Shadow Watch: Incident #41 – Name

Genre: Super Hero / Fantasy YA
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,093
Title: Shadow Watch: Incident #41 – Name
Notes: Give whatever critic you want.  I honestly think I could add a lot more depth to this interaction and would love suggestions towards that.  The two characters both don’t show any identifiable characteristics.  In other words, they are somewhat boring, but have potential. 

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    "It would be best if you put that back where you found it, sir," I said while stepping out of the shadows and slowly raising my empty hands.

    The masked man stood frozen with his fingers wrapped around the sparkling blue necklace. He was inches away from stowing the piece of jewelry into his backpack. His hazel eyes displayed brief surprise through the cutout holes of his red and black striped mask. His eyes scanned over me and began to relax. He let loose a small chuckle. Most of my encounters started out like this; first with surprise, then straight to humor, leaving disbelief trailing at the end. I couldn’t blame them, my small frame gave me the appearance close to the size of a teenager and no one takes them seriously.

    “What are you, some kind of LARP enthusiast?” His voice was young.

    He finished stuffing the necklace in his bag and reached for another handful from the broken display case. I tapped into his thoughts, I still have 5 minutes before the police arrive, which is enough time to get at least four more handfuls and bail. I will be back at the party in no time.

    Lifting his thoughts was an easy task and forcing him to my will was just as easy with my abilities. The surface thoughts always held the truth, but there were many layers in a human mind that can hide secrets and the foundation behind the truth. People can never lie to themselves. 
I could stop him. I could bind him and leave him out on the curb for the police to pick up.  As always, those types of thoughts were followed by the memories of my last guardian. He would tell me, in his old wise voice, never take away someone’s chance to make the right decision. People’s free will belongs to themselves. He was always spouting sentiment even at his last breath. 

    “Sir, please put them back.” I stepped forward, “You can still do the right thing and walk away.”

    “You can’t stop me. You’re just a girl in a costume, playing a stupid game.” He said, tucking his second handful into his backpack. He thought, I could blow her down with a puff of air.

    I hoped my warning was enough to appease my guardian’s memory. I pulled at the air around us, gathering it into a movable force just big enough to fill a purse. I pulled my right hand back and thrust it forward as I forced the pocket of air with enough speed to push him back a couple steps. His hazel eyes sparked again with surprise as he regained his footing. I waved my hand around pulling carefully at the invisible air.

    “How are you…” his voice trailed off when he noticed the jewelry moving from his backpack back into the display case.

    Shadow, it has to be. I heard the rumors, he thought.

    “Shadow, is that what they call me?” I said.

    Did she just read my mind? “You’re not real,” he said.

    “Yes and right now you’re having an unbelievable dream.” I rolled my eyes at him. Not that he could see the movement of my solid white eyes. I shrugged at both of us. Rolling my eyes was becoming second nature with sarcasm. I’ve been spending too much time surrounded by a bunch of teenagers. 

    Shadow wasn’t a bad alias. I wore head-to-toe black, from my black colored army style boots, to my tight cotton pants, and ending with my black leather tank top.  My jet-black hair and tribal tattooed skin added on to my perfected crime stopping profile. The lightest part of my outfit right now was the whites of my eyes. I am a shadow, lurking where the light is not.

    “Can I still walk away?” he looked over his shoulder at the rear exit.

    “Why should I let you go? You’re a criminal.” I lowered my hands as the last piece of the stolen jewelry sank back into its case.

    “As you can see I haven’t stolen anything.”

    I could hear the playful tone in his voice, he was probably grinning behind that mask.

    “I’ve broken in and well...damaged a couple cases.” He said, “And the electrical box out back needs some serious attention.”

    “That’s not a justifiable reason.”

    “Could you believe this was my first time?” he said. It was a dare, a double-dog-dare, but how do I say that without looking like an unskilled stupid kid.

    He did this on a dare--an illegal act to prove his manhood. This wasn’t worth my skills or effort.  He sounded too young for the big house. Any Judge would probably make him pay for damages and then give him a month of community service with a strict warning. I looked down at the floor and shook my head.

    “It’s time for us to go. The police are five blocks away.” I pointed at the back door behind him.

    He took one last look at the jewelry case and sighed. My friends will never believe I had followed through, he thought heading towards the door.  Pushing the door open, he held it open for me and asked me the infamous question.
   
    “Who are you?”

    I tilted my head towards him and gave this young man an honest answer, “What makes you think I know who I am?”
   
    Once outside I crouched down and then leapt onto the rooftops of the second floor of the outdoor shopping plaza.  I looked down at those surprised hazel eyes.

    “Take the alley on the left. You better get moving.” I called down at him. 

    The sound of police sirens bounced off the buildings as they approached the jewelry shop.  I slipped back into the shadows once more. The young man with his red and black high school colored mask of all things, attended my High School. The coincidences were glaringly obvious, from the pre-game ritual of dares to the ski mask with our school colors that was sold in the Commons store. I told myself that I had no interest in knowing who he was and that he could keep his identity to himself.  Deep down I knew I was kidding myself; he was an exciting puzzle to solve.

    I headed towards the police station. There was still time left in the night, maybe I could stop one more criminal or save a life before school started.  I adjusted my inner volume level on my hearing to increase its range and listened for any sounds of trouble.