The Hero (short story)

“Knock Knock.”

I stared at Joe as he jumped onto my lap, smiling that little boy grin my mom called adorable.

“I don’t care.”

“Those aren’t the right words,” he pouted.

I sighed. I was never going to get rid of him if I didn’t play along. Either that or he would go crying to mom that I wouldn’t let him tell me his joke, and then I’d have to hear it anyways. The little man always won.

“Fine. Who’s there?” I asked, putting down the pencil that had been doing my homework. It’s hard to pick back up once put down; especially when it’s a subject you hate.

“Ammonia.”

“Ammonia who?”

“Ammonia, sis! Get it? I’m on ya!”

“Great. Now get offa me,” I said with annoyance, and he jumped off as he ran away laughing.

I rolled my eyes and went back to the headache they call Calculus that was about to fry a hole through what was now my shriveled up brain. Why does it have to be so complicated? What’s so wrong with 2+2=4?

“Carrie! Supper!” Mom called from the kitchen.

I grunted to myself as I kept working. I should get my own place so there’s less distractions. If they want me to pass this class, I have to actually study. Study involved time. Finding time like that around this house was like looking for Free Willy in the sea.

“Carrie!” she called again, clanking a couple dishes around.

“I’m busy!” I burst back, a little more harsh than I intended. “I’ll have some crackers later.”

“Honey, you skipped breakfast and lunch. You need to eat something.”

But I slammed the door shut without another word. How was the word “no” so complicated? It’s not even a “maybe” or a “sure, whatever” that everyone else used.

But who listens anymore, right? Mom confirmed that when she opened the door with a plate of pizza.

“You’re going to have to eat sometime. I’m not about to let an anorexic live in my house.” After setting the plate beside me on my desk, she turned and walked out. I sighed, now smelling the fresh aroma of grease and cheese with Canadian bacon toppings. Guess Calculus was going to have to solve its own problems for now as I pushed it off to the side yet again to chow down the very distracting and appealing slices of pizza.

Just then my cell phone started ringing and I yanked out my phone, wanting to throw it at the wall. What was with everyone tonight? On the days I was free for distractions, none came, but on, the days where I’m packed like gum, everything needed my attention.

“What,” I say into the phone.

“Should I call back later?”

“Well you’re calling now, what do you want?”

“Sounds like some procrastination, miss rainbow happy pants.”

“Is that really all you got?”

“Well, if you wouldn’t have stalled till the day before your Calculus exam, you would have remembered that it’s my birthday and we are going to a movie.”

I cursed to myself as I couldn’t believe that I actually forgot my best friend’s birthday.

“Well I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t forget.”

“Good, cause it’d be a waste of time. You've had a lot on your mind, I understand that. I'll only hold it against you for the rest of your life. If you get time to come we’re leaving my house in an hour.”

“An hour? Then I can’t. Mom has the late shift at the hospital tonight and dad won’t be home for another three hours. I have to babysit Joe.”

“You can bring him here. My mom can watch him. He can play legos with Chelsea.”

“Then I’ll be there in an hour.”

“You sure? You need to pass that exam or you’re parents are gonna eat you for dinner.”

“I’ll be fine. See ya in a bit.”

I pushed away the pizza as I grabbed my pencil and began typing on my calculator. If I could get most of this done now, then I could finish the last little bit when I got home. I couldn’t miss Valerie’s 18^th birthday.

“Mom!” I called. A couple minutes later, my door opened.

“Yes, oh cranky one?”

"I’m almost done with Calc; can I go to see a movie with Val in an hour? It’s for her birthday.”

“You have to—”

“I’ll bring Joe with me. Val said her mom could watch him for me till we got back.”

She thought for a moment. "I guess that’d be alright. Don’t slack on your homework though, or you won’t understand it when you take your test.”

“I won’t," I said, jumping out of my chair to give her a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Thank you."

A half hour later I managed to finish getting halfway done. I would stay up till midnight to finish if I had to. I ran upstairs to my room and changed into an off-the-shoulder tan shirt with a navy blue spaghetti strap underneath, jeans, and short heels. After throwing my hair into a messy bun, I brushed my teeth to dispose of any pizza stain, colored on some eye liner and shadow, and took the steps two at a time as I headed downstairs.

“Joe!” I called from the kitchen, where mom was putting some snacks into a lunch box.

