Forever Bat (The final story to my Bat Trilogy)

Chapter 2: Danger

...

It was a Wednesday afternoon in May. I was working on an art project in one of my art classes. Another beach commission for FloridaMan54. I had my beanie on my head to cover up my bat ears. My contacts were a new color to hide my real eyes. Occasionally I'll forget my contacts or need a break from them; sometimes people would think that my real eyes were contacts and compliment them. Others would say they looked freaky. Over the years my eyes had been having issues with the sun to where my vision started to grow weak. Now I have an eye prescription for my glasses and my sunglasses.

Yes, I wear glasses now.

Outside was warm, causing the old art building to be warm too. The collage never wanted to put money towards art, so the building is as old as the teachers working inside.

Speaking of, my ninety year old art professor came in ten minutes late. She dressed like she was still living in the sixties with her long grey hair and her flower power colorful outfit. I did love her easy going attitude though. She was really nice. She shuffled over when she noticed that all the dusty old blinds were closed, making the room dark inside.

"Its so dark in here! We are becoming a bunch of little vampires," She says as she pulls up the blinds, bringing in natural light into the room. I winced from the light and placed my sunglasses on. The teacher walked by me and looked at me for a moment.

"I like your wings," she said.

My eyes widen. "...Wh...what?" I ask, immediately thinking that one of my wings was sticking out. She points to my back. "Your wings," she repeated. My blood runs cold. Before I could get up, she clarifies what she means. "The wings you painted on your back. I think they look amazing."

I am wearing an XL ugly faded green jacket that I got from my dad to use for when I'm painting. Whenever I have extra paint I don't want to waste, I use it to paint these colorful feathery wings I had painted on the back of the jacket. I don't know how I came up with the idea, it just kind of happened.

"Oh...thank you," I said with a sigh with relief. She smiled. "Did you not know you were wearing them?" she asked. I pretended to be casual about the whole thing and just shrugged. "I forget sometimes." She nodded and walked across the room to look at someone else's work. I gently leaned back in my chair, careful not to crush my real wings under the jacket, and sighed with relief.

That felt like a close call. I nearly had a heart attack. It was bad enough that there were a lot of channels on Youtube with blurry videos saying that they saw me flying over their neighborhood and believing I was still around. Yeah, I'm officially a cryptid. Gone into hiding from the world except my family and therapist. I wondered if other cryptids did that: Bigfoot, Chupacabra...The Mothman? I hadn't heard from him since the Halloween Dance Incident. I hoped I wouldn't have to again. I didn't want to deal with another traumatic death again.

After class I walked back to my car in the college parking lot. I placed my school items in the back of my car before sitting in the drivers seat. I took off my beanie and jacket, letting my wings and ears stretch. My ears felt like I had been wearing headphones for too long. My wings were crumpled and numb from me resting my back against them. I felt the blood beginning to rush back through them as I placed the keys into the ignition and drove out of the tiny parking lot.

I turned on the radio and listened to the music low with the window rolled down. It was a beautiful day today with the sun shining and a bunch of fluffy white clouds overhead. I found myself staring out over the freeway at the sky, with the wind in my hair, imagining I was back up there. My wings stretched out. Feeling free and alive.

When I got home I threw the jacket back over and shoved the beanie back on my head before getting out of the car. I couldn't risk any of my neighbors seeing me like this either. Once I was inside I locked the door behind me and exhaled a long sigh. My mom was already home and in the kitchen. She heard my sigh and looked over at me from the stove.

"You ok, hon?" my mom asked. I nodded my head as I stretched my wings out inside the house, careful to not break another one of mom's lamps again. "Yeah, just sore from hiding these wings all day," I said. She nodded as if she understood what it was like to have to hide monster wings from everyone. "I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight, would you like me to make you a bowl?" I nodded my head before going into my room.

My room was not as bare as it used to be. I was able to buy items that had been damaged years ago: My books, monster action figures, clothes, etc. I had started sketching again, filling up sketchbooks for classes and for myself. My therapist says its really good for me to continue doing what I love, and doing art is very therapeutic. So I draw to keep the nightmares away. Keep my mind busy from thinking about the past. Also medicine prescribed from my doctor helps too.

I sighed as I laid on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Nine years...I was now closer to being the same age as Future Bat...when she visited me when I was seventeen. The age when she took Doc's time machine and was stuck in time. I hope that never happened to me. My therapist said it wouldn't, since everything had changed. But as she said, no one's future is written in stone. It is unknown. We never know what is going to happen. That's what gives me anxiety. The unknown. The what if's.

What if I had died instead of October?

What if John had won and we had lost?

What if I was going to be Future Bat?

What if John woke up from his coma?

What if...

I shook the thoughts from my head. No...I couldn't do that again. Not another incident...

