It was a week, and two letters later when it arrived. "St John!
There's a package for you." Ororo Monroe called through the dining room. Bobby
elbowed him in his ribs from where he sat beside St John at the table.
"Relationship moving up is it Johnny-my-boy?" He teased with a grin. St John
rolled his eyes and thwocked him on the head as he got up to collect the
package'. Storm smiled benevolently at him as she handed over the package.
Everyone at the school, including the teachers, were curious about St John's so
called pen-pal', and rumors were concocted on a daily basis. St John had
stoically kept his mouth shut about whom they were from and what was in them. He found he
actually enjoyed talking to Rogue through the letters, being able to say things to her
that he didn't really feel comfortable talking about to others. Taking the package,
he thanked Storm and hurried back to his seat. He really wished that she hadn't
announced it right in front of every other kid in the school. There would defiantly be
more gossip then usual. St John grinned at the thought. It was kinda funny, to hear the
ridiculous things that bored kids who watched to many soap-operas came up with. Giving
Bobby another light nock on the head for the comment he could practically see
coming out his friend's mouth, he sat down again and resumed eating – dropping
the package onto the table beside him. After a moment or two he stopped, looking up at his
friend, who was sitting there, watching him.
"What?!"
"What d'ya mean, what?' – aren't you going to open
it?" Bobby prodded, nodding down towards the package. St John grinned, thinking about
teasing him, but he was kind curious to what Rogue had sent him himself. Shrugging, he
picked it up off the table and scrutinized it. It was one of those small padded bags that
you could find at the Post Office, around the size of one of the large manila envelops you
could also buy there. He could feel a small, hard rectangular box-like shape inside.
Looking around the table, he noticed a few other people, looking on with interest. Shaking
his head at how gossip-starved his peers were, he went on to rip the top part open, using
the knife from his plate when the plastic bubble wrap inside became stubborn. Peering
inside, he saw a slip of paper and a plastic rectangular box inside. After a moment, he
realized that the box was a cassette tape case. Realizing that his audience was growing,
he folded the top back to close the bag. "So? What is it?" Bobby asked.
Shrugging, he went back to eating, trying to decide what to tell his friend.
"A tape." He finally said. "Can I borrow you're walkman later
Bobby?" A wide smirk plastered on his face, Bobby nodded.
Some time later, after classes had finished and St John had managed to
get a hold of Bobby's walkman, he set out to find a quiet spot so he could listen to
his tape. He lay down on a nice piece of grass, and opened the package once again,
dropping out the paper and the tape.
St John – hope you can find a tape-player about the place somewhere. ~Rogue
Read the piece of paper. His brow furrowing, he pulled the cassette out of it's case and stuck it into the walkman, making sure it was rewound, then pressing play'.
Hi St John! [sound of giggling] Ah hope this is working ahlright. Well, Ah thought Ah'd try fo' something a little different. Ah was watching a re-run o' that show Felicity on TV, yah see, and it gave meh an ideah. In case yah haven't seen tha show, Felicity sends her friend a tape with her talkin' on it, kindah like a lettah. Anyhow, Ah thought of what yah said about tapin' tha moron's down at the bar, and Ah thought this might be a nice tah try. Oh yeah, when yah done listen' tah meh, turn tha tape ovah and there's some thangs yah might find funny on tha otha side.
Ah found this cool little dictator tape-thing at a jumble sale, and Ah bought some tapes, so now Ah'm set. So expect tah get some more o' these in tha future. Ah'm sitting on mah bed now– it's about 8 o'clock at night, and Mirrandah is tryin', and tryin' being the operative word here sugah, to bake somethin' in tha kitchen. So if yah hear screamin' or some loud crashes, that'll be her. [sound of a muffled curse, then Rogue laughing] See? Speak of tha devil
So yeah. Hmmm. Ah don't really know what tah say now Ah'm sitting here. Tha thing with letters is that Ah can take time to sit down an' think about what tah write. Well, Ah hope ya'll doin' ahlright ovah there at the school, and yah didn't get intah toooo much trouble because o' that prank yah pulled on Lilah. [sniggering] But gawd, that was funny. Ah couldn't breath properly fo' laughin' when ah read about it.
[few seconds pause] Ah met some mutants tha otha day. Bout our age, mahby a bit older. They're passable as normal humans though. Ah talked tah them a bit, and they told meh that most o' tha ones that don't, look human that is, stay outa sight. Even then, there's a lot of em that go missin' – the ones that don't have any family or anyone tah miss them. Jus' disappear, sometimes comin' up a while latah, dead in tha gutter somewhere. There's a group of anti-mutant protestors in tha city, callin themselves Friends of Humanity'. They're gatherin' quite a followin' so many people seem tah be against mutants. Some o' them even think we should all be rounded up and mass executed. Ah dunno if yah watched the news recently, but there was this big protest tha otha day, about mutants. It got outa hand, and five or six mutants were killed. It was horrible. Ah could see it from the window, and Ah almost threw up. Ah can't believe people could just do that tah others just like them just cuz we're a little bit different. They're tryin' tah blame us fo' everythin' that's wrong in tha world. Ah keep thinkin' of Hitler, and tha way he used the Jews. It's just tha same. Whoevah said history repeats was damn right. [sound of a heavy sigh] Damn. Now Ah've got mahself all depressed, probably yah as well. Sorry bout that
On a lighter side, the mutant kids Ah met are all really nice. One gal in particular, calls herself Shana - but Ah'd bet that's nowt her real name, Ah think Ah could become good friends with. She's takin' meh out tomorrah night. Finally! A social life! [giggling] Have tah find a nice pair o' gloves. Ah've got this whole collection goin' now – all different colors an' fabrics. People think Ah'm just weird, wearin' all these long gloves, but they put it down to a personal style. It's OK, cuz it's winter and cold, but Ah dunno how it's gunna look come summer. Hopefully Ah'll be able to come back to Xaviers before then. Ah'm really startin' tah miss everyone back there now. [sounds of screeching and loud clattering in the background]
Cer-ripes. What in tarnation has she done now? Ah better go check, make sure she aint set tah burn tha building down! Nice talkin to ya sugah. Don't forget tah listen tah tha otha side now. Take care.
There was a crackle and then a click, followed by the silent hum of empty tape. St John lay on the grass, staring up at the sky, for a while, just letting the tape continue onwards while he thought. After several minutes quiet contemplation, he picked up the walkman from beside him and found the rewind button. Pressing it, he let it whir until the click came, and then he pressed play again, lying himself out on the ground again, ignoring the slight chill on the evening air as he listened to Rogue's southern drawl.