“I don’t like it here”

A barely five year old Alex Summers was laying down on his new bed. Tears running out of the corner of his eyes over his cubby cheeks, his tiny hands scrunched up under his chin.

“I know. I don’t like it here either, but we don’t have a choice. We don’t have anywhere else to go”.

“I miss mom and dad”.

Getting up and sitting next to his brother, Scott sighed. Swallowing past the lump in the back of his throat, trying to hold back his own tears, being a big brother was hard. Being a big brother with no mother or father was impossible difficult, especially at such a young age.

“Me too. But at least we have each other. No matter what”.

Alex sat up and shuffled next to his brother, as Scott placed his arm around his brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Several months later……………………


“I won’t sign off on this”

“Why not”.

“The boy needs a stable home, not another institute”.

“Really, or is there another reason. Perhaps I should call the CPS for a further investigation into last weeks incident. I’m sure they would be very interested in finding out what really happened”.

Had Charles Xavier seen behind the tiny dark spectacles of the strange director in front of him, he wouldn’t have thought twice about calling very single agency that was at his fingertips. A mistake he would come to regret for the rest of his life. How one small choice could have changed the course of so many children.

As it was Xavier himself wanted as little attention drawn to his own Institute as possible, that he was willing to cut a few corners.

Clenching his jaw the director grounded out “Fine. I’ll have the papers ready in a few hours. You can pick him up this afternoon”

“Perfect. I’ll have a car waiting for him”.

With that Charles Xavier left hoping to never cross paths with Dr. Essex, he had been a very strange man.




“But Scott, you promised”.

“I know Alex, but after what happened. I could have hurt someone. I can’t even see anymore. He said he could help me. I promise that once I’ve settled I’ll talk to professor Xavier and I’ll come back for. Once I tell him what’s going on around here, he’ll have to come for you”.

“Please don’t leave me here alone”.

Feeling for his brother Scott whispered “I’ll come for you. I promise Alex. You’re all I have left. I promise, this is the only chance we have to get away from here”.

A knock on the door, and all the time for taking was over. Not being able to see his brother’s face Scott just assumed that everything was okay. He tried to trick himself into not hearing his brothers soft whimpers as he left him.


Being led to the car Scott keep hearing his mothers voice over and over again in his head {Take care of him Scott, I love you both}. He hung his head in shame, he really was trying to get them out of here.

Once inside the car Scott sighed, his shoulders sagged, feeling the guilt of his choice. He was quickly startled out of his thoughts.

“Scott, what are you doing here. Are you going to Xavier‘s School for the Gifted too”.

“Emma. Yeah, I am. ……………I’m sorry about, you know, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I still don’t really know what happened”.

Reaching over Emma placed her hand over Scott’s “It’s okay Scott. I’m fine, no one was hurt”.



As soon as his brother was out the door Alexander Summers followed closely behind, and watched with tears in his eyes from the window as his brother was driven away.

Alex stayed there leaning against window until the sun was setting, he was all alone now.

“It’s okay. I’ll be your friend”.

Turning around Alex came face to face with a little girl at least a year younger than him. She had long dark brown hair, and was clutching a brown teddy bear.

Before he could tell her to leave him alone.

“Marie, come along we’ve got to get you settled”.

She smiled at him, and just as quickly as she had appeared she was whisked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days were a blur for Alex. He spent most of his time trailing after Marie, who got into more trouble than was humanly possible for such a small child. Not that it really mattered, no one really paid any attention to them. You’d never catch one without the other, they had become inseparable.

Nights were a different story. Without Scott as a buffer Dr. Essex’s experiments became harsher, he was poked, and prodded at constantly. Along with a few other children from the orphanage. Dr. Essex would make them drink this juice that would make him sick all night.

It wasn’t until about two weeks later that little Alex’s heart broke.

Marie hadn’t come to get him for breakfast, so instead he went to get her. Knocking on her door, no one answered so he just walked in.

Laying down on her side was Marie, half her face was on the pillow, and the other half covered by her brown matted hair. Alex come up next to her, all he could see was one of her eyes.

“Marie, you okay”.

There was no answer, she was just staring off in the distance, her eye red and puffy from crying.

Gently he shook her hoping to snap her out of it, nothing. He noticed a white bandage around her tiny wrist, taking a closer look, he could make out a little bit of red close to the center where the blood was seeping through.