I sighed one last time and closed my eyes for a nap...

...

...

I heard it before it even arrived. I was finishing up watering my neighbor's plants while they were away on vacation. The sun was setting at a later time. My neighbors next door had told me to water their flowers closer to the evening so the sun wouldn't burn them. They were growing red tulips. I really liked seeing them every time I watered them.

I pulled the hose back into a coil and started walking back to my house. I heard the faint sound of a jet engine 70 feet above me. I looked up and there it was, appearing out of the clouds and slowly descending. I watched it from my front lawn. I could already tell from the model that it was a government jet. I was very familiar with those jets, since I had been in one a few times and nearly died.

The jet slowly landed in front of my house. Trees and rose bushes swayed from the winds the jet made. A bunch of my neighbors came out to see what the commotion was. The door slowly opened and came down like a ramp. A figure came out of the jet. It was the third to last person I thought I would never see again: General W.R. Monger. Still alive. Even after...how old was he? He had to be like close to 100 by now, but somehow he looked exactly the same. Even after nine years. He had to be drinking from some Fountain of Youth for something.

Monger stopped in front of me and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Hello, Bat. Long time no see." Monger said smiling.

I nodded my head back to him. "Hi...General...What are you doing here?" I asked him, feeling all my neighbors' eyes on us. I wished he didn't choose this time to suddenly drop by for a visit. Why did he have to take the jet? Couldn't he just be normal and take a taxi or an Uber? I would have been fine with a limo if he needed to make some kind of entrance...but a fricking jet? really? A lot of the neighbors are going to be asking questions. I already had to convince Mrs. Larson that I wasn't the devil because she caught me with my wings out one night while taking out the trash.

He shifted where he stood and sighed. "I'm just going to get to the reason why I'm here...Bat...You are in danger," he said. I blinked in confusion. "What?" I asked him. He repeated what he said to me. "You are in danger." Before I could ask what he meant, Monger continued.

"A few months ago, I had gotten permission from the state, and Mrs. Thorson, to do an investigation through the house John Thorson had been living in..."

John...

Hearing that horrible name sent goosebumps crawling all over my body. I hated that name with every fiber in my being. I hated that man so much. I wish he would just be out of my life forever. Monger continued:

"We found a secret room in the Thorson residence where John used to live. There were top secret documents of a creature he created to destroy you...The creature was in a cage and somehow managed to get out and attacked us before escaping the house. It is gone and we have a feeling that it is looking for you and wanting to destroy you."

It took me a while to process this. Even in a coma, John was still trying to kill me. What the fuck was his problem? I wish someone would just let him die. I had voted for them to just pull the plug but I was not allowed to make that decision.

"You'll be safe at The Base. Where we can keep watch over you." Monger said. The very idea didn't really excite me. Being back at the base where I was originally a prisoner. Where I found out how I was horribly experimented on and turned into this horrific being that couldn't live one normal day of her life anymore and had to hide from the outside world?

Monger continued talking, even though he couldn't see it on my face that I was not interested in going back.

"...The facility is the safest place on the planet, I promise you," Monger assured me.

I know that it was, that was not what was concerning me.

"I can't just up and leave my place. My family-" I strated.

"You'll just put your family in danger by staying here, Bat. I'm just looking out for you," Monger insisted.

"I can't, Monger...I just...I just can't."

"What about your friends? Don't you want to see them again?" Monger tried again.

I hesitated when he mentioned my friends. That obviously hit a soft spot and Monger knew. "They miss you a lot. They talk about you everyday, wondering if you'll come and visit." Butterflyasaurous, Susan, Doc, B.O.B. Link...Tears came down my face. I quickly wiped them away.

"I...The answer is no, Monger. I can take care of myself. I left that place for more than one reason. I am fine here. Thanks but no thanks," I told him. Monger sighed in defeat. "All right...if that's how you feel, then I'll leave you be...I'll tell the monsters you say hi..."

I felt a pang of guilt strike me right in the heart. Monger turned around and walked back to the jet. He stopped, then came walking back and handed me a card. "If you ever change your mind...call this number, then burn the card." I accepted the card and looked down at it. I doubt I was going to call the number, but I placed it in my back pocket to make him less worried for me. Monger nodded his head. He waved goodbye before heading back to the jet. The jet's engines started up again, causing the trees and bushes to sway violently until the jet rose from the street and gradually rose higher and higher up till it took off towards the sunset and was out of sight...

...

...

It was around eleven at night when I heard the sound of wings flapping. I had been lying awake in my room, thinking about what Monger had told me. I know my therapist had told me not to dwell on things like this, but I just couldn't help thinking about it. Wondering about the whole thing. The flapping sound thankfully had pulled me away from my thoughts.

