A hero is a man who is afraid to run away.-Unknown

I was born and raised in Erie, Colorado. A relatively small town, with an odd combination of country and city people. Everyone knew each other, either from school or work. No one ever really left Erie, most people decided to go to college nearby and come back with some kind of degree. I, however, was anxious to get out and make my life somewhere else. Life here wasn't bad, in fact, I really enjoyed myself at times. But there was a piece missing from the slow-paced life in Erie, the sense of adventure. No one was willing to get out of their comfort zone. Which ended up creating a never-ending cycle of underachieving. High-school was nothing special, people drank, used drugs, all the things that you would expect from a typical American small town.
I never felt like I had to take part in any of it, the parties had no draw for me. This is why it was unusual that I was there last night. I was invited by my friend Aspen, most of the school was going to be there - still not that many people - and I had nothing else planned for the night. I figured I would drop in and leave after half an hour. Until the men showed up, asking for someone. It couldn't have been me, they were probably just trying to scare us. The man were most likely there to terrorize some high school kids.
I drove by the house on my way home from school, and saw some bullet holes in the window. Had I killed those men? The memory was still fresh in my mind, the bodies thudding to the floor. That couldn't have been me. I hadn't even shot a gun before, it must have been some kind of crazy illusion, or possibly I was slipped something in my drink. Whatever happened, there was no way I could have killed people. Could I?

I pulled up into the driveway, my house was in the center of a tiny subdivision. it was fairly large, at least enough to fit my family of five. I was the oldest of my siblings. Whom took most of my parents attention, which I was fine with, I loved my family, but I never really felt connected with them. They had opinions and thoughts on things that I couldn't outright disagree with, but wished I could. They would never leave Erie, and that I couldn't deal with. They wanted me to stay here and work in the police force like my dad. And they weren't willing to help support me leaving. Meaning they wouldn't give me a cent when I decided to get out.
I walked into my room, and jumped onto the bed, laying spread-eagled across it. The one thing about last night, was it had actually brought a little excitement in Erie, thankfully, the only people hurt-or worse-were the bad guys. No one seemed to know who they were, the newspaper had covered it. However all it really did was say that a party had been broken up unexpectedly. This was surprising to me, seeing as Erie hadn't had a real headline in ages. Now that I think about it, no one had mentioned it at the school, it was like it had never happened. I had to talk to someone about it. So I decided to head to Aspen's house, to see if she was okay, as well as question her about last night. I headed to the car and drove across town to her house. She had a large house, with acres of land behind it. It wasn't exactly a farm, but I was pretty sure her mom had a giant garden to take up the space. I rang the door bell and waited on her porch.
"Who is it?" A voice from deep within, most likely the basement.
"How am I supposed to know. Let's get these people out of here, ignore the door." There were four people in the house, based on the heartbeats. Two very strong, and another two growing more and more faint. Something was obviously very wrong. I tried the door and it was locked. I took a step back and looked up, the roof hung over the porch. Possibly enough to reach and pull myself up. I backed up and took a running start at the roof. I jumped. I had expected to have to pull myself up, but I was already on the roof. Better not question this then. I opened a window, sliding into the room. I listened for the sound of the intruders. They were now downstairs, heading slowly towards the back of the house.
I walked as silently as I could down the hall and reached the stairs, they were coming my way. A plan unconsciously formed in my mind. Five, four, three, two... I hopped the railing and landed directly on top of one of the intruders.

"Mayor Franti?" I had just jumped on the mayor, and the other man appeared to be the chief of police, my dad's boss.
In my shock I let my guard down, and was punched in the gut, knocking me backwards. I looked around and noticed two bodies laying on the ground behind the two men. What were they doing? Both of them did not have guns on them, but were in a fighting stance. I guess I had to take them on. The chief glanced at a pot sitting on the table next to him. And as he threw it I was prepared to catch it and send it right back at him, nailing him in the chest. He stumbled backwards. I took my advantage and leaped at the mayor, grabbing both his legs out from under him, I stepped hard where I knew it would hurt the most, and he curled up in pain. The chief was now up again, looking completely insane. He pulled out his belt, which, now that he pulled it out, I could tell was meant to be a whip, it was long, and had a few metal ends. Crap. He started waving it and brought it down hard at my feet. I jumped up and ran to my right, looking for something I could use. I found myself in the kitchen. In the little time I had before he joined me I searched for the knifes. Instinctively I opened the drawer directly to my left, and pulled out a long kitchen knife. At that moment the chief had joined me.
"You don't know what you're doing Ryan, put that knife down and I'll show you what we were doing. We aren't the bad guys here." He put his hands up in mock surrender. The quiver in his breath told me every bit of what he had said was a lie. So I let the knife fly. Straight and true, it sinked into the chief's stomach. I hurried over to him.
"What we're you doing, why do you have Aspen's parents?" His eyes looked at me with a hatred I hadn't seen before. He was not going to tell me anything.
I heard a heavy heart coming up behind my back. The mayor. I kicked my legs out behind me, and the man tumbled to the ground. I didn't want to kill again. But I had no choice.
"You don't want to do this sir, please, don't." I pleaded with him, but his dark eyes were unchanging. He came at me hard, so I slowed the scene down, as he reached out to hit me I grabbed his arm and turned him around. He was still struggling hard, so I tripped him to the floor. With his arm in hand I stepped on it. I actually turned to look away as I heard the sound of his arm breaking. He rolled over, grabbing at his arm. I walked over to the drawer and grabbed a smaller knife. And took the mayor out of his misery.