Mississippi – 1995
Rouge the bat traced the line on the map while pointing with her other hand to the picture of the stature of liberty on her bedroom wall. She had spent hours staring at that statue and at that map, dreaming of travelling there, seeing the sights. Now she was sharing her dream with David. David was from her school, and at 17, the same age. They had started to date.
"I want to spend time in New York City" Rouge said, smiling at David. He was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her parents were downstairs watching television and the door was open, but it still felt odd to have him in her room. Exciting too. Only a few of her girlfriends had ever seen the inside of her bedroom.
"You gonna live there?" David asked
"No." She said, tracing the map farther north. "Seattle seems nice, then Niagara Falls. Then into Canada. Toronto, west to Calgary, then onto Anchorage."
"Woah" David said, clearly impressed. He stood and moved over beside her, staring at the map "Won't it be kinda cold?"
"Of cource it will!" She said laughing "Otherwise it won't be an adventure"
She could feel his closeness, his shoulder rubbing against her shoulder.
"When are you gonna do this?"
Rouge shrugged "I have no idea. After school, but before college."
He reached over and rested his hand on her shoulder. She could feel it, almost like a hot iron touching her, yet it didn't burn. It excited her, made her stomach twist like it had never twisted before. She had never been this close to a boy before, not like this, not in her bedroom with her parent's downstairs.
"So" she said, turning to face him a little "What do you want to do now?"
He looked right into her eyes. Then he smiles, sending shivers down her back.
"I don't know" He said "What do you want to do?"
He moved closer to her, and she could smell him. She had trouble breathing, yet there was no way in the world she wanted him to move away.
"I don't know" She managed
He turned her slightly, so they were facing each other, then slowly he moved forward until he was kissing her. It was as if a surge of electricity shot through every nerve cell in her body.
A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind.
He tastes good; My parents are downstairs; What would my parents think?; His lips feel wonderful; I can't breathe; I want to kiss him harder;
Then suddenly it all changed. As she put her arms around him, kissing him back, suddenly his mind opened up to her.
She knew what he was thinking, knew what he liked, what her hated, what he liked to do with guys, what he wanted them to do.
David's eyes snapped open.
His hands locked around her in a terrifying grisp.
She tried to pull away, but it felt as if he were pouring his every thought, his every wish, his evey dream into her head.
Energy crackled around them, until finally she managed to pull away. He dropped to the floor, his eyes open wide. The next thing she knew she was screaming, the images of David's life were still trmbling in her head, filling her head, filling her mind, mixing with her mind, mixing with her own until she almost couldn't tell which were hers and which were his.
He lay on the floor, twitching. It didn't look like he was breathing. Had she killed him? She hadn't done anything!
Her parents slammed into the room behind her as she realized she was still screaming, backed against the wall, staring at his body. She tried to push his memories away without success. Her father immediately dropped to the floor and performed CPR.
Her mother came to her, but Rouge didn't want her mother to touch her
"I didn't mean to" she said softly, inside her head, his memories fought with hers. His images of her fought with how she saw herself, and how he saw his friends and what he really thought of her.
"Honey what happened?" Her mother asked desperately
"Call a damned ambulance!" Her father shouted.
Rouge's mother vanished to call the ambulance, while Rouge's father continued CPR.
"I am getting tired, you take over!" Rouge's father said moment's later.
Rouge without knowing what she was doing complied, but the moment her skin made contact with David's chest he gasped as if woken from a bad dream, and Rouge felt something like a static stock as all of David's memories and thoughts vanished from her mind as quickly as they arrived.
Only she seemed to notice her skin glowing in a strange way.
Many miles away, a two tailed fox on a wheelchair noticed a red light flicker on his super computer, a new mutant has found her powers, and she would need his help, she would need the X men's help. Professor Miles Tails Prower Xavier removed the helmet that he was wearing and smiled.