Generation X Unlimited 3

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Generation X Unlimited #3 - Runaway
Post by Sara "Radical Dreamer" Lincoln on Mar 11, 2007, 7:09pm

Cover: Sara standing in front of a mirror wearing an "I love New York" t-shirt, while in the mirror you can clearly see a shirt with "St. Louis" on it in the trash behind her.

Title: Running Away

Writing Credits: Grey420

Featuring: Sara "Hype" Lincoln

Sara is sitting quietly in her room, fresh back at the Australian base after the squad's London adventure. She'd managed to pull her mood up after Joe got hurt, but it would be impossible for her to forget how close he came to dieing just because he saved her. It's too familiar, it's only be a few months since Rebecca. It's a story she never wanted to tell, but Meghan already knows bits of it, and Nephy knows almost all of it. Sara likes her secrets, but at the same time, she likes to know that people understand the little things in her life, the extra reasons behind why she acts as she does.

*Running away would be so easy, it always has been.*

Sara is a runaway, not a well known fact. It's almost as if her powers manifested to accent her nature because all they've done is make it easier to create distance between her and her problems. It's easiest to escape responsibility when you can run across the country to get away from it, a lesson Sara happily learned the day she left home.

*From St. Louis, to Chicago, to Detroit, to Boston, to New York. Why did I stop in New York? Why did I put myself through all of that? Why didn't I just run again?*

Sara is tearing up at the memories as they start to vividly flow back into her mind.

December 14th.

After almost a month of being on the road, running from city to city, Sara has finally stopped in Manhattan, the destination she's had in mind since the day she left. New York City, her dream city, the place she always wanted to call home. She's awe struck as she walks through the city, taking almost no notice of the people around her as the sights are astounding her. She's not used to such tall building, or such a crowd of buildings in such a small place. It's how she always pictured it.

*Home.*

Her first stop is to a news stand, after her time in Detroit she knows how to live cheap and easy. Find a news paper, check the ads, find some people looking for a house sitter for an extended vacation, check the place out. It's gotten her lofts to stay at in two cities so far, and this is New York, it shouldn't be hard. She checks the ads and heads to a few different addresses before finally finding a place that's not only abandoned, but has an unlocked window. The ad said that the owners would be gone through April, so it gives Sara more then enough time find a real place of her own. A loft, her loft.

Coming in with next to nothing, Sara knew to appreciate what was left behind. A couch, a bed, a fridge and heat with utilities paid in advance. There was a TV, but no cable, she knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she hadn't had a TV with or without cable since she left home. There's still food in the house, and the water is running, both good signs but she'll need to get a job to pay for food if she wants to stay more then a few days.Time to start over.

*I need some way to make money, that means find a job that wont ask too many questions. Maybe use a fake name. Think think think! Already used Stacy….Chris? Nonono….Christina? No, no c-h. Kristina? No, wait, got it, Kaitlin! And….and….last name, ummmm, I'll stay with Chris. Kaitlin Andrews.*

The next day Sara headed out to find a job, not allowing herself to forget about her new name, no slip ups this time. Over the course of a couple hours she covers several blocks with no luck. Exhausted and annoyed, she stops into a little corner store to get something to eat. Approaching the counter she comes to a harsh realization. She's flat broke already.

"Are you ok there? You look kinda flushed."

The woman working the counter is worried, Sara—-Kaitlin has gone pale realizing that she ran out of money faster then she thought.

"Yes….no…I was out looking for a job, and now I'm broke. This sucks."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

Sara—Kaitlin has rehearsed this lie many times.

"Eighteen, huh? You look a little young."

"It's a curse."

Sara giggles to lighten the moment, making it a point to smile.

"So you need a job?"

Sara-Kaitlin looks at the woman stunned, she didn't even think to ask.

"Ye…yes!"

"Well, I need someone else to work with, we've been short handed and could use the help. What's your name?"

"Kaitlin Andrews."

"Then if you're not too busy, you can hop back here and I'll get you started."

Kaitlin smiles, this is going to work out.

"What's your name?"

The girl looks back at Kaitlin and smiles.

"Rebecca Stevens."

