X-Men: The Next Class

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Everything was quiet and calm. My eyes blinked a few times slowly, adjusting themselves to the moonlit room. Then, they glazed over. A piercing, shrill scream shattered the silence– it took me a minute to realize that it was coming from me.

The torture my body was putting me through was absolutely unbearable. My head rolled around on my stiff neck, impeded in its efforts by the sweat-drenched pillow beneath me. My elbows dug into the soft mattress, trying to push my body up. It wasn't working. My knees felt like they were popping in and out of their sockets, pushed by the muscles in my thighs and calves stretching themselves. I writhed around trying to remove the sheets from the bed so I could cool down, but it was of no use. My body was no longer under my cognitive control; it was following my x-gene's every command.

I was vaguely aware of the door bursting open and people flooding in, but I couldn't tell how many people came in or who they were. Before I could try to figure it out, I was floating in mid-air, mid-scream. My arms were hanging above my head, reaching for the bedposts. My legs were facing toward the bedposts of the opposite side. If I had been conscious, or in a good mood, I would have made an exorcism joke.

My spine felt like it was being pulled toward the ceiling by a hook that reached through my navel. Each moment it tugged harder, making my body bend more and more with my torso stretching out in order to compensate. Then, a loud series of cracks. My ribs were breaking– moving themselves into new positions. With each break, my scream would falter.

Everyone in the room was shouting orders and questions to one another, trying to figure out what to do.

Hope?

Tears escaped from the corners of my eyes. It was the Professor's voice, but he couldn't do anything to help me. Another tug of my spine. My torso stretched and stretched. Another breaking of a rib. My eyes rolled backwards into my skull. Finally, my body collapsed to the bed, still writhing in pain. I guess all the bones and muscles had finally readjusted and stretched themselves to my mutation's liking.

"Professor, she's burning up." I didn't recognize the raspy male voice that had spoken, nor had I registered his touch.

"Do not physically touch her body or move her. She's still unconscious and, until we know what she is capable of, extremely volatile. Bobby, create an ice mist surrounding her. Keep her wrapped in it until she awakens."

I could hear them speaking but as hard as I tried, I couldn't respond. I guess I was wrong. My x-gene wasn't done controlling my body just yet.

***
I recognized the softly playing Kelly Clarkson song as my ringtone, coming from my cell phone that was tucked somewhere deep inside one of the suitcases Maura had packed for me. I opened my eyes and was met by a blue haze directly in front of me. I looked around and found that it surrounded my entire body. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Bobby?"

My voice was coarse but it carried through the room anyway. I felt a slight shift from the bottom right edge of my bed. I craned my neck as far as the ice layer would allow me and saw Bobby with his head down on his arms. He seemed to be breathing slowly and steadily, an indication that he was still asleep. I tried his name again. No response.

I swallowed the lump at the back of my throat– a feat that was actually painful– and tried to nudge Bobby with my foot. I couldn't move through the haze. I rolled my eyes. Great, I'm a frozen vegetable. I smiled despite myself. I kept repeating his name until finally he sat up.

"Do you think you could uh, let me go?"

He rubbed his eyes to rid them of sleep and promptly pulled the ice off of me as if it were a bed sheet. As soon as it separated from my body, it vanished into thin air.

"Cool."

He simply smiled and put his head back down onto my bed.

"You scared me last night, you know. You scared us all pretty bad."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. I explained to him what I experienced last night, and how I couldn't control my body or register anything that was going on. Every body part was being controlled by my x-gene and I was simply at the mercy of my mutation.

"You're fine now though, Hope. The professor said the worst of your bodily changes has passed. He says now all you need is proper training and control and you'll be okay."

"Control?"

"Over your powers. You know, so they don't control you."

"Right."

I chose this moment to stretch my arms and legs out on the bed. Bobby moved aside to allow me full range but I didn't really need it… he was just being considerate. When I returned my hands back to their resting position on my stomach, they fell through. As if there was nothing there to rest on.

My eyes widened. I pulled up my shirt (much to the embarrassment of Bobby, who hastily looked away) and my jaw dropped.

My torso was absolutely hollow.

"Please don't scream!"

I looked up at Bobby who promptly pulled down my shirt and pushed my still-dropped jaw up into the closed position.

"What the fuck is this?" I shouted.

"Your gene!"

"I don't want this!"

My cell phone rang again. Bobby got up out of his chair and located the bag from which the phone was ringing. He brought it over to me as a silent suggestion that a) I answer it and b) the conversation about my undesirable mutant gene was over for the time being. He left the room seconds later.

By the time I dug my phone out of my bag, the call had ended and a voicemail took its place. It was from Jenna. In fact, I had three missed calls from Jenna, 2 from Travis, a bunch of texts from friends in our group, and a call and voicemail from Maura. There was nothing from my parents. I selected the voicemail from my pint-sized blonde best friend from home and promptly put the phone to my ear.

"Hey girl, it's me," Jenna's familiar voice greeted me. From the tone of her voice, I could tell that she was either upset or that something was bothering her. "I went over to your house today after church but your mom said you were gone. She wouldn't tell me where, just that you weren't coming back to Laguna any time soon. I don't know if it has anything to do with what happened the last day of school, with the cut and the fainting, but I am so worried about you. We all are. Please call me back or text me or something. I just need to know you're alive, okay? I miss you. Summer's not the same at my house. Okay... bye."

A faint smile played on my lips. I moved on to the voicemail from Maura, which she left Friday night, before she had come to see me. I deleted it and moved on to the texts from all of my friends. I read them all and sent back a standard copied-and-pasted response to most: Hey, sorry for the scare, I'm fine. I promise. I miss you and love you and hopefully I'll see you soon. I'm in New York until further notice but pleeeease keep in touch. :)

To Jenna and Travis, I sent something slightly different: Hey love, I'm sorry I vanished so quickly but things have been different at home lately and I've relocated to New York. I can't tell you everything you need to know via text but PLEASE consider visiting me ASAP. As in, drop everything you're doing and come see me since you really have nothing else to do since it's summer, right? I miss you so much and again, I'm sorry. See you soon. <3

I dropped the phone beside me on the bed and lifted my shirt again. The hole in my torso was still there. I gulped. What is happening to me, I thought to myself. This must all be a crazy dream. I gently let my shirt fall back down, hiding the hole from my tired eyes. Sinking down into bed in the fetal position, my eyes closed and my breathing steadied. I had just begun to drift back to sleep when my phone's text tone went off multiple times. Well that was fast…

Jake: Glad you're okay! Have fun in the Big Apple.
Amanda: No worries, take care. See you soon :-*
Caitlin: So you're basically living the Enchanted life? Jealous! Hope you're having a blast. :)
Travis: Give me an address and I'm there.
Jenna: When and where?! I'll be there in a heartbeat!!! Can we go clubbing? I have my sister's ID…

I laughed out loud at the last text and responded. I told Jenna and Travis that they could visit me whenever they liked at the address of the school (though I left out the part that it was a school). They told me they'd book their tickets today for the weekend, which was five days away.

I just had to wait five days until I had something normal and recognizable here with me.

I had five days to figure out how to hide this crater in my stomach before it further impacted my life.