All right, first I want to thank all of the people who have read and reviewed this fic, it has really helped boost my ego. Hehe, well, now there is a new post and in this one, there's a little more action and a little more evil.
Oh, and a special thanks to flying fishi, a friend of mine, who gave me the idea for Electra. Thanks a lot, PO! *grins*
I own nothing that has to do with the real Spider-man universe.
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Chapter Two
"Do you need anything else, John?" Mom called from downstairs. I picked up the box I was going through and looked down from the top of the stair case. It had been three years since the murder and things were just getting back to normal. Too bad I had to move out of the house that summer.
I was nineteen and starting college the next fall, so I was packing everything I owned in the house and some other things a month before I was going to move. Why so early do you ask? I really don't know. Maybe because I knew I would forget about it and start doing it at the last second. Maybe I just felt like I should go ahead and get it over with.
...or maybe I was hoping to get away as soon as possible.
Every night, I had trouble sleeping. The woman's insane laughter had haunted my dreams and I couldn't stand it any longer. I thought it was just the house and that as soon as I was out of it, it would go away. But, of course, that wasn't going to happen.
"No, Mom. I got everything. I just need to go through the closets," I called back and grinned as I watched her put her hands on her hips, looking like an older version of my sister when she was going to tell me not to do something.
Yes, I was smiling again. It took time, but I eventually went back to the way I used to be. Almost. I still idn't tell a many jokes or annoy my sister as much as I used to, but I smiled more often and I became more open, though I told no one, except Melissa, what had happened that day.
"Just remember not to go through the closet in my room," she told me sternly. I nodded and then turned to go to my room. I guess if I would have kept going, I wouldn't be what I am now. Too bad my curiosity got the better of me.
My mom and dad had never let Melissa and me go through their closet. I didn't know why then, so I figured it wouldn't hurt just to look. So that was how I found it.
I crept into the bedroom, hoping that neither Mom nor my sister noticed that I had went in there. I hadn't been in that bedroom since I was thirtheen, I think. And it was pretty much the same as it had been then...except none of Dad's things were in there. Mom had boxed up all his belongings and had put them somewhere. The closet maybe?
I began to slowly go to the closet, putting down the small box I had been holding. I froze when I heard my sister's door open, but she was just going to the bathroom, it seemed, so I kept moving.
I was laughing at myself, because it felt like this was something out of Mission Impossible. At that thought, I began to hum the theme to the movie. (If you're thinking I'm making this up, get a lie detector and try it on me)
It took mere seconds to reach the closet I had been forbidden to go into. The door of the closet had a full size mirror and, for a moment, I stared at my reflection.
My mom had always told me that I was like a younger version of Dad with an even more witty sense of humor, but I had never believed her. When I was standing in front of the mirror, however, I could almost believe that it was dad standing in front of me instead of my reflection.
I quickly looked away as the sound of Electra's voice came into my mind and grabbed the doorknob to the door. As soon as I opened it, the sound of her twisted laughter died away and I sighed in relief.
It seemed that whenever I thought about Dad, about that last day, I would heard the insane woman's laughter mocking me, trying to get me to break down. But I wasn't going to let some ghost beat me, even if she was still alive somewhere; I wasn't going to break down just because of some stupid voice in my head.
Didn't I say things used to be simple?
When I opened the closet, I had thought there would have been a little more junk but instead there were some of Mom's clothes and a bunch of boxes and bags on the shelf above the clothes. Taking my mind off of what I had been thinking earlier, I continued to investigate the closet.
There was a suspicious looking shoe box, so I decided to go after it first...only problem was that it was under a stack of bags. Well, this is going to be fun, I thought to myself as I took hold of the old box.
Shouldn't have done that.
All the bags that were on top of the box fell on top of me and I was knocked onto the ground by the weight of it all. I groaned and shoved them all off of me, but as I was sitting up I noticed that one bag on top of the box hadn't fallen off and I knew I'd have to move it before I could get to the box. It looked like a big and heavy bag.
When I got myself up and looked at it more closely, I realized that it wasn't big at all and easily picked it up. As I picked it up though, something small fell off and onto the ground and I looked to see what it was.
A small spider that had it's legs curled up in a position that would suggest death. I took a step back, not because I was afraid of spiders or anything, but because I had just thought of something.
The spider in the web on my dad's headstone.
The one on the grave wasn't like the one on the floor, however, but it did make me wonder about it. Why was it on the marble in the first place? And why hadn't I thought about it until then?
Thinking the bag, rather than the box, could shed some light on the question, I kept it in my hand and walked out of the closet, forgetting to fix up the bags that had fallen. I closed the door and then headed on my way out of the room, remembering to take with me the small box I had put down before reaching the closet.
I carefully left the room and headed to my own, hoping to look at it as soon I got in, but it turned out that I would have to wait a while. Mom called for Melissa and I to come down and eat lunch, while I blew a fristrated sigh.
