DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Mutant X'. They're not
my property. They belong to Tribune Entertainment.
***
A grey dove with three black lines on his tale landed on the concrete ground. It had found a few crumbs and it began to hurriedly pick one by one before someone else had that chance; its little neck working almost like a machine.
The golden rays of the sun were absent today, removed by the falling grayness from the large clouds in the sky that gave a deceiving earlier image of friendly white pillows announcing the sun; now instead a depressing and lonely feeling fell on the city with the 'cheerful' news that a hard and long rain was going to arrive and its big drops of water wash away all the filth which roamed the streets.
As if this had been some inner calling to almost every person living here, the early moisture in the air reaching inside their brains and sending small messages, the streets were slowly emptying from any human or animal presence.
Sitting on the wide white edge of the closed window, her tiny white fingers gripping the handle of a white mug filled with hot chocolate, the young woman watched the slow retrieval of life from that gray surface beneath the glass. Her deep blue eyes, twinkling with sad sparkles decided to not absorb today's time; the effort to preserve the memory of this day simply did not seem to appeal to her.
She had expected this date to be rid of any cheer, any fun, stripped from anything that could be tempting to place a smile on a person... especially her - Emma Delauro; from the very first second after the stroke of midnight to the very last. Grievance had wrapped around her so tightly that the only options which she was left with was to simply sit down in this small home and observe the slow arrival of the rain while the sound of her own sighing was her only company.
Despite her isolation she could still pick up on the vast variation of feelings and emotions emerging from the passengers on the street beneath her window. Emma could sympathies with those that felt anger, disappointment and misery and during some hidden seconds in her mind she felt saved by this, knowing that it hadn't been only her that had let the weather and memories weigh her down. But then she would come across those that felt lighter, less annoyed and perhaps even worse - happy; their faces serious and some would even dare to smile... and Emma envied these people, she felt jealous of the boldness they had to enjoy themselves, to let happiness be a part of them. She envied them because she too had once enjoyed that luxury of being tremendously happy. However with the passing of each week, that feeling began to slowly become transparent and at times almost impossible to touch... like today.
A heavy sigh left her full red lips with an existing amazement at how that color had still managed to remain on this piece of flesh. It had been one year. Removing her eyes from the street, Emma slowly took them over to the big white clock on the wall in the shape of a disk with two thin and small black handles being the only decorations on the object, except the black twelve numbers. The small handle stood on a 4, while the large one on a 7. Now it was exactly one year, at this time; an event that completely changed hers and the rest of the Mutant X members' lives. Her thin and beautifully shaped eyebrows slowly rose up as the sad feeling traveled slowly through her now. Placing her head to rest on the glass surface of the window, Emma gripped the entire mug tighter; she felt the tears would start harassing her as they slowly traveled up to the very surface of her blue colored eyes and waited just for the right moment to be released by her weakness caused from the grief she was feeling.
*********
The cold drops of sweat were slowly sliding from the tight muscles on his body to the soft surface of the bed as he kept fighting the images running around in a virtually chaotic order in his mind; keeping up the struggle until finally not being able to continue watching all those images, he quickly sat up on the bed in the dark evening.
Gulping huge chunks of air, saving himself from the nightmare of his sleep with the quick transfer to reality, Brennan slowly managed to regain his orientation and remember that he was back home, to his apartment. The sun being choked by the heavy clouds that were waiting to burst with the hard rain any moment, gave this evening a deeply darker feel. Burying his wet face in the tiny security of his large palms, he shook his head as a heavy exhale could be sensed into the air from his lips. "Jesus!" Finally releasing it, he quickly removed the red duvet and two white bed sheets before touching the hard and almost spiky carpet with his bare feet, letting the slightly cooler air of the room run through his sweated body.
"Brennan?" a gentle female voice reached his ears as the Elemental stared through the open window and felt the appearance of artificial light in the room; he didn't turn around.
Walking up to him, until her body was lined up next to him, her dark eyes observing the image of his face with a hint of concern; placing her hand softly on the sweaty back, her palm nearly absorbed the bodily moisture. "Did you have another nightmare?" she asked him.
Brennan nodded in response. "It's the twentieth so far, Shal and it's getting worse." His eyes slowly traveled to her face, forcing his head to turn as well.
Shalimar ran her hand through his black hair, trying to straighten it. Brennan's hair always managed to reach such disorder when he would get out of bed. "It's over now," her quiet voice assured him as she lifted the heels of her feet to kiss his lips.
