Chapter One
Sweat rolls down my forehead and I can feel heat baking in my skin. I toss uncomfortably in between the sheets while smoke fills my lungs. Croaking and coughing I jolt awake trying to catch my breath, only to find the floor burning beneath me. Frightened I tremble and try to hold back the scream that is lodged in my throat. Petrified by the blazes surrounding me, I sit in watch posters burn into ashes as flames dance across my floorboards. The room slowly becomes covered in thick gray smoke clouds that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The clouds grow so thick, I can no longer see. I can only hear the faint shrieks of my companions and the sizzling sound of my door crumbling into dust. The ceiling starts to creek and rattle, then the sky starts to fall. Chunks of wood and plaster crash through the roof and melt before my eyes. The falling flames start to create this ring of fire around me. I am frightened and defenseless of the ceiling that seems to be caving in above me. A loud thud comes from behind the wall of fire and the entire room shakes. I am struck with fear, and then I feel a high pitch scream fall off the edge of my lips before I can stop it. I want to run, I want to scream, but I can't. I am paralyzed, fighting for every halfhearted breath.
While the fire grows closer, I grab the satin sheets and wrap them around me, as if it could somehow save me. I seem to be lost halfway in my dream world, half in this chaos. When I am almost indulged by the wall of fire, the room grows cold and the flames turn to ice. Ice shatters across my bed, the silhouette of a man grows through the smoke. "Bobby", I whisper into the thick air. "Rogue what are you doing? We have to go, now!" Bobby coughs. Hearing the urgency in his voice I hastily grab my boots and bag, which are luckily on the floor by my bed side, and follow him through the frozen flames. "Bobby, I…" I stammer, as he breaks my window. A bridge of ice sickles falls from the ledge and descends to the ground, which is full of chattering student looking as stunned as I.
The world seems to pass by me in a blur, before I knew it I saw Storm dashing into smoke clouds screaming Charles, men in armored suits flooding from the mansion into S.H.E.I.L.D. cars that were quickly sent crashing through the iron gates of this once proud institution, and Jean crawling out of the smog covered in gashes and burns just as you the mansion go up in flames.
"Rogue, wake up, it's time to leave," someone whispers, as I drag myself out of this haunting nightmare. I wake to Pyro jamming a copy of A Tale of Two Cities into my arm and his emerald eyes. "Don't do that!" I screech, jumping out of my seat and punching Pyro in the shoulder. "Sorry" he murmurs, rubbing his arm. "Uggh. What time is it?" I say, trying to adjust to the eerie library lights. "Four-seventeen, we have three minutes to get to your locker and the front door. If not we will be stuck in one of those awkward moments when everyone stares and runs away. So hurry up!" He yells from across the library, walking out of the door.
Reluctantly following, I emerge into the vacant halls of Howlett High and join my best friend, Pyro. Suddenly the halls seemed to shrink in size as the dismissing bell roars. Students flood into the hall from every direction and crowd the corridors. Pyro and I do our best to maintain a dull conversation and fade into the swarm of students in the hall. But we both knew what was coming.
Someone will randomly scream, Mutant, and point at us. Students and teachers will flee into random classrooms and run towards the lockers, trying to get at least ten feet of distance between themselves and the two genetically impaired outcasts. And as if we were lepers the halls would abruptly become vacant, leaving only me and Pyro, and any of the other mutants who once lived in X mansion. It ALWAYS happens.
Before I knew it we were alone. "You'd think we were contagious" Pyro joked. "It is too bad we aren't, I really like it if there were more than a few freaks in school." I sighed turning the corridor towards my locker."But it's all okay we get to live in a dumpy apartment complex and have cool names. Rogue, Pyro, White Queen, Wolverine… Iceman and Shadowcat" he laughs gesturing to the two of our fellow mutants that are sucking face in front of my locker. "I know, I just get sick of it all sometimes, you know?", now realizing the that Kitty and Bobby were the two morons in front of my locker. I couldn't help but rolling my eyes. There is too much lovey-doveyness in the air, it makes me sick. Don't get me wrong, I like Bobby and all, and Kitty is a little annoying, but at least she's nice, but I just wish that they could keep there "love" to a minimum. Will people ever realize no one wants to see you twirl your hair and see which flavor of lip gloss your new boo likes? Gag! Finding in myself in my train of thought, I loudly (and obnoxiously) cleared my throat. Kitty looks up at me and blushes, and before Bobby could even turn around to say something, Kitty had already grabbed the collar of his shirt and had dragged him away.
I stare blankly at my locker for a moment then start to turn the dial to unlock my locker. When I open my locker Pyro snatches a box of Tic Tacs, and pops a handful into his mouth. Trying to ignore the fact that in his mad dash to my stash of Tic Tacs that Pyro put my locker in disarray, I throw a tube of Burtbee's, my American: A History book, and two boxes of cinnamon Tic Tacs into my locker and slam it shut. "We could make them jealous you know? You and me." Pyro says through a mouth of Tic Tacs. "What?" I mouth searching my bag for my car eyes.
"We could be the ones trying to suck each other's faces off."
"What no, Pyro! Not us! We couldn't. We shouldn't. I shouldn't. You know I couldn't. Why would you even say something like that?"
"Rogue, I am sorry I didn't mean it like that. I was just trying to say we could. I am always here for you, for anything. Besides you wouldn't hurt me."
I am floored. I haven't ever heard him speak like that. I'm lost for words. I keep trying to open my mouth and say something intelligent, or witty, or hurtful, but I couldn't seem to find anything to say. I just walked with him silently twirling my keys between my fingers. Realizing that he has hurt me with what he said, playfully Pyro pops the keys out of my hands and starts running. "I'm driving!" Pyro yells to me from down the hallway. "St. Jonathan Pyro Allyerdyce!, If you don't come back here this instant and give me my keys back the entire school will find out your real name!" I found myself screaming down the corridor, chasing after Pyro and my keys.
I try and catch my breath as I meet up with Pyro at the end of the stairs. "Where's the car?" he asks dangling my keys in front of my face. Too breathless to run anymore, I just point at the edge of the parking lot. Past the neatly parked sports cars and fancy foreign vehicles, to the collection of old trucks and motorcycles strayed across the gravel lot. I silently trudge to my car, kicking a stone with every step of the way. I look up from my little hockey game and find myself standing in front of my old clunker. A nineteen eighty-seven ford, chipped faded red paint and a dent in the bumper the length of my leg just screams disaster. "After you my lady," Pyro says opening the door to the passenger side. Awaking from my daze, I sink into my torn leather seat and fall back into my daze.