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1X10 – Ghosts – Act II
Six Years Ago…
Kitty was sitting at the kitchen table with her math homework laid out in front of her. She tapped her pencil against the page and chewed her lip. Deciding that the numbers could wait, she opened her backpack and took out a library book: A History of Ghosts.
The book attempted to take a non-subjective view of the concept of ghosts, looking at the earliest known record of them up to modern day spiritualism. There were several theories regarding how ghosts manifested, but a common agreement was that they usually appeared as a translucent figure…
Running her finger over a supposed ‘ghost picture’ which showed the transparent form of a child sitting on the front porch of a old house, Kitty glanced over at the mirrored china cabinet and was relieved to see that she was still solid. Maybe what happened that morning was just her imagination?
“Finished with your homework?” Kitty’s mother came in, going straight to the refrigerator to pull out the defrosted chicken she was cooking for dinner.
“Um,” she tried to close the ghost book and tuck it away, “nearly there.”
“What’s this?” her mom caught the book before she could make it disappear into her bag, “A History of Ghosts? Why on Earth would you be reading this?”
“Ah,” she thought fast, “it’s for a book report.”
The woman frowned, “A book report?”
“Yeah,” Kitty smiled up at her, “everyone picked books on World War II or the Industrial Revolution, I thought I’d try something different where I can actually draw conclusions instead of just quoting facts.”
“You’re such a clever young girl,” her mom smiled and kissed the top of her head as she laid the book on the table, “I can’t wait to read it.”
Great, now Kitty was going to have to write a fake book report. Though she could have just been honest and told her mom about the incident, that she had turned as transparent as the figures in the photos?
But that was crazy talk…
“Mom,” Kitty asked as her mom who had started to prep the chicken, “do you think ghosts are real?”
“Of course not,” she laughed it off.
“But,” she frowned, glancing back at the mirror, “there is so much evidence, photos, EVP’s.”
“Kitty,” the woman turned around and gave her a sympathetic look, “I know how tempting it is to believe that our loved ones are still around, that’s why so much evidence exists, because people want it to be true when in reality it’s just old pipes or a trick of the light.”
“A trick of the light…” she echoed, could that have been it?
“Are you okay, Kitty?” her mother stepped forward and squatted next to her, brushing her hair. “I know you miss your grandmother.”
“I’ll see her again,” Kitty offered her a sad smile, “I know I will.”
“You’ll see her when you’re meant to see her,” she tapped at the ghost book, “trying to see her where she doesn’t exist will only make you sadder.”
“Grandma wouldn’t want that,” Kitty couldn’t help a small laugh at the memories of the older woman who was blunt and honest to a beautiful fault.
“No, she wouldn’t,” her mother gave her a hug before standing up, closing the math book, “you know, homework can wait. Why don’t you wash up and give me a hand.”
“Okay,” Kitty smiled and started to put her stuff away, any reason not to do math was A-Plus in her book.
As for that morning… there had to be a logical explanation, one she just wasn’t seeing…
…
“I spoke with Miss Moonstar’s parents this morning,” Xaiver told the teachers at breakfast, “they were quite relieved to hear she had been found.”
“Unfortunately the winter storm has closed the Boulder and Denver airports,” Scott added, “I can’t fly in and they can’t fly out. Maybe tomorrow, but we’re looking at probably Wednesday.”
“I could clear you a path,” Ororo spoke up.
“Thanks,” Scott smiled but then frowned, “but we might have to explain that to the FAA when we try to land at a closed airport.”
“The girl is quite stable at the moment,” Charles decided, “it is not an emergency at this time. We will continue to monitor Miss Moonstar’s vitals and keep her comfortable. Dr Reyes will be by later this morning as well.”
“Did her parents know about her mutation?” Jean asked.
“They did,” he nodded, “they recognized her empathic abilities when they manifested a few years ago and they believed she had a connection to the spirit world. Her gift was something to be revered, not feared.”
“That’s good,” Jean smiled, “it will make explaining a telepath link easier.”
“Yes, indeed,” he agreed, it was always easier when the parents were believers that the impossible was possible, “well, I’ll keep you all apprised of the situation.”
…
Jubilee was sitting at the front desk, she had traded morning duties with one of the other students. She didn’t mind, it was pretty quiet usually. The girl could be using the time work on her homework, she even had the books open on her desk, but instead she was using her phone to check out Tumblr.
The intercom buzzed and she glanced up at the security feed to see Agent Duncan in his car at the gate. Clicking the intercom, she said, “Heya, Fred.”
“Jubilee?” it took him a second to recognize her voice. “I’ve come to see Scott. He’s got some hard drives for me.”
“Righty-o,” she hit the entry button, “come on through.”
