The Thundermans Riddled With Nightmares

Chapter 1

With furrowed eyes, Phoebe frowned. Her heart raced while her breath sped up. It was about two days after she took in Dark Mayhem powers, and ever since then, she's been riddled with nightmares. Most of the time, the villain stood next to her. His mask hid his face while he gripped the teen's shoulders tightly. His voice held a taunting tone while he pestered her about using his powers. The teen girl, of course, had shut her eyes, trying not to listen. Yet the villain seemed to take no for an answer, his taunting whispers growing louder.

It wasn't long till Phoebe started crying. She wanted to be anywhere else but here, anywhere else but with him. "I don't want to be evil like you!" She had screamed, trying to intimate the villain. Which only made Dark Mayhem laugh amusingly. Her words came out small and weak. While her expression looked like one of a broken girl, one that had no fight left. Her head turned slightly to the man beside her. Frowning as he gave a slight, almost comforting hum in response. “Is that too much to ask…” Phoebe muttered. Tears sparkled and shone in the dust around the two as the teen cried silently.

Yet all Dark Mayhem did was hold the teen tighter as he pulled her into him gently. Phoebe tensed up with a gasp before he leaned down to whisper in her ear. His voice was softer, holding less amusement as his thumb rubbed the girl's shoulder. “But don’t you want to feel free?” Dark Mayhem asked softly. “Wouldn’t you feel better knowing you have the power to take down anyone with a flick of your wrist? Stop villains, heal the wounded?” The villain asked. A hint of a smile in his words once he noticed the teenager hadn’t tried to get free from his grasp. She even looked a bit thoughtful as he continued. Whispering more about how she could use his powers, how she could make them hers, how she could be significant.

Helpfully a knock on her door woke Phoebe from her paralyzing dream. The teen shot up with a gasp as she quickly rubbed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the sight of Dark Mayhem. She was rolling her shoulders to shake away the phantom feeling of him holding her, to shake away the feel of his fingers rubbing soothing circles into her skin. She barely heard her mother calling from behind the door, telling her that everyone needed to be downstairs to agree on a place for their vacation. “Yeah,” Phoebe began weakly before coughing, “Yeah, I’ll be down in a moment.” She answered back, this time her voice stronger. Once giving a faint confirmation that her mother was gone, Phoebe got dressed. Her legs felt weak, and her chest felt tight. It was as if she had a panic attack, which was always a possibility that she had in her sleep. “I have got to put Dark Mayhem’s powers back.” She whispered lastly before leaving her room, shivering as she closed the door leaving her room in total darkness.

Walking downstairs, Phoebe frowned as she saw everyone was already awake. Had she overslept? Had everyone put their alarms on early? Because she was usually the first one up. She was always the one to get up, make breakfast, and prepare for school. No wonder her mother came up to knock on her door. It was out of the ordinary for her to sleep so late. Shaking her head, Phoebe yawned, walking towards the kitchen, where she had noticed pancakes sitting on the counter.
Her twin brother sat at the table with his helping in front of him. With hope in her eyes, Phoebe quickly sat down by her brother. She was already feeling her chest begin to tighten. She was nervous. What would her brother think? How would he react once he noticed that she still had Dark Mayhem’s powers? Would he retaliate? Would he yell, scream, or even shout at her? Telling how stupid she was, how irresponsible she was for keeping something so dark for so long? It wasn't like she didn’t try to put them back. It wasn’t like she didn’t care like she didn’t bother about it. Because she had tried for hours and hours to use the orb to take his powers, nothing worked. After a while, she didn’t even care if the sphere took hers along with them. All she cared for was to not feel this pressure in her chest, not feel this grip on her heart, and not to feel this haze in her head. It was like ever since she took Dark Mayhem’s powers, her head had been fogged over, making it hard to think logically like she used to.

“Max..” Phoebe whispered, “Max, I need your help.” She had tried to continue only for said brother to interrupt her. Making the teen frown at his blatant ignorance. “Max.” Phoebe tried once more, only to get the same reaction. So she waited, waiting for her twin to stop being childish. “Are you done?” She had asked after a while of her twin becoming silent.

However, Max just looked toward Phoebe with an unimpressed stare. He hadn’t liked what she had done a few days ago or how she took the spotlight yet another time. So Max could only sit there and annoy her with a smile. Before stopping once, he finally noticed her worried and sick look. She was frowning as her mood seemed to shift into an angered look. Not the type of angered look she had given him in the past. This one looked pure, untainted anger. “Yes, I’m done. What do you need?” He questioned with a hiss. Max was still mad at his sister, no matter what he had seen, and he needed her to know it.

This led the teen to share a frown on her own at her brother's malice towards her. “Ok..’ She started hesitantly. Unsure if Max was planning something else. “I need help with….” Phoebe tried to say, only to freeze as she felt a phantom touch over her mouth, silencing her.

Upon freezing, Phoebe looked toward max. Her eyes shone red as her body moved. Her arm rose and took hold of the syrup Max was reaching towards. Her movements were quick as she angled it toward her brother and fired. Staining his shirt with the sticky sugar before her arm fell. Now released from the phantom touch, Phoebe looked at what she had done in confusion and horror. She hadn’t meant to do that. Maybe she didn’t. It could have been something else.

“Someone..” Came the near-silent whisper. The voice sounded amused next to the teen girl's ear. It was making her flinch and look around, missing how her brother looked at her in annoyance and protested what she had just done.

Now fearful, Phoebe turned back toward Max, this time with a desperate look in her eyes. “No! That wasn’t me; it was….” She exclaimed before yet again freezing at the phantom touch returning. Her eyes glowed once more as she repeated her previous action, standing to cover her twin's head in the sticky syrup. All the while, her eyes were still wide during the process. Tears came back to her eyes as Max shouted at her angrily before storming off.

She couldn’t get help. That much was clear, all too sadly clear. Sitting in the same spot, Phoebe whimpered silently. Her hands rose to cover her face both from shame and sadness. Because the only person she could have trusted was now angry with her, the only person she could have turned to was now off to take a shower. However, her crying didn’t last as the feeling of hands returned. Wrapping around her and resting invisible elbows onto her shoulders. The sensation of hot breath licking her ear as it felt like someone was leaning against her back.

“Oh, don’t cry..” The voice mussed, returning after Phoebe was left alone.

The voice had made the teen stiffen as she cringed. She tried to shift away as discreetly as she could from the hot breath. Only to stop moving once the feeling got tighter. It felt like a threat, like a warning to stay silent. But could she stay silent this long? Could she hold her tongue from a ghost that continued to torment her? However, Phoebe’s body rejected the whispered demand as her tears fell and her body shook. She wanted to flee, wanted to vanish. But she was trapped between her family's obliviousness and the phantom that seemed stuck to her.

“There are more things to do. Things to be done.” The voice continued making Phoebe turn her head, looking in the direction of where the voice sounded from. “Now your family needs you….” “Don’t need them to worry,” he whispered with a hiss, letting go.

Around that time, Max had returned his hair wet and a glare still resting on his face. Looking around, the boy found his twin sitting in the exact spot he had left her. Yet she looked scared and in pain. It didn’t help when she suddenly flinched before curling inwards. To him, it looked like she was listening to someone yelling at her as if she was getting scolded. He had wanted to know what was going on. He wanted to see if she was ok. But before he could get up and go to her, Phoebe stood up and headed into the living room. She was smiling and looking like her usual self.

“I have an idea. Maybe we could go to Hawaii?”