Enfoques de la Tormenta

[Anna Fernandez]

"Oh, esto es pesado," Anna Fernandez shifted the grocery bag in her arms, laden with items from the local supermarket. Jaime trundled along just behind her pulling a four-wheeled folding cart (http://www.elderstore.com/jumbo-chrome-elite-folding-cart.aspx) on two of its wheels, full of brown paper bags. "Be careful, chica," Anna looked over her shoulder, "Those eggs on top look ready to fall!"

The girl made the appropriate adjustments, returning the cart to all four wheels slowly, and the two continued along the cracked and bumpy sidewalk back up towards Redención House.

Redemption House... a place where mutants could come and not worry about their pasts and just look towards their futures. It had been a dream for many years, and then Anna had found the huge house for sale. It was a police auction and had formerly been a drug haven for the local gangs before SWAT had burst in and sent most of them to jail.

It had needed a lot of work. It still needed a lot of work. Anna was mortgaged to the hilt and just managing to make payments every month, but she loved it. How could she not? She looked back at Jaime, who was searching the uneven ground for the next obstacle, and smiled. "Come on, we are almost there!"

Shifting the bag in her arms again, Anna didn't notice until it was too late the circle of young people that was drawing in close around them. Startled, she nearly dropped the bag, stepping backwards until she was right next to Jaime. "Good afternoon," she said, recognizing a few faces as neighbors. "A beautiful day, yes?"

She smiled, but could tell from the expressions around her that it was not going to be that easy.

A tall boy stepped up, a local miembro de la pandilla. "We don't like you here, perra," he spat on the ground. "You should take the mutantes bastardos and leave before something... bad... happens to you or the little girl."

Anna held the bag to her chest as though it would protect her, noticing the telltale bulges of guns in waistbands. The gang members had their shirts long and untucked to hide them. "It is a free country, joven, and the mutants are not your enemies."

He stepped closer, menacing them, and Anna put her free hand on Jaime's shoulder, pulling her close while still facing the gang leader defiantly.

[Jacob Foley]

It was a bright summer's day, the playground was filled with warm golden light and the buzz of children's voices. From the roof of a nearby supermarket there was a brilliant gleam which winked and caught the attention of a small boy with curly hair. There was a crack and the laughter died. Puffy red faces glanced around in confusion and alarm. Another crack and they saw a little girl in a blue dress fall onto the gravel in a crumpled heap. The little bodies scattered and their screams were punctured only by further resounding cracks.

"Nraarrgh!"

Jake clamped a pillow around the back of his head and held it fast against his ears. His forehead pounded the matress, each time the springs launched him higher. It was useless, it was a bad day, he threw the pillow and scrambled to his feet, with a heavy swipe of the hand, his reading lamp was sent crashing into the wardrobe.

The blows fell with relentless vigour. A young man squirmed beneath a barrage of thrashing limbs, soaked in spittle and blood. His fingers clawed desperately at the rain-soaked sidewalk. He cried out to his god.

A woman sat huddled in an empty house between the refridgerator and the dish-washer. Stew that had once been bubbling had crusted into her pyjamas. Her quivering lip was dry and cracked. She crawled to a drawer and retrieved her pills and then to a cupboard where she found a bottle of bleach.

His music thundered and ripped through the house. He paced the room, bounding with heavy footfalls, jerking, wincing, and struggling against an unseen tormentor. He took pain killers for the bad days and washed them down with vodka. His throat burnt and his chest heaved. He ran for the bathroom.

The mother woke with a start, her cries woke the father, who singed the hair on his legs when he leapt out of bed. The flames swarmed into the room; wood cracked and paint blistered. He dragged her to the window, their daughter cried for her mother, the fire roared. The mother broke her knees on the lawn and her husband followed. He ran to the side of the house and looked up at the window where his daughter cried. He yelled, the bedroom walls flickered with an angry glow. Their eyes stung and their voices were hoarse with despair while the little girl climbed back into bed and hid herself away under the sheets where she knew she would be safe.

He flushed the toilet with a trembling hand and staggered to the sink. The water gushed. His reflection stared from the mirror, shaken and exhausted. He buckled under his own weight and gripped the edge of the sink to keep himself upright. The bad days were the longest. He closed his eyes then plunged his head into the freezing cold water. His screams of anguish bubbled and frothed on the surface and were lost to silence with a simple pop.

[Jamie Morrigan]

Anna was scared. Jamie knew it by the way Anna was squeezing her so closely. But Jamie wasn't scared. She looked up at the angry-looking ringleader with her mouth quivering close to a smile, as if she knew a secret he didn't.

"You know, just 'cause you say it in Spanish doesn't mean people can't understand," she said.

What did the bullies have on them? Only guns? Oh, they were in trouble.

