Page 84 of The Not So Super Hero

Z ane peered about the box-filled apartment, most of which weren’t his. They belonged to Bailey. Like the wonderful boyfriend that he was, Zane put some of it away. At least the items he thought he could put away. Bailey wouldn’t return from his parents until tomorrow.

The kitchen had to be attended to first. Because food.

Then the living room, and next the bathroom.

Zane didn’t tend to the bedroom, since he wasn’t sure where Bailey wanted his belongings.

While he didn’t particularly care, perhaps Bailey would.

He did what he could and hung the clothes, made the bed, little things.

A couple of days of setting up the apartment had better results than expected.

Bailey might make a couple of changes, not that Zane would mind.

A knock at the door caught his attention.

He knew who it was. The lock clicked. Chris smiled when he walked in.

“You actually set up the apartment?” He whistled. “Impressive.”

Zane rolled his eyes. That’s when he glimpsed the manilla folder in Chris’ grasp.

“Do you want something?” he asked.

“Why must I want something? Can’t I visit you for the sake of visiting?” Continuing to admire the apartment, Chris sat beside Zane.

The apartment was much bigger than Zane’s old one.

Chris found the place, a nice single bedroom with an open floor plan to the kitchen and the living room.

He pulled a few strings, and they snagged the place after the college kids left town for summer vacation.

Perfect for Bailey since he started classes after vacation.

Zane also had to go through some government tests to allow him full access to what all the other heroes had.

Although he had, technically, already worked for them but whatever, he would not argue.

Government work. It was exhausting. Zane was already regretting it.

“What’s that?” Zane pointed at the folder.

“Ah, right, this.” Chris held up the mystery object. Zane saw a couple of papers inside.

“Does it have to do with Rebirth?”

“In a way.”

Chris tapped his fingers against the folder. He was acting odd, and that bothered Zane. What the hell was in that folder?

“It’s about your mother,” Chris said.

“My mother?” Zane’s voice cracked like a child’s.

“With Rebirth’s largest leaders gone, we found far more information, physical and online. After some digging, I asked if our intelligence team could compile some basic information for you about her, hopefully get some pictures too.”

Chris held the folder out. Zane didn’t take it. His deep blue gaze lingered on the folder that held secrets he wished to know all his life. Now that they were within his grasp, he was too scared to look at them.

“I haven’t read it,” Chris admitted. He gripped Zane’s shivering shoulder. “Whatever is in here, it’s for you and if, one day, you want to tell me, then I’ll listen.”

Zane should have snatched it. He should have grabbed the folder and read through every line. Instead, he wanted to hide. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t so much as touch the folder. At the same time, there seemed to be a hundred and one different reasons why he couldn’t.

“I’ll leave it here,” Chris said. Leaning over, he sat the folder atop the coffee table, giving Zane’s shoulder another squeeze. “Look over it when you feel ready.”

With that, Chris said his goodbye. Before he made it to the door though, Zane spoke up, “Thanks, Dad.”

Chris smiled. His lips quivered. He blinked rapidly. “No problem, kiddo.”

Then he left.

Zane reached out like he actually believed he would read it.

Except his hand didn’t even hover over the folder before he retreated.

Then he got up and walked away, rummaging around the kitchen, pretending to re-situate items. Next he took a shower, tried to watch TV.

Finally, he grabbed the folder, only to shove it in a kitchen drawer so he couldn’t see it.

His heart raced. His head felt hazy. He wanted to know every detail.

He was also terrified to learn the answers to the barrage of questions.

What was her name? Where was she from? How did she meet Antoine?

Was she...part of Rebirth? From what Antoine said before, she didn’t seem to be.

But there was always a chance. A chance that Zane really came from two rotten eggs.

The idea of that frightened him. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to read it, so he didn’t.

Zane waited for Bailey. That was the only thing he could do.

Their meet up after a month apart should have been sweet.

Bailey thought about it on the way there.

Some of it was not so innocent. Sure, it was sweet.

In a way. Zane purposefully didn’t answer the door, so Bailey had to use his own key to get in.

It felt nice opening the door to their shared apartment.