Figuring I would get a chance to look at bag later, I quickly tossed into my room and shut the door before going downstairs. When I was on the third to the last step, I saw Melissa looking at me funny.
I gave her an equally funny look and asked, "What?"
She shook her head and went on into the kitchen, leaving me to wonder if she had known that I had gone into Mom's room. If she did, then most likely she wouldn't tell, because I still knew some blackmail I could use on her.
Like how Mom's car got that dent in the passenger's door last week.
Lunch didn't turn out how I had hoped. I found out that I had been covered in dust by the falling bags in Mom's room, which I remembered with dread that I hadn't put them back up, by my mom asking me why I was so dirty. Of course, I didn't confess right there and then (not yet) because I came up with an excuse.
"I was cleaning my closet. I knew I should have cleaned it up sooner," I lied to her with a believeable tone and expression. "A lot of junk fell out and knocked me over."
Of course, I got lectured for letting it get that bad. That was just how Mom was. When you did something right you got praised and then got told off for doing something wrong, which my dad had found entirely humorous.
There was that laughter again.
That musical melody of twisted evil and demon songs played through my head, only this time much worse. My head started pounding and I had to excuse myself from the table, which gained me two worried glances from my mother and sister.
I went up to the bathroom, clutching the side of my head as the pain began to blossom, but once I reached it, I was barely standing.
There was something wrong with me, but I couldn't figure it out with that retched voice taunting me and actually speaking.
Come out. Come out and play, Young One, the voice taunted and I groaned as it felt like someone had slammed my head into a brick wall. I think that was when my nose started to bleed.
I wiped at the blood, trying to clear my head and figure out what was wrong, but I wasn't successful and the voice continued it's sing-song talking. You're trying to fight me, Young One? You're very humorous, indeed.
I shook my head, wondering if I were going crazy, as I gripped the sink. I grabbed some tissue with a shaking hand to use to stop my nose from bleeding, but as I did that, I looked into the mirror and instead of seeing my own refelction, I saw her.
I dropped the tissue and jumped backwards as she cackled evilly at me.
I couldn't stand it any longer. It was all so confusing and painful, that I wasn't thinking straight so I began to yell, "Stop it! Go away!"
She continued to laughed at me, twirling a piece of metal tauntingly, as I heard Mom call up, "John? John, are you all right?"
I was going to call back that I wasn't okay, that I was going crazy, but Electra gained my attention by pointing her weapon at me.
You have a date to keep, Young One. Do not disappoint m-- It was then that I punched the mirror, shattering it. She had left right before I had though, and so had the pain in my head.
I stood there panting for a moment, letting the blood from my nose fall down my chin and onto the floor, when both Mom and Melissa ran into the small room. Mom covered her face and stared in horror, while Melissa's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
Not knowing what they were staring at, I followed their line of vision and was met with the sight of my fist, covered in blood and with a few shards of the broken mirror stuck into it. Feeling suddenly dizzy, I quickly turned toward the bath tub and proceeded to empty my stomach of its contents.
As soon as I was done, I used my shaky, uninjured hand to wipe off anything hat hd gotten onto my faceand then looked back to the doorway, where only Melissa was standing. But then I looked down at the broken mirror and saw some of the blood from my fist and promptly pass out cold.
I woke up later with a major headache and a dull pain in my right hand, not really remembering what had happened. But as soon as I opened my eyes, I realized what had happened and groaned. I felt the bed I was on shift and looked over to my left side, saw Melissa, and groaned again. I had never told her about hearing voices, so this was going to bequite a story to tell.
"Did I pass out?" I asked, slurring a bit because of the headache I felt. Melissa eyed me evenly before nodding and I groaned again. I had never passed out, excpet twice--this time and the time when Electra had killed Dad.
"John," I looked over to her and I could see that she had been crying again. She seemed to have been doing a lot of that lately. "What happened?" she asked, with a large frown on her face.
I looked over to my injured hand and relaxed a bit, shaking my head. "You're not going to believe me when I tell you," I answered.
Melissa sat back on the bed again and told me in a soft voice, "Mom's been real worried, I mean, the whole mirror was shattered--" I tried to turn my head away, but she grabbed it before I could look away. "--completely shattered, John. Mom was in total tears when she saw that you had passed out. What happened, John?"
I tried to advoid looking her in the eyes, but as soon as I noticed that she had started crying again, I couldn't help but look. And I caved in as soon as I did. I didn't want to tell her, I didn't want her to think her older brother was crazy, but I couldn't keep it in.
"It was her," I started, closing my eyes to keep the stinging tears at bay. "I-I hear her sometimes, when I think about Dad and today...I-I saw her...in the mirror. Sh-she was taunting me with that metal weapon she had used on Dad. I-I couldn't think of any other way of stopping her...my head was pounding, I couldn't think straight...I--" I opened my eyes then and felt a tear fall down the side of my face. "--oh, God, Mel, I'm going nuts."