I sat up in bed and turned my head towards my window. My brain went to two possibilities: Just a bird...or October. My heart twisted in my chest. No...October was dead. I had to accept that. It was just a bird...but the bird sounded big. Not like a crow...

flap flap flap!

I heard something that sounded like claws scraping on the roof. Not a crow. I kicked the sheets off my body and went to the window. Tilting my head up I strained my eyes to look upwards the edge of the roof. Something dark shifted above. Before I could move, a dark figure appeared on the other side of the window and crashed through it, sending glass shards everywhere. I fell backwards and landed on my back. The thing landed on top of me and gave a loud shriek and bared its fangs at me. I stared up at the dark creature. It looked just like me, but like a shadow version of me, with glaring red eyes and teeth as sharp as needles.

I screamed at it, causing it to fly backwards and smack against the ceiling. It fell with a huge crash on my dresser, knocking over my monster figures and shattering a framed picture of my monster friends. The creature shrieked again before lunging at me again. This time I was ready and punched it in the face. It screamed, staggering backwards. I kicked it in the stomach twice. The second kick I got my legs slashed by its dark claws.

My family was already up and peeking into my bedroom. My mom had her phone out calling 911. I shouted at her to not call that number. The police couldn't help me with this. The creature took that moment while I was distracted to come at me again. Its' hands wrapped around my throat and started to choke me. My hands clawed at the creatures face. The creature shrieked and bit down on my right hand. We both pulled away at the same time from being attacked.

The creature tried to escape back through my window, but I grabbed its arm and yanked it back inside my room. It crashed hard to the floor. It quickly got to its feet, spreading its wings out, slicing me in the face in the process. It turned to the only other exit in my room: the doorway where my mom and sister stood.

It shrieked and lunged towards them. My sister and mom screamed in terror, moving out of the way. My sister wasn't fast enough as it slammed her to the ground and landed on top of her. She instinctively placed her hands in front of her face to protect herself. The creature raised its claws up into the air, ready to rip her to shreds. I reacted fast by pushing the creature off my sister and pulling her behind me. Now the creature stood in the hallway while I stood between it and my sister.

The creature narrowed its glowing red eyes and hissed it me, baring its sharp teeth. I did the same back and screamed right at it. The creature was sent flying backwards down the hallway. All the framed pictures of me, my sister and my mom in the hallway exploded into shattering glass. A shower of glass flew through the air with the creature like winking stars. The creature fell back down and slid till it was in the living room.

The glass rained down on the creature's body. The glass and the creature's dark colored body were outlined in moonlight from the living room's window. I could see the creature shaking itself as it got up from where it fell, it shrieked, but not as strong. It knew it had been defeated, but was not going to let it be caught. It crashed through the living room's window, unfurled its wings and started flapping away. I ran back to my room and got up on my dresser where my broken window was.

My mom called my name but I had already jumped out the window and was flapping my wings after the creature. Nine years since I had flown. I was not strong. My wings had grown bigger with me, but I had not been keeping them strong. For years I had tried pretending that they didn't exist on my back. Thus, I was not able to fly how I used to.

I staggered through the air, trying to keep pace with the creature. The creature thankfully was also slow because of the damage I did to it, and it had glass in its wings. I tried screaming at the creature, but it moved out of the way in time. I was thirty feet off the ground, gradually sinking lower and lower. I tried grabbing the creature's leg, but it kicked me, causing me to lose my momentum. I staggered through the air. The creature flew higher into the sky and disappeared into the night.

My heart skipped a beat when I fell ten feet in the air, but thankfully stopped when my wings caught air and I was able to flap them and not becoming a monster pancake in the street. I fell five feet before collapsing completely on a neighbor's grassy front yard...and of all the front lawns to land in, it was Mrs. Larson's.

She screamed at me from her front door with her phone in her hands, calling the cops and saying the devil was on her front lawn. I sighed and got up, not caring anymore as I stretched my wings and my arms. My face, arms and legs had red scratches all over them. My pajama pants were red from the deep gash the creature left in my legs. Mrs. Larson screamed some more and said a few bible verses. I turned in her direction and bared my fangs at her; causing her to run back inside her house and lock the door. I shook my head and limped back home.

...

My hands were shaking while I pressed the numbers from the card into my phone. Monger answered the phone on the first ring. "General W.R. Monger speaking."

"...This is Bat...I..." I looked over at my sister and mom. Their eyes wide with concern as they huddled close to each other from my doorway. I sighed a small sigh of hurt and defeat.

"I change my mind...I'm ready to go back to The Base," I said.

...

A.N: Sorry for the late chapter. I have been very busy. Haven't had a day to myself to write any chapters. I am happy to see that there are still a few of you reading my chapters and enjoying my story.

Thank you SydneyFreeSpirit27 for the review. It makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying my stories.