The Long Run (Prequel to Time Loop)

Chapter Eleven

"Think she's awake yet?" I knew that voice from anywhere. Could it be?

The door finally swung open, revealing Darlene. She looked perfectly fine, healthier even. None of this made sense. Behind her stood a tall man with black hair mixed with grey strands. Small, crooked glasses rested above his thin nose. Unlike Darlene, this guy looked like he hadn't groomed himself in weeks.

"I suppose you were right," the guys smiled as he approached me. "Hello Isabelle." His voice sounded just like the guy on the phone.

I didn't respond and kept my glare directed to Darlene. She had a smug grin plastered on her face the whole time as she watched from the far end of the room.

The man looked back to see I was glaring at her then turned back to me, "You probably have a multitude of questions for us. And don't worry I can answer all-well most of them. How about I explain from the beginning and then I can answer any remaining questions later? Does that sound good?"

I didn't respond, prompting him to continue. "Where should I start?" He asked himself, "Wait- I should introduce myself. My name is Dr.Mortimer. I've been researching about mutants like yourself for a while now. You specifically caught my attention once I checked your file."

"My file?"

He chuckled slightly, "Oh you think you could just sweep away your history like nothing? It's not that easy Isabelle. You're not that skilled at covering your tracks. You see, I have a client that specializes in searching for mutants. We weren't sure you were at first, seeing as you were listed as insane, but what your psychiatrist wrote about you in particular struck me right away."

He opened up a yellow file and started to read. "Patient believes she can see time freeze. Insistent that she witnessed her parents freeze on the night of her birthday. Will continue to stick to her story."

"Now when I read something like that, it definitely calls my attention. Don't you think?" He asked. "Anyway, once I found out you were attending Oxford, I knew I just had to get a chance to study you. So I met up with your lovely roommate Darlene and told her all about your past. How you ran away from home and went off to America to live a new life. But you met other mutants there too."

He looked back at Darlene, who had been quiet the whole time. Her gaze had been focused somewhere else, as if she didn't want to even be involved in the conversation.

"Of course she didn't believe me at first. She thought I was a mad man," he laughed, glancing back my way. "But then I showed her a document of your session back in Argentina and notes from a client who apparently had been studying you long before I had and she quickly believed me. That was when I convinced her to be my undercover spy for a large sum of money and help me scope up some more information about you. And that boy you met at the party-Piers, he was all part of my plan to kidnap you. Sadly, that Charles got in the way."

"So I decided to leave you be for a while, until your 'friend' sent you that letter of warning. Had to get him killed," he said nonchalantly, like taking a life was nothing to him.

"Why was taking me so important to you?" I finally spoke up.

"Shh," he placed a finger to my lips, "I wasn't finished. So I had to fake a kidnapping of course because I knew that was the only way I could get your attention. It was a good thing you stopped hanging around with that Charles, it made it easier to get you. And here we are!"

I scowled at him in disgust, wanting so badly to just punch that smile off his face. "And to answer your question, your powers are quite unique, Isabelle. I just wanted to study you. See what makes you function the way you do. I'm a man of science, you understand that," he exclaimed.

"You're insane," I muttered, "I'm not something you can experiment on. I'm a person."

Mortimer just laughed in response, "You're a mutant, Isabelle. There's nothing human about you. Maybe your exterior, but that's all.

"Darlene! We're best friends, why would you do this?"

Darlene's voice faltered for a moment, then quickly hardened, "Why would I be friends with a monster like you? All you do is lie."

"I only did it for your safety," I said.

"Nothing you can say right now can change my mind," she crossed her arms and stomped out the room in anger.

Mortimer sighed, "It was for the best. Your fate was meant for the future of science."

~Time Skip~

That night, Dr.Mortimer ran a few blood tests. Darlene never came back into the room, and I was pretty sure she never wanted to see my face again. But was it honestly my fault? She was the one that back stabbed me.

I was wide awake all night, unable to feel the comforts of my old room. Things were so simple back then, back when no one knew about my abilities. There was loud shuffling upstairs, causing my heart to race. I tried to keep quiet, practically holding my breath.

Three gunshots fired from upstairs and footsteps drew closer and closer till the metal door swung open. I turned my head to the side and felt a wave of relief. Charles stood there with a gun in his hand, panting heavily.

"Charles," I whispered, my voice sounding a bit raspy out of dehydration.

He quickly rushed over to me, working on unbuckling the leather restraints. I sat up slowly, grimacing with each sting of pain that rushed through me.

Without warning, Charles placed both his hands on my face and pulled me in for a kiss. My lips were cold and dry against his soft, warm ones. He pulled away after a few seconds, gazing into my eyes, "Isabelle, I am so sorry."

"It's okay," I whispered, on the verge of tears.

He nodded, "Can you stand?"

I quickly planted my feet on the cold ground and used all my strength to lift myself up. I was able to stand well, but when I tried to take one step, I stumbled forward, losing my balance as all the blood rushed to my head. Luckily, Charles caught me before I hit the ground and lifted me up into his arms.

"Charles, be careful...there's two of them," I warned, starting to doze off from exhaustion.

"Raven's taking care of them," He assured, "You're safe now."