“Thanks,” he gave her a little wave and turned his attention to the opening gate.
Picking up the receptionist phone she clicked the button that would direct dial Scott’s phone. The school had an internal intercom but she didn’t use it because it was too tempting to have way too much fun with it.
As the phone started to ring, she caught a glimpse of the security camera as Duncan drove through, the image changing…
The car was upside down, smashed in on one side from where the truck slammed into it at exactly fifty-six miles per hour. Bits of glass and twisted metal was scattered across the road. A limp arm could be seen dangling…
“Summers,” Jubilee nearly jumped at the sound of the man’s voice, her eyes going back to the screen only to see the empty drive way, “Hello?”
“Ah,” she cleared her throat, “Fred’s here.”
“Okay, thanks,” Scott replied, “I’ll meet him at the door.”
“Sure,” she replied and hung up quickly, sitting back in the chair.
She knew that image, it was the accident scene photo from the day her parents died. What kind of sick person would hack the feed and flash that up there?
Oh, when she found out, she was going to make them pay.
…
Rogue was sitting at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal, thumbing through a report on her tablet.
“You gave them the girl?” Pietro was suddenly beside her.
“We were just gonna put her in the hospital anyway,” Rogue shrugged, ignoring him and continuing what she was doing.
“It wasn’t what I asked though,” he was frowning, she didn’t have to look at him to know this.
“I made a call,” she swirled her spoon in the cereal, “if you had been around you could have done it yourself.”
He looked like he wanted to argue the point but then his tightened jaw went slack and he sat down on one of the stools, “Have you found anything on the Marauders?”
“Nothing useful,” she admitted, “it’s early days yet. We might have a lead in Jersey.”
“Jersey?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she frowned as she looked up at him, “something I absorbed from that Bella-Agra guard. It might be nothing but it’s been bothering me.”
“If it’s a troublesome memory,” Pietro replied thoughtfully, “then there is likely substance to it.”
“My thoughts exactly,” she nodded, going back to the tablet, “waiting for something to shake loose.”
“Alright then, keep me appraised,” he said and with her nod of acknowledgement he was gone.
Rogue swiped the screen and came across a photo of a warehouse, a storage facility for Bella-Agra, it was checked out though, it was clean.
She rubbed her temple as a couple of voices kicked up, why did this building bother her so much?
…
Kitty bounded down the stairs, flying through the living room to find her mom sitting in her office at her computer, “Morning!”
“Morning, sweetie,” she said but didn’t turn her eyes away from the screen. Her mother was an interior decorator for big companies who wanted to make their lobbies inviting but their work spaces ascetically productive. To this effect there were several design books, sample chips on big key rings, and all other fun stuff just laying about, “You want me to cook you breakfast?”
“Actually,” Kitty couldn’t stop the ‘pretty please’ tone that creep into her voice, “I thought I’d go down to the Panera Bread and grab something. I discovered I didn’t pack any conditioner and had to borrow yours and there’s a Target right next door.”
“Fair enough,” she reached for her purse, “do you need any money?”
“I’m good,” she assured her mother, “I don’t spend all the allowance you send me, plus the school work program is pretty cool, sometimes me and Doug even tutor the local school kids.”
“Well, by all means,” the woman half frowned, half grinned, “don’t let me spoil you or anything.”
“Alright,” she replied with a laugh, “I won’t.”
Her mother chuckled but then said, “Be safe out there, avoid alleys and areas with poor visibility.”
“I know, mom,” Kitty nearly laughed at her protectiveness as she grabbed her coat and scarf from the coat rack, “but I can go intangible, kind of hard to attack what you can’t catch, besides, I’ve been taking a lot of self-defense classes with Logan,” she slipped her coat on, “I can totally kick butt right now, well, half a butt.”
“Self-defense classes?” the woman frowned. “Is that an elective?”
Kitty paused as she turned her lapel down, “Yeah, it’s an after school thing. The Professor offers it because, hey, why shouldn’t someone learn how to defend themselves?”
“This is true,” she shook her head, “the world gets crazier every day.”
“Yeah,” Kitty slipped her scarf on and went to the door, maybe she should tell her mom about the Brotherhood and the other unknown group of mutants?
Right, totally bad idea.
“I’ll be back before lunch,” she called to her mom and then headed out.
…
Bobby was sitting at his desk in the small room that was put aside for him to do his accounting. He wanted to get a jump on preparing everything for the beginning of the year. Not only did he do the school’s taxes and sorted out the W-2’s but he also helped out some of the teachers on their individual tax filing.
Picking up his cell, he dialed a number and waited for it to pick up, “Hey, JP, it’s Bobby. When you got a minute can you come by my offi—”
He was cut off as JP opened the door and popped his head inside, “What you need?”
