-New: Tweaked Dialogue-

Chapter Seven:
Empathy for The Empath

Doors.

There were many doors, way to many to count. Doors with people who were locked on the other side, like animals in a zoo. An endless hall of doors with small windows where people could look in, but no one could get out.

Everything was white. These people had an odd obsession with the color - stupid, white isn't a color it's a shade. Not a color. Never a color. I supposed that they thought it was comforting to us - a neutral color - shade. Shade. White floors, windows, doors, chairs, clothes, bed… ugh, everything was so bright. These people had to be crazier than us. If any of us were indeed crazy to begin with. No, we weren't crazy. We were just put in here because we were different, we didn't fit in.

A scream coming from down the hall made me jump.

Or maybe we were crazy…

The sound of keys jingling on the other side of the door was what brought me out of my mental ranting. I looked up quickly, pressing myself against the wall behind my bed, trying to put some distance between the two bulky men who were approaching me. Yeah, they needed two men. I was known to be difficult, but not today. Not for a while, I had lost all energy to fight them off. I couldn't anymore. The two men didn't hesitate to grab me by my upper arms and drag me out of the room --my feet didn't even touch the ground-- and down the hall.

Another white room, I thought with a sigh.

I was seated in a chair that looked like it belonged at the dentists'. One of the men grabbed me by my wrists and placed them on the armrest, tying me down. The other man did the same to my feet. What could I say? I was a kicker and a biter. I was surprised that they hadn't put a muzzle on me yet. The man who restraint my arms gazed down at me and gave me an apologetic look. He was a good guy, I felt it when I first came to this place, but he let others influence his thoughts and actions. The other was different, strange and there was a glint in his eye that I didn't like. He patted the back of my chair as a goodbye for now and as a signal that they were done. They both left the room quietly and shut the door behind them.

Bastards.

And as if on queue, an average height man walked into the room, wearing a white lab coat. He walked towards me, picked up a clipboard, which had been placed on the table beside me, and scanned through it. He then walked behind me and though I couldn't see what he was doing, I had an idea. I clenched my hands into a fist as I waited anxiously for him to come into view. You'd think that after doing this so many times, I'd be used to it, but I'm wasn't. My heart was beating fast, my breathing short and uneven. I chewed on my bottom lip, hoping that would distract me somehow.

His footsteps echoed through the room as he came up on my left side. I looked up at him, trying to read him, but his face was void of any emotion. In fact, I couldn't feel what he was feeling at all. I knew it had something to do with the drugs I was being given. From the corner of my eye, I saw a glint. I lowered my gaze to the object in his hand. It was a needle- already dripping with whatever the hell it was he'd been injecting me with all this time. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, trying to sound calm, but my voice cracked a little. I felt like I hadn't used it in years.

The man shifted his gaze from my arm to my eyes, which surprised me because no one in this place ever looked me in the eyes. Too afraid that I might hypnotize them, cast a spell or whatever. I was a mutant. Not a witch, but they didn't know what kind of mutant I was so they had to be careful. I felt like a rabid animal that was being tested on, a freak on display at the carnival. I wanted to poke his eyes out. Make him hurt. Watch him bleed. I cringed suddenly. It hadn't been the first time such awful things crossed my mind, but they still made me feel like a monster. The seconds dragged on for, what felt like, an eternity before he spoke,

"It's for your own good," he said, as if what they were doing to me was completely justified with that simple sentence.

It was for my own good. For my own good! To hell with my own-- Ow. I winced as the needle slid into my arm and, within a couple of seconds, I began to feel dizzy. My eyesight was getting blurry; the room was beginning to spin. Or was it me that was spinning? My stomach began to churn and I got that sickly feeling in the pit of it. I could already feel the bile in the back of my throat burning. I shut my eyes tightly, gritted my teeth and began to struggle against my restraints. I felt pressure on my shoulders trying to hold me down, "Make it stop."

"Bobby, I don't think you should be touching her," an unseen female voice mused, sounding concerned. Who the hell was Bobby? Who the hell was she? Where did they come from?

Damnit! Was I going to be hearing voices now, too?

"What do you want me to do? I can't just let her keep thrashing around," a male voice spoke in a snappish tone. "She's gonna hurt herself." His tone changed suddenly. "Maybe we should take her to the hospital?"