He came prancing into the kitchen, and I told him to get his shoes and jacket on so we could go.

“Your car needs gas. Whether you stop before or after the movie, you should get it done before tomorrow or we’ll both forget.”

“Okay,” I say, swinging a jacket onto my arms. I reached over and gave her a hug as I said, “Bye Mom.”

“Bye Mommy!” Joe said excitedly as he ran into her arms.

“Bye Hun,” she said hugging back. “Drive safe.”

“Always.”

We hopped into my red Chevy Cavalier and sped down the road towards town. There’s no way that I’d remember to get gas after the movie, so I stopped at The Shell on my way through town before Val’s house.

After my car sucked up $25 worth of gas, I opened my door to grab my purse.

“I’ll be right back,” I said as I closed the door, but at the same second he opened his and hopped out.

“I’m coming with you.”

I rolled my eyes, but let him run along behind me as I sped walked into the store.

I waited impaciently as the other three people ahead of me stood holding food and pop to buy.

How I happened to be lucky enough to choose that minute to be in the gas station, I’ll never know, but a man in all black with a ski mask came in and held up a gun toward the guy at the register.

“Open it up and take out the money, right now!” he urged. Why this guy chose a gas station, is a mystery to me.

The woman behind the counter started speaking Spanish, pretending they couldn’t understand what the man was saying. The guy then spun his head toward me, grabbed my by the arm, and pointed the gun at me, saying, “Open it now, or I shoot her.”

The woman behind the counter didn’t even have time to open the register before Joe came running over and pulled on the arm that the man in the mask was holding onto saying, “Let go of my sister!”

The man looked down at him and pushed him away. “Back off, kid.”

But of course, Joe didn’t. After falling down, he didn’t cry. Instead he ran to the man’s back, and started pulling at his shirt, catching the man off guard as he took a step back to regain his posture. The man spun around in annoyance, let go of my arm for a second, kicked the kid away, raised his gun, and shot Joe in the stomach. At the same second, I spun around and grabbed a large mountain dew bottle on the rack and smashed it over the man’s head, making him topple over and drop the gun. It slid over by one of the customers, who seemed afraid of it and kicked it down one of the aisles where it disappeared from sight.

“Call an ambulance!” I screamed to the woman behind the counter as I slid to my knees by my bleeding little brother. “Joe! Can you hear me?” But before I could even note that he was still alive and crying, my head felt light as I stared at all the blood. “Joe,” I whispered before my lights went out, falling beside my little bro.

I woke up on the hospital bed next to Joe. I blinked as I rubbed my head. I forgot I fainted at the sight of blood. Not one of the perks that I’m proud of.

Mom came over next to me and held my hand. “You okay?”

I sat up, almost forgetting why I had fainted in the first place. I stared at Joe sleeping on his hospital bed, a huge bandage wrapped around his stomach, needles poking into his skin. I put my hand to my mouth as tears ran down my cheek. I had been so close to losing him forever. Of all the times I’ve pushed him off my lap, I never thought it could lead to him never even getting the chance of ever sitting on my lap again. I regretted every time I yelled at him, every time I told him to go away, every time I pushed him out of my way. I should have been on that hospital bed, not him. I was the one the masked man had grabbed. Joe was only trying to free me.

I stood and hugged Mom who had a couple tears in her eyes too.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Shhh, he’s going to be fine.”

“He could have died.”

“I know.”

I squeezed her, needing the embrace. “Do you mind if I have a few minutes alone with him?”

“Sure. I’ll go get some coffee.”

I walked over to mom’s chair and sat down. I took his little hand in both of mine, and he opened his eyes. “Hey there, big guy. How are you feeling?”

“Kinda hurts.”

“I’m sure it does.”

“Where’s mom?”

“She went to get coffee; she’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

“Joe, why did you attack that man? He almost killed you.”

He waited for a couple seconds, as if looking for the right words, then answered. “Because you’re my sister. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

My bottom lip trembled as I gave a small smile. He might not have known that the man probably wouldn't have actually killed me, he just wanted the money, but because he took a stand, the two of us together were able to stop the man from getting away, and that took more bravery than any of the rest of us would have dared to try. “Knock Knock,” I said.

He smiled. “Who’s there?”

“Olive.”

“Olive who?”

“Olive you,” I said.

“I love you too, Carrie.”

I reached over and hugged him. My brother, my hero.