Home Is Where The Mansion Is [Solo]

It probably all started at the end of the last summer.

Elizabeth had received a call from her mother. Uncle Tobias had been involved in a car accident. The driver of a semi had been on the road the entire night, fighting sleep in order to make his delivery on schedule. Bad traffic, he claimed. As he came down the street he finally nodded off, unable to push off sleep for any longer. Yes, he should’ve just pulled over or something and take a nap, but he thought he could stay awake just long enough.

Uncle Tobias had been on his way to go into work early. He was drinking his coffee and halfway across the intersection (since his light was green) when a massive semi barreled into him. He never had a chance. The semi ran right over the car, crushing him completely. The front half of the car was demolished and looked only slightly better than its driver. The occupant was identified only from his wallet and license plate.

When her mother called, Liz had broken down. Uncle Tobias was her favorite uncle. As a little girl, he’d always pull quarters and dollars from behind her ears and praise her “magical ears”. When she spent the night with him and Aunt Leah, he would let her eat ice cream for breakfast (whenever Aunt Leah wasn’t around). He always had time for her and she spent many a weekend at his house. He and Aunt Leah frequently traveled, since they didn’t have any kids, and so their house was full of the oddest stuff. Genuine Chinese Dragon bones in the living room. African witch-doctor masks hanging by the pots in the kitchen. A rock garden with a koi pond in the backyard. A flying carpet in the foyer that nobody knew the magic words for. Uncle Tobias was always fun. She loved him.

And now he was gone.

A full five minutes later, once her sobs had diminished, she agreed to have her mom drive up to get her for the funeral.

Taking mostly just black clothing and Nico, Liz was ready the next day. They made it back home in time for the viewing, held in the local Baptist church her Uncle and Aunt attended. It could’ve been a joyous occasion, being able to see family members for the first time in years. After all, her family was spread all throughout New England, Oregon, Texas, and Alabama. Cousins she’d forgotten, relatives-in-law she’d never met before, tiny little babies she’d only heard about; it could’ve still been a nice time. And it probably was--for other friends and family of Uncle Tobias. But not for Liz. It was like losing a much older brother. Her tears never stopped flowing.

In fact, unaware of it as she was, due to her mind being full of the image of the closed-casket that contained her uncle, she was the reason that nobody heard any birds or bugs during the entire funeral. It was the first time in the history of the funeral that the animal residents had mourned the loss of a man as well.

Then the party happened. Uncle tobias had always tried to make everyone happy, and so he’d always talked about having a party when he died, because he didn’t want anyone to be sad. But it didn’t work for Liz. She had spent the entire time, sitting on the end of the couch in the corner with Uncle Tobias’ two German Shepherds at her feet, trying to hide her face from everyone. If anyone noticed that the two dogs never moved from their spot the entire time, or that the koi in the pond in the back seemed to be hiding, or that the neighbors’ dogs never once barked in complaint of all the noise and strange people at the house, then they certainly never attributed it to the grieving girl on the couch.

When the party finally ended and everyone went home, Liz went straight to her room, never once noticing how the cat fled her arrival, despite its regular friendliness toward even strangers. She had cried for hours before just sitting up and rocking back and forth. A chunk of her life was gone. Intellectually, she knew everything would be okay, but it was Uncle Tobias! It wasn’t going to be okay!

Liz cried herself to sleep that night, and when her mother peeked in to check on her, her pillow was stained with tears.

The slumbering teen slowly ceased her fling with the Sandman. Cracking her eyes open carefully, lest they be seared by the sun, she was slightly surprised that only faint moonlight filtered in through her blinds and curtains. Rolling over onto her back, Elizabeth tilted her head until she could see the window.

The common sight of the lights from a quiet neighborhood at night softly shone onto her ceiling. Tossing her head to the other side of her pillow, she managed to look at her alarm clock. 12:43 am. She returned her gaze to the ceiling with a sigh. An entire day wasted. Asleep. But it wasn’t really a waste, now, was it? She barely remembered running from breakfast and crying. Waking up and hugging her aunt and crying. Crying until she could cry no more. And now...now she didn’t feel like crying.

