Everything was silent in Jenny’s quarters of the Astro Megaship. The Spice leader slept soundly in her bed. However, she was in an odd position. She lay flat on her back with both hands on her stomach. It was the same position as the corpses rested in their coffins for loved ones to look upon in church. Were it not for the tears that streaked from Jenny’s eyes, one would have assumed that she was dead.

The room itself was silent, but Jenny’s head was not. Jenny was sound asleep, but her head was filled with the sights and sounds of a painful reality.

“Bitch! We don’t want you around, so you best get out of here!”

“I’m going to hit you! Seriously, I’m going to hit you!”

“You are messed up!”

“Hey Jolly Green Giant, how’s the weather up there?”

“I’ve lost any and all respect for you!”

“I never want to hear from you again!”

“You’re insane; you need your head examined!”

“You don’t understand anything; you’re so stupid!”

“Girl, you got a problem!”

“It’s all your fault!”

Jenny opened her eyes, but her body still didn’t move. She stared at the ceiling as more tears began to form. She felt the tears streak down her face until it became so irritating that she had to wipe them. She felt a pain in her heart, mostly emotional, but it was intense enough to be somewhat physical. Jenny held her chest, which began heaving in and out as she breathed. Finally, she sat up and wiped her tears with her blanket, and asked a question she had been asking all her life.

“Why? Why must the world torture me? Why do I bother defending it?”

Since Jenny began fighting evil, she took physical injuries of every kind, and she would stand up and make them pay. Emotional insults were another thing, something Jenny couldn’t handle very well. Since the third grade, Jenny had been abused. She stood up and glared into a mirror. She picked up her wedding necklace from the desk and held it tightly. She now noticed the cold sweat on her forehead. Jenny glanced at the mirror again and noticed that the sweat had made the hair on her forehead wet.

“Ten years I’ve been abused by classmates, and people of all ages. They get together and conspire just to see me cry.” She tightened her grip on the necklace. “I’m sick and tired of being looked at like a witch. I’ve done nothing wrong, but it doesn’t matter. Even if I was being a pain in the you-know-what, why the hell don’t they say something!? What do they think I am, some kind of mind-reader!?”

Unable to contain her bloodlust, Jenny hurled the necklace at the mirror. She listened as the glass shattered on the floor. The sound made her feel a little better, but she wasn’t done ranting yet.

“Foolish humans! Hard to believe I used to be one of them! It isn’t just me, is it? They have no respect for anyone! Humans murdering each other since the beginning of time; it’s ludicrous! But of all the people to torture, it had to be me, didn’t it? They liked me once. They said I was creative. Then they turn around and it’s, ‘I don’t ever wanna see you again!’ Just slam the door, why don’t you! Don’t even let me step all the way out; just hit me with that door and break a body part! I’ve had to put up with you people all my life, but no more!”

Jenny returned her attention to her necklace lying among the shattered mirror pieces. She hastily picked up and examined it for any damage. Nothing was going to happen to her prized wedding gift. She sat back on her bed and shed a few more tears. Since she hated her friends to see her like this, she wiped her tears before finally coming out of her room. She went into the dining room where several Rangers and Spices were sitting.

“Oooh, this really sucks,” the Cryptkeeper said, looking through a newspaper. “Check out this one. This article is about this guy who breaks into some girl’s home and stabs her thirteen times.”

“Why would they do that?” Spinal asked.

“He’s an idiot, that’s why.”

“If we would all just do our part, there can be world peace,” Ashley said.

“Give it up; there won’t be any world peace,” Jenny said. “There’s no way that EVERYBODY is going to do their part.”

“I agree,” the Cryptkeeper said. “How are we going to get this guy to do his part?” He held up the newspaper. “Oooh, look at this one! ‘Woman abducted and shot to death.’”

“Please stop!” Jenny groaned, grabbing her head. “The world is cruel enough without crime.”

Out of the kindness of her heart, Cassie pulled a meal out of the synthetron and placed it in front of Jenny. “Here, Jenny; aren’t you hungry?”

“Thanks,” Jenny sighed.

The heroes conversed some more, but Jenny heard none of it. She couldn’t even find the appetite to eat. Instead, she picked at it with her fork.

“Jenny?” Carlos called after a while. “What’s wrong? You look kind of bummed.”

Jenny could feel her pain rebuilding inside. She tried to speak, but she felt a lump in her throat. It wasn’t easy to fight the tears. When Jenny finally did speak, her voice came out strained.

“I just want to be alone.”