"For today," hesitancy was strongly felt in his tone as the brown color of his eyes nearly altered to the change of the outside weather to a darker shade. Not wanting to be alone, an easy sense of relief had settled into him, knowing this Feral was here with him. He quickly embraced her, burying his nose in her shoulder, a deep sigh exiting his lips.
Not knowing what words to use, Shalimar simply returned the embrace, feeling the wet body tightly to hers. She questioned whether the meaning of today had something to do with the increasing appearances of his nightmares, all being nearly the same: everyone he knew dying, hideous screams, red and black shadows appearing and disappearing but not before nearly choking the poor soul in front of them; and with each next nightmare, new images appeared, adding to the number of disturbing experiences and the cause for the regular lack of sleep. All of this worried the small Feral. "Do you want something to drink?" she then asked.
"Maybe something hot," was his response when Brennan lifted his head and looked back at her. "I'm going to take a shower first; I need to get rid of this sweat."
"Alright," Shalimar agreed and unwrapped her arms around him.
Stepping away from her, Brennan leisurely walked over to the white bathroom just across the bedroom. He did not bother to take any new clothing, the black boxers he had on him were enough. Before stepping into the room, he stopped, placing his hand on the wall, just below the switch. "I wanted to sleep through today," he said with the pain dangling from each word. He then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Crossing her arms, Shalimar pressed them hard against the tight white top. "I know," she whispered and gradually moved her face over to the window. The feline genes were working on her as she had sensed the presence of this weather earlier before its arrival. She felt tired; the drowsiness challenging her ability of staying awake bit by bit.
It truly had been a year and Shalimar was affected with the same amount by its meaning as Brennan. She had managed to wipe away the earlier tears that had stained the skin on her face, hoping Brennan wouldn't notice.
Three years they had been together, the Feral and Elemental; three strange years with the first one representing the real bloom of their attraction towards each other, the expression of their emotions.
Swinging her upper body to the furthest distance of left and right as she could; she had now hoped the tiredness wouldn't overpower her to allow her to see Brennan through today and also begging deep inside that she too would have the strength to do the same for herself.
Stepping into the bathtub, Brennan felt the hot water spraying his body, washing away the cold sweat of which he wanted to be rid. Opening his mouth, he let a couple of drops enter inside, to drench his tongue and slide down his dry throat. After closing his mouth again, his hands took the green bar of soap and began to scrub the dead cells from his skin surface.
Slowing down, he moved his face away from the water, and stared at the window above the sink with the remaining drops of the hot liquid, dripping from his eyelashes, disturbing his view. Wiping the majority of drops away, he could now see much clearer.
Taking a deep breath and noticing the rise of the steam, Brennan felt a heavy feeling in his heart. He cursed the nightmare for disturbing his sleep, his only escape from having to endure the pain of this date. Ever since they left, the nightmares had interfered with his sleep and he had nearly gotten used to it, except for today.
He did notice the tiredness on Shalimar's face and he could only wish not to be a burden to her today. They were both highly sensitive today due to the painful memories and the consequences which they carried towards the hearts of these two mutants and the gloomy weather outside did not make matters better.
*********
Another sign of rain, "Again..." he thought and then formed fists inside the pockets of his gray coat. Moving with a pace that gave the impression of a rush, he stared at the surprisingly straight line his feet were walking on. It hadn't been a long day but he felt tired, tired and extremely moody. Perhaps it was this sudden change of the climate that started to irritate his senses making him somnolent. He did not want to talk to anyone and he did not want to stop anywhere as that would only mean an unwanted conversation with some stranger, maybe a woman. All he wanted to do was retreat to his own little home and find some reason to forget this date and forget the sad feeling along with it. His light blue eyes moving up, observing some of the people passing in front of him; they did not appear to be in a rush... so much different to him. Oh, Santa Monica could be like this, a thought appeared in his mind. The weather was perhaps worsening but the inhabitants and visitors of this city simply were not disturbed by it.
For a while, he wished he could be happy as the old man sitting on the bench, reading a newspaper; happy as the four little children playing Tag; not worrying like the young lady with purple hair, walking her dog - a white puddle; all these people seemed different, seemed happier. Maybe it had been only him who had let a gloomy feeling like this affect him or maybe with a little hope, there was someone else, just as sad and a little miserable as him.
