(X-Holiday) Atlantis...Part 19

The roar wind and oppressive heat assaulted his senses for so long. The concussive yells of police through bullhorns demanding his surrender. Armies of people screaming “Freak, Muti “ and other vulgar slurs at him for simply existing. Running, through the streets with fear beating in his heart and blood thumping in his ears from hate gangs that threatened to string him up. His legs burned through the effort to stay ahead of those who would murder him for being different but it took all he had to just stay upright. A simple question rolled through his exhausted mind over and over between each errant breath that struggled to escape his lips. “Why do they hate us.”

Colin hadn’t been alone at first. There had been a group of them living on the streets just trying to scrape by. Even among other mutants he was considered unnatural. He set others on edge, losing their powers in his proximity so he kept his distance always living on the fringes of what every group or rag tag bunch of desperate low lives could use him.

This cycle had repeated for months and Colin was beginning to break under the stress and terror of it all. Colin was a coward by nature. Always needing to be protected and looked after through high school. When his powers manifested he became an outcast, a pariah to those who he once called friend but everyone in his situation had a similar story so he was nothing new.

Somehow he had got caught up in something he didn’t understand. He was now considered a refugee from some country he couldn’t remember. The bump on his head made his memory hazy and hard to concentrate. Colin didn’t understand how he was in a dark alley one minute and then in a dark forest the next. When he was able he lifted himself to his feet and ran in a random direction deeper into the forest trying to outpace the terror gripping him so tightly.

Stumbling to the ground, Colin called into a ball next to a large tree and muttered under his breath over and over. “Its not real, Its not real, Its not real.” All the while unaware that he was in a building full of mutants and other meta physical entities under the ocean.

Colin awoke with a start, not immediately recognising his surroundings. The dreams were just getting worse which stole his sleep like a n invisible thief in the night. Colin rubbed his eyes with his coat and leaned against the nearest tree. He took a deep breath in efforts to relax and chase away the nagging pain in his brain. Being so close to so many mutants was not helping his mood or his ability to sleep.

He closed his eyes and could see little flickering lights behind his eyes. Each one a mutant or person with a metaphysical ability. Colin would sometimes draw patterns in those lights like the children game connect the dots but now he just wished they would go away so he could rest. With so many present Colin had reduced his abilities to suppress powers to as small an area as possible in order to remain undetected. The problem as that the few moments of sleep he could catch made his control slip and his power reset to its usual state. It frustrated him to no end but he was so tired.