Lucky Me
Chapter 017
Aww, heck no!
No way in this world was this happening no way in the world was I going to do this! Uhn-uh! NO!
"Let go, Kerry," Mr. Warren repeated the command I had ignored for the past five minutes. He could say it all he wanted, there was absolutely no way in heck I was letting go. And why, one might ask, was I so unwilling to follow orders?
Because we were four thousand feet in the air!
It was the first day of my flying lessons, since my feathers were all in and 'ready to go'. Yeah, well, just because you've got the equipment doesn't mean you should test drive it (a direct quote from my mother during the talk)! Though this was not what she was talking about it was working for me now.
"How are you going to learn if you don't try?"
"How am I supposed to live after I do try?" I shot back, my arms tightened around his neck as he held me. He was doing these loopy air move things that, if I had my eyes opened would have made me dizzy.
"You need to learn to trust your wings."
I shook my head 'no'. I'd trust them all right- on the ground. Mr. Warren already tried taking his support away, which only got me to almost choke him to death and burst his eardrum.
People were meant to fly in planes, with a trained pilot, and a stewardess who gave you a tiny glass of ice with a drop of soda. That's how it's supposed to be, not me by myself soaring like a monster bird. Not happening!
Finally after much crying, whining, and screaming, Mr. Warren saw it my way and brought us down to earth once more. My death grip slackened and he let me down nicely.
"Kerry, you've really got to try to fly. I know this is your first day, but the sooner you learn the better you'll feel about your mutation."
Yack yack yack, I didn't care to hear any inspiring words at this point; I was too busy gripping the railing to the patio, and gasping for breath. These people were nuts! Bonkers!
"You better get going, or you're going to be late for Hank."
I nodded and not so gracefully made my way back into the house; at least I knew Dr. Hank would never try to kick me into the sky.
"I hope you don't mind our extra, Miss D'mon." Dr. Hank smiled and started to pull out the X-rays I had taken earlier that week. The 'extra' was Adam; he was the social one of the new bunch. He was also the brain-a-maniac of the group. All this was second hand information; Daisy Mae saw guys and apparently was boy crazy enough to go after anything that wore cologne.
"You're-Kerry right?"
"Yeah."
Adam seemed happy with his own memory and nodded as if to congratulate himself. I rolled my eyes.
"Now, Kerry, if you would please get on the scale."
I glared at the offensive piece of metal and plastic. I am female, and therefore hate scales with a passion. Ever since I was 12 I have avoided these things like the plague. But Dr. Hank apparently didn't understand the look of hate I gave the annoying, lying tell all scale because he just looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
I stepped on it, arms folded. This was so embarrassing. This was the worst part of the checkups. I asked him if he could nix it, and you know what he did? He laughed at me as though I was telling a joke.
"Let's see." I rolled my eyes, and glared as he moved the little weights around. "This is interesting."
"What is it Dr. McCoy?" Adam asked. This boy was stealing my lines!
"Hmmm, it's seems as though you are still losing weight, Kerry," Dr. Hank answered, peering over his tiny squarish glasses. "Do you know why you would be losing weight?"
My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Let me see, 1) Mr. Summers had taken it upon himself to take away all my cookies, 2) that same drill sergeant put me on a diet, 3) I just had the living fluff scared out of me, and 4) I lost my skin. That's what I thought on the inside; on the outside I shrugged my shoulders.
"We were afraid of this," Dr. Hank muttered, guiding me back to the bed.
"Afraid of what?" Haha! I beat Adam to the question! The black haired boy just nodded in his want to know as well.
Picking up some of the X-rays, Dr. Hank flipped the X-Ray reader machine (?) on and stuck pictures of my insides on it.
"It seems you're losing calcium deposits in your skeletal structure." He then did the typical chin grab/rub thing as he thought. Adam was almost drooling over the X-rays. He's cute, but a science nut.
"Is that like osteoporosis?" I asked. I'm not a science buff, but even I watch those commercials about illnesses. This seemed to be news to at least Dr. Hank who usually had to baby term all his lectures for me to understand.
"Not quiet. You're bones aren't weakening as they would with osteoporosis. The inner tissue is no longer there. I thought this would happen, but could not be for sure until they stabilized." Dr. Hank rubbed his temples in thought, Adam then took this opportunity to chime in his own conclusion.
"Like a bird's bones, correct, Dr. McCoy?" Thank you, Mr. Wizard. As if wings weren't enough I also was getting the bones of a bird? What next, was I going to start eating those tiny little seeds from the pet store-or even worse-worms! Ick!
"Yes."
"How did you know this was going to happen?" And why the heck didn't he tell me? It's just my body and my life, though I didn't have control of either anymore I still wanted to get updates in case I did get put back in charge of them.
Dr. Hank sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Warren has similar bone structure. Though they are hollow, you're bones are almost unbreakable." That was good I guessed. "And as an added bonus, you will weigh less than a normal girl your size and build."
That was good to hear! Maybe I could finally get a cookie now that my weight went down, and would be for the rest of my life! Maybe if I was lucky that Cookie-vulture would finally let me have a cookie!
