Another nightmare. This time it was one she couldn't wake up from. She was running again, this time from the corpse that always lurked in her dreams. No matter how long she ran or how far, he always caught up to her. This particular morning however, a saving grace awoke her from her terrors.
"MADISON ELIZABETH THOMAS, IF YOU ARE NOT DOWNSTAIRS IN TEN MINUTES, YOU CAN SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR MALL TRIP THIS AFTERNOON!" Jenn Thomas screeched at her daughter from the kitchen.
Maddie rolled out of bed, accidently landing on her violin case with a crash. She stumbled into the bathroom adjoined to her bedroom, trying in vain to shake herself of her horrifying nightmare. She twirled her hair into a messy bun with lightning speed, frantically flitting from her room to the bathroom. Harper Thomas entered the bathroom, shoving her younger sister out of her way with an anorexic hip.
"Stay out of my way, Loser." Harper sneered, flipping her cringe worthy bleached hair over a pale shoulder.
"You're just jealous you didn't get the Thibaut genetic DNA strand." Maddie shot back, bobby-pinning the blonde, baby curls that stuck out of her bun.
"Shut up, Nerd."
"Slut." Maddie muttered under her breath.
Harper stole the flat iron and stormed out of the bathroom. Maddie stuck her contacts in her eyes, blinking rapidly at the sting. She threw open her closet door, grabbing a pair of dark blue, high-waisted skinny jeans, a light grey crop top, and a layered olive green cargo jacket. Changing faster than it took her rotten sister to straighten her hair, Maddie was downstairs right as the sheep timer went off in the kitchen.
Jenn looked up at her from the magazine she was reading. "You were almost late."
"But I wasn't." Maddie retorted, picking up her light brown cargo boots.
The ride to school wasn't long, but her mother's suspicious silence was enough to spark a question from Maddie.
"Anything special about today?"
Jenn sighed, causing her sixteen year old daughter to flinch. "When you were first born, the doctors knew something was special about you right away,"
"Aw come on Mom, not this again."
"Shhh! Let me finish. They said you were born with the Thibaut genetic strand, which granted you the ability to—"
"Mimic and replenish foreign DNA. I know, I actually paid attention in Biology the day we learned about it."
"May I continue?" Jenn looked at her daughter, cocking an eyebrow.
"Oh… Yeah sure."
"Thank you. As I was saying, the doctors told me of the media speaking of our aging heroes, and how Gotham needs more heroes, but can't seem to find any naturally. So, they wanted you to be in the program for receiving super hero DNA and possibly becoming the next Wonder Woman!"
Maddie's jaw dropped in shock. "And you agreed to this?"
"Of course!" Jenn turned to look at her. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because, what if I didn't want to become a super hero?!"
"Why wouldn't you, dear?" Jenn said with a slight chuckle.
"Maybe I want to live a normal life! Maybe I enjoy being a blonde! Maybe I don't want to be invincible!" Maddie flushed a hot red, ire, bursting from her.
"Honey, you're overreacting-"
"No! You should have waited to ask me about this!"
"Maddie, I—" Jenn was abruptly cut off by the squeal of tires, a SUV spinning out of control and heading straight towards them.
Everything dragged into slow motion, the frantic movements of the other driver seeming to do nothing. Maddie turned to see her mother's arm outstretch to protect her. The tail end of the vehicle swung out and smashed into the front of their car. Maddie blacked out momentarily, coughing as she stirred.
"Are you ok?" Jenn asked worriedly, blood trickling down her brow from a small head wound.
"Yeah, I think so—" A truck's horn blared, and panic seared into the pair.
"MADDIE!"
The truck slammed into the front passenger side, metal cracking and crumpling. The paramedics arrived shortly after, pulling the bodies from the wreckage. Maddie was put onto a stretcher and taken to the hospital immediately, while Jenn and the other people in the crash were inspected for their minor injuries.