Hi everybody who reads this blog,

My name is Aurora. I just found out that this blog existed, but from what I’ve read, I’m guessing you know all about me.

So you know I’ve been in the hospital for a while. I’m out now, although I have to go back most days. Anyway, all that stuff is really boring.

I’m kind of freaked out and mad that Nemo’s been writing this whole blog about me secretly, but I don’t care about that, either, right now.

All I want to know is what happened to Nemo after he left JoyTech on Halloween. As far as I can tell, no one’s seen or heard from him since then. It’s like he totally disappeared.

I feel like when I was in the hospital, the world ended or something. Kevin’s gone. Nemo’s gone. Jerry – I think he’s in his house, but he won’t answer the phone or the door or anything.

I found this girl Meegan and talked to her. She said that she went to the Blood River lookout to drink after the show at JoyTech, but that Nemo never showed up there. Not that he would, anyway.

I read Nemo’s last blog, and I got my mom to drive me to Kevin’s place. I couldn’t believe that Nemo would ever do some of the stuff he was talking about – blowing up Kevin’s car? Taking him hostage?

But it was true what he said – the house was completely shut up.

The only strange thing was that all the basement windows were boarded up with plywood, like they had been smashed.

I don’t really know what to think about any of this. I’m really scared, and I don’t know if any of you know anything or can help.

I just want my friend back.

(P.S. - Sorry about the lack of cool pictures in this post. If you like the stuff that Nemo was doing, you can check out the tooning software that he uses here.

Visited Aurora in the hospital for the first time today. I tried to go before. I couldn’t make myself walk down that long hallway into her room. She’s in a coma, the docs say, which means her brain is hurt.

But it’s weird. I thought that she would be all cold and still. Instead her lips are almost always moving, at least on the ‘level’ she was in when I saw her. And every once in a while she lifts up her right hand a bit, like she’s about to reach for something.

Her mom told me that the doctors say its good she’s exhibiting signs of awareness. It means she could come out of it in weeks or even days. They say it’s actually pretty rare for people to stay in a coma forever.

Still.

It’s like Aurora’s trapped in some tiny dark space at the back of her mind, and I’m the one who put her there. What was she going to tell me? What if I never hear her voice again.

I have no interest in being one of those superheroes that lives out his days tortured by loss, and motivated by a desire for revenge. Batman, The Punisher, Constantine, Spawn, Elecktra, Swamp Thing, the list goes on and on and it sucks.

I should have listened to New Guy when he said I’d get her hurt.

He hasn’t been to the hospital. He hasn’t been to school this week. Aurora’s mom keeps asking me where her ‘boyfriend’ is.

But now I know that New Guy was right. Maybe he was never anything but a spy for his parents’ company, but he was right. I got Aurora hurt.

And maybe I know I need to back off, but all I can think about is going and doing the one thing the giggling man told me not to do.

I’m gonna find New Guy/Kevin Joy, and he’s going to answer some questions: About JoyTech, about Aurora, about everything.

Aurora’s always trying to save the world. But not in a superhero way. She’s more into organizing letter-writing campaigns or protests, or volunteering to work with kids or picking up trash. She’s always inviting me to come along with her, or she used to, before New Guy. I never did, though, because it all seems so like smacking your head against a brick wall. It can actually be kind of hard to watch.

That’s why I liked The Watchmen. It’s about regular people who really DO something. In the story, the Watchmen are superheroes (or ‘masked adventurers’ because they don’t have any real powers). The idea of superheroes that are just normal people with no powers is awesome. That means anyone could do it. If they really thought that they could be a hero, and change things.

Interesting fact: Jerry says that Alan Moore got the title from this guy Juvenal, who was a poet in ancient Rome. He wrote the line (in translation): “Who will watch the watchmen?”

I wonder if that’s the first reference in history to the idea of the superhero. What do you think?