Melissa's eyes widened at this and I thought for sure she thought I was going crazy, but instead she made me sit up and hugged me, careful of my hand. I didn't want to cry and I didn't, but I did hug her back and have a few tears fall.
"Why haven't you told me about this?" she asked after a moment and I pulled away from the hug and looked her in the eye, making sure she would understand what I was going to say.
"I didn't tell you, because, one: I didn't want to you to think I was crazy, and two: I am not going to put all this on you. Their my ghosts to face and if I go insane because of them, then so be it, but I don't want my little sister to fall with me. Do you understand?" I said, watching her closely.
She looked as if she wanted to agrue, but didn't because of what I had said and nodded. I nodded with her. "Good. Now, go tell Mom I'm all right and don't tell her any of this. I don't want her to worry about me."
"Too late for that," she told me with a small smile. I grinned a bit too, but it was a half-hearted one.
"Yeah, and I'm going to have to think of a good lie to cover it," I replied, looking at my hand. Melissa put her hand on my shoulder and I turned back to her.
"Just rest, okay. Don't even bother to think of one. I think I have an idea. And while I tell Mom, you read something or something. Take your mind off of her," she told me and then stood up and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Was I really going insane? Or had everything I heard and saw been real?
A week later I was able to use my hand again and then the week after that it was almost healed all the way. I also never found out what Melissa had told Mom and always got uncomfortable whenever she would give me a look that I couldn't describe.
I also never looked in the bag and neither Mom nor Melissa notice it in my room. They probably thought it was dirty clothes (heh, now there's a laugh) or something. I had even forgot about it, mistakening it for something that had been there for a long time.
It wasn't until the third week after I had shattered the mirror, that I remembered the bag. I had stepped on it one day and felt something hurt my foot. I hopped on one foot, while I checked too see I had cut my foot on something, but unfortunately, I fell over and that's when I spot it again.
The dark bag, a garbage bag really, had several knots as if the person who had tied it up, Mom most likely, hadn't wanted whatever was in it to come out again. Curiosity grabbed hold of me once again and I sat up and grabbed the bag with my left hand since I was used to using it while my right was healing.
I made sure the door was closed and then tried to open the bag, failing because of how many there were and how tight they had been tied. So, thinking there was no other way of opening it, I ripped the top open a bit and peered inside.
Blue cloth.
"Just clothes," I said with a slight laugh as I stood up. I looked again in the bag before shaking my head and tossing it over on the other side of my bed, where no one standing in the doorway could see it if they came in. Laughing some more, I left my room to go and get some dinner.
Of course, if I had looked a little deeper in the bag, I would have seen that it was attached to some red and that there was two eyes peering curiously through the hole in the bag. And if I would have turned back then, I would have seen what those eyes and colors were.
After dinner, it was my turn to do the dishes, so I began to to fill up the sink with water, we didn't have a dishwasher, and hum a song I had heard off of a movie. This would be one of my last chores in a while, since I was moving into an apartment I had rented in a week, so I was actually happy for once to do something.
I soon found out that it wasn't as happy of a task as I would have liked.
When the water was filling up, I heard something. A whisper. Turning around to the door to the living room, I looked for the person who was whispering, but saw no one.
"Mom? Melissa?" Neither answered. I shrugged a bit, but my heart was beating faster with slight fear. It couldn't be her. It couldn't be because I wasn't think about that day, I wasn't thinking about it at all.
"Young One," I heard near my ear. I spun around, with a butterknife in my hand, but still saw nothing. I was beginning to sweat now. Why was this happening? It didn't make any sense.
"Where are you?" I demanded, knowing that Mom and Melissa wouldn't here me, since they were out of the house at the moment. Getting ready to go to the store to pick up some dessert we had been wanting.
I heard laughter, her laughter, and turned toward the living room doorway and dropped the knife, gasping in horror. It was her. Electra was standing right there, in between the living room and kitchen, a cruel smile on her lips.
I backed away immediately, knocking into the counter and knocking over some cups and bowls, while she continued to smile. My eyes went wider as she came into the kitchen in smooth strides, carefully taking her time.
"My, my, my, Young One, how you have grown. I suppose 'Young One' is an inappropriate term now, isn't it?" she said in a false sweet, sing-song voice.
I took a few deep breaths before grabbing hold of something. A large carving knife. I held it in front of me and gave her a not-so-strong scowl. "Get away from me, you demon witch," I told her, which cause her to laugh that horrible laugh.
"Oh, no need to worry, Parker," I winced as I remembered how she had called Dad that before killing him. "I will not kill you yet. I still want my fight. I am only coming by to say how happy I am that you're finally finding what your father was all about."
