It was a cold and poorly lit hall. The walls were made of concrete with tiny imperfections giving the wall its texture. At the end of a hall was a door that was accented by a flickering florescent light. Skyler stood at the end of this hall looking at the door. She was wearing a white medical gown and no shoes. The air was so cold that she could see her own breath. Skyler took deep breaths in a feeble attempt to steady her breathing and slow her racing heart. She took timid steps as she inched her way towards the door.
After reaching the door Skyler placed her shaking hands on the door knob. A sign next to the door read 'Dr. William Raff'. The door made a loud creaking noise that echoed through the abandoned hall as she open the door. Skyler walked through the doorway into a sterile and barren looking room. The room was filled with medical supplies and machines. In center of the room was a metal table. On the metal table was a white sheet that took the form of a small body. Skyler walked over to the metal table and placed her hand on the sheet. Pulling back the sheet slowly, Skyler revealed the body of a young girl. She looked like she was around 7 years of age, sleeping peacefully on the metal table.
Skyler gingerly placed her hand on the young girls head. She was very cold and stiff. Her life long gone from her body. Skyler began to stroke the girl's hair as tears fell from her eyes. The same girl that was on the table stood next to Skyler watching her as she comforted the lifeless girl before her.
"You know they killed me." The girl standing next to Skyler said in an eerie childish voice.
"I know Mara." Skyler replied simply.
"I didn't choose to be born in this situation. They messed with nature and now there I am. Dead on a cold metal slab."
"No one can choose who they are born to. It just fate." Skyler wiped away her tears.
"Well, fates a bitch. It doesn't seem fair. We should have had a childhood. We should have been born normal." Mara walked around the table to face Skyler. "The question now is…How are you going to avenge my death?"
Skyler awoke violently with sweat beads rolling down the side of her face. How many more times was she going to have that dream? How long would Mara haunt her? Looking to her left April slept peacefully and Bryce snored loudly as usual. Skyler had three more hours until she had to get up. And she didn't want to go back to bed for fear that she would have the same dream. Laying back in bed Skyler stared at the ceiling tying to focus on their plans for the next day.
A yellow cab traveled down a private driveway toward Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The cab stopped in front of the gated estate and out of the cab three teens emerged. They stood in front of the gate staring in awe at the extravagant mansion before them. The landscaping added to its elegance with large mature tree and strategic shrubs and bushes scattered around the grounds.
"I'm going to give this school an A for presentation." Bryce said while gawking at the mansion before him.
Placing her hands on her hips April sighed. "I conquer. Skyler, What do you think?"
"Looks like Mr. Xavier is loaded." Skyler said unenthusiastically.
Bryce looked over to Skyler who was paying the cab driver. "Well, someone cranky today."
"Thank you. You have a nice day" The cab driver said as he placed the last bag on the ground and took the money from Skyler.
"You too." Skyler replied politely. Picking up her bag she turned to her friends. "Are we going in or are we going to stand out here gawking at the place?"
April and Bryce didn't reply, choosing instead to pick up their bags and sing happily as they walked towards the gate.
"We're movin' on up!" Bryce sang.
"Movin on up." April backed him up.
"To the east side."
"Movin on up."
"To a dee-luxe apartment in the sky."
Skyler laughed at her friends' reference to The Jeffersons and followed them to the gate.
At the gate they were met by Jean Grey. "Good morning. I'm glad to see you guys have come." She opened the gate and the three teens entered the front courtyard.
"Professor Xavier would like to meet with you and answer any questions you have about the school." Jean said, occasionally looking back as she walked towards the front door. "After, meeting the professor, he will introduce you to the faculty." Jean opened the front door motioning for the teen to walk through.
They entered the foyer and were awed by the beauty of the architecture. In front of them was a large stair case that forked to the left and right.
"Follow me please." Jean said walking to her right past the stair case. A sitting room was located directly behind the stair case. Following Jean Grey down a corridor they entered a room that appeared to be the library. They then walked to a door located on the back right of the library and entered an office.
