The Secretary

Seventeen weeks of anticipation. Seventeen! I’ll never know why they schedule television so far in advance. With showtime breathing down my neck, I continued to smile like a fool. It’s a very unfortunate habit, the smiling. Although I suppose it’s how I ended up with my job, a winning smile will get you far in this industry. But it won’t get you everything. After all, I’m only a secretary.

To a superhero.

Not just any superhero either, I am the secretary of the most powerful hero there is: Infinity. That may seem like a dream come true for most people. And sitting there in my comfy satin armchair, with naught to do but wait, I might’ve even agreed. However, the terrible thing is: I just can’t stand him. The arrogance, the power, the adoring fans, all of it.

In he came. In through the window, cutting the rays of sun like the golden knife that he is. I watched him hover above me for a moment as if waiting for my applause. Then down he floated, “Anything for me today, Charlie?” It’s always a surprise when he remembers my name, I half expect him to call me ‘boy’, or ‘human’ and break the guise of compassion. But he has yet to forget a single personal detail.

I would love to tell him that there’s nothing interesting happening at all, but that would be a lie. I beamed up at him with a smile I couldn’t wipe off, “Yes, you’re making an appearance on The Tonight Show this evening.” It was his first public appearance this year, and the nation would be watching with baited breath. Their star child, the nation’s sweetheart.

“Oh fantastic.” Infinity shot a glance to the full-length mirror across the room and looked himself up and down. His skin filled the room with golden light, seeping through the pores of his super-suit like the embers of a dying flame. “Would you fetch my suits from downstairs?”

“Certainly.” And up I got. Secretary or dog? I’ve never quite been able to figure the difference.

Downstairs was a trek. The elevator had been out of action since before I began working here. Infinity, being able to fly, had no use for such a thing, and so never bothered to give me the money to fix it. I had to take the stairs. They are, admittedly, rather beautiful. Chequered black and white marble, with Infinity’s signature golden inlay around the edges, and a bespoke bronze handrail, flecked with gold. I knew I’d have to make a few trips, Infinity has far too many suits.

Once I reached the basement, I pulled the drawstring and the lights came flickering on, sending solitary beams through the floating dust. The room smelled like earth and moss, and went on as far as the eye could see, which wasn’t very far in the dark. Grabbing the nearest rail, I wheeled it over to the stairs and began to push it up. Thud, thud, thud, with each step the thuds seemed to grow a little louder, and the rail got a little heavier. By the time I reached the top I could barely breathe. Infinity had turned the TV on and was watching a news broadcast.

As I crossed the room I caught a snippet of the newscaster’s voice, “another Mind-Melter attack today on the subway-”

“The Mind-Melter is back, Charlie.” he turned the TV off and gave me a concerned look.

“I see.” The Mind-Melter was a terrible villain. Hiding in the shadows and feeding on fear, sweeping his victims away to feed on them in a pocket-dimension. Infinity’s skin emits bright light, so the Mind-Melter winds up with no shadow to hide in whenever they clash. While Infinity can send him running, he has never been able to capture the Mind-Melter. The pair play cat-and-mouse across New York while I sit and twiddle my thumbs in Everheart Mansion, the home that was gifted to Infinity by the city after he rescued the mayor for the twentieth time.

“He seems to be growing bolder, he knows I can’t touch him.” Infinity seemed rather distant, tossing ideas in his mind’s eye. He gave a quick glance to the clothing rack and shook his head, “Get the suit with the big lapels.”

I smiled back at him. “Of course.” I grabbed the railing again and dragged it right back down the stairs. Quite unfortunately for me, once I reached the basement, I realised I was no longer alone. Something truly terrible was waiting for me in the darkness.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, my smile faded.

I stood frozen in shock. Dozens of red eyes stared at me from the shadows of the basement. The lights had been shattered, and broken glass littered the floor like a shiny minefield. Maybe if I just stand completely still, the eyes will close, and I can leave.

A hand, black as pitch, stretched out from the shadows and beckoned me closer. Against all judgement, I took a step forward and heard a crunch under my foot. Another step, another crunch, and the hand just kept beckoning. The Mind-Melter was here, and I was his next victim.

The shadow utterly engulfed me, red eyes now staring from all sides, opening wider and wider. A whisper echoed through the room, “Charlie… Charlie…” it started to laugh. “Where is your smile?”

The beckoning hand grabbed my arm and I snapped out of my trance, and let out a yell from some deep animalistic place within me. The hand let go and in a split second I had sprinted to the foot of the stairs. Once again the Mind-Melter grabbed hold of me, cold fingers wrapped around my ankle this time, with a firm tug I was pulled from my feet and with a colossal thud, my head hit the floor.

Darkness. Silence. Emptiness poured into me like icy water, and I felt myself falling. I looked down and saw an abyss as infinite as the universe, sucking me towards its unending maw. The Mind-Melter had taken me.

“Where is your smile now, Charlie?” It whispered to me. Its voice felt like frost being breathed down my neck, and I could smell something rotting. I felt the ground beneath my feet, despite not being able to see it. Then those same crimson eyes that had watched me in the basement bore down on me once again. I buried my face in my palms until I saw stars. Will Infinity be able to help me this time? I was unsure, only a fewof the Mind-Melter’s victims ever returned.

“Hello?” A musical voice sounded to my left, there was something sombre about it, and so tender.

I opened my eyes and turned to face this new voice. A woman wearing a white dress, hunched over and clutching her stomach stared back at me. “Who are you?” I asked.

