for muse_write
[Make a decision. This or That]
The whole event is surrounded by gawkers. Come to stare at the zoo, Rogue smirks to herself. Bitterness rises up in her and she quells the urge to snap, to hit someone and to yell. The space between her knuckles aches and that helps center her. The anger isn't hers. It's the ghost of a man who isn't around right now and wouldn't tell her what to do if he were. There's a press of someone at her back to distract her and she flinches, looks over her shoulder. It's just some kid with blotchy skin that could almost pass for acne if no one looked too hard.
“It's all right. You can go on ahead,” she tells the boy then steps aside to let him pass and notes that she's at the back of the line again. She's been standing in line hours, letting people pass in front of her and stalling for time. This one moment will change her whole life. Because of that, she knows she has to take her time.
Rogue isn't so old that she doesn't remember a life before her power wrecked it. She remembers normal and touch without fear. She remembers romantic dreams that seem silly now. It's not that she's got so much age on her but that fairytales end with a kiss and she can't kiss anyone. At least not the way she is now.
She goes up on her toes, craning her neck to watch as someone at the head of the line disappears into the building. Ridiculously-or maybe not-she's reminded of the stories she heard in history class; of Jews filing into gas chambers, their heads full of promises of hot showers. That's not happening here, she reminds herself. She's met some of the people who have been cured. This is a chance; a fork in the road and she's been dawdling at the apex too long. She can almost hear Logan's voice in her head telling her it's time to make a decision. The kid rings in her head so clear it makes her lips twist in a wry smirk.
“You gonna move up or just stand here all day?” a girl with a swirl of tattoos that keep changing across her skin asks.
“Yeah...sorry. I was-just distracted for a minute.” And she takes a step forward instead of letting the girl go ahead.
It's time to make a decision. Any decision as long as it's her choice.
The whole event is surrounded by gawkers. Come to stare at the zoo, Rogue smirks to herself. Bitterness rises up in her and she quells the urge to snap, to hit someone and to yell. The space between her knuckles aches and that helps center her. The anger isn't hers. It's the ghost of a man who isn't around right now and wouldn't tell her what to do if he were. There's a press of someone at her back to distract her and she flinches, looks over her shoulder. It's just some kid with blotchy skin that could almost pass for acne if no one looked too hard.
“It's all right. You can go on ahead,” she tells the boy then steps aside to let him pass and notes that she's at the back of the line again. She's been standing in line hours, letting people pass in front of her and stalling for time. This one moment will change her whole life. Because of that, she knows she has to take her time.
Rogue isn't so old that she doesn't remember a life before her power wrecked it. She remembers normal and touch without fear. She remembers romantic dreams that seem silly now. It's not that she's got so much age on her but that fairytales end with a kiss and she can't kiss anyone. At least not the way she is now.
She goes up on her toes, craning her neck to watch as someone at the head of the line disappears into the building. Ridiculously-or maybe not-she's reminded of the stories she heard in history class; of Jews filing into gas chambers, their heads full of promises of hot showers. That's not happening here, she reminds herself. She's met some of the people who have been cured. This is a chance; a fork in the road and she's been dawdling at the apex too long. She can almost hear Logan's voice in her head telling her it's time to make a decision. The kid rings in her head so clear it makes her lips twist in a wry smirk.
“You gonna move up or just stand here all day?” a girl with a swirl of tattoos that keep changing across her skin asks.
“Yeah...sorry. I was-just distracted for a minute.” And she takes a step forward instead of letting the girl go ahead.
It's time to make a decision. Any decision as long as it's her choice.