Author's note: My Internet has been down. I'm SO sorry that I haven't updated!
The slamming of the front door heralded Ella's entry into the tiny apartment. Without pausing, she swept into the bedroom she shared with her two female cousins, Marta, and Keri. They were not home from school yet, so she had some privacy. Ella threw herself onto the bottom bunk, as she wrapped herself in the faded, woolen blanket that her grandmother woven for her and she began to cry. She turned to the photo on her bedside table, lifted it up, and clutched it to her chest. Her mother smiled at her in the photo, in full ceremonial garb, before she died, when they lived in Texas. Pearly tears were sliding down Ella's smooth cheeks, as she remembered her old home.
Ella was a Cherokee Indian, and had lived with her mother until her death near Huntsville, Texas and they were members of the Ani-gilohi, or wind clan. When her mother died, she was moved to her aunt's home in New York, from her spacious home and many acres, to a tiny New York apartment with acres of gray concrete, and metal buildings. She was separated from her friends, and her clan, her heritage, and most painful of all, her mother's homeland. A creaking door, shouting and pounding feet announced the arrival of her three cousins.
"I really don't need this right now." Ella thought. She got up from the bunk bed, pushed her creaky window frame open, and climbed out onto the fire escape.
"Escape is a great name for this." She said, no one heard, because she was alone. Ella's long black hair flew around her face, tossed by the strong wind that increased the higher she got. They lived on the fifth floor of a seven-story apartment building, and she had left the stair part of the fire escape down, so she could reach the roof without her aunt knowing.
Staring at the blue sky, she didn't notice that the faded blanket slipped off her shoulders and fell, making a colorful pile around her feet. All the turmoil in her heart… it was slipping away… the sky was calling… her pain was flowing into it…
The clouds began to darken, and they were like the contents of a stew pot, as Ella began to rise up into the air leaving the blanket on the damping roof, as the rain began to fall.
Storm stood on the roof watching this display, and her heart was breaking for this beautiful, hurting girl. Ella's hair was whipping around in the wind, her eyes were closed, and her face was smooth. Ororo smiled, lost in the memory of when she controlled weather for the first time. Ella's shriek brought her back to the present. Her eyes flew open and she saw Ella struggling against a maelstrom of her own creation. Arms flailing, eyes wide, as the wind pulled her away, and she lost her concentration, and control of the storm. It was tearing her apart…
"NO!" Screamed Ororo, as her eyes clouded over, and she rose into the midst of the howling winds; soothing them, and slowly releasing Ella from their grip. Ella gasped as she fell onto the roof, tears pouring down her face.
"What's wrong with me?" she sobbed.
"Nothing!" Storm knelt by her side. " There is absolutely nothing wrong with you." Her voice was intense, as she helped Ella stand.
"Who are you?" Ella was shaking, so Ororo gently wrapped her in the warm woolen blanket.
"My name is Storm." She smiled down at Ella, " And I'm just like you."