Identity Crisis

Deja Vu

Tara stepped off the bus and walked the next few blocks to the park. Trying her best to push Beast Boy out of her mind. But there he lingered, deep in her subconscious, trying to tell her something, but each time being silenced.

She stood by the gate and scanned the crowd for Sean. But her eyes could barely penetrate the sea of people swarming the ticket booths. She pulled out her phone and started texting him.

Sean I'm at the gate but I can't find you.

Which gate?

Wait there's more than one?

Yeah, I'm at the East gate.

Tara looked at the sign above the gate.

West, she texted.

That's' okay we can meet by the Ferris wheel

Sounds good. Tara texted before putting away her phone, then she looked at it again and there was another message, but she'd barely heard it because of the crowds

You hungry?

Yeah sure.

What should I get pizza?

Tara's stomach growled as she considered the question carefully. She didn't know why but, pie came to mind.

Think you can get ahold of some pie?

Umm sure, but that's usually dessert.

Sorry, you don't have to.

No, it's cool, I'll see if I can find some.

Tara smiled as she entered the park and bought a ticket. Sean was nice, he was a straight A student, and he'd had a crush on Tara since she'd started school in Jump City. Everyone wanted to be his girlfriend, and Tara considered herself lucky to be noticed, first as a friend, and now this.

It took Tara a while to find the Ferris wheel, but when she did, Sean wasn't there yet. 'Probably looking for pie,' she thought, chuckling to herself. She stood and waited for a while before getting tired and sitting down. As she sat there waiting a small green grasshopper hopped up and sat next to her. For a second Tara paid no attention to it, but after it hadn't moved for a while she examined it more closely. After staring at it for a few seconds without moving she squinted her eyes and tried staring it down. 'This is ridiculous,' she thought, looking away from the grasshopper. But out of curiosity, she looked again, "Beast Boy?" she said with her voice full of uncertainty. The grasshopper let out a small chirp, and Tara's eyes widened in shock. She looked around for Sean, he was nowhere in sight. "Beast Boy what are you doing here?" she whispered, "You can't be here, I'm on a date." The grasshopper chirped again. Tara ran her hands through her hair, "Listen, I know I wanted to talk to you earlier, but I've changed my mind. Things are different now; don't you see that? Things- things change and you can't keep following me around like this. I'm trying to be happy and-," she paused for a second and thought about was she was saying.

"No wait! I am happy," she said assertively, "Stop trying to confuse me!" she whispered angrily, "I am happy without you or the Titans, or whoever else you think I know." But even she wasn't sure if she believed herself. Was Beast Boy confusing her or was she doing it herself. The cricket chirped one more time before peeing on the ground and hopping away. Tara stared at the spot where the grasshopper had been sitting, still processing what had just happened.

"Well I feel stupid," she mumbled after realizing that she'd been talking to a grasshopper.

"Talking to insects?" said someone. Tara looked up to see Sean holding a box from which wafted a heavenly smell. Tara stood up and kissed Sean on the cheek. 'I am happy,' she thought. Sean was caught by surprise and nearly dropped the box, but Tara caught it before it could hit the ground.

"Mmmm," she said, sniffing the box, "Is that-,"

"Pie," said Sean, taking the box and opening it, "Just like you asked for."

"Thank you!" she said, the two of them found a bench where they sat and ate their pie. Tara couldn't finish hers, so she sat deep in thought while Sean finished his pie.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah," Terra said thoughtfully, "Why?"

"Well," said Sean, "You seem kind of distant."

"Sorry, it's just," she looked down at her pie, and shook off the feelings she was having. She was not going to let BB ruin her date, "Let's ride a roller coaster." She grabbed his arm and took off in a run, laughing as she dragged him behind her.

They spent the rest of the day riding every roller coaster, winning prizes and going into every photo booth they passed. By the end of the day he and Tara were carrying a mountain load of stuffed animal prizes. They gave away most of them to some little kids, but Terra kept a small chicken stuffed animal in her pocket, as a souvenir.

"Wow," said Tara as they got off the boat swing, "That was awesome." Sean smiled in agreement, but looked like he was going to puke at the same time.

"So," she said, "What do you want to do next?"

"Well," said Sean as he threw away his barf bag, "I thought we could go on the Ferris wheel.

"Sure," exclaimed Tara, "I don't know why I didn't think of that before!" She grabbed his hand and they sped off towards the wheel. The line was pretty long, and by the time it was there turn it was almost dark, but the golden sun still peeped out shining the slightest bit of light on the magenta skyline.

"So, Tara," said Sean, scooting closer to her, "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," said Tara, blushing, "This was the best time I've had in- well forever.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," said Sean as he brushed a peace of Tara's hair behind her ear. Tara's heart was pounding at an abnormal rate, she wasn't sure exactly what she was feeling, but it felt like fear. She couldn't keep this up, she realized that she was leading Sean on, just to try and forget her problems. 'I'm being so selfish, she thought, a real friend wouldn't use her friends then throw them away. That was cruel, selfish- betrayal' she froze as she thought the word and looked around, this felt familiar almost like she'd done it before.

"Sean," she said, standing up and walking over to the other seats, "I-," she jerked her head around and looked in the corner she'd just seen something move.

"Tara what-," began Sean, she clapped a hand over his mouth, then walked over to the dark corner; she peeked into the darkness, there was nothing. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello Terra," spoke an eerily calm voice out of the darkness. It was him; the black and orange mask said it all.

"No," whispered Tara, backing away, "You're not real, your dead, your- your." She stopped short, the doors behind her where a dead end and Slade was coming for her.

"No," she screamed, as he got closer, "No, no no!" Nowhere left to turn to nowhere left to hide. In a desperate attempt to escape she dove through the doors, causing glass to shatter everywhere. She watched as the glass shattered on the ground below her, but she wasn't moving. She looked up and saw him, grabbing her arm.

"No!" she yelled as he began pulling her back up. She clawed at his hands, trying to get away, but his grip was like iron. "Let me go!"

"Tara!" yelled Sean, "Tara open your eyes it's me!" Tara opened her eyes, when she saw him the horror drained from her eyes, but the shock remained.

"Where is he?" she asked, looking around frantically for her tormentor.

"Tara," yelled Sean, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, "Hey!" she looked him in the eyes and listened, "There's no one here." Tara looked at Sean with a tearstained face and pulled him into a hug, as sirens blared beneath them and the Ferris wheel came to a stop