The Descent

Chapter 20: Hot Chocolate with Extra Marshmallows

When Dave was gone, so was I. I used project work with Pete as a pretext again. 'Dad' hadn't figured it out yet, that I had been going out for other purposes. A lie for a lie, 'Dad'. Pete was useful. He promised to cover for me in case 'Dad' called.

I went back to the old apartment again. I needed time to think. It was the only way I knew how, to think. About… everything. Who am I? I don't even know anymore. Inside Hit-Girl's locker, I found her… my uniform was still there, smelling vaguely of an unwashed alley. It was a surprise that Dave didn't really notice – or maybe it was me being a girl and a kid, with my good keen sense of smell – where did I get that? I remember 'Dad' saying so.

Being in Hit-Girl's… my uniform again felt… comforting. It was a little hot, and everything, especially the boots were heavy, but it was comforting somehow. I remembered pain, bone-crunching pain, mine and not just mine. I remembered blood, gunshot, but… comforting. But… who am I? I remembered blood, stabbing, shooting, but I hate hurting and killing. Who am I? I found myself looking in the mirror, but seeing nothing. It felt like being a ghost. Who am I?

When I checked my weapons again, I found that I was short on a throwing knife and four bullets. It didn't feel like I needed a resupply – was that a word? I considered taking the egg-like things… grenades, but I remembered whiteness and deafening – no, no grenades. After I was done suiting, I put on my trenchcoat and left the apartment, took the bus as usual. I felt naked all of a sudden, and confused at the thought. I had no idea lacking one throwing knife and four bullets could feel that way. Always plan ahead, cubby. Oops. But I was already on the bus.

Stinging headache, excruciating. I was clutching my head throughout the bus trip. Who am I? What is my name? Mandy Lizewski… no way, no… A nice-looking Chinese guy in spectacles even offered me Aspirin. Trust strangers… only after a thorough background check, baby doll. But I found myself reaching for his Aspirin, thanking him. I ate them like candy. He was checking out the hair on my purple wig poking out at the same time. He was hard to read, but I thought he found it weird.

No aftertaste. I was desperate, but the payoff was little to none. Headache… excruciating. Why did they all… LIE? LIE to me? The love felt so real, and now I… it still felt so real, yet I couldn't take it the same way anymore. The thought of them lying to me about everything made me angry, so, so very angry. I think the Chinese guy noticed. He looked a little afraid but it didn't matter. I alighted soon after he noticed.

I walked around the bad place, fishing. I went to a worse place than the last time. I didn't know how I knew, but I did. I saw pictures sprayed on the wall, needles on the floor, trash all over the sidewalk. I kept walking, and when I looked a little back, I thought I could see someone following me. Caught a guppy. I needed the distraction, I needed it badly.

I made a turn into an alley. Fishing out my mask, I put it on. This particular alley was wider – it was almost a square courtyard. It wasn't as dark as the last one either, with four or five lamps surrounding the alley-courtyard. Someone else was inside, someone about my size, her skin standing out, almost glow-in-the-dark. Her back was facing me, and when she turned around, I saw her eyes again – reddish, glowing strongly. She looked so much stronger than how she was, so much stronger. I ignored her, and threw off my trenchcoat – memories of boxers came around, and the way I did it reminded me of them.

"You know the next step, don't you?" Demoness went on. I waited for the man following me to show up. I continued ignoring her, "Don't you!?" But she was creeping closer again, closer to me. I could feel her icy hands on my shoulders.

"I'm not listening." I whispered to myself, repeating it again and again, but I could feel her on me. She wrapped her arms around my waist. I could feel her through my tights, icy cold. The way she held me made it difficult for me to move, and I could already see a shadow approaching from where I was. "Go away!" I tried shaking Demoness off, but she would not let go.

"No, girlie. Just because you're in purple and sporting a blade or two doesn't mean it's hunky dory." Demoness continued. Her mouth was pressed into my ear. She was deafening that way. I could feel it – the cold coming from her. I was shivering.

"Let go of me!" I screamed – I could already see the man trailing me, in a furry jacket, cargo pants and a snow cap. He pulled something out of his jacket, what appeared to be a handle, until he pressed a switch, and a blade came out. I elbowed Demoness and struggled out of her. Surprisingly, she released me.

