Chapter 2

She becomes accustomed to her new school.

Chapter Two

Super Freak

“Willow…,” a haunted voice called out to her as she walked the dark streets of Crescent City. “Willow…come to us…come, we won’t hurt you…come to us…come.” The voice began to chant, adding more and even more voices of men and women.
            “Who…who are you?” she shakily shouted into the darkness that surrounded her.
            “Willow…we’re friends…don’t be afraid…we’re not the bad guys.” The voices were all around her now, haunting her, echoing in her very mind. Willow turned around and around to find the source.
            “Where are you? Tell me!”
            “We’re right here…all around you.”
            They were right. Figures began to immerge from the dark and they blocked every possible reason of escape. Willow couldn’t get out. She was trapped.
            "We’re friends…we won’t hurt you…come to us.”
            Just at that moment, the figures crowded around her and everything went dark. Willow opened her eyes and was surprised to find herself in some sort of operating room. She tried to move, but found that she had been strapped to an operating table. The same figures, dressed in surgical masks and outfits, surrounded her once more, chanting in her ear.
            “There’s no need to be afraid…we’re friends…we won’t hurt you.”
            One person held up a syringe filled with a crimson liquid. Some sort of serum. Willow began to sweat and tried to get away once more, but, unable to move from her prison, she lay there, helpless, lying in wait for what they were about to do to her.
            “Help! Help! Someone, please! HELP!” she cried out desperately, but no one heard her, unless they were just simply ignoring her. Just then, the person inserted the blood into her veins. Pain was surging through her. Willow could feel the transformation and how her body was reacting. Her eyesight and hearing became automatically sharper. Willow could feel her body tingling, her toes and fingers throbbing along with her head. Faint muscles formed on her arms and legs. She began rapidly shaking and shimmering. The feeling of strange chemicals burned her veins. Willow found herself breathing rapidly. When Willow’s body came to a halt, everything once again went black.

            Willow woke up with a start, sitting up straight in bed. She rubbed her head, her temples throbbing from intense pain. Just then, it faded.
            “What a nightmare,” she mumbled to herself.
            She had been having these horrible nightmares for some time. For some odd reason or another, the dreams were always the same. Always taking place first in Crescent City, where she prowled the streets for trouble at night, and then Willow was always strapped to a surgical table, some weird people trying to put strange chemicals into her veins. She almost shuddered at the mere thought. Whether it was from the fitful sleeping or staying out all night, she had to somehow rid herself of them. Willow literally leaped out of bed, filled with what seemed like an endless supply of energy.
            She slipped on a ragged pair of worn jeans and a baggy grey sweatshirt. Willow knew that she didn’t exactly have the best fashion sense, but at least she was comfortable with what she wore, not like some other girls who wore skirts that squeezed their legs so tight that they could barely walk and stylish shoes that pinched their feet every time they took a step. Well, for now, she was just gonna stick with plain old comfort. Willow packed up her tattered backpack with her Black Widow uniform in case she needed it along the way. Never know when somebody will need good ol’ spider girl Arachne’s help.
            Willow quietly stepped down the wooden staircase cautiously, careful not to make a sound. Once she was outside, she took lungfuls of the cool night air in. She lived for this time of day, or night, because somehow she rarely ever felt sleepy, except for in the morning. Also, Willow loved how everything was quiet and everyone sound asleep. She smiled a real, true, happy smile, which was rare, in her case. She only smiled when she absolutely wanted to.
            She began to jog, her long, muscular legs pumping with adrenaline. Willow willed herself to run even faster. She was never afraid to push herself to her limits. Willow loved the feel of the sweat and the pumping of muscles. She loved and hated the pain at the same time.       Oh, God, this is just what I needed.                             Pressing herself on further, she ran faster and faster, consuming the extra energy and producing even more as she went. Her backpack bounced with the motion of her body as she ran and her clothes absorbed the heat that radiated off her body, making her feel warm in the chilly October night. Willow suddenly found herself in the dark part of Crescent City, walking the streets that were empty at midnight.
            Silence is all she heard as she slowed her pace down the walk. It was eerily quiet, few noises in the open air. There were no lights besides the moon; it shone its kind face upon Willow, casting moving shadows in dark corners. It almost felt deserted, except for the feeling that someone was watching her. Willow knew better than to look around, but to keep calm. Instead of fear, adrenaline rushed throughout her bloodstream. Her senses became more acute as she walked down an alley, waiting for her stalkers to ambush her. Willow stepped casually, remaining calm while still keeping track of her stalkers’ whereabouts.    She felt their presence, smelled their cologne (obviously men), and heard the silent patter of their shoes against the pavement. Willow ducked into a nearby door to change into her Black Widow uniform.

