My take on the Green Arrow Mythology
Chapter three: Roy Harper
I’m all alone. I’ve already accepted that. And I’m hungry…so, so hungry.
I’ve been here for two days now. Exploring the jungle, I’ve already found a small pool for water and a cave where I’ve made a shelter. It rains constantly too, almost every day in the afternoon the clouds come and the sky falls. After that the heat comes back and the humidity is almost unbearable…but I have to find food at some point.
The arrow’s always with me. Whenever I trek through the forest I always have it inside one of the belt loops on my jeans. The arrowhead, sharp and bright, is a comfort whenever I hear something rustling in the bushes, which happens a lot. Most of the time it’s a bird, possibly hiding from the rain through the dense brush of the bushes. Other times I’ve been able to hide when it sounds larger and I’m able to see a pig come lumbering out and then back into bushes, I’ve never thought about killing one though, not with the arrow…blood is-
“Blood is so hard to clean off.”
I’m in my cave when the voice sounds again…just like it did when I saw the arrow. I breathe heavily from fear and quickly scan over the area…no one…no one’s here…I’m alone…just like always.
I lay the arrow down on the ground after picking it up in my fear…fear is a constant here, even if it’s only in my head. I lie back down, pressing my head against the make shift pillow of tree leaves I made when I found the cave. My back is always aching, but I appreciate the comfort on my head. With the sound of the jungle in the back ground, I slowly fall asleep.
CRACK!
I’m instantly awake at the sound of the breaking branch. My heart thumps inside my chest once the fear starts to run through my veins. It could just be another animal, but they’ve never come this close to the cave before. My eyes flip open.
A shock of red hair, a blur of tanned skin, and the man is gone from my sight. Immediately I get up from the cave floor and the arrows in my hand as I race after the man. He’s fast, incredibly fast, and I’m weak from hunger…I’m not at my best. But I still run, never entirely seeing him unless it’s a quick glance of red hair or a body part seen through the leaves. I think it’s called tunnel vision. My only focus is on man, not my feet, not my shirt that’s now getting torn from stray branches, or the constant uphill slope I’m running on.
The man runs into an open clearing just when I jump from the cliff. It wasn’t a long jump, but I still land on top of him hard, my mouth in a snarl and the arrowhead pressed under his chin. We’re both breathing hard and now I can finally see him for what he is…a teenager?
His hairs long and matted, so that probably means he’s been here for awhile. He’s been starved, his stomach pressing against his ribs and his bodies as skinny as a toothpick with the slight evidence of muscle. He looks about fifteen, small with the slight trace of stubble along his chin and lip and his pants are ripped to look like shorts.
Through panting breaths, I’m able to get out a question. “Who are you?”
His eyes dart around the jungle and then to me, they show a deeper fear than my own, and I move the arrow away from his throat.
“R-Roy Harper.”
My ears give me back my hearing and I wake up with a start. My breathing is still labored but its easier now with the bandages pressing against…bandages? My hands press against my chest with a quick shot of pain that travels across my body. I exhale, and find the power to get up on my feet and walk around the cell. Was the island just a dream? It was just so real that I can’t believe it didn’t happen…how long was I out?
BAM!
With that same sound I already know what’s going to happen next. The door shrieks and the man walks in, dressed in the same clothes, and with that same look of compassion in his eyes.
“Hello, Oliver.”
It’d be nice if I knew his name.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask, motioning to the fact that I can stand and the bandages around my chest.
“A week.”
It’s not that much of a surprise but the fact that I was asleep for that long was still a shock.
“W-was it from the pain? Why aren’t I hungry?”
I didn’t notice the lack of hunger at first but it just came to mind…I’m not even thirsty…
“We drugged you, Oliver,” he says, beginning to walk around the cell, “The first day we treated your wounds, our doctors are some of the best in the world and we had to make sure you could walk by the second day.”
“Why would that matter?”
“What did you see?”
The question takes me off guard and I just look at him…”What do you mean, ‘what did I see?’?”
“What did our drug show you?” I don’t answer. “…Oliver, we brought you here to help you, it would help us if you tell me what you saw.”
Rage suddenly builds up inside me and get as close as I can to the man. “Help me? HELP ME! Because of you I’ve broken who knows how many bones, been drugged, and haven’t seen the sun in a week! How does that he-“
The punch connects with a POP and I go down hard on the ground.
“You, Oliver, are a shameful, waste of a man who has spent twenty-one years of his life doing absolutely nothing. If you had continued with what you were going to do a week ago you would have ended up with your face all over the tabloids drinking and partying with four women and a reporter all on your father’s dime. Now, since you have gotten here you have been one week sober, which I believe is your personal best and already you have begun a new chapter in your miserable life and if you want to get more help from us you will tell me what you saw!”
I’m panting a little from the sudden rush of pain and I wipe the blood from my mouth. I make up my mind.
“I-I was on an island. I thought us, my parents and me, crashed on it and I tried to find them for two days. And then, and then I met this boy…his name was Roy…Roy Harper.”
The man’s eyes change for just a split second, almost with a hint of…confusion? But then they change back to the same compassion he’s had ever since I met him…strange.
“Very good, Oliver.” He smiles with incredibly white teeth and says, “Come along then, I believe we have a lot of work to do. Please, take the arrow with you; I think we’ll need it.”
I look over the cell and spot the black object lying next to one of the puddles and I pick it up.
“Okay, let’s go.”
End of Chapter three
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