Outcasts

Chapter 7

"Lia! Lia, please come out."

Lia Micheals had barricaded herself in her room as soon as she'd arrived home. Her mother had worriedly followed her until the door closed, spending the last hour trying to coax her daughter out.

Lia had her head in her hands, desperately trying to calm her breathing. Flashbacks appeared behind her eyelids of that fateful day in the school bathroom, her body changing and morphing, the fear on her fellow students' faces at seeing her. At what was wrong with her.

Tears pooled in her eyes. She never asked for this. Life was hard enough as it was being an African American woman, now she had to add mutant to the mix too?

Lia furiously wiped her tears away. She would not cry. This was her fate and she had to deal with it. Crying won't make it go away.

Lia took a deep breath and opened the door. Her mother's fist was raised to knock the one-thousandth time, her expression worried.

She pulled Lia into a hug, her embrace tight and comforting. Lia buried her face in her mother's shoulder, inhaling the scent of floral perfume.

"What's wrong, my dear?" her mother said softly. Lia pulled back and wiped her nose, hesitant to show her mother this newfound power that had inhabited inside her like a parasite.

Lia held out her hands, waiting for some kind of signal that she could show her mother.

One of her hands started to morph into cats fur, her nails becoming claws. Lia's mother picked up her now-paw, examining it closely.

Lia squirmed. She couldn't tell whether her mother was disgusted or amazed. She hoped the latter.

Lia's mother finally dropped her hand, neither disgust nor amazement on her face.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Lia said, feeling a fresh wave of tears.

"Oh, honey," her mother said, cupping Lia's cheeks. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"But I'm a monster," Lia said, cursing herself for the salty tears slipping down her face.

"You're still my daughter and we can work together on helping you," she said. "I won't abandon you."

Lia let loose and hugged her mother, sobbing into her shoulder. She wasn't crying because she was upset, mainly because she was relieved.

After Lia had dried her tears on her mother's nurse scrubs - and had received a heartwarming pat on the cheek - Lia made for the bathroom, intent on washing away her sorrows.

When she entered the bathroom, she yelped at the middle-aged man dressed in what looked like old school detective gear sitting in her bathtub.

"If you would please not scream, this would be easier," the man said. Lia gaped, dumbfounded at what was happening before her.

The man hopped out of the tub, holding his arm out for Lia.

"My name is Doctor Jones, and I hear you're the town's resident weirdo?" he inquired with a curious smile. Lia shook his hand hesitantly.

"I'm sorry?" Lia blurted. Doctor Jones looked at her curiously.

"So you aren't the girl with the shape-shifting powers? From the video?" he questioned.

"Video?" Lia squeaked. Doctor Jones pulled out a high tech tablet and pressed a few buttons on the screen. A hologram came up of Lia surrounded by students, her fingernails claws and her expression horrified. She didn't even notice she was being recorded.

Doctor Jones noticed Lia's stricken face and closed the video.

"At first, I thought it was some kids playing around with Photoshop, but I looked closely and could tell it was real," he said. "That you were real."

"So, why are you here then?" Lia said and folded her arms over her chest defiantly.

Doctor Jones beamed. "I'm here to convince you to join me. I'm creating a team of mutants, higher beings, and I want you."

Lia's eyes widened at him. A superhero team? This was all too much. She wasn't prepared to pack her things and meet new people she was supposed to save the world with.

All of the information being thrown at her made Lia feel slightly faint, causing her small control on her power to falter. The length of her arms shifted to fur, then snakeskin, then scales and repeating the process again.

Doctor Jones grabbed Lia's arms, examining them intently. "Impressive," he muttered with wide eyes. Lia yanked her hands away and pulled her sweater sleeves over them in an attempt to hide her deformity.

"I- I don't think I can go with you," Lia said. "I have responsibilities here, a life here. I can't just drop everything and leave."

Doctor Jones nodded, his expression expectant but not disappointed. "I see," he said and pulled a small card out of his pocket. "If you change your mind, don't hesitate to call."

He handed the card to Lia and stepped in the tub again. Doctor Jones waved to Lia and placed himself over the drain.

In an instant, he'd swivelled down the drain, equivalent to water slipping down after a bath.

Lia stared at the now empty tub, disbelief clawing at her.

She'll have to figure out a way to explain this to her mom.