A classroom, somewhere in Essex, England ... Mrs Young lent on her desk and peered at her class. Amy Lase often thought her name was pretty funny considering she must be at least hundred and twenty six.
"Open your textbooks to page fifteen. Katie, could you read for us?"
Katie looked up nervously and began to read.:
"Ummm ... 'Racism Against Mutants. In 1963, a group called the X-Men appeared in New York. Throughout their history they have appeared to be trying to help but have only succeeded in inciting riots. It must be said that this should have been expected, considering the anti-mutant sentiment in many places. The people involved could have been said to have been experiencing 'mutophobia'.To what does the term 'mutophobia' refer to? There are ..."
"Thank-you, Katie. James?"
"Where are we, Miss?"
Mrs Young looked at him.
"'There are ...' Paragraph two."
James found the place.
"'There are several definitions put forward. The first is by self-proclaimed genetics expert, Professor Charles Xavier.
"Mutants are human beings, like yourself, who are trying to live a "normal" lives. There is a world out there who hates and fears them without due reason. We mustn't forget there is no such constant for the definition of 'normal'. We are all different people living different lives, yet we all have feelings and that is what connects us. We all have our humanity.'"
"Thank-you, James. Can anyone explain to the rest of the class what point Xavier was making?"
Thomas put his hand up. Mrs Young nodded. "He's sayin' that mutants are humans!" He smirked.
"Please could you share the joke with the whole class?" As a teacher, Mrs Young was required to remain impartial (On the other hand, she most certainly wasn't allowed to put forward pro-mutant views). Really, she had to get a balance.
"Mutants aren't humans. Because ...because they aren't. They're a different species."
"But is that what Xavier was really saying?" The class stared back blankly at their teacher. Slowly, a girl on Mrs Young's left put up her hand.
"Miss, miss! Over here!"
"Hannah?"
"Xavier was saying that even if we're are different species, we're all the same." Everyone started talking at once.
"One at a time! Greg."
"Mutants are dangerous. They're planning to infect us all with that virus. They won't be happy 'til we're all dead. They think they're so superior, just 'cos they're muties. If that's true then why are they all so stupid?"
"What does anyone think about that? Sarah." 'Sensible Sarah,' thought Mrs Young. 'She'll disagree.' "I was in the town centre the other day and I wanted to use a chocolate bar vending machine. I couldn't get it to work. Then this boy walks up, gets the machine to work and takes my quid! But I wasn't surprised because he was a mutie." Mrs Young decided she'd better stop all this.
"I'm going to write some questions on the blackboard. Answer them in your books ..."
Amy Lase walked out of the lesson and began to walk home. She was confused. Were the muties going to kill them all? Did they really have no morals? She decided to stop by the town centre when she suddenly noticed how quiet it was. She jumped as she heard a pile of bricks come crashing down. She felt a laser beam hit her in the shoulder. She felt herself tipping backwards ...slowly ...slowly.
She cracked the back of her head against the wall and was killed instantly. Probably.
She woke up a while later and realised she wasn't as dead as she had first thought. In the street, she saw a dark figure, outlined against the evening sun. "Who ..?" she whispered. She saw his green skin as he shot out a couple of windows.
"Mutie!"
A mutant had tried to kill her ...A mutie! How dare they! Them with no morals, disgusting, filthy viruses!
She began to run towards her house.
When she got there, all she found was a pile of rubble. She couldn't think to check through the mess for her parents, she just ran.
She ran across streets and eventually down an alley, curled up into a ball and, surprisingly, went to sleep.
She was awoken the next morning by a neighbour. She could hear murmurs in the background.
She thought vaguely: 'The town is back.' "I'm sorry."
Amy looked up at the neighbour.
"My parents?"
"You can stay with us," he offered.
She looked at him blankly.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
She was angry that she didn't cry. She should be able to, except she couldn't. Why? She knew she wasn't going to until the green boy was dead, too.
As a result of the deaths, the Friends of Humanity had called an urgent meeting. Amy was determined to turn up. Her father had been one of the leaders.
She walked alone in the dark. It was evening. The wind picked up and the leaves behind her started to rustle. The wind dropped down and the leaves still rustled behind her. She turned around and found she was staring right up the green boy's nose.
"Hello."
"What the hell do you think you're doing here!?!? You killed my parents!!" She pushed him backwards. He fell and she heard a snap of electricity as he hit the pavement.
"I saw you sparking in your sleep." He looked up at her and grinned.
"What the smeg is THAT meant to mean?" As he got up, she punched him in the jaw. As her fist connected with his jaw, a spread of blue light covered him.
She wondered what she'd done. 'Reverse, reverse,' her thoughts whispered.
The blue light withdrew into her hand.
"Heh. See?"
"Why did you kill my parents, you evil mutie!?" "YOU'RE a mutant."
She was silent. Was she stupid? Did she carry a killer virus? Was she dirty? Did she have no morals? No. Then she was wrong.
"You see, it's all the F.O.H.'s fault. They killed my parents. So I kill the parents in the F.O.H."
He was quite clearly insane. 'What the hell,' she thought. If her parents had known, they would surely have killed her (Heck, if SHE'D known ..!).
"Hey kid, care to join me?" he whispered. He kissed her on the cheek. Just for a second. She looked up at him.
"Why not?" She smiled crazily.
Yeah, why not?
From "Jenius" :-)