Created: 28-10-2008
SO NEAR, SO FAR
He let out a contented sigh and rubbed his belly almost habitually. He was glad that he got the day off today; being more than 9 weeks pregnant was taking a toll on both his body and his mind, especially since he was working on investigative assignments, and being unable to use his powers was not helping either.
Out of the blue, his cell phone rang. He picked it up to check on the caller ID and was disappointed that it was not Lance, yet it was not anyone he knew. Usually the only people frequented his cell phone were Lance, Joe, his boss, Leah or Bernie, but the caller ID showed only a number he didn’t recognize and no name to go with it. Curious, he answered the phone.
“Hello, Maximoff speaking.”
“Hey, Pietro. It’s me.”
“Terry?!” Pietro exclaimed in surprise. “H-How did you get my number?”
“Joe gave it to me,” Terry’s voice replied from the phone. “Listen, can you come over? I need to…well, talk to you. I’ll explain everything when you’re here. I’ll text you my address.”
“Umm…OK. I’ll be there ASAP.”
“Thanks, Pietro. See ya.”
Pietro waited for Terry to hang up before doing so. A few minutes later, Terry’s text message came in stating his home address. Pietro stared at it for a moment before grabbing his coat and went out to take a cab. After telling the cab driver the address, he soon found himself zooming through the busy streets and up on the highway.
Throughout the journey, Pietro’s mind wandered towards the sudden mystery call from Terry. Terry, as far as he could remember, was a quiet individual. He kept himself to himself, contented to just sit there in his cubicle designing the format of the articles of the Gazette for the day and never really bothered to mingle much with the people in the office. He remembered approaching him once or twice a month to give him any last minute articles to be formatted into the young boy’s computer and would occasionally buy him an extra cup of coffee for his hard work. He had heard from Joe and the others gossiping about Terry being a single father and that his wife dumped him for another man, and also that Terry sometimes would help his fellow reporters get the scoop of the day by secretly slipping in post-it notes telling them where and what would happen, and when asked, he would just brushed it off as having “reliable insiders”, yet he never showed any interest in wanting to be a reporter himself. How the guys knew that much about him was a mystery, but then again, that’s what you get for being a reporter.
“We’re here. That’ll be $25, please.”
“Oh, uh, thank you,” Pietro broke out of his reverie as he realized the cab has stopped in front of a small rundown apartment and that cab driver was facing him. He fished out $30 and paid him, saying, “Here. Keep the change.”
After getting off the cab, he walked into the apartment, unconsciously rubbing his back to ease the strain from the frontal weight. Adjusting the coat to cover his protruding belly, he told the security what he was here for and the old man directed him to the second floor. Soon he found himself standing in front of a rickety door that read ‘2B’.
“Terry?” Pietro called out, knocking at the door. When there was no answer, he knocked a little louder. “Terry, it’s me, Pietro.”
“It’s open,” a voice barely audible replied from the inside. It sounded almost strained, as if Terry was trying hard to speak out loud.
Pietro let himself in. The apartment room looked just like any other home that had kids. There were toys everywhere on the floor and a few other unrelated things lying about. It was almost like a bachelor’s pad and a nursery room all rolled into one, but at the same time there was something a little odd in the atmosphere, as if there had been a struggle happening in the house. The only odd one out was that there were no kids about where there supposed to be.
“Terry? Where are you?” Pietro called out, looking for his colleague and checking out the place at the same time.
“In the bedroom,” Terry’s voice rang out. “Second floor to your right.”
Pietro followed his direction and, sure enough, found Terry lying down on the bed. Pietro gasped inwardly at the sight of his colleague. Instead of the quiet yet cheerful young boy he had always known, the Terry before him looked terrible. His silver blonde hair looked whiter than blonde and there were dark circles under his crimson eyes. He was so thin that his face was sunken in and he looked like he could just fall asleep and never wake up at any given moment. Against his better judgment, Pietro quickly rushed to his side.
“Oh my God, Terry! What happened to you?” Pietro exclaimed. He put his hand on the poor boy’s head and felt him running a high fever. “You’re burning up! Did you go see a doctor?”
“No doctor can help me with this one,” Terry chuckled and winced a little. Pietro whipped out his cell.
“I’ll call my doctor,” Pietro offered. “I’m sure he can figure out what’s wrong…”
“No,” Terry pushed Pietro’s hand that held the cell down. “Please. Don’t call anybody. I know what I’m having. It’s not contagious, but there’s nothing your doctor can do about it either. You see…I’m dying.”
Pietro turned sharply at Terry smiling at him serenely, hardly believing his ears at such words uttered so nonchalantly.
“You’re…You’re what?”
“I’m dying. My baby and I, we’re dying.”
“B…Baby? What are you talking about?”
“I know who you are, Pietro. I know what you are.”
