The Marvels

Ep. 20 | W A T E R M E L O N

Vidya's parents strolled into the house carrying grocery bags. The two of them shopping together was a rare sight since their work schedules were so conflicting, yet here they were, grinning from ear to ear as they shuffled around the kitchen.

"We got watermelons!" Mom exclaimed. She put one large paper bag on the counter and kept the rest looped on her arms, opening the fridge.

Also rare. None of them even liked watermelon that much. And why watermelons, plural? One would be enough for a family of three, but there seemed to be a whole bag of them.

Vidya got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, her steps inexplicably heavy. Her peripheral vision was blurry and unidentifiable. She ignored the uneasy feeling and stood on her tiptoes to peek into the bag on the counter. There weren't any watermelons in there.

There were severed heads.

Six of them, to be exact, all with blonde hair and the wide, terrified eyes of the poor woman in the mall. One by one, the heads began to explode. Vidya stood unflinching as skulls burst apart and meat and bone spewed out of the bag. A lot of the gore hit her directly in the face, getting in her eyes, in her mouth, and some up her nose, but she didn't move, didn't react.

After the last head met its demise, Vidya slowly raised her gaze. The entire kitchen was bathed in blood. Pink mush garnished Mom's head, dripping down her graying hair, and there was a tooth sitting on José's glasses, but neither of them noticed, and they turned to Vidya with unfaltering smiles.

"What's wrong?" José asked. The tooth fell off as he adjusted his glasses.

"You don't see it?" Vidya asked quietly.

Mom frowned. "See what?"

Vidya jerked awake, almost falling to the floor. It took her a moment to figure out where she was: Marvel HQ. She'd fallen asleep on the common room couch while doing homework, judging by the worksheets spread on the coffee table. Thankfully, there was no one around to laugh at her.

Vidya rubbed her eyes. Her open backpack was leaning against her leg, and she kicked it aside to stretch out. Her heart was still pounding; she rarely remembered her dreams, but she had a feeling that this nightmare was going to stick around for a while.

There was a noise behind her, and Vidya sat up and twisted her head around. Lady Marvel had just shown up, and she was rifling through the nearby kitchen, looking for something. Her fingers tapped impatiently against the doors of every cabinet she opened.

"Are you okay?" Lady Marvel asked without looking at her.

Vidya sank against the couch. Of all the people to open up to...Lady Marvel was not high up on that list, but she was here, and she was asking.

"I don't know," Vidya said quietly. "I just...I can't get the image out of my head, of...her head exploding right in front of me."

"Yeah, well." Lady Marvel laughed. "That's what happens."

Vidya blinked, unsure if she'd heard correctly. "Excuse me?"

"Heads explode, limbs get blown off, innocents get caught up in carnage." Lady Marvel pulled a glass coffee pot out of a cabinet with an indifferent sigh. "Nothing unusual, nothing to feel sorry for."

Vidya stared at her, jaw dropped.

Lady Marvel finally turned to her and blinked. She tilted her head curiously, holding the coffee pot against her stomach. "You're not seriously hung up on Emily, are you?" she asked. When she didn't get an answer, she laughed again, a little nervous this time. "Listen, you're going to have to get used to—"