But there was that one year, of course... and one event that changed his feelings to some sadder ones. Pulling out his left hand to run its fingers through his thin blond hair, Jesse gave a sigh... it being a lonely sigh. Despite his wish to not be disturbed, he did feel lonely. Maybe the others he once knew felt lonely as well... with his biggest efforts he could not put himself up to the task of imagining them feeling better than him or if there was supposed to be a shock - actually, happy. No, last year, this day shook everyone deeply. And Jesse dreaded this day; he dreaded it for the memories that it brought with it, for the intensifying of the darker emotions he wanted not to feel.
He then stopped and looked up: "The lonely ship." - The sign with blue letters on a wooden board read. Lowering his head, Jesse saw this being a small sea food restaurant; not too posh and not too exposed. It was perfect. Pushing the wooden door with his hand he soon entered inside and to his enjoyment it was neither completely full nor completely empty; there were perhaps a maximum of fifteen people sitting here. He nodded and walked over to a small white wooden table just near the wall with two chairs. Sitting down, Jesse took off his coat and then picked up the brown menu. There was a tempting offer here, good names of meals that his stomach had developed an appetite for.
His eyes slowly wandered over to the decoration of a small blue dolphin hanging on the wall behind the register where a boy of perhaps sixteen years of age was taking the payment of an elderly couple. The dolphin had a smile shaped on its face. Jesse truly shouldn't have done this but the image was tempting him to go to place way back into his childhood. He saw his first dolphin there on the beach with his parents... he was only six perhaps or younger... a fond memory indeed. A slow but certain and quiet smile had crept up and occupied his mouth.
It appeared quiet in here as he returned his eyes to the menu. It was going to begin raining outside and he should sit out the depressing weather in here. There were some quiet conversations going on from some of the tables as he could tell and a man even laughed, but all of this did not seem to bother Jesse. He was not alone and no one had bugged him for a conversation and better yet, no one knew who he was. Jesse and the other members of Mutant X were not quite unknown after all those years when their strange popularity had suddenly spread across states. But here he felt anonymous and he liked it.
Perhaps he could pass through this sad day without tears appearing on his face. He had days like that, frequently. Today he hoped it wouldn't have to be one of those days.
*********
***
A grey dove with three black lines on his tale landed on the concrete ground. It had found a few crumbs and it began to hurriedly pick one by one before someone else had that chance; its little neck working almost like a machine.
The golden rays of the sun were absent today, removed by the falling grayness from the large clouds in the sky that gave a deceiving earlier image of friendly white pillows announcing the sun; now instead a depressing and lonely feeling fell on the city with the 'cheerful' news that a hard and long rain was going to arrive and its big drops of water wash away all the filth which roamed the streets.
As if this had been some inner calling to almost every person living here, the early moisture in the air reaching inside their brains and sending small messages, the streets were slowly emptying from any human or animal presence.
Sitting on the wide white edge of the closed window, her tiny white fingers gripping the handle of a white mug filled with hot chocolate, the young woman watched the slow retrieval of life from that gray surface beneath the glass. Her deep blue eyes, twinkling with sad sparkles decided to not absorb today's time; the effort to preserve the memory of this day simply did not seem to appeal to her.
She had expected this date to be rid of any cheer, any fun, stripped from anything that could be tempting to place a smile on a person... especially her - Emma Delauro; from the very first second after the stroke of midnight to the very last. Grievance had wrapped around her so tightly that the only options which she was left with was to simply sit down in this small home and observe the slow arrival of the rain while the sound of her own sighing was her only company.
Despite her isolation she could still pick up on the vast variation of feelings and emotions emerging from the passengers on the street beneath her window. Emma could sympathies with those that felt anger, disappointment and misery and during some hidden seconds in her mind she felt saved by this, knowing that it hadn't been only her that had let the weather and memories weigh her down. But then she would come across those that felt lighter, less annoyed and perhaps even worse - happy; their faces serious and some would even dare to smile... and Emma envied these people, she felt jealous of the boldness they had to enjoy themselves, to let happiness be a part of them. She envied them because she too had once enjoyed that luxury of being tremendously happy. However with the passing of each week, that feeling began to slowly become transparent and at times almost impossible to touch... like today.