"Who the fuck are you talking to, crazy kid?" A girl's voice, rough and mean, snarled from behind me. I turned around to see a lady with Mohawk hair dyed in pink, wearing tank top and jeans, boots. She had a knife too.

"No one you should care about." I said plainly as I looked around, seeing that the Demoness was nowhere to be seen, "What do you want?" I could feel the man behind me getting closer. Mohawk lady came closer as well. I thought about drawing my pistols.

"We'll make this as easy as ABC, crazy kid." Mohawk Lady said, pointing at me with her knife. I remembered the shape of her knife. It was a dagger, but I couldn't remember the last time I saw a dagger, "We want everything on you, right down to your undies."

"Oh, and we want you too." Jacketed Man behind me said. My hands began to shake, even if they were gloved. It was starting to get hot again, "See, we could use a new plaything. Our last one just broke." I wanted my guns out, but I knew I was too slow. I reached for my combat knife and throwing knives instead. They rushed at me.

I threw my throwing knife at the Mohawk Lady, but the thing landed on its flat side again, and even then, she shielded her face with her arm, and it bounced off her arm. It did nothing to stop her. I was shaking too much. I spun around, slashing behind me at Jacketed Man in a wide arc. I thought I saw red, and I did. I managed to cut him, but I was shaking too much to make a good cut. He backed away. But Mohawk Lady was still coming at me, and I felt her grabbing me from behind, an arm around my neck, the other with its hand wrapped tightly around the wrist of my knife-hand. I couldn't move. I was trapped!

I struggled against her, but she was too strong. The Jacketed Man was coming at me again. I tried kicking him, but I couldn't do it right – I couldn't even remember the right way to kick. After dodging my legs, I saw him thrusting his fist at me, at my stomach. I felt his fist there, and nearly fainted. "Drop the knife, little fuck!" Mohawk Lady threatened. I was terrified again. "Drop it before I break your arm!" I did what she told me. My hands were shaking too much anyway, and pain was spreading outward from where the Jacketed Man's fist connected with me – I didn't have the strength to carry it anymore.

She was behind Jacketed Man, staring at me with her red, glowing eyes, smiling at me. It felt like she was making fun of me. Our eyes connected. Not doing very well, girlie? The Mohawk Lady locked my arms behind my back. Another punch in the stomach. I felt like dying, I think I was crying. I could feel Demoness sighing. Let me help you again. How about that, sissy? NO! No? Another punch in the stomach. I couldn't stand anymore, but Mohawk Lady held me up.

"Enough rumble, Stevie darling." I heard Mohawk say even as I was falling in and out of consciousness, "Let's just take our doll here back to our apartment. Haven't done a kid before, but there's a first time for everything."

"No shit. She's not just any fuckin' kid either." Jacket said. I fought the darkness. Done a kid? What does that-? They are going to torture me! Tried to think of a way to escape, couldn't. Time's flying, little girlie. A stranglehold, baby doll, isn't shit if you know how to break it. "Holy flippin' shit, she's Hit-Girl! You don't remember Hit-Girl?"

"Oh I remember that lil' cocksucker alright." I heard a female voice say – couldn't… remember who she was. Shaking so much. Then Daddy was there, and I was in a different place, a bright place. Daddy was holding me in the same armlock, but I tripped him up and forced him to release me. All was dark again. Struggled into position to break the stranglehold. Couldn't. Daddy… "But I bet this one here's a copy kitty." I could feel a mouth next to my ear, the rotten breath… a… a tongue. "Am I right, y' lil' boo hoo..?" She taunted.

Last call, girlie! I thought about it. Hard to think with the slimy snake in my ear. OKAY. Couldn't think anymore. Couldn't control myself anymore. Somehow, I tripped Mohawk and landed elbow first into her hand. I heard a snap underneath, and a scream. Couldn't… not. Flipped myself to my feet. Pain everywhere. Couldn't scratch the itch. Jacketed Man swung his switchblade at me but I dodged fast, so quickly. How am I doing this? I'm not doing it Demoness was I… She spun and got down low picking up combat knife, leaned back the blade flying past just inch away Jacketed Man swung his knife upwards towards my… Demoness' chin gave it to him stabbed him in the kidney before planting the knife in Mohawk's thigh she screamed screamed like a lil' bitch music to my ears the music! "Copy this, Pukebreath!" Felt my mouth move my voice saying but it wasn't something I would ever say it was almost a SWEAR.

