The Ghost (A Titans Fan Fic)

1. Homecoming Part One

October 30th, 2008

"Hey, baby girl, ready to go to the mall?" My mother asked me. I had just turned three about two weeks prior, but she and my father weren't able to celebrate my birthday for heroic reasons. 

I stared into my mother's whiskey brown eyes before nodding. "Yeah mommy, can we go see the puppies?"

"I think that can be arranged." She gave me a slight nod and smiled at me. "Just let me go say goodbye to Bruce, daddy, and sissy okay?" She left my room and I heard her footsteps run down the stairs. I remember that her perfume smelled like vanilla cupcakes and her long flowing brown hair was partially put up into a bun that day. I was a quiet little kid for the most part, and it's no suprise that what happened at the mall happened.

At the mall

CRACK! POP! A gun shot flew through the entire mall and killed two people. My mom, being wonder girl, when into hero mode and tried to hide me from the chaos. The man behind the attack found me in the back of a store. His name was Slade Wilson. Slade grabbed me and took me from my mother. He hid me for years, trained me, brainwashed me for a short time, and made me his perfect killing machine. That was, until I escaped and have been on the run since, watching my back at every turn.

October 14th 2018 Traverse Michigan

"Happy birthday Taylor." Melissa said handing me a stack of pancakes.

"Thank you Ms. Roth." I said eating them happily. Rachel stares at her mother, than back at me.

"Thanks for being here this morning." Rachel whispered in my ear. "I think my own mother is afraid of me."

"Trust me Rach, I don't think she's afraid of you. I think she's worried about you. There's a difference." I whisper back to her.

"Not much of one." Rachel says stabbing her pancakes.

"Rach, we're going to be late for school!" I proclaim loud enough for Melissa to hear us.

"She's right Rachel. I'll see you two girls after school." Melissa says. I give her a slight smile and dart out the door with Rachel. Her grumpy old neighbor starts yelling at her saying that he'll call the cops if she can't control her night terrors.  Rachel and I ignore him and get on the bus.

"Dude, chill, nothing's going to happen to us while we're at school." I tell her trying to calm her nerves. Then jackass number 1 has to open his big mouth.

"Well if it isn't the two freaks?" Devon says sitting right behind Rachel and I.

"Do you ever shut the fuck up or is it your ass talking?" I said staring him dead in the eyes. "Try something, I dare you." I clench my fist waiting for him to do something stupid.

"Leave them alone." Matt yells at him. Matt give a flirty smile to me and sits down.

"SLUTS!" Devon says in our ears popping the T.

"Man whore." I snap back at him.

"How do you do that? How do you stand up for yourself?" Rachel asks me.

"I'm not going to be a doormat anymore." I tell her. Telling Rachel the truth about me is going to be way more complicated then her thinking that I'm just some homeless kid that ran away from foster care. 

The bus pulls into our high school and Rachel and I get off. "Come on, we have english." Rachel tells me noticing my fist is still clenched. I smile and swing my back pack onto my other shoulder. 

You're probably wondering how I ended up in Traverse Michigan with Rachel Roth, well about four years ago I went on the run from Slade Wilson. I don't stay places very long, cause anywhere I go it's going to put people in danger. I ended up in this smaller town, because it's the one place Slade would never check for me. Don't get me wrong, I haven't dropped my guard, but I have finally made a friend and started school.