Need to catch up? Check out Issue 1 here: Waking Up (Part 1)
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Waking Up (Part 2)
Bob was lying flat on the ground looking up at the sky. His eyes could not open any wider without first popping out of his skull. He should be dead, because he just fell at least a hundred feet off the side of a church onto the street below. His brains should be scattered across the pavement, but there was no blood, no broken bones, he wasn't even scratched. It had not even knocked the wind out of him. This was unreal.
He felt strange like he wasn't even in his own body. His skin tingled and his legs shook as he stumbled to his feet. Bob looked around frantically to see if anyone had just seen what had happened, but he had fell off the back side of the church, and the only witness to the event was an old homeless man who was staring at the spectacle with eyes as wide as Bob’s were. Bob sort of half smiled and waved at the old man whose only response was to look curiously at a bottle of bourbon which he held in his hand.
Bob stumbled over to the old man, snatched the bottle from him, turned it up, and took a few swigs before handing it back to him.
“Um...did you...I mean...um...Did I, you know,” Bob pointed up to the roof of the church, and started to nod frantically like the whole thing was some ludicrous joke, “fall?”
The only man only reached forward, poked Bob in the chest, and drew back his hand quickly as if he had been shocked. Bob knew what the gesture meant, because Bob was feeling the same way at the moment. The old man was making sure all of this was real and that he wasn't crazy. The wind picked up and blew the sheet that was clothes-pinned to his back around where he could see it. The last thing he needed right now was that thing attached to him so he grabbed hold of the end of the fabric, yanked it free, and shoved it into the old man’s arms.
“Here you can have this,” Bob said, “Look buddy, I you never saw me alright. Let’s just forget this ever happened, okay?” Bob grabbed hold of the man’s shoulders and when he did the man tensed up. Bob drew his hands back quickly, smiled awkwardly, and took off down the street. He never saw the old man look at the bottle one last time before pouring its contents out onto the pavement.
Today was shaping up to be a really tough day, because when Bob made it back to his apartment he immediately regretted the decision to come back. He had hoped that maybe there was some clue there that would help him figure out just what the hell was going on, but now the place was swarming with police, and a crowd had built up outside the barricade. Bob squeezed his way near the front to see what was going on, and what he saw sent a chill down his spine.
The side of the apartment building had been completely blown off, and debris filled the streets, and right at the center of the damage was his apartment. It looked like a bomb had went off, and Bob had no clue how to answer for it. None of this made any sense. He ran through impossible events of the day in his mind. Last thing he remembered, he was shooting up, and then nothing. The next thing he knew he was on the roof of a church with no clue of how he got up there. He had fell off the roof, and walked away unharmed, and now his apartment looked like a war zone.
“I’m a superhero,” was the first thought that crossed his mind. The thought came out of nowhere, and Bob shook the thought from his mind. That was ridiculous. He wasn't a hero. He was going through a divorce. He preferred cartoons over the news. He drank. He did drugs. Hell, he was afraid of heights for Christ sake. As a matter of fact being in the crowd around his apartment made him feel really uncomfortable.
“You are not a hero.”
Yeah, there was no way, he could be a hero. As a matter of fact all of this was probably a dream or a really bad trip, and he would just wake up before long. He was sure of it, so Bob turned around and decided that he would just walk around and wait to wake up. He just needed to let it all go.
“YOU!” A shrill voice cried out from behind him. Bob flinched, because he knew that voice all to well, because it had been nagging him about the rent for the past month. Bob turned around to see the scrunched up face of Ms. Chin his landlady.
“You did this! This is all your fault! Police! Arrest that man!” Bob froze to the spot. Things were getting really out of hand now. This had to be the worst high he had ever come off of. Things were just a little too real. Bob turned around and faced the old bitty, in the biggest attempt he could muster to try and play it off.
“Hey Miss Chin. Look I’m real sorry. I have no idea what happened?”
“Yep, you’re going to jail.”
“I bet you don’t!” She wailed, as one of the police officers walked over.
“What’s going on here?” He asked. Bob did his best to look innocent, which he could only imagine looked about like a puppy in the middle of a shredded couch cushion.
“This is the man officer! He was the tenant of that room!” Chin accused while pointing at Bob. The officer, looked up at Bob slightly puzzled, and then back at the lady.
“What’s your name son?”
“You’re a private citizen.”
“Robert Reynolds, sir. Look sir, I swear I have no idea what happened. I blacked out last night, and it’s been a very strange morning sir.”
“Uh huh. Can I see some identification, please?” The officer asked. Bob reached back for his wallet, but his hands came back empty. When the officer saw this he nodded, and removed his handcuffs from his belt. “Can you turn around please, and put your hands behind your head.”
Bob grimaced and turned around, but he just decided to do as he was told. Something in his gut just told him to play along. Do the right thing. He couldn’t believe this was happening. This day could not get much worse.
“You mind bringing your arms down, please?” The officer said, and that was when Bob realized that the man had been trying to bring his arms down for the past several seconds. He had not even realized that the officer had grabbed his arm. Now he knew for a fact that this couldn’t be real. You didn’t feel anything in dreams right?
“You are not important.”
The officer read him his rights, and led him over to a police car. Bob followed along with the motions, and this time just acted as normal as he possibly could as he sat down in the back of the police car. The police officer closed the door and walked over to a woman standing on the scene. She had shoulder length red hair, and glasses that made Bob think of the ones he used to have to wear back in grade school before he got contacts.
“You've never worn contacts.”
