disclaimer: The X-Men, specifically for this story Charles Xavier, are the sole property of Marvel Comics Group. I do not in any way claim ownership and this work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only without any kind of monetary benefit.

A Moment in Time
by Dizi

Have you ever had a moment?

A single instant indelibly etched into your mind.

When time seems to stop.

Everything happens in slow motion.

Your senses are heightened.

The next second takes an eternity to arrive.

A moment in which you know your life will never be the same.

Have you?

I have.

I call it my "Once Upon A Time".

Once upon a time, life was normal. I went to school. I had a family. I had a dog, actually three of them. For a short time, I even had a boyfriend.

That was before the moment happened.

I am what is commonly referred to as a nerd. I'm clumsy, wear big glasses, and my clothes are always 'out of fashion'. I never get the joke, no one understands what I see in books, and by just being in a class I throw off the grade curve. I'm not really anti-social but because I don't fit in, I've become shy. Almost any stereo type you can think of, I am.

It never bothered me. Mostly because I didn't know what I was missing. I had a good idea but I didn't know, not really.

Next door to where I lived was my best friend's house. Well, he used to be my best friend. Roman Daniels and I grew up together from the age of two and we were inseparable until we were twelve. That was about the time we both realized we were of opposite genders. Soon after, he saw that I was lacking in what he was looking for in both a friend and a girlfriend.

Possibly, I'm being harsh. Maybe it was me who understood I wasn't what he was looking for. How could I be? Roman was handsome and athletic. When we stopped hanging out together, he was snatched up by the in-crowd. He was Mr. Popular, captain of the football team, easy-going, fun, and... Well, he was all I wasn't.

Then about four years later, he was close to failing English and getting kicked off the team. Suddenly, Roman remembered his friend from next door, the one who had helped him with his homework all through gradeschool. I think if he hadn't had so many extra-curricular activities he would have done fine. But there was only so much time in the day and something had to give.

Was it a coincidence he and Julia You're-Not-Good-Enough-To-Stand-In-My-Shadow Thompson broke up at just that time? He never said, but if he told her how close he was to not being on the football team, I would say it's a given.

For three weeks we were together for two hours a day. I hadn't realized how much I had missed him. Roman didn't treat me like the rest of his new friends did. They were the ones who casually knocked my books out of my hands in the hallway, stole my glasses right off my face, and laughed when I stumbled. They laughed a lot. Roman never had and I hadn't realized that either.

To be honest, I hadn't let myself think of him much at all for those four years. He had moved on without me, went a different direction. Or that's what I assumed. While we were studying, he would act like that time hadn't passed. He talked to me about things I knew nothing about such as a party he had gone to and I didn't know whose it was. He asked if I was going to the dance and didn't understand when I said no one had invited me, I wasn't brave enough to go alone. He didn't seem to get that I wasn't part of his circle. Roman talked to me like I was still his best friend.

While I was falling in love with him. How much more cliche could I have gotten? Not only falling for my best friend but having a crush on the captain of the football team? I was so out of my league it wasn't funny. But I couldn't quit helping him and every day I fell a little more.

By the time he took the semester exam, he knew his stuff. Roman passed with flying colors and I thought that was it. He would go back to his life and I would go back to mine.

Roman didn't think so. He came to my house just like he had the day before, ready to study. I couldn't believe it.

Once we were alone, he admitted he didn't want to study. He wanted to be with me. He had missed me.

It got better. There was to be another dance in two weeks and he wanted me to go with him. Roman was asking me, the queen of the nerd squad, to go out with him. I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no either. In fact, I didn't say anything at all.

He didn't care and went on while I stared at him. Roman had been my best friend and knew me. All the way he knew me, better than I knew him. He explained he had been trying to include me in his life during our talks, his talking to me. Finally giving up, he had decided to join mine as much as he could. So we would continue to study but he didn't want to hide his feelings for me. He wanted to show me off. He wanted me to go to the dance. Then Roman went way out to the deep end and kissed me.

That wasn't my "moment" but it was pretty close. I had never been kissed before and didn't think it could get better than that. I said yes to the dance.

Suddenly, we were inseparable again. Roman carried my books to class so no one would knock them out of my hands. He gave me quick stolen kisses in the hall so I stumbled for reasons other than not being able to see. His other friends still didn't like me but they didn't do or say anything to me.

They were saving it up.

The night of the dance came. My parents were beside themselves, they were so excited for me. I'm an only child and they kept telling me I would "come into my own" or "bloom". My mother took me shopping for a dress. It was beautiful but I don't think it looked right on me. Because I'm stick thin and have no chest, it had to be taken in at the bosom. My dad had a camera out and took what seemed to be hundreds of pictures. It felt like I was going to the prom instead of my first dance.

