They both looked confused at what I said, but then I guess saying it myself, it didn’t feel familiar to me, but just that one name seemed to burst the flood banks of memories from so long ago, I couldn’t really remember much at the moment, hopefully more would come back to me soon,
'When I was younger, I had lots of test done by my parents because they clearly thought there was something wrong with me, one time when I was waiting for us to leave, I was sat in the waiting room and a boy came in and sat down near me, I was shocked to learn that he was just like me, wings and everything, I can’t remember what happened later on, but I'm guessing it might have something to do with how I got away from my parents' I found a certain weight had been lifted of my shoulders, but how it got there I'm not sure, since I've been here a lot of things have popped up about me and my past, perhaps it might be easier if I left here and just went away somewhere else where they couldn’t find me, but then I wasn’t sure how they found me in the first place,
'Well Erik, I think it's time we have a look for this Arthur, I must admit your powers are rather unique but when your invisible I can't reach your mind, that’s where the problem lies, he could be in that state and I won’t be able to find him at all, especially if he thinks we are on to him'
'Oh I think he is definitely aware that we know about him now, so what now, wait till the more memories pop up' that sounded a lot more sarcastic then it should of done, they both shrugged their shoulders, obviously it was the right shade of sarcasm,
'Right then, I'm of to go do some baking before boredom takes over, and I'll give you a shout when they are ready' that was their ready, set, go, as I went to leave the library they stayed put and chatted about nonsense whilst I headed for the kitchen. One of the rarest moments of happiness was with my Nan, she didn’t care about me being different, she just called me her little angel, she used to bake all the time and I picked up a lot from her, one day when I was about 10, she gave me a little notebook with hummingbirds and flowers on it, and inside she wrote down her favourite recipes, shortbread and cakes and tarts, but unfortunately its back at the flat, not that I take it with me everywhere I go, but still, I could still remember a few of them without the book, her banana cake has never left my mind, it must be what gold taste like I use to think when I was younger, I may be changed a few things and added a bit more cinnamon to it, but it still had Nans touch to it, luckily for me the kitchen is well stocked here and scales are a must, she never needed scales half the time, but then she knew the recipes by heart, I had just popped the bananas in the microwave to get them more mushy when I heard the door open, but I was a little surprised to see that it wasn’t Erik or Charles, it wasn’t Hank either, in fact it was a little girl, no older than 10 she poked her head out from behind the door, I think she knew I was in here, because she wasn’t shy towards me, she was actually really chipper, I was completely distracted by her presents,
'Hi' I simply said to her, her smile grew wider as I spoke to her, she then hoped over to see what I was doing, she couldn’t really see much due to her height, but I think she understood anyway,
'Do you want to help me? ' she hesitated a moment before she nodded, so I went over to get a chair and placed it next to me, I helped her up and I got the bananas and placed them in a bowl, I didn’t need to tell her what to do, she got a fork from the draw and started to mash the bananas, she was either really shy or she just decided not to talk to me, which wasn’t such a bad thing, lacking in social skills myself, I think even I would struggle to talk to a child. I didn’t say much to her because I guessed she wasn’t going to reply at all, but whenever we did lock eyes, her face was full of joy, it seemed a bit unusual that she was on her own with me, I would of thought she would be playing with the others, but then what did I know about a normal child's behaviour, but she seemed happy enough, with a touch of cinnamon and a last stir, we prepared to pour the mixture into the tin when someone else entered the kitchen, it was Charles, I held the bowl whilst the little girl scrapped the mixture out,
'The spoons taken Charles, you'll have to take the bowl instead' the little girl looked at Charles with a cheeky smile, he smiled back to her, I sat the little girl up on the work top whilst I put the cake in the oven, I put the timer on and then stood next to the little girl, she was a picture, another one like me, a book that’s bigger on the inside, she was happily licking the spoon whilst Charles set to work on the bowls leftovers,
'Doesn’t she ever talk' he looked at me for a second,
'I mean physically communicate to others' she didn’t seem to mind that I was talking about her, she was far to engrossed in the spoon,
