G L O W - ICEMAN {X-MEN}

you

When I awaken my mouth is dry, with an underlying dull metallic taste. I lick my lips once but it doesn't help.

"Alex."
I hear my mother's voice, laced with worry, but it's like I'm underwater and all I can make out is a gurgling version of what she's actually saying. I lick my lips again.

Now that she's convinced I'm awake she begins to frantically whisper my name. I groggily attempt to open my eyes and see the blurry outline of my mother's face hovering over my own; I blink a few times and her face comes into focus. I take her features in for a few seconds. My mother has a petite, fairly thin face, accented by a sharp nose and almond shaped hazel eyes. If it weren't for her curly hair, she might not be as good looking as she is.

Slowly snapping out of my reverie, for the first time I really notice her features . Her eyes are red rimmed, and her hair is a mess, like she's constantly been running her hands though it.

She's looking at me intently, her eyes filled with worry, and I suddenly realise how uncomfortable I am. With a start I realise that I am laying on my bedroom floor. I sit up suddenly and she flinches backwards.

"Mum?" I whisper, and now I try and clear my throat but what I say next comes out as a croak. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" She whispers back, looking unsurely into my own eyes.

I shake my head. My mother takes in a breath and I look up at her. She slowly stands up and as she does so I look around my room for the first time.

A jolty breath escapes me without my permission. My room is barely recognisable; nothing is where I remember leaving it. My bed has been turned over and my mirror completely smashed. My eyes travel across my room slowly until they come to rest on something that turns my body cold.

There is a bloody claw slash across the wall in front of me.

"An animal?" I ask my mum, in a shaky voice that sounds so unlike my own.

My mother looks down at me, tears welling in her eyes. "No," she whispers, "You."