Us Against the World

Head Under Water

  The sun was right in my face as I was trying to sleep but, eventually, I decided to open my eyes. The time said it was almost noon so I figured it was time to get up. I looked up and found my head on dad's chest which was rising and falling rhythmically. His head was tilted to the side and his eyes were closed so I knew that he was still asleep. Maybe I can sleep for a few more minutes, I thought and nuzzled my face deeper into his chest then closed my eyes. Dad took a deep breath and I could feel him start to stretch. Maybe not, I groaned, realizing that he was waking up. I opened my eyes back up and tilted my head to look up at him. 
  Dad brushed my hair with his fingers, "Morning... How did you sleep?"
  I nodded, "Much better."
  Dad shifted on the couch but he still had his arm around my body so I was still pressed against him. I leaned my head back down on his chest and thought about last night and the nightmare I had.
  "I'm sorry for waking you up last night," I mumbled.
  "I'm sorry you had a bad dream," he shot back at me. "Do you still not want to talk about it?"
  I shook my head, shrugging, "It won't change anything."
  When I looked back up dad, he was pursing his lips in thought then he switched from the subject, "Alright. Well, I'm going to get breakfast started."
  He started to stand up so I slipped off of his chest and I laid up on the couch. "Okay, I'm going to hop in the shower, then," I stated and stood off of the couch. I watched dad walk towards the kitchen so I jogged to my bedroom and grabbed some clean clothes then I got into the shower.
  The water was warm as it ran down my skin and soaked my hair. I didn't realize how stressed out I was until I felt the water relax my muscles. Steam floated in the room and it was so relaxing that I could've fallen asleep but the white noise of the water made it easy to let my mind venture towards my nightmare. It felt so real and I knew that it could happen if I didn't try to do something. The only thing that aggravated me was that I didn't know how to stop it. I wasn't going to watch anyone get hurt in this war so I knew I had to stop it. It was then that I realized that being in the middle was a dying breed. You were either against humans or against mutants; the X-Men were the only ones trying to keep the peace. That only made it harder for us because now two sides were fighting against us as we stood in their way. 
  Finally, I figured that I took a long enough shower so I got out, dried off, blowdried my hair real quick, and changed into some clean clothes. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I could smell the food seep into the room. My feet slapped against the wooden floor as I stepped into the kitchen.
  I gasped, "You made blueberry pancakes!"
  After dad slipped the food onto a plate he shot me a smile and nodded, "I know it's your favorite."
  I blushed and grinned, then I stepped on my tiptoes and gave dad a peck on the cheek, "Thank you."
  The plate clinked when dad set them on the table so we sat down and grabbed the silverware that was on the table. I cut a triangle into the breakfast and slid it into my mouth which made it water almost instantly. I started scarfing the pancakes down but I stopped to take a swig of orange juice, which made more room in my stomach for more pancakes. 
  "You know what would make this better?" I tested.
  "Hm?" dad wondered, still eating the breakfast.
  I smirked, mischievously, "Your death metal playing in the background."
  Logan gave me a sharp look, "It's not 'death metal'."
  I bit my lip innocently, knowing that he didn't actually listen to anything 'death metal', he just liked things such as Metallica, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin. Things like that and related to that he listened to, but it wasn't really my type of music so I liked to tease him about it. "Whatever you say," I mumbled as I took another drink of the OJ.
  "When are you going to let that down?" dad questioned.
  I smiled at him, "When you stop listening to it in the car, on full blast."
  Dad chuckled, knowing very well that he did that and it annoyed me. The conversation died down as it got quiet so dad started another topic, "Jean called today."
  I instantly put my glass down and my eyes flashed with interest, "Oh, really?"
  "Yeah. She said everything was quiet over there," he explained.
  I pursed my lips, "You miss it over there, don't you?"
  Dad eyes quickly shifted to look me in the eyes, "I like it here, don't get me wrong... I just... want to help make a plan."
  I nodded, "I understand... But it's good that it's quiet, right?"
  "It makes me nervous because I don't know what their plans are... I think they're either planning now or they're actually trying to execute an idea of theirs. Either way, I don't like it," he theorized, but it made sense to me. "I don't know, it might be quiet for while," he shrugged.
  "We'll be able to help eventually," I insisted. I started thinking about being at this house and realized that it was my fault we were here. I got into trouble with the police and I didn't know if they were still after me or not but I knew they made it tough for mutants. How are we ever going to get passed this? I started eating quicker so I wouldn't loose my appetite while thinking about it. Soon, we were both done so I took our plates to the kitchen and I let my mind wander again. The best place to help me think was outside, so I turned to Logan, "Hey, dad. I think I left my gloves outside. Can I go get them real quick?"
