Donovan Milady

Donovan Milady has never run so fast in her entire life.  She keeps looking back, breathing heavily as the mob gains on her.  Taking this as a silent challenge, Donovan sticks out her tongue to taunt the crowd and runs even faster.  She ignores their shouts and curses to quickly analyze her surroundings.

            She is approaching a dead end alley with no way of escaping.  The mob most certainly has various weapons with which to end her life quickly simply for being born.  Donovan's heart is pounding from all the excitement.  She grins devilishly as she remembers the circumstances that led to the chase she's involved in currently.

YESTERDAY:

            "What does the term 'star-crossed lovers' bring to mind?"  Donovan asks Mandy Harper, the girl she's tutoring in English.  She smiles up at Mandy, who is staring down at her textbook in annoyance.  She hates Shakespeare.  She can never understand any of it.  And Donovan is so distracting.  The way she twirls her light brown hair or tugs on one of the six earrings she has in her right ear drives Mandy, who has been crushing on Donovan for nearly six months, mad.  "Mandy?  You gonna answer my question?"

            "Star crossed… right," Mandy mutters.  She runs her fingers through her short blond hair and sighs.  "I don't know.  I'll never understand this!"

            Donovan smiles reassuringly.  "Yes, you will.  Just give yourself a little more credit.  A day ago, you wouldn't have even understood what they were saying.  Now, you know what they're talking about.  We just need to get what they mean."

            "Isn't that the same thing?"  Mandy asks.  She pushes her book off the desk to the floor.  It lands with a thud and she makes no move to pick it up again.  She flops herself onto her queen size canopy bed.  The thought of Donovan suddenly joining her there makes her blush furiously and she sits up.  "I'm just gonna fail."

            "You're mom's not paying me ten bucks an hour to let you fail," Donovan says.  She picks up the book and tosses it onto the bed.  "Romeo and Juliet are considered star crossed lovers.  Their relationship seems to be destined to fail from the beginning.  Their families' feud, being torn apart, the apparent suicide of Juliet, and then their actual deaths.  They can only be together in death.  You follow me so far?"

            The only way I'm gonna get you is in my dreams, Mandy thinks sadly.  She takes a deep breath.  "So, being star crossed means that fate is messing with your heart?  Making you fall in love with someone you can't have?"  Gee, that seems familiar.

            "Sort of," Donovan says.  "You're on the right track.  You see…"

            Mandy's mother opens the door to the bedroom suddenly.  The terror on her face is obvious.  She is a short, plump older woman with graying hair and sagging… well, everything.  She looks as though she has just run a marathon and when she opens her mouth to speak, it sounds as though she has.  "Outside… they're killing him!"

            Donovan rushes to the window.  She sees a group of kids beating up on a nerdy young man out on the street.  She clenches her fists.  "Call the police, Mrs. Harper.  I'll go out there and see what I can do to calm those boys down."  She hurries down the stair and outside.

            Mandy stays at her window to watch as her mother picks up the telephone in her room to call the police.  She sees Donovan stride coolly toward the gang and start pulling the kids apart.  Donovan makes it to the center of the gang and begins to talk.  Mandy sighs and watches the girl of her dreams speak, although she can't hear the actual words.

            "What the hell is going on here?" Donovan demands.  She shelters the smaller boy behind her.  The kids are about her age, eighteen, and the boy they were attacking couldn't be older than fifteen.  Her blue eyes flash angrily.  "Who started this?"

            "He did…" one of the braver individuals snarls.  He is a tough looking kid with an ugly tattoo of a bird on his upper arm.  His hair is a mess and there seems to be blood on his knuckles that Donovan is sure she can safely assume does not belong to him.  "He promised us a couple of A papers and didn't follow through.  We paid good money for those.  Now we ain't gonna graduate."

            Donovan glares down at the boy.  "Is that true?"  The boy nods miserably, expecting her to leave him to the gang of boys wanting to kill him.  "Regardless of what he's done, you shouldn't have had him do your work.  It's your own fault you're not graduating."

            "We want our money back," the lead boy insists.  He looks ready to attack Donovan to get at the nerd.  "And compensation for our troubles."

            Donovan gets into the boy's face.  "You will not hurt him any more than you have already.  I don't care what he owes you; it will not be paid for in blood.  You'll get your money.  But the cops are on their way and I'm sure that they won't care what he owes you.  They'll throw your butts into the slammer so fast; your heads'll spin."

