"Did Mark die? Who did it?"
"Look, I don't know anything about that."
"Where was I? Uh… I was at the mall, shopping for clothes."
"A fight? Nah, it was just kids messing around, friendly sparring, you know?"
"He's dead? Well, at his funeral, I'll toss a flower on his grave and say the world's a little brighter now."
"Mark's enemies? Guy was a total jerk, rotten to the core. Probably pissed off a ton of people—how would I know who?"
"That's all I've got."
When Mariah finished, the cops stood up and left.
A car crash and a murder case happened at the same time.
The cops in the good ol' USA zeroed in on Mariah, who had plenty of motive, since she'd crossed paths with the victim before.
Revenge killings? Common as dirt.
But lucky for her, Mariah had a rock-solid alibi.
So, the cops just dropped by to ask some questions and told her to keep her phone on—they might need to reach her again.
Mariah wasn't sweating it. With Barry coaching her in the shadows, she handled the questioning like a pro.
This time, she was actually innocent.
Mariah smiled through her mom's worried check-ins, acting like nothing happened.
She ate, drank, and carried on like normal—maybe even a little giddy.
But to her mom, Mariah's vibe seemed too cheery.
Someone died—a classmate, no less—and here she was acting like it was Thanksgiving. Not exactly normal.
So, Amy, her mom, got more and more worried about Mariah's mental state.
Worried enough that her own depression started creeping back.
Maybe it was her imagination running wild, but lately, Amy kept dreaming of two Mariahs: one soft and sweet, the other cold and ruthless.
Both were her daughter.
She spilled her fears to her husband, Dan Brennan.
Dan just told her not to overthink it—it was probably just Mariah growing up too fast, and Amy's heart wasn't ready to catch up.
But deep down, Dan felt the same. His daughter had changed too quickly.
So fast he couldn't keep up, like she'd skipped right past her rebellious phase and straight into full-blown maturity.
Sometimes, when he looked at her, Dan felt like he was staring at a stranger.
Mariah, you're not the girl I know anymore.
That's what Dan thought.
That night, he mulled it over for a long time. Maybe he hadn't been there enough for the family.
…
"Family trip!" Mariah was stunned, then thrilled.
When her dad dropped the news, she could hardly believe it.
Her dad, Dan, was a plastic surgeon—loaded, but always swamped with work.
It'd been forever since the whole family went out together.
"You heard right. It's been way too long since we've done a trip together," Dan said, cracking a rare smile.
Her mom was just as excited. "Honey, next weekend—Friday night, we head out."
"This is awesome! Where are we going?" Mariah asked.
"Greenvale County. A great spot to get back to nature."
---
In her bedroom.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Barry had turned the room into his personal playground, shooting out straw webs everywhere.
The second Mariah opened the door, a web smacked her right in the face.
"Oh my God, what have you done?!"
She'd walked in all hyped, only to get a faceful of straw. Rolling her eyes, she looked downright helpless.
Glancing up, she saw her pillow, blanket, and a bunch of random stuff dangling from the ceiling.
"I'm a failure of a man," Barry said dramatically, swinging back and forth like he owned the place.
The Spider-Man movie had hit him hard, and now he was deep in a cosplay obsession.
Mariah yanked the web off her face, rubbing her forehead in exasperation.
She regretted taking him to that Spider-Man flick, even if it was pretty good.
"I'm Venom! I'm Venom!" Barry shouted, straw bursting out of him as he kept swinging.
Mariah: "…Oh my God."
"Dude, can you chill for a sec?" she pleaded, trying to snap him back to reality.
No dice.
"I'm gonna throw some dirt in your eyes!" Barry flicked his hand, shooting out a quick-woven rope that snagged the new teddy bear Mariah had just bought. Then he started sprinkling dust on it.
He'd had it out for that bear from day one—it reminded him of that other teddy he'd torched back on Bear Planet.
His hands were itching to send this one packing too.
"Stop it!" Mariah's eyes went wide.
"Jie jie jie!" Barry cackled, doing whatever he wanted.
Dust sprinkled.
You're useless now.
Barry kicked the teddy bear across the room, then leaped up, grabbed a rope, and strung the bear up by its head on the ceiling.
"Uncle Barry! Uncle Barry!" Mariah's face darkened, her voice low and ominous as she repeated his name.
"Alright, alright! Who's calling for Uncle Barry?" He had some shame—barely—so he stopped.
"Next weekend, we're going on a family trip. We leave Friday night, crash somewhere, then get there Saturday."
Mariah finally got to the point she'd meant to bring up.
"Oh, kid, Uncle Barry wishes you a great weekend," he said after a moment.
"I mean, you're coming too," Mariah clarified.
"Uncle Barry's got big plans to figure out. Super busy," he said, not lying for once.
"Your 'big plans' are sticking all my stuff to the ceiling and murdering my bear?"
Mariah wasn't about to leave post-movie Barry alone in the house. She was half-convinced she'd come back to find her bed glued to the ceiling.
"It's a necessary sacrifice for mastering my craft… Seriously, no time. Next time, promise."
"Come on, Aylan says she's scared someone's gonna come after her with a machete."
"For real?" Barry squinted at Mariah's eyes, suspicious.
"For real," she said, dodging his gaze guiltily.
"Well, if it's Aylan asking, I guess I'll graciously tag along. Can't say no to that—I'm just too good a guy," Barry said, recalling how Aylan got chased by Jason last time. He felt a tiny bit bad about it.
"Sweet!" Mariah hopped onto her bed, pumped.
"By the way, where's this trip to?"
"Daddy said it's a place called Greenvale County. Sounds pretty popular."
"Greenvale County, huh? Name alone makes me think of spring vibes, like life's just bursting out everywhere," Barry said casually, not thinking much of it.
"Cool, now can you get my stuff down?" Mariah pressed.
"Easy peasy." Barry snapped his fingers, and with a thought, the webs released.
"Oh crap!"
Everything on the ceiling came crashing down like rain, and Mariah ducked, covering her head.