Her skin itched from the constant needles they had pressed into it. Moving any part of her body even the smallest amount would cause it to inflame with pain that caused red to appear before her vision. The places where the small cage pressed against her skin hurt the most. Her skin was rubbed raw all along her back, each bone of her spine clearly visible through the red skin. Her small figure was pressed inside of a white cage, the space looking too small for any human to live.
The door, which stood at the end of the long white room her cage was housed in, slammed open. The boots clanged on the tile floor. The girl in the cage cringed, only to have pain rocket through her. As carefully as she could, for even moving her eyes pained her, she looked up at the figure the two guards were dragging between them. Long hair was covering the face, but it was clear it was a male.
Another guard slammed a metal chair in front of her cage, at the perfect height so that it was eye level. The man was thrown into the chair and quickly chained still. Another man walked up, the man who had found her and locked her away. He leaned over so that he filled her vision.
"Hello. I hope your accommodations suit you. I do not know your name, but I know what you can do. Show me," he stood up and gestured to the man chained to the chair, "on this man." The girl shook her head, ignoring the pain. The man smiled. "Oh? Well, we're going to leave you two alone for a while before we prick you with a few more needles so you're easier to control. How does that sound?"
The girl did not know how to speak, did not know how to make words come out of her mouth. But she was able to look at the man with hatred until he laughed and walked away. The guards left with him; leaving the girl and the man alone.
There was not yet a gag on the man's mouth, and he looked terrified at her. "Please, please don't hurt me. I don't know what you can do but please don't hurt me." he was begging then, tears were falling down his face. The girl didn't know if she should feel sorry for this man. She knew if she didn't do something to him; it would be worse for her. But doing something to him would be terrible. There was no way for her to tell him that she didn't want to hurt him.
Erik had heard whispers from guards of the young girl locked in the cage. That she was a mutant and Dr. Klaus Schmidt was trying to force it out of her. It became Erik's goal to try and see her, this girl locked in the cage. The only time he was able to, however, was night when no one was watching him.
So one night, as he lay in his cold bed staring up at the ceiling, Erik pulled his courage up from the distant parts of his body and slowly made his way to where he believed the girl to be. He did not know her name, no one did. She didn't know how to speak. But Erik felt that if he saw her, then maybe he would be able to help her.
The door wasn't locked and the moment he stepped inside the light blinded him. It took a few seconds before Erik could see again and he was able to take in the entire room. There was a cage, standing on top of a table, in the center of the room. From first glance it looked like it was filled with meat but when he looked closer he saw that there was a girl inside of it.
Erik hurried over to the cage. The girl inside raised her head as much as she could so that she could look at him, this boy she had never seen before. She couldn't be more than two years old, but already there was horror and hatred in her eyes. Her skin was covered in blood and dirt, making her blue eyes stand out even more. There were clear bruises covering her face and cuts that already looked infected. Erik rested a hand on the side of the cage as his eyes studied her.
"Who are you?" he asked her. The girl didn't respond, but he didn't expect her too. "Are you okay?" her eyes spoke for themselves and Erik hit himself internally for asking such a question. Of course she was not okay. How could she be? "I'm going to try and get you out, don't worry." He whispered, suddenly feeling like he should. "I don't know how, but I am trying to find a way."
Erik turned and was surprised to see a man sitting in the chair. He looked like he was dying, his arms nearly slipping out of the chains they were wrapped in. The man looked up. "Please." His voice was raspy. "Help me." Erik shook his head and stepped back, suddenly feeling sick.
It was years later, after the girl had had needles shoved into every single one of her veins and had the cage she lived in not changed in size at all, that Erik returned. He rushed up to her and pressed his hands against the cage. "If possible, can you back away from this side of the cage?" his voice sounded angry. The girl couldn't really move, but she tried to press herself against the back while ignoring the pain as best she could.
Erik stepped back and held his hands out, concentrating hard on the bars while pulling in all the anger he felt about how this girl lived. All the bars slowly began to bend apart and the girl's eyes widened as she watched them move. When they stopped, Erik fell over and breathed hard. That was the only sound that could be heard before he looked up once again.
"Can you fit through that?" he breathed, looking up at her. The girl studied the space for a second before slowly adjusting herself so that she could move through the entrance. Her head made it through first, than her shoulders before Erik had to reach out to support her body while she got her legs out. Erik lowered her to the ground so that she could rest her back against the side of the table.
