Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

Summary - Being a power ranger doesn't mean you're completely without fear. Deleted scene from These Walls.

The second Bailey teleported from the Command Center, the second her protective puple light that bathed her as she flew from the desert to right in front of her house, the world exploded in sound.

Thump.

Creak.

Whoosh.

Bailey's gaze shifted over her shoulder at the thump. Her head whipped around at the creak. She shivered at the whoosh. Shivered at the wind that blew around her. Intuitively, she knew what it was. There was a heavy wind that had been blowing through Angel Grove that day, partially due to the Fan Man and partially as it was part of the weather already forecasted. She knew that. Knew that the wind was blowing the rocking chair Ms. Gray had on her front porch that then snapped back into the side of the house.

But she couldn't stop the part of her that was human. Not a ranger. Just human; plain old Bailey Mitchell who was younger than the rest of her team, was considered a little sister to them all, and was powerless against her fear. Powerless against the increase of her heartbeat, of the fight of flight reaction that slithered up through her body, darkness growing and reaching her innermost crevices like ink in water. Spreading further as the seconds passed.

She took in a deep breath, tried to calm herself. It was just the wind. Just the wind that accompanied the obsidian night around her. The night that could hold anything within it, waiting to attack its prey. Bailey hooked her fingers together, played with the rings that sat on her left hand, the ones she'd stolen from her sister's dresser that morning and hoped didn't notice was missing. Funny how she'd been more afraid of that than the dark.

Up until then.

Thump.

Creak.

Whoosh.

With a strangled cry, Bailey flew up the steps of the house, fumbled for her keys, shoved them into the lock, flung the door open, and slammed it shut behind her. The darkness inside the house was jarring—a sudden reminder that she'd been home by herself for a while. Nevertheless, Bailey raced up to her room, jumped into bed and gathered her blankets around her. A cocoon to protect her from the outside world.

From reality.

And the reality was, she was a hero, but still afraid of the dark.

A/N: I almost do nothing with Bailey so I've been working on a lot of stuff with her lately. I've got Headstrong planned out as well as her future stories. Thank you all for being so patient on my lack of updates with my multi-chaptered fics like Headstrong, Powerless II, and Shattered Grid. Work has been taking too much time away from me lately.

~Av