His face was sneering in a defensive way. He wanted to hide something, it was obvious. Maybe his true personality.
"I wish someone could teach me to look as innocent and harmless as you do", he said tauntingly. Maybe there was a bitter tone to it, maybe that was only imagination.
He didn't look innocent. Neither did he look harmless. Not only the pale scars on his cheeks, but also the livid glow in his green eyes prevented that. Demonical, she thought.
It was a cold, wet september afternoon when they headed towards the headquarters, across the forest, following a path only they knew. Them, that was her, the teenager girl with the piercing blue eyes and the spliced dark hair, looking very unkempt in her ragged clothes, and him, maybe twenty years old, tall, average looks with light brown hair and greyish eyes. They walked in silence.
She had been on the run for some time, and it showed. Her face was pale, always carrying a frown, and even while asleep, her lips were tightly pressed together. She hadn't seen her reflection for some months, and if she could have seen it now, she would have been shocked how grave and matured she looked. Last time she had earnestly thought about herself, she had assessed herself as a happy, self-confident, somewhat dreamy, but nonetheless popular 15-year-old girl. Next day, she found out about what she truly was.
A mutant.
She relived it every night in her dreams, the day her family began to deny her existence. It had been around Christmas. She went with her father and her brothers to the mall, trying to get a last-minute present for her mom's birthday. She was bored, due to the fact that she had just been shopping with her friends to buy countless Christmas gifts. Her brothers, both her senior, bantered her about her freshly dyed red highlights. They looked annoyingly flashy under the harsh neon lights. Actually, she had wanted look outstanding. But now, she felt uncomfortable. She constantly imagined people staring at her.
"Carla! Come over here! I want you to look at this!", her father called her from the electronics section. He was shockingly incompetent in choosing a present that might appeal to his wife. That was why he had insisted on her accompanying them., in fact.
He held up a box with a picture of a CD player on it. It was a very plain one, and Carla grimaced. Knowing her mother, she knew that first of all, she hated everything electronic, and second, that she liked trashy thinks. Like pink flowers and bright patterns. She sighed.
Then it happened. Someone behind her gently shoved her out of the way. Automatically, she excused herself and turned a bit to look straight into his face.
Ohmygod.
Her thoughts raced in her mind.
He's gorgeous. That must be the best-looking human person I ever met.
She flushed as she noticed she had been staring at him quite a while, then she began backing off, muttering shy excuses. She felt heat rushing up to her head.
He smiled.
"Nothing to excuse about. Tell me…"
He gently placed his hand on her arm.
And then, everything got out of control.
She heard people screaming above the noise of thousands of heavy objects shattering on the ground, felt the basement trembling beneath her feet.
That was the material shaping her nightmares.