It was such a whirlwind of madness. Before she knew it, several men had stormed into her house, all dressed in riot gear that she couldn’t recognize. Brandishing machine guns, pistols, plastic shields, and covered in head-to-toe armor, the men charged into her sanctuary, her home, and shouted commands and other words she could scarcely hear over them crushing glass and wood beneath their heavy boots. They looked prepped for destruction and Penelope had no idea what to think.

Suddenly, everything her father had ever said about the “oppressive human vermin” began to ring with truth to her. Why were they here? Did they have something to do with her parents being gone?

Too terrified to scream, the young girl huddled up behind the couch and covered her head. They would go away. They had to go away. They couldn’t just do this.

A gun was lowered in her direction and remained there. It was obvious that these men were jumping about mutants but knew that looks could be deceiving. Slowly one advanced before he shouted over his shoulder.

“Got one! Looks like the daughter!”

“Good. Let’s get her out of here before the other two show up.”

Penelope squeaked and began to back away, knocking her head against the sturdy coffee table. Her breathing harsh and painful, the young girl watched helplessly as the men swarmed across her very home. They looked inside every door, every room, even ran upstairs, shouting words of “Clear!” over and over again. They were looking for someone and Penelope was only slowly making the connections that they were after her parents.

In a haze she watched as one man crept closer and offered his hand.

“Come on, sweetie,” he said in a voice that was eerily calm for all the destruction that was going on around her. “Come with me. I’ll get you out of here.”

Slowly Penelope began to reach out to him. She didn’t know way. Maybe because he was the calmest thing inside all the surrounding madness. Maybe she found comfort in that. Either way, she wanted out so slowly she reached out to take his hand.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER, YOU MAGGOTS!!”

She could scarcely breathe. The temperature in the room had risen to such a degree that Penelope instantly could feel the sweat stinging her eyes. Recoiling her hand away from the man, she watched as suddenly he shouted and was engulfed in a fireball so hot she could feel her sneakers melting. Scrambling backward, she witnessed the burning, blackening husk of what used to be a man crumble into ashes and snapped her head to look away.

And there she saw pure mayhem.

Her father had apparently charged into the room, lashed out, and sent wave after wave of fire throughout the living room. People screamed and dove for cover, while others attempted to hold their ground and open fire on the man. In such a small room it should have seemed like it was impossible to miss but still, her daddy managed to remain on his two feet, melting bullets and lighting more men on fire as they dared to show themselves.

From the staircase, Penelope could hear the sounds of slashing and roaring. She looked over to see her mother, pouncing on S.W.A.T. members, clawing at their exposed skin with her fingers and gnashing her sharpened canines at their vulnerable faces. Blood was dribbling down her chin and nails since the woman was such a ferocious creature that she never missed.

Whipping around, she locked eyes with Penelope and looked almost relieved. She began to walk towards her. The rest was almost too fast to follow.

Her father turned to offer his wife protection but a downed SWAT member had just enough life to raise his gun and fire. The bullet pierced through her father as if he were nothing special. Down he crumpled.

Penelope gasped and found herself moving onto her two feet in shock and awe. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her own mother also in surprise moving towards her fallen husband. But before any of it could be processed, strong arms wrapped around Penelope from behind and pulled her back towards the kitchen. She screamed.

The feral look in her mother’s eyes was more terrifying than Penelope had ever seen. A roar of anguish flew from her lips as she momentarily forgot her dead partner and focused on the family that was still alive. She charged, slashing and clawing anyone in her way but soon it was good much. A volley of gunshots rang out, and Penelope watched it all in horror.

So much red.

Her mother down, Penelope couldn’t stop crying. The tears were so heavy and they needed to fall so she cried out in as much pain as she could muster, realizing that her parents were gone. But it was in her furious, painful, terrified cry that something inside snapped. A dam burst and suddenly all she saw was red as it poured down over her eyes. And from her own lips was the same malevolent laughter that screeched throughout her nightmares last night.