Then I was in control again. I felt faint, light-headed. Exhausted, like running a thousand miles. I stumbled a bit on my feet, almost falling over, but I regained my balance. Jacketed Man and Mohawk Lady were both on the ground, wide-eyed, crying, whimpering, afraid. Terrified. For a second, I couldn't remember what happened, but it all came back to me in bits and pieces. Demoness was standing beside me. "T-thanks." I muttered to her, something I thought I would never do. But when I looked at the two on the floor I had second thoughts.

"Told you I'm your guardian angel. Now, next thing's next." Demoness said. I could feel her hands on my arm. She led me to pick up Jacketed Man's switchblade. I didn't like where it was going. "I need you to do this by yourself, darling, to prepare for what comes next."

"What do you want me to do?" I was almost choking on my words and breath. I really didn't like where this was going. Everything to do with the Demoness was bad one way or the other. She was always doing things girls like me… normal girls wouldn't do.

"I want you to cut Pukebreath's tongue out and kill them." Demoness instructed. I didn't like it. They were mean to me but… They weren't like the perverted big man, my first enemy. They were no longer killing me. They were no longer going to hurt me, or… do perverted things, "Oh, but kill them slow. You know how to do that, right? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you don't, but it'll come back to you!" She came close to me to say the final bit. She loves coming close to me.

"NO!" I shouted at her. She wasn't a guardian angel anymore to me, she was a monster. I backed away from her, "It won't because I won't! No! Don't make me!" I could hear my two tormentors begging for mercy on the floor. They were previously big, naughty and powerful, but now they were pitiful.

"Silly girl." Demoness came closer again even as I backed away. I backed away some more. There was something jutting out of the floor behind me. One of my feet was caught on it, and I tripped and fell over backwards. Demoness looks a lot bigger, meaner and frightening from the floor, "You need it for what comes next!"

"God, Hit-Girl's gone koo-koo, we're dead, man!" I heard Jacketed Man screaming, almost bawling on the floor.

"What do you mean what comes next?" I said from the floor, from Demoness' feet.

"Dave? The truth? Have you been sleeping, girlie? He lied to you! About everything!" The Demoness roared at me. I crawled a bit further away, but she kept coming closer, "Your real dad, your real life, the real you!" It was then that I knew what Demoness wanted me to do, what she wanted me to do, and what… I wanted to do, what I wanted to do all along. Dave LIED to me. He loves me but he LIED to me. Family love – was this how it was supposed to be like? Because love hurts, even more than the 3 punches Jacketed Man gave me. My heart thumped fast, I could hear it inside my ears. The distraction was over – I was almost killed by the distraction, and Dave led me into it. And now it all was coming back, wrapping itself around me, drowning, burning, killing me. Drowning!

"I have a better idea." I said – couldn't help but to grit my teeth. I was angry again, at everything, at Dave. The pain, both from the love and the punches, still pulsing throughout my entire body. I wanted to let them out, let them all out. Couldn't be held in anymore.

"You're making me proud, girlie." Demoness allowed with a toothy smile, and pulled me up. I stood up. "Tell me about it."

Meanwhile…

Despite the fear in his eyes, Colonel Stars and Stripes would never back down. Now I was certain of that. I had become his close confidant of sorts. He promised another special operation soon, this time aiming at a bigger place – A mob outpost related to the D'Amico. He was really pressing the attack, as this time it wasn't just prostitution and paedophilia he was worried about anymore. The outpost was more of a gathering place for the enforcers of the Casillo family, one of the 5 families (including the D'Amico family, which was the strongest) ruled by Ralph. From the outpost, protection fees and extortion profits were gathered, robberies and hits were carried out. Drugs were also produced there. The Colonel was aiming to sever another money line. There would be 10 or more men inside, so he'd decided to risk putting everyone on the operation, all 18 of us.