It felt like there was a sheer curtain in front of Liz now, with the empath on one side and the accident on the other. Still there, just within reach, but not harsh or scalding. Like her curtains kept the worst of the sunlight out during the day. Maybe all she had needed was a good, long sleep. She had definitely been emotionally exhausted, if not physically. Or maybe she’d just needed to get it all out. And there had been so much of it.

Liz flipped over onto her side. Sometime while she was asleep, someone had put a cover over Nico’s cage. Not a peep could be heard from him. She allowed herself to smile at the thought of her bird. How content he must be, being home once again after so long at the mansion....

Unasked for, yet not pushed away, memories of her year began pushing to the front of her mind.

There was that first moment, when she and her mom were given a tour of the mansion by Fade. And that first encounter with Carrick. That was a particularly fond memory. she could still remember the sheen of light on his golden feathers and that sparkle of mischief in his multi-colored eyes.

Then there was Haylee and memories of talking late at night with Oreos and milk. Memories of reaching out and befriending Agnes. Of talking to Amber. To Carrick. Spending time with friends. Experimenting with powers. Eating bird seed with Carrick. Possessing a German Shepherd. Angua. A crow. A lizard. Meeting Mirror. Rachel. Others. Warm, positive feelings bubbled up inside of Liz and she smiled for the first time in days.

But then came the other memories, once the floodgates were open. Getting kidnapped by muggers. Rescued by Carrick. Held hostage by gunmen at the movies. Being rescued by Meld, her shiny and metallic savior. The time when she and Amber had scared off the creepy man with the killer deathworms. That other time when she and Amber had fallen beneath an angry mob of mutant-haters, only to be rescued by a size-shifting man. The church service that ended with a massive fire. That evening that would’ve been a nice semi-date with Carrick, but turned out with her being nearly mauled by a lion-man. And the time she and Angua had watched their newfound friend be burnt to death, for the sole purpose of existing and being itself.

The memories fought amongst themselves, vying to take up the most room. That lovely moment there. The gut-wrenching second there. The terrifying experience over there. That happy time then. But despite their lack of uniformity, Liz, in her self-reflective state, picked out two connected threads that wove everything together. One, she was nearly constantly in danger. And two, she could never get by on her own. Not once, in all those traumatizing events, had she been able to rescue herself. Not once. Despite all the learning to use her abilities and such she was supposed to have accumulated over the year, none of it did any good. Possessing an animal? Oh yeah, like that would stop bullets and fire. Screaming for help? Like that worked against the lion. Kicking, hitting, slapping? That worked for two seconds against the kidnappers.

With those two plucked threads, Liz decided. I can’t go back to the mansion. Or else she’d end up like Uncle Tobias; killed in a tragic, unavoidable accident. how would her parents take that? As it was, they never knew what had happened to her in New York. Since there had never been any real damage and the scenarios could (hopefully) never occur again, she had conveniently “forgotten” to mention them. Besides, her parents would’ve pulled her out of school.

But maybe that would’ve been better. Then those things could never have happened to her. And she wouldn’t have made those friends either...It didn’t matter. If something would ever happen to her, something that not even DocProf could fix, then her parents would be destroyed. I’m doing this for them, she told herself. She half believed it. I just can’t go back. I can’t end up like Uncle Tobias.

The school year started off most wonderfully. Junior year. She was an upperclassman. This was going to be her year to shine. Seniors had their minds focused on college and their futures, but juniors only had to look forward to being seniors. In the meantime, Liz was going to enjoy every moment of the new year.

Having been enrolled weeks before the year started, Liz started right on time with everybody else. And it had been the biggest surprise to her friends. She had kept her return a secret and the surprise on everyones’ faces made Elizabeth feel like her decision had been well worth it. Emily had remained attached to her side during all four of their shared classes, and that had been after she had greeted the returning blonde with a flying tackle.

Fortunately, due to her high grades at the Mansion, and based on recommendations from her 9th grade teachers, Liz had been able to skip the summer reading work required for her AP classes. As much as a relief as that was, Liz still had a bit of catching up to do in the classes. But she did it. She wasn’t one to procrastinate or put off work without a good reason. That’s one of the reasons she ranked number eleven in her grade, even after a year’s absence.

Even with her extensive workload at school, she joined the volleyball team in the fall. She got involved in Beta and the school’s peer-tutoring program. She even got a part-time job at the local pound and was working on getting her driver’s liscense. All in all, it was looking to be everything she wanted out of the school year.

