That night Mavis had a strange dream. A hazy, fine mist lingered in the air. This was a realm of pure energy. Mavis stood at the edge of a large floating island.

  From far in the distance ahead, up in the clouds, a strand of energy, as if a wire, existed down to nearer where she was, where it then split in two. One link, the stronger of the two, connected to a black telephone handset atop a small desk in front of Mavis. She was holding the receiver. The other link was connected to another black telephone on a small desk in front of someone else. It was hazy, but perhaps it was another girl. Mavis focused her vision to try and get a clearer look at her. The mist parted. Yes - it was a girl who looked exactly like her.

  A chill ran up Mavis’s spine.

  The girl noticed Mavis looking at her, and moved the receiver of the telephone away from her ear. She screamed angrily at Mavis. “Hang up the line!” was what Mavis believed she had said, but her voice was very distant despite her apparent close proximity.

  Mavis slowly brought the receiver of her own telephone up to her ear. All she heard was a painful high-pitched solid tone.

  ??????

  James Collins was an accountant in his mid fifties. He had set his alarm to the usual early time of 6:30AM since he needed to be at the office by 8. As usual, when his alarm rang he silenced it and started to get up out of bed slowly so as not to wake his wife. But today something was different. His gaze could see the end of the bedsheets which appeared to have been singed or burnt, leaving a trace of black soot around an edge that shouldn't have been there. He looked over towards his wife and realised with horror that instead of her there was a young girl in her mid twenties, dressed in black, sleeping there on top of the mattress which was covered with black soot and dust on her side.

  James jumped out of bed into a heightened state of alert and screamed. “Why are you here? Where is my wife?” he shouted, confused, angry and afraid at the same time. He didn’t recognise her. But…

  The events of the previous day flashed through his mind. Last night he had just collapsed in bed after a quick dinner with his wife, exhausted from work, and hadn't seen any of the news. But earlier, he had spoken with colleagues at work who had mentioned there had been some kind of attack on Los Angeles. Terrorists?

  “Many thought it was an earthquake at first. But then there were reports of this girl seen flying over the city. With no aircraft, no glider, no parachute, nothing. Just flying.” A co-worker had said.

  By the time he had gotten home, James had completely forgotten about it. Neither had his wife said anything. They had kissed each other goodnight, not knowing it would be their last. Or had his wife known, but chose not to discuss it so as not to worry him? He would never know.

  “She's dead.” Mavis’s voice broke the silence as she woke up slowly and turned over in the bed to look at James coldly, her eyes half open.

  James was gripped with fear, frozen in place, only now realising his mistake. His hands began to shake, as he was sure he was about to die. His mind was racing from having to process the horror of what had happened overnight after just waking up, grief for his wife, and fear for his own life at the same time.

  Mavis could hear his heart pounding in his chest. She contemplated throwing him out of the window for disturbing her sleep, then hated the thought of having to make her own breakfast. She also couldn't be bothered to get out of bed just yet.

  "Make me breakfast and I'll spare your life," Mavis demanded. As if he didn't already need convincing she was serious, her eyes glowed white and she shot a quick burst of energy at his feet, leaving a black scorch mark on the carpet. James jumped and ran out of the room. He saw the entrance door with the broken lock and handle lying on the floor, along with splintered wood, and a hole the size of a fist where they should be.

  He thought of making a quick escape but was cut off by the sound of Mavis’s voice.

  “I can still see you. Don't try anything," she said.

  James hurriedly made his way to the kitchen to prepare the meal. He had difficulty because his hands were still shaking uncontrollably. Although there was a landline phone hanging on the wall nearby, and he had his mobile phone with him, he knew she could see and hear him so he wouldn't get any chance to call for help.

  Mavis got out of bed. James had regained some of his composure with the threat of his imminent death seeming to have passed. He was cooking some scrambled eggs. Mavis walked over to where the landline phone was hanging on the wall, ripped it out of its socket, dropped it to the ground and crushed it with her foot.

  "Just to be safe," she smiled at him and outstretched an arm towards him, snapping her fingers. "Your mobile phone" she gestured, which she could see in his pocket. He immediately let go of the frying pan and reached into his pocket to hand it to her. She crushed it in her hand and let it drop to the floor.

  "Don't even try running, or I will come after you," Mavis warned, glancing towards the entrance door as she walked towards the bathroom.

