From Eden - Mateo Forero
A gift from mother....
Three months after graduating Summa Cum Laude from the academy, Daisy flipped burgers just to afford her own suit. Each passing day, entitled hooligans from every creed, race, gender, and religion would waltz in demanding maximum effort from a staff that was paid minimum wage. She didn’t want to embarrass herself at her debut by making something homemade, so the girl worked at the crummy fast-food place to save up for a dignified suit.
Following a late shift, Daisy, holding a bag of food from her job, walked to her small home on the outskirts of the city. Everyday more and more homeless flocked the streets, many of whom were children. A few street urchins ran towards Daisy, they pestered her about everything and nothing and why she wasn’t wearing a costume. She gave them her food, tired eyes staring at the rascals as they fought one another for the greasy meal, “Y’all better share. Or else I’ll have to arrest y’all for being annoying.”. The kids were unphased by her empty threat but listened and divided the burger, fries and chicken nuggets as best they could amongst themselves.
She finally arrived at her home, hoping that a conversation with her mother would be enough to lighten her crumbling hopes. She tossed the hairnet and hat off her disheveled head, apathetic to where it would land. She wasn’t physically tired, her powers gave her perfect vigor, however emotionally she was drained.
Her mother, Gabrielle, sat next to the small kitchen table wearing her blue bathrobe and bonnet. A bundle of red and green wrapping paper with tiny candy canes dancing along its festive design. They greeted each other, Daisy asked her if it was Christmas, the older woman responded, “It might be, God willing.”. The girl carefully opens her gift, forever grateful for having a mother like Gabrielle.
Inside the wrapping was pink, white, black. It was made mostly from old pajamas, pieces from other clothing stitched in the missing spaces between. The symbol of a pink rabbit was embroidered onto the chest. A ski mask with transparent white tear-shaped goggles sewn into it. What's more is the final touch, thin rabbit ears, which were just long pieces of wool with metal wire inside to make them stick up.
Gabrielle was no seamstress, her patchwork attempt at heroic fashion was the best that
she could do. “Needin’ a piece of paper to help ya fellow man is one kind of folly. Havin’ a dress code is another”, Gabrielle said in Patois with bitterness in her voice. Daisy fell in love the second she pulled it out from the out-of-season wrapping. Arms resting on the wooden kitchen table as she beheld what she believed was a work of true artistry. Gabrielle also had beef patties she prepared for the occasion resting hot and ready on the counter but Daisy couldn’t get out of her fixation.
The young girl failed to not be surprised by the generosity given out by her mother, even when it was to be expected. “Mom, I love it! How did you have the time?”, Daisy knew her mother could get busy at times with work. Her mother gave a very modest smile and said, “Don’t worry about me now, this your dream. It’s your right to start living it.”. It was late at night, sirens could be heard coming from the far corners of the city. Both women sat in the kitchen, Daisy inspected the coat of arms in the center of the suit, rubbing her hands through the aged yarn, her red pupils sparkled in excitement. “But please, don’t get into any serious trouble. You my only child.”
Trouble was the least of her daughter’s worries, she wanted to rip off her stupid work “uniform” and try on the real deal. It was better than anything she would have made by herself. She told Gabrielle that she can tag along with her to the soup kitchen after Sunday mass while in costume. Her hero debut could be something more low-key, the well-being and care for those less fortunate is top priority. If Daisy wanted to make a difference in the city then starting locally would be most effective.
Daisy looked at her mother, giving her a reassuring smile, “There's nothing to worry about when Power-Jack’s around!”. She put on the mask first, fitting perfectly on her head, moreover her hair was short enough that it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Gabrielle shook her head as she watched her daughter fiddle with the rabbit mask, bending the ears into different positions. She could hear her mother’s raised heartbeat, her youthful ruby red eyes looked into her tired brown ones. “Trust me mom. I was born to do this, I love you.”. She got up and embraced her mother, placing a small kiss on her freckled cheek.