But even at home, things were looking brighter than they had before Liz had enrolled at Xavier’s Sister School. The Fuzz was slowly starting to come around to her (after a constant, shameless flow of treats and goodies). Her parents seemed to smile more. Aunt Jane began spending more time with the trio, coming over at least once a week for dinner and talking. Liz had even managed to clean out the attic and had hosted a yard sale all by herself. $132 made its way into the family’s pockets that day.

Elizabeth also constantly worked on her powers, too. The pound was an excellent place for that. After all, if she could hold it together after spending hours with all those poor, dejected animals, and still be able to smile, then she could handle anything. In theory. And her boss always said that the animals always seemed much happier whenever Liz was working. They usually managed to get more of them adopted at the same time, too.

Thanksgiving came and went. The Sundance clan went to Elizabeth’s grandparents house for dinner along with Aunt Jane, her father’s two brothers and sister, and all of their kids as well. It was wonderful seeing that part of the family together again for a happy occasion. And the Black friday shopping the next day was excellent as well.

Finals at school came up and Liz busted her butt off in study for them. She aced them all, even her original piano composition for Orchestra. All three kids that she tutored on Tuesdays and Thursdays passed their finals too. It had made her so proud.

Finally, Christmas arrived. No description could do it justice.

All in all, that first semester turned out to be the greatest one Liz had ever had, both at school and at home. She’d made many friends, gotten involved in many things, and generally had a blast the entire time. And she had never been in danger. Nobody had shot, kidnapped, assaulted, scared, or otherwise brought harm to her in any way. Everything was perfect!

Until second semester.

Elizabeth did not hear from Russell for the rest of the night.

In the morning, while waiting in her living room for Russell to come by and pick her up for school, she turned on the news, expecting on to catch a little bit of it before her boyfriend would should up. Fifteen minutes later, during the morning traffic report, he had not arrived. A quick text queried as to where exactly the boy was. No reply.

Liz ended up driving to school herself and made it to class a single second before the tardy bell rang.

Throughout the class, Liz noticed something strange. Russell wouldn’t look at her. Not even once. He never even passed a note over. In fact, he seemed to be sitting as far away from her as possible while still remaining in his desk. It felt like there was a cold wall between them.

But the frosty glares from the majority of her classmates whenever the teacher looked away were even worse.

Everywhere she went that morning treated her with the same effect. The open hostility on faces as she walked by. The way clusters of kids would fall silent as she passed. The way sweet little Alicia nearly shrieked in terror when Liz helped her pick up her fallen books. The scowls from classmates. How students completely ignored her in class discussions. How the freshmen stared at her warily, like antelope stared at a curious lion.

And Russell never once even looked her way, except for the burning, smoldering, yet frigid, distant gaze he gave her exactly once in Government when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Unsurprisingly, he did not join Liz and her friends at lunch. But that’s when her friends gave her the low-down.

“Is it true what everyone’s saying?” Emily asked quietly. Derreck and the others just looked at Elizabeth, identical expressions of hurt on their faces.

“Is what true?” the blonde replied.

“That you’re...a mutant?”

The world froze. Wha-huh? How on Earth did--? Oh my gosh, what will--? Who di--? “Russell,” she stated, keeping her voice firm, despite its longing to quiver. The girl blinked and lowered her head so she was staring right at the table. “Yeah, I am.”

An explosion of emotions erupted from the admission. Amy was furious that Liz had never told any of them, her best friends! Emily felt pain, hurt by the very same fact, nearly to the point of tears. Julia, her eyes full of sympathy, said nothing but reached over to grasp Elizabeth’s hand. Derreck just looked away. Elizabeth....well, she could do nothing. She gripped Julia’s hand tightly and then lowered her head even further, sinking into her seat and fighting the tears.

Yeah, she should’ve told them. But she’d promised her parents that she’d never tell anyone. And a Sundance always kept her promises. And maybe she just wanted to be normal, like everyone else. She was still a teenager just like them, right? Even though she’d betrayed them. And now the whole school knew her secret.

But a low, calmly stated question brought her head up. “Is the rest of it true, then?” Derreck asked.

“What else?” Liz whispered.

“Did you try to sleep with him? By using your mutant mind powers?”

