A Rogue's Tale

When I Was Normal: Part 1

This is mostly a flash back chapter, but this first scene involves Tara and Rogue. We'll be seeing a lot of her in this story. She's an original character I created strictly for this particular story.

Well, enough babbling, on with the story.

The night air was warm, but Rogue covered herself with a thick jacket with a hood to conceal her appearance as she raced down the street. She didn't want to leave town without at least saying goodbye to her best friend. Tara Vaughn had been just that for the last year or so.

They had met on Tara's first day of school, when she and her family had moved there from West Orange, New Jersey. Rogue didn't have any close friends until Tara showed up. They were two outcast Goth chicks who didn't care much about popularity clicks and became a threesome when Bruno Camp, Tara's boyfriend from New Jersey followed her to Caldecott a month later to the dismay of Tara's parents. In fact, she went out of her way to piss them off and reveled in their disapproval.

Rogue reached Tara's house and climbed up the roof to her friend's bedroom window. Looking inside to see Tara on her phone and pacing back and forth. Rogue gently tapped on her window, and Tara quickly turned to see Rogue's disoriented face through the cloudy glass. The phone she had been holding slipped out of her hand and dropped onto the floor. A faint voice could be heard for a second or two before the phone went silent. Not wasting anymore time, the dark-haired girl quickly raced over to the scene and opened the window as quickly as she could to let her friend inside.

"Rogue, what the hell!" Tara said confused as she helped her friend inside.

"Hey, Tara," Rogue said as she gave her friend a sorrowful look.

"What happened to you tonight?" Tara asked as she helped Rogue inside. "After what happened with Cody, Bruno and I tried to find you. This bald guy in a wheelchair was asking all sorts of questions."

"What did you tell him?" Rogue asked looking frightful.

"There wasn't much to tell, only that you freaked out after Cody passed out and took off." Tara stopped for a moment. "They seemed really...concerned, especially the bald guy... What was his name again...? Xavier, that's it."

"Anything else, Tara?" Rogue asked her.

"No, just that his team... the X-Men," Tara said, fishing for an answer. "Yeah, that's what he called them."

"X-Men, then this guy... this Xavier, he's with them!" Rogue became agitated at the mention of the X-Men. "Tara, ya can't trust 'em. They tried to kill me." She thought for moment at the things that happened that night. "At least ah think they did."

"Rogue, calm down," Tara said and walked over to her door and made sure it was locked. "There, just in case." She walked back over to Rogue. "What are you afraid of?"

"That they'll come after me again," Rogue said, a tear escaping her eye. "The reason ah came here tonight was to tell ya that ah'm leavin'."

"Leaving? Where are you going to go?" Tara asked.

"Ah don't know," she said as she paced around the room slowly. "Ah just know ah can't stay here, 'cause ah heard my aunt Irene talkin' an' they might be lookin' for me."

Tara turned to embrace her friend but Rogue backed off. "Tara, don't." She looked confused by Rogue's words. "It's just not safe."

"Because you're a mutant?" Tara asked, and Rogue looked shocked and scared. "I don't care about that." Tara tried to be reassuring, but after all Rogue had been through that night, she didn't want to take a chance at hurting her friend. "You're still my friend. You're still Rogue."

"It's not that," Rogue said, hanging her head in shame. "My skin, it's not safe t'touch. What happened with Cody, ah did it. Ah didn't mean to, but..."

"You mean you knocked him out with a touch?" Tara looked astounded.

"Sort of," Rogue said, sitting down on Tara's bed. "It's kinda hard to explain my powers. Ah don't even understand 'em yet."

"Just try," Tara said, but there was a sudden fear in Rogue's eyes. "Rogue, I'm not going to judge you."

At that moment, Rogue felt she could truly trust Tara with this secret. "It's like...ah kinda was him. Ah absorbed him. It's the only way to explain it. His personality was so strong at first that ah couldn't really control it, but then he started to fade away. The freakiest part is that a part of him is still in here... in my head."

"That is freaky," Tara said, trying to absorb all of what Rogue was telling her. "I hate to think what people will do when they find out what you can do."

"That's why ah have t'get out of here, but ah didn't want t'leave without tellin' ya first. You're my best friend, Tara. Ah just didn't want ya t'hate me for leavin' ya."

"I wouldn't," Tara said, walking over to her dresser. She pulled out a small box and walked back over to sit down next to Rogue. "Here." She handed Rogue the box. "You could use this more than me right now."

Rogue opened the box to reveal a wad of bills. "Wait a minute," Rogue said, looking over at Tara in shock. "Ah can't take this. Wasn't this the money you were savin' for your trip to Europe?"

"Who needs Europe?" Tara said, whipping her hand in the air. "You're more important. Besides, I'd feel better knowing you had money for a motel and food, at least until you figure out where you're going."

"Thanks, Tara," Rogue said, this time not backing out of her embrace. "Ah let ya know where ah am, okay." She left by the window. Rogue felt guilty about leaving her best friend behind, but she couldn't ask her to uproot herself and go off gallivanting with her into the unknown. Plus, being both minors they would have been considered runaways. On her own it would be much easier to hide, and Tara didn't know the meaning of the word inconspicuous.

To Be Continued...