"Back At One"
"Where's Tammy?" Lance asked Michelle the next morning as they walked into the hotel lugging all their bags.
"Umm…" Michelle stuttered, averting her dark brown eyes to the ground, "she had some business to take care of. She'll be back tonight, though."
"Where'd she go?" Chris asked, jumping into the conversation.
"I dunno," she mumbled in answer, not looking at either of them.
"You do realize how bad of a liar you are, right?" Chris asked her, noting her inability to look any of them in the eye as she spoke.
"Mm-hmm," she nodded, walking up ahead of them so she could avoid anymore questions. Tammy hadn't returned any of her calls yet, and she was dying to know what the hell she was up to. After Tammy left last night, Michelle immediately phoned Serena and Yasmine, telling them everything that had happened with Tammy and Isabella, including Tammy's sudden departure back "to square one". Upon hearing it, Yasmine and Serena wanted to come out there with Michelle, but she told them not to. They finally agreed to meet up on the spiritual plane later on that night to talk.
"Viva Las Vegas!" Michelle heard JC sing from his room as she unpacked Tammy's stuff for her. Ever so often, she would catch Justin glancing suspiciously at her. Finally, she rolled her eyes, completely fed up. "Okay, what?" she asked.
"Nothing," Justin sighed. After a long silence he finally said, "What's goin' on with y'all? What are y'all hiding?"
"What makes you say that?" Michelle murmured nervously.
"Don’t play dumb with me, Michelle," Justin glared at her. "There's definitely some weird shit goin' on here and I wanna know what the big deal is."
"It's nothing, I swear," Michelle protested. "We're just having a little fight, that's all."
"That's not what Isabella led me to believe," he shot back, his eyes daring her to disagree.
"Why?" she snapped. "What did Isabella tell you?"
"It's not what she said," he muttered, "it's what y'all didn't say when she said what she said. What's wrong with T? What type of handicap does she have? I never noticed one."
"Justin," Michelle sighed wearily, "if you know what's good for you, you'll just drop it. What does it matter anyway? You'd never understand and I'm not sure I want you to. So for the last time, stay out of it." With that, she stalked out of the room in annoyance. As the door closed behind her, she gazed down the hall, wishing she knew why everything was happening the way it was. The only thing that kept her hanging on was her faith in Tammy, for Michelle was certain that she would set everything straight.
The night before, on the other side of the country, Tammy stood at the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. "I'm home," she whispered as the wind whipped through her hair. 'Home' was Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was the place where it all started, and where all the recent madness would end. Tammy remembered that fateful day when she met her four closest friends at that exact spot.
"Okay," Tammy muttered to herself as she walked along the boardwalk, "I'm here. But what am I here for?" She continued walking along the boardwalk until she spotted a Puerto Rican girl about her age. Just as Tammy was about to walk past her, the girl called out to her.
"Hola," the girl called. "You look as lost as I feel."
"I am," Tammy smiled weakly. "I'm tired, too. I wanna go to sleep, but something kept waking me up. I've never been to the beach at three o'clock in the morning."
"Me neither," the girl laughed. "I kept getting the feeling that I should come out here."
"Me too," Tammy said, gazing at the girl. Her deep brown eyes sparkled with life as she smiled at Tammy. Her hair was long and shiny, reddish brown with blond highlights, and seemed to have a life of its own. Tammy realized it was only because the strange girl had a habit of tossing her head as she laughed, which was often. The only physical defect the girl had was a scar that wrapped around the circumference of her neck. "I'm Tammy," she finally said, holding out her hand.
The Puerto Rican girl shook her hand and nodded. "Isabella. Nice to meet you."
"Can I join the party or is it minorities only?" a voice said from behind them. The two girls turned and saw a blonde-haired, blue eyed beauty standing before them.
"Who are you?" Isabella asked, her expression guarded.
"Serena," she answered with an innocent smile. "Look," she continued with a confused laugh, "I don't know why I'm here or what I'm supposed to do, but I get the feeling I was supposed to meet someone. Do y'all know each other?"
"We just met," Tammy answered, gazing at the girl as she earlier did with Isabella. She was beautiful in her own right, but her crowning glory was quite obviously her long silky mane of blonde hair. It extended so far down her back that the two girls immediately assumed that she could sit on it.
Serena also noted Tammy's looks, her eyes taking in her slim, athletic frame, clear cocoa-brown skin, and dark brown eyes that reflected an intelligence and intensity that astounded her. 'God, she's so pretty,' Serena mused, admiring the confidence and grace that Tammy moved with. "So," Serena drawled nervously, unable to think of anything to say.
"So…" Isabella and Tammy echoed, then laughed nervously.
"So," a third voice said from their left. The three girls' heads whipped quickly to the left, where they saw a mischievous-looking Japanese girl. "Anyone care to explain to me why I'm here, and why I'm so drawn to you three chicks?"
"Homosexual tendencies?" Isabella volunteered, arching an eyebrow.
"Untreatable kleptomania," Serena grinned softly. She added, "I don't have my wallet, either, so back off."
Tammy finally stepped forward and took control of the situation, a role she was going to play often in the future. "Your guess is as good as mine," she shrugged. She gestured to the two girls behind her saying, "This is Isabella and Serena, and I'm Tammy. Of course," she smirked, "Tammy isn't my real name, but it's a helluva lot more pronounceable."
"What's your real name?" Serena wanted to know.
"Guess," Tammy said with a smile.
"Tamara," the Japanese girl guessed, pronouncing the name 'Tuh-MAIR-ah'.
"Negative," she laughed. "It's Tamara, pronounced to rhyme with 'camera'. Get it?"
"Yeah," the Asian girl laughed, pulling her long black hair into a ponytail and then shaking it out. Afterwards, she added, "My name's Yasmine."
