Natalie Rice: Live for Today (From X-Men Awakening)

Date 11/22/04

Time 0737

Location Natalie's Room


Natalie started to open her eyes. She rubbed the
sleep out of them, got out of the bed and wandered to
the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and
quickly rubbed her eyes again. She started the water
for the shower and undressed, stepping into the
shower.

Natalie started thinking about the last few days.
Natalie had not left her room. Not even for food.
She had brought several days worth of food with her
the last time she was out.

Travis had taken her individually to train in the
lower levels of the CompleX, but none of the other
students had been present during these sessions.

Ever since the whole �Slender� incident, Natalie had
been afraid of interacting with the other students.
Not that she is afraid of hurting them, she was afraid
of being hurt. �You have a lot of trust issues,� she
remembered one of the counselors saying to her at the
woman�s shelter. She recalled chortling at the
comment, but knew deep down that it was true. And now
it was truer than ever.

Natalie had never lived in a community this big
before. She had lived in small communities, but they
never had the kind of interaction that the X Academy
did, and it was hard for her to get used to.

Natalie trusted Travis with her life. And she trusted
Brier and Gsani, but she was having trouble believing
her trust of others. Especially because of �Slender�
and the people that killed the mutant that started
Natalie on this journey in the first place.

�I guess I do have trust issues,� Natalie whispered to
the water. The water covered the tears that were
coming out of her eyes.

Natalie turned the water off and allowed herself to
drip dry for a moment. She grabbed the towel off of
the rack and began to dry herself off. She stepped
out of the shower and prepared herself for the day.
She dried her hair and rather than blow dry it, she
chose to just let it dry on its own.

Natalie walked into the room proper and moved to her
dresser. She got out some clothes and got dressed.
She looked at herself in the mirror, pulled her hair
into a ponytail and attempted a smile. The smile
didn�t last, but Natalie still felt better about
herself because she was at least going to leave her
room.


Natalie Rice
Confused and Shy Mutant