I was puzzled for about helf a second, but then I threw it aside and held the knife higher. "I am in no mood for riddles. Either go away or I'll--" Suddenly the knife was ripped from my hand and sailed over to Electra, who caught it with ease.
"Hm," she said with a pur before she brought the knife to her face.
"Quite a poor weapon for you to try to harm me with. You're father learned that the hard way," she finished and then, before I understood why, I leaned to the right. Then I stared in horror and surprise as the knife was now stuck into the wall...right where I had been just seconds ago.
The look of horror still on my face, I looked up at her again and saw her grin with evil delight.
"Ah, faster than your father was, I think." I think my face went completely white with that comment, I'm not sure, but she continued to laugh wickedly.
"Perhaps I did the right thing. A fight against you then would have surely been no fun at all. But soon, I'm sure it will be a grand fight," she purred, walking closer. I moved to the side away from the knife and backed up until I hit a wall, but she kept coming and I kept trying to back up.
Then, for no reason at all, she grinned even more widely and I became afraid that I had done something to make her happy. I looked around me and began to panic when I saw that I was no longer on the ground...but on the wall!
She spun around and clapped her hands together in insane happiness, while I freaked out about climbing on the wall. What the hell was going on with me!
"Oh, yes! This is even better than I would have thought!" she laughed in her musical voice.
Too scared to think straight, I began to think that she was the one who was causing all of this and yelled, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!"
She froze at that, her smile falling flat off, and her face became dark. "Listen, Parker, I have caused nothing to have given you such powers. I loathed the one who gave them to you, for reasons for my own knowledge."
Now it was my turn to freeze.
What was she saying? part of me thought, while the other answered, What do you think she was saying?
"What are you saying?" I managed to say in a small voice. She regained her giddy, yet insane grin, as she danced in front of me. I climbed a little higher on the wall, hoping that will keep her from attacking me.
"You, my dear boy," she said, putting a finger on my foot, which was in a tennis shoe. "Are quite a laugh. Do you mean to tell me that you have not thought of the possibility that you may have inherited these odd abilities? Dodging fast object, climbing walls...seems familiar, doesn't it?"
I suddenly felt sick. She wasn't saying what I thought she was saying, was she? It wasn't possible. Not possible at all. She was making it all up.
Somehow, though, deep inside I knew it was true. She wasn't just telling me a far-fetched story and this was no dream.
"No," I objected, shaking my head. "No, no, that's not true!"
She just smiled up at me, with an almost-innocent look on her face. "Why do you think I would lie? Why else did I go after Peter Parker? He's alter-personality was becoming such a nuisance that I had to find a way to get ride of him," she brightened some more. "And I did, finding another food fighter in the process."
I continued to shake my head though. I closed my eyes, hoping that it would make her disappear. When I opened them, she was gone. I looked over the room, trying to see if it was a trick and only then did I notice that someone was opening the front door.
I was in too much shock to remember I was still on the wall, so that's where I was when the door opened and Mom walked in. She saw me in the kitchen, on the wall, gasped, and told Melissa to do something outside.
I watched all this with only partial attention and only looked directly at my mother when she was standing in the doorway. She had her hands to her face and looked as if she was going to burst into tears.
So it was true...all of it.
"Is it true?" I asked, not remembering that she hadn't been here, but she seemed to understand what I was asking.
"John--" she began to say and came forward a bit, but stopped when I climbed a little higher.
"Why didn't you tell me! Why didn't you say anything!" I demanded, upset that Mom hadn't said anything about Dad being able to do any of this, upset that I was a freak. Mom just shook her head and brought her hands down from her mouth.
"We didn't want to hurt you or Melissa, John. We didn't want anyone else to have to go tthrough all of that--"
"Then why is she coming after me!" I yelled, while both she and I began to get tears in our eyes.
"I don't know! She appeared out of know where--" she tried again to get closer, but again I moved higher on the wall. "John..."
"Just leave me alone! Don't come near me or talk to me!" I shouted and jumped to the ground, running out the back door. I needed to get away from it all. All the lies, the half-truths. Why did everything have to be this way?
I heard Mom call my name, but I didn't listen. I ran around the house, into the front yard to get to my car. I saw Melissa there with a scared look on her face and tried to avoid her, but she ran into my path and stopped me from passing.
"Move, Melissa," I yelled, but she didn't budge.
"John, what's on Earth--" she tried to ask as she put a hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner, but I slapped her hand off me as if I thought if she touched me, she'd be cursed with whatever curse I had.
It just looked to her like I hated her. "Don't touch me," I told her with a more controlled voice. "Just let me go."
And she did. She moved aside and I marched to my car and got in it just as Mom came out of the house. I started the motor and pulled out of the driveway as Mom began yelling my name. I ignored it all, not thinking straight, and drove off.
I needed time to think. Time to sort things out...but what I didn't know was that I didn't have much time left to think.
