Behind Closed Doors
Disclaimer:
The X-Men belong to Marvel and I am making no money, nor do I intend to, off of this. It's for entertainment purposes only and takes place outside the Marvel time line.
What if another X-Man besides Gambit had a secret, so terrible they didn't share it with anyone else? That was a challenge brought up at Indigo's site. Here, Storm recalls a secret she has kept hidden from the rest of the team.
A closed door. A man and a woman were arguing, there voices rising, trying to drown the other one out. A small girl padded down the hallway, her bare feet slapping across the wooden floor. She pressed her ear against the door. Barely even 5, she understood what was going on.
"I can't stand this anymore- waiting for you to come home late at night, staggering drunk! And I won't subject Ororo to it anymore either!" shrieked the woman.
The man slammed his fist onto the table and Ororo winced. She hated it when they argued. It normally ended with her mother lying on the floor crying and she sitting next to her, comforting her mother's sobs. Taking a deep breath, she turned the door knob and the door swung open just as her mom was leaving.
Suddenly the woman's fierce tone changed to a softer, gentler one. "Ororo, honey, what are you doing out of bed?"
"I-I heard some noises and got scared." For you she thought silently.
"It's alright now." She turned to look at her husband. "Go get some of your clothes, we're going to grandma's." Ororo promptly obeyed.
"You're not leaving."
"Yes. Yes we are." She turned to leave the room but he grabbed her arm and threw her into a wall.
"You're not leaving," he bellowed, "unless I say so, bitch!"
"Mommy!" Ororo sprinted over to her mother. Her father began to close in on them. His eyes were wild and bloodshot and his chest was heaving up and down. Ororo turned around and her innocent tear filled eyes made him pause.
"What did you do? What did you do?" she kept crying while she hugged her unconscious mother.
He was taken aback by the child's audacity but regained his composure. "You dare raise your voice to me, child?" His hand rose up and the back of it struck her across her right cheek. She howled in pain but still remained with her mother. But even at the innocence of 5, anger was beginning to form in the center of her soul, and it grew. It spread like a cancer throughout her whole body until she couldn't take it anymore.
Outside of the house, the clouds had already begun to gather. Light flashed across the sky and rain began to pelt the windows, trying to get in and obey the call of their mistress.
"Daddy, stay away. Stay away!" she screamed. The storm grew fiercer, reflecting the torment within the child.
The man began to actually fear the child. Deep inside, he knew it was she who controlled the storm, but his mind told him it was nonsense. He lunged forward but was immediately swept up in a gust of wind and tossed into the opposite wall. "Devil child!" he yelled above the thunder. "You're of the devil!" He began to run for the door but lightning flashed in the doorway. Everywhere he turned the lightning was already there. He looked over at Ororo, his eyes pleaded for mercy but hers screamed for justice. The house began to groan under the force of the storm until it finally collapsed with a forceful shudder. The man and the woman remember nothing. But a young woman recalls the pain of knowing what goes on behind closed doors.