DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Mutant X'. They're not
my property. They belong to Tribune Entertainment.
***
*********
The incredible moisture in the air had unwillingly awakened her, as she sighed, looking up at the ceiling. It had been such a nice day today, the sun was shining as it was long expected to... they talked, they laughed, they cried, they embraced. The weather was beautiful. Now when she opened her eyes she saw the picture she wished would not appear for a long time. Rain drops falling quietly on the stained glass; the air – spreading the smell.
As her eyes sparkled in the darkness towards the drops, their blue color replaced by pale black, Emma touched her chest and turned her head to the other side. Ever since last year she had grown less and less fond of the thunder, the aggressive rains, and the dark and heavy clouds. It always reminded her of something negative, something that always had the will to eat up the small samples of joy floating around her. She wanted it to go away. She wanted to see the moon shining, the stars sparkle, not this damn rain.
How did it turn into this? How did the clouds manage to gather so quickly and let the rain pour on the streets, on the buildings... everything? Another sigh left her. It doesn't matter. "I can't control the weather, although I wish I could!" she told herself and closed her eyes to try and return to her slumber.
It did not work. She pressed her eyelids hard on her eyeballs. The sudden insomnia did not disappear. "I wanna go back to sleep! Go back to sleep!" Emma kept saying to herself but none of that registered with her consciousness. "Damn it." She quickly sat up, leaning on her arms while slowly opening her eyes. Frustration would come soon if she let the forcefulness to dream to continue.
Turning her head to her right, Emma noticed the drops becoming more frequent. "Maybe some tea..." she suggested to herself. "Anything hot." Her legs wanted to move but her eyes were fixated on the rain. Maybe there would be no thunder this time; maybe it'll be short, it'll be over soon. She did not notice it but her head had started to faintly shake. Watching this release of the night sky was getting to her nervous system. It was beginning to irritate her. Emma did not bother to wander about the strangeness of this change, the morphing of her attitude towards these simple drops of water. If she had, she would ask herself why was this happening; why was her mind loosing patience to this. She chose to stay ignorant to it.
The moisture was touching her skin softly, exasperating it physically just as the drops were frustrating her emotionally. This tore off her gaze away and forced her entire body to get out of the bed and rush toward the kitchen. "Tea, tea, tea!" she kept mumbling to herself as she quickly turned on the light and pulled out a metal pot from the bottom cabinet, filled it with water and placed it on the stove. Crossing her arms she leaned slowly on the wooden counter whilst she waited. But the shadows from outside lured her eyes to the windows on her left. More rain drops and this time they were falling down with increasing speed. Feeling her teeth screech almost animal-like, the Psionic hurried to the windows and quickly covered them with the white curtains with small green dots she and Mary had bought the week before.
She could now only see the shadows of the drops when a quick and sudden noise of thunder struck and echoed from the outside and into the entire apartment, raising the hairs on Emma's arms momentarily. She expected to jump from the sudden scare but instead remained where she was. A deep sigh. She then returned to the kitchen. Emma could still see the rain but at least not as raw as a few moments ago.
Leaning once more on the counter, she took in a deep breath with a brief closure of her eyes before crossing her arms and fixating her blues on the pot which was only a couple of minutes away from giving hot water. Emma tried to distance herself from the unpredicted irritation towards the outside happenings of which she was beginning to make herself conscious.
The tea was ready. Emma lifted the hot yellow mug close to her face, using the wrinkled edges of the cotton pajama sleeves as minimal protectors from the intensive warmth. The rising steam gave parts of itself to enter inside her nostrils and let the young woman feel the pleasant smell of mint. "Mm..." she sounded and touched the hot mug with her lips. Taking a quick sip she distanced her lips from the mug and felt the burning liquid travel down her throat. "Ah." Her lips parted. "Good." She nodded.
Now she could return to her room. This hot tea would ease her body and especially her nervous system enough to let Emma return to her slumber. As she walked, her gaze was fixed on the floor as she had wanted to avoid eye- contact with the windows and the traces of some escaped tiny shadows on the floor itself. Stepping softly she was passing by one of the rooms when she noticed the door was left open. Small turn of curiosity as to why let her eyes land gently on the body in the bed at the very end of the room. Emma reached for the handle when her senses told her to stop that action. She listened; she did not close the door. Instead she, as quietly as she possibly could, entered the room. The curiosity now changed with the person in the bed being its target.