The friendship was born that easily. Rebecca was 25, and had pretty much done nothing since getting out of college. She represented the free spirit that Kaitlin wanted nothing more then to be able to be. Her own apartment, her own job, nobody trying to control her, totally free. Just what Kaitlin wanted to be. They started hanging out every day before and after work, they were inseparable, almost like sisters. It only took two weeks before Kaitlin folded and told Rebecca about how she was living, and only about ten seconds from there until Kaitlin had agreed to move in with her.

Things were perfect, Kaitlin had the best friend she always needed, one that felt like a sister to her. She wasn't running, she was enjoying life. The only things that didn't feel right to her were that she was hiding her powers as well as her sexuality. Kaitlin was the least boy hungry eighteen year old Rebecca had ever seen, or so she said at least. It just never clicked.

Around the middle of January the parties started, it was like nothing Kaitlin had ever seen before, or even considered possible. They would walk into an apartment and be surrounded by drugs on all sides. People smoking weed, others dropping acid, the kitchen was set aside just so that the coke heads could use the counter as a surface. Heroin was being used in the bedrooms, and there was beer and hard liquor everywhere. The only thing lacking was sex, and Kaitlin figured that was happening behind the multitude of closed doors. It was a scary sight for a fourteen year old to walk in to, and not much better when Rebecca started joining in with all of it. Kaitlin didn't say anything, she didn't do anything, she just sat back and pretended to be enjoying herself. The only thing she let herself do was smoke weed, and only because she knew that Chris had done it back home. That was one thing she absolutely loved and wondered why she hadn't done sooner, but everything else she'd shoot down, especially the sex. She might have been hiding in the closet, but she wasn't about to compromise her wants and needs to fit in.

It goes this way for a few weeks, right up until the second week of February when one night Kaitlin has had her fill. One night Kaitlin got home after work and just wanted to pass out, it was her time of the month and she was just feeling drained, all she wanted was a quiet night. Unfortunately this is the night that Rebecca decided to finally throw the party at their house….something she didn't ask Kaitlin about first. Kaitlin didn't get mad though, that's not her style. The people start coming in, and she knows her night of relaxing isn't going to be working out as she wants, so she quickly took leave to her room. Locked in her room for the night was hardly an ideal plan, but at least she could sleep.

A couple of hours pass before Kaitlin wakes up again, the place has gone eerily quiet, and checking her alarm clock, it is early for one of the parties to be this quiet. Tossing on a pair of pants, she walks out to find the place almost completely deserted. Some people passed out on the couch and the floor, everything is a wreck.

"Becs?"

Kaitlin asks hoping for some sign of her roommate. Hearing no response she decides to go check out her room, the door is closed but before she can even get to the handle it's swung open from the inside and a guy walks out fixing his pants.

"Might want to do something about that, I'm out of here."

The guy walks off and out the door without another word, the confused Kaitlin heads into Rebecca's room and immediately regrets it. Inside the room is Rebecca, her arm still tied off with the rubber tube which confirms to Kaitlin just what exactly she's on….and that's all she has on. Kaitlin rushes over and pulls the tube off of Rebecca's arm, trying to help her, but Becca is catatonic. The lights are on, but nobody is home, she's just staring blankly.

"BECCA!"

Kaitlin starts to yell in an attempt at getting Rebecca to respond, but nothing. She starts slapping her, hoping to wake her that way, still nothing. Kaitlin decides to mix the two.

"BECCA! WAKE THE FUCK UP! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? IS IT THE DRUGS THIS TIME OR IS IT THE FACT THAT SOME FUCKWAD JUST GOT YOU HIGH AND USED YOU?!"

Kaitlin goes for one more slap but this time Rebecca catches her arm, turning her head to look at her with a very vicious look.

"Listen to me you little cunt, you're not my damn mother, you're not even my damn sister. You're just some girl that thinks she's so much fucking better then me. So why don't you just get the fuck out?"

Kaitlin is taken back, in total shock, her best friend saying this to her?

"Becs….this isn't you talking…."

"How the fuck would you know?

"Because I…..because I know you! Because you've been like my sister since the day I got here!"

"Well maybe I didn't want a sister, maybe I wanted something else."

"I don't get what you mean…."

