A/N I'm going back and reuploading newly edited versions of the existing chapters of this story before I move on to writing new content for it. But I will get around to new content eventually, I promise

Lola knew that her daughter was different from the moment she had opened her eyes as a newborn. They looked like portals to outer space, and they were beautiful, like two little galaxies had somehow been captured and turned into eyes. And when people looked into Vera's eyes, they felt like they were seeing the entire universe itself, and getting them to look away was almost impossible. Even as a baby her eyes were like a drug, one good look was never enough, and people were always trying to find excuses to look again.

That problem had pretty much taken care of itself. Vera's unique eyes, while obviously very good for looking at, weren't as useful in the department of actually seeing. The girl's eyes were extremely sensitive to light, so she constantly wore sunglasses, even indoors. And Lola wasn't going to argue, since that was a good form of protection against people glancing at those eyes.

But somehow, despite those bizarre eyes, Lola had never expected anything else unusual to happen, at least not concerning her daughter. It made sense when she reflected back on it later, that those eyes would be a sure sign of mutation. The eyes seemed to just be some kind of side effect, though, caused by her mutation.

Lola had nearly had a heart attack the day she came home to find a bunch of strangers milling about her house. The babysitter was later found hiding in a closet. She quit immediately, without even asking for the money she was owed for the day, and she ran off before Lola had a chance to ask her what was going on.

Vera was sitting calmly on the rug in front of the television, though the set was off. Vera never watched TV because it was too harsh on her eyes. She was surrounded by the strange people, and it was then that Lola realized some of the people had their feet a few inches above the ground as the walked, and all of them were just a little bit see-through.

The poor woman had to force her voice not to tremble as she spoke to Vera from the doorway, not wanting to get any closer to the strange people. "Sweetheart, who are these people, and what are they doing in our house?"

Vera looked up, an uncertain look on her face. She didn't want her mother to be displeased, but she was obviously proud of these people. "They're uh… the people who used to live here."

Lola gulped. "Honey, I've lived here for the past twenty years, and it was empty for several years before I even moved in. I don't think any of the old residents could still be…"

Vera nodded up at one of the people. "Mom, I know what it means to be dead. These people are all dead." She spoke with a matter of fact tone to her voice, like that part should be obvious. "I guess that makes them ghosts, right? Like the ones in Scrooge?"

Lola wanted to pass out right then, but she was too frightened of leaving her daughter alone with a house full of ghosts, even if they didn't seem intent on harming anyone. Lola was surprised that her voice managed to sound so calm as she spoke. "Can you send them away, please?"

Vera nodded, and with that small action, every dead person vanished in less time than it takes to blink. Lola collapsed onto the couch with a sigh of relief, and closed her eyes. Vera stood up, and crawled onto her mother's lap. The girl was only five, still small enough to fit there. She spoke softly, like she was wary of making Lola's headache worse. "Mom? I know that you're a little scared right now, but don't be. They weren't going to hurt anybody. This isn't the first time that I've brought them here, so I know that they're safe. It is the first time I let anyone else see them, though. I thought that my 'sitter would be impressed, but I don't think she was."

The woman cracked her eyes open a bit. "I'm not sure how to explain this…"

The little girl shrugged. "I already know that you think if anyone finds out, they'll try to hurt me. Don't worry. If anything happens, my new friends will protect me. They like me because I'm their only real connection to the living."

Lola frowned. "I didn't say that-"

Vera rolled off of Lola's lap, and onto the couch. "You don't have to say something for me to know it. You don't even have to think it. But it's okay, I promise."

After that, Lola suspected that Vera continued to summon her 'new friends' whenever her mom wasn't home, but she never saw them again. At least not for several months. Or maybe they had been summoned, but they simply walked around invisible to everyone but Vera. Either way, Lola was grateful to not have to think about them too hard. But of course, the reprieve couldn't last forever.

They were walking down the aisle at the grocery store, and Lola was trying to reach something that was on the top shelf. As she was reaching for it, the box tipped over, and fell right into her hands. Lola was a little surprised, but she ignored it, thinking that it was caused by the breeze from the front doors of the store opening to admit another customer.

A few minutes later, Lola got to the deli section, and it was crowded. She took a number, and it was in the one hundreds, while the number on the board was only at fifty something. She groaned at the thought of how long it would take.

Suddenly, everyone froze and all the chatter stopped as the half pound of ham and cheese that Lola had been planning on getting rose up of its own free will, and floated over the crowd of people. They watched silently as it landed in Lola's cart. The woman glanced down, and saw that Vera had a thoughtful frown on her face.

Lola's hand shot out, against her will, and slapped Vera right across the cheek, leaving a bright red mark. Her mouth opened, and words came out, things that she never would have said. "You freak!" She hissed. She begged herself not to keep speaking, and couldn't figure out why she would be so cruel to her own daughter. "Why couldn't I just have a normal kid? Why did I have to get stuck with someone like you? I wish that you could just leave me alone and stop ruining my whole life!"

Vera bit her lip, and she darted away, towards the exit. Lola stood there, dazed, as she was able to take control of her arms again. She realized that Vera had somehow made her do that, in order to protect her from the people. She wanted to turn and run after the girl, but her legs were frozen in place, and she literally couldn't move them. Probably another gift from Vera. Lola wanted to scream that she hadn't said those things, but she couldn't open her mouth.

A few minutes later, Lola could move completely again, and she left the store to get into her car as quick as possible. It wouldn't start, or maybe she was just too distracted to be doing the right things to turn it on, so she jogged home as fast as she could. She could tell as soon as she threw open the front door that Vera was gone, but she needed to check anyways. She ran up to her daughter's room, and pushed the door open gently.

Vera's backpack was gone, and when Lola looked closer, she could see that several articles of clothing were missing as well, along with the entire contents of Vera's piggy bank, not that that could be more than a few dollars. Lola sank onto the small bed, and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. If she had ever wished that Vera was normal, it was because she knew that the life of a mutant was never going to be easy, and every parent wanted their children to have the best lives possible.

Lola wanted to call every police and news station in the area, to tell them that her kid was missing, and who knows what could happen to her out there. But Lola knew that was the wrong thing to do. Vera had been confident that her ghost friends would protect her, and Lola prayed to god that they would. The woman knew that this was what Vera wanted, and even if she could never give her daughter anything else for the rest of her life, she could at least give her this. But she also vowed to never let herself forget about her daughter, who had been the light of her life despite all of her oddities. Lola buried her face in her hands, and began sobbing loudly. The world wasn't a fair place, and she hated every spiteful human who'd decided that mutants didn't deserve to live the same lives as everyone else. She could only hope that Vera would find a place that would finally accept her as she was.