2. Hannah.
She awoke
early the next day to a strange buzzing sensation under her back, she
pulled out her ringing phone to meet the voice of Hannah.
"Alice?
It's Hannah. Mina just told me what happened" Hannah said, full
of concern.
"That's
more than what she did for me. She won't talk to me for some
reason. Do you know what's going on?" Alice was quick to inquire.
"Yeah,
how about we meet up and I'll tell you everything, alright? Um, ten
minutes at the park near your place? Under the trees, alright?" and
she hung up without waiting for a reply.Hannah
was the very last person Alice wanted to see, but she needed to leave
the watchful eyes of her parents and she desperately wanted answers.
All she
could piece together was somehow, she was receptive to other
mutations and could almost duplicate. But when they came to her they
were much stronger than what they were in the original host – which
explained why she blacked out both times someone else's powers got
into her. It seemed fairly reasonable, but it made her feel uneasy.
Both times it had happened it felt like someone was forcing
themselves into her mind, like they had barged through the door, and
what was worse was that strange feeling as though what entered still
remained.
Maybe those powers stayed with her?
She sat up against her bed holding her knees. She had only really gotten her life back on track and had really enjoyed her seventeenth year; she didn't want to have to spend the rest of her life hiding who she was. She didn't want anymore secrets.
Only five
minutes had passed and Alice was close to jumping around, ready to
leave. She had a feeling that Hannah had all the answers, or at least
enough to make her satiate her.
She left
her home silently, though her parents had already left for work, and
ran to the park. Hannah hadn't arrived yet, so Alice hung out
around the swings, looking at the odd clump of trees. As kids, she
used to hang around those trees with Mina, a friend who seemed to
have forgotten her now; it was a little sad coming back. Her thoughts
were broken, though, when Hannah arrived with a grimace on her face
and ushering her towards the thick trees in the corner of the park.
"So
you're a mutant then? That's what Mina told me. When did this
happen? Why didn't you tell us? Wait… never mind, that's
not important…" Hannah rushed.
"Wait!
What happened when we went out? Please, I have no idea… Please tell
me!" Alice begged.
Hannah
sighed and sat down a dry patch of grass before continuing, "well,
we were all sitting around laughing and all that. I got that guy's
number, you looked pretty agitated, dunno why, you said you weren't
looking at him. Anyway, you looked up, your eyes went really wide and
they went well, black… and you disappeared. Freaked the girls out
something big. Mina had her back turned so you thought you ran away
and wouldn't believe us. That guy had the same look on his face,
except he looked all white, like he was going to pass out. That's
what happened…" she took a breath, "now… the only reason why
I haven't run away is because I'm a mutant too."
"What?!"
Alice exclaimed in shock; she hadn't expected something like that.
"Yes,
I'm telekinetic. Not an especially strong one, but it's what I
can do," and Hannah demonstrated right in front of Alice, she
levitated a leaf.
"No!
Don't! There's laws against using powers in public!" Alice
gasped at her friend.
"Not if
they don't catch you. Now, what happened to you? What can you do?"
and Alice retold her story of the dream, which she was certain now,
was in reality, her appearing in different places. She included the
men at her house and her conclusion about her powers.
"Please
don't tell anyone what I can do. I don't want more people trying
to test it out by shoving themselves into my mind."
"That's
interesting. Though, have you thought that if people can get into
your mind, that perhaps you can get into theirs?"
Hannah pondered out loud.
"I
don't know… I haven't really wanted to try either. I don't
want to meet some mutant who can like, make things catch on fire or
something, and burn down a house cos I can't control it…"
"Try it
with me… I'm not strong at all… go on," Hannah offered,
"it'll be a good experiment!"
"Alright…"
Alice was hesitant, she wasn't sure what she had to do, but she was
becoming interested in her powers. Maybe it'll be useful…
She tried
to remember what she did the first time her abilities manifested
themselves. She was irritated, but that probably didn't matter. But
she did look right into their eyes… Alice began to stare into
Hannah's eyes and a strange feeling began to come over her. It was
as though part of her mind had crossed the space between the two and
well unlocked the door to Hannah's mind.
And
inside was just information. No thoughts, just memories and genetic
information. She needed to find her powers, but they could be just
about anywhere in this mess. She pushed her mind through Hannah's,
careful not to bump anything and came across a strangely energetic
part, it was alluring and wonderful, it made her happy, so she took
it. Well, more like copied, and as soon as it hit her own mind she
drew back.
Alice woke from her stupor hovering about three meters above the ground.
Hannah
looked unaffected, but rather shocked at her friend, "when did that
happen? I swear I didn't know you were there… what?!" she
rambled.
"Oh, ha
ha, Hannah. As if you didn't. I was poking around in there. Youmust have known I was in there…" Alice rolled her eyes and
began to concentrate on floating back down again, which was harder
than what she thought. Perhaps Hannah was stronger than what she let
on…
"No
way. How did it feel, but?" she asked.
"Um,
well, I guess… it felt good. Like, I would do it again if it wasn't
so risky… but it was wonderful. I was happy and it felt like I was
being recharged. I would have stayed in that spot in your mind
forever if I hadn't broken away," Alice continued to concentrate
– she had at least managed to stop herself from floating upwards…
"That's
creepy Alice. And what's creepier is that I didn't know you were
there, and I've been trained to put up blocks. It's like your
mind created the perfect key…"
"Hannah,why are you helping me?" Alice asked having finally floated
down.
"Because,
well those guys you told me about, I'm going there as soon as
summer is over. I was hoping you would come too?" replied Hannah.
Ah, why hadn't she thought of that?
But they
couldn't possibly be that dangerous if they took someone with such
weak powers like Hannah, right? What use could they have for her?
Alice had never even heard of places like this existing, other than
in America, and that was just a school-yard rumor to make kids scared
about acting out.
"I
don't know…" Alice mumbled, "How do you know it's legit?"
"I've
seen it, it's really nice… well, the grounds look nice. I haven't
actually been inside. The people there are really nice too…I trust
it…them, especially if it means being around other people like us,
where we don't have to hide."
"You
make it sound like we have some sort of sickness, though. Like we
have to be quarantined from society," Alice frowned. Rounding up
every mutant like that sounded an awful lot like a detention center.
"Well,
they help you develop your powers in safe and responsible ways, so
that you can blend in better once you finish up there. And you can
stay for as long as it takes," replied Hannah.
"No
catch?"
"Nope,
not one."
"Alright,"
said Alice, "I'll think about it. With you going it's not so
daunting, and I'm sure my parents would be keen to have me out of
the house…" she sighed, thinking of how scared her parents had
become of her.
Hannah
smiled, glad she had a friend with her. She was certain that this
institute was safe, but she would have to find out when they got
there.
Alice broke the news of her departure to her parents that night during another awkwardly silent dinner. It was news that made them smile, and Alice wasn't sure it was because their daughter was getting the support she needed. It seemed like they were smiling at the thought that she was going to leave.
"Can't smear the family name with mutant genes, can we now." Alice smirked darkly as she slipped into bed that night.
A/N: Alright, so this was a lot shorter than what I had anticipated, but that's what I get for distracting myself with manga. A weak story line and poor writing, that's what I get.
So, anyway, if anyone is actually reading this, please review and tell me what you think. But nothing too awful, cos if it's bad I'll feel terrible... rambles on
NEXT CHAPTER: March.
Should be out soon, I don't know, really.