"Peaceful," was the first thought inside her head as Emma's eyes traveled softly on Brennan's sleeping face. There was short envy inside her because this change of weather did not disturb his sleep as it did hers.
Towards the end of their conversation, Emma had offered Brennan to spend the night here since his flight was due tomorrow and he had no place to stay. A hotel was out of the question. Mary wouldn't mind that he slept here, Emma was confident because the Psionic was sleeping in Mary's room. She should have put him on the couch but somehow the soft part inside her begged her to give him a more comfortable place: soft sheets, deep pillows.
Watching the moving shadows on his dark face and uncovered torso gave Emma a temporary cover from the rain. The blue bed sheet was tossed on the side while the white one only covered his abdomen. The Elemental slept soundly on his back with left his hand finding its place on his smooth chest, rested there for a few moments before it touched the mattress. Emma smiled but some thoughts still lingered inside. The unwanted memory of that night returned when she experienced more in front of her, the walls changing, and his face appeared once more. Those words... they were harsh and they were meant. Getting unsettling Goosebumps, Emma bit her lower lip and shut her eyes to chase away that memory. She said she had forgiven him for that night, all those ugly words which fell out of his mouth. But has she really? Have the feelings deep and deeper inside which had refused to let go of that stubborn disappointment finally disappear or were they merely silenced for a few hours....
The memory was finally crashed thanks to the warmth of the tea which was still transmitting itself through the ceramic mug. An unsatisfactory exhale was released as she realized the forgiveness in words was only a mask to hide the truth that her healing process would take longer. Another person would look at her and think of the stupidity of this situation, the Psionic's subconscious decision to hold onto an even from so long ago and even more tightly of her refusal for a true verdict of forgiveness. "The people who love you can always hurt you more deeply and easily than anyone else... it's just the way it has always been. Let it go, Emma..." a voice inside her pleaded. "He hurt you, your best friend and he threw such untrue words, such accusations at you! Stay the way you are. He doesn't deserve pity," another voice warned her.
Emma shook her head. She did not want to think about this. She needed sleep. She did not need more confusion, more reasons for stay awake and waste that time for thinking *this* over. Silence and dreams - that was what she wanted now. Emma threw those thoughts away, she shut the voices out. Another time... not tonight, she decided.
But then the Psionic saw Brennan tossing franticly in the bed, trying to breathe. This alarmed her as Emma placed the mug on the nearby table and kneeled next to the edge of the bed. Grabbing his shoulders she first had attempted to keep him still, while calling him with a middle tone. "Bren? Bren, wake up!" she kept repeating but the Elemental did not appear to respond to her calls, instead he kept tossing nervously in the bed, his skin slowly releasing tiny drops of sweat.
Several more useless attempts forced the Psionic to come up with another solution. She did not know about the frequent repetitive appearance of the nightmares; Brennan mentioned nothing of it. She took in a small amount of air and hoped this could work. Emma never attempted this with Brennan before so she did not know if there could be a possible success to it. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and let her senses slowly reach into his consciousness, his mind.
"So this is how it feels to be a part of someone's dream," she thought. But the moment she managed to reach deeper inside, something thick and black had started to choke her. She heard screams with different variations and saw red and gray shadows flying before her. This was not a dream she realized as the moment the shadows touched her they shrunk the space between her and the black matter causing her respetorial system to have trouble functioning.
Emma began struggling to breathe normally but every try led nowhere only towards worse. She had to pull out, this was too much and not within her control.
She yanked herself as quickly and harshly as she could and ended up falling on the red woolen carpet. Finally feeling her lungs returning their normal capability to filtrate air, Emma sucked in as much as she could as if it was her last chance. Her chest rose and fell as quickly as that of a small bird and her eyes bulged open, staring at the dark ceiling. At least the curtains were closed so the rain could not bother her so much.
After returning her normal tempo of breathing, Emma sat up and focused her eyes back at Brennan. "What in hell was that?" she asked herself and kneeled once more next to the Elemental who was still trapped in that nightly torture. "Ok..." Emma took another breath and placed her hands gently on Brennan's left arm before closing her eyes. She wouldn't go so deep this time. She would touch only the thinner places. Emma made the mistake of going directly towards the centre, that's why she got pulled in so easily and quickly.