With that in mind, the Colonel, Nightbitch and I spent the night patrolling with our 6 new members. They were a pleasure to be with – the thought of being in the same team as a frickin' samurai, fighting monk, an Asian ex-soldier and private investigator was priceless! We went a completely different route, the one Bravo Party would be taking. Even more flashes, more pictures and videos taken. But no crime. I struck up a conversation with Ronin:

"I've never really fired the rifle before, only a few precious times in the country-side." Ronin explained – I'd asked him about what skills he knew, the kind that he would be using as Ronin, "But it matters little, with my bullets left in the headquarters."

"But you know how to handle your sword, right?" It felt like an incessant question to ask, but you couldn't be more careful these days, especially with all those costumes.

"I'm a 5th Dan practitioner in Kendo." He said, "My father taught me for years in the art of Kenjitsu and Iajitsu, but I am more at home with the Shinai. Perhaps it is heaven's will." I couldn't exactly understand everything he said, but it sounded very optimistic.

Things were changing very quickly, and it wasn't just new members. Insectman had finally gotten a mask matching his costume, with a housefly for a face (which still reminded me of Spiderman). Everyone was getting trained. Nightbitch had a whip, cue the Indiana Jones reference, except she was a more burlesque Indiana Jones. Marty's getting contact lenses to replace those spectacles he wore out in the field. He's been saving up for a vest like mine, not to mention sourcing out for a bigger and more bulletproof shield. Not to mention, he's been getting good with fighting with his shield. Doctor Gravity's promising a new bat that would be an actual device, though I'm not getting my hopes up. We've been thinking of getting Todd in on the act.

We went down a street. It was getting late, nearing midnight. Our patrol duty was almost done, if the lack of observers was any indication. It was then that the lights on our street shorted out, the streetlamps, the apartments, all dark. The Colonel had his stick out, "Everyone hold!" I could hear fumbling, superheroes getting nervous. It wasn't like in the comics or movies. We weren't the ones turning off the lights. I could hear shoes hitting concrete in the distance. "Neonlight, do your thing!"

"Yes, sir. Gladly, sir." I could hear him pulling something out of a holster, and before I knew it, he was firing flares in opposite directions, to both ends of the street we were on. What we saw in the glow of the Neon-flares weren't good. We were surrounded by men wearing sports jerseys and rapper-style fashion. 20 plus, 30 plus of them, straight faced, all the more disconcerting. The street glowed orange with incoming battle. I had my batons out, but for once, they felt inadequate.

"Target-Lock, call Founding Party. Everyone in a circle!" The gang came in closer. Target-Lock was fumbling for his phone. He was obviously shitting his pants. We all were, it was only a matter of how much, and how much we could hold it back.

Someone in the Bloods crowd poked out, not very conspicuous but from his demeanor I could tell that he was the leader. "Colonel Stars and Stripes!" He called out, looking for blood.

"That would be me!" Despite our numerical disadvantage, the Colonel wasn't afraid – I could even guess at what he was thinking. 'I used to eat punks like these for breakfast', he boasted before, and he was referring to organised mobsters, evil dudes with guns, dead and living victims, people who don't mind severing your fingers one by one. The Colonel claimed to have buried dozens of them in his longer career with the Italian crime families, "Something you want to discuss, young man?" I could hear snickers and laughter among the Bloods. They were all armed with nailboards, pipes, sticks, the kind of bruisers you'd brutalise a man, but not kill him with. They were going to take us alive. What they had in mind after that could be everything and anything.

"You see, old man." The leader, someone in the late 20s, old for a street gangster, pulled out a cigarette. I could see the flame from his lighter setting fire to his cigarette. Cancer smoke floats to the sky, orange under the light of the flare, ominous, "We appreciate you helping us out with the Crips boys." He was calm, the look of a victor already set on his face.

"He who goes into battle seeking victory will be defeated. He who seeks victory before going into battle will have it." Ronin muttered as he held his Shinai close to his cheek, combat ready. I couldn't understand him – I was too busy thinking of a way to nail more than a guy before going down. His teeth was gritted, a little afraid. Only the Colonel and Monk was calm, at least based on what I saw on their faces.

