𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐎, the gifted [1]

chapter fourteen

After talking with Renee, who was successful at calming her friend down and soothing her anger, Winona was sat in the infirmary treating a boy's minor injury. She was thoroughly contemplating on staying at the Underground. She didn't want to stay there anymore. Especially not after she found out the real reason that the others had wanted her to stay in the first place.

She finished taping the gauze down over a cut on the boy's arm and smiled. "All done. Now, be careful. I don't want to be seeing you here again, all right?" She said. He nodded and smiled at her. "I'll try my best," Sam said. She nodded, "Mhmm." Sam stood up and walked out of the infirmary. Once he was gone, Winona sighed and relaxed into her seat, closing her eyes.

"You're good at this," Caitlin said as she approached her. Winona was startled and jumped, her eyes snapping open. Caitlin held up her hands. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," she said, taking a seat next to Winona. "It's fine," Winona muttered. "Have you ever consider going into the medical field?" Caitlin asked.

"In case you haven't realized, I kinda can't do that," Winona replied, gesturing about the Underground. Caitlin shook her head. "I meant, did you ever consider going into the medical field? Before all of this happened," she elaborated. "Yes. I mean, I thought about it but I kinda also wanted to be a physicist too. Obviously neither of those things happened," she answered, muttering the last sentence.

"A physicist huh?" Caitlin questioned. Winona shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess. I had trouble figuring it out when I was in high school. At one point, I wanted to be an artist or photographer. I used to like to draw and take pictures. But when college rolled around, I had to really figure it all out. I finally decided on biomedical engineering during my sophomore year. My parents were happy that I had everything figured out. I had one more year of college to go when this all started," Winona answered.

Caitlin hesitated before asking her next question. "Your sister, did she have her life figured out?" She asked. Winona didn't respond for a moment. "She was already in college when I was still in high school. At first she wanted to be a veterinarian. Then after her first year at a community college, she decided she wanted to be a physical therapist," she answered.

"That was some change," Caitlin said. Winona smiled, "That's what my parents said." It grew quiet for a moment. "Were they upset that she changed her mind?" Caitlin asked quietly. "Who, my parents?" Winona asked and Caitlin nodded. Winona shrugged, "Not really. They were always supportive and helpful. They practically forced Elaine to continue living with us while she attended university so that she could save money. They were always thinking ahead like that." Caitlin nodded.

"They seem great," she said and Winona scoffed. "They were. And then they found out that Elaine was a mutant and they kicked her out," Winona said. Caitlin shook her head and looked down. "They were about to kick me out too. They were afraid that I might have been a mutant also. I mean, Elaine and I are both adopted and they didn't know who either of our biological parents were. It was possible. It's kind of why I don't like using my powers too much," Winona said bitterly.

Caitlin looked at her intensely, sensing that the girl would continue, which she did. "I tried to assure them that I wasn't a mutant and convince them not to kick Elaine out. I even said that I'd take that stupid test to see if I had the X gene. They just didn't want to listen. They changed their minds about kicking me out but, not Elaine. I couldn't stay there with them after that and I couldn't leave Elaine by herself. So, we both packed our things and left. And we never looked back," Winona concluded.

It became silent again for a long moment. The silence was beginning to grow unbearable and Winona fidgeted her seat. "I'm sorry," Caitlin whispered. Winona sighed softly. "Don't be. It's not your fault. I don't even know why I told you all that," she replied. Winona wiped under her eyes and felt the wet tears. She hadn't realized that she was crying.