My Short Stories

Blindsided

 I am standing in a field on the outskirts of a forest. Hazel stands beside me, there is a stern expression on her face. The one she makes when she knows a battle is upon us. A dark figure slowly approaches us, one enshrouded in darkness and shadow. Their face is hidden and yet, it feels as though I know them. Decay trails behind them like a loyal dog refusing to leave their side. After them, the grass turns brown and dry, the leaves on the trees disintegrate then their wood begins to rot. The colour fades from the landscape, even the sky seems to darken.

The figure suddenly stops in its tracks, but the death keeps spreading. Soon the ground beneath my feet has lost all life. I shift my weight and hear the crunch of the lifeless grass I stand on. I look at the figure. Their hood casts a shadow enshrouds their face, but I can still see their sinister smile.

 I wake up in a cold sweat once again. These premonitions are really beginning to annoy me. When I became a mutant, I liked the fact that I could levitate or create illusions, but I could really do without this whole precognition thing. Not to mention that I now have a third eye. That is probably my least favourite thing. Living at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters really helps with all of that though. I know I am not alone and there are plenty of others here who's physical mutations are a lot harder to hide.

 I head downstairs and find Hazel waiting for me. She would be considered one of the misfits. She is Wolverine's daughter, though you couldn't tell by looking at her. She would normally be considered quite beautiful if it wasn't for her giant bat-like wings, reptilian eyes, scaly arms and claw-like fingers. She could tear me apart without breaking a sweat. Luckily, I'm on her good side.

"Have another vision, Stark?" she asks as we walk to get breakfast.

"How can you tell?" I ask.

"Your third eye gives it away. Has more of a darker shade of purple to it after you've seen something" Hazel glances up at it, then takes a long sip of coffee from a mug that reads 'I hate Mondays' which she stole from our friend Elana.

"I really hate that thing sometimes."

 Later, I meet up with Hazel and Elana after my classes are finished.

"Just had the strangest conversation with my brother," Elana says, as though it is something normal. But her only brother has been dead for two years.

 But that's her power. Talking to the dead, manipulating darkness, but I feel that there is more she can do. Something she hasn't told us.

"He was saying that he wishes he could come back. The accident wasn't his fault. God, I wish I could bring him back to life. I would do anything to have Mason by my side again."

"That's just one of those things that you have to accept. But at least you can talk to him. Others don't get that chance.

 She takes a long sigh before saying "Yes, I suppose you're right."

 The clock in the main room chimes for one o'clock and is heard throughout the school. It's time for training. Elana slips out of the room and heads up to her dorm. That's not an unusual thing. Her powers are more mental and she does not enjoy training, so she usually skips it.

***

 Once we come back in Elana rushes down to see us. There is a look of immense excitement on her face, although I don't know what could have possibly happened in the short time that everyone was training. She looked as though she would burst if she could no share what happened immediately.

"When you were gone I was trying to speak to Mason, but Death came to me instead- "

"You died?" I ask, concerned.

"No, it was almost like a personification of death. I think he might be like the grim reaper or something. Anyways, he told me that I could do more with my powers than I could ever imagine. I could bring people back from the dead! All I would need to do is find an equal exchange. Guys, I can bring Mason back!"
"Elana I don't think that is a good idea. There is a certain balance to the universe."

"That's why there is an exchange, a life for a life."

"You would have to kill someone? You can't do that. We're heroes, we save lives, not take them."

"But I have thought this through. I would just go to the hospital and pull the plug on someone who is going to die soon anyway. It won't make a difference. I would be fixing things. Mason was never supposed to die. I would be putting things back to the way they were."
"But what about the family of the person you kill? You didn't think about how they would feel,"

"I thought you would at least be on my side, Hazel. I could bring back your mother next."

Hazel pauses for a moment as if considering Elana's offer. "I can't," she says slowly. "Not when I know how it feels to lose that loved one. How it would feel for the family of whoever's life you take. We are not gods Elana, we don't get to choose who lives or dies. I understand your pain, I really do, but you don't know what you're doing. And how do you know this 'personification of death' person can be trusted? They could just be getting you to take innocent lives, so they don't have to get their hands dirty."

Elana's face becomes red as she wells with anger. She rushed down the hallways and out the back door, Hazel and I in close pursuit behind her. She brings us to the forest on the edge of the property. As soon as we step in, the woods seem darker than they normally would at this time of day. Elana is probably casting shadows in hopes that we will get lost. 

"I'll fly above the trees and try to see her," Hazel says. Without waiting for a reply she is gone. I doubt I could speak anyways, my chest is heaving too much. I am not used to doing this much running. 

I keep sprinting in what seems like the way out of this forest. I finally reach a grassy clearing to find Hazel waiting for me. After catching my breath I can finally look at my surroundings properly. I realize that I have seen this place before. This is what my premonition was about.

I take my place beside Hazel, and see the same look on her face from hours before. 

"Elana, we know you are here. Show yourself," I yell. Somehow, knowing the dark, sinister-looking figure is my friend makes me more afraid than I was before. 

She finally reveals herself, looking like a cloud of darkness. 

I watch the scene before me unfold once again.