Falling Up

I was dreaming, I knew that much, but of what, I wasn’t sure. Up seemed to be down, black was white, and everything seemed to be swirling around me faster than I could see, and yet everything seemed to be in slow motion. It was a good dream, though; at least until I started falling.

I woke up with a start, and placed a hand on my chest to try to calm my breathing. Geez, I hated that; I thought I was falling off of my bed or something. Wait… my bed? Since when did I have a bed?

I looked around as my heart rate returned to normal, and slowly remembered bits and pieces of what had happened last night. I had been in New York City, and I had been attacked… woke up in a strange room and had a panic attack… almost died… a weird voice in my head… and then I was okay. I remembered the blue, furry man had looked me over once again to make sure I was okay, and then a woman with snowy white hair taking me to this room. I think she had said something to me, but I couldn’t remember… Dammit, what had she said?

“Oh good, you’re up! We weren’t sure if you’d be awake yet, with everything that happened yesterday.” I almost did fall out of my bed then, having nearly been scared to death by someone who apparently didn’t need to use doors to enter a room. “Oops, sorry,” the girl said with a bashful expression as she walked forward, “I guess I should have knocked.”

“It’s alright, “ I said as I once again had to calm my heart. “Just don’t do it again anytime soon.”

“No problem!”

The girl was very pretty, with long, straight brunette hair and a heart-shaped face. She looked to be about my age, maybe a little bit younger; it was hard to tell because she was more on the short side, probably around 5 foot 3 inches. She wore a regular pair of blue jeans, a grey zip up hoodie, and a worn-out pair of black converse. If I hadn’t just seen her walk through the closed bedroom door, I would have thought that she was a normal teenager, like one of the kids at my old school.

“Well, since you’re up, how about you get dressed and then we can go down to breakfast. You’re clothes are over there; you can put them in your dresser later, and my clothes are in the closet; of course, if you need to hang anything up, don’t hesitate to do so!”

It was only then that I looked around and saw that their was another bed on the opposite wall, and boy band posters hanging up around the room.

“This is your room? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize, I don’t want to be a bother-“

“Don’t sweat it,” she said with a wave of her hand. “It’s our room now, that is if you choose to stay here, and it’s not like I had the room to myself anyway. My roommate just moved out a month ago, and to be honest I was getting kinda lonely.”

“Oh. Okay then, I guess,” I said as I got out of bed and walked over to my duffle bag. I picked out a pair of my jeans, a purple-stripped long-sleeved shirt, a maroon-colored band hoodie, and my other pair of fingerless gloves.

“The bathroom’s through this door,” the girl said as she pointed to a second door in the room. “You can change in there, and then we can head down to breakfast. You can meet everyone properly then.”

I nodded, and then went to go change out of yesterday’s clothes, which had dried bloodstains all over them. Once I had taken my clothes off, I was shocked to see that there wasn’t a single mark on me- well, besides the normal ones. All cuts were gone without so much as a scar, there was no swelling or even a bruise. It was as if nothing had even happened to me. I pondered this mystery for a while before quickly washing my bloodied hair out, changing into my clean clothes, and pulling my hood up, covering my face in shadows.

The girl was sitting on her bed and flipping through a magazine when I came out of the bathroom. She looked up at me, and I saw her give a small frown for a second before she stood and grabbed my hand, flashing me a smile as she tugged me though the still closed door and down the hall.

“You know, you don’t have to hide yourself here. I mean, it’s your choice, but looks don’t really matter here. I know that it was probably really tough for you to just blend in with society, but you can just be yourself at the mansion. Believe me, you don’t have to worry about it. I know everyone will love you just the way you are. Heck, I’ve only known you for a total of maybe 10 minutes and I already like you!”

I gave her a smile and slowly took my hood down. “Thanks… um, what’s your name again?”

She promptly smacked herself on the forehead, and I gave a small giggle as she then rubbed herself were she had smacked herself too hard with a whimper. “I am so sorry, I can’t believe I didn’t tell you my name. You must have thought I was crazy or something. My name is Katherine, but everyone calls me Kitty.”

“My name is Evana, but you can call me Evie.”

“Right, okay then Evie! Here’s the kitchen!” she said as we walked into a large room filled with at least twenty people sitting at the table eating breakfast. Without even thinking, I immediately pulled my hood back up, and then shot Kitty an apologetic and nervous glance. She gave me a sad smile of understanding, then grabbed my hand and led me to the island in the center of the kitchen where the food was laid out.

“We can eat over here today, if you want. Just make a plate and take a seat,” she said as she took two paper plates from a pile and handed me one.

“Thanks, Kitty. I’m sorry if I’m being a bother to you,” I said softly as I took the plate from her.

