Chapter 1: Silence

 

Ms. Yuriko Sanjiro considered herself to be a kind and caring woman who love children. That was why she became a school counselor. So she was trying to understand the two teenagers in front of her.

 

Bethany “Red” Thompson was a mutant, rather uncommon for the area. Although her power was relatively small; beta-class telekinesis, she was a handful. Bethany enjoyed living on the edge, and Silence often went along with her in almost everything. She and her ‘brother’ had been in and out of foster homes for eight years. Before that, no one knew who or where he or she came from. The children themselves claimed to know nothing. And Silence was more of an enigma than his ‘sister’.

 

Silence was also a mutant, but his powers were largely unknown. No one knew what his real name was, although he was legally registered as Silence. Silence got his name from his social worker. She once remarked how he was always so silent. The name stuck. Neither child protested the name so he was registered as Silence. And he never has spoken a word since he entered the foster children program. He wore black baggy clothes and hid from the world behind dark sunglasses.

 

Both children were sitting in front of her desk, Silence staring off into space and Bethany staring at the counselor. Ms. Sanjiro looked at the two children and sighed. “Silence, Bethany. Since both of you have turned sixteen, you are qualified for a fully-paid education at the Salem Academy.”

 

Bethany scoffed. “In other words, you’re sending us freaks away to a school for freaks.” Silence seemingly ignored the conversation and dwelled in his own world.

 

“You both need training in your powers and you need to become more social with those of your age group. Your foster parents agree with ..” Ms. Sanjiro took a deep breath. “It is difficult to find homes for mutants, especially teenagers. If you can complete your education at the Academy, they are willing to pay for college.” She handed both of them a brochure. Silence folded it into a paper airplane and flew it around the room.

 

Bethany skimmed through the brochure and froze. “The X-Men?” Her mind raced with fear and anger. After what they did to Remy, I’m not going to go anywhere near those hypocrites! I’m not going to wait around for them to dump me in Ant..

 

A pale hand touched her arm and she looked at Silence. He smiled softly and shook his head. He pointed to the brochure and firmly nodded. It was obvious what he thought.

 

Bethany knew that he was usually right about such things so she decided to go along with him.. for now. Bethany gave a bright smile at Ms. Sanjiro and said, “When do we leave?”

 

Silence fell back into his seat, zoning out the conversation between Ms. Sanjiro and Bethany. But deep in his mind, hidden by pain and fear, was a secret place. There, someone stirred and fled from the memories. What stood left was a frozen husk that once was alive. It stood ready to guard against the coming battle.