Black Swan ▹ Marvel

THREE: PRETTY FACE

"Are you alright? Manon said you snapped at her after school," Liz says over the speaker of Elizabeth's phone as she walks through the mall with three shopping bags strung on each arm.

"Sorry. I was in a bad mood because I had detention," Elizabeth says in a cheery voice. When had she become such a liar?

"Really!? What for?" Liz asks in a louder voice that revealed her surprise.

"Got caught trying to sneak to get us sandwiches," she tells her. Another lie ripples the still puddle of honesty inside of her.

"Oh, Elizabeth. You didn't have to do that," Liz gushes over the phone. Of course she didn't, which is why Elizabeth really didn't.

"It's no big deal, I've served my time and now I'm just doing some shopping," the blonde tells her as sit on bench near a fountain and sits her bags down.

"Without me?" Liz asks. After her family came into some money with her father's contract with the city. She had been given a charge card and a four thousand dollar limit much to her delight.

"It was sudden. I should have called, it's just a bit of odds and ends anyway," Elizabeth replies into the phone. This is a genuine response, they never buy anything without the others approval. She watches people hustle and bustles up and down the mall floor and enter and exit shops.

"It's okay. It's just some clothes anyway," said Liz as Elizabeth stares at the fountain clear blue water. It was rippling unnaturally. The water starts to shake. Elizabeth looks up to something big and unnaturally white fireballing through the sky. She doesn't have time to move before it lands right on top of her.

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Elizabeth lays underneath this rock dead, she knows she's dead because she is viewing her crushed body as if she is outside of it. Her head is completely flat and brain matter is fanned out from the destroyed skull.

Tears rush out the corner of her eyes as Elizabeth stare at her dead body. The girl lets out a choked sob, but no sound came out her mouth. She tries her hardest to scream, there's sound this time. It sounds like she's screaming under water.

The veins wrapped inside her body are white and she watches every broken bone heal and every snapped or crush tendon be restored to peak performance. Moments later she felt herself being sucked back into her now restored body and wretched into unconsciousness.

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Elizabeth wakes lazily in complete darkness. She's hooked up to all sorts of IV, wires and machines that regulate her breathing and monitor her heart beating that are terribly uncomfortable. She moves her arms and uncovers her eyes from the strange goggles attached to the girl's head. It's obvious she's in a hospital room, but it was nicer than any type of hospital room she's ever seen. Elizabeth strips every piece of strange equipment off of her body and gets off the bed. She walks slowly toward a floor length mirror on the cold wooden floor. Elizabeth squints her eyes because it hurts when light hits them. She sees her own reflection. Her physique is stronger and her chin and cheeks are sharper and overall her face was more pleasing to look at. She looked slightly taller also, but it's probably because her hair is twisted up on her head in a bun. Elizabeth looks pretty, the type of pretty Liz is. The blonde's heart swells, she smiles as she runs her hand over her left cheek. The door opens, it's a women dressed in what Elizabeth can assume is a nurse's outfit. When she sees the girl and drops her clipboard and she rushes away from her former position. Elizabeth listens to her retreating feet slapping against the floor.

Moments later a doctor and Elizabeth's mother arrive in the room. Her mother throws her arms around her and hugs her like she hasn't seen her in a thousand years. Her arms are around Elizabeth so tight she can barely breathe.

"I've been so worried," she said as holds her daughter.

"Have you heard from Dad?" she asks as she stops squeezing her like a ball python, but keeps her close to her with her hands resting on Elizabeth's shoulders.

"I let him know that you were hurt when I found out, but I didn't get answer back," her mother answers with a sigh. It's unsurprising. She hadn't seen her father in almost 6 years so why even bother. He wasn't there for Ryan when she damn near lost her mind, so would he be here when she almost dies.

"That's alright," she says as clings to her mother. She's her mother, she's the only person that knows Elizabeth besides Ryan, but Ryan's not here.

"Ryan wants to see you though," her mom tells her. Elizabeth lets out a ragged breath.

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"Can you tell me about what you remember from your accident?" a doctor asks. Elizabeth frowns and wring her hands as she sits on the bed she was in and the doctor in a chair pulled up to the bedside. Elizabeth knows what happen. The sound of her skull smashing reminded Elizabeth of Ryan's firecrackers that they would set off on top of their old apartment rooftop. 

"I think I died," she says in a rushed voice. When the words leave her lips she can't even believe them herself. The doctor nods thoughtfully and writes something on her clipboard. Elizabeth sits in silence as she realizes the gravity of the situation and what it meant for her, but she doesn't know what it means. At least she has a pretty face even if she had to died to get it.