Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 01:12:47 -0400 From: Dash Jarrod Subject: Force of One Disclaimer: This story is totally fictional. If the character resembles anyone from your life, that is just coincidence. Any celebrity involved in this story may or may not be homosexual. If you are under 18 please don't read. One night while I was sleeping, I had the weirdest dream. It involved me doing all sorts of seemingly impossible feats. It's not to say that I didn't enjoy that dream considering the fact that I always wished I had superpowers. But come on, face it, this is the real world and there is no such thing as mutants or superpowers. I love those types of stories even though they aren't true. I used to collect comic books and I loved the ones where the main characters were either mutants or had a gen-factor or were bombarded with cosmic rays. Those were the best type of comics that I could have. If you ever have a conversation about mutant powers or superpowers and I hear about it, there is nothing I like to talk about more. If you get me started on that subject, it's hard for me to stop. I don't know why but it was always fascinating to me. Can you imagine having those superhuman powers? I don't know if I could handle it. The morning after this dream, that I mentioned earlier, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I went about school as always (being bored out of my mind). That day, nothing happened that would have ever made me suspicious that I had any type of superpower. But that night, I had that same dream again. It involved me having telekinesis, healing factors, telepathic abilities, some control of the weather and others. Basically, I combined all of the powers that I thought was best and put it into myself during that dream. If only that dream would come true. That would be amazing. I don't know why, but that dream kept coming back night after night. Its especially weird considering the fact that I don't usually remember my dreams. Its also very weird because of the fact that the dream is the exact same as the night before. For some reason as the nights pass, I remember more and more of what exactly happens in the dream. Its getting crisper each time I have it. The details are becoming clearer each time I wake up. It's beginning to make me wonder if there is something wrong with me that I keep having this same dream. Now that you know how weird I am, let me introduce myself. My name is Matthew, I am 6'1" tall, have blonde hair (which is natural), blue eyes, and am about +140 lbs., and am actually in pretty good shape considering the fact that I don't work out at all. I am not that popular, in fact I think most people don't like me. The reason I think that is because of the fact that no one goes out of their way to talk to me, except for those few close friends that I have. This might also be attributed to the fact that I keep mostly to myself. I am quite shy when it comes to meeting new people. That is something I am trying to work on. Now for some more about me, I am musically talented. I play the saxophone and I don't think I am too bad at it, although I am not nearly the best at it either. I can sing also, although I don't sing in school, I only sing in church and sometimes in the car. Oh yeah, there is one more thing you might want to know about me, I am gay. It's nothing I can help; I just don't find girls sexually attractive. One day a few weeks after the first dream, I was trying to convince my parents to let me stay over at a friend's house for the weekend even though there wouldn't be any parents around to watch us. As usual, my parents wouldn't hear anything about it. I was standing there pleading with them when I just about gave up. I went silent for a moment, trying to figure out another approach that I could possibly use against them, even though I didn't think any tactic would work. It was during this silent time that I was thinking; and mind you, just thinking idly, "right now would be a good time for one of them to agree with me". It was then that my dad all of a sudden said that he didn't see why I couldn't do it because they know the friend and know that he is responsible and doesn't drink. Now this surprised both my mother and I. We both stood there in awe that my father would even agree to such a request. After my mother thought about it, she finally agreed with my father and let me go. That was the first time that it seemed like I was even remotely telepathic. The reason I was thinking this was because telepathics can control other people's thoughts as well as read other people's minds. That thought made me extremely excited. If I was telepathic, then maybe I had the other powers as well. As soon as I thought that I might be telepathic, I just as quickly dismissed the idea. I was too rational to believe that, plus superpowers didn't exist. Talk about gullible, if I actually believed that I had powers, then I would have been the most gullible person on the planet. Either that or I would be considered the most naive person. I don't think either description really fits me. I am not one of those people that was immature all the way through school. I think I am pretty grown up considering some of the other people out there that are in the same grade as me. It was around this time that I kept meeting really strange people. I met someone who goes by the nickname wolverine as well as someone who goes by gambit, and someone by the nickname magneto. Both of these groups seemed awfully interested in me. This was weirding me out considering the fact that no one so far in my life has been that interested in me. For some reason though, I trusted "wolverine" and "gambit" more than I did "magneto". Although, I think the reason I trusted them more than I did the other person was because of my comics. In my comics wolverine and gambit were two of the good guys, whereas magneto was one of the chief bad guys. Here I go again, letting my imagination get the better of me. I really ought to try and break myself of that habit. If I think about it at some point, I will have to ask them if they got their names from the comic. I think I will see where knowing those two takes me. If I don't like what is going on I will try to figure a way out of it. I will even run if I have to. Hopefully it will take me to an interesting life. An interesting life, that's a concept I have to grasp once again, the only time I had an interesting life was when I was in my high school marching band. But ever since I graduated my life has been really boring. Hopefully those two will make my life interesting at least. A week after I decided to trust wolverine and gambit, they led me to someplace in New York. It's some fancy mansion-type building. Supposedly it's a school of some sort. The plaque out front reads "Xavier's school for gifted youngsters". I wonder why they waited until now to bring me here if I am a gifted youngster. Once inside, I was led to meet the head of this school. He is a really kind professor, although I don't know what he is a professor of. For some reason I like him already. Something inside my head tells me I can trust him, but I don't know if I should trust that voice inside my head. It could just lead me to trouble. The first thing I asked when I was able to was did I really belong here. The answer was a yes right out, he said I was as gifted as they come. I then asked what I was gifted in. He sort of laughed at that and then said that I had many talents, and only a few of them I was aware of. I must have gotten a very confused look on my face because he went on to explain that I had powers that normal humans don't. At this point I was thinking this was sounding way too much like one of my comics. All of a sudden he laughed and said I agree. Now I was more confused than ever. It's then when I heard this voice in my head saying that this school was full of people quite like myself. Then he said out loud that I was what the comics called a mutant. I then had to ask whether or not the comic was based on them or not. He said it was, but loosely and that they had people in Hollywood to make sure that it never came close enough to threaten them anyway. This made me really curious, so I had to ask who they had in Hollywood. His reply was that he wasn't sure that he should tell me yet, considering I haven't even agreed to go to the school yet. The next question I asked was if that was an offer. He said yes it was. That amazed me but I didn't know how I would fit in or how I would pay for it. He then mentioned that they have trusts set up for people such as myself who wouldn't be able to afford it ordinarily. When I heard this it perked me up immediately. Boy did I want to go here, there was no question in my head about what my answer would be. It was then that I said that I would love to go to the school. He smiled at my enthusiasm and said I might as well stay then considering I would be living on campus. All I had to do was call my parents and tell them I will be going to college in New York and then the professor will take over the phone call and convince them that it will be alright.