“A copy of your work visa,” Bobby frowned, shifting through the papers on his desk, “you technically started working for us in March, at least as far as Uncle Sam is concerned. I thought I had it but apparently I don’t.”
“Right,” JP walked in, leaving the door open, “Ororo handled most of the paperwork, I think she has all that in her office safe.”
“Of course,” why didn’t he think of that? “What about this offshore account of yours?”
“I think it doesn’t count,” the man obviously wasn’t too sure about that.
Bobby glanced up, “You think it doesn’t count?”
JP shrugged non-apologetically, “What would it cost to have you do my taxes for me?”
Sitting back in his chair and steepling his fingers, “Well, I take payment in the form of cheeseburgers, caffeine, nerf guns, and—” Bobby stood up quickly in his fright, knocking his chair over in the process.
There was a man standing in the doorway, older, lightly graying blonde hair and a strong square chin on his perpetually disappointed looking face.
“What is it?” JP turned to see what startled him but the man was gone. “Bobby?”
“I thought…” he rubbed his head, “that’s weird, I swear my father was standing right there.”
“Are you okay?” the speedster asked him with a look of concern on his face.
“Yeah, yeah,” Bobby shook his head and grabbed his chair, “probably been at this for too long.”
“Why don’t you take a break then,” JP agreed, “go play some X-Box for a bit, relax your brain.”
“Good idea,” Bobby straightened the papers which were nearly falling off the desk and shook his head again. If he was already started to crack now, tax season was going to be killer.
…
Kitty handed over a twenty to the Panera Bread cashier and picked up her cookie and order number. After accepting her change she shoved the money into her pocket and moved aside, looking around for a table to sit at. It was fairly busy but there were a few single seats.
“Kitty Pyrde,” she heard her name and glanced over to see a girl about her age stand from a table, “while I live and breathe.”
“Lori,” it took her a second to recognize the petite blonde, “wow, it’s been awhile.”
“A couple of years,” Lori gave her a hug as best she could with Kitty’s hands full, “here set with us, you remember Nina.”
Getting a good look at the other girls sitting at the table, Kitty saw the dark haired girl with blue stripes in her hair that was Nina and smiled at her, waving her fingers, “Hey, Nina, love the hair.”
“Thanks,” Nina smiled back, touching her awesome looking locks.
“This is Latisha,” Lori introduced the other two girls sitting at the table as Kitty sat her stuff down, “and Courtney.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kitty smiled and then turned to a four person table which was only using three of the chairs, “can I take this?”
“Sure,” one of them said and Kitty said thanks, grabbing the chair and getting herself situated at the table.
“Kitty Pyrde,” Latisha asked, “as in Katherine Pyrde? The girl in the picture?”
“The one and only,” Lori said proudly, then turned to Kitty, “Latisha and Courtney are also taking ballet, Miss Morgan still has our photo up from that regional championship we won, you remember that?”
“Oh, wow,” Kitty laughed at the nostalgia, “I was like, twelve.”
“But the height you were getting on your jumps,” Lori pointed out, “she was so proud.”
“Once in a lifetime, I swear,” she replied modestly with a touch of pink to her cheeks.
“Do you still dance?” Latisha asked her.
“Not steadily,” Kitty admitted, “but the school has this gym with a mirrored wall and if I can get some alone time I’ll practice a bit.”
“That’s right,” Nina snapped her fingers, “you go to Warren’s alma mater.”
“What, what now?” Courtney perked up.
“The Xavier Institute,” Nina explained, “the same one Warren Worthington III went to.”
“Oh my god,” the girl’s eyes widened as she looked to Kitty, “have you met him?”
“A couple of times,” she said slowly, not sure if she should admit to it or not.
“Is he as dreamy in person?” Courtney asked, a silly grin on her face.
“Ah,” for some reason all Kitty could think of was Warren’s feathery wings knocking stuff over, “he’s nice.”
“I have no idea what you see in that man,” Lori made a face, “he wears trench coats all the time, it’s so weird.”
“It’s a fashion statement,” Latisha defended him, “a rebellion against the over-objectification of the human body.”
Kitty knitted her brow, is that really what people thought?
Thankfully the conversation didn’t devolve farther as the waiter showed up with her veggie breakfast sandwich and cleared the table of some of the girl’s empty dishes.
“So,” Lori asked, “get up to anything interesting at that school?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” Kitty shrugged as she picked up the sandwich, “fighting a secret terrorist organization of super humans bent on subjugating the human race.”
There was a moment of silence before the table burst into laughter.
“Good to see you still have your sense of humor,” Lori laughed, grabbing her drink.
“Wait,” it just occurred to Kitty, “it’s Monday, shouldn’t you guys be in school?”
