The Haunted Hero
By HikerAngel



Ultragirl blocked the fist flying directly at her face and countered with a
jab to the mouth of the black-clad man in front of her. His head rocked back
from the power of her blow, spittle seeming to fly in slow motion away from
his lips as her super-speed ability seemed to slow down time itself.

She grabbed the large mitt whose powerful blow she had just blocked and placed
her other hand on the side of the villain's head, using a burst of
super-strength to propel him into the wall across the alley. As she watched
him fly across the alley at supersonic velocity, her eyes widened in shock.

She had forgotten about the dead victim's innocent, little girl in a cute,
white dress, standing in the center of the dark alley!

Ultragirl watched in horror as the supervillain flew into the child from the
force of her throw, the small girl's body splattering to send a spray of
flesh, bone, and blood all over the pavement and alley walls.

A millisecond later, the villain smashed into the brick wall in a cloud of red
dust. As the dust cloud cleared, Ultragirl saw Vile Vern held in place by the
indentation he had made in the wall, head lolling to his chest.

Ultragirl walked to the center of the alley, her hands rising to cover her
mouth as she saw two feet still in place in the center of the alley, the rest
of her body splattered over the rest of the alley. How could she have done
that? She had known the girl was there, noting the child's presence the moment
she entered the alley to find the supervillain in the act of dispatching the
young girl's mother.

She was only superhuman, after all. All people made mistakes, right? Even
superheroes! She looked to the body of the little girl's dead mother, then to
the unconscious supervillain. No one else had witnessed their deaths. The
supervillain was flying across the alley and was unconscious within a second
of hitting the girl. He almost certainly wouldn't know-or remember, at
least-that he had killed her. He probably wouldn't care even if he did
remember. He certainly didn't have any qualms about killing the girl's mother.
If he tried to blame the girl's death on her, no one would believe him anyway.
Right?

Hearing the sirens in the distance, Ultragirl knew the right thing to do. She
should tell the police everything that had actually happened. There might be
an inquiry into her actions, possibly even a trial. She could be sued by the
girl's surviving family for wrongful death. She could be forced to pay
millions of dollars that she didn't have. Superheroing didn't pay particularly
well, or, like, at all. Should she be forced into bankruptcy in return for the
countless lives she'd saved? That didn't seem justified at all!

It would be so much easier to blame the young girl's death on Vile Vern, the
unconscious supervillain embedded in the brick wall. After all, none of this
would have happened if it weren't for him. The girl's DNA was all over the
man, no one would believe that he hadn't been the killer if he tried to place
the blame for the child's death on her.

As the police parked at the entrance to the alley and began to walk toward
her, she came to a decision. She would lie. It was better for everyone,
except, perhaps, the supervillain-but who cared about him? The fact that there
were no living witnesses to her mistake was a gift! She would be foolish not
to accept it. Right?

"I'm so sorry, officers. I arrived too late to help this poor girl and her
mother. Vile Vern did it again. At least this time, I was able to put him
down, so it can never happen again. Be sure to use the reallyverytoughium
handcuffs, though, to make sure that he can't escape!"

The officers nodded and took Vern into custody as Ultragirl breathed out a
sigh of relief. Good, no further questions. Everything would be just fine.
Right?

***

Ultragirl tossed and turned in bed that night, having trouble sleeping as the
memory of today's events ran through her tortured mind again and again. As a
shadow passed over her, she shot up from her pillow, eyes darting to every
corner of the room. Her lips trembled in fear. Was there someone in her house?
Why was she so afraid? She could handle anything that might get inside ...
couldn't she?

She lay back down and closed her eyes, but the frantic patter of her
frightened heart made sleep impossible. Why was she so frightened? This was
insane!

She let out a long, slow breath through her mouth, then brought in a lungful
of air through her nose. Deep breathing was a technique she had learned to
calm herself during the most dicey situations with the most powerful
opponents. It should certainly get her through a couple of nighttime shadows.

Except that it didn't. Another shadow and glimpse of something ... was it
white? ... sent her heart and mind racing again. Damn it!

As she began to lay down and close her eyes from the latest scare, a glimmer
of white caught the corner of her eye. Her eyelids rebounded from closed to
open in an instant and her eyes shot to where she had caught the unexpected
color.

There was nothing there.

She arose from the bed and walked over to that area, but there was nothing. If
she hadn't known better, she would have thought that it was the image of the
little girl, standing, eyes wide, in anticipation of the hulking supervillain
colliding with her delicate body ...