She ran back to her room and dug through her drawers. She came across a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it, revealing a letter. Fractions of it were all smeared out due to age, but what was still legible wasn’t very friendly. Jenny folded the note again and stuck it into her pocket. Then she pressed on her ring and teleported out.

Jenny arrived on a beach of an alien planet. Anyone would be surprised at how many plants were so similar to Earth. Jenny walked directly beside the ocean when a crab approached her. Jenny picked it up and held it like a hamburger. After a minute, she tossed the crab out into the ocean. Then she sat down on the sand, buried her face in her knees, and cried. Nothing could possibly hurt her anymore......could it? As she was buried in the pain, she felt something grab her shoulder. She turned to see Darkonda standing over her.

“Something wrong, my love?” he asked.

It was bad enough to find her friends seeing her in such misery, but Darkonda!? Jenny hastily wiped away her tears, but it was too late. Darkonda had already seen her weeping.

Jenny sighed. “I just want to be alone.”

“Come, come now,” Darkonda said, helping her up. “You can tell me what’s wrong. That’s how we are one.”

The couple embraced each other. Jenny rested her head on Darkonda’s shoulder as more silent tears moistened her face. She brought her head up.

“Let me tell you a story. There was this girl......I don’t remember her name, but she and I chatted like hell. She told me that I was creative, that I was excellent, that sort of thing. Then one day, she turned around and screamed the living shit out of me. Do you have any idea how mad I was?”

“I could’ve sworn that I was evil,” Darkonda said. “What about humans? Are they more evil than we’ve heard?”

“You bet,” Jenny told him. “This ‘old friend’ wrote a letter. Take a look.”

She pulled the rotten letter from her pocket and handed it to Darkonda, who unfolded it and looked at it.

“This is all smeared out!”

“Just read what you can,” Jenny said.

Darkonda stared hard at the letter and read aloud what he could make out. “.......’point of imbecility, which means stupidity, in case you don’t know, which I sincerely doubt you do....’”

“Do you know what that means?” Jenny asked.

“She insults your intelligence!”

“That’s it. Keep going.”

Darkonda continued. “’I have so totally lost any and all respect for you.......I’m sick and tired of hearing from you.....you’re insane....’ Forget it; this makes no sense. You should burn that letter.”

“No. I’ll need it. I’ve had that letter for eight years.”

“Why would you want to keep that thing?” Darkonda asked.

“So that I can give people an idea of how I was treated all my life,” Jenny replied. “Anyway, I had some friends talk to her, and according to them, she’d been building this up for some time. But how was I to know? She had her chance to speak, but instead, while this urge was building inside of her, she’s been lying to me! It doesn’t matter if she once believed that what she’d been telling me was true. All that she’s said to me in the past is now considered a BIG, WHITE LIE!!! Oooh, these people! What are they thinking??”

“I wonder about that myself,” Darkonda said.

Jenny picked up a rock and continued. “You know, I may have super powers, but mind reading sure as hell ain’t one of them!” She looked out into the ocean where she saw a man and a woman on a kayak. She hurled the stone, which skipped along the water. The stone struck the bottom of the kayak, tipping it over. Jenny couldn’t help chuckling.

Darkonda laughed, too. “You know, I love it when you get in a sour mood. It makes you more.....evil.”

Jenny paused. “It does, doesn’t it? I’ve always said that there was good and evil in all of us......but humanity is ridiculous. No wonder I didn’t fit in!”

Suddenly, her Spice ring began to flash.

“Jenny, you’ve gotta get over here!” the Cryptkeeper cried. “Scorpius is attacking Terra Venture.”

Jenny sighed. “Oh man.....you guys can take care of it. There’s enough of you.”

“Jenny, what’s the matter? This isn’t you? Don’t you care about the people?”

“Why should I? These are people who kill each other for no reason! These are people who’d sacrifice life and limb just to see me cry. Pardon me if I don’t shed a tear!”

“I see you’re down in the dumps,” the Cryptkeeper said. “Very well then. We’ll just have to save the world without you, then.”

The communication was cut off.

“Did you still want to be alone?” Darkonda asked.

“Yes, please.....” Jenny said.

“Very well. I’ll return later.” Darkonda turned and walked away. After a few steps, he disappeared.

Would the Spices win the battle without her? And would Jenny ever find another way to deal with her pain and anger? Will time truly heal the pain lurking in the memory??? Jenny reclined back into the sand and placed both hands on her stomach, just like she had on the Megaship. The ocean waves washed ashore, outlining Jenny’s body, but she remained still like the dead body in a coffin. The tears drifted from her eyes once more.......

The End