Heroic Acts

Ten

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Darien," Seth fibbed, looking away to hide his red face. He changed into his gym shorts, preparing himself for bed.

"Oh, but you do," Darien said. "I just want to know why. Are you okay in general?"

"Stop. It's none of your business," Seth said.

"I'm just worried about you, Seth."

"You don't have to be. I'm fine and I don't want to talk about it, okay? Is that what you want to hear?"

Truthfully, Darien was unsatisfied with his roommate's response, but he decided he pushed too much for the night. He made his way to his own clothes and began to change for bed.

"I'm sorry, Seth."

With no response, Darien crawled into bed, and looked over at Seth, who was already curled up in his. After studying him for a moment, he reached over to the lamp and clicked it off.

***

When he woke up, Seth was missing, and he had an alert on his cellphone explaining that classes had been cancelled due to the awful storm. Awful it was, indeed. The sky was black as night even though it was eight in the morning. Rain pelted the windows and lightning colored the sky in brief bursts. The trees danced in the wind to the sound of the thunder. Darien wondered why the weather had taken such a bleak turn when it had been beautiful outside for days. His phone alerted a tornado warning.

Where was Seth? He should be in the dorm and not outside in Mother Nature's wrath. Darien didn't have Seth's phone number, so he couldn't call or text him. He quickly got dressed and made his way down to the bathroom and showers, which was mostly empty, to see if Seth had gone to shower. No, that wouldn't be smart of him. The electric currents outside could easily electrocute someone in the shower, and none of the showers were running in the first place. They were vacant.

Darien went back to his room and grabbed a coat with a hood before running outside to the building directly across from the dorms. By the time he was inside the dining hall, he was drenched from head to toe. Maybe Seth got hungry and didn't want to risk driving anywhere?

After scanning the ghost town of a dining room, it was clear that Seth wasn't there, and there was no sign of him in the kitchen, either. Feeling defeated, Darien bought some granola and fruit yogurt and sat down in the dining room for breakfast.

He turned on the television, raising the volume so he could listen to the weather report, but what he got was much more interesting.

"I'm Amy Garcia with your morning news, but this morning isn't a good one," the news anchor began. "The Phantom has struck again in down town city areas, swirling up the storm and winds that are becoming a danger to you and your families. You heard it here first, this is not the work of Mother Nature. We're advising that everyone stay inside, don't go near any windows or doors, and stay safe. Keep first aid kits nearby and try to stay below ground if possible. Do not go on the roads unless it is absolutely necessary in the case of an emergency. The storm hasn't caused any casualties, but the number of people injured is slowly increasing. Further information will be released later on."

Darien shut the TV off. He had seen enough. Without hesitation, he threw out the remainder of his breakfast and took off across the court to his dorm. Seth still hadn't returned, so he changed into his costume in the open before putting his regular clothes on over top of it and shoving his mask and boots in an empty back pack.

He put the back pack on first, and then his jacket, in order to keep the back pack from getting soaked. He dashed down the stairs and darted out of the building, running down into the vacant streets to the downtown area, twisting and turning through the walkways and buildings.