Rogue Evolution

Nightmare 8.5

"Hey... Hey!" Anna tapped Kitty on the shoulder.

She jerked around pulling one of the headphones out of her ears. "Jeez! What the heck?"

"You've seen Kurt?"

Kitty faced forward, her eyes scanning over the scattered school supplies and open backpacks on the dining room table. With the afternoon's sun shining through the window at her back, Anna could see all the little doodles on Kitty's math homework in even greater detail than normal.

Kitty bit the button end of her pen and then pointed it at the chair perpendicular to hers. "He was there. I was helping him with his Chemistry homework till Jean came in and said Xavier wanted to talk to him."

"Xavier?"

"Yeah." Kitty set her pen down and turned in her chair to face Anna better. "Why? Is Kurt in some sort of trouble?"

"No." Anna bared down on her bottom lip. "Damn it, I wanted him to hear it from anyone else but fucking Xavier."

"Hear what? Anna?"

Kitty made to stand but Anna was already rushing out of the archway and down the hall toward Xavier's office. It was then Anna caught sight of the back door open far enough to let in a wind that tousled the gauzy white curtains.

She grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door out of the way to find Kurt sitting at the edge of the pool. Even from that distance she could spot his blue skin and pointed ears. She gently closed the door behind her and stepped towards him. "Kurt?"

The boy spun around, clocking her immediately with his slitted yellow eyes and a wide toothy grin. "Hi, Anna! How are you?"

"I'm good. Um -" She felt her shoulders roll inward and her hands clasped together before her chest. "Would you... like some company?"

"Company? Yeah sure! More the merrier!" Kurt gestured with a flourish to the spot next to him with his long three-fingered hand before once again facing forward to presumably stare into the water.

Anna slowly closed the gap and eased herself into the spot next to him. A gust of air threw their hair back, and when Anna looked at the profile of Kurt's face, she could see little scales giving texture to his otherwise smooth skin.

Kurt nodded. "So, uh, how are you?"

Anna flashed a low-watt smile. "You already asked me that, Kurt. I'm good."

"Oh right! Right. Sorry." A hallow little chuckle sputtered from his mouth and he leaned back on the palms of his hands.

"It's not often I get to see you without the camo on. You look good!"

"Thanks!" He leaned forward, rubbed his narrow hands together, and stared at them. "You know, just felt like doing something different today!"

Anna pursed her lips. "Kitty told me that you went to go see the professor."

Kurt nodded long and hard enough that the whole upper part of his torso moved with him. "Yeah, I sure did! Yeah."

"He told you about what my dream meant then."

To this, Kurt only smiled and looked at her. His eyes were wild and puffy looking. "It's cool, you know. I always wondered where I came from. The stories I got told as a kid seemed a little far-fetched so... it's cool! It's cool to finally know now, you know? What am I saying, you already know! You were, like, the first to know because you were the one to have the dream. Or the memory. Or the whatever?" He gave another strange-sounding laugh and stared straight ahead.

Anna crossed her arms and leaned forward. "I was thinking of how to tell you all day. I wanted you to know. It just didn't feel right to dump it on you at school. Then when we got home... I still didn't really know how to say it..." When she looked at Kurt's face next, he was still staring forward with that same strange crooked smile stretched across his face.