There are only four words that mean so much more than I love you, and those words are I'm here for you ~ Anonymous
"Mom, where... where were you?" I ask, trying to avoid the discussion of the elephant in the room. More like the pig who is sitting on my floor like the little bitch he is.
"Where was I?" she scoffs, "I was picking up groceries! What on... what is... how do I even put this into words?! What on earth is that and where did you get that from?"
I instantly bring my hand to my side, lowering the gun from Phil's forehead. "Mom, please. You have to listen to me," I plead.
She throws her hands to her head in shock, "listen to you?! Does it look like I have a choice? Raven, you are carrying a gun. A freaking gun! This is... this is insane! How am I supposed to be reacting now? I haven't mentally prepared myself for my daughter pointing a gun at my fiancee because I never expected her reaching this point!"
The only thing that is on my mind is attacking Phil and defending myself; to tell mom to grab Cam and run because this psychopath is working with Bloody Mary. But she never thought that I would be reaching this point? "What is that supposed to mean?" I blurt out, knitting my eyebrows together.
"The divorce, your father dying, you were bound to explode at some point! The fact that you have been attacking Phil sneakily all this time, I forgave you for that. You stealing thousands of dollars from my bank account? I forgave you for that instantly. You sneaking out and leaving Cam home alone, I forgave you for that. You're a wreck, Raven! You know this!" she vents and vents.
It hurts that my own mother thinks of me more lowly than I do. Her words are like knives and swords and are shouldn't be making me feel as down as I am feeling right now.
She buries her face into her hands and mumbles into her palms, "I forgave you for it all, because I knew you were going through a hard time. Your father brought you a motorbike and I bit my tongue, holding back all of my opinions on it! I didn't know about the cancer obviously, but I still let you off the hook for all of the small things you've done that have irritated me! But this, this? Holding up a gun? This is way past just gone, Raven!"
Her hands fall down and she gives me that look that every mother has. You know, the look? The one that makes you feel guilty even if you haven't done anything wrong? My head instantly droops, facing the floor to avoid her judgmental eyes.
What I say next will either fix or ruin everything. "He isn't who you think he is," I hiss under my breath.
She tilts her head curiously. Phil's eyes dart between the two of us and he lets out another grunt in pain. Mom walks over to him with concern and examines his injuries, her motherly-type instincts kicking in. "This is horrific," she gasps breathlessly. Now knowing her daughter is some kind of monster, she turns back to look at me, a fire burning in her eyes. "Who isn't who I think he is?!" she spits.
"Phil, mom!" each word is emphasized to imply my irritation, "Phil isn't who you think he is!"
She chuckles coolly, reminding me of the way dad did. The sheer thought of him strikes a cord in my heart, but I choose to fight the pain, knowing that now is most definitely not the time to get emotional. My cold demeanor needs to be maintained to highlight the fact that I am a force to be dealt with since, well... you know, I am a super human. "So what? Phil isn't human? He's an alien?" she scoffs.
"Now is not the time for your sarcastic remarks!" I fire back.
"But is is the time for you to be accusing my fiancee of things that he hasn't done?"
"But I--"
She interrupts me almost immediately, "--but what? You're just lashing out because your dad is dead? Raven, I get it! He's dead. It hurt me too! I know you don't like Phil and I know you despise the idea that we're a family now and we're getting married and he's replacing your dad, but you need to get it through your head! It's happening! Of all things, I never expected you to stoop this slow."
Wow. That really struck an emotional cord in me. "So what? If Cam went and pulled something like this, you would somewhat believe him?" I ask incredulously.
"Yes. Yes I would, actually," my mom is a brutally honest woman. Too honest even. "Because Cam doesn't take difficult news the way you take it!"
This is absolutely heartbreaking. My mom hates me or at least is giving off that impression which is almost equally as bad. "This is ridiculous! You're just attacking me for the way I'm coping now? I'm sorry to break your fragile heart, but Phil is siding with a dictator who is trying to take over the whole fucking United States!"
Yelling at such a volume causes me to begin to pant. Silence fills the room, excluding my heavy breathing. Something new flashes across mom's face, a brand new emotion. Her eyes glimmer with something, giving me a small bit of hope. Maybe she actually believes me and judging from the fear stricken expression on Phil's face, he also thinks that there is a big chance of this happening.
But never, never ever would I have expected these words to come out of her mouth. "Get out," she blurts.
A smirk grows and sits smugly on Phil's face but my heart sinks to my feet. What does she... Get out. "What do you mean?" my voice has dropped to almost a whisper. If it weren't for the silence in tq;he room and the fact that you could hear a pin drop, she wouldn't have even heard me.
"I meant it exactly how it sounded," her voice is stern and tense, "I want you out of my house, Raven... now."
There's no denying the glee that Phil is emitting right now and the shock that is tickling my bones. She can't be serious... right?
"Mom, come on," I say worriedly, "I know that this is all crazy, but—"
"—no. I want you out of my house, Raven," she shoots back at me.
"Mom, I'm your daughter. You can't just kick me out like this!" I protest.
