2. Marcus Brown

People walking beside the gray apartment building always felt strange, like they were being watched.

They would look around them, from left and to right and never see anyone, yet they always had the same feeling when they passed by. It seemed strange that they never bothered to look up.

High in a fifteenth floor stood a young boy hardly older than ten. He would stand by the window all day and watch people with his hollow eyes that had more black in them then white.

He spent his life locked up in a white apartment. There were no chairs or tables, no appliances, and no pictures on the wall. The only thing in the room other than the boy himself was a small mattress set on the floor.

Marcus Brown had only been five when he had been locked in the apartment. He sat and let the days slip by, staring at the people passing below, reading their thoughts inside their head.

He would break from his watching only when the door opened three times a day delivering his meals.

Today was the first day of summer. That's what kept him locked in for so long. He used to be allowed out for school, but he was no longer allowed to participate in public activities.

Last time Marcus read the mind of his caretaker, Patrick, he had discovered the reason for this withdrawal.

Patrick believed that if Marcus didn't go to school, then he wouldn't learn and grow smart enough to gain power with his mutation.

Little did Patrick know that he could learn everything he would get to know at school, by reading the minds of others. In fact, he was now smarter than most adults, all because of the knowledge he absorbed.

Marcus stared down at his empty plate and then back out the window. He was restless; he wanted to have a breath of fresh air. The windows in his apartment didn't open, he only had air-conditioning to cool him.

Silently Marcus arose and walked quietly across the white-carpeted room. He lifted the lid off the toilet tank and reached in. Stuck to the inside of the lid was a key to the room.

Patrick had been smug, thinking he was the only one who could access the apartment but once again he was wrong. One day Marcus made the landlord give him a key, using the small amount of mind controlling power that Patrick, was un-aware that he possed.

Marcus didn't have a jacket, but it didn't matter it was summer anyway. He quietly unlocked the door and stepped out.

He crept along to the elevator, staying extremely close to the wall. In the elevator there was a man and women, both of them dressed in business suits.

The woman looked down at the young boy and he smiled kindly up to her. She just kept a stiff face and looked up again. This didn't matter to Marcus; he just walked off the elevator on the bottom floor, happy to be outside for a while.

He decided that it would be best to stay close to the building, just in case. He leapt over a puddle and walked into the side alley.

Lying on the ground with a few newspapers over her was a girl. Marcus crept cautiously over to her and peered into her mind. He was almost knocked down by a wave of fear and pain. Her mind seemed to flow like a river, not in the way of homo sapiens, she was like him.

Marcus reached out and touched the girl; her mind had revealed to him that she was awake. She moaned and rolled over, her blue eyes filled with fear.

"Hi." Said Marcus calmly.

"Hi." The girl replied with a shaky voice.

"You're a mutant too." He stated.

"Too? Are you one?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"You seem to need a place to rest." Marcus said.

"I don't need to sleep," replied the girl bitterly.

"You'll need to relax and get refreshed if you want that baby of yours be healthy. You can stay at my apartment. Come on." Marcus turned and walked back out of the alley.

He heard the girl debating in her mind whether or not to go with him, but when she thought of her baby she quickly got up and followed him.

I had walked around all night, realizing that my lack of sleep was part of my mutation. The more I though about it, I realized that water never sleeps. It only ever calms down.

Some time the next morning I lay in an alley, feeling hopeless. As I lay there, I had the creepy feeling that I was being watched, but I stayed the way I was.

When a hand touched my arm I was startled and turned around. Looking down at me was a strange boy dressed all in gray clothing. His hair was blonde , which made his pale skin look even fainter.

He had haunting eyes that were blacker then the white in them. They seem to dig into the depths of me and discover secrets that even I didn't know. His hair was blonde making him look sickly.

"Hi." He said. He still had his boyish voice, I guessed him about eight, but he could have been older.

"Hi." I replied. It seemed like he wouldn't speak again until I had acknowledged him.

"You're a mutant too." What he said was a statement, not a question.

"Too? Are you one?"

"Yes."

"Oh." I hadn't thought there were that many mutants in the world, and it was odd that I would find another one so quickly. It also scared me that he knew what I was. There was nothing on my outward appearance that would make him think I was a mutant.

"You seem to need a place to rest." He stated once again.

"I don't need to sleep."

"You'll need to relax and get refreshed if you want that baby of yours be healthy. You can stay at my apartment, come on."

The boy stiffly turned and walked off. I didn't know if I should follow him. He seemed innocent enough, but I didn't know anything about him or how he livid.

I felt the baby inside me kick and I looked down at my stomach. I wanted the best for my baby, and following this kid could give him that chance.

I quickly stood up and scrambled after the boy. He led me into the big apartment building I had been lying behind, and right to the fifteenth floor.

I was shocked at his apartment. It was all completely white, with only a mattress in a corner and a plate and fork sitting by the window.

He walked into the bathroom and I followed. I was beginning to think he was a loony when he pulled the lid to the toilet tank off and stuck his key into it. He turned to me and stared at me with his cold eyes.

" I'm not mad. I'm not supposed to be able to get out you see."

I was startled. How did he know what I was thinking? But then I remembered he was a mutant as well, was that his power?

"Yep, I can read minds." He confirmed.

"Please don't read mine." I said irritably.

" Okay, I wont for now. You can have a shower. I don't have anything to replace your dress. Sorry." The boy walked out of the bathroom.

I sighed and looked in the mirror. My black hair was in tangled clumps all over my face. My face was a healthy pink, but my dress was dirty and torn. I sighed again and turned on the water to fill a bath.

It felt so good when I sank into the steaming water that I began to relax. I was a water mutant and so it felt wonderful to be surrounded by what I was made of.

I closed my eyes, just enjoying everything, when suddenly they snapped open again. I felt something again. It was always a feeling that made things go wrong.

It was a sense that I could shift my shape, but not like the feeling I got when I shifted into water. This new sensation was only from the waist down.

"If you concentrate you may be able to get results." Came the boys voice from the other room.

"I though you said you'd keep out of my mind." I said, a bit annoyed.

"I made no promises."

I didn't like him invading my privacy but I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling. Suddenly I felt my body shifting, but I didn't open my eyes, I wouldn't until I had finished.

When the process was complete I opened my eyes and looked down. I let out a screech and quickly flung my hand over my mouth.

"Very interesting." Said the boy in the other room.

It wasn't interesting to me, it was scary. I was looking down at my legs that were legs no more, I had a tail!

"So your no longer just the water angel, you're a mermaid." Said the boy.

His little comments were getting annoying. I'd give him a piece of my mind when I got out of this tub.

I was then stuck because I realized I couldn't get out of the tub being not only pregnant, but also with a tail, and I didn't know if it was reversible.

I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes. Slowly my tail began to morph away until I saw my legs again. I was out of breath when I was finished; it had taken double the effort to make it go away.

Once I was finally dried and dressed, I wasn't angry enough to be rude to the boy. The boy, I hadn't learned his name yet.

"I'm Sarah Jane. What's your name?"

"Marcus Brown. Are you hungry Sarah?" I screamed 'yes' in my head and it was obvious that he had been listening. "I saved some bread today from my breakfast, you can have that until lunch comes."

Marcus gave me a piece of toast, which I gobbled up. When I looked up again, he was staring at me with those haunted eyes again.

"Who was the father?" he asked, looking at my stomach.

"There wasn't a father."

"There is always a father to create a child."

"Not this child. This one was created with my mutation." It was difficult to explain my child of mutation.

There was no other way I could be pregnant considering I was still as pure as this white apartment.

...how was that for a second chapter. Good? Bad? Review.