Jean asked the teens to sit down at three chairs located in the center of the room. Jean sat down on chair next to a red oak desk. Behind the red oak desk sat a bald man in a tailored three piece suit. "Good morning April, Bryce, and Skyler. I'm professor Charles Xavier. I would like to welcome you to our school. As Ms. Grey and Ms. Monroe have already informed you this school is for mutants. We would like to help you not only understanding your powers, but also to master them. Now, I could go on and on about how great our school is, but I believe that you must experience our school before you make a decision of attending. That is why I'm extending an invitation for you three to stay a couple of day with us. You can walk around the grounds and ask students what it's like to go here. If you choose to stay here, then we will go over the rules and other details about the school. Well, would you like to stay here for a couple of days before making your decision?"
"You don't even have to ask that question cause the answer is yes." Bryce said to the professor. April smiled and nodded. Skyler on the other hand did not say or doing anything.
"How about you Skyler?" Professor Xavier asked.
Skyler sat in silence for a minute. She knew that April and Bryce wanted to try out the school and if she did agree at least they would get a place to stay and good food to eat. "Why not."
"Good." Professor Xavier said. The professor then moved from behind the desk to reveal a very chic wheelchair. "I would now like to introduce you to our staff. You already met Ms. Grey. She is our science teacher at the school. She is also our Physician." Professor Xavier then pointed to the back of the room where Ororo and the sunglasses man from the mall entered the office. "Again, you've met Ms. Monroe. She teaches history. The gentleman is Mr. Scott Summers and he teaches English."
"Hi." Bryce and April said timidly.
"We do have another staff member, but he is MIA at the moment. His name is Logan and he is our P.E. teacher." The professor smiled at the three teens. "Now, it's time for you to be shown to you r rooms. Bryce if you would follow Mr. Summers he will take you to the boy's dormitories. Skyler and April Ms. Monroe will take you to the girl's dormitories. After you have put your things away Ms. Grey will take you on a tour."
Bryce stood up and followed Scott, while Skyler and April followed Ororo. As Skyler, April, and Ororo walked to the girls dormitories Ororo explained to them that it was finals week. She explained that most of the teens would be studying and askes April and Skyler not to make judgments based on the lack of activities. She talked about how they often went on field trips, especially during summer break. Summer break officially started on Wednesday of that week. Ororo lead April and Skyler into a room with two beds. Depending on the room size, there were either two girls to one room or three girls to one room. April and Skyler's room was a two person room and they would be roommates. Ororo told them that they would have 10 minutes before the tour and to meet Jean at the front entrance.
The room was fully furnished with a set of beds, desks and chairs, nightstands, and dressers. Skyler placed her bag down and laid down on one of the beds. She watched as April surveyed the room. April placed her bag down and bounced on her bed as if she was testing the mattress.
"Nice place." April said to Skyler.
"Yeah, it is a nice place. Looks like we'll be having a goodnight sleep tonight." Skyler replied.
"I've never had such a nice room. Every room I ever had was always someone else's room with a mattress for me. I never got to decorate my rooms and eventually I never wanted to. Because I knew I would be leaving as soon as I got comfortable."
Skyler felt for April. She could tell that April longed for some stability in her life and place she could call home. "Let's go take that tour." Skyler said getting up from her bed.
The tour of the school was fairly basic. The school had a lounge full of recreational activities such as a pool table, a foosball table, and a high tech entertainment system. The dinning room had three long tables that look as if it could fit about 100 people. The kitchen seemed small for such a large house and was adjusted for large scale cooking. Also located on the main level was the library, both staff's office and professor Xavier office, and three classrooms. Upstairs on the eastside was the boy's dormitories. On the west side was the girl's dormitories. In between the boy's and girl's dormitories was where the faculty rooms were located. Study halls could be found on both the girl side and the boy side of the mansion. Each side also had a communal bathroom.
Outside, the school had a basket ball court, a pool, stables, and a beautiful garden. Once the tour was over April, Bryce, and Skyler were allowed to wander the property until lunch. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, fruits, and chips. The rest of the day April, Bryce, and Skyler got to know some of the students at the school. Bryce was apparently rooming with two boys named John and Bobby. John immediately showed off his power as soon as he introduced himself. John had the ability to manipulate fire and created a fire ball on his hand with his trust lighter. After John created his fireball Bobby immediately froze it. John became angry and asked Bobby why he always did that.
