I know I've uploaded this a day early but I'm really busy tomorrow and Sunday I've got loads of homework.
mind block struck again so this is a bit shorter, I'm unsure where to go from here so I'll be thinking up ideas for the next week.
DISCLAIMER: you know this...
with that done, on with the chapter...
Because of you,
I never stray too far from the sidewalk,
Because of you,
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt,
Because of you,
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me,
Because of you,
I am afraid,
Kelly Clarkson ~ Because of you
I was awoken by the sound of a heated argument, tiredness staining my features as the constant night arguments brought little sleep. They were always the same, and neither could find a compromise which was beginning to scare me.
What if they divorce, what if I never see one of them again?
These terrifying questions swam through my head in a chaotic frenzy, ceasing to stop as I heard Dad's voice bellow in anger. His deep tone rocked the whole house, like an earthquake as I tried to shut my eyes and block it out, pulling the duvet over my head. I turned over into different positions multiple times, but the roars were too loud, and worry that it might turn physical made me shudder.
A crash of what sounded like glass jolted me awake, sitting up as I stared at the closed bedroom door leading towards the hall. A small carpet of light just about peaked from under the door, but it brought little relief as the roars turned into shrieks.
Hesitantly, I climbed out of bed, bare feet freezing on the wood panelled flooring. I crept towards the door, wanting to do anything to make the fighting stop. My childish mind believed that my presence might make them stop, not wanting their innocent daughter seeing such violence.
Tiptoeing along the hall, I came to the staircase which overlooked the front door. I became scared, deciding to just wait, sitting on the floor with my legs dangling through the gaps between the banisters.
"You can't just fucking leave us! What about Samantha, what about the baby?" I heard my mother's voice screech, but it didn't sound right, it sounded deranged.
"I'm doing this to protect them and you, mutants are dangerous and if we don't find some way of stopping them, then they'll destroy everything we hold dear! This cure, it will take away their powers, it will make us safe." My father replied in an almost calm tone, trying desperately to make Mom see sense. His words meant nothing to me, never hearing these two contexts in one sentence.
Mutants? Cure?
It was like something from a comic, one of the villains essentially becoming a villain because of a lab accident or something. There were rumours going around town about mutants, though it all congregated around the major cities like New York, and those big places terrified me, it wasn't right having so many people living that close together. Either way, talk gradually got passed around, I learnt most of it from school as some had family in the big cities, but whatever talk it was it was never good.
I heard another crash, shocking me so much that I caught my leg on the banister as I tried to shift out of it, screaming in agony as bitter pain pulsed in my foot, almost twisting it enough as to cause a fracture.
The raised voices stopped, rushing feet quickly following my voice. My Mom was the first to appear, her large bump growing more everyday. She looked as deranged as she had sounded, hair a mess when it was usually tied in a bun. Her eyes, they were bloodshot and bulging as the pupils nearly covered the whole iris, making her look demonic like the things I heard in church.
"Sweetheart, what...what are you doing up?" She was trying to force normality into her tone, but it was complete melancholy. I held back tears as the pain in my foot grew worse, and I refused to tell them, I just wanted to climb back into bed and forget everything I had heard.
"I...I had a nightmare." I whispered, and instantly Mom became less tense. She quickly climbed up the stairs and helped me to my feet. Considering she wasn't supposed to bend over (as Dad and the midwife had told me), she was still the same strong Mom that could drag me along the floor if she wanted to.
I yelped, the pain in my foot sending an electric shock through my leg. I couldn't even stand on it, having to fall into Mom's arm as my balance failed. Tears crept out my eyes, Mom having to stroke my hair to keep me calm.
"Shush, it's okay, tell me what happened?" That was normal Mom, her soothing voice that kept the monsters away.
"My foot got caught in the banisters." I choked, tears freely falling down my face. Again she shushed me, slowly rocking from side to side in a calming motion. Her large bump meant I couldn't hold her too tightly, having to put my body into an aching angle.
"We'll go downstairs and put some ice on it. I think we might need some help from Daddy." The added sentence held a warning that my juvenile hearing couldn't hear, but my dad heard it, and he knew better than to cross Mom at that point.
He slowly moved into view, his black hair similar to mine only it was short shaven on his head. He was still wearing his work clothes of doctoral style, his scrubs coming all the way from the nearby city, the four hour journey meaning I hardly saw him. He smiled warmly at me, me sharing this smile from Mom's protective cocoon.
He thought the world of me, and of my new brother, though I didn't understand how he could be in Mom's tummy, I thought storks brought them in blankets.
"Good thing there's a doctor in the house." He quipped, the joke not all funny but it still made me giggle. This was what I wanted, them to stop arguing, it was annoying that I had to get injured to cause the minor truce.