... but that was impossible. Impossible! she told herself. Right?

She lay back down but couldn't bring herself to close her eyes again, the
vague image of a child's white dress lay on the back of her eyelids, and she
did NOT want to see that again.

She didn't sleep that night.

***

Ultragirl entered the courtroom the following day and took a seat. She knew
that she might be needed as a witness if the judge wanted to hear from her
before she set bail.

As the bailiff brought in Vile Vern, he gave her a seething look. Did he
remember what had happened? She wasn't sure. It was quite possible that he
would give her that look regardless, since she had been the one to capture
him.

As the judge entered and everyone in the courtroom rose for her entrance,
Ultragirl saw another glimmer of white, standing just past Vile Vern in the
corner of the courtroom. Her tired, bloodshot eyes shot to the source of the
color ... but it wasn't there. Again! The last thing she needed was to be
seeing things right now. She needed to make sure that Vile Vern was put behind
bars, then she would feel better. She just needed closure, and that would
provide it. Right?

She was called to the stand, placing her hand on the bible and swearing to
tell the truth. Ultragirl recounted the events of the day right up until the
part where she had accidentally killed the girl.

"Then, to my horror, Vern grabbed the young girl and blasted her with an
energy blast right in front of me. I was shocked and angered, and I threw him
across the alley into the wall, finally ending the fight!" she testified, her
real guilt bringing real tears to her eyes.

Another flash of white caught the corner of her eye, but, again, nothing was
there when she looked. It must just be the guilt causing these hallucinations
of white dresses. Right?

She watched as Vern whispered in the ear of his public defender. The attorney
seemed to consider, but when the judge asked if he had any questions for
Ultragirl, he declined. His decline seemed to enrage Vile Vern, who spoke in
short, hissing whispers to the suited man. Ultragirl wished she had
super-hearing right about now. It seemed that Vern might remember what
actually happened after all ...

Ultragirl felt sick to her stomach as she left the witness stand and shakily
walked to her seat. She barely heard the rest of the proceeding, so consumed
was she in her guilt over her lies-this time under oath!

That night, Ultragirl didn't sleep. Again. She didn't dare close her eyes,
knowing she would see the girl in the white dress in the darkness, in her
dreams.

As she showered the following morning, she simply stood under the steaming hot
water, her invulnerable skin soaking in comfort from the scalding heat. As she
dressed in the clothes appropriate to her secret identity, she caught another
bit of white in her peripheral vision. And ... nothing was there, as always.

Ultragirl chided herself. You need to stop this! It's over. Done. It's Vile
Vern's fault. It wouldn't have happened if not for him. You don't need to feel
guilty about anything. It was an accident!

Her internal advice seemed to calm her for the moment. She steeled her nerves
with a deep breath and went to work.

That night, however, she couldn't sleep. Again. White would appear in the
periphery whenever she attempted it-the white fabric of that little girl's
dress.

The following day, a beyond-tired Ultragirl looked up at the television in the
reception area on her way into the office and saw the breaking news.

"Vile Vern, recently apprehended in connection with the murder of a woman and
her six-year-old child, was found dead in his cell today ... "

Ultragirl wasn't sure how to feel about that. Should be happy that the only
possible witness to her accidental killing was now dead? Maybe. But happiness
wasn't what she felt. In its place was the perpetual dull, aching dread of the
last few days. If anything, the feeling was still more intense. It seemed that
nothing could make her feel anything but this grey, will-sapping, funk of
guilt anymore ...

Her eyelids sagged as she nearly fell asleep numerous times throughout the
work day. Every time her head began to nod downward into much-needed sleep,
however, a glimpse of white would shock her into wakefulness.

As she sunk into her mattress that night, Ultragirl tried to reassure herself.
She had gotten away with it. There were no more witnesses, not that she had
really even done anything wrong. It had been a complete accident. She had
needed to lie about it to the police. She had needed to lie about it in court.
She had needed to lie about it under oath. But it was over now. There was no
further need to worry. She was invulnerable; she was superhuman; she was
respected by the community; she was past this whole thing. She had nothing
more to worry about. Right?

***

The next morning, the television blared in the reception area of her office
with news of another death.

"Amazingly, within a span of 24 hours, there was a second death due to extreme
sleep deprivation. These two cases are the first such deaths to occur in the
past fifty years, and they were both on the scene of the death of a young girl
and her mother mere days ago ... "

________________

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