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All right, I finish this fic tweny-seven minutes before my curfew. Isn't that just great timing? *grins again* Well, I hope you all have liked your read and don't worry, there is more to come soon!
Oh, and a special thanks to flying fishi, a friend of mine, who gave me the idea for Electra. Thanks a lot, PO! *grins*
I own nothing that has to do with the real Spider-man universe.
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"Do you need anything else, John?" Mom called from downstairs. I picked up the box I was going through and looked down from the top of the stair case. It had been three years since the murder and things were just getting back to normal. Too bad I had to move out of the house that summer.
I was nineteen and starting college the next fall, so I was packing everything I owned in the house and some other things a month before I was going to move. Why so early do you ask? I really don't know. Maybe because I knew I would forget about it and start doing it at the last second. Maybe I just felt like I should go ahead and get it over with.
...or maybe I was hoping to get away as soon as possible.
Every night, I had trouble sleeping. The woman's insane laughter had haunted my dreams and I couldn't stand it any longer. I thought it was just the house and that as soon as I was out of it, it would go away. But, of course, that wasn't going to happen.
"No, Mom. I got everything. I just need to go through the closets," I called back and grinned as I watched her put her hands on her hips, looking like an older version of my sister when she was going to tell me not to do something.
Yes, I was smiling again. It took time, but I eventually went back to the way I used to be. Almost. I still idn't tell a many jokes or annoy my sister as much as I used to, but I smiled more often and I became more open, though I told no one, except Melissa, what had happened that day.
"Just remember not to go through the closet in my room," she told me sternly. I nodded and then turned to go to my room. I guess if I would have kept going, I wouldn't be what I am now. Too bad my curiosity got the better of me.
My mom and dad had never let Melissa and me go through their closet. I didn't know why then, so I figured it wouldn't hurt just to look. So that was how I found it.
I crept into the bedroom, hoping that neither Mom nor my sister noticed that I had went in there. I hadn't been in that bedroom since I was thirtheen, I think. And it was pretty much the same as it had been then...except none of Dad's things were in there. Mom had boxed up all his belongings and had put them somewhere. The closet maybe?
I began to slowly go to the closet, putting down the small box I had been holding. I froze when I heard my sister's door open, but she was just going to the bathroom, it seemed, so I kept moving.
I was laughing at myself, because it felt like this was something out of Mission Impossible. At that thought, I began to hum the theme to the movie. (If you're thinking I'm making this up, get a lie detector and try it on me)
It took mere seconds to reach the closet I had been forbidden to go into. The door of the closet had a full size mirror and, for a moment, I stared at my reflection.
My mom had always told me that I was like a younger version of Dad with an even more witty sense of humor, but I had never believed her. When I was standing in front of the mirror, however, I could almost believe that it was dad standing in front of me instead of my reflection.
I quickly looked away as the sound of Electra's voice came into my mind and grabbed the doorknob to the door. As soon as I opened it, the sound of her twisted laughter died away and I sighed in relief.
It seemed that whenever I thought about Dad, about that last day, I would heard the insane woman's laughter mocking me, trying to get me to break down. But I wasn't going to let some ghost beat me, even if she was still alive somewhere; I wasn't going to break down just because of some stupid voice in my head.
Didn't I say things used to be simple?
When I opened the closet, I had thought there would have been a little more junk but instead there were some of Mom's clothes and a bunch of boxes and bags on the shelf above the clothes. Taking my mind off of what I had been thinking earlier, I continued to investigate the closet.
There was a suspicious looking shoe box, so I decided to go after it first...only problem was that it was under a stack of bags. Well, this is going to be fun, I thought to myself as I took hold of the old box.
Shouldn't have done that.
All the bags that were on top of the box fell on top of me and I was knocked onto the ground by the weight of it all. I groaned and shoved them all off of me, but as I was sitting up I noticed that one bag on top of the box hadn't fallen off and I knew I'd have to move it before I could get to the box. It looked like a big and heavy bag.
When I got myself up and looked at it more closely, I realized that it wasn't big at all and easily picked it up. As I picked it up though, something small fell off and onto the ground and I looked to see what it was.
A small spider that had it's legs curled up in a position that would suggest death. I took a step back, not because I was afraid of spiders or anything, but because I had just thought of something.
The spider in the web on my dad's headstone.
The one on the grave wasn't like the one on the floor, however, but it did make me wonder about it. Why was it on the marble in the first place? And why hadn't I thought about it until then?
Thinking the bag, rather than the box, could shed some light on the question, I kept it in my hand and walked out of the closet, forgetting to fix up the bags that had fallen. I closed the door and then headed on my way out of the room, remembering to take with me the small box I had put down before reaching the closet.
I carefully left the room and headed to my own, hoping to look at it as soon I got in, but it turned out that I would have to wait a while. Mom called for Melissa and I to come down and eat lunch, while I blew a fristrated sigh.
