Daughter of Death

A secret key.

Today was her birthday, the big sixteen, and she couldn't care less.

She wanted to curl up in bed for the entire day, and hide away from the world around her. No one knew it was her birthday, and if she had it her way no one would ever know when her birthday was.

Or at least the day her foster parents had deemed a suitable day the celebration.

Michelle's legs curled inwards tighter as she heard the creak of her bedroom door come open, followed by two soft sets of feet came walking into her room, they were trying to be quiet, most likely trying to surprise her.

She hated surprises.

She laid there, eyes still closed only moving when the hand reached out and gently shook her shoulder, she opened them slowly, giving the impression of just waking up.

Kathy stepped back. Away from the desk as she smiled at Michelle, and Michelle blinked a little, eyes shifting between her and John. Both very capable of raising a child. Both very set in their ways, and both exactly opposite of Michelle.

She was always the one narrating the crime documentary, the two who raised her would be most like the bodies who laid in the bags, as someone dragged on and on about how amazing they were before they went missing.

Her curls sprouted all over her head, and with the first light of day hitting them, they almost glowed, framing her in ribbons of messy curls, that honestly, looked a bit of a mess, twisted and notted within themselves.

Her skin was a 'caramel, beautifully mixed and carefully darkened', John had said when she was younger, it was very different from the two pale, as Michelle liked to say, 'palm colored skin' adults that stood now, in front of her, one holding a small cake, and the other holding a tiny box, she furrowed her brows in confusion as her mind caught up with her body as she recognized the tell tell signs.

It was obviously a gift, but it didn't seem like something she could expect, they always got her something odd, and un wrappable. Last year, they got her a new computer, the keyboard lit up, and honestly, if not for the many nights she stayed up with severe anxiety, and needed Shiney lights, she would've never used it.

Her mother, Kathy, held out the box with a grin, one that couldn't give away emotion because it seemed just scared, but in a good way, Michelle reached out slowly, and took the small box in her own hand, shaking it slightly, it rattled, and she gave them another glance of confusion, surely it couldn't be car keys. Living in midtown, Mj didn't even like the idea of being in a car, better yet, driving a car? She wanted to smile and open the box, and be excited for whatever it was, but she felt a wave of dead moths, fluttering up her spine, she could never classify them as butterflies. They never brought her joy when she felt them, and most of the time they didn't stay long.

She pulled the small box closer, and went to open it, before John paused her and gestured with the cake once, "make a wish first Chelle, that's how they come true." The words made her half smile and she nodded, closing her eyes for a moment.

I wish, I didn't have to celebrate my fucking birthday, but when my parents get those smiles I feel bad for not wanting to celebrate. I wish I wasn't the way I am.

She blew out the candles without a second thought, and gave her attention back to the small box, before Kathy spoke up as she opened the gift.

"It was... hard to decide on, but, when.. you were younger, and we.. came to become your parents- your- the person who gave you to us, gave us this, told us you would need it, and that you would know why." Her words seemed overly thought, like she had been attempting to figure it out for months how she would say them.

Michelle froze for a few minutes, and just stared at her parents,  they never spoke about her life before them, did she almost say your mom, or your dad, did Michelle read to much into the moment?

Probably.

She moved the lid under the box, and dumped the single piece of metal into her hand, it was a key, obviously not to a car, more antique, more.. mysterious.

She looked up at the two in front of her, and recieved only puzzled looks, it was clear they didn't know what the key went to, and by the face that John held, she assumed they would as soon as she saw it, but even now, disposing the box to the side of her bed, she twisted the key, and stared at it.

"Wonder if it's a joke." She said before she remembered she wasn't sitting alone, John frowned softly, but in a comforting way, like he was trying to encourage her.

"Maybe, it goes to something they've left you elsewhere." Kathy said softly, before John at the cake on her desk, and clasped his hands together, far to loudly to not be one of those dad moments of awkwardness.

"Maybe you find out later." He suggested, before looking at his watch, and leaning to place a kiss on her forehead, "But I have to go to work. Tell me if you find the other half of that key Chelle." He half way joked before he was leaving her bedroom, Kathy now stood by the door, and leaned against it,  putting a twenty on her desk beside the cake.

"Get some dinner with some friends, I'll have a movie for you when you get home." With that she too left the room, leaving Michelle with herself and silence.

Fina-

The buzzing of her phone recieved a grumpy grumble from the girl as she rolled in her bed, lifting it up, for a split moment, her heart spasmed, Peter Parker, her current boyfriend, technically, was ringing, a FaceTime call. At five in the morning.

The look was natural when she answered the phone, a very disapproving frown as the camera focused on her face, which went tiny, and was replaced with a human form of a golden retriever puppy. His grin was far to wide for five in the morning, and when he all but screamed out "Happy Birthday!" She almost dropped the earbud she had managed to grab, bluetoothing his excitement away from her cold and creepy room, into one ear.

"Thanks." She said simply, falling back onto her pillow.

"Why- Em, it's nearly seven-" he paused, and blinked, his face going pale, "ohgod- it's five. I'm so sorry-"She laughed at this, a genuine, and rare laugh, "I've been up for a few hours- or so I thought, I woke up at four, and started working on a few things for my new suit, and I thought more time had passed. I've already gotten my school stuff together-" His rant was cut short by Michelle's laughter growing in loudness, and her breathing becoming more of a spray nozzle effect verses an actual human voice.

He laughed back, and for a few minutes, she was content in hoping she distracted him from his original reason of calling.

"Anyways. Happy Birthday Em. Still don't know why I had to find out through Betty, from Ned." His voice had a slight hint of betrayal, or sadness, and Michelle waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Seems I have to kill her now." She partially joked, looking away from the phone.

"Come on Em," he grumbled, rubbing his face, "its your birthday, and I could've done something awesome, legendary, but, I only had a few hours, so-" he paused, his smile growing on the screen, she furrowed her brows carefully.

"Peter. What did you do." It didn't seem as much of a question as it did, he only smiled, a blinding beaming look of pure smugness. "I swear. You know what-" She pressed the small red circle, and hung up the phone, not having the mental strength for his moments of secrecy.

Before she could even sit back up in bed, she recieved a text, four sad emojis, and a sad spelled "ow."

She scoffed and sent back a text, 'unlike you. I am going to shower. Didn't figure a FaceTime shower would be a good idea' when no response came back, she just grinned to herself, she had successfully made him unsure how to reply.

She got out of bed, now closer to six am, and pulled her broken Dahlia necklace off, pausing to lace her new key onto the same chain, for the moment until she could figure out what she wanted to do with it.

She stepped into the bathroom, past the shattered mirror, pieces of it shoved behind the cabinet part, something she had done weeks ago, something she needed to fix before someone saw before she stepped into the shower.