"Kerry! Can you get the boys for dinner?"
I sighed and was about to say no, but remembered D-M was 'afraid' of going into the testosterone filled hall. I could completely understand, their egos were so big that I nearly got smothered when two or more passed me in the hall. What was it with guys and their need to be 'alpha male' of a group? (Oh, and FYI, I was locked out of D-M and my room, therefore, hello rec. room couch and TV-even if it was the Discovery channel.)
The first door was Chris', who seemed to never leave his room. My type of guy. No, I didn't mean it like that. Only that I liked to hide from the general public of this house-especially the mind readers. They just went so far beyond creepy. This guy was on one side of my room, and as I approached his door, I didn't have any doubts that we were going to have problems.
His music was blasting. It was so hard and heavy that the door shook in its frame. Was he deaf or just trying to ignore everyone? I banged on Chris' door for the better part of a minute with no response from the supposedly living person inside of the room.
Finally I did the brave (more of a stupid, but brave just sounded better) thing and just opened the door up.
Apparently the boy was afraid of the light; his room was pitch black except the computer screen. And that's where he was, pounding away on his keyboard with his back to me.
"Ex-cuse me!"
That caught his attention as the music came to an abrupt halt, and the boy twirled in his chair so fast that it was a good thing he stood up or Chris would have flown out of the thing for sure.
"What do you want?" He demanded, marched to the door, and grabbed its edge which made me step back into the hall. He was taller than me and, uh, broader so as up close as he was, he was slightly intimidating.
"Dinners ready," I announced, still trying to be nice. Remember D-M said I wasn't? Remember I said that I would prove her wrong? (Yeah, I barely remembered it either)
"Don't come into my room for something so stupid," Chris spat, "In fact, don't come into my room period." With that he slammed the door in my face.
I think I just meet today's 'special' friend. Growling out really bad words in dog language, I stomped myself over to Adrian's door and banged on it. That Chris punk was going to be a true test of my 'be-nice' attitude. Unlike the previous idgit, I heard an instant reply from inside this guy's room.
Following instructions I let myself in.
I should have told him through the door.
Apparently he didn't know that girl's were allowed on the hall.
When he looked over at me, I know what he saw: me with big eyes and mouth hanging open in shock. We both turned beet red, and while Adrian scampered to find something, I did an about face, announced that dinner was ready, and quickly left.
Another mystery I needed to investigate on a Saturday night (when I didn't have anything else to do) was learn why guys loved to hang out in nothing but their underwear.
They just didn't give up!
It had been three days since Mr. Warren attempted to get me to let go of him while we were really high up. He tried every day to make me let go.
I cried and refused every time.
Then they ganged up on me.
It was the fifth day of flight lessons when I met up with Mr. Warren, Miss Rogue, Sam, and Miss Munroe.
One against four, no way was that fair!
"What's going on?" I asked, suspicious of the group.
"Today's the day," Miss Rogue proclaimed with this smile that sent shivers down my spine.
"We're goin' to get you to fly, Ker," Sam announced as he began to lift into the air. It was really cool too; he flew when this gold flamey stuff surrounded him. He looked like a fire cracker. What wasn't so cool was when I began to be lifted in the air.
"What the heck?!"
I tried to grasp on to anything, but without success. Miss Rogue's arm came from nowhere and put a death grip on me (and I put one on her, too).
"You must learn to trust yourself."
"Next to you all, that's the last person I trust at the moment!" I argued, tried to climb on top of Miss Rogue as Mr. Warren started to flap his wings. Sam grabbed my other arm, and they began to go higher.
"Don't be so rigid. Be loose, limber, let your instincts take over."
My instincts were screaming that I should get on the ground, where all the sane people were!
"Come on girl, everyone's nervous at first, but then you get used to it," Miss Rogue attempted to encourage me.
I dug my nails harder into her skin.
"We'll catch you if you fall."
Fall?! I didn't even plan on letting go! There was no way I was going anywhere, but up. And that wasn't even by my doing! Wasn't this against my rights or something?!
"I'll call upon the wind to help you, child. Warren will instruct you. All you have to do is let Samuel and Rogue go."
Oh like that was happening!
"Trust me, Storm, the logical way doesn't work on her."
Thank you, Mr. Warren. Sam and Miss Rogue told me to open my wings, I complied. As long as they didn't let go.
Apparently, they missed this bargaining statement.
"Bombs away," was the warning I got before Miss Rogue pried my fingers from her arm at the same time Sam let go.
They both smiled.
I screamed.
I didn't fly that day and I didn't hit the ground, apparently Mr. Warren caught me in time.
Somewhere between being released and the ground I passed out.
They said they'd try again later.
It was a few days later when I heard something rather interesting; something rather disturbing to tell the truth. You ever walk into a conversation, or have a conversation walk up to you that you just know you weren't supposed to hear, like ever? As though you have the perfect hiding spot and the people are part of a play and give you the next dramatics of your life.
That's what happened with me.
I was lying on D-M's floor flipping through some of her romance books. You know the type that have the big strong muscular hero on front and looked like he's about to laugh or do something inappropriate while holding a busty babe about to fall out of her dress? She had around fifty of those little buggers.