Figuring I would get a chance to look at bag later, I quickly tossed into my room and shut the door before going downstairs. When I was on the third to the last step, I saw Melissa looking at me funny.
I gave her an equally funny look and asked, "What?"
She shook her head and went on into the kitchen, leaving me to wonder if she had known that I had gone into Mom's room. If she did, then most likely she wouldn't tell, because I still knew some blackmail I could use on her.
Like how Mom's car got that dent in the passenger's door last week.
Lunch didn't turn out how I had hoped. I found out that I had been covered in dust by the falling bags in Mom's room, which I remembered with dread that I hadn't put them back up, by my mom asking me why I was so dirty. Of course, I didn't confess right there and then (not yet) because I came up with an excuse.
"I was cleaning my closet. I knew I should have cleaned it up sooner," I lied to her with a believeable tone and expression. "A lot of junk fell out and knocked me over."
Of course, I got lectured for letting it get that bad. That was just how Mom was. When you did something right you got praised and then got told off for doing something wrong, which my dad had found entirely humorous.
There was that laughter again.
That musical melody of twisted evil and demon songs played through my head, only this time much worse. My head started pounding and I had to excuse myself from the table, which gained me two worried glances from my mother and sister.
I went up to the bathroom, clutching the side of my head as the pain began to blossom, but once I reached it, I was barely standing.
There was something wrong with me, but I couldn't figure it out with that retched voice taunting me and actually speaking.
Come out. Come out and play, Young One, the voice taunted and I groaned as it felt like someone had slammed my head into a brick wall. I think that was when my nose started to bleed.
I wiped at the blood, trying to clear my head and figure out what was wrong, but I wasn't successful and the voice continued it's sing-song talking. You're trying to fight me, Young One? You're very humorous, indeed.
I shook my head, wondering if I were going crazy, as I gripped the sink. I grabbed some tissue with a shaking hand to use to stop my nose from bleeding, but as I did that, I looked into the mirror and instead of seeing my own refelction, I saw her.
I dropped the tissue and jumped backwards as she cackled evilly at me.
I couldn't stand it any longer. It was all so confusing and painful, that I wasn't thinking straight so I began to yell, "Stop it! Go away!"
She continued to laughed at me, twirling a piece of metal tauntingly, as I heard Mom call up, "John? John, are you all right?"
I was going to call back that I wasn't okay, that I was going crazy, but Electra gained my attention by pointing her weapon at me.
You have a date to keep, Young One. Do not disappoint m-- It was then that I punched the mirror, shattering it. She had left right before I had though, and so had the pain in my head.
I stood there panting for a moment, letting the blood from my nose fall down my chin and onto the floor, when both Mom and Melissa ran into the small room. Mom covered her face and stared in horror, while Melissa's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
Not knowing what they were staring at, I followed their line of vision and was met with the sight of my fist, covered in blood and with a few shards of the broken mirror stuck into it. Feeling suddenly dizzy, I quickly turned toward the bath tub and proceeded to empty my stomach of its contents.
As soon as I was done, I used my shaky, uninjured hand to wipe off anything hat hd gotten onto my faceand then looked back to the doorway, where only Melissa was standing. But then I looked down at the broken mirror and saw some of the blood from my fist and promptly pass out cold.
I woke up later with a major headache and a dull pain in my right hand, not really remembering what had happened. But as soon as I opened my eyes, I realized what had happened and groaned. I felt the bed I was on shift and looked over to my left side, saw Melissa, and groaned again. I had never told her about hearing voices, so this was going to bequite a story to tell.
"Did I pass out?" I asked, slurring a bit because of the headache I felt. Melissa eyed me evenly before nodding and I groaned again. I had never passed out, excpet twice--this time and the time when Electra had killed Dad.
"John," I looked over to her and I could see that she had been crying again. She seemed to have been doing a lot of that lately. "What happened?" she asked, with a large frown on her face.
I looked over to my injured hand and relaxed a bit, shaking my head. "You're not going to believe me when I tell you," I answered.
Melissa sat back on the bed again and told me in a soft voice, "Mom's been real worried, I mean, the whole mirror was shattered--" I tried to turn my head away, but she grabbed it before I could look away. "--completely shattered, John. Mom was in total tears when she saw that you had passed out. What happened, John?"
I tried to advoid looking her in the eyes, but as soon as I noticed that she had started crying again, I couldn't help but look. And I caved in as soon as I did. I didn't want to tell her, I didn't want her to think her older brother was crazy, but I couldn't keep it in.
"It was her," I started, closing my eyes to keep the stinging tears at bay. "I-I hear her sometimes, when I think about Dad and today...I-I saw her...in the mirror. Sh-she was taunting me with that metal weapon she had used on Dad. I-I couldn't think of any other way of stopping her...my head was pounding, I couldn't think straight...I--" I opened my eyes then and felt a tear fall down the side of my face. "--oh, God, Mel, I'm going nuts."
