Venom:
A Deep Secret
By
Scarlett Michealson
As I walked down the street, I counted the street lights I passed. There were exactly 25 between work and home. I had 5 left to go. In the distance I could see my apartment building already. I smiled.
As I passed by Mrs. Chen's little quick shop, I waved at her. She smiled and waved back. Eddie and I were frequent customers in her shop, so she knew us well. When I had walked by, I looked up at the apartment window and noticed the lights on. Eddie must have been home. I frowned. He was home earlier than usual.
When I reached home, I unlocked the door and found him in the kitchen. He was already making dinner. I smiled.
"Hey you." I said, and we kissed as he hugged me.
"Hey beautiful." He smiled back.
"You're home early." I commented. He shrugged.
"Changed things up a bit at work." He smiled. I nodded. Lately he had been in a great mood. I liked it, but I was also weary.
When I had changed, I came back into the kitchen and helped him finish dinner.
"What's got you so happy recently?" I asked. He shrugged.
"Don't know. Just am." He lied. I rolled my eyes, I could tell he was hiding something.
A while back he had had a bad night and seemed angrier and more agitated than normal, but when I had asked what was wrong, he refused to tell me, saying it was a secret that he wasn't ready to talk about. Sometimes I wondered what it was, and if it was still affecting him...like right now.
"Is this that thing you won't tell me about?" I asked. He sighed and looked over at me. I could tell it was weighing on him.
"Yeah, it is. Sorry." He replied quietly and he finished what he was doing and then left the kitchen. I finished dinner and then turned the stove off and went to find him. How bad could it be? What was so bad that he felt he couldn't tell me? We had been together for months and he knew he could tell me anything. We trusted each other like that. Heck, an engagement was on the table.
"Hey," I whispered to him, as I walked up and put my hand on his shoulder. We stood by the window in the living room. He was deep in thought.
"What has you so bothered? You know you can tell me anything." I whispered. He hung his head, and then half looked at me.
"Redetta, it's not that. I...I just don't know how to tell you." He sighed and looked back out the window.
"It's that bad?" I asked. He nodded.
"Worse." He mumbled.
"I don't want to scare you, but I fear this will change a lot between us." He said quietly. I nodded.
"How so?" I asked. He stared out the window.
"There's just so much you don't know about me..." He frowned.
"Come here." I told him and we sat down on the step up into the living room. I leaned against him and closed my eyes for a few minutes.
"Nothing will change this. Not now. Not ever." I whispered in his ear. He hung his head.
"And yet I'm sure it will." He shook his head, staring at the wall across from us now.
"Eddie, just tell me." I flat out told him. He was breathing deeply now.
"There's...another side of me, that you've never seen. It's not exactly...friendly. And it's very...scary." He told me. I frowned. So he had anger issues?
"Anger?" I asked. He shook his head.
"No, this is different." He said. I listened.
"It's a physically different side of me." He said. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"I don't understand." I replied. He sighed and for a moment I thought the conversation was over again.
"You know that...monster, they've been talking about on tv?" He asked suddenly. I thought for a moment.
Tv news reports claimed there was some kind of 'monster' roaming the city streets at night and literally eating people. It was big, and black, and no one had a clue as to what it could be. Scientists were also being strangely quiet on the whole matter which wasn't helping the situation.
"The big black people-eating one?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yeah, why?" I asked again. He looked back at the wall and was quiet. Suddenly some quiet voice in the back of my head gained a horrible idea.
"Wait...Eddie, what are you saying?" I asked, suddenly very concerned for his well-being.
"You remember how I told you that I enjoyed running and that's what I was doing in my free time?" He asked. I nodded. He shook his head.
"I used to enjoy running. Now...I fill up my free time with something else." He said. I shook my head.
"Eddie. You are not making any sense. What is going on?" I asked, looking at him directly. He took my hand.
"Come with me. I'll show you." He finished.
He took my hand and lead me out of the apartment, out of the building, down the street, around three corners, and into an abandon warehouse. The interior was covered in a solid-wood floor. The walls were built of brick, and ropes hung everywhere. It looked like a place where boxers could practice. I sighed.
"What are we doing here?" I asked.
"You remember the monster thing?" He asked again. I half rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I remember." I said.
"And you remember that I can tell you anything, right?" He asked. I nodded.
"I remember that too." I assured him. He stared into my eyes for a long moment and sighed.
Suddenly out of nowhere, his hand launched itself from his arm like a rocket and stretched all the way to the wall where he grabbed something and then it retracted just as fast. All of that, within the blink of an eye and so fast that I barely even noticed it, but just slow enough that I saw exactly what had happened. I gasped and backed myself against the wall behind me.
"Do you still trust me?" He asked. I could barely breath. It took me a moment to realize he wanted me to respond and I closed my mouth.
"Um...are...are you that monster?" I asked, wide-eyed. He tightened his jaw and then slowly nodded. Without thinking, I walked right up to him, and I looked him in the eyes.
"Show me." I told him. He stepped back and frowned.
"Red...he's not exactly...friendly. That's what I've been trying to work on..." He said. I shook my head.