            Finished changing into her attire Willow, now the Black Widow was ready to confront her pursuers. Slick as a cat, Arachne slinked in front of the two men that dared face her with a challenge.
            “Hello, boys,” Arachne greeted with a tone that was as rich as dark chocolate and as smooth as silk. They were masked; one with a ski mask and the other with a plastic Frankenstein mask.
            “Come with us,” ordered Ski Face. Frankenstein grabbed her forearm, but she just simply flipped him over onto the ground. She was also trained in wrestling and boxing.
            “This is your first and last warning, girlie. Come with us and you won’t get hurt.”
            “No way,” said clenching her fists together, preparing for a fight.
            “Have it your way.” He thrusted his leg out, aiming for her head, but instead Arachne caught his foot with one hand. She twisted it around as he groaned loudly from the pain. Arachne then threw him aside.                                               God, this is too easy. This guy obviously has no idea who he was messing with.      She sauntered over to him and got on top of the now struggling figure. He swung a punch her face and missed. Arachne tried her best to pin him down.
            “I want answers. Who sent you?” She grabbed him by the collar.
            He spit in her face and she growled in anger.
            “Tell me, you idiot!” She tugged hard at the collar, nearly choking Ski Face.
            “Severin Struthers. He told me to say that he,” Ski Face spat out as Arachne loosened her grip and widened her eyes, “sends his best wishes to his daughter.” Arachne stood up and chucked the man to the ground.
            “Go! I never want to see your slimy butts around here again!” she shouted to the masked men as they scampered out of the alley. “NEVER!”
            Arachne brushed herself off.                A father? God, maybe I really am screwed up.                        But Arachne knew she wasn’t. She knew that if she was going to figure this one out, it was time to find some answers.

_____

            Severin watched his fair daughter through a tiny video camera planted in the wall walk weakly as she exited the alley. Willow had been even stronger than she had anticipated, for, of course, she had been trained well. He smirked to himself. It certainly was a pity she had to hear of his existence from one of his men’s henchmen. If only he had made a grander entrance, and then maybe she would have been less surprised at this little piece of good news. Severin observed her collapse to her knees and fall over in a heap. She was truly strong as he was, but made even stronger by the Black Widow DNA in her blood. Willow was like him in her physical appearance, but mentally and emotionally, she was like Lily in every way.
            That was what made her weak. Her emotions. It was only the beginning of his dealings with her.

_____

            She walked, but then, like always before after a grueling fight, Arachne doubled over in weakness, her backpack in one hand, and lay totally exposed for an attack. She blacked out for a while, regaining her energy slowly. Arachne breathed deeply and was shaky as she struggled to stand up, balancing carefully on the brick wall to her right side. Almost fully charged, but still quite weak, Arachne dragged herself down the street and she closed her eyes for just a moment. She suddenly found herself in a graveyard. It was creepy; just haunted by the past. She scanned over the quiet mounds and cold, crumbling stone grave markers. The grass was weed-filled, neglected, probably. An old, willow tree resided in one part of the land. Arachne realized where she was. This was the Crescent City Cemetery, where her own mother was buried.
            Arachne trudged through the thick patches of weeds, grass, and mud. She found herself in front of one lone gravestone. Her sorrowful eyes glazed over with tears as she read the inscription.

Here Lies Lily Amelia Halliwell
Beloved Mother
1964-1990

            Arachne’s eyes brimmed with tears. They started to flow down her deathly pale cheeks. She remembered the sight of her mother as a child, lying there, motionless, cold and dead. She could have used at least a thousand words to describe the way her mother lay there and the way she looked. But only one word could possibly describe it: empty. No words, unfortunately, could truly describe how Arachne felt, but that was very close.     Arachne felt empty, soulless, and lifeless, like nothing.
            The past instantly came flooding back. Her mind filled with images of her younger self strapped onto a surgical table. A doctor stood over her, readying to inject a needle filled with a red fluid. She immediately recognized the scene from her nightmare. She looked at herself and raised her hands to her face. The pulse was practically pounding in her ears.                                             They did something to me.  I don’t know who. But whoever it was, they made me into some kind of super freak.
            Arachne, on her knees, buried her tear-stained face into her hands.
            “What am I?” she whispered harshly.

_____

            There she was. The super freak. God, how she loathed her.

Teagan applied more lip-gloss to her already overly glossed lips in the mirror. She puckered her lips, admiring the beautiful curve of how her upper lip went perfectly into her lower lip. Teagan narrowed her eyes at the reflection of that little brat Willow, the new girl. Willow was talking to that low life named Violet or something that fit her personality and name with her streaked purple and bubble-gum pink hair.