  "Sure," dad nodded. "Don't be too long. It's really cold outside and I'm surprised the lake hasn't completely frozen up again." 
  I flashed him a smile, "That's what a jacket is for," so I threw my boots on and grabbed my coat. I opened the door and felt the air. It was much colder than yesterday so - after closing the door behind me - I jogged onto the frozen, stiff grass. I glanced around, finally spotting my gloves that I had left, they were by the lake. After I grabbed them, I took the chance to stare out at the lake. It seemed like the body of water was about to freeze over because the edges were frozen from the cold but the waves were still swaying lightly in the lake. The water sparkled against the sun, begging it to warm it up but the sun was slowly disappearing behind the upcoming clouds.
  "It's a nice view," a voice spoke behind me.
  I shot around but saw the familiar face of my father, "You scared me..." I breathed, feeling my heart jump because I was startled at how quiet he was. Then I narrowed my eyebrows because something felt off, "Wait-."
  Too late. The copycat unsheathed its claws and slashed at my stomach, opening a big hole for blood to drain out of. I gasped in shock and pain then I fell to my knees. "Hello, Kris," the voice mocked, then they finally changed back into their original blue-skinned form.
  My whole body was stunned from the pain so I held my stomach to hold the bleeding, but it felt like everything was going to pour out of my abdomen if I didn't hold it. 
  There were more footsteps so I looked up at the familiar red costume with the red cape. It was Magneto, "Ah, good to see you..."
  I bit my lip in agony but anger too, "What do you want?" I managed to rasp. It hurt so bad that I whimpered because of the fatally large gash on my stomach.
  "To tell you the good news!" there was a grin of excitement on his face. "Mutanxes have finally gotten their heads out of their tails and decided to join me. I thought you would like to know. It will also be much harder on your part since I have an army. Now that I have accomplished getting a crew together, the fun will start soon," he explained then shrugged, "Who says the fun hasn't already started? I could be planning to take down those homo sapiens by tomorrow."
  "Wait, wait," I managed to spit out. "Are you sure that they joined you? Because it sounds like you got desperate."
  Magneto gritted his teeth and clenched his fist in obvious anger, "I also came to say that you won't live to see the end of mutants winning. It's actually very humane of me, to kill you before you can witness everyone you love, and everyone you're fighting for, die."
  "You wouldn't," I snapped. Fear caused my heart to beat faster. I wasn't afraid to die - or so I thought - but I was afraid of not being able to help win the war. I needed to help bring peace and I was afraid that my nightmare would come true.
  Magneto glowered over me because I was still on my knees, "I would," he growled then flicked his wrists. I flung back and towards the lake.
  There was a loud splash and I could feel myself being swallowed whole by the lake. The first thing that I processed was how cold it was, then I realized that it was so quiet down here. I tried to get used to the water but I kept sinking down quickly, and it began to get darker until it was almost pitch black as I sank. I needed to get back to the surface, I couldn't die down here! A tremor went through my entire body as I shivered but I pressed my arms down to launch me up. Instead, it made my body weak and aching because of the wound on my stomach. I could not move because of the gash and I couldn't swim up. Come on, I needed to get out of here! I tried to launch up again but I screamed in pain. Of course, it was under water so it only made me loose precious oxygen. Finally, I realized that I couldn't swim up. It was impossible with my wound.
  Eventually, my heart started to beat faster as the shock of the ice cold water seemed to stop everything in me. It felt like I was about to become a Popsicle because of the water. A shiver ran through my entire body. I couldn't move because of the frigid water. I coughed, choking from the lack of air. I was suffocating slowly. Coughing only made more air escape from my lungs and more water swallowed into my lungs. Water launched into my body, which made me even colder and I could feel my body finally give out. I stopped struggling as it got quiet and it seemed to be peaceful as my vision was slowly consumed by darkness.

(The end... Just kidding. It's a friggin - don't know what kind of word that is - cliff hanger! I hate cliff hangers... but this is going to be great. So, what happens? How does she escape? Or does she? She could very well be dead... Find out next time! Also, I'm sorry that this chapter is late, Thanksgiving set me back a little but I'll try to stay on track next time! Thank you so much for reading, vote if you enjoyed and comment what you think might happen next time!
~~~~~ LL2z)