"No," yet another voice spoke, but he sounded more mature, gruff. "It's not safe to go to the hospital right now. We'll head to your place and let her rest there while we wait for Jean and Storm. Jean will take it from there."

In the background I could hear a continuous clinking sound. Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink. I could also hear the sound of a car engine.

The room was spinning faster now, all colors and images blurring into one another. I tried to get out of my restraints again, ignoring the unseen voices. It's not like they could help me. The pressure on my shoulders tightened, I felt some shaking me now. "Make it stop, make it stop," I chanted like a prayer. "Make it--"

"It's not real, not this time. Wake up, Carolina, you're dreaming!"

"--Stop!" I yelled, my hands instinctively reaching for whoever was closes, and the person who was closes had me by the shoulders. Almost instantly I was flooded with guilt and jealously. Gasping for air, I opened my eyes, blinking to clear my vision. Everything was blurry, I could barely see. It was too bright. Groaning, I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out the person who was hovering over me and holding me down. "Let go of me," I said, pushing the person away.

They let go quickly and moved away slightly, "You okay?" He asked, the voice sounded familiar. It was the same person from before, the one who had spoken to the girl in a snappish tone.

I ignored his question. "What's going on?" I asked, bringing my hand up to rub my throbbing head. I felt like it was going to crack open at any given minute.

"Breathe, Gypsy. Breathe."

I did what I was told but it didn't help much. I still felt very panicked and unsure. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what the hell had happened.

Eating cereal with Bobby… talking to Mr. Logan… the attack on the school… kids screaming … oh, a solider had shot me and I blacked out. Shit. Opening my eyes, I blinked and noticed that my eyesight had begun to clear. I looked at my surroundings. I was in a car. How the hell had they gotten me away from that solider? I looked to my left, Bobby was sitting beside me, leaning forward, facing me. My gaze shifted from him to the person sitting on the other side of him: John. He was leaning back against the seat, watching me intently as he played with his Zippo lighter. Unable to keep eye contact with him I looked towards the driver's seat, Mr. Logan had both hands on the wheel, watching the road tensely.

Beside him was Marie, she was leaning to the side, giving me a small reassuring smile.

I looked away from them, out the window. Where the hell were we? All I could see was trees, no soul in sight, though it was bright and sunny outside. A flash of Ben and Dan chasing me through the woods popped into my head. I let out a startled cry for some reason. Everything was

beginning to spin. "Stop the car," I pleaded, my eyes still looking out towards the woods. When no one responded to me, I repeated myself, "Stop the car!"

"What?" A gruff voice asked, Mr. Logan most likely.

I leaned forward and Bobby sat back to give me room, "Please stop the car." I could feel them. There emotions, too many. They were confused, worried, nervous, afraid, annoyed. I hit the back of the driver's seat to get his attention, "I said stop the car."

Mr. Logan looked over his shoulder quickly then returned his attention back to the open road in front of him, "Hold on, Squirt. We're almost at Bobby's place."

I shook my head fiercely, "Please stop the damn car." He didn't turn around to face me; he barely even acknowledged my pleading. I began to hyperventilate, my head spinning, stomach churning. The bile in the back of my throat burned. I quickly placed a hand over my stomach and let out a desperate sigh and shouted: "Dammit, Mr. Logan! I said stop the damn car!" The car stopped so abruptly, I, and everyone else, jerked forward.

The side of my head hit the back of Marie's seat and bounced off, smacking into the window. I cursed, grimacing from the pain but kept focused. I had to leave. I needed to get away from them. It may have seemed like I was overreacting but I wasn't. I opened the side door, stumbling out, falling on my arm. I let out a cry and tried to stand up, but I kept tripping over my feet like a drunk. Not to mention that I was still limping.

"Gypsy," I heard a voice call out to me from behind. "Gypsy, stop!"

"What are you doing?"

"I got to get away," I told Voice, stumbling over my feet. I had to bit down on my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain. "I can't stay with them. It's not safe. For either of us. You lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you. You are safe with them. Those men weren't there for you."

Before I could even open my mouth to respond to Voice, a hand clamped down on my wrist. A strong jolt ran up my arm --Confused. Worried. Annoyed. Understanding.-- I snatched my hand away from, whoever had grabbed me. With my back still to them, I shouted, "Don't touch me." I shut my eyes and clenched my teeth, trying to fight the familiar feeling building up inside of me, "Stay away!" There was a surprised grunt from behind me.

