Hero

         It was a pleasantly warm mid-summer afternoon in a lively little neighborhood in southern Alabama. Everyone living on the street was outside and doing something. Neighbors were grilling and socializing with each other happily and worry free. The younger kids were all playing basketball on the street with goals stationed around the edge of the cul-de-sac. Fifteen year old Jordan Johnson was in his front yard content on working on an old mustang he found in the junkyard, hoping to get it running soon. His slender face was streaked with sweat and grease covered his hands. Wiping his them on an old blue rag, he sat down on the porch for a quick drink of his home-made sweet tea. Flipping open his tape player, he carefully inserted a tape into the slot. As he was standing up, he accidentally spilled some tea on his shirt, so he merely shrugged and took it off, exposing his muscular torso.
         "Was getting kind of hot anyway", he stated nonchalantly. Walking back to his broken down piece of metal, the tape player suddenly stops and turns off. Rubbing the back of his red, sunburned neck, he walked over to turn it back on.
         Before he made it, a scream sounded from deep within the dense woods nearby. Normally, Jordan never would have thought twice about it, for there are kids running all over the place playing and goofing around, some were bound to get hurt. He would have just shrugged it off and went back to work. Yet, something in that scream didn’t sound right. It was a scream of pure anguish and terror.
         "Wait a minute", he muttered to himself, "If everyone is down the street, why did it come from the woods?" Once again, the scream echoed to his little house on the end of the street and it was definitely coming from within the woods.
         Acting on an impulse he was suddenly overwhelmed with, he grabbed a wrench off the grease smeared engine and started running into the woods. Inside him, some voice told him to go in there and check it out and to get there fast. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. He couldn’t explain it. His lean body was wildly scratched by briars and limbs as he ran quickly through the woods with the speed of a puma. He felt pulled inside towards the center as if someone was furiously tugging him. Never did he stop to take a breath or slow down. Deep inside of him, something made him keep on going, ignoring the pain of his feet and legs, his short blonde hair catching on small limbs as he flashed by. Miraculously, he never tripped or fell. Jordan jumped and dodged every obstacle in his way, feeling like he was soaring effortlessly through the air like a lightning during a thunderstorm. Jordan jumped over many fallen trees and holes, dodged every large, low hanging limb, and even avoided hitting a small dog wildly barking past him.
         In what seemed like no time at all, he came upon a small clearing in the very heart of the woods. The scene he saw before his very eyes caused an explosion of raw emotion and power inside of him. His blood turned to fire inside his body. Ahead, three boys were trying to remove the clothes of a girl he quickly recognized as Ashley Higgins. Did no one notice she was missing? Did no one wonder where she was? Why was she in the woods in the first place? Jordan didn't have time to think about these questions as they rapidly flashed across his enraged mind. He knew what he had to do. Two were holding here down by her shoulders, laughing as she struggled to get free from their grasp, her long brown hair tugged by the boys’ knees. A third was trying to get to undo her thick leather belt as she kicked and jumped desperately around on the ground.
         They never saw it coming. Jordan suddenly entered the clearing in a blur; his face flushed red and bright green eyes filled with such raw fury and hate that would have scared any who opposed him into a little ball.
         "What the...” the boys said in shock.
         Jordan tackled the one fumbling with the girl's belt and sent him sprawling into a large oak, knocking him, his dark face slightly bleeding. One of the other two jumped after Jordan, trying to pin him down. With the reflexes of a cat, he moved out of the way as the oncoming boy landed on the ground. Jumping on top of him, Jordan punched him rapidly in the face until he too, was out as cold as his little buddy by the oak. During this, he had dropped his wrench when he dodged the boy, which the third promptly threw at him. It hit him in the arm and a sharp cracking sound was heard. Screaming in agony and rage, Jordan leaped high into the air and kicked the boy in chest knocking him backward. The last thing he saw was Jordan's steel fist coming towards him. With a broken nose, he was out in a few moments.
         Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves and to try to ignore the pain, he turned to check on the girl, who was staring incredously at him, as though he were an angel sent from above to save her from a tragic, life changing experience.
         "You okay?" Jordan asked gasped as he panted his hands on his knees.
         The girl, Ashley, shakily stood up, and nodded, tears streaming down her pretty face. Putting his bleeding arm around her to support her, they slowly made their way back through the woods towards the street. Having used his phone once they reached his house on the end of the street, they waited for the police as the neighbors milled about in a frenzy of confusion. Everyone was shocked about what had just occurred in the woods and were all patting Jordan on the back. A few mothers bandaged his arm up.
         Minutes later, the police arrived. One of the policemen took Ashley and Jordan to the hospital to have them checked out and to get proper medical attention to Jordan’s broken arm. Jordan calmed her down after a bit in the back of the police cruiser. The other policemen followed Jordan’s directions into the woods and arrested the unconscious criminals. Several hours later, after questioning from police and the newspaper and grateful hugs and thanks from Ashley's parents, he went to bed, where he promptly fell asleep wondering what the big deal was about him helping her.
         The next morning, he received a surprise when he opened up the local newspaper. Yesterday’s incident was posted on the front page telling of his heroic action and how he subdued the three vicious criminals. A picture of him, taken yesterday by reporters, was set at the top, with the headline, “Hero”.