            The boy grabs Donovan by the front of the shirt.  He raises his hand to punch Donovan but doesn't get close enough.  His hand freezes when he suddenly notices that he isn't holding an ordinary eighteen-year-old girl.

            The thing he is holding by the front is a mutant, a human born with an x-factor in the genetic make-up.  It's obvious by the fact that Donovan's once perfect tan skin is now a light shade of gray and is tough as granite.  Her blue eyes are a deep shade of red and a pair of very sharp looking canines is visible in her once friendly smile.  A large pair of leathery wings has torn the back of her shirt and a thick tail is whipping dangerously behind her.  The boy is a lot less courageous now.

            "I think you suddenly have more problems to deal with than repeating your senior year, boy," Donovan's once light voice is now all growls.  She pulls the boy's hand off of her shirt.  "Back off."

            The group of boys scatters and the nerd is left paralyzed with fear.  Donovan turns to him.  "Are you all right?'

            "Mutie freak!" he shouts and runs away. 

Donovan shakes her head sadly and looks up.  She sees Mandy staring at her from the window.  Grimacing, she reverts back to her human form and heads back toward the house as the police show up.  They head toward her.  "What happened here?"

"Nothing that hasn't been taken care of, gentlemen.  Thank you for responding so quickly," Donovan says, relieved that they don't know about her mutant ability.  "I just got a bit messy but they won't be here again for a while."

After dealing with the police, Donovan goes inside.  Mrs. Harper fusses over her.  "You poor thing!  Let me see if I can find you a shirt to wear.  I didn't see the fight but I'm glad you weren't hurt!"

"I'm all right, Mrs. Harper.  Just fine," Donovan assures the older woman.  "Let me just finish up my lesson with your daughter and I'll go home to clean up, all right?"

Donovan closes the door to Mandy's room quietly.  She sees that Mandy is holding a softball bat in her hands.  Donovan smiles weakly.  "That won't be necessary, Mandy.  I have no intention of attacking you."

"But I know your secret," Mandy says shakily.  How could she have been in love with this freak?  "I know what you are…"

"Yes, you do," Donovan agrees.  "I'm a mutant.  I can't help that and up until today, I've carefully guarded that secret.  But I couldn't let that kid get pummeled out there and I couldn't let that punk rearrange my face.  I very rarely use my power at all.  And up until today, I was just an ordinary girl to you, helping you pass a few quizzes and maybe getting into a decent college.  Can't we go back to that until I can get out of here?"

Mandy, still holding the bat, slides into her swivel chair.  She stares at Donovan fearfully.  "You're not gonna hurt me?"

"No, ma'am," Donovan replies.  "I'm just gonna teach you Shakespeare."

Mandy manages a smile.  "So, you are gonna hurt me."

Donovan chuckles.  "You can put the bat down.  And I'll answer any questions you might have for me.  I think we're done our lesson today."

Mandy drops the bat.  "How long have you known?"

"Since I was twelve," Donovan says.  "The wings sprouted first.  Then the tail and the gray skin.  I was scared and it hurt a lot.  But then it all went back inside me.  I don't really understand it but I learned to control it. As quickly as possible.  I'm as safe as anyone with a weapon.  As long as I know how to use it and how to use it with care, I am as normal as anyone out there."

Mandy nods.  "That boy you saved was a jerk for running."

"Well, I can't expect all homo sapiens to be as understanding as you are," Donovan replies with a smile.

They sit together in silence.  Mandy stares at Donovan thoughtfully.  She's still so beautiful.  But now she really won't want me after I freaked like that.  Dammit, why do I have to be so stupid?

"Are you all right?" Donovan asks.  She sighs deeply.  "Maybe we should finally talk about something else…"

"What do you mean?"  Mandy asks a little too quickly.  She grimaces under Donovan's knowing gaze.  She looks down, ashamed.  "How do you know?"

Donovan takes Mandy's hand gently.  The simple touch makes Mandy's cheeks burn.  She can't make eye contact with Donovan.  "It's not obvious.  You have nothing to worry about.  I just notice little things better than most people do.  Your secret's safe with me."

Mandy breathes a sigh of relief.  She looks down at Donovan's hand.  "Does that mean… you feel the same way?"

Donovan frowns.  "Well… yes.  Not exactly the same way.  I like you quite a bit.  But with the life I have to live, there's no way I can pursue a relationship with anyone.  I can't endanger a person like that.  It would be selfish of me to do that to anyone."

"Oh…" Mandy is obviously disappointed.  She looks down, avoiding Donovan's eyes.  She reaches down and picks up her book, clearing her throat.  "Well, let's get back to the book."