“So why did you leave?” Logan asked, not understanding why she was babbling about everyone else. She had never been someone to beat around the bush. He wondered where she picked that little annoying habit from.
“Honestly?” She asked. He quirked an eyebrow at her, basically wanting know why she felt she had to ask. “You. I left because the one person who had never been afraid of my skin was avoiding me like… well like I had poisonous skin. I couldn’t really understand it. And it just was the final straw. I had to leave. I needed to find myself again.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m home… For good. I want to continue what Xavier started. I received my teaching degree a few years back, and I thought about maybe a more traditional role… but…”
“But what?”
“But there aren’t too many schools that would hire a mutant to teach children. Especially a dangerous one.” She looked away then, but not before he saw a tear trickle out of her left eye. She must have gone through some things while trying to find that job. “And so, I decided that I might as well come home. Earn what he had left for me.”
“When did it happen?” He didn’t have to reiterate his meaning. He was looking pointedly at her gloved hands. She had forgotten she was wearing them. After so many years, she didn’t feel complete without them any longer. Once she had thought of them as a marking her curse, but now, it was almost as if they were now apart of her being, as if they made her hole and made up for her inability to touch.
“About a year after I left. I was at a party with this guy from school.” She didn’t really want to talk about what had happened, not with him. But she couldn’t keep it hidden. Not from him, anyway. Even after all these years, she still found she couldn’t hold back anything. “It was at the frat house he was a member of. He brought me something to drink and by the time I finished it, I was feeling dizzy and just wanted to sit down. He took me up to his room and let me lay down. Part of me was worried that he was going to try something, but he didn’t. He just told me to go ahead and get some sleep while he went to find out what happened. He made sure the door would lock from the inside.
“Everything became hazy after that. I woke up when I felt someone on top of me. It wasn’t him. Not Jacob. It was another boy from the party. One that I had turned down when he asked me to dance. His name was Matt. He was trying to… To do things that I hadn’t done yet. I tried to fight him off, but he was too strong and I was just too drugged. I tried to scream, but the party was still going on and no one heard me.
“And then he entered me… Sometimes I can still smell his breath when I go to have a drink. He’s ruined that for me. I still have nightmares about that night, and now I have a more understanding of what happens when I touch someone. From there perspective anyway.
“It hurt, Logan. It hurt so much. He didn’t do anything to make sure that I was ready. He forced himself in and I screamed some more, even though by that time I knew it was useless. But he wouldn’t stop. He just kept…”
“It’s alright, Marie. You don’t have to tell me…” He wanted to consol her, but he wasn’t sure she would accept it just yet. As much as this was hurting him to hear, he knew that there was nothing that he could really do about it.
“Not, it’s not alright. I haven’t spoken about this since it happened. I need to tell someone, and you were always the best person.” She gave him a stern look, and, although the tears in her eyes threw him off, the stubborn pride behind them made him proud. She had survived this, without the help of anyone else. It still hurt to know that she had to go through it alone. “Finally, when he… came, I felt it. The pull. I could feel everything sinking into my system. His pleasure and pain. His thoughts. Everything. I wasn’t the first he had done this to, and, even while it was happening, he was already planning his next conquest. What was more disturbing was that he didn’t fit any type of profile. He wasn’t abused as a child, and not really spoiled. He was far from ugly. He had a beautiful girlfriend. He was in one of the best fraternities in the country. He was in the top ten percentile of the graduating class. He had everything. So why did he have to take so much from others?”
She paused for a moment, and he wondered if she was looking for an answer. The far away look in her eyes told him otherwise. And then, just like that, she started to speak again.
“He took my innocence. So I took his life. The drugs made me too weak to fight him off, much less push him away. By the time someone came, he was already dead and I had his memories and thoughts, his entire being, really, locked away. My strength was coming back when I heard the door open, and I was lucky enough that it was Jacob that came in, checking to see how I was doing and to find a way to get me back to my dorm. One look and he knew what had transpired. He helped me push his frat brother’s dead body off of me and helped me sneak out of the house undetected.