Bob shook his head again. That voice in the back of his head was starting to get real annoying. If things kept going like this he might even start talking with it, and then he really would be crazy.
The red headed woman had got in the car with them back at the apartment, and now they were on their way to the station. From a brief conversation between the woman and the officer driving, Bob had gathered that the woman’s name was Dallas.
“Don’t speak. She doesn't like you.”
Bob ignored the thought, and leaned forward.
“So am I under arrest or something?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you go ahead and confess that the drug paraphernalia belonged to you, and that in your stupor you attempted to blow up Ms. Chin’s property. It would save me a headache, and a ton of paperwork.”
“Blew up?” Bob stammered, “Look seriously, I didn't blow up anything.”
“So then you admit the heroin is yours?”
“Yes...I mean no!”
“Liar.”
“Shut up!”
“Excuse me?” Dallas spat.
“Not you ma’am.” Bob replied, “Okay, yes the drugs are mine, but I didn't do any of that back there. I mean. I couldn't have?”
“That sounds real convincing. I think I’ll just go ahead and book you now.” Dallas looked down at the clipboard in her lap, and started scribbling. “This one’s a real nutcase.”
“I’M NOT CRAZY!” Bob shouted as he rammed up against the cage that separated him from the police officers.
“Coo Coo”
“Shut up, dammit!” Bob screamed out once more.
“Hey, you want to chill out back there?” The officer driving spat. “Damn son. You’re no older than my own kid. You shouldn't be burning yourself out on that stuff.”
“Junkie”
Bob leaned back in the seat and slumped down. The man was right. He was a writer, a damn good one. He had fell in love with the woman of his dreams, and married her. What in the world happened where did it all go wrong?
“Would either of you believe me if I told you that I woke up on the roof of St. Matthews this morning, and when I fell off, and hit the ground I didn't die?”
“I would say that’s not the craziest thing I've heard. Not to long ago we had a zombie locked up in a cell back at the station.” The officer started to laugh, but was cut off by a scowl from Dallas.
“I would say you’re still high.” Dallas spat, showing the least amount of interest she could.
“I hope so.” Bob sighed and looked down at the floorboards, resigning himself to his fate.
Dallas couldn't believe how rotten her luck was. She had responded to a call this morning to a possible super human incident, just so she could get out of the office. Then things went from bad to worse, as it turned out to be just a regular call where some druggie got too hopped up, trashed some crappy apartment, and the Dallas had to hear some old chinese hag prattle on for thirty minutes. Today was turning out to be a bad day. Molly was probably laughing it up right now too, and oh was she going to pay.
Another patrol car cut them off, and Dallas swore under her breath. She was about to reach for the radio, and unload a stream of curses into the offending car’s ear, when she finally noticed the number on the back of the car.
“Hey that looks like O’Hara’s car up ahead?” Dallas said, “Wasn’t he bringing Lane in this morning?”
“I think so.” Bradley, the officer driving their car, grabbed the radio, “Hey O’Hara is that you?”
“That’s a big 10-4. Is that Dallas I see back there?”
“You’re eyes do not deceive you.”
“Oh man, what the hell did you do to piss off the chief this time Bradley?” O’Hara called back. Dallas snatched the radio from Bradley.
“Very funny O’Hara. I like to see you say that to my face.”
“Okay, you’re a bitch. Happy?”
“Listen up you effing prick, do you have Daniel Lane or not?”
“Yeah, yeah. Ol’ Danny Boy is sittin as pretty as a clover in the backseat ain’t ya.” O’Hara replied, and Dallas face lit up.
“This is great. I’ve been chasing that effing ginger for weeks. He’s going to give me a leg up on the case I’ve been building against Hammerhead. I want to question Lane as soon as possible, so do you mind booking our little junkie, Bradley?”
“I’m not so sure it works that way boss?” Bradley replied.
“Oh, believe me. It’s going to work that way, or everyone at the precinct is going to have a bad…WATCH OUT!!!”
CRASH!!!!
Dallas had just barely seen the hit coming, as a very large man in a rhino costume came barreling down the street at them. The car was sent flying, and Dallas was thrown all over the car. She picked a very bad day to not wear a seat belt. Throbbing pain went down her back as she slammed into roof, and when her head slammed down into the dashboard everything became one big blur of “ouch”. When the world finally stopped spinning, the car was upside down and there was shattered glass everywhere. Dallas was lying on the roof of the car in a heap, and from where she lay she could see Bradley hanging from the drivers seat, his neck bent at an odd angle and his eyes had an empty look to them.
There was screaming, and Dallas looked through the shattered windshield to see the Rhino, rip O’Hara from the drivers seat of his own car, and toss him down the street like a piece of unwanted garbage. When the Rhino ripped the rear driver’s side door off, and she saw Lane get out of the back seat, she started to squirm. She had to get out. There was no way, she was going to let Lane get away. Her head throbbed, and she cried out in agony as a sharp pain shot up her leg when she attempted to move. Lane and the Rhino had heard her scream, and looked back at her.
She could see Lane as he started laughing, and bearing through the pain she drew her gun, only to have her hand seared as the engine caught fire. She couldn’t believe it was going to end like this. She was going to burn alive in a tin can after getting run over by an oversized zoo animal. This was beyond the worst day of her life.
Suddenly, there was a screeching sound as the car door was ripped from it’s hinges, and Dallas felt herself being pulled away from the car. Everything that happened next was a bit of a blur as it became harder to keep her eyes open. At first she thought that it had been the junkie, Bob Reynolds, that had pulled her from the car, but all she saw before blacking out was a Golden Man.
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