She slammed her locker angrily. It had been only one day and people were flooding all over campus, if you could call a smallish courtyard that, to talk to Willow. Teagan was supposed to be the popular and beautiful one, but apparently even her friends didn’t think that because they had ditched her to go chat with the freak. For some apparent reason, Willow didn’t seem to be enjoying the attention, she observed, running a perfectly tanned hand through her platinum blonde hair.
            People were beginning to back away from her.             Freak, she thought once more. As mysterious as she was, Willow seemed to prefer to be secluded, except for the company of Viola and Allister. Even Al, who worshipped Teagan for her beauty, was obviously all over Willow.

Teagan hated her, not for her bitchiness, but also because of her perfect porcelain skin, acne-free face, and her perfectly straight raven locks, which was grown all the way down to her waist, while Teagan’s was down to her shoulders. Willow, somehow sensing her presence, turned to meet her gaze with eyes that blazed with a killer look that said, “I’ll kill you if you look at me.” Her mouth was turned downward with a scowl.
            “What the hell do you want?” Willow hissed, sounding like a fire sizzling when water hit it and gaze as cold as ice. All chatter around them stopped, waiting for Teagan’s reply.
            “So…what’re the freaks up to today?”
            “Get lost.”
            “Oh no…I don’t think so…”
            “Leave. I’m telling you now,” Willow replied calmly.
            “You think this is gonna get rowdy?” someone whispered.
            “I doubt it,” another person answered.
            Oh, this is gonna get rowdy all right.
            Teagan shoved Willow straight into the lockers. She expected a look of flushed fury on her face, but instead her face was a blank as the rest of her features.
            “I don’t even know why they like you, you weirdo,” she said, pushing Willow again. “You’re nothing but a gothic freak from hell.”
            “Teagan,” Willow warned.
            “What’s wrong? Too scared to play?”

Teagan tried to shove Willow once again, but this time she was taken by surprise when Willow dodged her hands and landed a punch right in her nose.
Teagan gasped and yelled, covering her bleeding nose with one hand and muffling her words, “You bidich! Ook at wat you did to my dose! You boke id!”
            She ran away crying. Viola patted her on the arm.
            “Nice job. It’s about time that Barbie doll finally realized what was coming to her.”
            “Yeah. Man was she a b***h. I can’t believe I actually had a crush on her one time.”
            Al shook his head regretfully. Viola looked at him strangely, shaking her head. But there remained a deeper sparkle in her eyes as she removed her eyes from him. A blush spread over her cheeks.
            “What was up with her?”
            “Pffft! Her? She just gets all pissed when a new girl invades her territory. She was just defending herself, Willow. Nice punch. It was way cool.” The silver ring in her nostril glowed approvingly.
            “Yeah, cool…”
            Willow clutched her books more tightly than ever to her chest, not noticing the sudden redness of Viola’s cheeks.

_____

            Pierce watched Willow train with a new profound energy. He didn’t know what it was about her that rattled him, but maybe it was her mysterious past. Or maybe it’s the “play hard to get” act she does, he thought as he rubbed his clean shaven chin. He just didn’t know. But he knew that every time they touched or if she was even near him, he felt a buzz of electricity shoot down his spine; especially during the practice session they had last week. God, he was feeling at least several hundred buzzes, not to mention he was flushing besides all the exercise. Willow swung blow after blow to the punching bag, using all the energy it appeared she had. Suddenly, she collapsed over on her knees.
            “Oh God! Willow!” He frantically rushed over to her. Pierce kneeled on the ground as people came to stare.
            “Is she all right?”
            “What happened?”
            He pulled her head into his lap, his hand caressing her pale cheek. Just then, her eyes fluttered open like she had just woken up from a dream.
            “God, you had me scared there for a moment! Are you all right?” he said, helping her up. The bystanders continued on with their training.
            “Uh, yeah. I was just resting. I sometimes have these sorts of blackouts and…” She trailed off and looked at him. “Uh, Pierce? What are you doing?” she said with an amused smirk on.
            He looked down and realized that he was holding her around the waist. “Oh, uh, sorry,” Pierce said, lowering his head so she wouldn’t see him blush.
            “Okay, well, see you.” Willow started off to the bars, but he grabbed Willow by the wrist and pulled her towards him.
            “Willow, uh…” She had such sad eyes, he observed, and so pretty, too, with that violet-red color burning deep into his own. He wished that he could just pull her into a passionate embrace. “Uh…”
            “Yeah?”
            He broke his gaze and gathered up all of his self-confidence. “Willow…well, I, uh, was wondering if you, uh, wanted to go to this club called the Crescent Moon with me and some friends sometime?”
            Willow was baffled at this.                  “Why are you asking me?”
            “I dunno. It’s just that, well, I’ve known you for a while, but I really want to get to know you. As yourself, of course.”
            “Well, yeah, sure. That’d be…fine.”
            “Great! I mean, sure, that’s cool. I’ll see you?”
            “Yeah, sure.” Willow sauntered off. Why me? she asked herself.

