will take some time to feel back to normal. We'll put it in a sling, but in a week or two you should be fine." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Then she left again. Vigilance elbowed Moth Boy in the side, grinning. He then whispered, "Got some points for it, though, eh? Just you wait, little by little, it'll start building up over time." Kind of wish I'd sided with the villain at this point.

While Boy Wonder and Captain Oblivious put their heads together and muttered about points and builds, I grabbed a sling from the paramedic's bag then dragged myself to my feet and hopped off the stretcher. My shoulder throbbed as I put the sling around me, but it was no longer the torture fest that it was before. The street was a mess. It looked like a meteor shower had struck with craters and holes everywhere.

Police had cordoned off the area so the crowd was back, but they screamed and waved behind the caution tape like it was a concert instead of a disaster area. I stumbled away from the back of the ambulance, desperate to escape the madness of "heroes". The paramedic's voice called after me.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Why couldn't people just leave me alone? Quickening my stride, I called over my shoulder.

"I'm fine thanks, shoulder's all better. I don't need a ride to the hospital. I'll just be walking home."

"No. I meant aren't you going to apologize to Miss Solaria? You ruined her costume." Solaria was sitting on the ground, wrapped in one of those thermal blankets they always give out to people who have been through something traumatic. It was unclear if she was mentally and emotionally disturbed from my upchuck or if she was just trying to hide the defacement of her perfect fashion. Either way she was glaring at me with more hate than she showed to Dark Beam.

I turned around as I reached the caution tape and gave Princess Sunlight a once over.

"I think it's an improvement." Solaria's glare turned into open-mouthed shock as I dipped beneath the tape and slipped amongst the crowd.

"I'm getting a costume makeover once I get to headquarters!" —--- Every step up the stairs to Gran's apartment was a fresh reminder that my body had recently been used for hibachi. When I reached the top, I was about ready to throw myself into the fires of Mount Doom. I stepped on cat kibble as I walked through the door. Jiji will be highly offended. Gran sat at her side table in our tiny living room/kitchen, her back bent as she crouched over a half-finished puzzle.

"You're late." She was fishing through her purse, then triumphantly raised her glasses in a fist while unaware of the pair that already sat on top of her head.

"Traffic," I muttered, limping past her to the freezer.

"Can't have traffic when you don't have a car. You tellin' me people's feet got in a collision?" Gran's southern accent makes her surliness adorable. I rummaged around before pulling out a bag of peas. Sweet, icy relief. Frozen vegetables are the morphine of the economically impaired.

"Yeah and with a big pile up. It was like human Jenga for awhile there- limbs everywhere, people screaming. Some guy ruined it by peeing at the top." I hobbled to the couch and slowly sat down like I was the old person. There were few places as comforting in this world as your own couch. It was only really topped by one's own bed.

"Oh, so that's how you got your arm in a sling, huh?" She clicked a puzzle piece in place with a cry of satisfaction at having won against an inanimate object.

"You fell from the top?" This was the nice thing about Gran. She doesn't make a fuss about things. She'll just mock you for your stupidity. I've learned a lot from her. I shrugged and immediately regretted it.

"Just typical super stuff." No need to explain more. Gran gave a huff of disgust and held up two puzzle pieces to compare them.

"Lord help us, those supers are going to kill us all." I sank deeper into the couch, watching grainy images on the TV from seventy years ago. Gran had it permanently set to The Old People Channel. On the screen, Hogan and his merry band of heroes used their wit and clever hijinks to foil their Nazi captors. Hogan was the real hero we needed in this world. That guy had class. Jiji's collar jingles as he headed toward me from the hallway.

He jumped on top of my legs, immediately kneading his claws into my jeans as he prepped for lap time. Never expect a cat to put your needs first.

"Pretty sure people wouldn't mind the end of the world, as long as they could snap a selfie for the last explosion." Gran took a hefty chug of her Long Island ice tea, which means she's gearing up for a very special episode of 'I'm Gonna Whoop Your Butt, Ya Punk Kid.'

"You know what, Cass? If it weren't for you, I wouldn't care. I'd let the world set itself on fire and pour on some gasoline just to help. But you need it, so I need it. So how about you don't let it go up in flames?" I stayed quiet, shifting the bag of peas on my shoulder. Finally, I asked, "Oh yeah? How am I supposed to do that? Especially with my arm in a sling?" The clicking of puzzle pieces continued.

"There are two people in this world: people who only complain about things and people who do somethin' about it. And if you're the former, then you ain't welcome at my funeral." I tapped my foot on the floor for several seconds, then turned to her.

"This coming from the woman who complained about a coffeemaker for a week straight." She lifted a fist in the air.

"That's right, I did! And after a week's worth of phone calls, they sent us a new one just to shut me up. That's doin' something!" I rolled my eyes.

"If there's a customer service hotline to get a new world, get me the number- I'll make the call right now."

"It's in North Korea, but we don't want to make that call; it wouldn't be an improvement." Gran sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm just sayin' that right now you spend all your time laughin' at everybody -and with good reason- but all that's getting you is sitting on a couch laughing by yourself."

"Don't mock my couch." I gave the stained upholstery a soothing pat.

"He understands me." Gran stuck some fingers in her mouth to check on her dentures. They were a-ok which means she was good to yell at me as much as she wanted.

"You can't hide from the world! You can try to change it, tear it to pieces, or yell from the rooftops that they're all flushing themselves down the toilet, but don't just sit there, congratulating yourself for being different while doin' nothin'! Life's for livin', not for sittin' on your butt jeering at it." I stroked Jiji's back, letting my silence speak for me. She slumped back in her folding chair with a sigh.

"You got it inside you to be somebody! You got cleverness, that's for sure, but if you don't use it, cleverness just becomes stupidity while pattin' yourself on the back. You're my granddaughter and I love you, but if you don't live up to who I know you can be, I'm going to harpoon that couch like Ahab did the whale." I folded my arms in front of me, raising an eyebrow as I looked at her.

"Don't cross the couch, Gran. Ahab died hunting his whale and I'm afraid you would lose to Patches the same way."

"I could take that stupid couch." She grumbled while turning back to her puzzle. This was my cue to exit stage left. Jiji was unceremoniously dumped to the side and I walked down our four step length "hallway". I opened the door to my own personal sanctuary- my room which was only slightly larger than the bed in it. The pain in my shoulder inflicted from walking kept me from flopping onto my bed, so I unfolded myself gently onto it. My eyes stared up at the stain on the ceiling that looked like an alien monster.

Things could have turned out very differently tonight. Could have ended up in a black zippered bag, slowly being frozen before they prepped my body for the funeral. Nobody would have attended other than Gran and Jiji. That was fairly sad. But what did she expect me to do? My one superpower was my snark and I've only been trying to change the world with it since that one day my family went into our car and I was the only one who came out. It wasn't my fault that no one was listening.