Chapter 4

Ohh... Add Pittsburgh, newspaper dispensers, and telegrams to my list of hated things.

She spent most of her time reading.

The only books her father provided were of the Cat in the Hat,Green Eggs and Ham, and Dick and Jane genre.

She'd read them 782 times by age 5.

She did, however, get to read books like Bridge to Teribithia, and Old Yeller, and Little House on the Prairie via Sarah, an excellent book smuggler, who got them to her via tall oak tree.

That is, until he found her.

Her classical reading adventure abruptly ended, then.

He didn't know what to do anymore.

He kept packing and preparing, but he found himself dreading even thinking about that dumb trip. Because he dreaded seeing her cold stare, he dreaded seeing her face when he mentioned anything to do with it, and he absolutely dreaded it when she asked him to do something with her, and as much as he wished so badly he could, he had to say no because he needed to "prepare for...uh... something." He always said "something" instead of saying "my trip" because he figured her cold, cold stare would only get worse if he said the very... dreadful words.

How his heart wanted him to slice-and-dice that dumb leather suitcase to death and then go drive her to wherever she wanted to go, smiling and laughing and maybe even... well ya, but his mind only pushed those thoughts away. He found himself dreading seeing her face, even though he wanted to see her face. He hadn't noticed yet, but he wanted to see her face a lot, if only it wasn't always filled with her dreadfully, dreadfully cold stare.

It seemed everything was filled with dread, lately. He didn't know it, but he was starting to dread himself.

~ o-O-o ~

Eleven unfamiliar faces were staring at her, thirteen of them in all.

That's because two were quite familiar. One of those two started to speak.

"Charles! She's awake!" Ororo! It was Ororo.

"Yes. I see. Odelia, can you speak to us?"

The ten-year-old groaned and mumbled, "Five more minutes, Calvin." Odelia then heard thirteen sighs of relief.

"Odelia, it's me, Kitty. You're, like, at the mansion now. You... kinda..."

"Blammed into the door and passed out!"

"Bobby!"

"What?!"

Odelia was getting very confused, but then it occurred to her. It whammed her in the head, that she was at the mansion. She was okay, she was here. She wasn't at the dump, here there was no Calvin, no Yolanda, no more tea and cucumber sandwiches, no pink frilly dresses, and she could have as many "five more minutes" as she wanted. She jumped out of the bed with joy.

A little too fast, though.

"Somebody catch her! she's gonna..."

Blackout.

~ o-O-o ~

However, when she woke up this time, there were four faces, two unfamiliar.

"Welcome Odelia," was what she heard. It was some bald guy who had spoken. He kind of reminded her of... oh never mind. "Are you alright now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think I am." Odelia said quietly. "Can I get up now?"

"SLOWLY!!" A smile crossed Odelia's face as she saw the speaker.

"Yes, Kitty. I'll go slowly." And so Odelia slowly got to her feet and was a little wobbly. Kitty helped her steady herself, as Odelia smiled even more.

They all just met you and they're so concerned... This might actually work out.

Like that ever happens!

Do you ever shut up? Really?

Kitty led her to the bald guy's office, the other stranger and Ororo following. Odelia saw that the bald guy used a wheelchair, and wondered how he looked so intimidating despite it. Kitty and Ororo then left with a smile and a wave, and Odelia found herself feeling more and more uncomfortable in the room filled with the very... tough looking strangers. The one that wasn't bald looked Canadian, muscular and... gruff. That was the perfect word for him, very very gruff. And grumpy. The bald person, who introduced himself as Charles Xavier, the Charles Xavier, smiled in a weird way that somehow made Odelia feel a little more comfortable.

How do people do that?

"Odelia, welcome to the Xavier Institute."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Does that mean I can stay here?" Odelia asked.

"We need a signature from your father to do that, Odelia."

DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB!

Of course they'd need a signature! Of course. OF COURSE. The world hated her that much, huh? Quickly recovering, though, Odelia put on a more serious face and said, "Unfortunately my father is on a business trip. To Africa."

"Why is that?" Xavier was still smiling.

"He's giving poor people clean water so that they won't die of parasites. Did you know that dirty water kills 5000 children every single day? It's true. Look it up if you don't believe me."

"Oh, we believe you." said the gruff man, rolling his eyes. That made Odelia angry, but she knew better than to talk back. Especially to someone so very... gruff.

"Excuse me, Odelia. This is Logan, otherwise known as Wolverine," Xavier was still smiling, and it was starting to creep Odelia out a bit. Wait a second... Wolverine? Once again, reality whammed her in the head.

It's THE Wolverine, the killing machine! He was on TV! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! He was like, so scary and horrible! He's like, one of those mutant things that dad hates...

EEEK! I'M GONNA' DIE!

Odelia forgot that where she was for a moment and just sort of stared at Wolverine, bug-eyed. Logan was a little more than annoyed, but he understood the sad truth, that there were plenty of good reasons for a little girl to think he is an absolute monster, especially with what CNN has been saying about mutants. Now then, you may be wondering why that's the first time I've actually used the word mutant in this story which is infused with mutant-ness*. Well, Odelia knew that she was different, but she didn't actually think she was a mutant, oh, no no no! Mutants were scary inhuman things they talk about on the news channel, she was no mutant. She had no crazy, extraordinary powers, right? Unless you counted that uhh... thing. Yah, it was weird and all, but she wasn't a eek eek, mutant. Ugh. Heck, no! Of course not!

"Odelia? Well, I think you'd like to know..."

"What?"

Xavier tented his fingers and twiddled his thumbs. Then he finally said, "Well, you're a very gifted girl, because, you see, you have what's called the X-gene. And, well..."

"No." Odelia mumbled to herself.

"That means that you are in fact a muta... Wolverine, catch her! She's..."

For the third time that day, Odelia blacked out.

PATRONS ARE REQUESTED TO FAVOR THE COMPANY BY CRITICISM AND SUGGESTION CONCERNING ITS SERVICE

WESTERN

UNION

Recieved At 2009 NOV 20 AM 8 07

HS71 3/661

WD N005 NL PD

=WUX PITTSBURGH PENN NOV 20 325P=

COPY

OUTGOING

TELEGRAM

=CHARLOTTE. TELEGRAMS ARE AWFULLY ANNOYING. I DO HOPE YOU CAN READ THIS. PLEASE WIRE ME SOON I AM WORRIED ABOUT YOU.=

I HOPE YOU ARE SAFE. MEANWHILE PLEASE TYPE UP, POST, AND IF POSSIBLE PROOFREAD CHAPTER FOUR. YOU WILL FIND IT IN THE NEWSPAPER DISPENSER IN FRONT OF SHOP CO. IF YOU KNOCK ON IT EXACTLY 5.7 TIMES.=

YOU'RE THE BEST SISTER EVER. MOST OF THE TIME. LOVE YOU=

:CHEROKEE BURLECHO=

4:18= =701A

THE QUICKEST, SUREST, AND SAFEST WAY TO SEND MONEY IS BY TELEGRAPH OR CABLE

I must now stuff this document into a newspaper dispenser, excuse me.

*A word in my dictionary.