Angel: Scene 3

2 May 2054

        She woke early the next morning and walked into the bathroom. The sight of the body in the tub shook her fully awake, remembering the events of the previous evening. Only his nose and knees stood clear of the water. Shaking her head, she knew she would have to dispose of the body soon.
        A movement caught her eyes and she looked more closely. Just beneath his nostrils the water rippled, then stopped. A minute later, the water rippled again. He was breathing! He was alive!
        She dressed, then went to the kitchen to make breakfast. She was just sitting down at the table when she heard splashing in the bathroom and a deep, rumbling voice with an odd nasal quality spoke.
        ”Where am I?”
        She sprang up from the table and raced back to the bathroom. There in the tub fully alert but obviously confused, stood the mutant. He looked sleek and powerful in his nudity, with the massive size and shape of a weightlifter, but the rippling power of the muscles nearly hid beneath the thick skin. He stood over six feet tall, staring down at her.
        ”Where am I?” he repeated, “and who are you?”
        ”Alaina,” she replied. “Alaina Hazelton. You’re in my home. Who are you?”
        ”Ed Wray.” He looked around the room and spotted himself in the mirror. He froze, then looked down at his body. He looked up at her again. “How did I get here, and how long have I been here?” he demanded.
        ”I brought you,” she answered, “and you’ve been here one night.”
        ”But . . . I couldn’t have . . .! I should be dead! I couldn’t have defeated them all!” He shook his head in confusion. “I remember throwing a few of them off, but someone hit me from behind. I don’t remember anything else.”
        ”You didn’t beat them.”
        ”What? How? What am I doing here? Why aren’t I dead?”
        ”They thought you were. After they left, I dragged you in here to do first aid, but something strange happened. The room got hot and started to glow. I fainted, from the heat I think, and when I woke up you were healed. I don’t remember much after that, but it was only this morning that I realized you were alive, not dead. You must have healed yourself, somehow.”
        ”Well, I know my body is tough, Ms. Hazelton, but it’s not that tough. I was a marine biologist when I changed a few months ago. I used my lab equipment to run tests on myself. I don’t heal that quickly. You must have done it.”
        She stared at him, stunned. “I couldn’t have, I’m a Normal, not a mutant. Not like you!”
        He stepped out of the tub and wrapped a bath towel around his waist. “Not all mutants have noticeable differences like mine. I know of a few others who can still pass as Normals. They can do things. Powerful things. Because of the hunters though, they can’t stay here any longer. They’re moving south. I was on my way south as well when those mutant hunters caught me.
        ”I couldn’t have healed myself that quickly. If I couldn’t, then you must have. You’re a mutant, too. Even if you don’t know it.”
        ”No!” she cried. “I can’t be! I won’t be!” She fled back to the kitchen and collapsed at the kitchen table, crying. He followed, gazing in sorrow at her. He sniffed the air.
        ”That smells good,” he said. “May I have some? I haven’t eaten since yesterday.” She motioned towards the food without raising her head. “Look. I’m sorry I said something you didn’t want to hear. Just forget about it. Okay?” Silently, she nodded her head. He dug in to the bacon and eggs before him.
        She hid her face in her arms, her mind roiling in panic. No! she thought, No, No, No! Everyone will hate me, try to kill me! Like they did him! I don’t want to be a mutant! I just want to be left alone!
        After a while, she began to think rationally again. Ed, finished with his food, sat quietly, watching and waiting as she came to terms with her mutation.
        She began to think about what he had said. If he couldn’t heal himself, what did happen? She thought back to the night before, trying to remember exactly what had occured. The eerie light and oppressive heat after she put him in the tub must have been part of the healing process, but where had it come from? After she opened the window, she noticed his skin had dried out, so she had turned on the water. Then she remembered. The glow! It … It came from her hands when she ran them over his body. But, then she must have healed him!
        But why? Why did she go out to rescue this odd, handsome man when she saw him beaten so by the mob? Why, even after she saw the severity of his injuries, did she decide to give him first aid when, obviously, he couldn’t survive such a beating? And why did she fill the tub with water when she was so sure he was dead? Something — some … force, some knowledge — impelled her do those things. Even though she believed the effort would be useless.
        Although she was terrified to be different, to be a mutant, she was also obscurely pleased to be a healer. It could have been so very much worse!
        ”You’re right,” she said finally, raising her head. “I must have healed you.”
        They spent the day talking about how the world had changed. Ed helped her clean the house and did odd jobs for her, his height and strength letting him reach places and carry things she couldn’t. He told her about the other mutants he knew of and told her about his own plans to follow them south as soon as he could. She gave him some clothes of her father’s that she had never bothered to get rid of. She let him use the spare bedroom and kept finding excuses to keep him around a little longer.