Faded Memories

KSHH!!!

Glass shattered as the withheld liquids spilled onto his face, and pretty much everything else as well.

It gives truth to the fear of leaving a child alone without supervision, even if it were just a couple of minutes, that could be more than enough time for an innocent yet fatal mistake.

Luckily enough, the mistake was nothing more than harmless chemicals splattering onto the clueless head of a toddler.

Disappointment was the expression of the absent, be as it may for only a few minutes, along with comical disbelief that so much could happen with so little time.

"I leave you for one minute, and you couldn't do the one thing I told you not to?"

The appearance of authority was met with uncontrollable sobbing of guilt, something quite common in children that slowly fades into mischief.

"S… Sorry…"

The fall, from the child's perspective, was as high as an eight-story drop to the next life, was nothing more than one foot off the ground onto tile flooring.

Even through the fatal fall from the youthful perspective, he still clutched tightly to his material entertainment even though life was not guaranteed passed the innocent mistake.

The father, in the face of irresponsible parenting, does what he must to patch up the pitfall.

The father grabs a towel from a surprisingly clean table within a lab full of the opposite, each filled with test tubes and liquids of the future (or past).

He wipes the child's face off, the feeling of guilt slowly strayed from the child as he wasn't met with discipline for his actions, even though he didn't know the difference between a mistake and purposeful action.

"Gravity man wouldn't want you to cry, don't you want to be a servant of justice like him someday? Do you think servants of justice cry when things don't go their way?"

"Justice?" the child remained blank on the social concept.

"You know, beat the bad guys like he does." the father simplified the abstract term to a verb, not the best course of action, but useful enough for the child to vaguely understand.

"Yeah! I won't let Rocket–Man come to our house!" the child sprouted with confidence and joy as he stood up tall from his defeated stature, quickly erasing the former emotion.

"Yes! Gravity Man doesn't cry when he saves, why should you!!" the father may have been a bit too excited when he riled up his son's confidence in a false understanding of justice.

"Ok—" the child wipes away the remaining rainfall into sunshine, a beautiful sight for anyone to see and continues "Gravity Man! Let's go beat up bad guys together!". He shouted strong at his 6-inch plastic figurine that resembled the hero of his childhood.

"Why don't you play with your brother instead of coming in here next time, ok?"

"Yes!"

Parenting wasn't the father's strong suit, but he still loved and enjoyed the process, something that made an intelligent man seem like a lost one.