We spawn in the living room, and I see the faces of my little brothers and sisters looking at us with wide eyes.
"What's going on?" Dorothy wants to know.
"Are they okay?" Molly asks.
"What happened?" Violet asks.
"Calm down, everyone," Ricky says. "It's good now."
"But, what was bad? Molly wouldn't tell us," Johnny wants to know.
I glance at the door.
I don't sense our parents coming.
"Look, we'll tell you what happened, but you can't tell Mom and Dad, okay?" I say.
"Wait," Molly says. "You don't want to tell Mom and Dad? How are we supposed to keep the fact that there is a family of superhumans living two floors beneath us a secret?"
"There's another family of superhuman? Was that girl a superhuman?" Dorothy cries.
"Shush," I say. "If you quiet down, I'll tell you."
My little brothers and sisters fall silent and look at me with curious eyes.
I look at Ricky, thinking to him, 'How long 'till Mom and Dad get here?'
He looks at the clock on the cable box, then looks back at me.
'10 to 15 minutes, give or take,' he thinks back.
I nod. I turn back to the rest of my siblings.
"Alright, yes, there is a family of superhuman that lives downstairs," I begin. "They had a situation. Some of them got hurt, so their little sister must have known that Ricky lived here and come for help. But, don't worry, they're safe now."
"How did she know where Ricky lived?" Johnny asks.
"That girl didn't look like anyone's little sister," Dorothy says.
"I'm not sure how she knew I lived here, but she is a shape-shifter, so she made herself look like her older sister. But, she is the Masked Spider's sister so... Oh, wait," He notices the wide-eyed expressions of our siblings. "Yeah, I kind of know the Masked Spider, or Innie – that's what her real name is."
"The Masked Spider... lives two floors below us..." Molly says incredulously, brow furrowing as she tries to process the information. Her expression relaxes as she understands. "The girl that got burnt; she's the Masked Spider, isn't she?"
Ricky nods.
"You've been talking with the Masked Spider?" Dorothy cries.
"Yeah, I have," Ricky admits. "For a while. But, I didn't know she lived in the building."
"But, we can't tell Mom and Dad about any of this because they're..." I drift off, trying to explain the situation in the lightest way possible.
"They're trying to stay hidden. People are after them, people that will hurt them if they find them. So, we can't tell anyone, not even Mom and Dad, okay?" Ricky says.
"Mommy and Daddy won't hurt them," Violet says, frowning.
"Yeah, we know they won't on purpose. But, sometimes bad things happen even when people are trying to help," I say. "And, we don't want something bad happening to them because they're our friends now."
YOU ARE READING
People Like Us (Completed)
Science Fiction"It's just me and my family against the world. It always has been. Until Now." Innez was thrown onto the wrong side of the tracks. She will do whatever it takes to keep what's left of her family together, even if it means breaking the law. Daniel...