Pietro’s breath hitched. He knew about him being a mutant? No, it cannot be! He had kept it hidden so well from others. How could Terry, someone who barely existed in the office, know about him? As if reading his mind, Terry chuckled.
“It’s no big deal. To tell you the truth, so am
“You…You are…?” Pietro was shocked. It was very rare to see a random mutant around, let alone in his own workplace, and now here he was, lying there staring at him right at his face.
Terry nodded, “My powers started at a very young age. I was 12 when I first found out that I could make people see what I want them to see. I learned to control my powers on my own and used them to get away with occasional small, petty crimes. I still do sometimes. I hid it so well that not even my parents knew of my ‘talents’.
“When I came to work in the Gazette and met you for the first time, I knew right away that you’re different. I could tell by the way you move about so quickly and do your job in such a flash that you are like me. There were many times I wanted to tell you about myself, but seeing that you have enough troubles of your own, I decided that it’s best if we just act like we’re regular normal friends.”
“But we are not regular! We’re not even normal!” Pietro flailed his arms in the air. “We are of the same kind! God, if I had known you were like me, we would’ve been the best of friends! I didn’t have to be so alone in the office anymore! I didn’t have to be the only odd one out among everyone else! What were you thinking?! God, I should’ve noticed you sooner! I would’ve…”
“You and Lance would’ve had a ball with me,” Terry ended his sentence. Seeing Pietro’s reaction he chuckled weakly again, “Oh, I know you didn’t marry some non-existent wife. I know you and Lance are together. I didn’t become a member of the Gazette without at least having a little bit of the investigative streak…” Terry let out a loud cough and winced before continuing, “And I know you’re pregnant. So am I. In fact, this is my second pregnancy.”
Pietro’s jaw dropped and hung for a few seconds before he tentatively reached his hand over to touch Terry’s belly. Sure enough, he felt a bulge as big as his, or maybe a little bit smaller.
“I went to the same doctor as you did. Dr. Tantum, right?” Terry quietly noted as he allowed Pietro to stroke his belly. “He told me that really long stream of biology nonsense about physical and kinetic mutation. My husband—he’s normal, by the way—was thrilled to hear that I could carry his children and thanks to my illusion powers to hide my pregnancy, I was able to carry my baby to term. I let everyone believed I was a single father on purpose. The last thing I want is them to be on my tail with me being married to a man and make them wonder how I had children. We were very happy though when Candy was born.”
“Candy?” Pietro echoed, remembering the toys about the floor with no child playing with them.
“This is the main reason why I called you here,” Terry replied, his face looking grave. “I have kept my daughter in the closet. I told her to stay there until you show up. I don’t want her to see me like this. Please, Pitero, I want you to take my daughter once I’m dead and take her away from here.”
“M-Me?!” Pietro’s eyes widened in horror. “Why me?? Wha-What am I to do with her?!”
“Do whatever you want with her. Send her to an orphanage if you have to, but take her away from here. I don’t want her to be here when she comes back.”
“When who comes back?” Pietro was starting to fear for his colleague whom he had finally spoken to in more than just a few professional office sentences.
“My mother. My real mother.”
“I need more details than that, Terry.”
Terry took a deep breath and explained, “My mother is a mutant, but my father, who is normal, didn’t know that when he married her. She has the power to poison people at will, and she had been doing that since her college years on people she simply did not like or whenever she felt like it.
“When my father found out she killed our neighbour’s son just because he insulted her new haircut, my father took off with me in the middle of the night and hid out here, changed our names and remarried. I was afraid he would leave me if I told him of my powers, so they were better off not knowing. Life was more or less peaceful for us with this ignorance. So far, the only living soul I told of my true nature was my husband and you.
“But I received a call last week from my parents’ neighbour that there was a break-in at my parents’ house. Nothing was stolen, but my father, stepmother and half-siblings were all dead by some unknown poisoning. I knew then that my real mother had finally caught up with us and was exacting her revenge for leaving her. The day before yesterday the police called and told me that my husband died of a car crash, but the autopsy said that his real cause of death was blood poisoning. I believe she must’ve hijacked his car and killed him.
“Last night, she finally found out where I’m living. I hid Candy in the closet with some food and told her not to come out until you’re here,” Terry let out a long torrent of coughing until he spat out blood that was so dark in red it almost looked black, “I…I tried to fight her. I used whatever powers I have to make her think I was the only one at home. She said killing me instantly was too much of a good thing for me. Before she left, she used her fingernails to inject a dose of her poison that would cause me to die a slow, painful death. It took all my willpower just to call in sick today and lie on bed. I’m…I’m…Aah!!”
Pietro almost jumped back when Terry suddenly cringed to one side bolding his belly. When he removed the blanket he saw blood slowly seeping out of the young boy’s pants and drenching the bed sheets.
