"Hey there, you're waking
up I see?"
My eyes fluttered open, I was sitting in a weird setting,
but that was really the least of my worries, "Wh-where, am I? What happened?" I
stopped, and remembered the last thing I saw, my heart in Storm's hands, "How
the hell did I survive?" I slowly sat up.
"Well, I must say. This is something of a miracle Sarah.
The X-Men tried to destroy you. Storm, um," he hesitated, "to put it simply…she
tore your heart out right…right out of your body…"
I stared at him, in question, "How did I live through
that? Are you saying I don't have a heart right now?"
Dark Beast laughed, "No, no, no, of course not. I ran
some X-rays on you, and you do have a heart. Meaning that, as unbelievable as
this is, before this battle, you had two hearts."
Ok, I defiantly wasn't expecting that, "Two
hearts, huh. Looks like I really am unbeatable." I laughed, but soon stopped
because of the pain that it caused.
"More like you were extremely lucky. I put some ointment
on your burns, which are pretty much gone now. And I sewed up that nasty hole
in your chest. You're pretty much good as new, but you'll probably be sore for
a while."
I got up off the couch, and looked around, "And where are
we by the way?"
"A friends home. Its not much better than ours, but the
X-Men trashed our place, so he offered us his."
I nodded. The place was a little more furnished than the
hideout, not necessarily nice furniture, just more. There was a working TV, and
the room was full of what must have been stolen merchandise, "Does this place
have any food?"
Darky shook his head, "Afraid not, we'll have to get our
food from the streets. Want me to get you something?"
I headed for the door, "No I'll get it myself."
"I'll join you then"
We made our way down the stairs in the beaten down
apartment building. The floorboards squeaked each time you put your foot down,
the wallpaper was peeling, and there was a foul stench that lingered in the
air. We stepped out into a dark ally.
"There's a food stand down there with some nachos and
pretzels, sound ok?" Dark Beast pointed to a small hut just down the ally, it
didn't seem busy at all, so no attention would be drawn.
"Whatever, I just want something to eat."
The small hut was run by a middle-aged man, that sounded
like he was from Iraq or some country like that, "May I help you?"
"No I'll help myself thanks." Darky violently pushed the
man out of the way.
When I watched the man fall, a weird, strange feeling
pierced my soul, like I felt sorry for him.
The man stood up and objected to Dark Beast's illegal
actions, "You cannot do that mister! I will call the police on you. Sir! You
cant…"
Darky spun around, "You are in no place to be telling me
what to do sir," Dark Beast walked over to the unsuspecting, innocent man and
kneed him in the stomach, "as a matter of fact, you're really not in any place
to be doing anything at all." He laughed as the man rolled on the ground in
anguish, "What's wrong Sarah, not hungry?"
I was still staring at the man in pity. Dark had just
hurt him, for no apparent reason. Whoa, whoa, wait. I brought my thoughts to a
halt; no, this isn't you Sarah. That fight musta' messed with your head, "Lemme
at some of that food." I grabbed a pretzel and a cup of nacho cheese, and
caught a glimpse of the man again. He stared at me, with such hate, and
disgust, I had to look away.
I realized Dark Beast had taken off, and followed, my
mind still thinking about what I had just felt.
"So tell me, are you feeling up to getting our paws on
that new load of jewels the Museum just got in? They would bring in some good
money for my project." Dark Beast asked me over his shoulder, walking slightly
in front of me.
I snapped out of my daze, "Um, yeah, whatever."
He walked into the old apartment building, walking up the
noisy stairs and into the small putrid room, "There are some things I want to
run over with you, before tonight that is." He sat down on what looked like a
new, which probably meant stolen, recliner, "Just the basic is what I'm
planning on. I'll get us in, disarm the alarms, you get rid of the guards,
we'll get the jewelry and get out, nothing new."
I nodded, "Gotcha." But in my head, I kind of feared that
night. The way I reacted to the man up above, him getting abused, would I be
able to handle killing those guards. Ah! I stopped myself again. Why was I
thinking like this?! Of course I could
kill them, no problem! At least I hoped it would be no problem.
***
"Alright, the alarms are deactivated, lets get in and
out." Darky waved his hand, signaling for me to follow, "Wait…" he put his arm
out to stop me from going anywhere, this time his voice was in a whisper.
I peered around the corner. A group of about 10 guards
were standing walking around the new jewel exhibit.
Dark scratched his furry chin, "That's quite a few, but
you can manage, cant you? Who am I fooling; you've handled more than twenty before.
Now get out there and do your thing." He nudged me forward.
I closed my eyes. You can do it Sarah, no big deal. It'll
be easy; the routine procedure for you. I stepped into the exhibit, creeping
behind the many tables. I heard the shuffle of feet approaching me. Suddenly I
stuck my foot out. Almost instinctively I jumped out, grasped a ridged bone
from my back and snapped it off. I held the man's shoulders as the blade
propelled into his chest, through his body, practically anchoring him to the
ground.
"Hey! You! What are you doing?" The mob of security
guards rushed toward me, their hands holding their precious guns.
A weird reaction happened. Subconsciously, my arms were
whirling around my head, punching the guards, knocking them to the ground. Shards
of bone were flying at them; thrusting into their shoulders and chests. And
before I knew what had happened, bodies were lying all around me, lifeless
bodies. What had I done? In my heart, I felt such a sense of remorse, and
sympathy, and repentance for what I had done. I feel to the ground, how could I
do this?
Flashbacks surged through my head; the memories of that
night that the Morlocks had been massacred, the terror of seeing my family's
dead, lifeless, pale bodies, the torture it all caused me.
I opened my eyes, and it was like reliving that night.
The corpses surrounding me, "NO!" I screamed. The faces of the Morlocks
appeared on the faces of the guards. All I could see was my dead family,
"NO!!!" I stood up and ran as fast as I could out of the Museum.
Why was I feeling all these emotions? Damnit! What the
hell was wrong with me!
I kept on running, until my legs burned and my muscles
ached. I stopped in a small dark park and sat behind a tree. Like a child
afraid, I drew my knees up to my chest. Why did I see the Morlock's faces on
those men? Was I going crazy? Then I realized something, about the life I'd
been living. I was…murdering innocent people, the same way my family's killers
had done. I was a killer, a ruthless, cold-blooded killer.
I shook my head, "No, no I can't, I'm not like that." All
of a sudden, the faces of all those I'd take the lives of flashed through my
mind. They kept coming, there were so many of them. Tears began to descend down
my cheeks. The brutal reality of my life made me want to die on the spot. I
couldn't believe that I'd murdered so many. I wanted revenge for my family's
death so bad, that I went to the point of killing innocent adults and children.
But why, I asked myself, why am I feeling all this now.
My heart, the one Storm had ripped out, along with it, she tore the evil from
the core of my being. She pulled out my ability to kill and not regret it. And
now, I did feel remorse, and sorrow for what I had done. Oh God did I feel the
sadness. I felt it throughout my body, like an intolerable pain that wouldn't
cease.
I spent the rest of the
night sobbing, and I ended up crying myself to sleep.
