FLASHBACK: COLLEGE
I knocked on the door. "Huh?" A voice yelled from inside. "Is this room 332?" I asked, cracking the door open slightly.
"Yup, who're you looking for?"
I nodded, and walked in.
"Need something?" Trent asked. I set my bag on the bed. "Oh! You're my roomie." He realized, followed by a chuckle. Trent quickly stood up, and reached out his hand. I shook it.
"Trent Newman."
"Matthew Queen."
"Queen? You're not from the city, are you?"
"Yup. Born n' raised."
"No way! My dad's friends with your dad! This is gonna be awesome."
"What is?"
"Me! As your wingman. You're gonna open up a whole category of women I've only dreamed of.. a lot. You and me, we're gonna be like maverick and goose, I'm tellin' you."
His computer, resting on the bed, chimed.
"Oh shit," he said, sprinting towards it.
He stared at it for a moment, and then spoke. "Fuck yeah!" He yelled.
"What?"
"I got in!"
"In.. what?"
"The last spot, I'm taking Russian."
"You're gonna take Russian?"
"Uh, yeah. It's spoken by 157 million people, I'd like to know what they're saying."
"That the only reason?"
"Yeah, why the hell else would I take it?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe for a girl?"
"See? This is what I'm talkin' about! You and I- no secrets. We're gonna make a hell of a team. Just like maverick and goose."
"Didn't goose die? And he was married."
"Who cares?" He exclaimed. "Hey, you don't happen to know a good place to get some food, do you?"
"Nope."
"Well, I do. C'mon, follow me."
TODAY:
"What the hell are you doing, Matt? Your family owns a law firm. You were gonna take it over. You're supposed to be helping people."
"I am."
"Yeah, in a mask. Y'know what they call that? A vigilante. Somebody who acts outside of the law."
Just then, my phone started ringing. I went to grab it off the floor, but Trent grabbed it before I could. It was my mom. "She deserves to know."
"Trent, don't."
"Is this what you do?" He asked, declining the call. You lie to us? To all of us? When we're trying to hangout with you, when we're worried about you after you come home from an island that put you through hell, after you've gone blind? After you're telling us that your father really is dead?"
"Voicemail." The phone chimed.
He clicked a button on the screen. "You just hit ignore?"
He tossed it onto the bed. "Trent.."
Then, his phone started ringing. He fished it out of his back pocket. It was my mom again.
"It's her again."
"Please, Trent."
He walked over towards the door, and then answered the call.
"Hey."
"Hey, I tried calling Matt, where the hell are you guys?"
"We're at his place."
"Well, is everything okay?"
"No, Matt was—" he started to say, and then looked over at me.
"Matt was in an accident."
"Shit. Is he alright?"
"He was in a car accident."
"Matt was driving..?"
"No." He replied, quickly. "Somebody hit him."
"Is he hurt bad? Look, I-I'm coming over now, I'll be there in a minute."
"No. No, just stay at the office, they need you there."
"Look, I appreciate you Trent, but I'm gonna there for my son."
"There's nothing you can do here."
"Trent-"
"I have it handled, Mrs. Queen." He told her, sternly. "I'll call you if we need anything."
He hung up on her.
"Thank you, man." I said, relieved.
"Fuck you. I just lied to somebody I care about."
His voice cracked a little, tears formed in his eyes. "I want to know everything. And don't you leave a damn thing out."
"What do you wanna know?"
"Well, for starters, where the hell'd you get all this stuff? The costume, the gloves, the mask."
"The internet."
"I thought you people stitch this shit together yourselves."
"I never learned how."
"But you learned how to fight?"
I sighed.
"There's footage of you, Matt, from reporters on the internet, of you flipping around, beating up criminals. Not a lot of footage, but it's there."
"What's your point, T?"
"Your mom works at a law firm. Your dad was a street fighter. He didn't teach you any of that stuff, did he?"
"You know he didn't want me fighting."
"So how'd you get so good at it?"
"An old man named Abaddon."
"You're shitting me."
"He found me on the island, a little while before my dad died. Taught me how to fight."
"An old man teaching you the ancient ways of martial arts? Isn't that the plot to kung fu? Or TMNT?"
"I know, I know how it sounds."
"Do you, Matt?"
"He did more than just start my training. He taught me that my blindness wasn't a disability. He helped me learn that sight was a distraction. Abaddon taught me almost everything I know."
"Define everything."
"It's hard to explain, Trent." I stammered. "I can't- my abilities- I just, I just know things, okay?"
"No, not okay, Matt!" He yelled. "Can you read my mind? Predict the future? Levitate? What things do you 'just know'?"
"I know you haven't showered since yesterday morning.. but you rinsed your face in the kitchen sink a little after you found out. I know you had lucky charms for breakfast, and had a burger with pickles in it two days ago. I know you're exhausted right now, but you're starving too. And the more I tell you, the faster your heart beats."
His face looked more and more shocked with every word I spoke. "You can hear a heartbeat? From across the room?"
"It helps to anticipate behavior. When someone's lying, when they're gonna attack."
"Wait. Are you telling me.. that since you've been back, any time I haven't told the truth, you knew?"
I nodded.
"And what? You just played along?"
"Basically." I replied, quietly.
He walked towards me. "If you weren't half dead, I would kick your ass, Queen. Am I lying about that?"
I sighed. "No." I muttered.
He took a step back. "Was anything ever real with us?"
"Of course it was, Trent."
"I'm not you. I can't tell whether or not you're lying. Tell me this, Matt. Were you ever really blind?"
YOU ARE READING
The End Is Near
Action"The End Is Near" follows Matthew Queen, a rich billionaire by day and vigilante by night. While stranded on an island, he lost his eye-site, making his other senses significantly enhanced, which he uses to fight crime on the streets of New York. Of...
