Homecoming Night-- Stuyvesant Heights, New York City, New York
"Carter! Look my Andeferne toy’s still here! Cool!", Jeremy shoved the heroic action figure up to Carter's skeptical face. He narrowed his thick eyebrows and restrained his smile. “Nice…”
"Mom! Dad! Look!", Jeremy scurried out of Carter’s room into the laughs and chatter of their party guest to search for his parents.
Carter sighed and leaned against his wood paneled wall. In the back of his mind none of this felt right. The Dr. Damn renovation had good intention, but Carter didn’t trust him. An alien randomly volunteers to help ungrateful Americans; An invasion waiting to happen. Charmed and comfortable, Doctor Damn would pull the cover from under the New Yorkers any minute now. He pushed off the wall and opened the room window on the other side. Outside under the window, the air conditioning fan hummed like it always did when he would yell out to his friends Fred and Hector. The simplicity of the humming air conditioner helped him grasp the alien's miracle as a reality.
He leaned against the window frame and felt the warm air brush his bare neck and arms. He had a critical eye when he looked at his room. The celebrity and musician pictures still hung on his wall like charms. James Dean stood composed as a cigarette poked out his mouth; Megan Fox gazed into her admirers eyes in a black bikini while she teased her lips with a ripe cherry. To the right above his bed, the colorful illustration of Buffalo Bill shooting a pistol on a horse still hung where his mom tacked it six years ago. Six years ago, before the destruction one month ago. Carter didn’t understand, but hid Dad's always answered, "When you get older Carter".
“Carter", his mom peeked into his room glamoured with modest make-up, a black strap dress and black high heels."We're about to eat" She scuttled to him and rebuttoned his shirt. "You missed a button", she smiled which made her green eyes sparkle more than they naturally did. Carter's mom looked at the window,"It's hot and humid out there Carter, are you looking for Fred and Hector?", she asked after she shut the window. Carter didn't reply. "They're in the living room with your brother and Kali. You guys can eat together outside if you want"
"Ok", Carter said. He followed his mom into their family hosted celebration for their family friends and neighbors. Seeing their familiar faces still didn't register to Carter. Fred and Hector didn't even seem real.
The Next Morning…
The warm spring air traveled into Carter’s bedroom through his open window. He wanted to feel at home and the street sounds gave him a faint sense of it. Playful screams of kids slowly awoke him. He stirred and felt something sticky rub against his bare arms. Still in sleepy daze, he continued rubbing his arm in the sticky material. He finally fully awoke and ripped the sheets from over him. The sticky material created a web when he raised the bed sheets over his body. He timidly checked in his pants and saw nothing . “I hit puberty? Are my hormones finally here?!”, he naively blurted out smiling.
“Carter?” his mom slowly asked, eying him suspiciously at his bedroom door. Carter flushed red and excused himself to wash up in his bathroom. As he ran water over his arm, he heard his window shut close. “Mommm! Leave it open!”, he yelled, realizing the sticky material turned slick and slimy. “Carter, I wanna talk to you when you get out the bathroom okay?”, his mom said waiting in his room. Carter knew the talk; she wanted to see how he felt about the sudden change. His mom always felt when he was bothered. She could be miles away and sense something troubling him. Still in deep thought he headed out the bathroom. His foot slid in the water puddle. He fell forward and his right hand smacked against the wall. It stuck. Naturally he pressed his left arm against the wall. It stuck too. “Mommmm!”, Carter yelled stuck to the wall. His mom burst through the door like she anticipated his discovery. "Carter...", she said with tears running down her cheeks.
Monday's Are the Worst Days--Institute of Tomorrow
Carter's skin was acting up with the morning dew lingering in the air. He felt slippery and constantly checked for wet spots on his clothes only to find nothing. “Is it really okay”, Carter thought slowly walking the courtyard path towards the . “They’re kids like me, but are they green, scaly and slimy?” Yesterday Carter’s mutation accelerated. After his mom pulled from the bathroom wall his skin began to turn green. His mother freaked, comforted him then fled when he expelled a green gas from his body. She slammed his door shut and told him to stay in his room. Carter examined his green skin and watched as scales came and went across his body. He sat calmly and laughed a few times promising he would tell Fred and Hector about his dream when he woke up. Strange tested and examined his mutation three hours later after food and water slide-ins.
Now standing at the front door of the mansion, Carter eyes dropped. He recalled his mother's cries, the fear in his brother's eyes and disbelief in his father's face as so-called authority escorted him from his house. This is real. ” You'll be fine, now go ahead." Carter looked up over his shoulder and followed the EAGLE agent's orders. He turned the cold door knob and heard the kids muffled voices inside chattering and horse-playing. He sighed then finally pushed the door open. "YARRRHHHHHH", an Asian girl with a bob haircut screamed in his face, giggled then continued chasing a group a kids. Carter's anxiety relaxed as he saw most kids ignoring his green skin. "Maybe this isn't so bad...is this apart of the X-Men?"
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