From the moment she crashed into my life, it’s always been just the two of us, Elise and I. She was a shooting star, a devastating asteroid that shattered my world upon impact. And in its ashes, I was reborn—we were reborn—whole, complete.

I can’t lose her. I can’t let her down again. I can’t let one tragic mistake consume us.

I won’t let it destroy us.

SUNDAY // APRIL 2 // DAY 205

32.

Elise didn’t just love heroes—she wanted to be one. And not just an everyday hero who occasionally spoke up for bullied classmates. She wanted to be the real thing.

“You know what we should do?” Elise said the day after her birthday. I watched her carefully, almost hyperaware of her every move. I was worried about her, but I was also scared, not just of saying or doing something wrong, but of the entire situation. She acted like she had it under control, but how do you control something like that?

“What?” I said, distracted, flicking a cigarette over the balcony ledge, staring at the river below. It was late morning, the sun’s heat growing oppressive.

“We should help people,” she said, eyes lighting up.

“With what?” I asked, confused.

“Anything,” she said, grabbing my shoulder in excitement. “Like what we’ve been doing, with the pranks, but more.”

“More?”

She nodded, taking a quick inhale from her cigarette. “Like we should get organized, take cases.”

“What?”

“Yeah, like the Deadly Vipers,” she said. “Or the Justice League or Avengers.”

I laughed, thinking she was joking.

“I mean it!” she said, but she was laughing too. “I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but don’t you think we could help a lot of people?”

“Sure,” I said, not taking any of it seriously. “Who’d you be—Superman?” In some ways, Elise had always seemed superhuman to me.

I thought of Jack then, and wanted to tell Elise about him. But I still held back. We were in the middle of a conversation and there was always time later.

“No way, Superman’s boring. Batman,” she said, and I thought, Of course. An orphan who overcame terrible tragedy and personal demons to become bigger than life. “A hero no one wants but everyone needs.”

I nodded.

“I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!” she finished with a grand sweep of an arm, and I swore she was electric.

“What about me?” I asked, playing along. “Don’t tell me I’m Robin.”

Elise tapped her cigarette over the balcony, considering. “Wonder Woman,” she said. “Too pure for this sinful Earth.” She smiled and reached out with a hand to brush a stray hair from my face.

When we went back inside, I checked my phone and saw a couple messages from Jack waiting for me.

Jack: So I thought about waiting a couple of days to text you so I could seem really cool and detached but screw that because I’m low key dying to see you again