They didn't make eye contact, which was likely for the best as I let go of Mom. Dad hoisted me into his arms in a bridal style seen in weddings, extra careful that he didn't bash my foot onto the wall as he stumbled down the stairs.
"You're getting too heavy, or I'm getting too old." He grunted, reaching the final step before carrying me into the lit up kitchen. He placed me on a countertop, giving me a full view of the damage.
Plates and glasses littered the floor, broken into millions of pieces that I wondered how he could of not had one stick into his shoes. Mom watched from the kitchen door, pulling frantically at her sleeves as she watched Dad clean up with darting eyes.
Once all the glass was put in the trash, he grabbed a pack of peas from the freezer, the cooling temperature perfect for the stuffy August night. Carefully, he wrapped a tea towel around the packet and placed it over my foot.
Bending forward, I slipped my hands onto the packet so he could let go. I noticed for the first time that he couldn't physically look at me, his eyes focused on my injured foot as he stayed in the crouch position.
"You should get some rest, don't want to stress out junior." Dad mumbled, Mom about to argue before going against it. She kissed me on the forehead and said goodnight, swiftly turning around to head upstairs to bed.
At this point Dad stood up, walking over to his stash of alcohol (of course I had no idea of where it was). As he did this, I gently hoisted my foot over my other leg, so my back wouldn't ache with all the bending over.
"So, what was the nightmare 'bout?" He asked over his shoulder, pouring a glass of whiskey for himself.
Please don't get drunk, not now.
I silently pleaded, I didn't want a round two happening.
"About the doll, from that creepy film." I grumbled, knowing I would be getting a lecture. I heard him chuckle quietly, though I didn't find it so amusing.
"It serves you right, I told you not to go through my video collection. What were you thinking? It clearly says its too old for ya, hell I thought the cover looked scary enough for you not to go near it." He ranted, making me crease my eyebrows.
How was I to know Chucky was a horror? Okay it looked a bit weird but I thought it was some kids thing, like those dolls that teach you numbers and stuff.
I argued mentally, but I knew deep down I shouldn't have put it on, because I was now paying the price. The nightmares were horrible, Chucky kept chasing me in this old building, brandishing his knife at me and trying to stab me...not a normal four year old nightmare.
"It's my fault, I should've put them out of your reach." He mumbled to himself, gulping down the whiskey in one gulp. I held my breath, thinking he was going to have another, and another. Luckily he put the bottle away, and proceeded to sit at the round table in the centre of the kitchen. It was quite large, you could move around the medium sized table without bumping into it, but it was difficult manuevering if we were all in the room.
Gradually the pain in my foot ceased, replaced with icy cold stings from the bag placed over it. I removed it, finding that ice dripped from the corners. Carefully I nudged my body off the counter and onto the floor, hopping with one foot as the other still felt quite painful. Limply I put the bag back into the freezer and took the seat opposite Dad.
We sat in silence for a few moments, Dad's eyes focused on the table as a hairy hand rubbed his short shaven beard. He was pondering, on what was impossible to know as there was so much he did know.
"Daddy, are you leaving again?" I asked in a hushed whisper, praying he wouldn't say yes. He focused on me, sighing depressively as there would only ever be one answer.
"Yes baby girl, but you know why I've gotta go." He answered, me nodding my head sadly.
"You need to go because you have to help good people get better. But why do you have to go to the city, why can't you help good people in a closer town?" I moaned, just wanting to keep Dad close instead of him gone for months on end.
He smiled, ushering me to sit on his lap. I complied, jumping onto his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug, him giving me a bear hug in return.
"No matter how far I go, or how long I'm gone...never ever doubt that I won't come back. You're stuck with me kiddo, and me and you're mama love you, never doubt that either." He told me in a serious tone, before standing up with a groan.
I giggled as I was still hung around his neck, his arms still around my waist as he walked slowly towards the stairs.
"I love you Daddy." I said as he tucked me into bed. He kissed my forehead, the bristles tickling my nose.
"Love you too baby girl." He countered, tiptoeing out of the room as I fell asleep, never hearing the continued argument between Mom and Dad.
I sat up in a sweat, realising that I wasn't a four year old girl anymore, but a sixteen year old mutant at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters.
The dream had been so vivid, like I was sitting with my Dad again at the kitchen table, Isaac not even being born yet. When my brain gradually released the dream and got brought back to reality, I saw that it was still dark out. I moaned, falling back onto the damp pillow as I tried to shut my eyes, but they would just spring open again.
This dream was effecting me more than the others, because it was different, because it wasn't the lake.
Why is this happening to me now?
I asked to no one in particular. The truth was it was likely due to lack of sleep with the tests being piled up and lessons getting harder. Whatever the cause it was getting worse.
