Famine

"Then when I opened my closet a shoe fell on my head and knocked my phone out of my hand!" Aya Abbas said while gripping onto her phone inside of her closet. She was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth. She couldn't see anything but the glow from her phone. Her best friend was video calling her.

"And that's why you think you're haunted."

"No! A man with no eyes keeps asking me if I want food."

"Aya..."

"Stop- I know what you're going to say."

"Aya please. Go outside. I know it's February and it's snowing and stuff. Valentine's day is around the corner, you should go out there and find a man. There is nothing to be afraid of either, you live in a decent neighborhood. There's like no crimes around your area for the most part. No villains live near you or nothing."

"That's not why I'm scared. It's a lot more deeper than just whether I'm in a bad area or not."

"Okay, okay. Tell me more about this no eyed man then."

"Alright. It was my 27th birthday. Everybody, including you, went to a Halloween party."

"Woah that's not my fault, you wanted to post a new blog post for your little fanbase."

"Let me finish. Yes I wanted to write up my new blog post. It was on a topic that I was very passionate about and I needed to write it or else I would have never written it. Creativity and inspiration only comes in packets for me. When it comes I write, if it's not there I don't write."

"Why don't you just force yourself to write more then?"

"I can't. I need to be in the right mood."

"You're such an emotional writer. I'm sure you can, you forced yourself to go to all those superhero interviews."

Aya slapped herself in the face as she remembered her 17 year old self going to a superhero interview. She had short parted black hair the tips of her hair tickled the bottom of her ears. She wore a clean baby blue business suit and pants. She wore black heels and makeup to lighten her tan complexion. She used brown concealer to cover her dark eye bags. She even used eye drops in hopes of making her black eyes glisten just a bit under the bright white light inside of the interview room.

The room reminded her of a police interrogation room and a lab. The four windowless walls were padded with grey bouncy leather covered pads. The floor was carpeted with white wool. There was a single metal rectangular table in the middle of the room, with 2 chairs on either side of the table. Aya sat on one of the chairs. On the other was a man in a grey business suit and pants with mesmerizing that gave off the sense of an optical illusion. He wore sunglasses and a tie. His face and head were shaved.

He placed a tape recorder on the table and pressed record, "The year is 2003. I, Micheal Gillford, interviewing Aya Abbas for her position as sidekick for JOBI, Justice for Over Bullied Individuals."

Micheal adjusted himself in his chair, crossing his legs as he said, "Ms. Abbas. Why did you want to become a hero?"

"I've always been admired by heroes. No wait. I always admired heroes. I love how heroes are so fearless. Even when they don't know what abilities they'll have to handle for the day. I want to be like that. I want to be fearless."

Micheal nodded his head, "What are you afraid of?"

Aya froze, "Dying," she said with a cold demeanor.

"Hm," Micheal smiled, "Why do you want to save people?"

"I love life. There is nothing more beautiful than life. I want to save as many lives as I possibly can."

"Have you saved someone before?"

"I have actually!"

"Oh. Who was it, what happened?"

Aya's leg was shaking. Her hands folded together as she smiled, "So ever since I was 7 years old, my mom was always telling me that she wanted to save money so we never really bought fast food. But as a kid I would always want to go and eat it, since my mother never really, you know, explain to me what money was. I was always curious of course. And anyway after she got me food one day, I uh, I didn't like it," Aya chuckled, "She didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. I didn't want to eat it but since she spent so much money on it." Her eyes looked down, "So since then I've been sacrificing breakfast and sometimes dinner in order to save her from spending too much."

"That is very nice of you," Micheal said as he adjusted himself in his chair, "Sacrifice is a good quality of being a hero, but I want to know who you've saved with your powers."

"I haven't saved anyone with my powers yet."

"Why is that? Is your power a non-combat one? Or is it a rare medical one?"

Aya looked up at the Micheal. "I can conjure worms."

"Can you control the worms however you like?"

"No."

"Are they parasitic worms capable of invading someone's body?"

"No."

"Are they capable of holding anything in place? Do they die instantly and glue onto something."

"No, they are non-combative, no medical purposes, no utility either. They are simply earth worms. Quite frankly I despise them and I'll never try to figure out what kind of other worms I can conjure up. My power is very disgusting, and despite that I want to be a hero without using my power."