  ??????

  Mavis was seated at the dining table waiting to be served. She watched James cook in complete silence for a few minutes.

  "Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked.

  A chill ran up James’s spine. He didn't know what to say. He could feel her eyes fixed on him, staring at him and right through him. He looked over his shoulder at her.

  "I hope you'll be satisfied with what I'm making for breakfast," his voice trembled in fear.

  She got up and moved towards him. Standing right next to him she put her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. He winced as she touched him, his glassy eyes staring straight ahead, terrified.

  "Relax, you're so tense!" she exclaimed, giving him a small gentle shake. "I'm sorry about your wife, but I really needed a place to sleep and she was in the way."

  "You could have slept on the couch" he replied timidly.

  "Yeah, no thanks," she replied dangerously as she went back to her seat at the table.

  "It would have been less dusty," James almost whispered for fear of her getting mad at him for continuing to question her actions.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "That's true, I guess." was her response, hearing him clearly.

  "Why even come to my place, don't you have your own home somewhere? Who are you? Why are you doing this?" James suddenly had the courage to ask without his voice trembling in fear, which he immediately regretted as the words left his mouth. “What was I thinking!” he thought to himself as he tried to stop himself from breaking into tears.

  “I don't have a home. All my life I lived in a box, away from the rest of the world. The people who created me treated me like dirt. They tortured me and experimented on me. My name is Mavis.”

  James shuddered to think of what had transpired and could only imagine the horrors she was capable of. He refrained from asking any more questions. Mavis got up and started to walk around the small apartment, observing things she hadn't noticed yesterday because she was so tired. She picked up a framed photo of James with his wife and their two children, a boy and a girl. They were both grown up and lived elsewhere. James saw what she was doing and felt even more uneasy. What if she decided to stay here, keeping him as a hostage? Surely the neighbours would know something was up, and his workplace when he didn't show up. But what if she decided to keep him as a slave and fly himself with her to a new location. What if she just killed him on the spot when she was done with him? Would he ever see his children again? A tear began to form inside his eye but he quickly wiped it away before he could draw any suspicion to himself.

  ??????

  The food was ready. James took the plate and walked towards Mavis who was seated at the table with a dangerous smirk on her face. As he was putting the plate down on the table his hands began to tremble again. He knew this was it. He was done and now he was going to die. Mavis took the plate from him with her right hand and with her left, gently grabbed his arm, stopping the trembling.

  "I said you could relax," Mavis referred to her earlier statement with a hint of annoyance.

  James tried to regain his composure, not knowing whether he believed her. "If... If that's not enough I can make some more," he stuttered.

  Mavis waved him away. He took a few steps back and looked towards the bathroom. He really needed to go since he hadn't gone since he'd woken up. He didn't know whether he should ask permission, but feared interrupting her would cause her to be angry with him. The bathroom was near the bedroom and where she was seated was between him and the exit, so he figured there'd be no risk of her thinking he was trying to escape. As he passed by the door to his bedroom on the way to the bathroom, he couldn't bear to look inside at where only last night he had lay in bed peacefully with his wife who was now gone, her murderer eating breakfast at his table.

  ??????

  James exited the bathroom just as Mavis was finishing her breakfast. "That was fast," he thought to himself, referring to the speed at which she had eaten her meal.

  "So, what's your name?" she enquired of him curiously.

  "James," he answered timidly.

  "Mind if I stay for a while?" she asked teasingly as if he had any choice in the matter.

  "Sure, stay as long as you like," he attempted to please her by playing along with her game. But his words were masked by the obvious renewed fear in his voice at her request.

  Mavis got up from the table and stared at the fridge. She went over to it and opened the freezer.

  “Shame, no ice-cream.” She picked out an ice cube and held it in her hands, feeling it in her fingers. Then she crushed it.

  She went over to sit on the couch and put her feet up to rest on the coffee table. “Can you make me something more to eat, I'm still starving,” she requested. "And make something for yourself too if you want." After a short pause, she continued: "Don't want you to starve!" she joked ironically, letting out a small laugh.

  “If you wanted someone to cook all day for you, you should have killed me instead of my wife, she's the one who does all the cooking around here,” James tried his own attempt at a joke but immediately moved to correct himself as his fear returned. “Not that I'm ungrateful for you sparing me, I didn't mean that,” he said quickly as his voice faded with the last word barely a whisper.

