Harrison Bennett-Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I was anxious at the birth of my second daughter, Lana. I remember pacing the waiting room, back and forth, back and forth. It was forty-five step long, twenty-eight steps wide. Dr. Cavers came out at 4:15 am on Saturday the 25th of October.

"Mr. Bennett, congratulations. You have a baby girl." The first words out of my mouth were not of joy or things like that but something else.

"Is she healthy?" He looked at me like he had answered this question many times before.

"Of course, do you want to see her?" I nodded.

You might think that me asking that question was a typical fatherly reaction. It was, partly. I wanted to know if she was healthy because…I was afraid I had passed down my…I hate to say it, but it's the truth…mutation.

Yeah, I'm a mutant. I have the ability to, well, I can somehow disrupt matter on a sub molecular level, and therefore cause them to take on forms they normally wouldn't take. I remember when I was in my lunch class. I was playing with my celery. Then, then the pen began to almost turn into a molten substance and then took the form of-get this-a pen. Yes, a pen. It was a pen. How the hell that happened was beyond me. It even wrote. My friends thought it was the coolest thing.

When I reached age 19, it lost it's appeal and turned into something more. I was walking home from work. I worked late; earned extra money that way. Some punks jumped me. I remember them punching the hell out of me. I heard my jaw shatter, several teeth fly out, and then felt the bones of my orbit crack. Then I reached out and touched one of the little bastard's face. I concentrated. His body turned molten. Then, he took the form of a rock, shale to be exact. The kids stopped the beating, looked at the slab of shale that was their friend and ran off, screaming. I picked up the shale and smashed it into the brick wall. Red liquid oozed out. I took a man's life. It was self-defense, but I took a man's life.

I didn't want my children to face the pain that I felt after that day. Not just the physical pain of having my jaw shattered. That I sort of fixed by manipulating it to molten then back again, so I was nearly completely healed. It hurt that I had killed man in the worst possible way. I don't know if he knew what had happened. I don't know if had felt anything inside that cold stone. I always tried to convince myself that he was dead before he was reformed. His organs would have been so…smushed together, that there would be no way he could have felt anything. I'll never know.

Oh, hi darlings. How was school? Wow, an A? Did you get first chair? Congratulations!!! Lana, how-oh, but a B- is great too! Do your homework and we'll go out to eat. And show your mother those grades!! She'll be so proud!!

No, they don't have the gene. Thank god. I know, because I know. My girls are fine. Healthy. Human. But, if they weren't, and had the gene, I'd be fine with that. No, I didn't tell them about me. I can't. Then…then I'll have to tell them about what happened. I can't. I couldn't stand to see their faces. It would kill me.

I'm supposed to be their daddy, their superhero. Not a murderer. A monster. I don't want to be feared by them. I want them to love me. Like they do now.