A heavy sigh left her full red lips with an existing amazement at how that color had still managed to remain on this piece of flesh. It had been one year. Removing her eyes from the street, Emma slowly took them over to the big white clock on the wall in the shape of a disk with two thin and small black handles being the only decorations on the object, except the black twelve numbers. The small handle stood on a 4, while the large one on a 7. Now it was exactly one year, at this time; an event that completely changed hers and the rest of the Mutant X members' lives. Her thin and beautifully shaped eyebrows slowly rose up as the sad feeling traveled slowly through her now. Placing her head to rest on the glass surface of the window, Emma gripped the entire mug tighter; she felt the tears would start harassing her as they slowly traveled up to the very surface of her blue colored eyes and waited just for the right moment to be released by her weakness caused from the grief she was feeling.
*********
The cold drops of sweat were slowly sliding from the tight muscles on his body to the soft surface of the bed as he kept fighting the images running around in a virtually chaotic order in his mind; keeping up the struggle until finally not being able to continue watching all those images, he quickly sat up on the bed in the dark evening.
Gulping huge chunks of air, saving himself from the nightmare of his sleep with the quick transfer to reality, Brennan slowly managed to regain his orientation and remember that he was back home, to his apartment. The sun being choked by the heavy clouds that were waiting to burst with the hard rain any moment, gave this evening a deeply darker feel. Burying his wet face in the tiny security of his large palms, he shook his head as a heavy exhale could be sensed into the air from his lips. "Jesus!" Finally releasing it, he quickly removed the red duvet and two white bed sheets before touching the hard and almost spiky carpet with his bare feet, letting the slightly cooler air of the room run through his sweated body.
"Brennan?" a gentle female voice reached his ears as the Elemental stared through the open window and felt the appearance of artificial light in the room; he didn't turn around.
Walking up to him, until her body was lined up next to him, her dark eyes observing the image of his face with a hint of concern; placing her hand softly on the sweaty back, her palm nearly absorbed the bodily moisture. "Did you have another nightmare?" she asked him.
Brennan nodded in response. "It's the twentieth so far, Shal and it's getting worse." His eyes slowly traveled to her face, forcing his head to turn as well.
Shalimar ran her hand through his black hair, trying to straighten it. Brennan's hair always managed to reach such disorder when he would get out of bed. "It's over now," her quiet voice assured him as she lifted the heels of her feet to kiss his lips.
"For today," hesitancy was strongly felt in his tone as the brown color of his eyes nearly altered to the change of the outside weather to a darker shade. Not wanting to be alone, an easy sense of relief had settled into him, knowing this Feral was here with him. He quickly embraced her, burying his nose in her shoulder, a deep sigh exiting his lips.
Not knowing what words to use, Shalimar simply returned the embrace, feeling the wet body tightly to hers. She questioned whether the meaning of today had something to do with the increasing appearances of his nightmares, all being nearly the same: everyone he knew dying, hideous screams, red and black shadows appearing and disappearing but not before nearly choking the poor soul in front of them; and with each next nightmare, new images appeared, adding to the number of disturbing experiences and the cause for the regular lack of sleep. All of this worried the small Feral. "Do you want something to drink?" she then asked.
"Maybe something hot," was his response when Brennan lifted his head and looked back at her. "I'm going to take a shower first; I need to get rid of this sweat."
"Alright," Shalimar agreed and unwrapped her arms around him.
Stepping away from her, Brennan leisurely walked over to the white bathroom just across the bedroom. He did not bother to take any new clothing, the black boxers he had on him were enough. Before stepping into the room, he stopped, placing his hand on the wall, just below the switch. "I wanted to sleep through today," he said with the pain dangling from each word. He then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Crossing her arms, Shalimar pressed them hard against the tight white top. "I know," she whispered and gradually moved her face over to the window. The feline genes were working on her as she had sensed the presence of this weather earlier before its arrival. She felt tired; the drowsiness challenging her ability of staying awake bit by bit.
It truly had been a year and Shalimar was affected with the same amount by its meaning as Brennan. She had managed to wipe away the earlier tears that had stained the skin on her face, hoping Brennan wouldn't notice.
Three years they had been together, the Feral and Elemental; three strange years with the first one representing the real bloom of their attraction towards each other, the expression of their emotions.
Swinging her upper body to the furthest distance of left and right as she could; she had now hoped the tiredness wouldn't overpower her to allow her to see Brennan through today and also begging deep inside that she too would have the strength to do the same for herself.
