Evolution

Amber

My father emerged from the main hospital hallway. Acting as my guide, he led Floyd and I into my mothers room. It's a typical hospital room; machines constantly beeping in the corners, tubes dangling seemingly in midair, et cetera. The lighting was very dim making it hard for my eyes to adjust. Due to the fact that it's in the early hours of the morning- unfortunately- the whole bunch of us are all yawning obnoxiously loud.

Moments after situating ourselves in the lousy chairs provided for us, a woman and teenager appeared in the doorway. The woman had a young face complimented by her tan complexion. Her blue scrubs she was wearing were noticeably wrinkly and extremely baggy against her slim figure. However, the girl behind her- the teenager- made sure her appearance was unknown.

"Hi there. My name is Adrian, and I'm your mother's nurse for my shift," she calmly whispered.

"Who's this?" I asked on purpose. I pointed to the ash blonde hair putting the nurses slick and shiny ebony hair in contrast. When I mentioned the intern, she shot me a dirty look. And her hair seemingly began to turn into a shade of red that resembled the gums of fake vampire fangs used in Halloween costumes. Not a real red, but still red.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! My apologies," she said turning to the girl. "This is Amber. My intern. You'll hardly know she's here," Adrian replied.

After Amber and Adrian checked my mothers vital signs, the teenager stayed with a large notepad clutched to her side. She was constantly writing. Her hair turned back to it's original color.
"Vi, I'm going to the bathroom. Make sure Floyd doesn't wake up." My father said, standing up and leaving the small room. After two or three moments of thick silence, Amber slashed it with her voice.
"What happened to your hand?" She asked me.

I jumped up from my seat, startled by her voice. "I'm sorry?"

But, instead of responding, she gave me the look of a serpent. A voice inside my head said, "I know what you are." The familiar feeling of panic began to rise slowly inside of me. How did she figure it out? There's no real way to tell. I look like a normal human being. For now, anyway.

"I can hear your thoughts, stupid. Yes you look normal, but your hands don't. I'm a mutant too, so stop panicking," the voice said again.

 "You're one too?" I said inside my head. She responded with a yes, as if she was annoyed. "What happened to your mother because it obviously had something to do with you being a mutant and whatever is in your hands. I dived into an explanation about Adam, and how he was originally Blue Eyes. That then lead to the story he told me about my past- which I'm still having a more than difficult time processing myself.

"Damn, that's cool yet freaky. So what are your powers?" This time she used her real voice, but kept it low.

"They have a feeling my powers are connected to nature. That's how we ended up here. A thorn came bursting out of my hand. When I went to show my parents- they had heard me scream in pain- a rose vine burst out of my hand. The numerous thorns gouged my mothers throat leaving her here." Her jaw completely fell to the floor. "What about your other powers? Typically a mutant as powerful as that has more than one."

"Well, they also think I have healing powers too. That one hasn't come to me yet unfortunately," I responded with a sigh. "Enough about me and my mutant self. I know you have powers besides telepathy. I saw your hair turn red when I asked who you were."

"Oh, yeah. My powers are telepathy- as you already figured out, shapeshifting and I can create fire."

"Are you serious? Now I feel powerless."

"Yeah I'm serious. And don't feel that way. Telepathy was the power that came first. All powers come in stages. Hardly anyone gets more than one power."

"Oh, okay." I said self-consciously. "So, what do you mean by shape-shift?"

"I shouldn't really call it shape-shift. Depending on my mood my hair will change, or if I absolutely need to I can change my whole appearance. For example I can go from being blonde and green-eyed to brunette and blue-eyed and make myself have a ridiculously dark tan."

"I see what you mean. But why would you need to change?" I asked with curiosity written all over me. She sighed before answering my question, "Well like Adam and yourself, they want to use me for wars and I didn't say I would allow that but I didn't say I'd get cured either. Now, I'm being hunted down and presenting myself as a nurse's intern for the time being. Yay me," she laughed to herself.

"Can I ask a question? It's going to sound childish but don't laugh."

"You want to see me create fire don't you?" I nodded, laughing. We poked our heads outside to make sure the coast was clear and shut the curtain. "You ready?" Amber inquired with a smirk on her face. 

"Do it," I commanded. And she did.

A spark transformed into a small fire, then it became wild. Fire exerted itself from the palm of her hand moving as if it had its own mind. Swirling around me almost setting me on fire. It was magic.
"Looks like you made a new friend, Vi." Floyd suddenly piped up. The fire was gone, and out of nowhere Amber punched him knocking him back to the state of unconsciousness.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed.

"Yikes. Sorry," she said taken aback by what she did. Her hands were clenched in front of her face as well as her jaw.

"Everything okay in here?" My dad asked.

"Yeah! Everything's fine," I quickly responded. "Why were you in the bathroom for so long?" I asked trying I get rid of the subject.

"Oh, uh I don't know. Come on let's go home," he said. 

"Actually, sir, Adrian just came in saying that Felicity's labs will be here shortly so unless you want to stay you're more than welcome too," she said. My dad considered it for a while and said they'll stay but would be in the waiting room.

"Thank you," I said in my head knowing Amber heard.