  Mavis laughed and stared right at him, sending a chill up his spine. His resolve was broken, he couldn't keep this up anymore.

  "If you're going to kill me just get it over with!" he screamed in a mixture of hate, anger, agony and fear.

  “If I had wanted to kill you, you would already be dead by now.” her tone was deadly serious. She looked away, now seemingly amused by his outburst. "I'm just trying to be nice." she said.

  James recomposed himself and shuffled into the kitchen, relieved she had not just killed him right then and there. He took solace in the fact she was now distracted with the TV. She must have been curious about it, perhaps trying to find out how to turn it on.

  “Hey, what's this?” Mavis picked up the remote control for the television.

  “It's the remote for the TV. Here, let me show you how it works.” James went over to her, and used the remote to turn on the flat-screen television mounted on the wall across the room.

  Mavis was taken aback when the screen with moving pictures flickered to life. Realising this must have been her first encounter with such an appliance, James pointed to it. “It's called a television. There's multiple channels, each receiving a different broadcast from different stations.” He cycled through them. They all showed news coverage of yesterday's events and the ongoing recovery effort. James spaced out.

  “Are you ok?” Mavis enquired as James returned to the kitchen. He didn’t respond. The TV broadcast continued in the background as James resumed cooking.

  “Today the people of Seattle, and indeed America wake up in a country broken and bruised by the events of yesterday. Fire crews have been working through the night attempting to put out extensive fires all over the city.” Video clips on the TV mirrored the reporter's words.

  A fireman appeared on screen "It's been chaos out here, who knows how many good men we've lost. I've been 25 years on the job and can safely say this has been the worst thing we've ever faced."

  The reporter continued: “Footage of chilling scenes in Los Angeles and other nearby cities have continued to come in across social media, showing evidence of what can only be described as a senseless massacre.” The TV displayed horrific video clips of the scenes.

  One such showed a woman crying: "I was here walking home from a restaurant with my children when I saw her above me and we ran, there was a flash of blue light and my son, he was hit by a falling concrete slab and crushed," she sobbed.

  The reporter continued: “Falling debris: a major cause of death last night, resulting from the girl’s mysterious ability to manipulate matter and cause entire streets of buildings to collapse at a distance.” The TV displayed more horrific video, after which, the reporter moved on. “The President held a press conference late last night to address the nation.”

  The TV showed the President speaking from his secure bunker. "I would like to offer my condolences to all those grieving families out there tonight. This tragedy will no doubt remain vivid in our minds for generations to come. My message for you is this: Stay at home. Do not panic. The full resources of the United States government are being utilised this moment to find and stop this girl from causing more harm." As the president finished speaking, the TV cut back to the reporter.

  “So the question remains: Where is this girl, where and when will she strike next, and can she be stopped? Back to you in the studio.”

  The anchor silently shook his head: "Devastating. " He looked up to face the camera directly. "A reminder to all our viewers, please remain calm and do not panic. A nationwide curfew and martial law has been instituted – please stay home and avoid any non-essential travel. If you are unsure of the whereabouts of loved ones, do not call emergency services, those lines should be reserved for genuine, immediate emergencies only. And for any information on the whereabouts of the female perpetrator, please call your local police department."

  James could hear the TV in the background as he walked over to the table with two plates of food. He sat down and Mavis joined him at the table, adjusting the position of her plate and sitting directly opposite him. She began to eat her food ravenously. He looked at her and could see all of her facial features up close now. She reminded him of his own daughter. With the TV still running in the background, he wondered to himself how someone so young and beautiful could be the cause of so much death and destruction. Yet here she was in his apartment, having murdered his wife and killed all those innocent people.

  Mavis looked up at him and gave him a weird expression. He realised he had been staring at her, and he quickly looked away. But in that split second he had looked directly into her eyes, and had seen the truth. She was not truly a bad person. She had just lost all self-control, and on the inside was just as afraid as he was.

  “Aren't you hungry?” Mavis asked after a few minutes, noticing he had barely touched his food.

  James shook his head. He felt sick in his stomach and didn't have any appetite.

  “More for me then,“ Mavis smiled wickedly as she emptied the contents of his plate onto hers.