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Chapter 12: What life's about.

Saturday, 8:35 pm.

When the cab started moving she took a glimpse outside, through the window: Remy was just standing there, two waiters in his face demanding a bill to be paid. But he didn't seem to care about them, ignoring them completely and urgently searching Rogue's eyes with his gaze. But she didn't want to; she didn't want to see him ever again, not only because of what he had just said, but also because of what she had done before, and just because of everything. So, as the car went by and Remy's face got lost among dozens of unknown ones, and cars, and lights, Rogue turned to the front and closed her eyes, then filling in the cab driver about her address, with a broken voice.

"Rough night, miss?" the man hinted a few moments later, changing the radio station at the same time. "Don't worry, there's plenty of fish in the ocean" he chuckled, and she clenched her fists; no, there would never be any fish for her, you smartass.

The regular motion of the car, along with the music that was being played, unknown to her, helped her clear her mind a little and made her feel safe somehow, like now he wasn't near her, it was all over and done; like it never happened.

But it did happen, though.

Rogue finally opened her eyes; she had succeeded in her attempts of not crying, and now her breathe was back to its normal pace. Then, she rested her right temple against the glass window, her gaze lost in the tall buildings passing by, and in the dark sky above. She would have liked to escape from her own thoughts, but it was just impossible. Had she done right in leaving like that? Hadn't that been a little immature? If she had been brave enough to do what she did and leave herself all exposed in front of his avid eyes that night, why not being brave enough to answer a simple question, like a grown person? It was the deal, after all: three questions. But what could have been the answer to it? Maybe that's what made her run away again: she didn't know if she was ready to discuss the reasons that made her lost her mind once in her life, with a man she had barely known for a couple hours. Of course, this was the logical, rational explanation she elaborated for herself to accept; deep inside, she was aware that she knew him very well, and strangely, she could feel like he knew her too.

That little question was so him; she should have guessed he would ask something like that. But she wouldn't have guessed that he would do it, not with a raised eyebrow and a wicked smirk on his face, but with a serious expression, like he was interested in the real motives she had. She saw no sarcasm on his face, no second intentions. What would she have answered...?

And then, there was her power. It was just unavoidable for her to even consider answering the question just like that, given her condition. It would be awkward, humiliating… strange. It was way too hard to explain to herself why she had done it, how could she have explained it to him? So she hid in her bad attitude and self-preservation instincts, and left; it was the easy way out. At least easier than staring into his eyes and starting to speak. Maybe she owed him an explanation, after all.

Or maybe not; maybe she should just forget about the whole thing.

The taxi finally pulled over; Rogue paid the ride and got off, the night's cold getting underneath her clothes and her soul. She hurried her way inside the building and then up the stairs, feeling tired, her steps echoing against the stained walls.

"Remy… why yah? Why not some other random guy in that bar?" she sighed, entering to her bedroom and dropping her purse on the floor and her jacket on a chair. Next, she looked around her silent and empty bedroom: "Is this what life's about? This crap?" When she fixated her eyes on the turtle, that was sleeping in a corner, she couldn't help to smile sadly: "We suck, man".

It was still early, but she didn't want to keep thinking and thinking about Remy; tomorrow would be another day, yes. So she changed her clothes and then went straight to bed, covering herself up to her forehead with the blanket, like it would protect her from the memories of him.

(…)

Saturday, 11:50 pm.

A strong noise suddenly took Rogue away from her sleep, bringing her back to reality. Rubbing her eyes, she sat down and tried to hear again, but the noise was gone. She wasn't sure of what it had been; she just knew she heard something. Yet another fight of that lovely couple, in the room besides hers? She tried to penetrate the deep silence of the night, but she couldn't hear their voices; only the engines of cars far away, some crickets… sounds that were practically part of the silence at that hour. But then, she gasped. There it was again:

Knock, knock, knock.

Three hard knocks on the door. Her heart almost stopped at the thought of Remy; could it be him?

She waited for the knock to go again, but since it didn't, she decided to get out of bed and walk slowly and barefoot towards the door, her shoulders almost shaking in cold and edginess. Afterwards, she carefully rested her head against the old wooden door. Nothing. But a few seconds later, there they were again, right against her ear:

Knock, knock, knock.

And then, she heard something else; something that made her blood freeze:

"Open up".

It wasn't Remy's voice.

She pulled away, trying to stay calmed and to think quickly. Being on the bad mutants list was something that always made her feel like she was hiding, running away all the time; like someone would come after her sooner or later.

Maybe the time had come.

Knock, knock, knock, it went again, this time harder, and she realized she had no time to loose.

Walking in tiptoes, she went straight to the window and opened it up as silently as she could, except for that screech at the end. Then she threw her body out of it, landing on the metallic balcony; that's when she realized it was a serious thing: from the other side of the window and through the darkness of her bedroom, she could see the door being thrown down, and then a male figure stepping inside her room. But she didn't stay to watch too long, rushing down the fire escape, her feet sometimes stepping on the metal, other times on the fabric of her sweat pants.

"Don't make this harder, kid" she heard the same voice again, from over her head, but she kept moving until she finally reached the ground, her hair all messed up and falling over her face. She didn't even want to look up, so she quickly turned towards the street at the end of the alley and started running. But only started, because after a couple of steps she stopped in her tracks. There was a woman in front of her, but she couldn't quite see her face because of the darkness; Rogue only saw, maybe red hair? and then the woman raising a hand.

That was the last thing Rogue saw before passing out.

Note: Ok there you have a little twist of events! Please don't leave without dropping me a review! I'll be thankful forever if you do!