Black as Night | P. Parker

Chapter Ten

When lunch came, Peter met Gwen - and Onyx, to his surprise - at her class, and together they walked to meet Mary-Jane. Then they walked to the cafeteria to get their lunches. This process was foreign to Onyx, but the three friends were very helpful in explaining it to her.

Onyx's eyes surveyed the main room of the cafeteria, searching for Hannah, finding her in the back, by the emergency exit and immediately she moved to go sit with her friend.

But Peter's hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned back to look at him and he gestured to the table where Gwen, Mary-Jane and an unknown male had sat down. "We're going to sit over here, Onyx, if you wanted to join us."

"No, I'm going to sit over there," Onyx told him, gesturing in Hannah's general direction.

"Oh, alright, well my offer stands no matter what you decide," he told her, but Onyx didn't hear him, already walking over towards Hannah. She also missed the hurt look on his face.

Onyx had to dodge around students who were goofing off in the middle of the aisles to get to where Hannah was sitting. Luckily for those around her, she avoided killing or hurting anyone on her way over, but by the time she made it to Hannah, the girl could see murder in her friend's eyes.

"You look like you're about to kill someone," Hannah said instead of a greeting.

"I just might," Onyx replied, dropping her tray onto the table.

Hannah laughed, "then how about we go check our PO box today after school?"

"May won't let me out of the apartment, and I doubt Peter would let me take a different bus route home. We aren't supposed to know anyone here, Han," Onyx reminded her friend.

"Then why are you sitting with me?" the redhead questioned, a smirk on her face.

"Because there was no way I was sitting with them over there, and you were alone. You also are a new student. No one would question two new students sitting together."

Hannah rolled her eyes, but she was smirking, which was as good as a smile with Hannah. "You're too observant sometimes, Nyx."

"Maybe," the dark-haired girl replied, "but it's better than being unobservant."

The two friends arranged to meet up after dark to go and check their PO box to keep Onyx's cover at the Parker household. She left her room to check everyone was in their rooms and no one would see her slip out of her bedroom window.

Upon entering the living room area, Onyx was horrified to see Peter and May sitting on the floor around the coffee table, setting up Monopoly.

"Oh, Onyx!" May called, smiling as she looked up and her eyes landed on the raven-haired girl standing in the doorway.

Peter looked up at the sound of her name coming from his aunt's mouth. A smile spread across his face at seeing her standing there and at that moment, with smiles on both their faces, Onyx could really see how they were related.

"It's family game night," May explained to her, "and since you're a part of our family now..."

May patted the ground next to her, indicating that she wanted the young girl to come sit down with them. That was so far from what Onyx wanted though. All that Onyx wanted to do was meet up with Hannah and get their next contract and get to work.

"I'm not really a game person," Onyx confessed, trying to get out of it.

"Nonsense," May said, "everyone likes games."

"Besides," Peter added in, "it's tradition and we want you to feel like you're a part of our family now, Onyx."

The girl sighed, and just as she was about to protest one last time, she locked eyes with Peter. And like it was him that had the powers to control other's bodies and not her, she found herself agreeing to play their game with them.

"Alright, fine," she said and made her way over to where the aunt and nephew were sitting around the coffee table.

Identical smiles graced the faces of the Parker's.

In Onyx's own family, things like family game night and family movie night never happened. They ate dinner together, and Onyx ate breakfast with her mother and sister, but since her family had never been that close, it was almost like they weren't a family at all.

At least, that was the conclusion that Onyx came to observing the Parker's.

She didn't know why Peter was living with his aunt instead of his parents. She suspected, of course, that he came from a similar situation to her own (an orphan, that is), but she wasn't going to ask him about it.

Ever since her family fell apart for real, Onyx hasn't had much empathy. As much was evident in the way she killed. Who she killed. As long as she got the money, she didn't care about the reasons or the pain she was inflicting.

Onyx wasn't stupid. She knew that something was happening to her because of being in this house with Peter and May. Not only had being around them for less than a full day caused her to dream about killing her father for the first time ever, but she found that she couldn't ask Peter about his parents because if something bad had happened to them, it could mean that the smile on Peter's face might go away.

She didn't want his smile to go away.

Killing people was one thing. Torturing them. There was always a payout, a monetary one. But asking someone about their dead parents... Their possibly dead parents, that is, and risk having their signature smile disappear... That was something entirely different.

Something Onyx could not do.

After they finished their game of Monopoly and Onyx barely restrained herself from killing both Peter and May, she was informed that it was family movie night as well. This, of course, meant more time wasted getting to Hannah and the PO box. But Onyx knew that she couldn't get away.

"Since you're the newest member of our family, why don't you pick a movie, Onyx?" May said, handing her the remote.

"I don't know many movies," Onyx said, trying to get out of it.

"Then you'll get to watch one you don't know," Peter told her with a smile.

"Alright," she sighed and turned her attention to the TV screen.

It took her a long time to find a movie. When reading the description on a horror movie (Onyx's favourite genre), an offhand comment from Peter made up Onyx's mind for her.

"I hate gory horror movies," Peter said.

"Shush, Peter. It's Onyx's choice," May replied.

So a gory horror movie it was. Finding the goriest looking horror movie that Onyx could find, she settled for that one and started the move.

At first, it was great. She got to watch Peter squirm in his seat every time there was a flash of blood on the screen or someone got a limb chopped off. He jumped at every jumpscare while Onyx sat perfectly still in her seat, enjoying the show.

Everything changed when one of the characters in the movie got stabbed in the stomach. A female character with brown eyes that went wide in horror and surprise and even sadness when she was stabbed. Suddenly Onyx felt sick to her stomach and couldn't watch another minute.

She ran for the bathroom and wretched into the toilet, nothing actually coming up, but damn did it feel like something was.

Memories.

Childhood memories of her sister and best friend, Adie, came flooding back into Onyx's mind. And not only did she remember playing together and being happy together, she remembered Adie's face as she watched her sister kill their father.