“Marie, please be okay. Please don’t leave me too”. Alex’s voice broke as he begged his friend. His throat closing as he spoke, fruitlessly trying to coax her.

Not knowing what else to do he curled up next to her feet as quite sobs wracked his body. The feelings of loneliness and abandonment catching up with him, lulling him to a restless sleep.




Alex jumped awake as a pair of green eyes stared at him.

“Marie”.

She just stared right through him, as if seeing something else entirely, just as he was about to call out her name again she spoke.

“I can hear him inside my head”. She brought her hand to her head and winced. “and he’s not very nice”.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scott Summers was pacing back and forth trying to get his speech (which was on cue cards) in order. They’d fitted him with special glasses and all of a sudden he could see again, it might be a red world but at least it was one he could see.

Now all he had to do was convince Professor Xavier to get his brother. Scott was so busy going over the pros, that he never even heard the door open.

“Good morning Scott, how can I help you”.

All of a sudden his mouth felt like ash, and his palms began to sweat.

“Good morning sir”. Again his mind just blanked out. The professor just smiled his warm smile. Scott swallowed and looked at his cue cards, which at the moment seemed blurred, taking a deep breath he decided to just wing it.

“You see sir, ummmm I have a little brother”.

Xavier frowned “I didn’t know, there’s nothing in your file about him. He‘s there at the orphanage in Colorado”.

“Oh well I do, have a brother I mean. Yes he is we were brought there together. He’s not “gifted” like me, so he won’t bother anyone. He cleans up after himself, he knows how to read and write, well a little. And I promise he won’t be any trouble”.

Putting his hand up to Xavier spoke “I’m sorry Scott. Had I known you had a brother I would have brought you together. It was never my intention to create you any anguish”.

Scott let go of the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, as Xavier continued speaking. “I’ll make the arrangements, we’ll have him brought over as soon as possible.”

“Thank you so much Professor. If it’s not too much to ask can I go get him when it’s time to pick him up. I’ve missed him”.

“Of course. I’ll let you know when it’s time. Now go before you’re late for class”.

Scott could feel the relief flooding through his body. His final thoughts as he made his way to class, things were finally starting to change for the Summers brothers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex spent the rest of the week dragging Marie all around the orphanage, in hopes of getting his friend back. She rarely spoke anymore, and ate only when Alex forced something in her mouth. Marie spent most of her time staring at Alex like she was seeing something else, and clutching her stuffed bear like a life line. None of the adults noticed what was going on, and if they did they just didn’t care.


One night as Dr. Essex was performing his tests on the children, Alex watched as one of his nurses brought in a kicking and screaming Marie. He watched as the nurse strapped on some rubber gloves and took a needle and unceremoniously jabbed it into Marie’s neck, the fight immediately leaving her tiny body.

Alex ran over to her “Stop leave her alone”. Before he reached her Dr. Essex back handed the little boy, sending him flying half way across the room. All he could do was helplessly watch from the corner where he’d landed, the tears falling yet again, it seemed he was always crying.

Dr. Essex moved back to his original place, when Alex noticed a man laying on the cot asleep in-between the doctor and the nurse. “Bring the girl over here. Make sure you don’t touch her, her mutation has been activated”.

The nurse then placed Marie’s hand over the man’s face. The man gasped, and after just a few seconds he was asleep again. That’s when Marie become violent, she was kicking the nurse, who had a her arm in a death grip. Marie then brought up her free hand and that’s when the fire started. Somehow fire started to appear from everywhere possible. The children that were able started screaming and running for their lives. The nurse who had been holding on to Marie burst into flames. Then she walked up to the man on the cot and started screaming.

“no, nonononononononononono”. And just like that the cot lit on fire. Dr. Essex took advantage of the distraught child, coming up behind her and yet again Marie was stuck with a needle. Which prompted her to quickly pass out falling into the waiting Dr.’s arms.

Alex Summers trailed behind the Dr., but not before stopping to grab Marie’s teddy bear, as the fire that had ignited came to life, bringing the orphanage to sunders. Alex would never forget the smile on Dr. Essex’s face as the he heard the cries of the children that had been trapped inside. It would haunt him to the day he died.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~