But Gabrielle took one look at her daughter and started laughing, “Put on the rest of the suit, you look ridiculous!”. They shared laughter, told more jokes, Daisy quickly forgot about her crummy job, as well as about all the wickedness in the world. The warm yellow ceiling light pushed back whatever darkness that dared to overtake them, as they feasted on their fresh beef patties.
A gift from father....
“If I shouldn’t train with the sword, then why are we doing this?” Daisy and her father had been going at it since morning. They stood in an open field of blue asters, surrounded on all sides by an orange sky. A gentle wind grazed past them, the air had a strange feeling, like a storm was brewing.
Raymond and Daisy were playing catch with a sword, a magic sword. Despite it being a physical back and forth, their innocent talk turned into something more heated. His daughter argued, “The fact that the sword even lets me pick it up means that I am worthy. I’m already halfway done with schooling so I can actually get my license”. Even if she could do anything a rabbit could, a part of her wanted to stick to her fathers angelic “branding”, so knowing how to use his sword might be beneficial in carrying on their legacy.
The sword itself was made of some transparent material, similar in texture to carved obsidian, instead of a natural jet black it was of a dazzling gold. Its hilt was black and long, with a small red crystal embedded into the guard. The weapon was as long as Raymond was tall from the tip of the blade to its pommel. It could speak too, only he was the only person alive that understood it. Raymond grew to tolerate the thing’s vile speech.
After more back and forth, Raymond finally gave her an answer, “This is just
compromise.”, he threw the sword with one hand. Daisy’s feet stomped rapidly, a subconscious tick that stemmed from a very conscious frustration. Her father was also wearing his suit, to add insult to injury. It was reminiscent of an old civil war uniform made of black leather and golden highlights, boots that reached up to his knees. Daisy thought it was cool for the longest time, now she began to resent it.
She grabbed the sword as it flew by her, almost pulling her with it. She was half as tall as it was long, so she lobbed it back at her father. He catched it, “You don’t think it’s fair?”, he directs it back flawlessly. In her hand once more, Daisy heaved the blade, a small bit of malice in her movement made it u-turn and aimed its tip at her face.
It whirled at her like a helicopter blade, slicing through a chunk of her springy coils, also leaving a small cut on the side of her eyebrow. She yelped in surprise, touching the side of her face and the shaven side of her scalp. Daisy started to think this wasn’t her day. “It’s not fair. Nothing is. Plus, I don’t think it likes you.”, although he said it facetiously, Raymond was horrified at what would have happened if she failed to snatch it in time.
They both sat next to each on an overgrown tank, Raymond, after chastising the sword, looked over Daisy’s flesh wound. “I’m sorry if I act spoiled... I just want to be like you.”, Raymond noticed her defeated posture. Then he looked at the sword suspended in the air, its diamond faced towards the two. Daisy simply did not know the full extent of her fathers exploits, she was a girl that had equal knowledge of her father, of her lineage, to that of a stranger. Raymond, Godspeed, was a legend to all, even to the ones he loves the most.
Raymond ran his hand over his buzz cut in contemplation. He didn’t want her to be a Superhero, he didn’t want Daisy to fall like he did. He looked at his hands, so much blood had to be spilt just to get to this point, so many people had to suffer. Daisy was in love with the idea of being a Superhero, of being some knight in spandex armor. It takes more than some fool wearing a silly costume and weird powers to make a difference in people's lives, or even worse, forcing others into submission. He wishes he could say all this to her, but how could he? To crush his baby’s dreams? To force his outlook onto her? If she wants to fly so badly then Raymond would let her.
Daisy opened her hand, palm up, she failed to meet her fathers gaze. Raymond readily accepts the invitation, interlocking it with his own. Immature and gentle met harsh and weathered. He stares back at the sword. “I just want to be like you....”, the cut on her brow started to leak down onto her freckles. Her eyes swelled, thoughts of inadequacy, of rejection that had built up inside her throat.
Daisy held her father tightly as she sobbed into cold leather. He took a look at the sky, wishing to go back where it all began, and start anew. As it began to rain, the man sprouted his pair of large brown wings, using them to prevent his daughter’s tears from mixing with the rain.
Raymond sighed, “Angels were not made for kindness....”.
