Who: Caleb and Alice West What: Visiting the convict When: June 2041 Where: Prison Rating: PG-13?
Alice didn't know what she was doing there. She hadn't warned anyone that she was coming, partly because it had been a spontaneous decision and partly because she wanted to be able to change her mind, which she was seriously considering doing as she stared blankly at the doors in front of her. How bad would it look, honestly, if she just decided to go home instead? She was sure that the guards wouldn't care. Maybe Caleb would just figure it was a mistake of some kind. She could still turn around. She could walk out of this horrible, scary place right now and never look back.
Except she couldn't. As much as she'd convinced herself she wanted to pretend he didn't exist anymore and that he was 'no longer her brother', when she had asked her neighbor for the date a few days back, she found herself choking on the realization that it was his birthday, her brother's birthday. He had spent over a year in that place. And he had celebrated his birthday behind bars.
Alice quickly shoved back the wall of guilt threatening to crush her as she focused her energy on staring at the door.
She didn't need to feel guilty about this. Caleb had done terrible things. He had ditched their family and joined up with a mutant terrorist organization that not only hurt other people, but made her life as a mutant even more difficult than it needed to be. His prejudices were beyond her understanding, and they ran deep, so deep that he'd joined up with Hellfire.
She could feel her fingers curling into a fist with frustration at the thought, of explosions that had killed people, of the cutting comments news reporters and interviewees were throwing right and left. As her emotions got away with her, so did her ability, and suddenly Caleb shot into view.
Alice froze at the sight of him, wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights. It was only when a guard cleared his throat nearby, that Alice jolted out of her trance, the walls and door of the room reappearing to shield her from the sight.
"I'll go in now," she murmured softly, earning a nod from the guard as she slowly pushed open the door, which creaked obnoxiously as she did so. She hesitated for a moment just inside the doorway, letting the door fall shut behind her.