Rooftop Regrets

I am going to jump.

I stared at the street below me. The people looked like ants. The cars were beetles scurrying along. Above, the sky was a blanket of clouds, no blue patches in sight.

My feet were planted firmly on the edge. This building was seventy stories tall. I've been up taller, but this one will do for today.

I want to jump.

I raised my head, and scanned the skyline of the city. The city I've grown up in, the city I've done my best to help protect. Over, and over. I was one of their heroes.

I was supposed to be anyway.

Some thought I was a criminal, thanks to a local news presenter. Some thought I was a sidekick, just because I was close to another hero. Most probably don't even know of most of the things I've done or helped prevent; I get no recognition.

Not that I deserve it. Why should a hero who can't do her job properly get praise and recognition? Certain first aid techniques, how to track a baddie, how to even throw a proper punch, stopping myself from being kidnapped- these were things I didn't know how to do. I was useless.

Not to mention what I've caused for others. Time after time... I've cause someone I care about to get hurt. He got kidnapped, because I wanted to meet a fictional character. He got tortured, because I wasn't able to find him. His heart was broken, because I was worried that I would mess up a relationship. He got himself hurt, because I was careless enough to get myself into bother.

Why haven't I jumped yet?

There was the countless times where I've messed up on a mission. Who knows how many small mistakes I've made could have ruined everything, or gotten someone else hurt. A hero shouldn't be this clumsy.

It's in my blood to not be a hero. My parents worked for the other side, my sister worked for the other side... And they're all dead. I didn't meet my parents. My best friend killed my sister, his girlfriend, for being a traitor. I knew I couldn't blame him: she worked for the people who made his life a living hell for two years. The people who had nearly taken me from him multiple times.

When my friend dated my sister, I ran away, fearful that I would get in the way of their relationship. He came after me, and nearly died in the process. I was an idiot. Such an idiot...

Jump already!

It was all too easy to stay standing on the very vertice of the rooftop with my powers.

I have to let go sooner or later.

I took a step off the building, tipped forward, and began plummeting head first.

Just past floor sixty...

So many things in my life had gone wrong. I was living a tragedy.

Floor fifty...

The biggest news presenter in the city talked crap about me regularly, making other people hate me.

Floor forty.

My awkwardness and anxiety got in the way of important tasks.

Thirty.

I messed up constantly.

Twenty.

Nineteen.

Eightteen.

Seventeen.

Sixt-

A split second action, it was second nature: using the device on my wrist to shoot a line that attached to the building.

I spun around slowly to face my friend.

"What took you so long?" He said smiling, sitting on the window sill of the sixteenth floor.

"I was thinking about stuff, no big deal," I replied, still swaying slightly from the rather sudden stop.

"If you're sure, Shorty, then let's get going. I picked out a pretty cool course for today."

"Great, then let's."

He took my hand, and teleported us to the building that began today's "Superhero Parkour" course.

The sky began to clear, allowing the sun to peek through.

Much better.

Sure, many terrible things may happen in my life, and there are many flaws within myself.

But nobody's perfect, and in my line of work of course bad things will happen. It's an occupational hazard.

And I have this guy to help me up when I fall down, and I'll always be there to do the same for him.