She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath before breaking me, "I can and I will kick you out like this. No daughter of mine would go to such an extreme. Get. Out."
She is 100% serious. She is fully committed to this. She will not be budging now, will she? "Can I at least pack some things to take with me?" I ask with a pleasing tone.
"No. Just... just go."
This sucks. This literally sucks so much. My own mother is kicking me out. She's shocked by my extent apparently, even though it is the truth. But she's kicking me out because I am lying, according to her. In her defense, there is no evidence to support my argument. On the other hand, there is no evidence to support her argument either. Why would I just make this up out of the blue? Am I that bored? Do I carry that much hatred towards Phil? Now, I certainly do.
Looking at her stern face that hasn't even moved a muscle, it is clear that she won't be changing her mind anytime soon. My entire body feels heavy and my feet have to drag me out of my room. On the way out, I leave the gun on my desk. "Take that with you," she orders quietly, "I don't want that in my home either."
"Mom, where am I supposed to go?" I ask in a desperate tone.
"I don't know and I don't care," she simply replies, "you aren't my problem anymore."
She begins to tend to Phil, examining his injuries again. I shake my head slowly and hide the gun in the waistband of my jeans before storming towards my door. On the way out, I manage to catch a quick glimpse of the photo I had ripped all that time ago, laying down on the table. Even the photo has given up all hope for this family. This is what it has come to. Two down, two to go.
If anything, I am very glad that Cam wasn't here to witness this. It would have crushed him.
She didn't even let me take the keys to my bike. So after walking around aimlessly for hours, I have finally found a place to reside. Of all places I expected to be just hours ago, sitting on a park bench with just a phone, a watch, a gun and the clothes I'm wearing was definitely not at the top of my list. The sun has set comfortably now, no pedestrians walking on the footpaths and hardly any cars driving past on what are typically busy roads. The trees billow in the wind and the bushes rustle, making my heart leap several times a minute.
A chilly breeze wafts past, forming goosebumps on my arm.Inside of the house was warm and therefore I didn't need any large coats or jumpers. But out here, it's November weather meaning that it's almost winter which is the worst kind of weather. And it's night time! How on earth am I going to survive out here without any money and without any warm things. Whether it's the cold that's making me delirious or it's actually happening, I swear that I can see my lips turning into a light shade of blue.
And once again, whether it's the cold that's making me delirious or it's actually happening, something moves up above in the trees. I would activate my suit, but there's no point. What if it's just a squirrel or something? Even if it's a serial killer coming to end my life, why not let it happen? The only things that remain precious to me in this world and who would actually be somewhat sad are Cassie and Cam. That's fine by me since the rest of the world basically wants me to die.
Enough with that attitude. The entire country is depending on you to save their asses.
My subconscious has a good point there. My heart beats a little rapidly when I see the thing move once again. Is that...
They land very super-hero like several feet in front of me and make eye contact with me. It is Spider-Man... who is also Peter. It is Peter... who is also Spider-Man. Nope, still makes no sense.
He whips off his mask and knits his eyebrows together in confusion before approaching me. The action of taking of the mask reminds me of how cute he is. But my brain reminds me that he hurt me and expected me to forgive him. I look away from his face so as to avoid any more thoughts about my feelings for him.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asks casually, standing in front of me and towering over me.
Do I tell him or do I not? Truthfully, there is no harm in telling him. By not telling him, it'll only cause more tension between us and my mindset a few days ago was to always end a conversation on a happy note because you never know when you could lose them.
I mutter under my breath, "my mom kicked me out."
His head tilts like a puppy, "why?"
I dig into the waistband of my pants and whip out the gun, "because of this." My eyes still look into the distance, but I see him flinch. "I'm not going to shoot you," I murmur before throwing it back in there.
An awkward silence returns, filling the atmosphere. The wind seems to get more harsh now, making Peter shiver. "It's freezing out here!" he protests.
I bury my face in my hands and respond with frustration, "I am the Ice Queen, I think I'll be fine."
He sways back and forth in front of me, "I think you should come and stay at my place. May will be happy to have you there and so will I."
"No you wouldn't," I tell him.
"And how would you know?"
"Because," I sigh, "last time, MJ and you got into a fight over me wearing your sweater. How would she feel knowing that I'm staying with you. You know, with my feelings for you."
Despite the circumstances, a small smile grows on his face, "Raven, I didn't tell anyone."
For some reason, this surprises me, "wait, really?!"
"That was a hard thing for you to do and you still did it. It would be so wrong of me to tell someone, especially my girlfriend," he shrugs, "and besides, I guess I kind of want to prove I'm worthy."
His words send butterflies to flap rapidly in my stomach. He is a gentleman, no matter how much I hate to admit it. He is worthy of my feelings.
"So will you come with me?" he pouts mockingly.
I giggle softly but begin to hesitate, "I would, but it just doesn't--"
"--I'm good at tech. I can fix your wings for you," he interrupts.
This definitely grabs my attention. My head snaps towards him, looking him dead set in the eyes. "Okay," I smile gently, "you have yourself a deal, Spider-Boy."