“Fuck it, Terry! You gotta let me help you!” Pietro cried frantically, staring at the blood in horror. “You gotta let me call Dr. Tantum! Your baby needs help! You need help!”
“I told you, Pietro!” Terry yelled as he grabbed a fistful of Pietro’s shirt. “No one can help me now! Not even Dr. Tantum! No one has ever survived my mother’s poisoning! Ever! You can’t help me!”
“Then what do you want me to do?! Why the hell am I even here for?!”
“Just…” Terry’s breath was getting shallower and wheezier. “Just…Just stay with me. I…I don’t want to die alone…Please…You’re all I’ve got…”
Pietro’s heart ached at Terry begging him as if his life depended on it, as he was the Grim Reaper himself having some sort of power to ease his pain. He cursed himself inwardly. What’s the point of having the power of speed when you’re not allowed to use it because you’re fucking pregnant with twins and you’re fucking helpless to do anything about it? Hesitantly, with trembling hands, he inched closer to terry and let him lay his silver blonde head on his lap.
“My mother…is not stupid…” Terry spoke in barely a whisper, letting a groan once in a while as the baby within him slowly died. “She may have…figured out…I’m born a mutant. She might…figure out that…I’m not the only one left….it’s a matter of time…before she…she knows Candy exist…”
Pietro tried to hold back his tears as he watched Terry slowly slipping away. Throughout the years working together in the Gazette, how could he be so blind not to see the true existence of this young boy? How could he have overlooked him and though him to be just like everyone else? How could he not realize that he was special and that they could’ve known each other much more than this? How could he…?
“I’m sorry, Pietro…I don’t know…who else to turn to…You’re the only person I could think of…The only person…I could trust…even though we barely knew each other…You and Lance…”
Please…Please don’t speak anymore… Pietro begged, his heart feeling as if it was tearing itself up piece by piece.
“Promise me…Promise me you’ll take Candy away from here…”
Pietro was speechless. He couldn’t say a word. He wouldn’t. He was afraid that he would say something he would regret he never fulfilled.
“Promise me, Pietro…Please…”
“I…I…”
“For Candy’s sake…?”
After a long 5 second silence, Pietro closed his eyes tight and whispered, “Yes, I promise. I promise I will take Candy away from here.”
“I knew…I could…trust you…” Terry smiled in relief as his grip on Pietro’s shirt loosened. “My baby…is dead…It’s…my turn…”
With that, Terry let out one long silent exhale and closed his eyes forever, his hand that held Pietro’s shirt falling slowly and softly onto Pietro’s lap. Pietro felt for a pulse and checked the boy’s breathing to find in vain any signs of life, any indication that it was all an illusion that he created just to tease him and that he would be fine. There was none.
Replacing Terry’s body back into a proper lying position and pulling the covers over his head, Pietro got off the bed slightly shaking and walked around the apartment room in search of Candy. After searching high and low and every nook and cranny of the place that looked like a closet, he found that the only place left he had not checked was a small built-in room on one side of the wall of the kitchen. Sure enough, as he opened the door slowly, there crouched a little girl among the broom, mop and cleaning detergents with silver blonde hair tied in two pony tails and crimson eyes nibbling at a half-empty packet of Chipsmore, with more empty cookie packets lying all around her feet.
“Candy?” Pietro asked the little girl who looked no older than 3.
“Are you Mr. Pietro?” Candy asked timidly.
“Yes.”
“Did Mommy send you here for me?”
“Yes,” Pietro went down to Candy’s eye level, holding out his arms. “Mommy sent me to take you away from here.”
“Where’s Mommy?” Candy asked as she fell into Pietro’s arms.
“He’s…somewhere else far, far away now.”
“Is he dead?”
Pietro stopped short for a while. Candy looked back at him with a pair of knowing eyes only a child could have. He knew instinctively that she more or less knew everything and that he didn’t have to sugar-coat the truth for her sake.
“Yes, Candy. Mommy’s dead. He’s gone off with your Daddy. He won’t be coming back anymore.”
“Where are we going now?” Candy asked as if it was the most natural thing to do.
“First thing’s first, sweetheart.”
Quietly, Pietro carried Candy in his arms and walked out of Terry’s apartment room without looking back. Closing the door behind him, he walked downstairs and out of the apartment building, but not before telling the security a white lie about Terry needing him to baby-sit his daughter. He walked a few meters away from the apartment and took out his cell phone, searching for his “Loser <3”>
“Tro?” Lance’s voice immediately came in at the third ring.
“Hey, hun,” Pietro greeted. Lance could tell from his beloved’s tone that there was something going on.
“Tro? Bunny, what’s wrong? Are the babies OK?”
“Listen. I need to tell you something…”
As Pietro continued, tears finally fell down his cheeks like rain.