"But you fucked my boys too, you old piece of dogmeat!" The leader hollered, agitated. His cigarette was on the floor, half-finished. "So I'll make this simple for you and your retards! Go back to your boring, meaningless lives or me and my boys'll introduce you to a world of hurt. How's that?"

"Colonel, Founding Group's coming." Target-Lock whispered and the Colonel leaned in to listen. Most of us could hear it, but definitely not the Bloods and their leader.

"What's the matter? Getting yellow as your springrolls? You should be!" Someone who appears to be the leader's lieutenant in the Bloods crowd came out picked up on Target-Lock, but he was misinterpreting things – and I was glad for that.

"Justice will prevail." The Colonel said sternly, audibly that even when he's not exactly shouting, the Bloods caught the message. They were always getting closer, like a tsunami of NBA jerseys and blings.

"JUSTICE FOREVER!" I screamed my lungs out like I did in our first operation, hoping to get Bravo riled up. My voice echoed across the length and breadth of the street. Beams of light were coming from the apartments, flashlights from the civilians we were trying to protect. There would soon be even more videos and photos, more word-of-mouth accounts that would sooner or later be exaggerated. The only worry I had was whether the heading would read 'Justice Forever no more!', or 'Justice Forever-more!'.

"JUSTICE FOREVER!" The rest of the team followed after a period of worrying silence, but at least it stopped the Bloods from laughing.

"Fuck ya'll! The world of hurt it is!" The Bloods leader roared, not with rage but for the satisfaction of it. I could see the smile on his face before his horde charged forward on both sides, becoming a giant blob-thing with hands waving sticks in the air, ready to break bones.

"I love you." Nightbitch managed to sneak in a little romance as the horde charged down. Feet were thundering, and so was my heart, everyone's. Three sticks were soon getting brought down on me, but I captured two with a cross-block. The last one was a horizontal swing, caught me in the Kevlar – I felt it bruising me, but it didn't hurt much. We were all taking wild and wide swings. Neonstyle was throwing colourful lightsticks into them. I could see a few bouncing off heads, confounding their owners with a little creative percussion.

Ronin swung his Shinai stylishly, blindingly fast, taking down one or two quickly. Monk was flying through the air, kicking two at a time and even counting out a third with his staff. Sergeant Crescent was good with his rattan shield and baton, a cross between me and Marty – He was matching two Bloods with them, sabre-rattling with sticks. We were fortunate that the Bloods did not sweep us off – they weren't that brave, though I'd say they were smart, what with our Martial Artists on the line-up.

I was soon getting over my first two Bloods, and Nightbitch her first. The Questioner took down one with a take-down, and even Target-Lock managed to trip one – not exactly super-heroic, but it'd do. Neonstyle Epilepsy was holding lightsticks like musical drumsticks, beating heads. Didn't last long though. The Colonel'd let Eisenhower go wild – and she knew exactly where to hit. The Colonel himself was a one-man killing machine (minus the lethal bit). I saw him jamming his axe handle into one guy, knocking him out, with a follow-up swing, almost martial artsy, into another guy's face. The crunch was sweet-sounding and horrendous at the same time.

But we were getting overwhelmed. The street gangsters we knocked down would very easily get replaced from the back, and the leader was smarter than I thought – more were coming in from the alleys surrounding us, like creatures from the depths of Mordor. The first sign of our impending doom came from Nightbitch getting a water pipe just above her abs – if only she wore protection like the Colonel advised. In the flash I was allowed to care for her, I saw a huge bruise forming there, and the payment was a hard stick to my forearm, forcing me to drop one of my green batons. I substituted it with a taser, but I could only take down one guy with a charge – no time to reload, and without a cartridge, it was only good for shocking gangsters back at the most dangerous range.