"Yeah, exactly. This is your damn fault Kate. If you'd just had a damn clue, if you'd just had a damn feeling, none of this would be happening!"

Kaitlin is confused, she can't understand what Rebecca is getting at.

"Becs…..what do you mean? If I had a feeling?"

"Maybe it should have been you in here tonight instead of him."

Rebecca is blunt, and Kaitlin takes the sentence like she's hit by a truck. Rebecca wanted her? Kaitlin had gone so far out of her way to hide who she is that she'd ignored anything of the nature, she's been terrified that if Rebecca found out that she'd be mad, but now Becca likes her? This should be an easy answer, kiss the girl and live happily ever after. But for once Kaitlin doesn't want the easy way, she doesn't believe in it. She doesn't trust Becca's sincerity, not considering how fucked up she is right now.

"Becca…you're high."

"Get out Kaitlin."

"Becs…."

"Now, get out, don't bother me again."

Kaitlin doesn't move as she starts to cry, not something Rebecca takes kindly to as she grabs her clock from the night stand and throws it at Kaitlin, hitting her in the side of the head.

"GET OUT RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

Kaitlin, tears in her eyes, uses her powers for the first time in front of Rebecca, engulfing the room in a bright yellow glow, and minutes later every trace that she'd ever lived there is gone.

The next day Rebecca wakes up with almost no memories of the night before, and only a vague recollection of her fight with Kaitlin. Thinking it a dream she goes to Kaitlin's room and knocks on the door.

"Wake up sleepy head, we're gonna be late for work!"

Hearing no response, Rebecca opens the room to find no trace of Kaitlin even living there. The memories of the night before flow back into her as if a dam had burst in her mind. Rebecca slumps to the floor crying.

"Oh no, oh god no, what have I done? Kaitlin….no…..please, don't be gone…..I love you."

The week progresses from there, Kaitlin's leaving has destroyed Rebecca to the point where she can't even get out of bed in the morning without a fix, and she's not even picky about what she gets it from, she just needs to have one. Everyday is just that much worse, that much harder to make herself get up in the morning, that much harder to make it through work, that much harder to not cry herself to sleep. Her world is ending. Valentine's Day comes, and she celebrates it alone with a bottle of wine and a vial of percocets. The next day it's all done for her, she can't take it anymore. She pulls out her box and gets her supplies ready, she's going to finish off her heroin stash or die trying. Gathering a few personal effects into a box, she sets it on the coffee table and puts a letting she wrote on top of it. One with that has an envelope simply saying "Kaitlin".

Twenty minutes later Kaitlin has finally gathered the nerve to go and try to talk to Rebecca, she can't handle it anymore, she needs her back. She's going to be totally honest about everything. About her powers, about her real name, her real age, her sexuality, everything. No secrets, she wants her back. She lets herself in the front door and immediately screams. Her first sight is of Rebecca slumped over the couch, there's a syringe on the ground, and her arm is tied off. She's shaking, barely breathing. Kaitlin's never seen an overdose before, but she's almost positive she's looking at one now.

"BECCA!"

Kaitlin runs it at full speed and rips the tube off of her arm, trying to shake her awake.

"ComeonBecsgetupgetupgetup!"

Kaitlin can't slow down, her eyes burning their light right down on Rebecca.

"Kaitlin….turn off the lights…..bed time…."

"Don'tyoudarefuckingdieoneme!"

Kaitlin slows to a stop and pulls Rebecca in close.

"Come on Becs, please, I'll go call 911, you'll be fine."

"No Kate….not this time….just lemme go…..at least I can say that I….."

"That you what Becs? What?"

But there's not another word, Rebecca dies there in Kaitlin's arms. Kaitlin breaks down crying, she can't let go, she wont let go. Five minutes pass, ten minutes, twenty minutes. The body starts to go cold and Kaitlin lets go, she can hardly breathe, she wants to go with her. Looking down at the table she sees the letter with her name on it and opens it up, still crying.

Dearest Kaitlin,
By the time you read this it's going to be too late. I just can't take it anymore, any of it. The boys and their constant need for sexual dominance, the drugs and the escaping. I can't take how I feel about you when you wont accept it.

