Isolation | E LEHNSHERR

CHAPTER FOUR

"And how can the world want me to change, they're the ones that stay the same. They don't know me, cause I'm not here."
-I'm Still Here, John Rzeznik

The next three days went by slowly for Rory, mainly because they had fallen into a routine that bored her. Every morning, she'd be woken by Erik, normally causing some kind of injury to the man. Then, they'd go up to the kitchen, where there was at least one new mutant a day. The first day produced two mutants: Angel Salvadore and Alex Summers. Day two came with Darwin Munos while day three presented Sean Cassidy.

Every day, Erik was nice enough to get her coffee, and she would tell him thank you every day before Erik and Charles left to go get that day's mutants. And then, Rory would find herself asking Scarlett if she wanted to come to her room, and hang out. And every day, Scarlett declined, choosing to hang out with the other mutants instead.

Rory wasn't mad at Scarlett. She honestly understood that Scarlett wanted to make more friends, to become friends with other people like her. And Rory knew she could hang out with them as well, but something stopped her. She didn't even know anyone else's powers besides Scarlett, Hank, Charles, and Erik.

It all came down to her fear that these people wouldn't like her, that they would think she was strange, even for a mutant. So, instead, she avoided them at all costs, only branching out occasionally to speak to Scarlett through their minds. During the day, she slept like normal and took to roaming the building at night, getting used to the layout. It was lonely though, being the only person awake besides a few guards who she made sure to avoid. And it was during Friday night that she realized something very saddening.

Despite the fact that she was in a building full of mutants like her, she still felt as though she was in the basement in her parent's house, with how isolated she felt from everyone else.

There were only two exceptions that made her feel like she was really wanted here. The first was Scarlett, who would make sure to check up on her friend at seven every night, and they would hang out for an hour or so; before the younger girl went to bed for the night. And the second was during the mornings when Erik would come down and wake her up, normally with a cup of coffee.

Saturday eventually came though, and she found herself oddly excited. Normally, she was able to fall asleep easily around five in the morning, but on that day, she found herself restless. Indeed, when Erik came to wake her up at eight, he was treated to the sight of her already awake, and sitting on the edge of her bed, reading one of her books.

"You're up early," he stated.

"No, I'm not," Rory told him, as she bookmarked her page and closed it quickly. When she saw his incredulous look, she explained, "I didn't sleep at all this morning. Ergo, not awake early."

Erik just nodded his head, took a seat on the mattress, and handed her the coffee cup he was holding. She took a sip of it quickly, sighing as the warm beverage entered her body. It was strange, she'd had coffee before, and never really cared for the bitterness. And she'd tried adding sugar and creamer, but it never seemed to taste just right to her. And then Erik had come with the cup the morning after they'd arrived on base, and she had no idea what he had done to it, but it tasted absolutely perfect.

"What do you add to this?" she asked him.

"I can't tell you that," he told her, a smile upon his lips. "It's a secret." He put his finger up to his lips, and Rory found herself giggling.