Target-Lock broke ranks, ran forward kamikaze style, perhaps sensing the inevitable. He was getting beaten up mercilessly as he was trying to push back the tides with arms and legs, trying to distract as many as possible by whatever means, shouting, screaming, engaging as many as possible – if only it wasn't so different from football… Even the Colonel was withdrawing, our circle getting smaller. I saw Ronin getting one over the head, but luckily he had his traditional helmet, which works just as well as a hard hat. Monk took it upon himself to save Target-Lock, clearing a path to him with his seemingly unending strikes from his perpetually moving staff. I saw him get to Target-Lock, and then even he was getting overwhelmed, and had to form an island alongside Target-Lock. I saw blood on the Colonel's face, and it was definitely his, as I saw a cut on it.

We were pushed closer and closer to each other, getting hit left and right. I took one to the knee, and would have fallen over had it not been Sergeant Crescent, who held me up. Ronin lost his Shinai at one point, which was when I saw desperation coming in. With one single motion, he pulled out his real Katana and made a wide cut into someone's chest. Whether the Bloods guy was dead or alive, I couldn't tell, as he was engulfed by even more Bloods gangsters, but Ronin's action made a gulf between him and the Bloods, the bona-fide Samurai shaking his sword at them, as if fending off a pack of rabid animals. The rest of us were almost huddled in what little small spot left for us to defend. Ronin had bought us some time, but it was hopeless in a sea of crime…

Monk and Target-Lock fought their way back to us, but it was small comfort, as they came back battered and bruised. The gulf Ronin had created was threatening to close. The Bloods leader came forward again, just a few feet away, the cringe-worthy smile of victory still on his face, "What the fuck is wrong with you people? You freaks really have such a hard-on to die? For no real reason?"

"Just give it up! Walk away! Leave your corny costumes!" It wasn't very usual for gangsters to give chances. It seemed as if he was afraid, afraid of something. Was it Ronin and his katana? It wasn't usual either for a gang leader to care about the welfare of his gang – as far as I know. What was stopping them from annihilating us?

"And let your kind rule and terrorize?" The Colonel replied smartly. Even though he had taken a few, he refused to let it show. I could see him stifling a cough, "You'll have to go through all of us first." Then the Colonel's phone rang. Message received. "All of us."

"JUSTICE FOREVER!" Came our call from a distance. It wasn't from any of us, as much as I wanted to make an epic last stand. It came from just down the street. I caught a glimpse past a few shoulders. The rest of Justice Forever was swooping down in delta formation. A few of them noticed where I was looking, and soon, heads were turning in the direction I was looking. We'd been doubled in number, and the gang we were dealing with didn't. From the unconscious (hopefully all unconscious) gangsters I could see, the three of us and Bravo Party was worth more than our number. The Ronin alone defeated close to 10, even if not all of them were completely down and out.

The Bloods dispersed. Some were sandwiched between us and Founding Party. The Founding Party were merely just stretching their legs compared to what we went through. I saw Marty ramming down one guy, who fell over, instantly out of the game. Insectman was in the air, inevitable Spider-man comparison aside, he beat down 2 others with his police batons and shocked another. All-Seeing Eye merely stuck out a leg at one of those who tried to slip past and handcuffed the gangster while he was down. I saw Hacksaw tackle another. All in all, they captured about 8. The Bloods'd abandoned their own brothers, those either too weak or unconscious to run. There was police siren from the opposite end from our reinforcement. Someone must have called the police, and it would mean more of them captured, hopefully the leader.

By the end of it, over 20 of the Bloods were detained. The police had to send a whole convoy over. It was only at the end of the day that I realised what had softened the Bloods leader's resolve. They didn't bring guns in the first place because killing one of us meant bringing the entire city down on their heads. The Colonel's contacts in the NYPD helped too.

Later…

I came home a little late, half past one at midnight. The first thing I did was to go up to Mindy's room, to check on her, but there was no light underneath her door. When I tried to open it, I found it unlocked. Swinging it open lightly, I strained my eyes, looked at her bed – sure enough, she was there, already asleep. With her asleep, I could only wait until morning if she had forgiven me. Yet I wanted so much to make it up to her – didn't matter who was wrong. Crossing the room, I got up to the chair, stopped when she tossed and turned a little, and sat beside her, and thought about how lucky I was to have Mindy as a sister. I got to take responsibility for my mistakes, to try to fix things. We did have some fun times together, some happy memories, and the bad times were a part of the experience.