“You gotta stop worrying, Evie, or you’re gonna make yourself crazy. Just relax; this is your home now, and everyone here will accept you like a real family should.” Kitty spoke quietly and with a serious tone, which was different from the bubbly attitude she had displayed since I met her. Then again, I’ve only known her for maybe a half hour tops, so that’s not saying much. Maybe she was always like this, and was only excited about a new roommate. I decided to take her advice and tried not to worry too much about anything as we filled our plates and took a seat at the end of the counter.

We had probably been eating for about ten minutes before I felt a hand land on my shoulder. I whirled my head around to see the lady from the night before staring down at me with a smile on her face.

“Good morning. I’m glad to see you’re up; we weren’t sure if you’d be joining us this morning after what happened last night.” I gave a small glance at Kitty, and almost groaned when I saw a look on her face that seemed to say ‘I didn’t hear about this, and I want to know, so I’ll find out whether or not you tell me later’… or something to that extent. I then turned myself around in my chair so that I was now facing the white-haired woman with creamy dark skin. “My name is Ororo Monroe, and I’m in charge of the school here.”

“My name is Evana Brave, but Evie is fine.” I didn’t want to sound like an idiot, but I had no idea about what was going on, and I needed answers. “I’m sorry, but can you tell me where I am exactly?”

“Of course,” Ororo said as she sat on the stool next to me. “This is Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It’s a school and sanctuary for mutants to live in. We find and invite young mutants here so that they can live and learn without the influence of human judgment, and for them to explore and control their mutation without having to fear hurting others or themselves.”

“Really? That’s incredible!” I said as I smiled widely. A home for mutants? A sanctuary? It sounded unbelievable, a dream, but here I was.

“Of course, only a few people outside of the past and present tenants actually know about the mansion,” Kitty said from behind me. “It’s better for us that we keep this place as secret as possible. We really don’t need any mutant protestors making more trouble for us than they already do.”

“I can understand that; but how much trouble can you guys have if this place is a secret?”

“Do you remember about a year ago, when the Golden Gate Bridge in California was destroyed by a couple of mutants?” Ororo asked.

“Yeah, it was all over the news; there was like a mutant war on that island, right? And in the end, the bad mutants lost and their leader was stripped of his mutation with that vaccine… I think.”

“Something like that,” Ororo said with a small smile.

“Guess who were the good guys?” Kitty asked with a very smug smirk on her lips. I stared at her with a blank expression for a second, trying to figure it out. Then it finally clicked, and I whirled to face Ororo with a probably shocked expression on my face.

“It was you guys? Are you kidding?!”

Ororo gave me a nod, and said, “Not only are we a school and sanctuary, but the older students and the teachers here form what we call the X-Men. The X-Men’s goal is to try to use our mutations to help others, both mutant and human, when nothing can be done about it by regular means.”

“That’s amazing!” It really was; the idea of them saving lives and preventing disasters blew my mind. To be able to use your mutation in a way that helped save the world… well it sounded like something out of a comic book to me. How cool would that be, to be able to help people like a superhero?

“Actually, once we had established your power, we were going to ask you to train to become one of the X-Men. I think we could really use you on the team.”

… Did I hear her right? Was I still dreaming? She wanted me, Evie Brave, the girl who couldn’t even help herself half the time, join the X-Men?

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t think I’m ‘hero’ material. I couldn’t even defend myself last night, so how would I be able to help others?”

“Evie, what happened last night wasn’t your fault, you know. And we would train you to become what you call ‘hero’ material. Once you’ve been trained, you have the potential to do almost anything I think.” I must have had a doubtful look on my face, because Ororo then added, “Tell you what; How about after you’re settled in here, we’ll train you to become an X-Men. When you’re done with training, and if you still think that being apart of the X-Men isn’t for the best, then you don’t have to do it. Sound alright with you?”

What did I have to loose? I was pretty sure that I’d still be bad X-Men material even after training, but it was really the least I could do for her after everything she had done for me. “Alright, I guess that sounds okay,” I said with a nod.

“Good,” Ororo said with a sweet smile. “How about you two finish you’re breakfast then, and then Kitty can give you a tour of the school. Classes were cancelled today because some of the teachers are out on a mission right now, so you have today and the weekend to settle in before you’re classes start. I can talk to you later about your previous school academics, as well as your powers.”

“Great! You can meet all my friends, then! I’m sure they’ll all love you!” Kitty said as she hugged me from behind.

“Yeah, okay,” I said as I gave her a smile.

Ororo gave me one last smile, and then got off her stool and started to walk away. She stopped though, and turned around as she said, ”You know, Evie, you don’t have to hide the way you look. It’s what you are, and what you are is definitely not something to be ashamed about.” With that, she turned back around and walked out of the kitchen.

I gave a small smile as I once again took my hood off.