Chapter 8: The Beast Rattles His Cage

"You don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened."

John Green, "An Abundance of Katherines"

There was a beast growing within me. It had been growing for quite some time and when my natural reaction to run away, escape New York and leave all of the sadness behind, came rushing over me, the beast roared to life, slammed its fist down and fought back those cowardly feelings.

You're not running away this time, Mary Jane.No.This time, you're going to face this.

I needed to know the truth. I had to face this head-on. I had run from New York when Shriek's darkness had corrupted my mind. I had run from New York when Gwen was killed. I had run from home after home, evading my abusive father when I was a little girl. I was so tired of running.

"Harry," One minute I was sobbing in Harry's embrace, the next minute I had staunched my tears and was breaking free from his grasp. "Take me there." I stood and stared down at him as he kneeled on the city sidewalk, a wide-eyed look of bewilderment etched upon his face.

"Where?"

"Ravencroft." As soon as I uttered the words, Harry was shaking his head. But it didn't matter - I was going there, with or without him. "Either you take me there and get me inside or," The beast was rattling its chains and when I spoke, I spoke heated words through clenched teeth. "I'll find my own way."

He didn't move. I watched as his eyes swept over me without seeing me, calculating his options. With a defeated sigh, he shrugged his shoulders then stood.

"Alright, let's go." His face looked weary when he smiled at me. "I'm not going to let you face that beast by yourself.

The ride to Ravencroft was a blur. I sat in the seat of the taxi cab, pressed against the window and as far from Harry as I could be. I watched building after building pass by. Soon, the buildings became smaller and fewer, with more space between them. When the buildings became townhouses and the townhouses became trees, and the trees became a forest, I began to grow nervous. I turned to look at Harry, anxiety furrowing my brow into a thin line. He was staring out of the window, his brow furling and unfurling, and when he felt my eyes staring into him, he turned to face me.

"We're almost there." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped the screen a couple times then lifted the phone to his ear. After a moment, he began to speak. "I'm two minutes out. Unlock the gates and ready patient number 008937 for visitation."

I stared at him. Patient Number 008937? ...How could he have known that? I watched him as he dropped the phone from his ear and the screen went dark. He shoved it back into his pocket then stared back out of the window. I couldn't look away. My brain was swimming. It was the strangest sensation - a feeling like someone had opened my skull and was sticking both of their hands inside, jumbling up and spinning my brain with their fingers. I closed my eyes and willed the strange feeling to disappear. A few moments and the feeling began to fade, but when I opened my eyes, Harry looked different and I felt different. The feelings I once felt stirring within me whenever Spider-Man was near, were stirring in me now. I shook my head and tried to shake the very feelings out of me.

We were out of the woods, in a vast clearing, and in the middle of it was a compound larger than any I had ever seen. It was fully enclosed by a tall wall of an unknown material that shone like white marble in the sun. A mammoth mechanical gate creaked open and allowed us to enter. I stared out of the window with eyes wide in wonderment as we approached the daunting building that housed some of the nation's most dangerous criminals.

Once inside Ravencroft, we were led into a large, sterile room. In the middle of the room was a small metal table and two chairs. Harry nodded to the chair as he stood in the corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, his back leaning against the wall.

"Sit there. They'll bring him in."

My palms were sweating. The voices telling me to run had come back but where was the beast to silence them? It seemed as though even the beast had run away in fear. I pulled the chair from under the table and cringed when it squealed across the immaculate linoleum floor, the sound reverberating against the bare walls of the room. I sat down and waited. Across the table on the far wall, was a heavily secured door. Beside it stood an armed guard. I stared at this armed guard as he stared back at me. This went on for minutes until I broke away as I began to hear faint screaming coming from behind the door he stood beside. I perked up in my seat, leaning in to better hear the screams. They were getting closer. It was a man's voice and he was screaming in agony.

Suddenly, the screams stopped and the door flew open. In came Peter, his face bruised and broken, his torso and arms wrapped in thick chains, his body being dragged by two more armed guards. I stood from my seat so quickly my chair turned over. I remained standing until they had thrown him into the chair opposite to mine and forced him to sit upright. I was breathing heavily, my fists jammed into the tabletop, unable to speak or even think. It quickly became clear that Peter was heavily sedated. His eyelids were low over his brown, bloodshot eyes and he stared down at my fists, seemingly unable to lift his gaze.