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna's hand tightened a little on Jamie's shoulder, and she smiled a little too brightly. "Estoy seguro de que sabe que entiende lo que está diciendo," but in her nervousness she said it entirely in Spanish and couldn't be sure how much the little girl had understood herself.

"Yeah, we know," he sneered, leaning forward a bit but not actually stepping any closer. Anna could sense that the vatos behind her were closing in. "You are bad for business, añorar, and we want you gone."

Anna looked around to see if anyone was out on the street, any witnessess or neighbors, but they were all alone. And just a block away she could see the roofline of Redención House and safety. She pushed Jamie behind and between her and the cart when the gang leader stepped up to her, his eyes raking over her body.

He leered at her. "Maybe we can come to... some sort of understanding, bonita dama," and he grabbed for her and she screamed as he pulled her forward and off balance, the grocery bag falling on the ground and cans of food rolling into the street. Behind her dos miembros de pandillas grabbed at Jamie, nearly knocking over the cart.

[Jamie Morrigan]

What was going on? Why didn't Anna just ice-blast the lot of them? Jamie knew she could - that'd set these mensos straight.

Jamie gasped when the thug tried to grab her, but a moment later, he was the one screaming and recoiling from a hissing, open-mouthed snake hanging draped around her shoulders.

Aussie stuck out his neck a good two feet in the air and swayed menacingly as the girl turned toward the ringleader.

"You let her go right now," Jamie ordered with a pointing finger. "Or this is gonna get really ugly."

[Jacob Foley]

His eyes snapped open underwater. He saw beyond the porcelain bottom of the sink and his quivering body froze. Then in an instant he was out of the bathroom, his dripping hair trailed water into the carpet all the way to his bedroom. There was a shoebox under his bed, filled with old pictures and personal notes, he emptied it of its contents and at last there was a clunk and a clatter as a pair of brass knuckles and a length of chain were expelled onto the floor. He snatched his jacket from the bed post and tucked the items into his pockets.

Once he was out the front door, all sense of weariness had vanished, every muscle in his body was tense and his jaw was locked. He had only a block to run, he knew it, and with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he sprinted off.

[Anna Fernandez]

For a few seconds time seemed to freeze, and Anna felt like she was watching the scuffle on the sidewalk unfold from somewhere beyond her body. She was being yanked by the gang leader's hand on her upper arm, and Jamie was threatening the ones who were trying to grab her with a huge illusory snake.

She wanted to tell Jamie not to threaten them with her mutant ability, that it was just reinforcing to them that mutants were something non-human, something to be feared. But she couldn't tell the little girl to allow the gang to push her around, either, and she was grateful that the Tres Once members were giving her a wide berth.

"Don' do this," she pleaded, "We mean you no harm, no quiero hacerte daño..."

"Cállate perra!" Ignoring what was going on with the little girl, he threw Anna down in the bushes in front of the abandoned house they were stopped in front of. She cried out as she crunched through the dry and brittle weeds, thrusting one hand behind her as she tried to break her fall.

It was time to act - probably past time. "Le pidió que..." Anna focused a blast of freezing air from the palm of her hand toward the man who was looming over her, but he straddled her and punched her hard in the face, breaking her concentration and leaving her dazed.

[Jamie Morrigan]

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

Jamie rushed toward the man who was beating Anna against the ground, but one of the other thugs reached out and shoved her to the sidewalk. The girl hit the concrete with a thud.

Slowly, she looked up and brushed a few auburn strands off her face, which was contorted in raw, unyielding fury. And the block around them started to change.

There were two Joshua trees above the gang leader's head - just part of the local landscaping. They weren't much to look at. Up until the branches started rippling and twisting with life and several dozen huge snakes slithered down from each one.

Even more snakes burst from the bushes, up from the storm drains, out of cracks in the sidewalk, all of them hissing and spitting, until the ground was covered in writhing, scaly, venomous rage.

Aussie coiled around Jamie again and was joined by a massive rattlesnake and a king cobra with its hood in full bloom. "Get out of here," Jamie growled. "All of you!"

[Jacob Foley]

Jake turned onto the street and stopped dead in his tracks. The entire urban panorama coiled and glistened with unnatural life and in the midst of it all, surrounded by thugs, he saw Jamie and... Anna. He raced at his sister's attacker and tackled him to the ground. They tumbled and struggled over the sidewalk until Jake managed to pin him and land a fierce right hook on his chin. He stood, and slipped the brass knuckles from his fingers inside his pocket.

"Jamie, get back," he said, standing between her, Anna, and the remaining gang members.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Jacob!" Anna struggled into a sitting position, her reddened cheek bleeding from a small cut. Snakes writhed all around Jamie, keeping the gang at bay for the moment. Her instinct was to scold the violence, but a rush of relief flooded her system as her hermanito stood in front of her.

