Chapter 19: Darkness Falls

Anger.

Anger.

So much anger.

The darkness pooled beneath an old fire escape, its rusty frame covered in snow, the whole of it illuminated by a full moon. Past the fire escape lies an open window to a bedroom illuminated within by a dim light. The darkness pulsed with anticipation as it drew strength from the slumbering woman who momentarily dozed off amidst her sleepless vigil.

She is weak and with each passing moment, she grows weaker.

With each passing moment the time for revenge draws ever more near.

Her time is almost up.

The nightmares persisted but I found ways around them – primarily by forgoing sleep. Strangely, this daunting method of skipping sleep kept the nightmares away at night but every day, once again, I fell victim to the awful memories that haunted my zombie-like trance.

The worse things got in my personal life, the better my acting became. Fueled on lattes and Redbull, I threw myself into my performance. Nothing else mattered anymore. It was just me and the stage.

Layers of thick, pasty makeup hid the bags under my eyes and I constantly kept a smile tacked onto my face – it's funny how something as simple as a smile can hold questions at bay. I learned at a very young age that a smile can hide even the darkest bruises.

Three days after the "Harry Incident," I walked out of my bedroom in the later hours of the morning to find a bouquet of lilies on the kitchen table. I reveled in their beauty for a moment before I heard Gwen walk up behind me.

"Peter finally manned up, huh?" I turned and smiled at her.

She wore a crooked, almost sarcastic smirk upon her face. "Think again."

I turned back to the flowers. Dug deep amongst the white petals was a red card in the shape of a heart. Angrily, I snatched the card from the bouquet and read it out loud in disgust,

"Thinking of you,

Harry"

Life at the apartment was quiet enough. The sight of Peter and Gwen studying in the living room became a regular sight and in time, I got used to it. You could venture to say that I had even begun to find comfort in it. For as much as I disliked Peter, I felt safe around him - (ha! I can't believe I'm saying that about the guy who left me to the deranged zoo animal). Peter didn't speak a word to Gwen about my dad (as far as I could tell) and thankfully, he treated me the same as he had before he found out about my sorry excuse for a father. If it weren't for the nightmares, I probably would've been able to forget about him.

The final rehearsal for the show came the following Friday. On opening night, Saturday night, everyone was nervous; their nervous energy setting the thick, breathless air ablaze. I sat on the floor backstage, calming my nerves by reciting lines under my breath.

"MJ, it's almost our scene." Anthony walked to me and reached down to help me to my feet.

"Thanks," I grabbed his hand and jumped up. I moved too quickly and my eyes began to swim in their sockets as a dizzy spell fell over me. Suddenly, something hit me in my gut hard enough to send me into total darkness. I gasped as I felt myself beginning to collapse.

When I opened my eyes again, half of the crew stood over me, peering down in concern as I laid upon the floor.

"Are you okay, MJ?" Anthony knelt down beside me, his dark brows deeply furrowed in concern.

"H-how long was I out?"

"Just a minute or two. Look, maybe you need to just rest, MJ. The understudy is ready to go in your place. Just say the word."

I was already getting back onto my feet. The past two months had been, arguably, the most difficult two months of my life. I had clung to this show like a life preserver. I wasn't going to let anything ruin it.

"I'm fine. I skipped dinner." I shrugged it off, "You know how it is. Just nerves, ya know?"

Our scene began and any resistance from Anthony was shut down. On our cue, Anthony and I stepped out onto the stage. Our performance was flawless. Eight weeks of rehearsal had prepared us for this night and everything went smoothly. After an hour on stage, the show ended. For a breathless millisecond, the crew waited for the applause. Had they enjoyed the show? Or had it been a total bust?

As we stood behind the drawn curtains, we heard the uproar of applause from the audience and every eager face broke into happy, toothy grins.

"We did it!" Anthony shouted, grabbing my hand as he leapt into the air. I couldn't help but join in on the celebration behind the drawn curtain - indeed, I was swept away by it. Every cast and crew member jumped up and down in celebration for our first successful show, our cheers drowned out by the thunderous applause. We were on Cloud Nine.

The stagehand shouted that we were to line up and bow for our faithful audience and obediently, we broke up the celebration and joined hands in a line. The curtains were drawn back and our audience was revealed to us. As I bowed, my head began to swim. I squeezed Anthony's hand tight as we stood on stage but he was so caught up in the moment that he didn't even notice. Or perhaps he had noticed it and he simply attributed it to our excitement.