Melissa's eyes widened at this and I thought for sure she thought I was going crazy, but instead she made me sit up and hugged me, careful of my hand. I didn't want to cry and I didn't, but I did hug her back and have a few tears fall.
"Why haven't you told me about this?" she asked after a moment and I pulled away from the hug and looked her in the eye, making sure she would understand what I was going to say.
"I didn't tell you, because, one: I didn't want to you to think I was crazy, and two: I am not going to put all this on you. Their my ghosts to face and if I go insane because of them, then so be it, but I don't want my little sister to fall with me. Do you understand?" I said, watching her closely.
She looked as if she wanted to agrue, but didn't because of what I had said and nodded. I nodded with her. "Good. Now, go tell Mom I'm all right and don't tell her any of this. I don't want her to worry about me."
"Too late for that," she told me with a small smile. I grinned a bit too, but it was a half-hearted one.
"Yeah, and I'm going to have to think of a good lie to cover it," I replied, looking at my hand. Melissa put her hand on my shoulder and I turned back to her.
"Just rest, okay. Don't even bother to think of one. I think I have an idea. And while I tell Mom, you read something or something. Take your mind off of her," she told me and then stood up and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Was I really going insane? Or had everything I heard and saw been real?
A week later I was able to use my hand again and then the week after that it was almost healed all the way. I also never found out what Melissa had told Mom and always got uncomfortable whenever she would give me a look that I couldn't describe.
I also never looked in the bag and neither Mom nor Melissa notice it in my room. They probably thought it was dirty clothes (heh, now there's a laugh) or something. I had even forgot about it, mistakening it for something that had been there for a long time.
It wasn't until the third week after I had shattered the mirror, that I remembered the bag. I had stepped on it one day and felt something hurt my foot. I hopped on one foot, while I checked too see I had cut my foot on something, but unfortunately, I fell over and that's when I spot it again.
The dark bag, a garbage bag really, had several knots as if the person who had tied it up, Mom most likely, hadn't wanted whatever was in it to come out again. Curiosity grabbed hold of me once again and I sat up and grabbed the bag with my left hand since I was used to using it while my right was healing.
I made sure the door was closed and then tried to open the bag, failing because of how many there were and how tight they had been tied. So, thinking there was no other way of opening it, I ripped the top open a bit and peered inside.
Blue cloth.
"Just clothes," I said with a slight laugh as I stood up. I looked again in the bag before shaking my head and tossing it over on the other side of my bed, where no one standing in the doorway could see it if they came in. Laughing some more, I left my room to go and get some dinner.
Of course, if I had looked a little deeper in the bag, I would have seen that it was attached to some red and that there was two eyes peering curiously through the hole in the bag. And if I would have turned back then, I would have seen what those eyes and colors were.
After dinner, it was my turn to do the dishes, so I began to to fill up the sink with water, we didn't have a dishwasher, and hum a song I had heard off of a movie. This would be one of my last chores in a while, since I was moving into an apartment I had rented in a week, so I was actually happy for once to do something.
I soon found out that it wasn't as happy of a task as I would have liked.
When the water was filling up, I heard something. A whisper. Turning around to the door to the living room, I looked for the person who was whispering, but saw no one.
"Mom? Melissa?" Neither answered. I shrugged a bit, but my heart was beating faster with slight fear. It couldn't be her. It couldn't be because I wasn't think about that day, I wasn't thinking about it at all.
"Young One," I heard near my ear. I spun around, with a butterknife in my hand, but still saw nothing. I was beginning to sweat now. Why was this happening? It didn't make any sense.
"Where are you?" I demanded, knowing that Mom and Melissa wouldn't here me, since they were out of the house at the moment. Getting ready to go to the store to pick up some dessert we had been wanting.
I heard laughter, her laughter, and turned toward the living room doorway and dropped the knife, gasping in horror. It was her. Electra was standing right there, in between the living room and kitchen, a cruel smile on her lips.
I backed away immediately, knocking into the counter and knocking over some cups and bowls, while she continued to smile. My eyes went wider as she came into the kitchen in smooth strides, carefully taking her time.
"My, my, my, Young One, how you have grown. I suppose 'Young One' is an inappropriate term now, isn't it?" she said in a false sweet, sing-song voice.
I took a few deep breaths before grabbing hold of something. A large carving knife. I held it in front of me and gave her a not-so-strong scowl. "Get away from me, you demon witch," I told her, which cause her to laugh that horrible laugh.
"Oh, no need to worry, Parker," I winced as I remembered how she had called Dad that before killing him. "I will not kill you yet. I still want my fight. I am only coming by to say how happy I am that you're finally finding what your father was all about."
I was puzzled for about helf a second, but then I threw it aside and held the knife higher. "I am in no mood for riddles. Either go away or I'll--" Suddenly the knife was ripped from my hand and sailed over to Electra, who caught it with ease.