"Here at JOBI we are very obsessive about overcoming shortcomings like bad powers. I would suggest adopting a better mentality or else you will stagnate as a hero. You should seek some type of power counseling. It's a bit expensive, but thank you for your time."

"Did I get the job?"

"We'll email you if you did." Micheal took out a remote and pressed a button, one of the walls collapsed into the floor revealing a grey hallway with yellow lights with a line of people patiently waiting. "You can make your way out through there." He said pointing his hand to the collapsed wall. He stopped the recording as Aya stopped remembering.

She hit herself again in the face. "I don't think I can find a way to make it on this Earth."

"Aya! Stop thinking like that," her best friend yelled. "You need to keep a positive attitude about things."

"Are you fucking kidding me Emily? A positive attitude won't change the fact that I have a weird ass power that no one wants to hire me for. I've been working as a barista for 10 years. My blog hasn't become the biggest fucking thing in the world, and I've been talking about real problems with society. And even know some no eyed man is wondering my house like a fucking ghost. I've called the cops and they've stayed with me to see if anybody comes through and the guy is still there. Either it's some guy with a very specific ability or it's some actual ghost. BUT MAGIC WAS DISPROVEN YEARS AGO! You know, I haven't done anybody wrong my whole life. My whole life! Now some guy wants to haunt me for what reason? If I die, release all my notes as a blog post. I have a lot of thoughts accumulated over the years to-"

"Aya. Relax, you're not going to die. If he was going to kill you he would have already. How long has he been haunting you?"

"Ever since my 27th birthday."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No."

"When was the last time you had a full meal."

"Some time before my birthday."

"Maybe your body is just hallucinating. It's telling you to eat. You're getting older, you have to start facing your fears."

"I'm not getting older, and I know. On my birthday I was literally bullying myself."

Aya remembered, she was naked inside of her apartment. She stood in front of her stove, looking down at the knobs. Her breathing was still, almost lifeless. She was barefoot, her feet were cold. Her stomach growled as she stared at the metallic knobs of her stove. Right behind her was her small square wooden table with a single chair tucked under it. To her left was a wall with a small rectangular window with a plant in a jar on the windowsill. Her curtains were drawn. To her right was a hallway leading to the other rooms of her apartment. Next to her stove was a countertop and a metallic fridge. "Aya," she whispered to herself, "You're 27, weighing whether you should eat or not." Her face was red, her eyes sunken in itself.

"Emily," Aya said as she stopped remembering, "You're right. I'm going to face my fears. I'm going to talk to that no eyed man!" Aya hung up the phone. She looked at the time, it read "3:00 AM", she turned off her phone and got up. She opened her closet door, and walked past her dark bedroom. She walked into her hallway, then walked into her kitchen. She stood naked, "Alright who the fuck are you!"

She pointed at the no eyed man who was cleaning a black skillet. He placed it on her stove, and twisted the knob, waited for fire to erupt, then placed the skillet over it. The man wore a white baker's cap, an apron, a 14th century plague doctor's mask, and sunglasses that sat on the tip of the nose of the mask. All of it was over cargo pants and a white button up with a untied tie. He turned around and smiled, "Aya Abbas, do you want some breakfast?"

"Absolutely! Now answer who the hell you are!"

"I'm the Horseman of Famine. I've been trying to tell you that an apocalypse is coming. I need an Avatar to combat against it."

"Why me? Why not go for someone other than me with a much stronger ability."

"We like to play favorites is all."

"We? As in like other people like you? What even are you? What is this Apocalypse you speak of?"

"We are time travelers. Yup, that's the best way to describe us. Yes, the other horsemen, Conquest, War, and Death have already found their Avatars. They got their Avatars with the first person they set their eyes on. Me, you're the third person. the Apocalypse is a force that will end all of humanity."

"Why not go to an established hero?"

"Because you fit my power more than anyone else."

"But I'm the third one you chose."

Famine chuckled, "I guess you're right. Well, they all rejected my offer. Are you going to?"

"What kind of power do you offer?"

"Well I'll be able to enhance your own powers. If you happen to conquer me."

"What's your power?"

"You'll have to conquer me to find out!"

"And if we stop this apocalypse we'll save a lot of people?"

"Yes, ma'am. Now, what would you like to eat for breakfast."

"An omelette with cheese, green peppers, onions, and sausages. If you can make me some pancakes that would be lovely too."

Famine laughed as he walked to Aya and shook her hand.