"What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it."
- C.S. Lewis
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Elizabeth Grace's POV
I'm still thoroughly freaked out by the time we reach... well, wherever we're going. My rescuer carries me inside a building that looks like a hotel of some type. He walks into one of the rooms and sits me down on a sofa.
You would think I'd want to look up and see his face. In all honesty, I do. However, at this point, both of my contacts have fallen out. I'm scared that he'll... be just like those other men and try to hurt me the moment he sees them.
"It's alright, little one. You're safe now."
I don't quite know what to say. Everything is so overwhelming. Mum... is dead. I watched her die. Now, I'm with the man that rescued me. I don't know the first thing about him.
"Don't be frightened," he continues. "Look at me."
I still don't look up. I'm too scared to. I'm practically shaking at this point. Everything inside me screams to keep my head down—and not to dare to look him in the eye.
"What makes you so afraid to look up—to look at me?"
"M-m-my eyes..."
"What's wrong with them? Can you not see?"
"No. I-I-I can see. It's just..."
"It's alright. Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm not going to hurt you. You are safe."
Finally, I look up. Before me is a man that's probably about the same age as my dad. He has reddish-brown hair and blue eyes. He looks like he's probably been through a lot in his life.
"I see now," he says. "Oh, they're lovely."
"Who are you?" I ask.
"My name is Erik. What's yours?"
"Elizabeth."
"Well, Elizabeth, I'm sure you have a lot of questions... like why any of this happened today."
"Because I'm a m-mu... muta... m-"
"Mutant."
"Yeah."
"What is it you can do?"
"Huh?"
"What's your mutation? I can see your eyes, but what can you do?"
"A lot of things with my mind."
"Can you show me?" I don't respond. "You think it will scare me away... don't you?" I nod my head. "Well, don't worry. It won't."
"Are you sure?"
Mr. Erik nearly jumps out of his skin. It's not everyday that you hear someone else's voice in your head. Well, at least for most people. He quickly settles back down and looks at me in awe.
"That's amazing... a telepath."
Once again, I nod my head. Dad told me that word as well. That's what I am. I found out about it a few months ago. He said my powers developed really really young. It somewhat shocked him.
"Why did... Why did that bullet stop? Did you do that?"
He smiles and raises his hand. As he does, a lamp floats in the air behind him. It remains still in midair just as the bullet did.
"Woah..." I say in awe.
"I control metal. Clearly, you're a telepath... however, you seem to be able to do a bit more than you think."
"No. I mean yes... but..."
"But what?"
"D-dad says it's dangerous."
"Dangerous? What happened to those men... was that you?"
"I didn't- I wasn't trying to- I never wanted to-"
My words become stifled by tears. It's possible that I don't even quite know what happened. Everything within my head is so jumbled right now.
"Shhhh. It's ok. It's alright. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I-I-I don't know. I just- I-I was scared. I-"
"Alright. Alright. How about we get you into some clothes that aren't bloodied and get something to eat? Sound good?"
I nod my head slowly. Obviously, he doesn't have clothes that are gonna fit me here, and my dress has enough blood on it to be noticeable. He makes do by grabbing one of his coats to cover it up until we can find something.
We are about to leave when I stop. Mr. Erik looks back at me in confusion. He kneels down so that he's eye to eye with me.
"What's wrong?"
"My-my eyes. What if they see my eyes?"
"You don't have to be ashamed of them."
"I'm scared."
"I know you're afraid now, but one day, you'll be proud of those eyes."
"They got my mum killed."
"No," he responds immediately, taking me gently by my shoulders. "Those men are responsible for this, not you. Don't be ashamed of those beautiful eyes."
"But I-"
"Ok. Alright. Here." He lifts his sunglasses off of his own face and places them gently on mine. "There. No worries."
I follow him out the door. Mr. Erik looks around for a moment, I'd assume making sure we weren't followed. He holds out his hand towards me, and I take it. It doesn't take us too long to find something for me to change into. Soon, I'm out of my blood-stained clothes and into something new.
Mr. Erik keeps looking over his shoulder everywhere we go. I think he might be a little scared too. Of course, if I could do what he could do, I don't know that I'd have very much to be scared of.
Before long, we are right back in the room. I clean myself up some more after all that's happened today. Mr. Erik still looks nervous. Without even thinking about what I'm doing, I access his mind to attempt to calm him... What I actually do is quite the opposite.
I don't even know how I did it, but I end up in the wrong part of his mind. I hear screaming, gunshots, a bent gate, and so much more than I ever wanted to see. I feel his anger, rage, despair... I feel it all. He jumps up as I tumble to the floor, still pretty shocked.
"What did you just do?" he snaps.
"I-I didn't mean to. I was trying to..."
It was like reliving my memory in a different person's shoes. His mum was killed too. Like me, he witnessed it. It... it was awful. I saw experiments. There was a horrible man that did horrible things to him. I... I saw... all of it—felt all of it.
He sighs and picks me up off the floor. He sits me down on a sofa. It dips a bit as he sits down beside me.
"You were in my mind."
"Y-y-yes, sir."
"What did you see?"
"Everything," I tell him, in tears at this point.
I'm lifted into his lap. He wraps me in his arms and pulls me to his chest. He does his best to calm me.
I look down at his wrist. There are numbers on it. He flinches slightly as I reach down and run my fingers along the numbers; however, he never moves his wrist away.
"It frightened you, didn't it?"
"Yes... Who... Who were they?"
"Wicked people."
"Why did they hurt you?"
"Because I was different from them."
"A mutant?"
"Sort of, yes."
"Who was that man?"
"His name is Klaus Schmidt. He is a doctor."
"Why did he..."
"Why did he what?"
"Your-your mum. Why did he hurt her?"
"Because I wouldn't do what he wanted."
"Like my mum."
It's finally sunk in now. The shock has left me, and everything has become real. My mum is gone. She's dead. She's not coming back. I find myself crying once again.
I hear Mr. Erik sigh again. He is sad—like me. I can feel his sorrow and pain. His sorrow is not only from reliving his painful memories—but because of my own cries as well. He does something I don't quite expect. He begins singing softly.
"Odpocznij moje dziecko
Dzień się skończył
Słońce zaświeci
Gdy przyjdzie poranek
Ale teraz jest ciemno i świat jest spokojny
Więc daj odpocząć oczom swym i zaśnij
Więc daj odpocząć oczom swym i zaśnij
Więc daj odpocząć oczom swym i zaśnij"
When he ends his song, though my heart is certainly still heavy, and I'm still sniffling, my true tears have stopped. My eyes become droopy. It's occurred to me that it's fairly late... and I'm starting to become very tired.
Seeing my tired eyes, he gently stands up with me in his arms and lays me down on the sofa. He takes a spare pillow from the bed and puts it under my head. He puts a blanket over me and tucks me in. It doesn't take long before my eyelids close, and I give into sleep.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Song: Comatose by Skillet (violin cover)
Uploaded by: Nadya Derkozlieva
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Quick Author's Note:
I do not speak Polish! I checked various sources to find this song and the ones I found agreed that this is how it is written. If it is wrong, please tell me. If you find errors, let me know and tell me how to fix them.