Her door was cracked, opened about a foot or so, and I was where they couldn't see me from the hall. Miss Oreo lives in the attic, and must have been going to her room or something, and decided to 'travel' with Miss Rogue, because they were the two whose conversation I didn't think I was supposed to hear.
"…Kerry" my name was what caught my attention, "doesn't know yet?"
Thick Southern accent equaled Miss Rogue.
"No, the Professor is trying to get the child to open up before he lets her know about it."
Slight accent I couldn't place for a million dollars, but nice voice with regal words meant Miss Munroe.
"Ah can remember muh Daddy throwing me out of our house, but he didn't chase after me," Miss Rogue continued, "Ah think it's just horrible that this woman would rat out her own daughter to the F.o.H."
Huh? That stupid group my dad was a part of?
"Yes, and I fear that Kerry is not going to take this information in stride." A pause, a sigh, and then, "To think a woman could try to have her own daughter captured by those bigots."
Own daughter..?
Wouldn't that mean my mom?
The woman who cried for three hours after she hit a squirrel with her car? The lady who gave birth to me? The one who held me and my sister when the news about our dad came, the one who dried our tears? That woman!
I knew she was upset with me for becoming one of them, but she wouldn't-couldn't!
/Kerry, I'd like to see you in my office immediately./
It was the Professor.
I guessed he wanted to tell me something.
That cruel idiotic heartless gargoyle!
How was I supposed to leave when I couldn't even move?
I'd been sitting on a bench in the hall for almost two hours. My tears stopped while I was in Professor's office. Absorbing the information like a sponge, but never responding. I was right when I thought he had some things to tell me. My mother was the one who sent those creatures to the mansion, and sort of had proof of that.
Those creatures, the X-people said, used to be humans, now they were more or less androids. Since they were human, they had to come from somewhere, and that somewhere was near Acola, Washington. My hometown. They weren't all from the town, but from the same or local counties.
While Professor listed the reasons for their theory that my mom was the cause of the attack, Mrs. Jean did her best to try and comfort me. She even tried to touch me, like wrap an arm around my shoulders. I quite literally told her to 'bug off' with my look.
I was upset; I had a right to be rude.
Why was all this happening to me?
My fingers were interwoven behind my head as my whole body was slumped foreword. I didn't even hear him come up to where I was. The first indication he was there was when he touched my shoulder, it startled me. It was late and I thought most everyone was in bed. I wanted to glare at him and give him the same treatment I had to Mrs. Jean for touching me, but I didn't.
Instead, I just started to cry. He, in turn, got on his knees and hugged me, letting me cry on his shirt. He put a hand on the back of my head and slowly rubbed my back in a comforting fashion.
Later, I would compare myself to one of those busty babes of D-M's (minus the busty and babe part) because I felt like a stupid little girl grasping for a life line on this guy's shirt.
Not my idea of a hero, heck, not even my idea of a friend…noticed I didn't mention names?
The next day I was excused from my morning workout, which made me feel a little better. But a cookie would have made me feel real good, depressed, but good none the less. The next day, life continued as normal, and no, my room was not ready yet. I was hurt, but there was a stronger part of me that simply refused to believe Professor Xavier. Maybe this was some twisted way of trying to get me to cut all ties with my real family and take this odd ball group as my new family.
I wanted to read my sister's e-mail. Maybe it read something about why mom might have done this, if she did indeed do anything. I guess I could read it on any computer, but I didn't want anyone else to know about it. I didn't want them to ask about what Darcy had to write. I didn't want them to use it against her.
I also wanted them to stop asking me: Do you want to talk about it?
If I wanted to talk about it, they'd know. I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs with a rainbow of words about my thoughts on this whole thing, but I didn't want to talk about it. No matter how many times I said this, they didn't seem to buy it. Or they'd finish it with 'you know where to find me if you change your mind.'
As weird as a comparison this is for me to make, I had the mannerisms of a hurt animal. If hurt, let me go off by myself and heal, don't follow me and for crying out loud don't ask me to discuss it. If followed and pestered by those who just 'wanted to help' I was expected to go for blood. I would bite heads off; I might attach it back to the neck with a string of apologies later but not right away.
Until I feel better, quite frankly m'dear, leave me alone!
It's hard to be alone in a house with almost twenty some people coming and going all at once. And let me not forget that I had to share a bedroom with little Miss Happy Personality. She called me pessimistic; I called her a fruit cake. She told me to look on the bright side, I told her to join the dark side. She demanded that I apologize; I demanded she drop dead.
Yes, I ended up apologizing for those comments. I warned her I didn't want to talk, but it was my fault for being rude, naturally. Excuse me for having a broken heart, being in self-denial, and not having a mother to call or curl up next to and make the bad people go away.
I missed my mom, and all this speculation about her being a 'Mother Dearest' just made me want to go to her and beg for the truth.
Maybe I would.
Maybe I wouldn't.
Maybe I'd get a life and stop thinking so negatively.
Ack! That mutant marshmallow was starting to affect my thinking!
