Beyond Evolution

Ever since the whole end of the world act at Xavier's, Alani had been having a hard time readjusting. Thank goodness classes had ended, so she had one less thing to focus on. Time to think had been hard pressed against her. With her free time she had blown off steam by rocking some waves in the Danger Room. She also wrote to her family and caught up on some reading that she'd been wanting to do. Now she was just sitting outside by the pool putting together a wind chime. With her was a bag full of shells, twine, beads, and everything else that she needed. The base was a shell plate that her mother had made for her. It was really pretty, the colors caught in the sunlight to give it a sparkle effect. The shells she used reined from small, painted star fish, conch, tusks, and sand dollars. She even had a few polished stones to go wtih them. Back home, Alani and her mother had used to put together wind chimes, jewelry, and lei's to sell to tourists. They were nothing really special, but it was something to pass the time with. "Homemade comes from the heart," her mother used to say. Not just that, it was an activity that her mother had used to force Alani into a more ladylike decorum. It...hadn't really worked. Not to the extent that Aileli had craved. But it did manage to catch Alani's interest occasionally.

One couldn't spend all day watching BMX... right?

Well Alani did like to have other activities to do. Watching extreme sports and fantasizing about being famous for them herself wasn't her only hobby. At home she used to hike. It was different here. She did not know this area well enough to just take off on her own. It was not only that getting lost would be a huge embarrassment. It went without saying that Hawaii had more hiking options then New York did. From what she had seen, anyway. Also, it would be nice for her to find someone to go with her. Someone who knew where they were going. There was a gaggle of people running about this place. Even though in her short stay here so far she had made some acquaintances, Alani wanted more then that. She wanted a connection with the people here. They all had something to offer, being that they had come from all walks of life. But some of them were so learned that they did not bother with the newbies that were shuttled into the mansion. It was strange that she craved their attention so much. Usually Alani had no problem being a loner. In fact, she utilized it. The status made it so that she could get away with not being bothered by anyone that she didn't want to be. But many things had changed over the course of the new year. Her life was not the same anymore. Change was inevitable. Who knows? Maybe this was the course she would have chosen even if she had never mutated. Alani didn't know what was in store for her, here or anywhere else. But she did know that she had to make the best of it. It wasn't like she was leaving anytime soon.

Alani began to focus on her work, alternating the decorations by stone and shell type. It was turning out nice. She hoped that her roommate wouldn't be annoyed by the little contraption. Hopefully not. Maybe if she gave this to Sofia then she would be forced to like it, and they could leave it in the window. That might work out nicely.

Open to Warren

backdated to the early hours of the morning.


It wasn’t the first time he’d woken this way since the attacks, bolting upright in bed, sweating, heart racing, blood thundering through his veins as if it were being chased by something unseen; something hungry and fierce, predatory and relentless. Panting, chest aching from the force of the heaves that disturbed it, he sat there. Sat there and waited. Waited for the next stage to strike. It never took very long.

This time was no different. It didn’t start at any one particular point, rather consumed his whole body, head to food, all at once. The shaking lasted anywhere from five to forty minutes, he had noticed, with no way to predict the length in advance. There had been little else to do for the duration of the aftermath periods to date; Luka usually spent them sitting back against the headboard, watching the little neon numbers on the alarm clock flick past, waiting for everything to subside. Were they panic attacks? It was hard to say. All Luka knew was that they were preceded, each time, by a vivid replay of the events at the school, at least the ones which he had been involved in. He didn’t want to call them nightmares, that seemed so presumptuous and almost juvenile in a way. For now, he wasn’t calling them anything. Giving a name to them gave them power, in a way.

Perhaps that was ridiculous too. Maybe he should just call them nightmares and be done with it.

Luke knew one thing. He couldn’t sit there and count down the minutes until the shaking stopped. Not again. After more than a dozen of the nightmares and following panic attacks -- so much for not giving them names and therefore power; apparently he was just calling a spade a spade now -- maybe a break in routine was just what he needed. Really, there was only one way to find out.

Without even taking the time to change out of the pyjama pants and t-shirt in which he slept, he padded barefoot out of his room in the faculty wing, absentmindedly leaving his door ajar, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Behind him as he walked, his shadow seemed to turn its head, occasionally stopping altogether and doing a sweep of the area. His shadow, sentient though it seemed to be, had no means of detecting danger, rendering the cautious, watchful behaviour obsolete, but it continued all the way to its host’s destination.

The light was left off subconsciously, as if standing in darkness would protect him somehow with the greater access to the surrounding shadows, the bottles and jars in the door of the refrigerator rattling softly as it was opened, the glow playing over Luka’s features as he stood there, trying to figure out why exactly he had come to the kitchen, of all places.


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