Chapter Text
Her breathe was hitched, pupils shaking as she stared at the scene before her. Tears threatening to fall but she found it pointless. It was now clear to her that her feelings meant nothing to them. She looked around at the stoic faces, searching for something other than fear. They were afraid of her. She scared them. The people she held so close to her, who she shared everything, who she trusted with her life. They now see her as a threat, a danger.
Jeon Heejin lived her life as perfectly as possible. Perfect hair, makeup, outfit, grades, daughter, student, friend, just peak perfection. But this just proved perfection means nothing if you're a mutant. Seeing all of friends and family turn on her within a day after she foolishly let her secret slip was proving to be the worst feeling ever. But was she supposed to be surprised. She knew why she never told them about. She knew how they'd feel, how they'd react. She had seen it all before, she had even done it herself.
"Mutants, they are.. unnatural without a doubt.." her mother had explained to a 6-year-old Heejin. They had just sent her uncle to a mutant facility to be tested. It was gathering much like this one mainly comprising of family along with a few close friends. There were also some people from the facility and their guards. "You see, God made us in his image and likeness, and the last time I checked God didn't have a tail growing out of his ass." her mother chuckled darkly. That was the first time she had been taught anti-mutant 'propaganda'. She gained a greater understanding of it all at the one year of mandatory therapy sessions that she had received to help cope with the fact that her relative was a mutant. The next to it happened she was 12 years old, this time it was her grandfather. She's not sure what happened to him but it's been five years and she has never gotten a single update about him.
"This is the third.." she heard her aunt murmur.
"There must be something wrong with this family." her cousin sighed.
"They need to find a way to test for the shit. I don't I can give birth to this child and risk it being a mutant." Her aunt, who was expecting, said receiving a series of nods from her relatives. Sick. They were sick. This was sick. It all made Heejin feel sick to the stomach. She glanced towards her parents. Their heads were hung low and she could see that her mother was secretly crying. Her friends weren't so shy with their sobbing though, and it broke Heejin's heart know she was the cause of their sorrow and misery.
"I'm sorry." was the only thing Heejin could say. She wiped away the stray tears that had fallen with her permission. She took a step closer only for all of them to simultaneously take one step back. The security guards stepped forward creating a slight barrier between Heejin and her family. "I'm so sorry," she whispered out unable to hold back her tears anymore. It was so sudden. Just 24 hours ago they were doing so well. That was Heejin went and fucked everything. She fell to her knees and cried out, apologies thrown between each sob. She slowly raised her head only to see that everyone was cowering away. She let a loud sob that seem to trigger something in the guards as they quickly rushed to her side two grabbing her arms pulling her from her kneeling position.
"Please! Don't do this to me!" She cried out fighting against the men. Her family was quickly escorted to the back of the house in case she 'lost control' and became a threat. "Mom! Please! I promise I can control it! Please!" She kept screaming and fighting. She turned to look at her mother only see her cowering away in the arms of her father. She slowly lost any will to fight once she had caught a glimpse of the fear in her mother's eyes. She was afraid of her. They all were afraid of her.
She went limp in the guard's hands, allowing them to drag her out of her childhood home. Once they were outside she was turned around. She saw that vehicle that was meant to take her away, the words "Mutant detainment centre" written in white contrasting the completely black vehicle. She looked around and saw that the vehicle had drawn attention to her home. She could see her neighbours out on their porches in nightgowns staring in her direction trying to see who was the newfound mutant in the neighbourhood. Heejin oddly enough felt embarrassed and humiliated. She was somewhat used to being the center of attention but this time around it didn't feel the same. Rather than her usual pride, she felt shame and embarrassment. She looked down trying to pretend as if she can't see all these people she knew from her childhood staring in disgust and curiosity.
When she was directly in front of the back of the van, she took one last depressing look at the house. She saw the man from earlier quietly walking out a couple of relatives following closely behind. She saw some other people peeping from the windows. She let out a long sigh before looking back at the floor. She felt her body being roughly picked up and shoved into the van. She stumbled falling onto her knees, groaning at the pain that shot through her body. One of the guards came in and tied her up restricting her from any movement. He hopped out, slamming the doors shut making Heejin flinched.