Her fingers could already feel his wet skin and the shivers coming unwillingly. She decided to try again but this time more safely. Slowly she projected an image of a young seagull flying peacefully over a motionless surface of an ocean. It worked once, maybe.....
There were some rejections, difficulty in the acceptance of this tamed picture but in the end the Psionic smiled. "Yes..." she whispered. He was slowly giving in. His heart accepting this was shifting to its normal rate, his breathing - more settled and his body – comfortably still. The shaking disappeared immediately and when she uncovered her blue eyes she saw the Elemental sleeping normally and one might say – happily. Bringing her right hand to his forehead she slowly wiped the sweat or as much as she could from it and leaving a shorter glance at his tamed breathing Emma afterwards raised herself on her legs and then her smile faded. Turning around she took the tea that by now had felt less hot and quickly approaching cold. Slowly and soundlessly Emma walked out of the room and without saying anything, closed the door carefully behind her. A short sigh and the next destination: back to Mary's room.
Feeling the soft surface of the sheets beneath her behind, Emma took a few sips from the tea and swallowed them with tiresome enjoyment. Shaking her head, she unsympathetically forbid herself to let any thoughts about her current relationship and possible future turbulences with Brennan disturb her. She desperately needed her mind to drown into the carefree world of slumber and tranquility.
Staring at the dark liquid in the mug, Emma bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly. Her ears and nose detected the continuing falling of those feared rain drops and the amount had grown even more as if to deliberately raise the hairs on her skin and let her irritation progress. With closed eyes she tasted the tea and concentrated on the warmth it provided when it filled the inner hallways of her body. It should have felt great, it should have felt perfect but somehow the rain didn't let it, washing the warmth away with its coldness.
Bursting her eyelids open, Emma knocked her head back for her blues to be facing the ceiling. "This is so stupid," she hissed to herself and without supervision placed the mug on the nightstand. "Don't be such a child, Emma. Just go to sleep!" she said and quickly buried herself beneath the sheets and snuggled into the deep pillows.
The tea had smoothened her after all as she could gradually feel it working on her nerves and her previous 'adventure' with Brennan gave in room for some hungered-for tiredness to begin its appearance. She placed a pillow over her head to choke the sound of the rain drops. Emma would go to sleep. The sweet weariness would make sure of that.
*********
***
*********
The incredible moisture in the air had unwillingly awakened her, as she sighed, looking up at the ceiling. It had been such a nice day today, the sun was shining as it was long expected to... they talked, they laughed, they cried, they embraced. The weather was beautiful. Now when she opened her eyes she saw the picture she wished would not appear for a long time. Rain drops falling quietly on the stained glass; the air – spreading the smell.
As her eyes sparkled in the darkness towards the drops, their blue color replaced by pale black, Emma touched her chest and turned her head to the other side. Ever since last year she had grown less and less fond of the thunder, the aggressive rains, and the dark and heavy clouds. It always reminded her of something negative, something that always had the will to eat up the small samples of joy floating around her. She wanted it to go away. She wanted to see the moon shining, the stars sparkle, not this damn rain.
How did it turn into this? How did the clouds manage to gather so quickly and let the rain pour on the streets, on the buildings... everything? Another sigh left her. It doesn't matter. "I can't control the weather, although I wish I could!" she told herself and closed her eyes to try and return to her slumber.
It did not work. She pressed her eyelids hard on her eyeballs. The sudden insomnia did not disappear. "I wanna go back to sleep! Go back to sleep!" Emma kept saying to herself but none of that registered with her consciousness. "Damn it." She quickly sat up, leaning on her arms while slowly opening her eyes. Frustration would come soon if she let the forcefulness to dream to continue.
Turning her head to her right, Emma noticed the drops becoming more frequent. "Maybe some tea..." she suggested to herself. "Anything hot." Her legs wanted to move but her eyes were fixated on the rain. Maybe there would be no thunder this time; maybe it'll be short, it'll be over soon. She did not notice it but her head had started to faintly shake. Watching this release of the night sky was getting to her nervous system. It was beginning to irritate her. Emma did not bother to wander about the strangeness of this change, the morphing of her attitude towards these simple drops of water. If she had, she would ask herself why was this happening; why was her mind loosing patience to this. She chose to stay ignorant to it.