“Sarah.” She was stumbling toward me with short, laboured steps.

“I’m Charlie. Where are we, Sarah?”

“I’m not sure. Did that thing take you as well?”

It was true. That thing had taken me. Seventeen weeks of waiting for The Tonight Show, and on the very day it was supposed to happen, I had been taken. Infinity’s big moment, and one of the only times my work would take me out of Everheart Mansion, and I had been taken! I could feel my smile coming back, as if to mock me.

Sarah took a step back. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“I’m sorry I’ve got a habit of smiling at the wrong times.” Such a banal answer, but one I have had to give countless times. I sighed and looked around the void, “Is there any way out of here?”

“I don’t think so, I’ve been here for… I’m not sure now.” She suddenly winced and doubled over so she was almost flat on her face.

I ran over to her and put my hand on her shoulder, the smell of rot was almost unbearable. “Sarah, what’s happening to you?”

She pulled her hands away from her stomach and showed me her palms, covered in what looked like tar and smelled like death. “I don’t know.” she whimpered.

I didn’t have a clue how to help her, and so my mind went to the first place it could. “Where are you from?” Maybe some small talk could take her mind off the situation, long enough for us to figure out a plan.

She looked up at me, confused. “Memphis.”

“The birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll.”

She actually laughed at that statement. “What about you?”

“Manhattan. Born and raised here.” It was true, although ‘raised’ may not have been the correct term. I was an orphan, and not a lot of raising went on in the orphanage. It was something I tended not to think about.

“And what do you do in Manhattan, Charlie?”

This question, as simple as it was, disturbed me. What do I do? I work for a man I loathe, sitting in a beautiful building all day doing absolutely nothing with my time, while he is out fighting the good fight. “I work for Infinity, the superhero.”

Her face lit up and she straightened up as much as she could bear to. “Infinity? I have about fifty of his posters in my room back home. What’s he like? Oh that’s a silly question, he’s the best isn’t he?”

“He’s painfully nice. It feels fake.” I admitted.

Her head tilted to the side and she squinted in confusion. “Fake? You don’t enjoy working for him?”

“Not especially. I feel like I’m living in his shadow.” A sudden cold flowed through my heart, a deep shameful feeling at admitting my feelings to a stranger. I never thought that envy could be the root cause of my distaste for Infinity, but maybe it was so.

“Charlie… I’ve seen every interview that Infinity ever gave, I get the impression that he wouldn’t want you to feel that way. He always says that the world is filled with friends just waiting for you to find them.”

Giving it some thought, I realised that Infinity had always treated me with kindness, that if I had only interpreted it as true, would make us firm friends. “Maybe you’re right. I never gave him much of a chance to prove me wrong.”

Many moments passed. I realised that Sarah hadn’t spoken in a while, and when I looked to her for a response, I found the void even emptier than before. Sarah had vanished. I glanced around, hoping to catch sight of her white dress, but was met with more darkness.

A golden light from above began to peel back the edges of the void, my body grew warmer, and I felt myself lying in a bed. A ceiling fan whirred above me, and slatted blinds sent interlaced sunlight into the room. I was lying in a hospital.

“Charlie.” It was Infinity, stood above me. “I’m so glad I reached you in time, my friend.”

He called me ‘my friend’.

Perhaps I really had been wrong all of this time, and it only took being stolen away by the Mind-Melter for me to realise it. Sarah was right, maybe we could really become friends... it’s not like I have any others, what do friends even do?

“Charlie, I found you in the basement, the Mind-Melter had almost taken you entirely, but I found you. I found you, you’re going to be okay.” He seemed almost frantic with relief, repeating himself and bouncing with unrestrained joy.

“What about The Tonight Show?” I asked. I have no clue why work was on my mind. I suppose I knew that it was an exciting moment for him, and that missing it would be a massive disappointment.

“Forget about it.” With this, Infinity switched on the television in the corner of the room, and switched over to The Tonight Show. He giggled, “See? The show must go on!”

The host looked ruffled, however he was still giving his monologue as if nothing had happened. A cardboard cutout of Infinity had been placed in the guest’s chair as a gag, with the phrase ‘we miss you!’ lovingly printed across the chest. The audience was packed with disappointed fans, the big public appearance of their favourite superhero had been spoiled by none other than myself. I would’ve ordinarily revelled in ruining Infinity’s day, but I felt terrible.

Poor Sarah, she was the one who should’ve been saved. She lived her whole life adoring Infinity, and I had spent all of mine in cold indifference to him. No longer.

“Infinity… you should go. The people want to see you.”

“Don’t be silly, I’m going to stay here, you could use some company.” He beamed his handsome smile down at me and put a warm hand on my shoulder, a simple comforting gesture, but one that turned my false smile genuine. I felt a terrible pang of guilt, all the times he had flown through the window and grinned down at me had been as true and genuine as they come, and I had given him nothing but falseness back.

We looked up at the TV in unison as the screen began to flicker, the audience members screamed as red eyes began to open all around them. The Mind-Melter had emerged in the studio, and was already beginning to drag people away. Infinity marched across the room until his face was inches from the screen. He looked back at me, and we both nodded.

Without saying another word to each other, Infinity flew out of the window like a streak of golden lightning. Within moments he appeared on the screen. A vengeful god, he grabbed hold of the Mind-Melter’s outstretched arm and tore him from the shadows, this time he would not escape. The audience rose in defiant clamour, Infinity’s biggest moment had finally arrived, my greatest hero.