'She is able to, but she just chooses not to, her name is Anna, she was abandoned her a couple of months ago, unlike most parents of mutants, they wanted her to be safe, and they knew they couldn’t give her that safety' how different would I be if my parents were like that, would I be so tough and unsympathetic, I saw a bit of me in her, independent with a major sweet tooth, it didn’t take her to long to the lick the spoon clean, I wiped a bit of it of her nose, she gave me the biggest toothy grin I'd ever seen, after the way we are treated, a smile is as bright as a flower after a bitter winter, god I'm becoming as soft as a marshmallow here, she hoped down of the counter and ran off out of the kitchen, I stood by the oven and watched the cake rise and go brown,
'She likes you Rachel, she said you remind her of her big sister' the thought made me confused, I've never been a role model for anyone, I've been so isolated for most of my life, can I really connect with a little girl like Anna, at least awkward conversations wouldn’t happen, it would just be long silences between us,
' Why won't she talk Charles, did something happen to her? ' I put on some oven mitts and took the cake out of the oven, I waited for him to reply before I checked if the cake was ready,
'She may not seem it, but she is very shy, she is a bit like you I suppose, independent, extremely focused, but she talks to me often, given time she will probably talk to you to, maybe with some encouragement' this seemed like an invitation to stay here permanently, the way he said it was enough to push me back a step,
'So In some way, you want me to raise her, is that it? ' He looked like he was going to agree, but he clearly felt it better not to,
'In a way yes' oh how brave you are, for that I turned invisible for a moment, it was funny to watch him panic for a bit,
'Rachel hang on I'm sorry, all I'm saying is that maybe interacting with Anna here would be beneficial for you' I moved away from the table and slowly walked behind him, I was really going to enjoy this, but before I went in for the attack, Anna came back into the kitchen, she looked around for a moment, maybe she was looking for me,
'Anna my dear, maybe you can find Rachel' that’s right, use the child as a weapon, he knelt down to her level and her eyes instantly came upon me, I don’t know whether she was just looking in this general direction, but she surely couldn’t see me when I’m clearly invisible, she once again smiled and dashed towards me, she went around Charles and hugged my legs, Charles looked around confused,
'Anna? , Anna where are you? ' I looked down at her and she was smiling up at me, was she now invisible too, I was puzzled, probably not half as much as Charles, I tried to stop her from doing so, but Anna reached out for Charles and grabbed hold of his jacket, he was a bit startled when he saw us both, he looked down at Anna then back at me,
'Anna you saw Rachel didn’t you, even though I couldn’t? ' she hugged me tighter and nodded enthusiastically, there was no point in hiding now, I switched back and Anna let go of Charles, she then motioned for me to pick her up, I looked at Charles and he looked at me with delight, I bent down to her and I rested her on my hip, maybe this could work, for a while,
'Anna, shall we show Rachel what you can do? ' she nodded and raised her hand out to a vase of flowers on the table, like magic the flowers began to lift out of the vase, the brightly coloured tulips and roses began to dance in the air, such calm and gentle swaying and swimming in the air, Anna then motioned for them to come closer to us, their stems then began to wrap around each other into a crown shape, then the water on the stems formed perfect dots on the heads of the flowers, you would think they were diamonds the way they shined, the now finished head gear rested in Anna's little hand, she looked at me as if for confirmation on what she did, I was delighted to say the least,
'Anna that was amazing, it's so beautiful ' I don’t think I realised how happy I was, I certainly wasn’t use to it, she then placed the head gear on top of my head, I then looked over at Charles, he was already busy cutting into the cake, he had 3 plates out already for us,
'What do you think Charles? ' He looked at me in the same old caring way as usual,
'Anna my darling that is amazing! , I'm very proud of you' he had the look of a proud father when he spoke to Anna, I'd seen that look a few times before when I had seen children with their parents, my parents never looked at me that way before, so I don’t know how it, but it certainly made Anna happy, I set her down so she could go and get a piece of cake that Charles had cut up for her, she took it over to the table and sat down waiting for us to join her, no matter how happy I felt though, I just couldn’t shake this nagging feeling in me that something bad was going to happen, and this Arthur person was right in the middle of it.