Stepping into the bathtub, Brennan felt the hot water spraying his body, washing away the cold sweat of which he wanted to be rid. Opening his mouth, he let a couple of drops enter inside, to drench his tongue and slide down his dry throat. After closing his mouth again, his hands took the green bar of soap and began to scrub the dead cells from his skin surface.
Slowing down, he moved his face away from the water, and stared at the window above the sink with the remaining drops of the hot liquid, dripping from his eyelashes, disturbing his view. Wiping the majority of drops away, he could now see much clearer.
Taking a deep breath and noticing the rise of the steam, Brennan felt a heavy feeling in his heart. He cursed the nightmare for disturbing his sleep, his only escape from having to endure the pain of this date. Ever since they left, the nightmares had interfered with his sleep and he had nearly gotten used to it, except for today.
He did notice the tiredness on Shalimar's face and he could only wish not to be a burden to her today. They were both highly sensitive today due to the painful memories and the consequences which they carried towards the hearts of these two mutants and the gloomy weather outside did not make matters better.
*********
Another sign of rain, "Again..." he thought and then formed fists inside the pockets of his gray coat. Moving with a pace that gave the impression of a rush, he stared at the surprisingly straight line his feet were walking on. It hadn't been a long day but he felt tired, tired and extremely moody. Perhaps it was this sudden change of the climate that started to irritate his senses making him somnolent. He did not want to talk to anyone and he did not want to stop anywhere as that would only mean an unwanted conversation with some stranger, maybe a woman. All he wanted to do was retreat to his own little home and find some reason to forget this date and forget the sad feeling along with it. His light blue eyes moving up, observing some of the people passing in front of him; they did not appear to be in a rush... so much different to him. Oh, Santa Monica could be like this, a thought appeared in his mind. The weather was perhaps worsening but the inhabitants and visitors of this city simply were not disturbed by it.
For a while, he wished he could be happy as the old man sitting on the bench, reading a newspaper; happy as the four little children playing Tag; not worrying like the young lady with purple hair, walking her dog - a white puddle; all these people seemed different, seemed happier. Maybe it had been only him who had let a gloomy feeling like this affect him or maybe with a little hope, there was someone else, just as sad and a little miserable as him.
But there was that one year, of course... and one event that changed his feelings to some sadder ones. Pulling out his left hand to run its fingers through his thin blond hair, Jesse gave a sigh... it being a lonely sigh. Despite his wish to not be disturbed, he did feel lonely. Maybe the others he once knew felt lonely as well... with his biggest efforts he could not put himself up to the task of imagining them feeling better than him or if there was supposed to be a shock - actually, happy. No, last year, this day shook everyone deeply. And Jesse dreaded this day; he dreaded it for the memories that it brought with it, for the intensifying of the darker emotions he wanted not to feel.
He then stopped and looked up: "The lonely ship." - The sign with blue letters on a wooden board read. Lowering his head, Jesse saw this being a small sea food restaurant; not too posh and not too exposed. It was perfect. Pushing the wooden door with his hand he soon entered inside and to his enjoyment it was neither completely full nor completely empty; there were perhaps a maximum of fifteen people sitting here. He nodded and walked over to a small white wooden table just near the wall with two chairs. Sitting down, Jesse took off his coat and then picked up the brown menu. There was a tempting offer here, good names of meals that his stomach had developed an appetite for.
His eyes slowly wandered over to the decoration of a small blue dolphin hanging on the wall behind the register where a boy of perhaps sixteen years of age was taking the payment of an elderly couple. The dolphin had a smile shaped on its face. Jesse truly shouldn't have done this but the image was tempting him to go to place way back into his childhood. He saw his first dolphin there on the beach with his parents... he was only six perhaps or younger... a fond memory indeed. A slow but certain and quiet smile had crept up and occupied his mouth.
It appeared quiet in here as he returned his eyes to the menu. It was going to begin raining outside and he should sit out the depressing weather in here. There were some quiet conversations going on from some of the tables as he could tell and a man even laughed, but all of this did not seem to bother Jesse. He was not alone and no one had bugged him for a conversation and better yet, no one knew who he was. Jesse and the other members of Mutant X were not quite unknown after all those years when their strange popularity had suddenly spread across states. But here he felt anonymous and he liked it.
Perhaps he could pass through this sad day without tears appearing on his face. He had days like that, frequently. Today he hoped it wouldn't have to be one of those days.
*********