"Logan!"

The panic in Marie's voice startled to me. Had I hurt Mr. Logan that badly? After all he'd done for me. Biting my lip, I turned around, careful not to put too much weight on my bad leg, and found him on the ground at least ten feet away from me. He looked winded and struggled to sit up. He kept his head low, tilting it to the side, cracking his neck. He licked his bottom lip and pointed behind him, "Get back in the car, Rogue." He stood up and looked at me.

"I'm sorry," I murmured pitifully, shaking my head sadly, avoiding his eyes. "I didn't mean - I told you not - I warned you--"

"Hey, it's okay," he said. I kept my eyes on his boots as he approached me cautiously. "I'm not hurt - see," he opened his arm, letting me see that he was, in fact, unharmed. It still didn't stop me from feeling bad. "I'm fine."

Nodding, I began to babble uncontrollably, "I'm sorry, it's just… when I get panicky - when I'm vulnerable," I paused to catch my breath. "I - I don't know how to explain it, but it's like… a-a barrier. It pushes people away when I feel threatened…" I felt pathetic as I tried to explain what happened moments before while he stared at me, head tilted to the side, trying to follow what I was saying. "I-It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does its strong and I guess…I don't know--"

"Squirt," Mr. Logan cut me off. "It's okay. All I want to know is why you freaked out back in the car." I lowered my gaze back to the ground. It was then that I noticed that I was only wearing socks. I was surprised that I hadn't stepped in glass. "Did you feel something off any of us? Something you couldn't handle? "I nodded. "What'd you feel?"

"Too much," I said, finally looking him in the eye. "My head…." I grimaced.

"You all right now?"

The dizziness was gone. I didn't feel like I was going to throw up. I couldn't feel anyone in my head. I was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine now."

"You ready to get back into the car?" He asked, holding out one of his hands for me to take. I assumed he was going to help me get back into the car.

"I don't think I can handle any much more of this, Mr. Logan," I said, looking at his hand. "A lot has happened in less then twenty-four hours… it's just a matter of time before I break down."

"Look, Carolina," he began, moving closer to me. "I know you're scared," I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side, studying his face. "The others are scared too and I'm worried as hell, but we're all going to get through this alive. I promise to look out for you, for them, but you gotta trust me, okay?" There was something in his voice that changed. Something different in his eyes.

"You know, don't you?" I whispered, wondering if he would catch on to what I was asking. "She told you."

He exhaled deeply and nodded, "She thought it'd be best if I knew."

"Did you think it was best too?" I asked, trying to keep myself from getting angry at Dr. Grey. She had only wanted to help, but it hadn't been her place to tell him about my past.

He shrugged. "You an' me got some things in common," he said, nodding. "I know how you feel."

"And I know how you feel…" I said quietly. He was lost. Always lost and feeling alone. It made me sad, but I didn't tell him that. I knew he didn't want my pity.

It was quiet for some time and then he spoke, "Come on, let's go back to the car." Nodding, I let him wrap his arm around my waist, I didn't feel anything. I was drained at the moment. When we reached the vehicle, Bobby stepped out and helped me in. I muttered a thanks and he replied with a nod and got inside, shutting the door behind him. I felt a little squished sitting in between him and John, but I didn't mention it.

"You okay?"

I was surprised when John spoke, he'd been quiet since I had woken up. I looked at him and smiled a little, "I'll be fine."

He raised an eyebrow and began to play with his lighter, "What happened to you? Why'd you freak out?"

"Nightmares," I replied, wondering why he was even speaking to me. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind talking to him, it gives me something to do and keep my mind from wandering away, but I was still curious as to why he was asking if I was okay of all things. Then I remembered that he had let me lean against him when the school was attacked, helping me get away. "Do you know what happened to me after I wandered away from you all?"

He furrowed his brows, lips pouted, looking away from me. "Wolverine was the one who found you, some soldier had stunned you and was about ready to take you, but Logan stopped him."

"And by stopped him, you mean killed him?" He nodded. "Great," I murmured, sliding down in my seat.

"It could have been worst. It could have been you," Voice said solemnly. I nodded, my eyelids

getting heavy. "You should try to sleep some more. It'll be awhile until you get to Bobby's house."

"Okay," I said, already dozing off. I hoped that I wouldn't have another nightmare.