"You what?" Laura asks, sounding as if she can't believe her own ears.

"You heard me right, I killed my baby sister," I say. "I didn't murder her though, I never loved anyone so much as I did little Gracie. I swore I'd protect her, but I just couldn't help it."

"So what happened?" she asks, wheeling a little closer.

"I went to give her a goodnight kiss, and my powers manifested. The power was just too much for her, and she died. My mum found her about an hour later and started screaming, and they blamed me, since I was the last one with her. My dad pulled out his gun and tried to kill me. They weren't the nicest people. I just ran. There wasn't anything else I could do. Sure, they tried to find me, but they just ended up dead."

"You mean you killed them?" she asks.

I nod. "I just feel so guilty."

"You're safe here, Darcy," Laura says calmly. "Nobody here is trying to harm you."

"Can we just forget about my old life? I'd rather keep it between us."

"Of course," she says. "I fully understand about confidentiality, and if this is something you don't want anyone else to know about, I'm perfectly happy to keep it between us."

"Thankyou," I say. I don't like people knowing about my past, but I kind of had to tell her.

"Now Darcy, I need to perform a physical examination to assess your physical health."

"I don't want to hurt you," I repeat, worried that something will go wrong.

"I will take all necessary precautions to ensure that this causes minimal discomfort to both of us," she says calmly. "This needs to be done as soon as possible, and it can't wait any longer."

I sigh in resignation. "What do I have to do?"

"Not much, I just need to take a few measurements, check your vitals, that kind of thing. It shouldn't take too long."

"I don't see a problem with it."

"Let's get started then," she says. "If you could just hop up for a minute, we can begin."

She helps me sit up; removing the various tubes from my left arm as she does so, and I slowly swing myself off the bed once she's done, noting the white t-shirt and shorts I'm now wearing, and the lack of dirt on my body. I follow her to the middle of the room where she snaps on a pair of white latex gloves, and then gets me to stand on the scales to record my weight, which is only about thirty kilos. She then records my height, one metre, fifty-two centimetres, and then goes to her desk and pulls out a stethoscope from the top drawer. She heads back to me, warming the stethoscope in the palm of her hand as she walks.

"Now Darcy, this might be a bit cold, but it'll all be over soon, OK?"

"OK," I reply, trembling a little. I never liked going to the doctor and getting a check-up, but I know this has to be done.

"Just relax, Darcy," she says, rubbing my arm again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to listen to your heart, check that everything's alright. You're safe with me."

I nod slightly, and she stands behind me, gently lifting up my shirt and placing the cool metal on my back. I shiver as it touches me, but relax after a minute when it warms to my skin. After a little bit, she removes it and returns to my front, placing it on my abdomen, doing the same as she did to my back. After a little while, she moves it up higher, placing it over my ribs, just under my breast. She leaves it there for a bit longer this time, then removes it and writes something down in my file.

"You're heart rate's 89 beats a minute," she tells me. "A little high, but I do understand that you're a little nervous, so it's to be expected."

"Are we done with the stethoscope?" I ask, not liking the feel of the cold metal on my bare skin.

She lets out a light laugh. "No, not yet," she says, smiling gently at me. "I just need to have a listen to your lungs, check your breathing's fine, and then we're done with the stethoscope. Not many people do like it."

I nod, and let her continue, knowing it's all to make sure that I'm OK. She lifts my shirt again and places the cold metal back on my chest.

"Breathe in for me," she says calmly, listening closely as my lungs fill. "And breathe out," she says. She does this a few times, moving the stethoscope each time, and then puts it back in her drawer, writing something in my file before turning back to me.

"You're a little wheezy, but we'll get some ventolin into you after this."

I nod, and she pulls a blood pressure monitor from her desk drawer. She gets me to sit on the operating table while she straps it tightly around my upper arm and turns it on. I squirm uncomfortably as it squeezes around my arm, but it's over in a few minutes, and she takes the reading and writes it down.

"A hundred and thirty-three over eighty-seven," she says. "Not too bad, quite high, but I'll take the readings again in a few hours, when you're a little more relaxed."

"So you're going to repeat all of this later?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, but yes," she says. "I know you don't like it, but it's a necessary evil. I have to do this, but I'm trying to make you as comfortable as possible."

"I know, and I appreciate that, but it's hard for me. I haven't had human contact for three months. It's just, weird."

"It'll all be over soon, Darcy. I promise."

We get back to the exam, and she takes the pulse from my neck, her slender fingers warm against my cool skin. She records it as 87 beats per minute, which she tells me is a little high for my age, but I am a bit on edge, so it's expected.

"Darcy, I'm just going to take your oral temperature now," she says, pulling an electronic thermometer from her drawer. "I just need you to put this under your tongue; it doesn't take long."

She hands me the thermometer and I carefully place it under my tongue, and wait for the reading.

"It beeps when it's done," Laura calls over her shoulder as she writes something down in my file. When it starts beeping, I pull it from my mouth and read the numbers on the little screen, which mean absolutely nothing to me.

"What's the reading?" she calls.

I hand her the thermometer, which she reads and writes down the reading of before putting away.

"It's lower than it should be," Laura says slightly worriedly. "It's only 36∙1, and it's meant to be at least 36∙3, otherwise it could be dangerous."

"Why is it so low?" I ask.

