Destruction was the only thing I trusted myself with at this point in time. Fear had wracked my brain as I had come incredibly close to making eye contact with her again and more little accidents had compiled to leave me really nervous. The citizens just see it as me terrorizing the city for maybe some sort of vengeance, when I really just felt like I had no control. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to take myself out in the process.

She was slowly losing it, having to clean up every mess I left behind. I knew she was never in any danger, but it was almost a daily instance that I devastated the city. Eventually, I couldn’t stand to see her slowly fall apart, so I never watched her on the news anymore. I think once I realized that my feelings for her are just the workings of her power of luck, I’ve just been bitter, lost, and confused on what is real and what is some little trick of her subconscious. I’m spiraling, and so are my powers. Each day was a new breakdown.

The sky was cloudy and grey, matching my mood and confusion. I watched from the top of a smaller apartment building as citizens ripped their own town apart, victims of my deep feelings. The more violent and angry I am, the more it translates into the poor soul who made the mistake of letting me look them in the eye, despite all of the town’s issued warnings. It was strange that she had not shown up yet, as that was usually my cue to leave. It usually didn’t take her this long.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around me and absolute terror filled my body. Before I could protest, a blindfold slipped over my face and my hands were tied. I began to relax because if I was being kidnapped, I wouldn’t have to think about my horrible effect on the outside world. It frankly is exhausting to think about such problems.

As I was gently placed in the back of a truck, I caught a glimpse of long, braided, golden-brown hair through the sliver of sight I had. My heart jumped a bit, both out of fear and butterflies. Was it her? As much as I wanted to see her up close, I couldn't bear to put her at risk again. The knot in my stomach twisted with each bump on the roads we drove over. The endless questions kept my mind clouded and occupied in the total darkness:

Was it her? How could it be? Where is she taking me? What does she want with me? Is she going to kill me? What was she going to do about the city left in flames? Does her government team know she is doing this? I thought she was kind…

Soon, the hum of the engine and gentle vibration of the tires against gravely roads came to a halt. As I was lifted again, I tried to peak out and get a better look of my kidnapper, but I could only see the grass illuminated by the moonlight beneath me. I hadn’t even realized that the sky had gone dark. Somehow, the open and close of a door led us somewhere darker. At this point, I was a nervous, tired, and compliant jelly that they could do what they wanted with. The ropes around my hands were attached to a post. Feet shuffled, floorboards creaked. Then silence that lasted just a moment was interrupted by the delicate voice I had heard on TV and in my own mind. It was more worn out and raspier than I’ve heard it, but it was still the voice of honey slowly dripping off of a flower as it broke the peace:

          “Look. I-I can’t keep playing this game of tag.” It was only a few words, but to me, it was a novel, an open book. Her words were not as put together and her vocal demeanor was not as composed. She truly was tired and it crushed my soul to know I was the reason she was breaking.

        “I’m sorry.” That was all I could croak out before my breath hitched and, like a cracked dam, I spilled out to her in the form of tears, accompanied with a rant to sum up my instability, “I just lose control to my power and I am so angry at everything that I don’t want to fix it. I want them to feel like I do every single day. Like everything they do is just the product of some spell and there is nothing they can do about it.” 

       Silence.

      “Like a puppet,” She responds with the most clarity she’s had in a while.                                                                 “Yeah.” I say softly, too tired to even question how she understands.

      “We might be more alike than you think. I am constantly being told what to do by the government. Normally, I am obedient and keep an open mind. Lately, what they’ve been discussing is not right to me and I don’t want to just agree. I have a mind of my own and I can do what I want to. I-I am going to control myself from now on,” Her voice was shaking with anger and sudden confidence, “That’s the main reason I brought you here. You and your planned extermination is the focus of the government.”

      A chill goes through my body. I never expected I would be getting attention from leaders. My actions affect a lot more than I thought.

       “They-they made me plant a camera on you without you knowing. Watching you, they figured out that you-you care for me when you wrote in your journal. It was wrong and I felt like I was breaking into your private quarters just by watching the feed. They got so excited at this lead and asked me to take you, make you trust me, and bring you into them.” Her voice was monotone, but my head was spinning. The post could barely keep me up. I was humiliated for her to know, for a whole group of people to know, and I was angry that other people, once again, thought my feelings were something they could toy with. For the first time, I wanted to actually fight her like the hero and  villain we are supposed to be. If it wasn’t for my hands tied and my vertigo, my fist would be in her face.

     “But I don’t want to be docile and passive. I want to live my life, not be steered by this group of agents or fall into this classic “good vs bad” myth. I don’t want to kill you, and I don’t want to hate you, like Superman hates Lex Luther or something. I-I actually want to try being with you. I discovered that I really, really care for you too when I saw you writing in your journal. Before that, everytime your name came up in meetings I would get a pang in my chest. I just didn’t realize it was because I actually had feelings for you. Seeing how you thought of me, viewed me in a way no one has before just confirmed it. Not only did I hate what they were doing to you, in that moment of reading your kind words about me, I hated that everything you said in your journal couldn’t be hung on my wall. I hated that I couldn’t run away with you or even protect you in the slightest. I hated that I couldn’t kiss you. That’s why you’re here. Not because of some bigots in suits, but because I want you.” 

      Everything in me stopped as her words drifted through my head. I comprehended her words, but I could not register any of my thoughts on them because once she said “I want to be with you”, I broke. Her fingers, warm against my face, slowly lifted my blindfold. Suddenly alert, I grabbed her hands and pulled them down. I could not risk what almost happened last time. 

     “We have to ignore your powers. I don’t want to kiss your ‘villain persona’. I want to kiss you. We’re not letting anyone or anything control us, remember?” Before I could protest, her eyes of a starry night sky were staring into my soul and her peach lips were on mine. Everything in me was trembling, but ready to shoot into space. I couldn’t feel the ground, my heart was spilling out of my ears. It didn’t feel real, as this was only something I had seen in my dreams. 

      However, a hot burning had started in the back of my head. I pushed it back at first, but it kept creeping into my brain. It wasn’t until she slipped off of me, limp, did I know something was very wrong. I only caught a glimpse of her crumpled body on the ground, her eyes blankly staring off into the matching night sky, before I joined her. The fireworks in my heart were still popping off as everything faded to black.

     You see, we broke the narrative. The author didn’t like that. I am supposed to put others under my control. Her luck is supposed to control her fate. She defied her luck by taking her life into her own hands and I defied my hypnotism powers by letting her be in control and fight against them. We broke the hate we are supposed to have for each other. Everything was wrong and the author of our story erased the page. Words weren’t supposed to fill the page on their own, the author was supposed to dictate every decision the characters make. Thus, two lives and their story are eradicated with the sweep of an eraser.