When I spoke, it was such a low whisper that I hardly even heard it, "Why?"

He didn't speak.

Hastily, I reached down and righted my chair then sat down in it. I lowered my face to the tabletop where his gaze lingered.

"Why, Peter?"

His eyes were out of focus. He wasn't seeing me at all, and I wasn't sure he even knew I was here. I lifted my head from the table and stared at the opposite wall. I couldn't make him talk if he didn't want to talk, but I could say what I needed to.

"I remember the day Gwen met you. We had just moved into our apartment the week before. Classes had started at Empire State University and she came home after class on cloud nine." I stared at the wall and laughed as I remembered her smiling face. "She told me she had met a smart, handsome boy in her class but she wouldn't tell me anything else. And when she finally brought you home and I saw that it was you, I was so scared for her." I narrowed my eyes as I remembered first seeing Peter's face as he turned around from the couch to look at me in the living room of our old apartment. "I had thought you were a coward," The words caught in my throat but in the nick of time, the beast appeared and steeled my nerves before the tears could overwhelm me. "But in time, you gained my trust again and I thought that hey, maybe he'll be good for her. Maybe they'll be good for each other. You made her so happy - it made it easy for me to trust you." I ripped my gaze from the wall and stared at Peter as he stared blankly at the table. "Peter, you came into our lives and for the first time in my life, I let my guard down. I stopped trying to protect Gwen from you because I didn't think you were the enemy. But you lied to me!" I slammed my fist into the tabletop. "You lied to me and you killed her! You killed her, damnit!" I was crying. I was crying so hard. And I kept slamming my fist into the metal tabletop until my knuckles began to bleed. "I trusted you!" All of the pain and hurt I had held inside was pouring out of me. Where was the beast to stop it? Where was the beast to make me strong? "I TRUSTED YOU!" I screamed at him but he was just a shell. No one was home to hear my anguished screams. Harry's hand was on my shoulder. I was standing, screaming at Peter, and Harry was trying to pull me away. "She was my best friend and I trusted you with her!" I escaped Harry's grasp and ran back to the table to scream out even more of my hatred but he grabbed my shoulder and jerked me back to him. He was still holding onto my shoulder but he was squeezing it too tightly and I screamed out in pain as his fingers dug into the tender flesh.

What happened next caused the room to erupt into total chaos. I had screamed out in pain from Harry grabbing my shoulder too hard and suddenly, Peter was upon him. He broke through the chains and tossed them easily to the side. His hands were around Harry's throat - lifting him from the ground. His eyes flickered with rage.

"Don't..." He seethed between his clenched teeth, his chest heaving with rage, "Touch... her!"

This wasn't Peter. I watched in horror - there was a terrible darkness clouding his face. Harry gurgled as his airway was closed. His face was a deep plum color and if Peter's fingers closed any further around his neck, I knew I would hear the crunch of bone... but then, just as soon as it happened, it was all over again. The guards were on top of Peter, beating him into submission. He released Harry as more guards rushed into the room and joined the beating. I heard him scream and suddenly I found myself running into the melee. I fought against the throng to find him as he laid in fetal position on the ground, their boots and batons bashing into his bare skin. I heard the crackle of electricity as hundreds of volts were tazed into him. His body tensed with each wave of electricity. I tried to push the guards away from him but I was actually the one who ended up getting dragged away.

He was moving in and out of consciousness when the guards jerked him to his feet. I was still on the ground and as I watched him being taken away, I saw a stream of black liquid oozing from his nose. I knew exactly what it was - and it wasn't blood.

I was shocked into utter silence. Shriek possessed telepathic powers that allowed her to alter sound waves and memories. She could bend memories to her will, like Play Dough. A by-product of bending memories to her will was a viscous black liquid that would ooze out of the affected's nose. I had experienced this black liquid, and now Peter was experiencing it. There was something more to this story and if I could find Shriek, I knew I would find the answers.