The moisture was touching her skin softly, exasperating it physically just as the drops were frustrating her emotionally. This tore off her gaze away and forced her entire body to get out of the bed and rush toward the kitchen. "Tea, tea, tea!" she kept mumbling to herself as she quickly turned on the light and pulled out a metal pot from the bottom cabinet, filled it with water and placed it on the stove. Crossing her arms she leaned slowly on the wooden counter whilst she waited. But the shadows from outside lured her eyes to the windows on her left. More rain drops and this time they were falling down with increasing speed. Feeling her teeth screech almost animal-like, the Psionic hurried to the windows and quickly covered them with the white curtains with small green dots she and Mary had bought the week before.
She could now only see the shadows of the drops when a quick and sudden noise of thunder struck and echoed from the outside and into the entire apartment, raising the hairs on Emma's arms momentarily. She expected to jump from the sudden scare but instead remained where she was. A deep sigh. She then returned to the kitchen. Emma could still see the rain but at least not as raw as a few moments ago.
Leaning once more on the counter, she took in a deep breath with a brief closure of her eyes before crossing her arms and fixating her blues on the pot which was only a couple of minutes away from giving hot water. Emma tried to distance herself from the unpredicted irritation towards the outside happenings of which she was beginning to make herself conscious.
The tea was ready. Emma lifted the hot yellow mug close to her face, using the wrinkled edges of the cotton pajama sleeves as minimal protectors from the intensive warmth. The rising steam gave parts of itself to enter inside her nostrils and let the young woman feel the pleasant smell of mint. "Mm..." she sounded and touched the hot mug with her lips. Taking a quick sip she distanced her lips from the mug and felt the burning liquid travel down her throat. "Ah." Her lips parted. "Good." She nodded.
Now she could return to her room. This hot tea would ease her body and especially her nervous system enough to let Emma return to her slumber. As she walked, her gaze was fixed on the floor as she had wanted to avoid eye- contact with the windows and the traces of some escaped tiny shadows on the floor itself. Stepping softly she was passing by one of the rooms when she noticed the door was left open. Small turn of curiosity as to why let her eyes land gently on the body in the bed at the very end of the room. Emma reached for the handle when her senses told her to stop that action. She listened; she did not close the door. Instead she, as quietly as she possibly could, entered the room. The curiosity now changed with the person in the bed being its target.
"Peaceful," was the first thought inside her head as Emma's eyes traveled softly on Brennan's sleeping face. There was short envy inside her because this change of weather did not disturb his sleep as it did hers.
Towards the end of their conversation, Emma had offered Brennan to spend the night here since his flight was due tomorrow and he had no place to stay. A hotel was out of the question. Mary wouldn't mind that he slept here, Emma was confident because the Psionic was sleeping in Mary's room. She should have put him on the couch but somehow the soft part inside her begged her to give him a more comfortable place: soft sheets, deep pillows.
Watching the moving shadows on his dark face and uncovered torso gave Emma a temporary cover from the rain. The blue bed sheet was tossed on the side while the white one only covered his abdomen. The Elemental slept soundly on his back with left his hand finding its place on his smooth chest, rested there for a few moments before it touched the mattress. Emma smiled but some thoughts still lingered inside. The unwanted memory of that night returned when she experienced more in front of her, the walls changing, and his face appeared once more. Those words... they were harsh and they were meant. Getting unsettling Goosebumps, Emma bit her lower lip and shut her eyes to chase away that memory. She said she had forgiven him for that night, all those ugly words which fell out of his mouth. But has she really? Have the feelings deep and deeper inside which had refused to let go of that stubborn disappointment finally disappear or were they merely silenced for a few hours....
The memory was finally crashed thanks to the warmth of the tea which was still transmitting itself through the ceramic mug. An unsatisfactory exhale was released as she realized the forgiveness in words was only a mask to hide the truth that her healing process would take longer. Another person would look at her and think of the stupidity of this situation, the Psionic's subconscious decision to hold onto an even from so long ago and even more tightly of her refusal for a true verdict of forgiveness. "The people who love you can always hurt you more deeply and easily than anyone else... it's just the way it has always been. Let it go, Emma..." a voice inside her pleaded. "He hurt you, your best friend and he threw such untrue words, such accusations at you! Stay the way you are. He doesn't deserve pity," another voice warned her.
Emma shook her head. She did not want to think about this. She needed sleep. She did not need more confusion, more reasons for stay awake and waste that time for thinking *this* over. Silence and dreams - that was what she wanted now. Emma threw those thoughts away, she shut the voices out. Another time... not tonight, she decided.
