Ballad of the Anti-Hero and her Girlfriend

      “God we’re packed like sardines…” Eriko muttered.

           The train was packed to the brim with people trying to get out of the city. It wasn’t like most times where they were just trying to get away from a giant superhero fight. No, today was just… nice. It was in the 70s and the clouds were few but fluffy. If a supervillain decided to launch whatever evil plan they had must’ve stopped because today was just that nice.

           Although, that meant everyone was dying to get out of the city. Meaning everyone who didn’t own a car (aka: more people than Eriko realized) were heading down to the beach. Beach bags and little kids were everywhere, and it was hot in the tiny train car.

           “Hey, it’ll be fine,” a voice came from above her.

           Eriko looked up and smiled. Raquel, her anti-hero girlfriend, was gripping the top rail of the train car with her one hand. “You look pretty from down here,” she joked.

           “Wrong, I look pretty from every angle!” Raquel joked back.

           “Yeah…” Her eyes ran up and down her girlfriends’ body. “Every angle.”

           It took a moment but was it oh so worth it to see her girlfriends’ eyes go wide and an embarrassed grin appear. “Babe,” she whispered.

           “Your hand in my hair…” she whispered back.

           “Babe!”

           “When you beg for more-”

           “Eriko, oh my god!”

           “Yeah, you would say that word for word.”

           Raquel looked away from her and tried to hide her face in her other hand. Her other hand- hell her other arm that’s been gone for years. At the realization Eriko softened and reached up to touch her girlfriends’ shoulder.

           “When was the last time we were on a train together?” She asked, “Like this?”

           Raquel had that look on her face she gets when she tries to solve a math problem. “Not since… I think college?”

           “High school,” she corrected.

           “No way, really? It hasn’t been that long!”

           “But it has!” Last time we were on a train you were talking me to visit your supportive grandmother two states away, Eriko mentally recounted, you wanted to tell her about us. You wanted her to be the first one to know because she’d accept you no matter what. And that was before-

           Eriko looked away from her beloved and down at the floor, hearing a can of whatever rolling around underneath her seat. And… you lost your arm. Freak accident. Why didn’t I believe you? That’s why we broke up. Because I thought you lost your arm on purpose when you said that you would stop. I didn’t believe you… what does that say about me.

           And we broke up. We tried making it work, I didn’t mind, you were beautiful no matter what. But… you did keep your decapitated arm, summon a demon, make a deal with a demon to gain superpowers. Like- who does that? Only you would do that! That’s such a you thing to do though… your dream, as stupid as it is, was right there. You stopped believing in that dream for me. For… me. And I broke up with you for following it. Guess I didn’t want to get kidnapped all the time like the love interests in comic books.

           It was weird, being single again. I didn’t have to worry about your feelings or what you wanted to do. I still cared though. I still listened to the radio and podcasts at work about this new hero with a metal arm and rams’ horns. I still shivered when I saw your fights on TV. It was funny, watching news reports going on and I see you shouting or getting shouted at by The Longhorn Rancher and Matthew Derringer.

           Looking back, I never dated anyone else. It didn’t feel right, like no one was worthy of my time. They all asked stupid questions, questions that you already knew the answer to. I remember when we first met in high school, the first thing you said to me was, “Would you rather be a shark or a worm?” I knew you were weird, maybe I was too. Maybe I was scared I would just scare away any potential girlfriends with my weirdness.

           Then you called me. Which was weird because you hadn’t called me in years. I was at work, I should have been focusing on that. I was doing so good during that time when I was alone. But you called. You asked if I wanted to grab lunch. You were there in that diner and I came, and you hugged me. You smelled like car oil and lunchmeat. God you were so weird.

           Who the hell is touching me?

           Eriko was about to slap whoever put an arm around her shoulder, but it was just Raquel sitting in a seat next to her. She looked around, the train car was empty and there was no trace that any other people were there. Raquel ran her hand up and down her loves arm. “You alright? You zoned out for a while.”

           “How long? Where did everyone go?”

           “Like… two hours? We passed the beach a while ago,” she answered.

           Two hours? “Sorry,” she breathed.

           “It’s fine, we weren’t going there anyway. What’s on your mind?”

           “Just recounting our epic love story,” she overexaggerated.

           "Ah yes, the ballad of the anti-hero and her girlfriend," Raquel let out a chuckle and stared out the window on the other side of the car. Trees going past so quickly that they were just colors and vague shapes. “I would rather be a worm,” she said suddenly, “most people would leave me alone and I only came out on rainy days.”

           “But you might get eaten by birds,” Eriko reasoned.

           “Pretty birds?”

           “Doesn’t matter, you’ll be dead. I’d rather be a shark.”

           “With those teeth? Oh yeah. You’re already a shark- ow.”

           Eriko removed her elbow from her girlfriends’ ribs and placed her hands in her lap. Then leaned into Raquel’s side as the train turned and revealed a beautiful sight. A waterfall off in the distance, going off a rocky cliff. A river running under the track and a herd of deer were grazing in the nearby grass. Hawks flying high above, only to swoop down before catching the draft from the waterfall and flying back high.

           It’s been so long since I’ve seen this place… “Do you think your family remembers me?”

           Raquel smiled. “How could they forget? You’re the woman who took their daughters’ heart.”

           “And her ch-”

           “Ack- No!”