I might need to see Professor X again, maybe he will have something for these new dreams.
Before trying to haul my body out of bed, there was a knock at the door. I bolted upright in fear, fear that it might be someone intending on bringing harm or steal something, but then I reminded myself that burglars don't usually knock first.
"Yeah?" I asked, an eloquent choice of word but I had only just woken up. The door creaked open to reveal Johanna's concerned face looking at me.
"I could hear you murmuring in your sleep again, wondered if I should wake you or not." She explained with tiredness easily detected in her voice. This wasn't the first time she's checked on me, these midnight visits quite frequent since the night at the bar a month ago.
Knowing the creep was at the school was bad enough, but he made his presence known more and more often, appearing in the corridors or in the canteen at any given moment with his sly smile on his face. Still, he hadn't tried anything new so I mainly ignored him.
John and I talked to a lot over the last few weeks, finding the extra company at hand if I just wanted to shut away for a while, pretend that Isaac's death never happened as John doesn't know, likely I will never tell him.
I've become quite good friends with Bobby as well, finding his knowledge of science useful when we have Dr McCoy as we mostly end up being partners when performing an experiment. Knowing there was more than one student that cared that I stayed at school, helped me to get through most of the panic attacks and nightmares, but they still pounded me whenever they could.
"It was only a nightmare, thanks anyway." I said, forcing a wonky smile onto my face. However, this didn't satisfy Johanna as she stayed glued to the door, and I noticed there was a guilty expression on her face. Being caught red-handed, she sighed and proceeded to slump onto my bed, legs criss-crossed on the covers as she faced me. She fiddled with her fingers, a habit that she had gained from me.
Johanna wasn't like the Johanna I knew at the start, this outgoing girl who got what she wanted with one little suggestion. Now, she shied away a lot and didn't wear as many bangles and make-up, becoming in comparison quite plain in appearance.
"You know I said I didn't remember anything from the night out? I was lying, I remembered everything." She honestly looked nervous, this truth eating away at her for some time, I just tried to forget it ever happened.
"I know I shouldn't of had that shot, I should've just kept my mouth shut. Hell, I shouldn't of dragged you there! What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for telling the creep about your brother, and I was supposed to tell you that as soon as you asked me, but I thought you would hate me if I told you so..." She didn't need to finish, we both knew what she was trying to say.
"Just forget it, honestly, no room for grudges." I reply with a grin on my face, Johanna immediately lighting up a bit more. There seemed to be something extra, a little mischievous glint in her eyes. She grinned to counter the glint, staring at me with detective eyes.
"So, you've gotten close to someone in particular." She pressured, leaning closer to emphasise her point. At first I was confused, she couldn't mean John? She must know I've been talking to him, saying that, I don't think I've ever mentioned him in a conversation.
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. You and Bobby Drake are getting pretty close." She replied on a serious tone, me a bit speechless as I couldn't understand how she had come to that conclusion.
"We're just friends." I countered, unable to think of anything else to say. She raised an eyebrow, signalling that she didn't believe me. I grabbed my pillow and slammed it into her face, it brought laughs out of both of us as we quickly forgot about the previous conversation.
We talked for hours about upcoming lessons and Johanna's many love interests, though she kept saying the name David Alleyne (someone I hadn't heard before until Johanna's constant chatter of him), apparently he was insanely smart, something that surprised me as I thought smart guys weren't her type.
Eventually the gossip slowed down, giving me an excuse to get ready for the day ahead. As much as I like Johanna, I can't have her screeching in my ear about boys forever, not trying to sound cruel, but that's what she's always talked about since we had first met.
I performed my usual routine of getting changed into casual clothes before leaving to go to the swimming pool, having packed my school bag, I dumped it by the front door and zipped out into the corridor. Luckily I met no one along the way, finding not one person sauntered down the long corridors.
"Mutants are dangerous and if we don't find some way of stopping them, then they'll destroy everything we hold dear!"
The dream struck me like a migraine, making me slightly disorientated as I stopped in the centre of the corridor. The one sentence that I never thought I would associate myself with, and now it was haunting me, worst of all I could hear my Dad's voice in my head. I took deep breaths to slow my heartbeat back to normal.
Just calm down, he can't make the cure, it's impossible.
I tried to reassure myself, but the logical part of me argued that it was highly unlikely, but not impossible. Pressing on purposely, I shoved the memory at the back of my mind and focused on reaching the swimming pool with a mandatory amount of time.
Isn't life great...
Not much to say on this chapter except I really hate Chucky, but I haven't watched it, and I never will. Never. I know she's talking really well for a four year old, but I've kinda done it so its part of her mutation that she learns things quickly, I don't know...
Bye for now,
~Gothgirlstrikesagain