Roman's father loaned him his car and we arrived right on time. I'm not a good dancer, but he kept me on the dance floor all night. It was a night right out of a fairytale. I was the princess and he was my prince.

But while I was in dreamland, Roman's "friends" were tampering with his car. They thought it would be a good joke to make us walk home and get in trouble for being out past curfew. Roman's ex, Julia Thompson, was the ringleader, I'm sure. I know she wasn't happy that when she said she'd take him back, he refused. In her eyes, his dating me was the worst insult he could have dealt her. Roman embarrassed her in front of the whole school by taking a nerd like me to the dance instead of her. The captain of the football team was supposed to date the head cheerleader, not me. Which was what I had originally thought too .

Along with all his other good qualities, Roman is very responsible. When the car wouldn't start, he called both our parents to let them know we'd be late. Not knowing the car had been sabotaged, he put his letter jacket around my shoulders and we started walking the ten blocks home, happy and trouble free.

Only one of the streets between the school and where we lived has a major intersection. It was the halfway point, a six lane street with a small median. At eleven o'clock at night, it wasn't busy. Nonetheless, Roman was very careful to look both ways before helping me across. Wearing low heels for the first time, my feet were hurting and we had been making slow progress. Two cars had to slow down for us before we got to the middle.

Worried, he offered to carry me the rest of the way but I laughed it off, saying I could make it. I would have too, if not for once his "friends" again.

So Roman had one arm around me, helping me walk and we were in the middle of the street when a car came that didn't slow down. The headlights blinded us. He shoved me out of the way so hard I skidded across the last lane and hit the curb. Screaming, I turned my head to look back.

That's when it happened. My moment.

Time stood still.

I couldn't hear anything, even my own voice as my scream went on.

Roman was surrounded by light from the oncoming vehicle.

His handsome features were stark with horror.

His eyes met mine.

Then it ended and the car hit him head on. Roman bounced over the hood, hit the windshield, slid over the top, and landed on the gravel behind the car. It looked like a scene with one of those crash dummies.

Crying, dazed, my glasses askew, I crawled to Roman's twitching body lying on the street. Reaching his side, I leaned over him and my tears dripped on his chest. Raising a hand, he touched my face and I clearly heard my name before he died. Just died.

The whole thing happened in less than two minutes.

After the car went on to hit an electrical pole, the driver got out unhurt. It was another member of the football team. He'd been drinking and wanted to scare me. He hadn't meant for anyone to get hurt. He hadn't meant to kill anyone. He hadn't wanted this to happen. I knew all this because I could hear his thoughts.

Roman hadn't spoken, his last thought was of me.

Something inside me had shifted in that moment. My mind had opened up and touched Roman's. Later, I learned adrenaline in extreme situations can activate mutant abilities.

An ambulance came and took me to the hospital. My last sight of Roman was him being lifted onto a gurney and covered with a sheet. The newfound powers left me hysterical from hearing the thoughts of everyone around me. Under sedation for almost a week, I missed the funeral.

Professor Charles Xavier came to see my parents. He spoke to them and I was sent to his mansion in upstate New York. Three months have passed and I can now be in a room with someone who isn't mentally "blind".

The school is still there, my family and the dogs as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Daniels moved to Washington state.

The driver, Colin Maybry, is in jail for vehicular manslaughter.

Once upon a time, I was normal.

Once upon a time, I learned that dreams come true.

Once upon a time, I learned life is precious and to grab hold while you can.

Once upon a time, I was a princess with her prince.

Once upon a time, Roman loved me.

Once upon a time, a good person saved my life.

Once upon a time, a good person who loved me died.

Someday I may fall in love again, but never will I have another prince like Roman.

My name is Mary Joanne Hewett, MaryJo.

And this was how I became a mutant called Psylence.

Because I haven't spoken since the night he died.

"Once Upon A Time" is for fairytales.

Have you ever had a Moment?

I have.

It really does change your life.

The End.

note: I wasn't really sure what this story was until it was done. I was driving to a restaurant to pick up dinner and the first part (the italics at the beginning) popped into my head. I was going to incorporate it into another story I'm writing - and a variation might still end up there - but it felt like it deserved a story of its own.

At this time, I don't expect to write more about MaryJo. She might be seen as a secondary character but I'm not even sure about that. I didn't plan her at all. Throughout the whole story I didn't know what was going to happen from one paragraph to the next until I typed it. That being the case, I'm not going to say there won't be another story about her either. But I don't plan on it.

Anyway, I hope you like her and please let me know what you think of my story.

Thanks for reading and all the support,
Dizi