Phantom

The Phantom is Born

Chapter 9: The Phantom is Born

After another draining day of school, I met Raven on the sidewalk near my house. When I say "met" her, I mean she almost ran directly into me.

"Woah! Raven! What's up- wait, what happened to you?"

Her short blue hair was frizzy like a small animals fur, and her dark green eyes were so bloodshot that the whites of her eyes were almost entirely red.

"Anna! I was just looking for you! I have something super really important to show you! Come on!"

She grabbed my wrist and proceeded to drag me down the sidewalk towards her home. I didn't argue, because I knew that no matter what I did, I would never win against her ruthless force. By the time we reached her house, the mid-November air had chilled me to the bone. She threw her book bag onto her unmade bed, and began to rummage through an old chest. I took a second to observe her trashed room. Empty cans of pop and energy drinks littered the floor, along with candy bar and beef stick wrappers.

"Oh no, did you have another all-nighter? I told you to stop doing that!"

"No! Well... maybe, but for good reason. Wait till I show you this-"

She pulled her arms out of the chest, along with what looked to be some sort of a jumpsuit.

"Is that a jump suit?"

"Not just any jumpsuit, this ones for you, Phantom!"

"What are you talking about? What is 'Phantom'?" I exaggerated by putting up my fingers and making are quotations.

"You, silly! I took the liberty of making your official crime-fighting-superhero outfit! Also I decided that you should be called Phantom. I hope you're okay with that, because it's not changing."

She was talking so quickly I could barely comprehend a word she was saying. Of course she would go and do something completely crazy like this; it definitely wasn't the first time. She tossed the outfit at me and hopped over multiple piles of trash to where I was standing by the doorway.

"Go try it on, Phantom! You're gonna look great. You're lucky I know what size clothes you wear."

She proceeded to giggle in an unsettling way as she shoved out of the small doorway towards the bathroom. By the way she was acting I knew I wasn't getting out of this, so I did as I was told and tried it on. The material was a thin, black, mesh material. Covering a majority of the outfit, excluding my joints, was a durable, lightweight metal material painted dark silver; with small green detailing on the edges. I had been expecting tight neon spandex, but luckily it had a cool, mysterious look about it. I left the bathroom and found Raven waiting patiently on her bed.

"Wait- I forgot to give you these, put them on too, I want the full affect."

She pointed to a small pile to my right. Upon closer examination, I discovered that the heap consisted of a pair of boots and a mask. The boots were sturdy black working boots with dark silver buckles, and they matched the rest of the outfit perfectly. I then picked up the mask. Thinking it would be a slip on mask similar to Spiderman, I was surprised to find it made of a hard plastic material. It had a black outline, and the center was dark silver metal with pin-point holes. A second part of the mask wrapped around the back of my head and connected with the front, covering the bridge of my nose and slightly below my chin.

"You can look now!"

Her hand shot up to her now wide open mouth; she looked like she could cry.

"Oh, my, gosh... it's perfect!"

"I can't believe you made this. I love it!"

"Really? Oh what a relief, I didn't think you'd like it."