Even more so when he found Zane waiting patiently for him in the living room.

They shared a kiss, one that lasted far longer than necessary before Zane wrapped Bailey tightly in his arms. However, there was something about his eyes; he looked dazed.

“What’d I miss?” Bailey asked, pulling back, but his arms remained around Zane.

“What are you talking about?”

“Is something wrong?” Bailey inquired, looking about the apartment. “I know something’s wrong. You set up the apartment.”

“I did that before something was wrong.”

Bailey broke their embrace to point accusingly. “See, you said it.”

“Said what?”

“That something is wrong.”

Zane was off his game, but for good reason.

He knew it wouldn’t last long. He had been out of it all night, and it wasn’t like he was trying to hide anything.

Well, sort of. Only because he didn’t want the first thing they discussed to be “Hey, Chris brought over some possibly depressing stuff about my mother. Wanna look through it?” That would suck.

But there was no point in hiding, so Zane walked away. Bailey stood confused in the living room. He waited patiently for Zane to retrieve a folder from the kitchen. When Zane sat down on the couch with it, Bailey sat beside him.

“Chris brought this yesterday,” Zane explained.

“What is it?”

“It’s information… about my mother.”

Bailey’s eyes widened, said eyes tearing themselves from the folder to Zane. Seeing the solemn expression on his face made his toes curl. He understood why Zane was dazed.

“Did you read it?” he whispered.

“No,” Zane answered with a firm shake of his head. “I waited for you.”

Bailey felt a little silly for feeling honored.

Honestly, if he were in Zane’s shoes, he would have done the same.

He couldn’t imagine what Zane was feeling.

His whole life he wondered about his mom, but had no answers other than her last name.

Now he held some answers to the questions that plagued him forever in his hands, and that was scary.

“If you don’t want to read it now, we can wait?” Bailey offered.

Zane shook his head. He flipped the folder open. Otherwise, he’d hide from the truth forever.

The first item that greeted them was a picture of a woman so beautiful he couldn’t believe it to be his mother.

Zane always thought he looked like Antoine.

Seeing her changed his mind completely. She had long straight silver hair, like his, that reached to her mid back.

The woman sat on a bench in a park wearing a white baby doll dress.

Even from the picture, it was obvious she was tall.

She had a soft and warm smile, the very definition of comfort.

While her eyes were a deep green, they held the same shape as Zane’s.

Rather, he had the shape of hers. She was breathtaking in every sense of the word.

“She’s beautiful,” Bailey said. He gently took hold of the folder. Zane’s hands shook so terribly, he almost dropped the folder. “You look like her,” Bailey continued. “Except she actually looks like she’d be fun to be around.”

Zane snorted, the sound coming out choked like he was on the verge of tears.

Truthfully, he was. He turned the picture over, unsure of what he searched for.

The picture hadn’t been taken offline. Someone had found it because there was writing on the back.

Where? How? Whose was it? Why did they have it?

Sadly, the writing was in another language.

French, he thought. But there was a numbered date from 24 years ago.

“Will you read what’s in here?” Zane asked because, for whatever reason, when he turned the photograph over again, he couldn’t stop staring at her.

“You sure?”

Zane nodded. Bailey cleared his throat and looked over the little information they were given.

Judging by the brief sentences, it seemed someone had compiled the information that they could and set it up.

Bit by bit, Bailey told Zane about his mother, Celeste Levitt.

She was born and raised in a small town in France.

Her family and friends adored her. She never got into trouble, and her grades were immaculate.

She wanted to be an interior designer and even seemed pretty nifty in art and carpentry.

Everything about her seemed so normal. He stopped in his reading when he came across the one thing about Celeste that was absolutely extraordinary, but in an almost terrifying way.

“What?” Zane asked when Bailey grew quiet, finally looking away from the photo to peer at the boy. “What is it?”

Bailey wondered if he was supposed to be reading this. Did someone accidentally include it or did they assume they wouldn’t talk?

“Bailey,” Zane called, causing Bailey to look at him with a confused expression. “What is it?”

Bailey’s heart twisted because he knew how Celeste got involved with Rebirth. He felt, for certain, it wasn’t willingly.