But then the Psionic saw Brennan tossing franticly in the bed, trying to breathe. This alarmed her as Emma placed the mug on the nearby table and kneeled next to the edge of the bed. Grabbing his shoulders she first had attempted to keep him still, while calling him with a middle tone. "Bren? Bren, wake up!" she kept repeating but the Elemental did not appear to respond to her calls, instead he kept tossing nervously in the bed, his skin slowly releasing tiny drops of sweat.
Several more useless attempts forced the Psionic to come up with another solution. She did not know about the frequent repetitive appearance of the nightmares; Brennan mentioned nothing of it. She took in a small amount of air and hoped this could work. Emma never attempted this with Brennan before so she did not know if there could be a possible success to it. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and let her senses slowly reach into his consciousness, his mind.
"So this is how it feels to be a part of someone's dream," she thought. But the moment she managed to reach deeper inside, something thick and black had started to choke her. She heard screams with different variations and saw red and gray shadows flying before her. This was not a dream she realized as the moment the shadows touched her they shrunk the space between her and the black matter causing her respetorial system to have trouble functioning.
Emma began struggling to breathe normally but every try led nowhere only towards worse. She had to pull out, this was too much and not within her control.
She yanked herself as quickly and harshly as she could and ended up falling on the red woolen carpet. Finally feeling her lungs returning their normal capability to filtrate air, Emma sucked in as much as she could as if it was her last chance. Her chest rose and fell as quickly as that of a small bird and her eyes bulged open, staring at the dark ceiling. At least the curtains were closed so the rain could not bother her so much.
After returning her normal tempo of breathing, Emma sat up and focused her eyes back at Brennan. "What in hell was that?" she asked herself and kneeled once more next to the Elemental who was still trapped in that nightly torture. "Ok..." Emma took another breath and placed her hands gently on Brennan's left arm before closing her eyes. She wouldn't go so deep this time. She would touch only the thinner places. Emma made the mistake of going directly towards the centre, that's why she got pulled in so easily and quickly.
Her fingers could already feel his wet skin and the shivers coming unwillingly. She decided to try again but this time more safely. Slowly she projected an image of a young seagull flying peacefully over a motionless surface of an ocean. It worked once, maybe.....
There were some rejections, difficulty in the acceptance of this tamed picture but in the end the Psionic smiled. "Yes..." she whispered. He was slowly giving in. His heart accepting this was shifting to its normal rate, his breathing - more settled and his body – comfortably still. The shaking disappeared immediately and when she uncovered her blue eyes she saw the Elemental sleeping normally and one might say – happily. Bringing her right hand to his forehead she slowly wiped the sweat or as much as she could from it and leaving a shorter glance at his tamed breathing Emma afterwards raised herself on her legs and then her smile faded. Turning around she took the tea that by now had felt less hot and quickly approaching cold. Slowly and soundlessly Emma walked out of the room and without saying anything, closed the door carefully behind her. A short sigh and the next destination: back to Mary's room.
Feeling the soft surface of the sheets beneath her behind, Emma took a few sips from the tea and swallowed them with tiresome enjoyment. Shaking her head, she unsympathetically forbid herself to let any thoughts about her current relationship and possible future turbulences with Brennan disturb her. She desperately needed her mind to drown into the carefree world of slumber and tranquility.
Staring at the dark liquid in the mug, Emma bit her lip and shut her eyes tightly. Her ears and nose detected the continuing falling of those feared rain drops and the amount had grown even more as if to deliberately raise the hairs on her skin and let her irritation progress. With closed eyes she tasted the tea and concentrated on the warmth it provided when it filled the inner hallways of her body. It should have felt great, it should have felt perfect but somehow the rain didn't let it, washing the warmth away with its coldness.
Bursting her eyelids open, Emma knocked her head back for her blues to be facing the ceiling. "This is so stupid," she hissed to herself and without supervision placed the mug on the nightstand. "Don't be such a child, Emma. Just go to sleep!" she said and quickly buried herself beneath the sheets and snuggled into the deep pillows.
The tea had smoothened her after all as she could gradually feel it working on her nerves and her previous 'adventure' with Brennan gave in room for some hungered-for tiredness to begin its appearance. She placed a pillow over her head to choke the sound of the rain drops. Emma would go to sleep. The sweet weariness would make sure of that.
*********