Everyone took various sitting positions around the room. Galla took one right in front of the fire. An uneasy silence followed as the girl just stared into the flames. When Kitty was about to interrupt Galla began.
"When I was two years old…" She began wiping tears from her eyes as she brought back the memories she had tried so long to forget. She continued never taking her eyes from the flames. "I was playing outside one day and my mother was watching from the porch. The phone rang and she told me to stay in the front yard while she went and got it. I thought I would surprise my mom with how much of a big girl I was by walking down to the end of the block and back all by myself. I saw my big sister Rorey do it everyday and when you're all want is to be as cool as your older sister is. Aurora was 13 at the time and she always made sure that I was included so I thought she was the coolest person in the world." She smiled softly as she remembered the only two happy years she had had in what she considered to be her 'childhood'.
"I got down to the corner when my perfect world was shattered. I turned around to head back to the house when I was grabbed from behind. The only thing I remember is waking up in a large building with steel walls and only a small door on the north side. There were about thirty girls in the building ranging from age 2 to 14. No one knew what was going on and most of us younger girls began crying. The older ones took charge and calmed us all down. I haven't cried since that day until now." Galla hesitated, deciding weather she could continue or not. She began again, very slowly.
"That place was where I died. We were to do everything that these men told us to do. We were beaten and we were only aloud 6 hours of sleep. After a year of this more strange men began to come and we were all lined up for inspection. Every time new men came some of the girls would go missing and new ones would be brought in their place. The older girls seemed to leave more then the younger ones but those who were still there began teaching us how to read and write bye writing with a stick on the dirt floor. None of us knew where the girls went when they left. I later found out that they were taken by the men that came and sold as concubines."
"Soon there were only five of the original thirty left. By this time I was now 7 and had been in the place for 5 years. I knew every weak point in the building as did the others who had been there that long. We decided it was time to escape and not just that but put an end to the whole operation. When you've known very little outside of steel walls you can think of nothing more but escape. So that's what we did. Late one night us older girls flogged the guards in the back of the head and began to usher all the younger ones into the forest. My friend Caitlin who had been there as long as I had, led them as far away as they could run. When we had gotten all the girls out, the four of us remaining went after the supply tent to grab anything that could help us along our journey. We had gotten all that we could carry and we were heading into the woods after the others when guy in charge of the whole place blocked our path. He had obviously been drinking and we could smell it on his breath. Hey grabbed my best friend Malaya by the neck lifting her off the ground. She was the oldest of us four and he apparently thought she was the ringleader. He threw her down onto the ground and began kicking and beating her. All the other three of us could do was stare in shock. That's when it all happened. I was wishing I could get him to stop. My brain was screaming to help but my body wouldn't move. I began to scream out loud as a sharp pain screeched all over my body. My skin felt as if were splitting in two. Next thing I knew I was about 10 feet taller, gray, and had a very large trunk. When the other two girls saw me they ran after the rest. I went mad and kicked that awful man away from Malaya. Before I realized what I was doing I had trampled him to death. I slowly changed back and helped my friend up. When I saw she was okay I sent her to the rest of the group. I refused to go. I was a monster and I didn't deserve to join them. She begged me to come and told me she wouldn't go back without me. I simply told her that she could go on her own or I could drag her there and that is was her choice. Malaya reluctantly went after the others giving me one quick hug and her word that we would meet again someday." Galla paused, taking deep breaths. It had taken a lot of will power to bring back those memories but she wasn't done telling yet.
"I walked the opposite way the group had gone. I wanted to be alone. I was now a monster. One of the storybook villains my mom had read to me about. I head towards where I thought home was. My town that I lived in was actually only a couple of miles away from my hellish prison. Since I was so used to hard labor I made it to my town quickly. When I got there I wandered around until I found a neighborhood that looked familiar. After slow searching I found my desired destination. I ran towards my home where I thought my family would be. When I got there, there was a different family there. It wasn't my parents or my sister. I stumbled up towards the front door very slowly. I was emotionally and physically sick. Before I reached the door however, I fainted on the front lawn."
"When I woke again I was in a hospital bed. A police officer came and questioned me and I told him everything about the hell my friends and I had lived in. I made sure to omit the part when I morphed. When they looked for the other girls they found them in the middle of a forest where they had apparently taken camp. All of them were there 29 exactly."
"When I was well enough they finally told me what had happened to my family. They told me that my parents had died in a car wreck 6 months after I had been taken and they couldn't find my sister. Dazed and confused they sent me to a foster home. For the next six years I was in and out of foster homes and orphanages none of them wanting to keep me. The kids were all nice until they found what I was. One the many kids I met got my into computers and that's one of the reasons I'm here. I one time did I search on most powerful computers in the world. One them was Professor X's cereabro. It vastly intrigued me so I began reading about it. When I learned the Professor had made it I wished I could talk to him. That's when my telepathic abilities developed and I accidentally contacted him. Only then did I show up on cereabro's detectors. The only reason I can give for that is probably that it wasn't made to detected animals so whenever I use powers it went unnoticed by it. So the next day when I got up in morning to go to school I was stopped by the orphanage director and told that I was moving to Bayville. I boarded a train three hours later and that's how I ended up here." Galla now done just sat there still staring at the flames. Everyone was silent. None could speak. Aurora finally broke the silence.
"When Gally was kidnapped my parents were devastated. We went to the police but they could find nothing. 6 months after she was taken my parents were hit by a semi when coming back from a therapist appointment. That's when my powers developed. When I came here the professor knew about my parents but I never told him about Gally. I had vowed to never tell anyone because it hurt too much. I haven't talked about in since, until today." Everyone just stared at her. She seemed to have been talking to herself more then she was to the rest of the group.
"But Aunt Aurora if she's your sister that makes her my mothers sister also, meaning that she's my aunt!" Storm nodded. "But how? She's two years younger than me!" Galla stared at Storm too.
"I never knew I had another sister! What the?" Storm sighed and began to explain.
"When my sister got pregnant with you Evan, my mother threw a fit. Your mum left the house and moved in with your father. Now my mother was very young when she had my older sister and when she had me. Two years after you were born Evan my mother was only 30. She became pregnant again and had Gally. I sent news to my sister because she and I were still very close. She wanted so bad to come and see you Gally, but we both knew our mother wouldn't let her get near. After you were kidnapped we vowed to not talk about it because it hurt so much. So I've kept my mouth shut about the whole thing since then."