My world was beginning to go black. I tried to focus on the audience. Like a lost child, my eyes skimmed the audience. Where was Gwen and Peter? I knew they were going to be here but where?

I began to go weak at the knees.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered as the curtains began to fall, concealing us from the audience. As soon as the red velvet curtains brushed past us, I stopped fighting and collapsed onto my hands and knees. Something warm began to drip from my nose and I brought my hand up to wipe it away.

"Mary Jane!" Anthony dropped to his knees beside me. "My God!" Anthony's wide eyes nearly threw me into a panic. I looked down at my hand after wiping my nose and saw a thick black liquid covering it. Whatever it was, it wasn't blood...

By now, a large crowd had gathered around us, their whispered concerns nearly drowned out by applause.

"We need a paramedic!" Anthony stood and immediately reached down to try and help me stand.

"No, no," I held my hand to my nose, "No paramedics. Stop, please stop."

Despite the vertigo, I willed myself to appear as normal as possible. With one hand held to my nose, I wobbled to my feet.

"I swear I'm fine, Anthony." I looked around at the concerned crew and opened my mouth to reassure them but fear struck me mute - each face had morphed into the face of the corpse-woman: Shriek. All at once, they all began to laugh, their purple lips quivering in joy.

I stumbled back from them, wiping my nose as the black liquid oozed from my nasal passages with renewed vengeance. The world was spinning around me as Shriek's deafening laughter pierced my eardrums. I had to get away - but I couldn't see straight enough to even try.

"Mary Jane," Gwen and Peter's faint voice could be heard above the laughter. I fell to the floor, hands over my ears but Gwen and Peter's voices pierced the maniacal laughter and when I looked up, I saw Gwen's lithe body parting the crowd. She collapsed beside me, throwing her arms around my stooped frame to hug my trembling body against her. Peter kneeled with her, his brows knitted.

"Gwen, we need to take her to the hospital." Peter stared at the black liquid running down in between my fingers as I held my nose. I stared back at him, unable to speak.

"I'm calling an ambulance right now." I heard his voice before I saw him. Calm and collected, Harry stepped past the crowd, phone pressed to his ear. I stared at him for a moment then looked at the crowd forming behind him. Where had Shriek gone? Had I imagined her? Why was Harry here? Was I imagining all of this?

I wanted to protest, to stand and tell everyone I was fine but... I couldn't. My entire life force slipped from my fingertips and as we waited for the ambulance, I felt my eyelids growing heavy. I laid my cheek on Gwen's shoulder and tried to focus on the feeling of her tiny arms wrapped around me.

"I-I'm sorry." I murmured from behind my hand, cheek pressed against Gwen's shoulder.

"For what, silly?" Gwen spoke gently as she teetered on the verge of tears.

Peter stood, "Gwen, let's get her to the back entrance of the theater. EMS will be here soon." Gwen refused to let me go and even as Peter wrapped his arms around me and began to lift me from the floor, she held tight onto my hand. She began to cry and I gently squeezed her hand to let her know that it was going to be okay.

"Here, Pete," Harry stepped forward and reached for me. "I can take her. You take care of Gwen."

Peter opened his mouth to say something but Harry had already lifted me from his arms. My head rolled against Harry's chest as he ran with me in his arms towards the back entrance.

We ran through the darkness and in my delusional state, I imagined Harry was Spider-Man, holding me tight against his chest. He had rescued me and only he could save me from this nightmare. -of all my delusions, I was thankful for this one. I clung to it, refusing to believe that it was only Harry Osborne holding me.

Gwen's sobbing faded and the world soon followed.

Author's Note - Do you ever have days when you write down your name and you just swear it doesn't look right? ...yeah, this story kind of reminds me of those days. I always wonder if the flow of the story make sense to you guys. I always wonder if MJ seems like a total wimp with all of these unfortunate things happening to her or does she still manage to come across as a strong, independent woman? I'm trying so hard to work on making my scenes and characters seem more 3-dimensional and life-like but I feel like every scene comes up short of that goal :( So much for that English degree, eh guys? haha

Any and all input is welcome (& greatly appreciated!). I love to know what you guys think.

I write for fun and I write to become a better writer but most importantly, I write for you guys!

Thanks for sticking with me.