Do I really want to start a new life here?
The horizon is filled with tall buildings and skyscrapers and the air is noisy with sounds of traffic. I look at everything around me and muse at what I could possibly do with my high school education.
I wonder what John is thinking about. He seems to be searching for something in the crowd.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," he says unconvincingly. "I just thought I saw someone I know".
We check into a motel room that night. How long can we keep this up before we run out of money? But John doesn't seem worried. Maybe he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve.
John takes the floor. Trying to quell my guilt as I settle into the bed, I try to sleep.
I can't.
John is mumbling something. I turn over and find that his eyes are still closed. He must be having a dream.
"Mystique," he says. Who's Mystique?
"Wake up," I shake John lying on the floor. It's seven in the morning. We have to set out early if we want to get anything done. I'd planned all night. I would get a job, an apartment, and everything would turn out just fine.
John swats my hand away like it's a fly and grumbles. However, a few minutes later he's up and preparing to leave.
I wonder where we start.
We set out the door when he suddenly walks purposefully ahead of me. He seems to know where he's going. I open my mouth to question him, then decide against it. He seems truculent today. I think about the dream he'd had yesterday. Must have been a bad one.
I follow after him.
The sun shines brightly but the air is cold. I'm glad for my jacket. It was one of the first things I'd grabbed when I left home.
We've been walking for an hour or so. My toes are screaming inside my sneakers and my ankles are aching but I don't say anything. John looks as if in a trance. He hasn't said a word since I'd finally asked him where we were going.
"Mystique". That was all he'd said, just like last night.
I think John has gone mad.
What am I doing with this mad person? I'd set out on my own; I should be able to survive alone. I'd never dreamed that our paths would cross when I'd left home in the first place.
I slow down my pace. John keeps on walking. I don't even think his mind's here.
John's getting further away. He's getting lost in the crowd that has begun to form.
As I lose sight of him, I suddenly become aware of my surroundings. A putrid stench offends my nostrils. A man on my left is selling fish. Entrails splatter his chopping board.
The crowd pushes me about, bumping into me from all sides. Ample-bosomed women with baskets in hand shout at the top of their lungs, bargaining with stall-holders.
I'm all alone.
Panic rushes through me like wildfire. I push through the noisy, suffocating crowd until I come to a clearing. Is he gone?
My eyes search frantically. Thankfully, I spot him some distance away. I sprint towards him on aching feet.
"John!" I yell out. Didn't he even notice I was gone? My cheeks burn with fury and embarrassment at myself. John turns around, surprised.
"Lyn? What're you doing so far away? Hurry up!"
I stumble to a stop, facing him. I'm panting heavily.
"I was about to leave you". John looks amused.
"Well what happened?"
"Where are we going?" I ask vehemently. "Can you snap out of it? Because you're creeping me out". I glare him down, my eyes darting daggers.
John surprises me by apologising.
"I told you we're going to see Mystique. I had a dream".
I look at him for a while. "I know".
He holds out his hand and indicates that we move forward. I look at it and without taking it, I walk ahead. I don't trust him. Not yet.
I wonder who this Mystique is. She must mean a great deal to him to affect him so much.
So I ask him.
After contemplating for a while, he replies, "A friend".
I frown a little. Maybe Mystique's a man. I nearly laugh at the thought of a man called Mystique, envisioning Speedos and a cape of silver stars.
"So. She's your friend? Why are we meeting her?"
"We're both running from Magneto". So. Mystique is a 'she'.
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you hiding from Magneto anyway? I thought you didn't like being on the X-men side".
"Not hiding," he sounds insulted, "Running". After a moment, he continues, "I didn't like being on Magneto's side. I guess Mystique didn't either".
I think I'm beginning to understand John. He doesn't want to protect humans and he doesn't want to kill them either.
John says that Mystique wants his help. He says that she came to him in a dream, with details of her location. I ask him if she has psychic powers.
"No," John says. For a moment he looks confused. "But maybe she got her ability using Professor Xavier's morph". He shrugs. Okay, so she has morphing abilities.
Flick. Flick. Flick.
Oh, no. He's starting again. I guess that's a sign that he doesn't want to talk anymore. I trudge onwards in silence.
I find myself in Los Angeles where the air is more humid. It's dark and chilly.
We enter a cafeteria. "Open 24 hours," reads a neon sign at the glass window. I practically run to a table for a seat. I'll never take a soft cushion to sit on for granted ever again.
Taking my shoes off, I examine the blisters on each foot and stretch my toes. Bliss.
John settles himself across from me. He looks just as drained as I am. Just as I'm about to say something, a waitress comes over and asks for our order. I look at John but he isn't even looking at the menu.
"I'll have a cheeseburger and a Coke, thanks".
The waitress writes it down and looks at John expectantly. He's staring into space. I kick his shin with my bare foot and he snaps around and frowns at me.
"Your order," I say.
He looks up and sees the waitress standing at our table. "Oh". After barely glancing at the menu, he says, "I'll have whatever she's having".
The waitress cocks an eyebrow and leaves us in peace.
"I told you to snap out of it!" I say through gritted teeth.
John flicks his lighter and ignores me. This guy has a personality that changes like the tides. I decide not to provoke him. He looks as if he's balancing on the very edge of sanity.
"I don't understand," he mumbles.
"Excuse me, what?"
John ignores the sarcasm in my tone. "We're supposed to be here by now. I followed all the directions".
I nearly scream out in frustration. Have we walked all that way for nothing?
The waitress reappears with our orders. That was fast. She places the food and drinks on the table and leaves without a word.
I sip at my Coke with pleasure and enjoy the prickly feeling as it tumbles down my throat. John doesn't even touch his food.
What's this? A piece of paper is sticking out from between the slices of his cheeseburger. Those incorrigible bastards. I pull out the piece of paper in anger. John may have been acting weird, but that's no reason to contaminate his food.
Wait a minute. It's not just any piece of paper. There's a message written on it.
"Follow the blue arrows".
"What is it?" John asks excitedly. Mystique. "That waitress, it was her wasn't it? Of course!" He reads the note. "Let's go," he grabs my hand and we leave the cafeteria as I struggle to put my sneakers back on. My stomach grumbles in bitter disappointment.
"Follow the blue arrows, she says," I grumble in hunger. "Why not cheeseburgers or...or fries?" I know I'm not making any sense but hunger does things to a person.
John doesn't listen. He's busy looking for blue arrows.
Fine. Blue arrows...blue arrows...if I were a blue arrow, where would I be?
I leave John to his hunt and examine a brick wall at the back of the cafeteria carefully. A streak of blue paint has been sprayed onto it. Too bad it's not in the shape of an arrow.
"Lyn! I found one!" I hear John yell. Yippee.
I find him bent over a blue arrow on a sidewalk.
"Yeah, so let's go," I say.
He stands up and faces me.
"Not yet little girly". What?
Suddenly he shifts and changes before my eyes. A blue woman with red hair and yellow eyes stands before me.
All becomes dark.