Alignment
Chapter 2
By: Ariel Ceylan
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men…If I did…then diabolical things would happen (not that they already don't)…
Carolina sat at the dinner table at home. Her parents were discussing the daily news. For some reason, she could not escape people talking about mutants.
"Senator Kelly is running for President! That's great! We need more security here," Carolina's father cut his salmon vigorously.
"Don't you remember your daughter's friend, Jennifer?" Mrs. Francisco was a natural diplomat.
"Of course! She destroyed my VCR! How will I ever get it to bend out of the shape of her hand!"
Carolina looked down at her plate of food. Her stomach twisted. Her chest clenched. She was no longer hungry.
"Other than that, wasn't she a nice girl?"
Mr. Francisco pointed his fork at his wife, "She always was trouble! She had six ear piercings! Six! She'd bad news. She was going to be picked up by someone sooner or later. It just was a question of who would pick her up. But now we know it's the mutant agency that's picked her up!"
"Can I be excused?" Carolina's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Of course, dear."
Carolina got up and left her plate on the table. She walked to her room. In their two-bedroom apartment, Carolina could hear everything her parents were saying.
"Now look at what you did."
"What? Is she really that surprised that that mutant got picked up? Carolina's better off!"
Mrs. Francisco sighed, "What about our daughter's happiness? I almost never hear her speak. When Jennifer came, she changed that. Our little girl was finally able to say what she wanted to say and wasn't afraid to say it. Now Jenn's gone and Carolina's spirit is gone with her."
"See! The mutant made my daughter stop speaking to me! She's a terrible influence on my daughter! My child is no street urchin!"
"So our daughter is banned from even going out at night? That's crazy."
"These are crazy times. I need to protect what's mine."
Carolina flung herself on her bed. She did not want to listen to anything anymore so she found her cd player and jammed her headphones over her ears. She did not listen to the music. The pain in her stomach was not going away. Her under arms and legs tingled. It's probably just hair growing in from shaving this morning… Those places started to itch. She tried to ignore it for a few minutes, but as time progressed, the more she ignored the itch, the fiercer it became. Carolina caved. She started scratching her under arms, but then came the pain from her legs. She switched to that. Her fingernails were short so she had to dig at the puckering skin of her legs. But then her underarms started itching. So she had to switch to that. Carolina switched between the two for hours until she passed out from exhaustion.
Ariel Ceylan: Here's the next installment. It's brief, but it's something. I'll update soon. I have two writing projects I need to finish before I really start beasting out the chapters for this fanfiction. I also am pulling together a book series based on the character of the Wyrmling (my other fanfic). I need money for college! I'll keep you posted. Ariel Ceylan