Imp's origin

“I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. But Angel will never be normal.”

The words echoed in the mind of Mrs. Anderson as she looked through the glass of the observational ward at the hospital at a ten year old girl with red skin. Her third child, Angel. The doctor responsible for the words spoke up again at her lack of response.

“She’s mutating, her skin might not be the only thing that changes over time.”

The woman looked back at the doctor, then to her husband who had been staring through the window with his wife. When she spoke up, her tone was harsh, harsher then she intended.

“She’s a normal girl. She just looks different.” She almost hissed.

The doctor knew he had pushed a button, unintentional or not.

“Of course she is ma’am… I didn’t mean any offense. It’s just… you may want to prepare for the future.”

Peter, looked at his wife, Mary, and offered her a one armed, reassuring hug. “It will be alright, god’s with us always. And hey, at least it will be hard to misplace her.”

Mary looked up at her loving husband. Smiled first at his reassuring comment, then scowled at his terrible joke.

“How are we going to tell Peter and Abraham?” Mary asked, referring to Angels two older brothers.

“Just that Angel is their sister, and she isn’t any different from anyone else. “He responded.

“And school? She’s already being teased relentlessly, the kids call her ‘the Imp.’.”

“We’ll see how it goes… homeschooling might be necessary. And then you can keep an eye on her. Paul sighed. “You’ve been considering it ever since Abraham was born.”

The man had always been against it before. He wanted his kids to be well adjusted to society and its secular views. After all, ones faith had to be tested. Mary gave a weak smile and went to collect her child from the observation room. The red skinned child ran up to her mother and leapt up to give her a hug. The mother hugged her child tightly. Tighter than usual. They left the hospital for home, a heavy air lingering with them as they did.

Seven years later.

It was a cool autumn morning in New Jersey. Silent and calm in the Anderson household. Angel lay motionlessly in bed aside from the soft rise of her chest, breathing from her sleep. The peaceful scene was interrupted by the sound of a loud knock on her door. Imp groaned and rolled over, not ready to face the waking world yet. Her door slightly opened and her oldest brother peeked in.

“Angel, get your lazy rear out of bed.” The tall blond man said in a sing song fashion.

He was met with a flung pillow to his face. He shut the door just in time to block the large, fluffy projectile. A muffled snicker came from the now shut door, and his footsteps sounded through the hall as he went back about his business.

Imp rolled out of bed, giving a twirl in the two foot space between her bed and the floor, landing softly on all fours. She stood upright then began looking around at her messy room, Hockey stuff and other sports equipment strewn across her floor. She began peeling off her long T-shirt in exchange for some day clothes. Then made her way downstairs. That’s where she was met by her father.

“Honey, there was a mistake in the payroll department, they ended up mailing your paycheck instead of direct deposit. So you’re gonna need to go to the bank and drop it off.”

Imp groaned a bit, she just woke up and didn’t want to do anything. She looked at the check and reached out for it, only to have it dangled away from her by the much taller man. She just leapt up and snatched it. Her father smirked.

“Ah yes, my daughter the kangaroo.”

Imp smirked. “I’m more like a cat, I’m springy.”

Her mother then called out across from the kitchen, where she had been doing dishes. “Do you need a ride honey?”

Imp shook her head. “Nah, I’ll be fine.” She said, grabbing her jacket off of the coat rack. She zipped it up, and put up her hood. Then carefully wrapped her tail around herself, effectively concealing all of her Imp like features. Then headed out of the house, onto her destination of the peoples first national bank.

The walk was uneventful, she was usually left alone when she kept her head down and her face obstructed by the hood, just as she had gotten used to the chilly air, she found herself at the bank. She made her way to the line and quietly waited her turn.

About ten minutes later, Imp was lost in her own head, visualizing some unlikely scenario featuring Super Mario jumping on the head of an exceptionally grumpy looking teller. She was snapped out of it by the sound of a rapid gunshots.

“Everyone on the floor!” Imp turned around to see four men, faces covered in ski masks and toting fully automatic weapons.

“On the floor!” one of them shouted again,

Imp quickly complied, covering her head and dropping to the floor quickly. The seventeen year old was frightened, she’d never even seen a gun before, let alone had them fired around her. She looked around but was careful not to look at the robbers. They went about their business, collecting cash, when the bathroom door opened in the corner. A bumbling and confused security guard came out, drawing an old looking revolver. The four masked men quickly turned around to fire.

“NO!” The crimson teen called out, before leaping up and over, a good fifty foot leap, to shove the guard out of the way, in the process, her hood came off, and her tail unfurled, giving the crooks a good look at the Jersey devil.

“It’s a meta!” one called out.

Angel didn’t know what came over her, or what she was thinking, she shoved the guard even further away, into safety, then turned, and she lunged forward to the closest crook, dropping low and under his firearm, with a quick twirl and a sharp kick she caught him in the side of his masked face, knocking him out cold, She turned to look at the other three, they drew on her and began to fire. She gritted her teeth as one of the bullets grazed her arm immediately, still determined, she leaped into the air, landing in between two of the gunners. The gunfire ceased, not wanting to shoot one another, Imp landed with a roll, coming up on her hands, then kicked both attackers at once, using the splits as a kick. This just left one gunner left, Frightened and alone, he turned to run out with his bag of cash.

Imp was not about to let one of them get away. She ran after him, just before he could get to the door, the young woman jumped, swinging off a light fixture, then came down with a hard dropkick. The man bounced off the wall, then fell to the ground, unconscious and unmoving.

Angel stood, and once again there was silence. Hushed murmurs were the only sound heard in the bank. Suddenly one voice sounded above the rest. Someone about Imp’s age.

“I know who that is! It’s Imp!”

Angel turned around to look at the guy, she was bleeding from a few bullet grazes, the look on her face was one of confusion and fright, but also one of realization. The police had been outside, and rushed in when they found out it was all clear, followed by Angel’s parents, who had come when they heard what was going on from the news. As her parent hugged on their little girl,

Angel came to the realization, that at that moment, her life was no longer normal.

It was then, that Angel truly became Imp.