Screams in the Dark

Shego had never beaten Kim before. Shego almost beat Kim this time…

By the simple expedient of doing something Kim had never seen before, which was to run right at her, arms flailing, not even seeing her teenage nemesis, just someone between her and the outside.

"Let me go!" She screamed, eyes wide and unseeing, stealth and fighting forgotten. When Kim tried to stop her, shocked, she received a fist in the eye—and again, it landed because Kiom had been expecting to fight a trained martial artist…not a fear crazed madwoman. Shego kicked Kim in the solar plexus, causing her to fall back with a pained "whoof" as the mercenary headed for the door. Ron came out of a side entrance.

"Kim, I just had the w-SHEGO!" Ron fell on his ass, as Shego blazed past him on the way to the doors, and started frantically trying to open them. Kim and Ron followed her.

"Give it up, Shego." Kim wheezed. Shego turned around and Kim started at the look of terror on her face….then her eyes rolled up in their sockets and she passed out. Ron and Kim ran up to her.

"Whoa…KP…what did you do?"

"Nothing, Ron…she's… she's cold." Kim said, touching the woman's combat suit. There was mist rising off it, the warmer air of the museum against the chilly suit. "We'd better call the hospital."

"Not the police?"

"No. Hospital." Kim said. "Didn't you notice?"

"No. What?"

"Shego fainted because she couldn't open the door."

"Well, it was locked…"

"Ron… I didn't lock this door. Shego couldn't open it because it opens inward….and she was too scared to think of that."

"Maybe we should… search the museum to see what did it?" Ron said, reluctance in his voice. Normally Kim would be the first to…but the way her flashlight had died and…

"No. We need to get her to the hospital."

Several hours later, after calling the cops, calling Dr. Wilson, and waiting while Shego was delivered to the hospital—this time not in cuffs, but in a Straitjacket, the two teens sat in the waiting room. Kim rubbed her sore eye.

"Hi Kimmie. Don't rub that, you'll only make it worse." Kim looked up,

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

"Your fault, I'm afraid." Her mother sat down, "They called me in about Shego…since I'm chief neurosurgeon."

"Is…something wrong with her brain?" Ron asked, "Well, beyond being a super villain."

"Yes…." She paused, "And Dr. Drakken's emergency contact number isn't being answered. I guess he's on vacation." Kim blinked.

"You have a mad scientist's emergency contact number?"

"Kimmie—his lair is known to every salesman in Middleton—so I assume he didn't see any problem with the hospital knowing, either." Kim shook her head at that, but looked up as her mother continued. "But seeing as you two are the closest associates we're able to contact… come with me." The two followed Anne into the secure psychological ward, done up in neutral colors to try and avoid sparking any problems among the inhabitants.

"There's Shego." Ann said, pointing to a monitor. Kim blinked in shock. Shego was still in the straitjacket, hunched over against the wall, rocking back and forth.

"So cold, can't get warm, so cold, can't get warm, can't get away, looking at me, so cold, can't get warm, look at the eyes, big black eyes."

"And so on." Anne said, turning off the microphone. "We can't get anything coherent out of her… nothing at all." Kim gulped.

"Mom…what happened?" Anne paused, and looked over at Ron and her daughter.

"According to the chemical work up, there was a massive surge in frontal lobe activity…chemicals changed—she was halfway scared to death." The surgeon paused, "But normally that sort of activity doesn't have this outcome—the human mind is very flexible and resilient and I'd have to say Shego's should be among the most resilient—she's a mercenary, and has probably seen some unpleasant things…."

"And?" Ron asked.

"And it's almost like something that was completely out of her experience…or something like a phobia. When I was an intern, there was a case…not like this, but perhaps a little similar—a man had fallen through some rotted floorboards. He was phobic about rats…and well… they were in the basement."

"Did they…" Kim said, gulping.

"Hurt him? Not at all…but the hours he spent, looking at their eyes, looking at him…" Anne shook her head. "He had to spent years in therapy to recover."

"Do you think this will happen to Shego?"

"I don't know."

"Can I talk to her?"

"That might not…" Dr. Possible sighed, "On the other hand, she's shown no violent tendencies…so, yes." She paused, "But if she starts to get agitated, the conversations over, Kimberly. This is my business, and you need to do exactly what I say."

"OK, Mom." Kim and Ron walked in, with Anne behind them.

"Shego?" Kim asked. Shego didn't do anything, just kept rocking and repeating her monotone. "Shego?" She repeated, and Shego was looking up at her. Kim stepped back at her wide, staring, eyes, flicking back and forth from Kim to the walls to Ron, back to Kim and than to the walls again.

"You…"

"Yeah, you almost ran me down…."

"They want you…." Shego said. "They need you…."

"What?" Kim asked. "To do what?"