Only this time…it came from her own lips…

“Hehehahahahah!!!”

Penelope couldn’t recall what happened after that fade to red. She heard the laughing, malevolent voice, then she thought she heard the sound of people screaming, but other than that, there were very few details that she could remember. In the comforting darkness of her mind, she imagined her mother and father standing in front of her, telling her that everything was okay and that this was not the end of her life. It was a horrible set of circumstances, but life was never fair.

She cried. In her mind she cried out that she wanted them. She wanted to see her mom’s smile, taste her father’s bad cooking, even do homework under her mother’s watchful eye. But, most of all, she just wanted to be held by that.

And that was taken away from her. In the darkness she remembered her anger growing, a roar like the ocean all around her and then, as suddenly as it began, it was over. The darkness melted away and Penelope found herself in far different circumstances.

***

The gurney was soft and yet confiding. Paramedics loomed over the young girl as she began to come to, looking off to the side and watch as men and women mulled around the crime scene. It was her home. It was more than just a mere crime scene but they would never see it as more than that. They were picking over bodies, and that was all they would be to them.

Penelope could only catch snippets of what was being said. Something about “mutant terrorists” and “attacking several high officials last night” and “stopped them just in time” fluttered in and out of her ears. But the young orphan had no way or really zoning in on what was being said. Instead all she could see was her parents being zipped up inside of black bags and disappearing from her life forever.

Sadness washed over her and Penelope began to cry. The EMTs who wheeled her away paid no attention to it as they wheeled her out of the house forever, leaving her wondering just what had happened and why there were so many dead police officers...

“Penelope? Penelope? Penelope?”

She blinked as she looked up from the lego pieces that she was putting together. She was back in the therapist’s office, a pile of unused plastic blocks around her at all sides. Her cheeks were wet with tears but the young girl seemed oddly calm. She hadn’t thought about that day in such a long time and remembering it all over again must has sprung up some emotions she had yet to want to face. Turning her big brown eyes up to the therapist, she noticed the woman staring at her.

“Child, are you okay? You went silent for quite a bit there.”

Penelope gulped. She didn’t want to talk about this. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. All she wanted to do was go home and snuggle in her bed with Mr. Tickle, her favorite stuffed rabbit. But one look at the woman and she knew that she was not going to let her go so easily.

The very thought of that made her upset.

“I’m fine,” she whispered. “I want to go home. Please.”

The old therapist shook her head.

“Penelope, you just scratched the surface. I could see it on your face. There is so much more that you need to tap into, that you need to explore if you want to fully integrate your personalities.”

Penelope narrowed her eyes at the woman. “What?”

She simply nodded. “Lilith told me. About Mrs. Jezebel Tickle. She sounds interesting. Can I talk to her?”

Instantly, though anger flared up inside her, Penelope shook her head. “No, no, no!! Please! Don’t encourage her!”

“Penelope, I need to talk to her. It is the only way you can move on. Jezebel? Jezebel please come out.”

Hehehehehahahahehehe…

“Stop it!” Penelope cringed and covered her ears. She did her best to sing a song, a happy one, inside of her head. But all it did was remind her of her mother. Her mother who would sing to her when she was sick or upset and that just brought up more memories.

“Penelope,” the woman attempted to say in as soothing a voice as possible.

SNAP[/b]

“SHUT THE **** UP!” Penelope turned and said in a voice that was in no way her own. Instantly the therapist recoiled in fear.

Eyes wide, clipboard shaking, she watched as Penelope turned her now molten yellow eyes onto the woman. The young girl’s face twisted in that of such a dark and malevolent voice that the woman in no way could accept that this was the same child. Though she may have dealt with dissociative identity disorder, she had never experienced anything like this.

“You want to talk to me, you disgusting human?” Penelope asked. Slowly dots of red could be seen dotting all over her face. The red continued to grow as it poured down over all her features. “Then let’s talk…hehehahahaheehAHAHEHEHAEHEHAE!!”