"And I'm Michelle," a girl called, walking up to them. All four girls turned to her and were immediately taken back by her ethereal beauty. She looked as if she could pass for an African princess, she looked so regal. She held her head high and carried herself with a grace that the girls knew they could never emulate. Her dark brown skin seemed to reflect the moon's rays, yet her eyes were her most interesting feature. At first glance they appeared to be black, but upon closer examination, Serena saw that there were actually flecks of green in them. 'Another beautiful one,' Isabella noted matter-of-factly.
"You know," Yasmine echoed Isabella's thoughts, "we are some sexy bitches." The girls were so surprised by her comment that they immediately dissolved into giggles.
As the girls continued to laugh, they exchanged introductions again, each of them with the feeling that they were going to be together for a long time.
"That night seemed so long ago," Tammy sighed, wondering what could have happened to her friend. Just the fact that she and Isabella were the first one's to meet gave them a special bond. It was as if they were meant to see each other first. From the very beginning the two were drawn to each other, never leaving each other's side unless they absolutely had to. "Yet," Tammy grumbled, "I have no connection whatsoever to her now." As she walked onto the sand towards the water, she got an overwhelming feeling that she was doing the right thing, yet she had to hurry. "Time is of the essence," she murmured, sitting on the sand and closing her eyes.
As she sat in meditative silence, Tammy could feel something happening to her as she breathed in and out. There was something filling her body, making her feel whole again. She raised her arms to the sky and lifted her face to the moon, opening her eyes finally. As the moments passed, she sat peacefully, drinking up the moon's magical rays. All of a sudden, a bright light flashed around her and she was transported to a place of peace and happiness. In the distance she saw many scenes, all of them in some way connected to her.
In the first scene she saw herself and her old friends, the friends she had before her death. They were joking around, and suddenly one of them got into an argument with a girl in another group. "Stupid," Tammy scowled as she watched, realizing that those girls weren't really her friends.
The next scene showed her with her true friends, the Deadly Venoms. The laughed and joked, basically just having fun and enjoying life regardless of the monstrous task they had been shackled with back when they were fifteen and sixteen years old. Life was good, and they were planning to take advantage of it the second time around.
The third scene Tammy saw was a touching one. She was sitting on a stool on a stage as five guys sang to her. She recognized them as her new friends: Lance, JC, Justin, Joey, and Chris. They showed her how to accept that even though she was different from them, there was still a part of her that was just like them.
The final scene was the one that rejuvenated Tammy's powers, then multiplied them by ten. A child lay in his mother's arms, looking peaceful and content. He was safe, Tammy realized, but only for a short time. No matter how much Tammy missed being normal, that child was the reason she had to accept her differences and live with them. "Good," a voice said from far away.
Tammy woke up a little past dawn with a feeling of immense peace. Gazing out across the water, she realized that she could see up to two-hundred miles away if she focused hard enough. Looking down at her hands, she felt unstoppable waves of strength and power flowing throughout her entire body. "I'm back," she sighed happily. "Time to kick some ass." With that, she climbed to her feet and walked to the nearest restaurant to get something to eat. As she entered the restaurant she grinned, glancing down at the snake on her arm, which stared straight ahead, looking to all the world like nothing more than a kick-ass tattoo.
After gorging on a huge meal, Tammy called Michelle to see what was up. "Man, am I glad you called," Michelle said in relief.
"Why?" Tammy asked, immediately wary. "What's going on?"
"The guys are suspicious," her friend answered, the weariness evident in her voice. "I'm tired, T," she moaned, her voice nearly breaking with sadness. "When are you coming back? You know I'm no good at lying. Plus, I'm scared. What if Isabella comes back and they ask her something? You need to come back quick, T."
Tammy spoke calmly into her phone, determined to calm Michelle, who sounded on the verge of tears. "Listen, Shelle," she soothed, "I'm gonna be home in a little while, I swear. Everything's gonna be alright. I just need you to be strong for me while I figure something out, okay?"
"Okay," Michelle's voice sounded tiny over the phone.
"We'll meet up on the spiritual plane in about twenty minutes, alright?" Tammy added, still trying to make Michelle feel better. "I know this is gonna be our hardest battle yet, but we can do it. I have faith in you. Just stay strong for me. I'll be home in a while."
"Okay," Michelle whispered, hanging up the phone.
Twenty minutes later, Tammy emerged from the spiritual plane's fog and looked around. In front of her was a forest with blue trees, pink grass, and multicolored butterflies the size of hawks. "Feeling colorblind again are we, Yazzy?" Tammy grinned softly. She sat down on the ground and nodded at her friends. "Anyone care to tell me the latest update on Isabella?"
"Yeah," Serena sighed, lounging back wearily on her elbows, "we found out somethin', but you ain't gonna like it."
"What'd you find out?"
"Isabella's plan," Serena answered Tammy. "She's been feeling disenchanted lately. As you know, it was around this time that her sister was controlled and then killed. Isabella couldn't stop thinking about it, and the more she thought about it, the more depressed she got."
"And the more depressed she got…" Yasmine jumped in for Serena.
"… the weaker her will became," Serena finished wearily. "That left her open to be controlled, for she wasn't at her highest state of consciousness and control. As the widow took over her, she got angrier when she realized that her sister was robbed of her life at such a young age… plus she lost her life for no good reason at all. That anger fed the black widow even more, and before you knew it, our Izzy was no more."
"So what's up with her now?" Tammy wanted to know. "What's she planning to do?"
"Tomorrow night," Serena answered, her voice taking on a haunted tone, "when the moon is at it's full cycle for the final day, Isabella is gonna raise her sister from the dead."
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