The Night of A Thousand Halloweens

By: Tashe Dangerous Eyes

Disclaimer: Stan Lee gave birth to the X-Men without any pain. Oh how I envy him.

Author's notes: This story was the winner of a contest celebrated last October at one of the many, if not the best, definitely the most visited Storm yahoo club on the net. Storm the Woman of The X. I hope you enjoy it as much as the judges did.

Other stories written by me are: The Pact, The Deceiver and Pusher's Vengeance. Check them out.

Summary: Storm is having the worst Halloween experience ever. Or is she?

Here we go!

The yellow cab approached the mansion slowly and from the distance she could see that the lights were on in every room. The cab finally stopped in front of the main gate, a big sign could be seen on one of the walls. It read, 'Xavier Institute School for Gifted Youngsters'. She paid the fare, grabbed her bags and got out of the taxi. Once the cab was out of sight she summoned a wind and flew over the gate and immediately descended on the other side. She could hear the music playing and wondered why had they started the party without her. A feeling of uneasiness was creeping up on her. It was night. She was out running a simple errand and yet she had arrived at night.

That morning Jean had asked her if she could go to the store and buy more candy for their Halloween party, among other things. She couldn't remember the exact time she had left but knew that buying candy couldn't possibly take this long. She thought for a moment and couldn't even remember buying the candy she was carrying or what else she did during the day. She kept walking toward the main entrance of the mansion and suddenly noticed that the closer she got to the door, strangely, the lower the music was in volume instead of going higher, and she frowned. She opened the door and found the place empty and the sound of the music was completely gone. "Hello." She called but nobody answered. She moved through the halls of the mansion on her way to the kitchen all the while looking around for someone, anybody. "Hello! I'm back. Brought the candy. Jean?" Storm kept calling; her voice louder and louder, but still nobody answered her. She put the bags on the kitchen table and exited the kitchen again. Storm walked down the hall and peeked inside some of the class rooms, including her own, trying to see if they were hiding some where waiting to jump out at her and give her a scare. "Guys this is not funny. I thought we agree no Halloween pranks." She said very loud still looking for a sign that there was somebody in the mansion.

"Storm." She heard her name being called and stopped moving. "Storm." The voice called again and she recognized it.

"Professor, where are you?" Silence. "Professor?" She started to walk again toward the Professor's study. It seemed to her the voice was coming from there.

"Storm." She heard him again and this time she was sure he was in his study. She reached his door and let herself in.

"Professor, what is going…on?" He was not there. The study was empty and the light was on. Why are all the lights on if there is nobody here? She wondered. Of course there are people here. We have a party tonight. She tried to sound convincing in her mind. I have to find them.

Storm needed to calm herself. She was a little upset, but mostly she was starting to get really nervous. She walked as fast as she could toward Jean's room and opened the door without knocking on it the moment she arrived there. "Jean?" She called her friend again but her room was empty. She did the same with Wolverine's room, the Professor's and then some of the kids', but everybody was gone. The sound of the music reached her ears once more and she descended the stairs in a rush thinking that perhaps her friends had decided she had had enough. Storm made her way to the main living room and just as when she entered the house, as soon as she entered the living room the music disappeared and no one was there. Storm ran and took the elevator to the lower levels. She intended to keep looking until she found someone and then things were going to get really ugly.

The moment she exited the elevator she started walking in the direction of the Danger Room. When she got close to it she could hear noises coming from the inside. She approached the door and saw it was closed and that there was a program running. They can't possibly be training right now. She thought. Storm tried to open the door of the Danger Room but the key panel wouldn't accept the code she was entering. She tried it again but the door didn't open. "Computer, end program now." She tried a vocal command but nothing happened. Storm looked around her starting to feel a little desperate so she took a deep breath and thought for a moment. She entered Jean's code. They knew each other's code in case there was an emergency but it didn't work either. "Computer, end program." Another vocal command, with anger this time, but she only had another failure. She decided to check the med. lab so she started heading there when suddenly the sounds coming from the Danger Room ceased and the door opened on its own. She stopped abruptly and turned around slowly, her heart beating fast and hard. She thought she could almost hear it instead of just feeling it inside of her chest. She walked to the room. There was light coming out of it but no noises. It was completely silent. "Hello. Scott. Wolverine." She called and entered the room but once again nobody responded her. Storm felt the air move behind her and turned around quickly in time to see the door closing again and trapping her inside. She ran to the door and tried to open it but the door wouldn't open. Everything went dark. It was the natural darkness of the night and she realized she was outside again. She heard voices, laughter and music and turned around to see the mansion at the distance. All the lights were on and the party was in full swing. She heard a car engine and turned her head to the door again, but the door was not there anymore. A yellow cab was moving away, just like it had done when she first arrived that night. She looked down when she felt weight on her hands and saw she was carrying the bags again. She dropped them immediately and ran toward the mansion. This time when she opened the door she could see that all her friends were there. Jean was dancing with Scott. Rogue and Bobby were dancing on the other side of the room. Wolverine and the Professor were talking on a corner and having drinks of some sort. There were other students dancing and eating. Jubilee and Kitty came to her with smiling faces and each grabbed one of her hands and started pulling her to the center of the room.

"Dance with us Miss Munroe, please?" They pleaded with her with innocent voices. However, their touch felt like that of a ghost and she free herself from their grasp and walked away. Remembering that she was in the Danger Room she tried to put a stop to the illusion.

"Computer, end program now." The party continued. "Computer, this is Ororo Munroe code name Storm. End program now." She yelled as loud as she could and looking upward as if she was talking to a supreme being, trying to beat the music and the noise of the crowd around her.