"Hm," she said with a pur before she brought the knife to her face.
"Quite a poor weapon for you to try to harm me with. You're father learned that the hard way," she finished and then, before I understood why, I leaned to the right. Then I stared in horror and surprise as the knife was now stuck into the wall...right where I had been just seconds ago.
The look of horror still on my face, I looked up at her again and saw her grin with evil delight.
"Ah, faster than your father was, I think." I think my face went completely white with that comment, I'm not sure, but she continued to laugh wickedly.
"Perhaps I did the right thing. A fight against you then would have surely been no fun at all. But soon, I'm sure it will be a grand fight," she purred, walking closer. I moved to the side away from the knife and backed up until I hit a wall, but she kept coming and I kept trying to back up.
Then, for no reason at all, she grinned even more widely and I became afraid that I had done something to make her happy. I looked around me and began to panic when I saw that I was no longer on the ground...but on the wall!
She spun around and clapped her hands together in insane happiness, while I freaked out about climbing on the wall. What the hell was going on with me!
"Oh, yes! This is even better than I would have thought!" she laughed in her musical voice.
Too scared to think straight, I began to think that she was the one who was causing all of this and yelled, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!"
She froze at that, her smile falling flat off, and her face became dark. "Listen, Parker, I have caused nothing to have given you such powers. I loathed the one who gave them to you, for reasons for my own knowledge."
Now it was my turn to freeze.
What was she saying? part of me thought, while the other answered, What do you think she was saying?
"What are you saying?" I managed to say in a small voice. She regained her giddy, yet insane grin, as she danced in front of me. I climbed a little higher on the wall, hoping that will keep her from attacking me.
"You, my dear boy," she said, putting a finger on my foot, which was in a tennis shoe. "Are quite a laugh. Do you mean to tell me that you have not thought of the possibility that you may have inherited these odd abilities? Dodging fast object, climbing walls...seems familiar, doesn't it?"
I suddenly felt sick. She wasn't saying what I thought she was saying, was she? It wasn't possible. Not possible at all. She was making it all up.
Somehow, though, deep inside I knew it was true. She wasn't just telling me a far-fetched story and this was no dream.
"No," I objected, shaking my head. "No, no, that's not true!"
She just smiled up at me, with an almost-innocent look on her face. "Why do you think I would lie? Why else did I go after Peter Parker? He's alter-personality was becoming such a nuisance that I had to find a way to get ride of him," she brightened some more. "And I did, finding another food fighter in the process."
I continued to shake my head though. I closed my eyes, hoping that it would make her disappear. When I opened them, she was gone. I looked over the room, trying to see if it was a trick and only then did I notice that someone was opening the front door.
I was in too much shock to remember I was still on the wall, so that's where I was when the door opened and Mom walked in. She saw me in the kitchen, on the wall, gasped, and told Melissa to do something outside.
I watched all this with only partial attention and only looked directly at my mother when she was standing in the doorway. She had her hands to her face and looked as if she was going to burst into tears.
So it was true...all of it.
"Is it true?" I asked, not remembering that she hadn't been here, but she seemed to understand what I was asking.
"John--" she began to say and came forward a bit, but stopped when I climbed a little higher.
"Why didn't you tell me! Why didn't you say anything!" I demanded, upset that Mom hadn't said anything about Dad being able to do any of this, upset that I was a freak. Mom just shook her head and brought her hands down from her mouth.
"We didn't want to hurt you or Melissa, John. We didn't want anyone else to have to go tthrough all of that--"
"Then why is she coming after me!" I yelled, while both she and I began to get tears in our eyes.
"I don't know! She appeared out of know where--" she tried again to get closer, but again I moved higher on the wall. "John..."
"Just leave me alone! Don't come near me or talk to me!" I shouted and jumped to the ground, running out the back door. I needed to get away from it all. All the lies, the half-truths. Why did everything have to be this way?
I heard Mom call my name, but I didn't listen. I ran around the house, into the front yard to get to my car. I saw Melissa there with a scared look on her face and tried to avoid her, but she ran into my path and stopped me from passing.
"Move, Melissa," I yelled, but she didn't budge.
"John, what's on Earth--" she tried to ask as she put a hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner, but I slapped her hand off me as if I thought if she touched me, she'd be cursed with whatever curse I had.
It just looked to her like I hated her. "Don't touch me," I told her with a more controlled voice. "Just let me go."
And she did. She moved aside and I marched to my car and got in it just as Mom came out of the house. I started the motor and pulled out of the driveway as Mom began yelling my name. I ignored it all, not thinking straight, and drove off.
I needed time to think. Time to sort things out...but what I didn't know was that I didn't have much time left to think.
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All right, I finish this fic tweny-seven minutes before my curfew. Isn't that just great timing? *grins again* Well, I hope you all have liked your read and don't worry, there is more to come soon!