The Three Elevens were already turning and running, kicking at snakes as they went. The leader cursed and spat blood on the pavement, scrambling to his feet and following after his crew.

Anna pulled herself up as Jake took a few steps after the retreating gang, and took Jamie's shoulder, disregarding the snakes that covered her. "Oh my God, Jamie, are you okay? I am so sorry, cariño, I am so sorry..."

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie picked herself up, a little sore, but none the worse for the wear. Her sneakers passed through a couple insubstantial snake bodies, and the cobra, rattlesnake, and taipan turned away to chase the gang members.

"Why didn't you freeze their feet to the ground or something?" she said scoldingly. "We can't let 'em push us around like that. Darn it, I was worried about you, Anna!"

Jamie whirled around and located the cart, which had rolled into the shrubs. A styrofoam carton was upset on the ground, bleeding yellow yolk.

"Awww, look, they broke the eggs."

[Jacob Foley]

"Let me see you."

Jake closed in on Anna, he cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head to assess the damage to her face. His touch was stiff and his hand shook, he was far too agitated to be gentle and she winced. Her cheek was bleeding. He pulled away and turned, his body rigid with rage; his thoughts dwelled on the thug who had struck her and his only regret was not pummeling him until he'd paid for his violence with blood. Jamie spoke sense and he faced them, rubbing his head.

"Next time..." he shouted, pointing a trembling finger at Anna, "You put those bastards on ice!"

[Anna Fernandez]

She found herself trembling as well, but not with anger. Her body was filled with adrenaline, and was having trouble dealing with neither fighting nor fleeing. "I will not be talked to like a child," she said, mostly to Jacob, her voice shaking. "I... I..." Anna's lips quivered, but she was very aware of Jamie looking at her, and she swallowed hard, a lump in her throat.

She broke away from her brother and walked to the cart, picking up the fallen egg carton. "We need to get these home."

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie's eyes followed Anna to the cart, and then she threw a worried glance toward Jake. She'd never seen Anna so distraught before - maybe they'd both been too hard on her?

The snakes faded away, leaving the sidewalk without so much as a scale. Jamie took hold of the cart and helped tuck away a bunch of bananas that were hanging over the edge of their bag. She waited until she caught Anna's eye and gave her a careful smile, trying to cheer her up.

[Jacob Foley]

Jacob stood stupefied while he watched Jamie help Anna gather the contents of the fallen trolley. Suddenly his anger seemed so pointless; they were safe and their attackers had fled. He felt sheepish and promptly collected the bags Anna had dropped. People were peeping at them through their windows, he knew it, and it would be better for all if they got home as quickly as they could. He gave his sister a sideways glance while she scooped up groceries the sidewalk, her cheek glistened but not with blood. He felt the prickling heat of anger creep up his neck then remembered what he said and instead felt the warmth spread to his cheeks.

"Let's get home," he muttered, trying his best to sound comforting, "We'll sort this out."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna nodded, keeping her chin up defiantly as she let Jamie take the cart again, pushing it down the sidewalk a little more quickly than before. She chased down a few stray cans, holding them in her arms as she followed Jamie.

Jake walked behind her protectively, his arms full of bags. No one spoke until they were back inside Redención House. "Lets get these put away," Anna said, obstinately refusing to talk about what had just happened. She had dumped the broken carton of eggs in the garbage cans outside the house.

No one else was home at the moment - on Saturdays usually everyone spent time with friends from school, or went to the mall for a few hours. Angry at herself for what she'd nearly allowed to happen to Jamie, Anna slammed the cans into their cupboard.

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie busied herself with putting away the perishables in the fridge while Jake took care of the things that belonged in cabinets she couldn't reach. She winced as Anna pounded the cans of tomato sauce into place in the pantry.

She was mad about what had happened, Jamie knew that much. So it seemed to her the best thing to do was to get her thinking about something else.

"Hey, we can call Aidan on his way home from work and tell him to pick up some eggs," she said. "That's small enough to carry on his motorcycle. Oh! Did you get salsa? Can we have heuvos rancheros for breakfast tomorrow?"

[Jacob Foley]

There was an eerie silence which followed. Jake turned his attention away from the groceries, he saw Jamie staring up expectantly at Anna, who in turn was staring vacantly at a bag of lentils. He crouched until he was eye-level with the little girl, she was releaved of the carton of orange juice she was cradling and he took her gently by the hand.

"That's a great idea, Jamie," he said softly, and fished a cellphone from the back pocket of his jeans, "Here. Why don't you give him a call? Me and Anna need to talk."

He gave her the phone and stroked an errant strand of hair from her face.

"You were very brave."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna abruptly left the kitchen, hurrying up the stairs to her room and closing the door.