A Mutants Tale : X-Men Story (editing)

Chapter 1

Flashback

The room was pitch black and I fumbled about the darkness, stuffing clothes into an old rucksack. A smaller bag sat the foot of my bed, already packed with some essentials and my purse, full of all the money I was able to procure at the bank. A map of the country lay haphazardly on the floor, already stained with tears. I grasped it in my hands and folded it as gently as my shaking hands would allow before placing it and the smaller bag into the rucksack. Taking a deep breath, I smoothed my hair back and mentally reassured myself that this was the best course of action. I strained in the darkness to take in the last sight of the room I had slept in, grown up in. I could barely make out the movie posters that hung on the wall, the desk with a shelf crammed with books. I sat in the darkness for some time, unwilling to leave. Until I was spurred by realisation that it would be dawn in a couple of hours, and I needed to be far away from here by then. As silently as possible I creeped out into the hallway towards the stairs. I paused for a moment by the white door opposite mine, where my parents lay sleeping, overwhelmed by the urge to peer in and see them one last time, with the urge to stay. I let my mind explore the fantasy that I could back to sleep and wake up in a world where life would just continue as it had, where the events of today were forgotten, or had never happened. That I would wake up and today would have all been a nightmare. Just a terrible dream. But that wouldn't happen. Nothing could ever be the same. And with that thought in mind I turned my back on my parents' bedroom and descended the stairs.

I stole into the kitchen, raiding the cupboards for anything that I thought would last. I opened the fridge, a blinked momentarily blinded by the brightness of the light before grabbing all of the water bottles I could carry before squeezing them into my bag. A creak sounded upstairs and my heart jumped in my throat. Thuds echoed upstairs and I held my breath. Fear coursed through me, I couldn't get caught. I couldn't face them. For a few moments there was a tense silence before the sound of a door creaking open sounded, followed by the sound of a lock. I stood frozen in fear for a few minutes before hearing the sound of a flush and the gentle padding again. I waited a couple more minutes, or what seemed like minutes, to check that whoever had moved about upstairs had gone back to bed. Slowly I pulled a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and placed it on the counter. I felt a tear trace its way down my cheek. My lip quivered and I stifled a sob as I approached the front door. Turning for a moment, I glanced at my home one last time. The finality of the moment hit me and the tears I had been fighting all night began spilling down my cheeks. I covered my mouth my hand, trying to stifle my sobs before desperately fumbling to open the door and bursting out into the cool night air closing the door behind me for the last time. As I stumbled down the drive I turned and gave one last fleeting, clouded with tears, glance at my former home. 

I stood in the darkness of the night and stared at the rundown building that lay in front of me. It was a pub or something that could loosely pass for one. It was more like an old barn that served drink. The icy cold wind tugged at my hair and caused the hairs on the back of my neck to raise. The biting cold was what prompted me to stop in the bar and I approached the building warily. It was always best to be wary around strangers. That kept you safe. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the heavy wooden door open. The din of the chattering pub patrons greeted my ears. Letting of the door I let swing closed behind me and it did so with a bang. I winced at the sound, but no one noticed the noise above the din of the room. The flickering ceiling lamps that illuminated the room showed a bar of people too drunk to care about the entrance of some random girl. There were tables scattered around and to my relief it didn't seem as busy as the noise had suggested. Just a few rowdy drunk locals and a small group of men huddled in a booth, who were all clearly very intoxicated. Slipping through the tables I approached the bar with an increased confidence due to the lack of people. Several people sat at the bar stools and I slipped quietly into one at the end of the bar, apart from them.

The bearded bartender raised an eyebrow when he noticed me sitting there. He wandered over, his arms crossed.

"What do you need, Miss." He looked at me skeptically. My stomach dropped but I tried to remain calm and not let my increasing panic show. My height often allowed me to pass for slightly older than my true age but my face, I knew was still quite youthful.I had been hoping that this was a place where age didn't really matter but if it wasn't there was no way he would serve me.

"I'll take a drink," I said looking him straight in the eye, unblinking.

"What type of drink."

"Don't really care, just something that'll keep me warm."

He stared at me quizzingly for a minute in silence before shrugging and turning to fix me a drink. I sighed with inward relief. For a moment I had feared he was going to turn me away because of my age. When you're a runaway shady bars, although dangerous, are sometimes the best places to duck in for a quick drink. The people in them tend not to ask to many questions, and luckily this was one of those places. People like the barman were only after your money. You buy something, you're fine. You don't. Well then you can get into trouble, which I knew from experience.

And trouble is something I could really do without.

All the of the X-Men characters belong to Marvel. I own none of the them.

Edited note, I'm sorry for not updating. I am currently going to edit my already published chapters before trying to publish new ones.