“What? No...oh God!” Horror and despair wrenched her voice and Liz dropped her head into her face. There was nothing to hold back the tears and the sobs. “Thank God,” she heard Derreck’s ay, just a moment before his strong arms wrapped around her, rubbing her back as she turned her sobs toward his chest.

She heard her other friends as well. “We knew that stuff Russell was saying isn’t true,” Julia told her. She left out the fact that Elizabeth’s mutated status had been true. Liz could’ve kissed her for that. “And we’ve got your back.” And Liz knew that they did.

The year passed laboriously for Elizabeth. People who didn’t know her at all generally shrank away or cringed or otherwise avoided her gaze whenever she passed them in the halls. Fear of her powers manifested itself in the horror of their faces. Liz could always tell, even without being able to sense their emotions. But it still felt like she was drowning in hostility, smothering in enemy territory.

She kept away from her locker. She lugged her books around with her backpack all day long lest they suffer from various substances students would slip into her locker. Damage from condiments packets from the cafeteria and honey from home had such barely been avoided. The locker itself had already been repainted twice, just to get rid of all of the horrific insults and messages that magically appeared in the ink of a Sharpie. It was easier to just stay away from it.

Liz took to wearing hoodies and jackets, even if she wasn’t cold. She wanted to hide her hair from anybody who would try to plant things in it. She’d dealt with chewing gum already. Her apparell began trending towards navys, greys, and black; it was easier to try to blend in with everyone else than to stand out in beautiful, brightly colored dresses and outfits. The less attention she attracted, the better off she was.

Somehow Russell’s influence remained strong, even in the face of people’s memories and beliefs about her. People she’d gone to school with, had had classes with, for up to seven or more years withdrew from her, believing the lies. She’d heard there was a Facebook page up about her, started by some loyal acolyte of Russell’s.

If only she’d never met the boy. Now, Liz had no idea what she’d seen in him. Yes, he was attractive, but, as the old saying went. beauty was only skin-deep. Despite the thrall he seemed to have over everyone, Liz alone knew the truth about him. Beneath that Greek god-like exterior lurked a terrible, traitorous, twisting-the-knife-in-your-back-as-he-shakes-your-hand jerk!

Fortunately, her friends still stuck by her, but even they soon began attracting flak. Guilty by association at its finest. Her life felt like a William Golding novel. The only thing left was to be speared by a pack of stupid, emotion-driven, ignorant kids. She was confident that no navy officer was going to miraculously appear in time to save her. Not with her luck.

In fact, with all the things she’d gone through, this was the worst. Even when kidnapped or nearly killed, there’d always been hope. Whether salvation came quickly in the form of a beautiful gryphon, a dead dinosaur, or even a cyborg woman, hope was always just around the corner. But two months of emotional agony proved that her luck had expired. Russell and his poisonous tongue had not abruptly moved away or become smacked by a bus. No, he still sat on the throne of the school, running everything and everyone.

Including her.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it. A few of the newer faculty members actually believed the stuff. But even after her parents had talked to the principals and the counselors and all of her teachers, nothing had changed. Administration cannot stop the spread of gossip and the tendency to believe a lie. Some kids had gotten detention, white cards, and suspensions due to their more blatant displays of antagonism towards the mutant, but most got by with their torments, but only because they were craftier and left little evidence.

Giving in to ancient instincts, Liz chose to flee such confrontations rather than fight. Not only was she rather poor at fighting, but it could get her into trouble as well and she refused to give anybody that satisfaction. Also, if she fought back, people would only become more convinced that they were right and that she was fighting due to her being guilty. As illogical as it is, that is the way of human nature.

She sat in the back corner of every class. she stopped answering teachers’ questions. She never went to the bathroom at school, managing to always hold it until she got home. Her parents picked her up each day and also took her to school so she wouldn’t have to worry about her car. Emily, Derreck, Julia, and Amy would walk in a circle around her between classes, protecting her from people. They sat all around her at lunch as well, in the far corner of the cafeteria. She skipped out on school-wide events, hiding in a sympathetic teacher’s classroom until the end of the day or the assembly was over. She always walked with her head down and had taken to bringing her iPod to school, so she could listen to music instead of insults and slander.

She just wanted to be invisible and left alone.