"Show me." I said again. He sighed.
"Red! I've killed people!" He exclaimed. I shook my head.
"Show me anyway." I said. I needed to see this. If I didn't, one of us was insane. He gave me a worried look, almost as though he regretted all of it.
"Okay." He whispered and he took a few steps back and then kind of looked at the ground and then back at me.
"Promise you won't hurt her?" He asked, as if someone else were in the room. I looked around.
"What?" I asked. He shook his head at me.
Suddenly a very deep voice responded and my eyes grew even wider.
"Promise." It said in a very drawn-out and menacing tone. I gulped.
He closed his eyes.
"Are you sure about this, Red?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yes." I said out loud.
I watched as he brought his right hand up before his face and looked from it, to me, and back. And then he snapped his fingers and suddenly his hand was black, and then it started up his arm and covered over his chest and shoulder and then it went up and over his head and down the rest of his body, until it expanded all the way down his other arm and covered over his other hand.
He was taller, bigger, black and shiny, and his breathing sounded more like growling. He had his back to me. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. I was already backed against the wall again. Suddenly he turned his head and I saw something white curve up around the side of his head. I didn't make a sound.
"So you are Redetta." His deep, menacing voice said and suddenly he spun around and stared down at me. His eyes were white and like triangles plastered against the side of his head. His teeth were more like fangs that were long and curved and reminded me of sharks teeth, except they were sharper, and...deadlier. I swallowed again and nodded.
The big, black, monster carefully walked up to me and crouched down, so he was eye level with me. He stood only feet away. I became intensely aware of my deep breathing.
"He cares for you. He loves you." The monster said and his eyes slightly increased in size when he said the word 'love'. I nodded.
"I've never experienced love before." He said in a slightly less harsh and less menacing voice.
"Oh." I managed.
"Until now." He continued. "I can see his memories, feel his emotions. I experience everything he experiences." It went on to explain. I nodded. "Which means I care for you too. We love you." He finished. I nodded again.
"Who are you?" I breathed. Suddenly half of the monsters face peeled back and I could see half of Eddie's face. I gasped.
"We, are Venom." They said in unison. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, away from the wall. Carefully, I reached up and I put my hand on Eddie's face. His eyes closed.
"Please," They whispered. "Don't fear us." And they opened their eyes and looked at me again. I nodded.
"I don't." I whispered back, coming in slightly closer. They put their arms around me and hugged me. It took a moment to be okay with it, but then I was, and I realized that I was safe.
"We love you." They whispered. I smiled and looked at their faces.
"I love you both too." I breathed and I stepped back. I watched as Venom's face covered back over Eddie and he stood up and turned away from me. Slowly they shrank in size until only Eddie stood before me again. I watched as he turned back and looked at me. He had a scared look on his face.
"If I'm not afraid, then you shouldn't be either." I smiled and I put my hand on his cheek again. He nodded.
"So..." He started to say. I smiled.
"So nothing has changed." I finished for him. He took a deep breath.
"Even though..." He started to say. I shook my head. He frowned.
"You just stared into the eyes of a man-eating-monster, and you're still okay with marrying the man inside of him?" He asked. I nodded.
"I love you, all of you. Not even Venom can change that." I whispered and he smiled.
After that we talked about other things, like how he came to be Venom and how he was trying to learn about who he was and how he could be less dangerous to the outside world. He was more or less, trying to train Venom to be...better.
A few weeks later I was walking home again. It was dark out, and I was counting the street lamps. I still had ten more to go. Suddenly someone came up behind me and pulled me back into an alleyway. The man threw me against a brick wall.
"Give me all your cash!" He growled, holding me at gun-point. I was shaking.
"Okay...ok...okay." I stuttered as I tried to put my hand in my purse and find my wallet. I was shaking so much that I could barely find anything.
"Come on! Let's go Sweetheart!" The robber demanded. I nodded and fumbled around my purse until finally I grabbed my wallet. But when I looked back up, I grew very still and my heart immediately calmed way down.
"LET'S GO!" He shouted, but I wasn't focused on him anymore. Behind him, loomed a much scarier and deadly character. He was tall, and black, and he was waiting for my cue. I nodded and the monster literally grabbed the man, who dropped the gun and then it held him against the wall.
"How DARE you threaten her!" The monster growled.
"Who the freak are you?!" The guy screamed. The monster chuckled darkly.
"We, are Venom." They said and I ran away without looking.
By the time I made it home, Eddie was already in the living room, waiting for me again.
"Are you okay?!" He asked as I ran into his arms. I nodded and he held me.
"Are you?" I asked. He chuckled.
"We're just fine." He smiled. By now I was getting used to the 'we' instead of 'I' in his sentences.
As he held me, I shivered. The night air had been cold and I was just now adjusting to the room temperature. Suddenly I felt something moving down my back, and when I looked, a black blanket of goo was coming down from Eddie's arm and covering me.
"We thought you might be a cold." A slightly deeper voice whispered in my ear. I smiled.
"Thank you...Venom." I whispered and I smiled to myself.