“Snow day,” they all said at once.
Kitty frowned, “There is almost no snow outside.”
“Yeah, but you know how it is,” Nina sighed, “the snow days are built into the schedule and the teachers don’t want to go back anymore than we do.”
“Oh, right,” Kitty had totally forgotten about that tendency since she lived on campus and had a headmaster who could manipulate the weather.
“Why aren’t you at school?” Lori asked.
“I got the week off to come home for the holiday,” she told her.
“Thanksgiving?” Lori was confused then the light bulb went on, “Oh, that’s right, Happy Hanukkah.”
“Thanks,” she smiled at the girl then bit into her sandwich.
“You don’t look Jewish,” Courtney said and it was clear the girl wasn’t ‘trying to be funny’, not that it would have been funny if she had.
Kitty blinked and chewed her food as Lori face palmed.
…
“I’m back,” Kitty said as she closed the door behind her, a Target bag in hand.
Her mother waved to her but she was on the phone, “No, we need the painters in there on the twelfth if we want to have this ready for the cold opening.”
Seeing that she’d probably be busy for a bit, Kitty headed upstairs to put away her conditioner and the few other things she decided to grab while she was there. While she unloaded, she woke up her laptop and put in a call to Doug.
“Hey, Kitty,” he answered, “you just caught me, was about to head to lunch.”
“Gotta love time zones,” she laughed and sat down at her desk, “you got my assignments for me?”
“Yeah,” he pulled some paper from his book bag, “but it’s not much, it’s kinda crazy around here.”
“Moreso than usual?” she smirked.
“Well,” he leaned forward, “when Scott got back from picking everyone up, that Acolyte, Rogue, was waiting for him.”
“Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“She didn’t attack them,” Doug told her, “she was dropping off this girl who had been one of the mutants held at that research facility. She’s in a coma and the Professor thinks she just needs to see her parents again and she’ll come out of it.”
“Oh, wow,” Kitty blinked, that was pretty interesting, “the Acolytes just handed her over?”
“They thought the Professor would be better able help her, I guess,” Doug shrugged, “oh, and Jubilee is on a tirade now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, she thinks someone is playing a cruel joke on her,” her friend explained, “wanted me to look into the security feed for the reception desk. Apparently someone flashed up the newspaper photo from when her parents died in that car crash.”
“That’s horrible,” Kitty was aghast, “who would do such a thing?”
“I dunno,” he frowned, “Miss Munroe okayed me to look through the whole system, but I can’t find anything, there’s no evidence anyone messed with it.”
“That’s a sick joke,” Kitty shook her head, “I hope you figure out who did it.”
“I’ll keep looking,” he nodded, “anyway, I want to get to the lunchroom before all the good stuff is gone, talk to you later.”
“Seeya later,” she understood and waved as he disconnected.
Kitty sighed and sat back, trying to figure out what to do with herself. It was nice catching up with Lori and Nina, but she wasn’t exactly still good friends with them. Her mom was busy with her job which was fair enough, she’d come get Kitty for lunch and they’d hang out for a bit. Then tonight Trevor would come over for dinner.
But right now… other than maybe checking out Netflix, there wasn’t much for her to do.
Getting up, Kitty went over to her bed and flopped down, cuddling her pillow. For a girl who was on vacation and not having to do much, she was awful exhausted.
…
Six Years Ago…
Kitty was curled in bed with her stuffed purple dragon she had since she was seven. She was having a particularly bad dream. Remembering the day she learned her grandmother was dead, the moment she cried and ran away.
She kept running, but the hallway kept getting longer.
“Kitty,” a voice called out to her.
The girl stopped and turned around, her grandmother standing in the doorway at the end of the hall, bathed in white light.
“Come, Kitty,” her grandmother held out her hand, “it’s your time.”
“No,” she shook her head violently, trying to run away again only to be faced with a blank wall and no way to escape.
“No!” Kitty bolted upright in bed, the dream had been far too vivid for her liking and she could feel tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Wha…” she looked at her hands, like before they were transparent. She held them up, her breathing quickening as she quickly grew terrified.
Next she was falling, a scream ripping from her lungs as she fell through her bed and the floor to find herself landing on the sofa in the living room.
Rolling onto the floor, she became solid, but as she pushed herself up to stand she went transparent again. Her body began to flicker on and off as if someone was playing with a switch.
“Kitty,” her parents raced down the stairs, her father leading the way with a baseball bat in hand as if he suspected home invaders.
The two stopped cold when they saw her standing in the middle of the living room, literally a ghost of herself.
“Am I a ghost?” she asked them as she passed her hand through a table lamp, “am I dead?”
All her parents did was stand there, staring at her in shock.
“AM I DEAD?!” she screamed.
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