"Ororo, what are you doing?" Jean's voice startled her and she looked at her wide-eyed. Even though this was her friend right now she was not real and she didn't have time to talk to an image created by a computer. She just needed to get out of the Danger Room.

"Computer end…"

"Stop that would you? What is the matter with you? You are not in the Danger Room. You are in a party. Can't you just enjoy yourself? Are you going crazy Storm?" Jean told her with seriousness and grabbed her by her hands like trying to reason with her.

"This is the Danger Room and you are not real." She tried to get her hands free but Jean wouldn't let her go.

"Storm, you are obviously out of it. What is wrong with you?" Storm didn't answer and kept struggling to get free of Jean. "All right Storm. I think the only way to convince you that this is not the Danger Room is to show you the actual Danger Room. Come with me." Jean pulled her by one hand and they both got on the elevator reaching the lower levels in seconds. They walked down the hall together barely sharing a look. Storm went along with Jean with the weak hope that she was right. Her hope quickly died when she heard what it seemed a cry for help. Storm came to a halt.

"Did you hear that?" Storm said paying attention, trying to catch the voice again.

"Hear what?" Jean asked uninterested.

"Please, get me out of here."

"That voice." Storm pointed toward the end of the hall and started walking again.

"Somebody please, get me out of here, please. Can anybody hear me?" Storm reached the door of the Danger Room and realized the screams were coming from the inside.

"It is coming from inside the…" Storm's voice trailed off when she looked to where Jean had been but she was no longer there. It had taken her but two seconds to reach the door and Jean had disappeared in thin air.

"Please, anybody." The voice brought her back from her reverie and she entered a code on the key panel of the Danger Room to try and open the door. The door, unlike before, opened easily, but she was not prepared to see what she saw. Storm saw herself coming out of the Danger Room, but for some reason this other Storm wasn't as surprised as she was to see herself. "You are another illusion. You are not here. I have to get out of here." The second Storm said going past Storm and headed toward the elevator as fast as she could. Storm followed her somewhat perplexed at being called an illusion. If there was something she was sure of it was the fact that she was the only thing real.

"I'm not an illusion," She protested as she followed the other Storm. "You are. Wait!" The other Storm entered the elevator with the intention of leaving her behind and did precisely that when Storm couldn't reach the elevator in time.

Storm waited for the elevator doors to open again and climbed in. She reached the upper level and ran to the living room. There was no sign of the other Storm or anybody else for that matter. All was quiet again and just like Jean everyone had disappeared. She was totally alone. Storm ran out of the mansion all the way to where she had seen the yellow cab and tried to find the key panel to open the Danger Room door, but she couldn't find it. She was scared and confused. Nothing made sense to her and she was finding it harder and harder to fight the desperation and the fear she was feeling. She then did the only thing she could do. She called for help. "Hello. Anybody hear me? I am in the Danger Room. Please, get me out of here." She continued to scream. "I am in the Danger Room. Anybody. Help!" The image of the mansion and the road suddenly vanished and she could see the deactivated Danger Room again. The door started to open and she was ready to see the nightmare end, but she was not so lucky. When the door finished opening Storm came face to face with yet another Storm and a feeling of dèja vú came over her. They stared at each other for just a second before she went past her doppelganger. "You are another illusion. You are not here. I have to get out of here." Storm almost ran to the elevator and felt the other Storm following her and proclaiming she was the real Storm. She entered the elevator and closed the doors leaving the other Storm behind not before catching her expression of anguish.

The elevator doors opened and once again she ran to the main living room. The music was back, her friends were back, but she didn't care. She kept running to the main entrance because she needed to escape. She wasn't even sure where she was anymore. Storm opened the door and stepped outside ready to continue running, but she felt her strength abandon her when she looked at the main gate and saw the yellow cab stopping in front of the mansion. The door of the cab opened and she stepped out of it. Another Storm. It was she arriving again, with the bags in her hands, coming to the mansion, coming toward her, coming to be part of her never ending nightmare. "No." Storm started to walk backwards shaking her head, her voice full of anger. "No, no, nooooo…"

Storm woke up with a start. She sat up on her bed gasping for air. It was morning and she was in the safety of her room. After taking several deep breaths she felt relieved.

Jean was at the kitchen table when Storm entered. The table was full of all sorts of Halloween related items that she was apparently trying to put in order. Storm poured herself a cup of coffee and turned around to face Jean. "You will not believe the nightmare I just had." She walked closer to Jean.

"By the look on your face I can tell it was a very bad one, but at least you woke up from yours. Me, I'm living mine." Jean gestured toward the items on the table and on most of the kitchen counters to make her point. "Can you believe that after all the things I bought for tonight's party I'm still short on candy. I made a list for you of the things I need. I'm sure you won't mind doing this favor for me. Right 'Ro?" Storm opened her eyes flabbergasted. Her mind was in turmoil. Jean looked at her questioningly when she saw her reaction. "Storm?" Jean called her name when she saw her looking past her. Storm was looking at Jean when she saw something above her head. She couldn't tell what it was until it appeared again. The scenery above Jean distorted for a second and then went back to normal, but then it distorted again. Soon it was around Jean, all over the kitchen and then Jean herself was starting to distort. Storm looked at Jean and saw a malicious grin form in her face, her cruel eyes burning her. The cup of coffee she was holding escaped her grip and fell to the floor spilling the hot coffee over her feet and breaking into a thousand pieces…goddess help me!…

The End?