There, I said it, I love you, I want to be with you. I never felt this way about anyone, and now that I do, I can't be with you. It's not fair Kate, none of it is. I can't wake up in the morning anymore and even get out of bed without some sort of fix, and the only fix I want is you.

I wish you could understand it, how I feel. That maybe you'd just walk in the door right now while I'm writing this and kiss me and be with me and never leave again. But I have to stop dreaming, this world isn't going to take care of me. There's nothing left for me here besides more pain and abuse, more letdowns and heart breaks.

I know I'm taking the easy way out, but I just don't have it in me to take it anymore. I thought that loving you would make it all easier, but you don't love me back, and it's just…I don't want you to blame yourself for this. If you hadn't come into my life I probably would have done it weeks ago, you saved me Katie. You gave me a reason to live. I just…I just don't have one anymore.

Do yourself a favor, stay away from the drugs and the sex. Stay as far away from the path I took as you can, you're still a good person. Don't let this shitbag excuse for a world destroy that, never let it do that. Let that light inside you keep on burning, let the world see just who you can become. Show them who the girl I fell in love with really is, and I promise you that I'll look down from heaven and smile.

I left a box for you, it's under this letter, it's all the jewelery and trinkets that you loved so much when we were us. It's all yours now Kate.

Take care of yourself, finish school, settle down, and please, don't blame yourself for this. You're the most amazing person in the world, you deserve the best and I hope you find it. Know that me being gone is because I fucked up my own life long before I ever met you, and that even though we haven't talked since our fight, that even right now as I'm crying and writing this, all I can think about is how much I love you.

You're the best thing to ever happen to me Kaitlin, and I'm just sorry that I'm leaving you like this.

Be good. Be happy.

Love, always and forever
Rebecca

Kaitlin is hardly coherent after reading the note, Rebecca's body is laying cold and lifeless on the couch, and Kaitlin can't even muster the courage to call 911. It's like a piece of her died along with Rebecca, if only she'd been honest, told her that she loved her too, then Becca would still be there. Kaitlin—-Sara's running away is finally catching up to her, she's learning about the repercussions that come from hiding who you really are.

After about twenty minutes of hysterically crying, KaitlinSara manages to pull herself together enough to pack what's left of her stuff into her suitcases, taking special care to store the box Rebecca left her, and taking the note and placing it inside her diary, it's something she'll never let herself lose. With her bags packed, and nothing keeping her in New York, KaitlinSara goes and picks up the phone to dial 911.

"911, what is your emergency."

"I….I just went to visit my friend and-and—she's dead, she killed herself….I think she overdosed on heroin…."

"What's the address ma'am?"

Kaitlin-Sara gives the address and quickly gets off the phone, she promised the operator that she would wait for the police to arrive, but it's time for Sara to run again. She goes over to Rebecca one last time, and gives her lifeless form the kiss that she had been wanting to for so long. Wiping the tears from her eyes Sara heads to the front door before looking back one last time.

"I love you Rebecca."

With those words spoken Sara's eyes start to glow and she takes off running again. No more fake identities, no more hiding who she is. It's time to do what Rebecca wanted, it's time for Sara to take care of herself. She hits the street running and doesn't stop until she reaches an address in Westchester, the Xavier Institute.

*I hope they'll take me in.*

Sara thinks to herself as she slowly walks up to the front door, hoping to start her life over again. Memories of Rebecca fresh in her mind, Sara promises herself to not hide who she really is. It's time for her to go back to her old ways, to be happy, to smile, to laugh, to love. The loss of a loved one is something she can hardly bare to deal with, but she's going to use it to reinvigorate herself.

With a smile on her face, Sara wipes the last tear from her eye and steps through the front door, hoping to find an enrollment office.


Re: Generation X Unlimited #3 - Runaway
Post by Protoman on Mar 11, 2007, 8:55pm

Wow…that's all I can really say.


Re: Generation X Unlimited #3 - Runaway
Post by Risk on Mar 11, 2007, 9:15pm

Good work .


Re: Generation X Unlimited #3 - Runaway
Post by Alkaline on Mar 12, 2007, 8:58pm

I hate, hate, hate the darkness in her backstory.

Overly dramatic.


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