"Have you eaten anything recently?" he asked her gently, resting his hand on her shoulder. The girl shook her head and Erik handed her a small piece of bread. "It was all I was able to get, I'm sorry." She smiled at him.
Her mouth opened as she attempted to say something, but the sound that came out was not a language. She hung her head. She had failed something that everyone else found easy; saying thank you. Erik rested his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I understand if you can't speak. I'm going to help you get out, but won't be able to come with you."
Erik was regretting his decision as he looked over her broken figure. The dress, which must have fit her when it was new, hung off her like rags that barely covered her skin. Everywhere he looked seemed to be covered with small dots from needle injections, with small bruises forming around some of them. The places where the bars of the cage had been constantly pressed against her were red indents that stretched across her skin. Some of them were bleeding. Everywhere he looked there seemed to be bones. Her spine, clearly visible, seemed to have all of its skin peeled away. Blood was trickling down it and he felt slightly sick. He felt so sad for her, that at such a young age she had to go through so much pain. How she was still alive he did not understand.
She raised her hand shakily and pointed to the chair. Erik turned to look at the man who sat him. He looked like he was near death. Erik turned back to the girl. "Do you want me to save him?" She nodded vigorously. "I don't know if I can."
The girl stared at him, her eyes wide. She seemed to be trying to tell him something. They were silent for a moment before Erik finally sighed. "All right. I'll try." He walked behind the man and focused on the metal. But even as he tried so hard to bend the metal, it wouldn't bend. Erik finally gave up. "I'm sorry. I tried." The girl nodded sadly. She pushed herself into a position she could crawl and made her way over to the man.
She reached her hands up and rested them on either side of his face. Her eyes closed and she concentrated for a moment. The man seemed to relax and she became tense, but he nodded thank you and she smiled at him. She crawled over to where Erik was and looked up at him expectantly. Erik leaned down and lifted the girl into his arms. She was so light that it didn't seem like he was carrying anything, something that terrified Erik even more.
Erik hurried through the building, pausing at every corner to make sure that no one was there. Slowly, he made his way to the outside world, where he placed the girl on the ground. He kneeled down so that he was looking her in the face. "I wish I could come with you now, but I can't. Try to get as far away from here as you can." The girl nodded. "Maybe one day I'll see you again, and hopefully then you'll know your name." She smiled and reached up to hug him. Erik nearly put his hand on her back, but quickly realized how that wasn't a good idea.
He backed away. "Go!" Then he disappeared back into the building and the girl was left alone. She looked up and down the road she was left on, no idea where to go. She didn't remember the last time she had been outside and she wasn't certain where she was.
The girl knew that crawling wouldn't be able to get her anywhere. She moved over to the tree next to her and latched her hands around the trunk. With the small amount of strength she had, the girl pulled herself standing. Her legs didn't seem willing to support her weight. She nearly fell, but the tree kept her up. She forced herself to imitate what she constantly saw other people doing. Slowly, she began moving around the tree. After a few minutes, she was able to walk without having to hold onto the tree. Now her only problem was which direction she would go.
She could see nothing down either road, no light or sound or anything. The girl sighed and began to walk down the road to the right. She walked for hours, every few minutes turning around to look back to see how far away the building she had lived in was. At one point she reached a fence with wires that curled around the top. But it didn't stop the girl. She took a deep breath and simply climbed over the fence, ignoring the pain from the metal pricking her skin. Blood began to slowly drip onto the ground behind her. The girl only vaguely realized what was happening, but even then she didn't do anything to stop it.
Soon she reached a town. It was large, with lights and sounds that the small girl felt overwhelmed by. She found her way to alleyways where the sound and light didn't reach. Soon she had to cross open ground again, but then she reached a large building. The girl walked up and knocked on the door, not caring who opened but simply wanting somewhere to get food. The door quickly opened.
"You poor girl! Come in at once!" the woman who opened the door ushered her in.
It was there, in the orphanage, that the girl spent the rest of her years until she was old enough to travel to America. The woman who opened the door taught her how to speak in multiple languages, how to write in even more. She helped the girl pick her first name and agreed with her when she didn't want to pick a last name.
When the girl was finally old enough, she bid farewell to the woman who loved her and climbed onto the boat to America. The girl was searching for another person like her, another person who was different. And she was desperately hoping to find the boy who could bend metal once more.