I fell asleep thinking about all that, going back in time, right to the first day. I got stuck somewhere around the time we fell asleep together in the diner.

The Next Day…

"Dave." Someone said my name, shaking me awake. I opened my eyes – it was blurry. I couldn't see a thing. I tried to feel for my spectacles, and sure enough, it wasn't on my face. It must have fallen off while I was snoozing on the chair beside Mindy, "Dave, wake up. I made breakfast again." She slipped on my spectacles for me lovingly. It was sweet of her. I saw her face clearly – before, it looked like a grey alien, and I was a little worried (at least as much as I could while I was just awake) that she might still be upset, but she was clearly smiling.

"What's the occasion?" I was surprised at her sudden change of mood (at least from my perspective). We hugged.

"Nothing, I'm just… happy today!" Mindy replied before turning and walking out of her room. She was in her only set of shirt and jeans, "I'm making pancakes and a little… surprise." She said mysteriously as I was only beginning to stand up, which was when I was reminded of yesterday. I could feel the bruises all over me, in my side, on my knee, on my forearm, my head. There were more than I could remember. There was even a cut on my thigh that I couldn't remember where I got from.

After brushing my teeth and taking a quick bath, I went down, and sure enough, she was setting down pancakes, this time perfectly done. Dad was already there, praising Mindy for everything. My adopted sister just smiled at him and said nothing. The pancakes were done, but she was making something else. There were three cups on the counter. They were already there, washed and prepared. She must have woken up a little earlier than usual. She started pouring something brown from a kettle in – coffee? Taking a packet of something from the top counter, she poured that in as well. The label wasn't facing me, so I couldn't tell what it was.

"Hot chocolate. With extra marshmallows." She announced, smiling. I tried my best to smile back, but I had to force it. It was a beverage from her past – coincidence or her remembering things?

"Nice, getting your creativity going, pal?" Dad praised again, and took a sip from it, then a gulp, "It's really good! Hmm." Following Dad, I started drinking her masterpiece while eating her pancakes at the same time as well, but I couldn't stop thinking about how it came from her past. Yet, it wasn't too worrying, as many things had come from her forgotten past without any ill effects.

"You know, I've been thinking." It came to me all of a sudden, a way to make it up to her, "A sneak peek of Winnie the Pooh's premiering today. You wanna catch it? Just the two of us, no Todd and Marty." I yawned – it was a tough day yesterday.

"That'd be nice." Mindy smiled sweetly, a total reverse from how she was yesterday. I stretched my muscles before taking a few more bites out of my pancake, and drank a few more gulps of Mindy's Hot Chocolate With Extra Marshmallows. I remembered it quite well. I used to have it all the time at Marcus' place before Mindy… flipped. I stretched my muscles again – they were feeling especially lethargic, in addition to being sore. I almost didn't want to move anymore. I yawned again.

A loud bang and glass breaking. I looked around, my eyes a little blurry. Dad's face was in his pancake. He had fallen asleep for some reason. I couldn't think straight why, but sluggishly enough… I suspected an aneurysm for some reason, "Dad? Dad!" Mindy was onto him quickly, leaning Dad back on his chair. I couldn't move from mine for some reason. I felt exhausted, felt like sleeping.

"Don't worry, Dave. Dad's fine." Mindy said as she walked up beside me. Funny – she would always call Dad Daddy. I felt especially sleepy, which was when I realised what was going on.

With all my strength, I tried to get out of my chair. I wanted to run, but I fell off my chair instead. I could only crawl away with Mindy just behind me. I leaned back on the kitchen counter. Mindy'd spiked my chocolate, which meant… that…

She hugged me. "Shh… Hey… Shh…" Ironic… I remembered that from… somewhere… "It's okay. Dave, don't fight it." I tried to push her… away, but my arms weren't… responding very well. "There's no point, Dave. Shh… Don't fight…" Don't… Trust her.

"W- Why?" I could… barely speak. I saw… Mindy's… face for the… last time. She couldn't… meet… my… my eyes. Something about… her… wrong.

Darkness.