            Willow lay on her bed for God knows how many minutes. Willow, unable to concentrate on her homework, just laid there, the full moon already peeking its welcoming face in her room, letting rays of its eerie light brighten her dark room. To her it felt like an eternity before she finally felt the need to get up off of her butt and do something. Being lazy wasn’t exactly her forte. She paced impatiently around her room, as if expecting an answer to pop right in front of her.
            “Why did he?” she asked aloud. “Why?”
            No answer. It was dead quiet except for the occasional hoot of an owl or movement of an animal outside. Her foster parents, Michael and Agatha, were sound asleep. It figured. Mike could sleep through even an earthquake with all the sleeping pills he took because of his problems.

Willow suddenly thought of something. What if Pierce liked her in…that way? Oh, God, she couldn’t think anything of it. Having a boyfriend would mean she was opening up, which she especially didn’t want to do because it was difficult for her to trust anyone, even her friends Viola and Al.

Ever since her mother died, Willow had been left scarred and learned not to trust anyone, not even herself because sometimes there was more to people than it seemed. Willow burrowed her brow in thought. Willow had to admit that when he held her like that, it sent a jolt of electricity down her spine. She flushed a bit at the thought.
            “God, what am I thinking?”

She slapped her forehead with a hand. If there was on thing the Academy had taught her when she was taking martial arts lessons privately, it was never to let her own emotions cloud her thoughts. Even at a crucial point in her life like this, it was extremely important that she push those thoughts aside and start to think clearly.

Willow began to think of her father, the one those thugs told her about whom she beat up in the alley.                                       I wonder…does he know Mom’s dead? If he ever was a real father, he would’ve stayed around and met his own daughter, but apparently he already knew about me. I wonder how he did know about me.             Willow pondered on this for quite sometime before she lay in her bed, thinking of it until finally she drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.

            Willow was falling once more into darkness. Suddenly there she was, standing outside a door. Without even touching it, the oak door creaked open a crack to reveal a scene that looked vaguely familiar. She glanced round and her eyes went wide.                        This is Mom’s room. Where she was…murdered.                  Willow let out a quiet gasp as she spotted the man standing over her mom. This time she got a good look at him. He looked awfully familiar to her with his raven hair and his eyes which glanced at her for a nano-second. Those eyes were violet-red like hers. She let out a whimper, falling down onto the floor and weeping.       The man smiled evilly at her, turned to her mom, and shot her.
            “NO! YOU B*****D!” she wailed.

Then everything faded into darkness.

            Willow woke up sweaty from once again another nightmare. Then something came to her. She remembered her mother there on her bedroom floor, helpless as her killer stood over her, ready to shoot. He stared at her with those evil, glinting eyes of his.        Her eyes.       My father. He killed Mom. That sick b*****d.

She threw her fists down onto the mattress, her freakish muscles pulsing from the impact. Lots of questions raced through her mind. Why had her father done it? Why did he leave them? Where was he all this time? Unshed tears burned her eyes and she willingly let them flow.

 

_____

 

            I can tell we get along real well. We’re great friends already.

            Viola closed her heavy eyes as the chilly late October breeze flooded her room and made her shiver slightly. She pulled her blanket over her slim body, running her hands through her partly gelled hair.

I never thought that I’d actually meet someone who’s like me. Similar to me, anyway. I know our relationship as friends have just begun, but already…I feel so loyal to her.

            She yawned and stretched a little, sitting up. Viola knew it was late, but she wanted to stay up anyway. What was the point anyway? She was always tired in the morning no matter what time she went to bed.

            She stood up from her bed and placed her hands on the windowsill, looking out at the city in the distance. It glittered and shimmered beautifully.

            “I can’t believe I live this close to Crescent City. The view’s even better than one of the ocean. And that right there’s certainly saying something.”

            Really and truly, I believe Willow and I are going to be the best of friends.              She inhaled a lungful of the cold and pure night air.

I can sense it.

Author's Note

It will be a long journey, I believe. I will at least add a chapter a day. I hope you, my readers, are enjoying this. :)