Never Again Will I Drive Through New York City

A/N I know these chapters are short. I originally had it written out all as one story, but I liked it better broken up. The good news is you can expect daily updates. By the way, if any of you have any suggestions for what should happen to Bonnie or anyone else, then let me know. If nothing else, I could always write about an AU Bonnie upon request.

Reiki was mentioned in the last chapter, and will be continually mention through the course of this fic, so I offer some background. According to Reiki dot org, "Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by 'laying on hands' and is based on the idea that an unseen 'life force energy' flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's 'life force energy' is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy." Wikipedia and google can provide more info to those interested, or you can PM me.

In short, I am grateful to those who read and review.

I have to wait three to ten business days to prove them wrong. That is when the DNA test results from the blood sample they took will arrive. I already know what the results will be. First, I lack a family history. More importantly, the previous test I had taken came out negative, although they insisted on doing the new test, claiming the procedure had become more accurate since I had last had my blood drawn. And most importantly, I know myself and my own body better than anyone. I wonder what their faces will look like when they see the "-" on that paper. Or maybe it'll just tell them "negative." Or maybe it's just some kind of color coded dot. I can't say I really care, just as long as it gets me out of here.

Not that they would be able to keep me in here long anyway. Even if I was a mutant, which I'm not, I probably would just get a fine and be court-ordered to register.

I roll over, facing the wall. I ache for a window. The cell phone I had used as a clock was confiscated with everything else. I know that the long amount of time that seems to pass probably amounts to a few minutes. Time always seems to crawl in these types of situations, after all.

Now that I think about it, I knew a disproportionate amount of mutants. In my high school, which has about twenty hundred students, there are probably, I don't know, about a dozen mutants. And I knew five of them before their mutations manifested. Hm, weird. Wait, do I count Quincy? He was more like an acquaintance than a friend. I don't know what happened to him when his mutations manifested. I know Lucy dropped out, she said she was going to finish school online. Ruth was in my graduating class, but she went to study abroad. Dave and I also lost touch after graduation.

Then there was Natalie Wood. I also teasingly called her "Elf" after her powers manifested, and I think she actually liked the nick name. She ended up at that school in New York, a school to help mutants, and I was the one to drive her there.

I shudder, recalling the drive up there. I was seventeen at the time, driving my mom's old mini-van. I was used enough to driving in city traffic, but driving on the freeway was a new experience. Driving through the Big Apple was the worst. I wanted to drive around the city, but eventually I caved into Natalie's pressure, and drove through the city. Never again.

Natalie was my second time at the Mansion. Robin was my first, when we were still in Junior High. In both cases, my reaction to the X-mansion was the same. Maybe it was because I didn't get out enough, but the size of the school had a jaw dropping effect. I still find it unbelievable that someone would call that a house. Even "manor" wasn't enough, castle might be more suitable. At the time, I thought only the pyramids of Egypt might compare to the size of the place.

With Robin, things had gone more smoothly, or at least more quickly. Robin's mom had driven us in her station wagon, and we flocked around our departing friend like a bees around a hive. We waited in a foyer, Robin's parents did some paperwork, we said our final good-byes, and we were gone. I was asleep most of the way back, haunted by strange dreams about the friend I had just left. Now that I think about it, Natalie was there also, stuck in the middle seat. I wonder what she would have thought if she knew she would be a student there, too.

Instead of having a nice road trip chaperoned by prepared and experienced parents, my second trip northward was led by two broke teenagers trying to survive the highways and traffic of one of the largest cities in the country. It was not a good day.

By the time we staggered through the front doors, it was past eleven at night. I know I was tired enough to fall asleep on my feet, and I know Natalie certainly looked that tired. We were both soaked by the pouring rain, and I felt guilty dripping on the wood floors. Drip… drip…

I glance at the faucet in my prison cell. I can't tell if it really was dripping, or if it's just my imagination. In another moment, a fat drop freed itself from the faucet head, landing in the metal bowl with a satisfying "plink."

Well, I guess I'm not crazy then, or at least not yet.