Bobby's girlfriend was the girl from the arcade. Rouge's power was tragic to say the least. She couldn't touch anyone and if she did touch them she would drain their life force. If she touched a mutant not only would she drain their life force but she would also take their power. Her friends Kitty and Jubilee were quite entertaining. Kitty could phase through solid objects and Jubilee had the ability to produce explosive energy sparks. After dinner the threesome were left on their own. Most of the kids had to study for finals, so the gang played some pool in the lounge. At 9:30 everyone was suppose to be in their rooms so April and Skyler said goodnight to Bryce.
Inside their room Skyler watched as April unpacked her clothes and began to put them into the dresser.
"You know, we probably aren't staying here that long. So it's pointless to unpack your clothes." Skyler said from her bed.
April shut the dresser and turned around to face Skyler slowly. Her stare was intense and serious. "We? Are you making our decision for us?"
Skyler didn't know how to respond. She had never seen April so serious before.
April took a deep breath before she addressed Skyler. "I don't know what your issue is with this place, but I want to stay and I know Bryce does too. Why don't you like this place?"
"It's not that I don't like this place, it just we've been doing fine on our own. We don't need this place."
April face went from serious to anger. "No you don't need this place. But I do! We were surviving on the streets, but that's not a life. The streets can provide us nothing. Without an education we'll either be stuck on the streets or stuck flipping burgers for the rest of our lives. I don't want that. I want a place I can call home."
Skyler was surprised by April's outburst. "I know that you want a place to call home. Given your background…"
"Oh, do you dare make this about me." April interrupted Skyler. "This is about you. You like moving around from place to place. You're a vagabond. Remember that quote we saw on a bumper sticker "not all who wonder are lost". That describes you, but you know what? I'm lost. And I need this place so I can find myself. I have a feeling that this place will heal my wounds. You want us to become vagabonds like you so you won't be alone, even if it is not in our nature. Well, you know what? That is selfish and controlling. I'm staying here. Leave if you want, but I'm not going to follow you."
Skyler said nothing. April's words had cut deep. April still angry picked up her tooth brush and left the room. Skyler didn't want to be in the room when April returned so she snuck downstairs and outside. She walked over to batch of trees just past the basketball court. With ease Skyler climbed the nearest tree.
Skyler knew that April was right. She had no right to make the decision for them. And she did want them to follow her lifestyle because she didn't want to be alone. If she wasn't so attached to April and Bryce she would have left by lunch. Skyler's thoughts were interrupted by the smell of smoke. Looking down she saw a scruffy looking man smoking a cigar. He didn't look like he belonged to the school. All the adults at this school were well dressed and clean cut. They looked professional. This man on the other hand didn't shave and dressed very casual. She wondered if this was the MIA teacher, Logan.
"You Logan." Skyler asked.
The man looked up and spotted Skyler in the tree. "Yeah." He seemed a little uncomfortable as of he was doing something he shouldn't be. "Who are you?"
"Skyler. My friends and I are visiting the school. We might be attending. You're a teacher?" Skyler asked still not convinced he belonged here. He seemed more of a loner like Skyler.
"I teach P.E." Logan replied.
"Hmm…no offense but it looks like you are more apt to teach the art of bar fights."
Logan chuckled a bit. "I know I don't look like I belong. I thought I didn't belong for awhile."
Skyler was intrigued by this statement. "Why?"
"I'm use to traveling alone. Wondering from place to place. And I'm not exactly a role model." Logan said as he took a puff from his cigar.
Skyler smiled at Logan's honesty. "If you are such a loner why do you stay here?"
"Because even a loner must eventually find a community to belong to. It's just human nature kid." Logan put out his cigar. "I'm going back in. You coming?"
"No. I need sometime to myself. I'll be in soon." Skyler replied.
"Ok. Oh, can you not tell the professor about the cigar thing. He's been on my case about it."
"Sure."
With that Logan left Skyler to her thoughts. She remained out in that tree for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes she returned to her room. April was already asleep so Skyler slipped into her own bed and tried to sleep.
In Chapter 5 Skyler will have to decide if she will stay with her friends at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters or go off on her own. As for Skyler past it will be catching up to her very soon.