“It wasn’t until we were almost out of town when he pulled into a gas station. He went in and was gone for a few minutes. I thought he was calling the police. But it didn’t seem that way. I mean, why wouldn’t he just call from the house? It wasn’t like he didn’t have a whole football team of guys downstairs to help him against the little mutie girl.
“After about ten minutes, he came back out, tossing me a wad of cash. He started the engine and we drove in silence, him paying attention to the road, and me… well, I was looking at my hands. I still couldn’t believe it had come back, and I was angry. Angry about the cure, about Matt, and, most of all, about myself and what I had done. I couldn’t protect myself. I couldn’t stop what had happened. And, to top it all off, I still had no control.
“We finally stopped at a little motel just outside of town. He went in and paid for a room before helping me out of his car and to room number 17B, which was as far from the lobby as it is could be. He helped me into the shower, never once touching my skin. He allowed me to wash myself, yet he never left the room. I think he was afraid that I would kill myself. At that time, I wouldn’t have doubted it. I wanted to die, and I felt used and unwanted. I felt dirty.
“After the shower, he helped me to bed, wrapping me up in the dress shirt he had been wearing and wrapping the sheet around me. He kept telling me that I would be alright, that I was stronger than to allow myself to waste away. I cried in his arms, I didn’t say anything. I fell asleep from exhaustion.
“When I awoke, he was still there…”
~~~~~~~~~~“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone like that. I thought you would be safe if I locked the door. I was the only one with a key. I didn’t think… I didn’t even know he could get in. I think he might have climbed in through an open window.”
She didn’t speak, couldn’t if she wanted to be honest with herself. Everything from the night before just kept replaying in her mind, over and over again, like a sick movie. But it really was worse than that, because not only was she seeing everything in her own mind, everything she had felt, but what he had gone through, also. She felt like gagging. It was a wonder that she hadn’t already.
“I know, you’re probably wondering why I helped you.” The thought hadn’t crossed her mind, but now that he brought it up, why was he helping? “I had to help you. Listen, I know what you must be going through, with your gift and all.”
This statement had earned her undivided attention. She had never met any human who referred to their abilities as ‘gifts’.
“You’re a mutant, aren’t you?” She asked softly, her voice sounding rough and small, even to her own ears. “What do you do?”
“Believe it or not, I can help other’s heal little things. Like small cuts and bruises. Also, I help plants grow. It’s not much. Not really powerful like yours. I mean, I can’t even show anyone to help them, and if the injury is more than a deep gash, I can’t help it.”
“Kind of ironic, don’t you think? You’re gift helps people, while mine takes their lives. Kind of like being on the opposite ends of a spectrum.” She smiled up at him, not really understanding why she was smiling in the first place. “You really should get going soon. You do have a dead body to get rid of before anyone else realizes there is one there.”
“You going to be alright?” He asked slowly, sitting on the bed next to her. “I mean, you sure you can do this on your own?”
“Kid, you don’t even know my name. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time I was on my own on the road. And this time, I got a little bit more back up.” She reached into the back pocket of the jeans she had spent so much time choosing just the day before. Pulling out her wallet, she quickly opened it and fetched one of several cards she kept in the bill fold. She looked back up at him, slowly handing him the card, careful not to allow their fingers to brush. “It’s a school in Westchester. A school for special people, like us. I know you are doing pretty great here, but if you ever feel as if you need to get out, or you want to actually be able to use your abilities, maybe even let them develop more, they can help. There are some really good people there. And if you see a burly man with mutton chops and growls at everything, don’t be too hard on him. He’s been through a lot.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll see about it. Who knows, I always wanted to teach,” he replied with a smile, taking the card from her. “Anyone you want me to say hi to?”
“Not really. Especially not the guy with the chops. He might come poking his nose into some area that doesn’t really need to be explored. And he might just not get the right information. If that happens, lose that number, run for the hills, and start counting the days, because he will come for you, and he will find you.” He wanted to laugh at her warning, but the serious expression on her face and the pleading in her eyes told him she was serious. Deadly serious.~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Author's Chapter Notes:
WARNING: RAPE!!!!
Chapter End Notes:
Tried to get this up soon, but had food poisining... Heh Heh!!!