She observed her surroundings her lips quivering as tears began to fall again. Realizing she was alone, Heejin didn't hold back her crying. Wailing like a small child, cursing loudly, kicking her feet around, anything to help release the pent up frustration. She was sobbing so aggressively it was becoming harder and harder to breathe properly. Her face was turning red and her body was heating up. She was soon hyperventilating taking exaggerated breaths. She tried to put her hand to her face but it was abruptly tugged back by the restraints on her hands increasing her frustration. She screamed out in frustration, fighting against the bondage although she was pretty sure it was pointless. Sweat was beginning to mix with her tears as the room was becoming insufferably hot causing her to sweat profusely.
Suddenly, Heejin felt a chilling breezing. The vehicle was humming quietly. She stopped her fighting, still breathing heavily. Slowly air began to return to her lungs, a sense of peace spreading throughout her body. Her mind was not at peace, still completely panicking but now it was somehow easier to cope with. She felt her entire body go weak, her eyelids becoming heavy. Her breathes had now stabilized, the chill of the room making her cool off allowing for her face to return its normal pale complexion. She slowly allowed her body to lay onto the floor, curling into a ball as possible. She was still crying but not as much as before mostly just sniffling.
It didn't take time for her mind to completely blank out succumbing to the sudden exhaustion. Her body was still slightly shaking before she had completely fallen asleep. Her mind kept replaying the night while she slept although not even that could have forced her to wake up.
Heejin jolted awake immediately grabbing her chest. She looked around the room and saw she wasn't inside of the van but instead she was inside of her dorm room. She looked directly at her roommate who was still asleep, snoring lightly. Heejin sighed, closing her eyes tightly. She flopped back onto the bed before placing her hand onto the side of her face. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, thinking to herself. She briefly let reality sink in again but shook her head aggressively once she felt her heart beginning to race again. The last thing she needed was a forth panic in 3 days (one after she accidentally revealed her powers to her family, another in van and a third when she woke up in the holding center). She rubbed her eyes as the drowsiness slowly disappeared from her body. She sat up once again and peeped through the curtain, it was pitch black outside which meant everyone was probably fast asleep.
She climbed off the bed taking slow, light steps trying not to wake her roommate. She headed towards her pile of bags and began to search for her phone. Once she found it, she pulled it out turning it on. She saw it only had a little bit of charge left which meant she was going to have to look for a charger. She knew her mom didn't pack hers because she always kept it behind her bed, she doubts her mom would have worked so hard to find her damn charger.
Once the phone had completely turned on, it immediately began to freeze up. Hundreds of messages and missed calls appeared on the screen. It was happening so fast Heejin could barely get a chance to read any of the messages. Only two words stood out to her as they appeared on the screen so often. Heejin and mutant.
She locked the phone and placed it face down on the bag. Of course everyone would have known by now. All the private messages and calls must just be curious people trying to get enough information to spread around town. Her mom must have finally learn what she can and cannot share with every passing stranger. She was surprised that she was still in half of these group chats given that most of the people in them were pretty anti-mutant. Or maybe they were just so caught up in their gossip they didn't even remember she was in the chat or had the decency to remove her.
Heejin closed her tightly trying to stop the tears from forming. These people were her friends. People she grew up with, people she went to school with, people who she attended camps with, people she bonded with over many similarities. People she trusted. It hurt seeing all this trust completely disappeared and they talked about her like some sort of new display at a museum. She didn't even want to see what they were saying about her. She was sure she would surely breakdown and go insane if she did.
She opened her eyes again, her vision was blurry from the tears. She aggressively dipped the tears away before springing to her feet. She crawled back into her bed pulling the covers over her head. She curled up in a fetal position before finally letting it all out. She sobbed quietly to herself as she remembered her life before today. She told herself that crying a little would have been for the best. She had managed to convince herself that keeping it all in would only make her next breakdown 10 times worst. She didn't try to stop herself only stay as quiet as possible so that she doesn't wake her chatting roommate.
Unknowingly to her, her roommate was already awake. Hyunjin was always a light sleeper so when Heejin suddenly jolted out of bed it work her up. She brushed it off as nothing and ignore the girl shuffling around on the other side of the room. Her concern rose when she heard the girl crying. She sat up and say the position that she was in and it made her heart swell. She only sort of understood what Heejin might have been going through right now but she did know the worst thing she could do was try to comfort her. Heejin was having trouble accepting her mutation and the last thing she would want was a mutant comforting her. Especially one she didn't even like to begin with. Hyunjin just sank back down into her bed and turned the opposite direction, cover her ear trying not to hear Heejin's heart-wrenching cries.