"You're extremely underweight, so you have a lower body fat percentage. That means that you can't retain heat as well, and it's easier for you to get cold. Until you put some weight back on, you'll need to keep warm. Plus you haven't eaten anything, so your body can't produce heat. I'll get you something to eat after this."

"OK. Is there anything else you need to do, or can I go?"

She laughs lightly. "Even when I'm done for now, you still have to stay here for a couple of days before you can go up and meet the other students. And I'm not quite done yet, I still need to check your respiratory rate and make sure your bones and internal organs are fine."

"How long will that take?" I ask, getting more nervous the longer this goes on.

"Not long now, Darcy," she says. "I know you don't like it, but we're nearly done. Then I'll get you whatever you need. Right now, I just need you to lie down here."

She helps me lie back down on the operating table, and places a gentle hand on my chest.

"I just need you to breathe normally for a minute," Laura says. "This is the easiest one, so just relax."

I breathe as I'm instructed, and she tells me that I have a rate of twenty breaths per minute, which is slightly higher than the average rate for my age, but she knows I'm nervous about this. She knew it since she started this, and she's trying to be easy on me, but the fact still remains that I'm scared shitless by this place. That's why she's running the tests again later, when I'm more comfortable around her, and in this place. At least, that's what I reckon.

"Just one more test, and then we're done," she says, smiling down gently at me. "This one isn't too pleasant, but just tell me if it hurts and I'll stop."

"What do you need to do?" I ask, propping myself up on one elbow to look at her better.

"I just need to have a feel of your spine, make sure that's alright, as well as your collarbone. I heard you had a bit of a nasty run-in with a tree."

I nod sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"I also just need to check your internal organs."

"How are you going to do that?" I ask, now even more nervous.

"Relax, Darcy," she says. "It doesn't involve anything too painful, I just need to feel your abdomen, and from there I can feel your internal organs, and make sure there aren't any pressing issues. While you were asleep I did a CT scan, but I still need to check it just in case. That's the most uncomfortable part of this procedure, but I'll try not to hurt you. If I do, just tell me, OK?"

I nod slowly, and lie back down on the table.

"If you could roll over, I'll start with your spine," she says. I roll over, and feel her fingers at my back, gently probing my spine, and slowly moving upwards, until she's near my head. "Where did you hit?" she asks, her fingers remaining on my neck.

"I hit my upper back, but my head went back, and my neck's a bit sore," I admit. "So is my collarbone. I ran into a branch before I tripped."

"I see," she says, her fingers moving higher now. "Does it hurt here?" she asks as she presses a bit harder on a point in my neck.

"A little," I say, and she asks the same thing a few times, each time with her fingers moved up a bit higher. Once she's done with my spine, she helps me roll back over, and begins examining my collarbone with a gentle hand.

"I couldn't see a break on the scan, but there's certainly a painful looking bruise there now," she says. "That should be OK, just a bit tender."

"Are we nearly done?" I ask, hoping she'll say yes.

"Not quite yet, but almost. Just arch your back for a second," she says, slipping the bottom of my shirt up so she can have unrestricted access my abdomen. "Thankyou," she says as I lower my back. "This shouldn't take long, but it might be a bit uncomfortable. Just think of something good, and it'll all be over soon."

Her gentle fingers glide over my skin, pressing down occasionally, sometimes harder, sometimes not. After maybe five minutes, she presses down on one particular spot and I shut my eyes, drawing in a sharp breath.

"That hurts?" she asks, worry in her voice.

"Yeah," I say. "Feels like someone's stabbing me when you do that."

"Your stomach is completely empty, so that would be causing you some pain. I'll redo all the tests after we've got some food and medicine into you. How does that sound?"

"Sounds pretty good," I say with a weak half-smile.

"Let's go up to the kitchen then. I'll get you something to eat, and then we need to go see the others. It's important. I won't tell them what you told me though. I understand your privacy, and I accept that."

She helps me sit up and get off the table, and I slip on a pair of white canvas shoes. She hands me the jacket and gloves that the girl gave me on the jet.

"Put these on. I was wondering if I could take some blood from you at some point too, I'm interested in running a few tests on it to see if I can find your mutation," she says while removing her gloves.

"How exactly does that work?" I ask as I pull on my gloves, which come to my elbows.

"I isolate the X in the DNA, which is the source of the mutation. If I can isolate the X, then, in theory, I can separate and 'read' the X like I would with the DNA. That's only in theory though. I've never actually tried it."

I've put on the jacket by now, leaving it open, and she leads me out of the room and up into the kitchen.

I sit down on a stool next to the bench, and she pulls something dark blue out of her pocket and hands it to me. Upon inspection, I see that it's an inhaler. I take a couple of puffs and hand it back to her, and she slips it back into her pocket. While she cooks, she tells me about herself. I find out that she's 26, and a telepath.

"That's how they found you. The man that founded this school, Professor Charles Xavier, built a machine called Cerebro that, when used by a telepath, can connect with every human, and every mutant, on the planet. It can track them, and that's how I found you. I saw that you were weak, and sent the team to collect you and bring you back here."

By the time she's finished telling me all of this, there's a plate of steaming hot bacon and eggs in front of me. I finish the whole plateful, and then she stands and leads me to an office, where I see the people that came to get me all standing, watching as I walk in.

"Good morning, Darcy."