A gift from Walt....
Most guys get their significant others flowers, chocolates, love letters, perfume, maybe even a dress when they want to impress them. Symbolic gestures of appreciation come in many forms and practices, those are just the ones that were expected in civilized societies. It wasn’t what Daisy wanted per se, still she expected something closer to that script (she personally loved roses). The guy she was dating however, was Walter.
He got her a... cuff bracelet?
It didn’t look like it was supposed to be worn, maybe some piece of lead piping or car part. Walter was quite eager to show it off regardless, plus Daisy was taught to appreciate every gift given to her. Even if it came from a wanted criminal.
Before their date, they agreed to meet at a secluded beach near one of the piers. Daisy and Walter stood on the small patch of sand. The harbor had all manner of boats floating within its gray and murky waters. He offered her a ride on his glider, which was parked underneath some garbage but she said to take a cab instead.
“What are you doin’ just lookin’ at it? Twist your wrist.”, Walter had a big smile
plastered on his pale face as he said this, vampire-like fangs barred for his date to see. Daisy looked at him funny, staring at his black swept-back hair and then down to his white dress shirt with the suspenders including that silly purple bowtie he never leaves out regardless of the outfit. A small part of her hoped he wasn’t trying to kill her, nevertheless, the girl takes a chance. She does as he says.
The iron cuff blossomed into a round disk shaped bouquet of pink, white and black. The transformation was quick, almost instant, the sound of metallic clanging followed a dash of tiny sparks. Colored plates sliding on top of another subsequently clicking in place.
It was a shield, Daisy’s rabbit symbol was painted on the boss. The young girl cupped her free hand on her mouth, her eyes wide, “Walt! This-”. She struggled to properly grasp the emotion she was feeling at that moment, which made her date think he messed up somehow, “It’s too much is it?”, he stared at her cute red sweater unsure of where else to look. She quickly shook her head, her dark brown corkscrew locks flailed about. She beamed at him,“No no, I love it! How did you come up with this?”.
He starts confidently, “You’re fast, really fast. But ya ain’t faster than light. Would hate to see you... you know. I know you have to protect folks.”, Daisy gets a little closer to him. She closed the shield, back in its cuff form, to prevent it getting in the way of Walter’s metal hand now on her waist. She whispers teasingly, “Oh wow, RatKing has a heart?”. Getting all bashful, Walter deflects in a rougher voice, “Look, I don’t want to see you get hurt goddammit. That’s all.”.
There was so much sand, ocean, sky, cloud, and wind around that they both got real close to each other, to make sure that none of it would get between them. “Call me crazy, but I think we could make a pretty good team.”, Daisy said, her hand placed on his chest, fiddling with his bowtie. Both his hands, of warm flesh and of cold steel, gently held her. They couldn’t imagine getting closer than this.
While Daisy imagined the two fighting crime, building up communities, standing up for justice, Walter imagined them as a duo of chaos and mischief, burning it all down in glorious fire. The boy understood how polar opposite they were from each other, leaving him truly wondering what this well adjusted girl saw in him. So he asked, his soft eyes full of concern, “What are we actually doing here Deedee?”, thoughts of horrible glorious fires burning the two of them instead of the world. She held the back of his neck, rubbing her dark thumb against his pale jawline. Most people in the hero industry thought she was naive, that she might never live up to her father’s legend. What most people didn’t know was that Daisy wanted to continue her fathers work. A crooked smirk appears on her face, “Thesis, antithesis... synthesis.”. Walter blinks a few times, “What the fuck does that me-”.
The heroine had stolen a kiss from the villain. White and red cloth blended together as longing arms wrapping around tight. A rush of impossible emotions overwhelmed their young spirits. Every bitter memory weighing on their minds was washed away along the poisoned shoreline, swept into a cleaner expanse of love and beauty. For it should be known that hope and chaos are not mutually exclusive paradigms, one cannot exist without the other.
And their date hadn’t even started yet.
Mateo Forero is a Senior majoring in history and minoring in creative writing and is of Colombian descent. He enjoys video games, writing, and drawing. Also his favorite color is purple.