"To destroy….to burn…. So cold. So many eyes. Staring eyes. Empty holes in a skull…." Shego started rocking more. "They're mad at me….they want me to help too."

"Help what?"

"can't get away….so cold…so cold…deep water, so cold, bright stars….hear…..can't stop hearing…." Shego refused to say anything else to Kim. Kim walked out, shivering, as did Ron. Even Anne looked nervous.

"Kimberly…did anything happen in there?"

Well, I met Captain Smith…. Right. That would be a great way to book a room next to Shego's.

"Not really…just, well, the place was kind of spooky." Ron looked over at Kim and nodded.

"Real spooky."

"I don't' think 'spooky' would be enough to stop Shego like this." Anne sighed. "Well, you two'd better go on home—I doubt anyone will be trying to break in again tonight." She paused, "but first I'll get you some cream for that eye. I'm afraid you're going to have a shiner tomorrow, though."

"Yeah." Kim said.

Outside, as they got on Ron's scooter. Ron turned to Kim.

"KP…did anything weird happen to you?" Kim nodded.

"Yeah… it was like…. I was on the Titanic."

"Me too… but it was the engine room…maybe somebody like Dr. Dementor is trying some new weird gadget."

"Maybe…but why? Shego's almost been blasted, vaporized and turned into a mind controlled maid….why would a hologram scare her so badly?"

"I don't know." Ron said, "But KP…. I've got a bad feeling about this. A really, really bad feeling."

"Like Wannaweep?" Kim said. Surprisingly, Ron didn't rise to the gibe.

"Worse. Maybe we should…give this one a pass, KP." Kim thought about it. Maybe it would be a good idea…but…

No. What would people think? Getting chased out of a museum? No way. Kim shook her head.

"No Ron… if something weird is going on." Ron looked at her. "OK, whatever is going on could decide to hit the museum when it's open." She sighed. "We'll try again tomorrow night… after cheerleading practice."

"OK, KP…" Ron said. Neither one said anything more about the museum, but Kim didn't say anything when Ron took the longer route—the one that didn't come in sight of the museum building.

When they got home, Kim kissed Ron goodnight (a common practice after their Junior Prom), and went inside, not even bothering to get a snack before she hit the bed and went to sleep.

"Mr. Andrews…is there anything that can be done?" The man Kim had seen earlier that night looked over at another man.

"No, Captain Smith… I'm afraid not. The ship will sink. The damage to the forward compartments makes that certain."

"We must commence loading the lifeboats…" the captain paused, "Gentlemen… only women and children are to be boarded. Also, commence launching distress rockets… hopefully, another ship will come to our aid." Kim didn't seem to be noticed in the corner of the room, oddly warm, the ships heaters and lights still working, barely a sense of a list to tell one that hundreds of tons of water were flowing into the ship every minute.

"I can't find my mommy." A voice said, and Kim looked down, to see the same blonde haired girl she'd seen earlier in the museum.

"I… maybe we can find her together." Kim said, trying to put lightness into her voice. The girl ran into the open bridge wing, and Kim followed, the cold air shocking.

"She's not here. Not anymore." Kim shook her head.

"None of the lifeboats have left."

"No. She's not here. I can't find her to go to her." The girl looked up at Kim. "You shouldn't be here."

"But-"

"Right about that, Miss." A voice spoke behind her. Kim looked back to see a member of the crew, his shirt oddly soaked. "You don't belong here…and don't interfere."

"Interfere?" Kim started to say, and then gave a cry and stepped back. His eyes…they were empty. No eyeballs in the sockets…just darkness. He reached out and grabbed her and his hands were icy, icy…

"Don't hurt her!" the girl said.

"It has to be done, Elsbeth." The ghoul, man, zombie said, and suddenly he lifted the paralyzed teen over his head and moved towards the rail. There were indistinct sounds of protest, but Kim couldn't move and she was falling and the water was rising up to greet he-

"AAH!" Kim said, painfully falling on the floor and scrabbling across it until she found the light switch on the wall, turning on her rooms lights.

"Kimmie-cub?" Her fathers voice came, concerned. "What happened. I heard you scream." Kim looked around. The clock read five thirty, the sky turning gray in her windows.

"I…had a bad dream."

"You sounded like it," Jim, or Tim, said. "You woke us up."

"Sorry… Just a bad dream, guys." Kim said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah Dad…probably just Shego getting to me." Kim said. The sounds of her brothers and father's steps receded, and she put her head to the door. She should go back and try to get some sleep.

Kim shivered. No. It was obviously to late—she'd only be asleep for an hour or so before breakfast and just because it wasn't a school day was no reason to sleep in.

Right.

Correct.

It had nothing to do with the fact that she could still see that eyeless face and feel the cold hand… Unwillingly, she looked down, slowly, slowly. To the wrist where he had first grabbed her.

The wrist where a bruise was forming.

TBC.