Fox

Chapter 1

The screaming of some singer on Karen's clock radio shattered the black oblivion of sleep. She groaned and viciously beat the alarm clock back into silence. She slowly opened her pale blue eyes to the now blinding morning light. Seven o'clock already? Only three hours of sleep again. How she very managed to remain in the conscious world at all was a mystery, but she pulled herself out of bed into the shower, where the hot water slowly awoke her body up from what the alarm had stared.

Only 30 days of school left, Karen thought as she prepared for a day of high school. There was barely enough time to get dressed before she had to started her car and grabbed her school bag to get to school on time. Breakfast? That was a fleeting dream that she couldn't get today.

Summer is coming soon, reminded Karen to herself. That vary thing was why she even gets out of bed in the morning any more. As she neared the building, Karen was acutely aware of how the other students talked about her as she passed them in the halls. She had known theses people for years, but that don't stop them from turning on her when she started acting differently. She even saw two girls she used to hang out with at the opposite side of the hall. They just whisper to each other, and then quickly retreat down the hall in the opposite duration.

In homeroom Karen sat in the back near the window alone as she waited in silent contemplation for attendance to be taken. The teacher was the same one she has always had for the past two years-named Mr. Ted Pears. He is an older man, whiting black hair, wearing a suite jacket with his old man glasses at the end of his nose. "Karen, Fawkes" Mr. Pears said as if he could read her mind.

"Here" Karen answered quietly to not draw any attention to her. Mr. Pears checked off her name in his book and went on to the next person on the list. The words of her own last name echoed in her mind, which led her mind to her mother. She is the reason why every thing changed for her.

Two months before Karen had came home from school to find that her step-father Jacob and her half brother Kevin were out, and her mother in the kitchen cooking up a bunch of cookies for the bake sale to help out the girl's basketball team to go Western Maine Championship game. As soon as she step into the kitchen scene in front of her was ripped away by a man smashing through the sliding glass door who grabbed her mother outside into the backyard. She ran after the man into the knee-high snow to help her mother. She was horrified to as she watched her mother and the tall blonde man who was in military dress fighting one another in a full out death match. She had known that her mother was a mutant, but until she saw her tackling and punching at her attacker did she truly understand what her mother was.

It seemed that her mother had the upper hand the man until he grabbed her by the neck and through her a crossed the snow covered yard into a weeping willow tree snapping it into two. Karen felt an over welling sense of fear and anger rise inside her. She began to clinch her fists so hard that three long claws popped out of her knuckles, and two more from her feet. The pain was mind bending to her that she let out a cry of fiery. The next thing Karen knew she was running full out at the man. She knocked him away from her mother. She slashed him at any body part she could get. The man couldn't take any more and fled into the near by woods leaving Karen and her mother alone.

Red was the color of the snow .Blood was everywhere to be seen all around Karen and her mother. Two hours later Karen's mother was taken to the Hospital. Her mother fell into a coma for 2 months, until last week she woke up from her coma to the joy of her family. When it comes to what happen she still doesn't even know, but one thing was sustained was that Karen found out that night she was a mutant.

Back to the present .How am I going to learn how to control my growing powers with out telling Jacob or Kevin about them? What if they were to found out what would they do or say about it? Karen wrenched away those thoughts from her mind as the bell rang for her to go to her first period class of the day. Art.

The Art room she was happy to see her oldest and only friend in the school Denise Grasser. Her natural shoulder length red hair made her sick out from the norm, where it made it easy for Karen to find her. She was sitting at their usual table at the back of the room near the large bay windows.

"How are things today?" Karen asked to Denise who had her back turned to her in the chair facing the large bay windows. She turned to meet her green eyes to Karen's blue eyes.

"Fox, hey, I'm not too bad today," Denise answered. (Fox is Karen's nickname that only her friends call her) Karen sat down in the chair a crossed from her. "How about you?"

"Not to bad. I got out of bed with minutes to spare to make it here to school today which makes me mad to say I came at all, but it is a Friday so we have the holiday weekend a head of us with the whole week off," Karen answered. She then pulled out her sketchbook from her blue bag.

"Ah man, I forgot we had the weekend," Denise said. She then took out her own sketchbook to not get in to trouble with their teacher Mrs. Camlin. "You got anything planned?"

"I was thinking about visiting my mom tomorrow at the hospital."

"That sound cool," Denise said. Her voice had a sound of disappoint moment about something, which Karen picked up on with her super hearing that she has.

"Why don't I believe you when you say that? What's wrong?" Karen asked Denise who dropped her eyes away from her to show she didn't want to talk.

"It's that you have been ditching me left and right every sense your mom's accident. I can understand," Denise answered. She then looked up at Karen. "But you need to get out and socialize with people. I mean people beside your family or mine."

"I know I do, but I need time before I can go out," Karen's voice calm and collective about the subject.

"I don't think people even hate you as much as you think they do for what happen at the game. They don't understand like I do about why you beat the crap out of girl from Central High. She had no right to say what she did about your mother. It was understandable," Denise said.

"I broke almost every bone in her face with that basketball!" said Karen. "I don't really want to have to hurt anyone. When I lose control it seems like I have no control what happens next."

She began to clench her right fist just thinking about it. She could feel her claws coming to though her skin of her knuckles. "Karen, clam down," Denise told her. Her face looked intensely mad. She then reach a crossed the table to Karen's hand to grab it to help her clam down, but she pulled way.

"Sorry," Karen said putting her hands under the table. "I am just really jumpy."

"Some times you scare me," Denise said. She then looked around the room to see were the teacher was. "Didn't the school send you to an anger control doctor after what happened?

"They did, but they could find anything wrong with me. They said that I had good reason to attack because I was pushed to do it, but try telling that to every one else in the school," Karen answered bitterly.

Denise was going to say something, but the teacher who began to talk which became more important. For the rest of class they didn't speak about what they said earlier, but it was always on Karen's mind. The day just swirled around in front of Karen until it was time for her study hall, which seventh period in the library. As Karen was making her way to the Library she came upon a group of girl who had gathered near the main office window.

"Nice body," She heard one of them whisper, referring to someone in the office.

"Yeah, but he's a little too old for my liking, but who is he," Another girl asked.

"No idea," The first girl answered. "But I guess he must be with the government or something."

"No way! Why would a government official dress so normally? A third girl added. "And plus why would they come here any way?"

Karen couldn't see the subject of this profound conversation. Probably some handsome blond suite type here from another school. Probably a lawyer so something, she thought pessimistically. "Who are you looking at? She asked the three gawking girls.

The quietest, a senior named Jazzy, looked over her shoulder, recognized Karen. She grabbed her friends by the arms, and pulled them away then walked away slowly. Karen just ignored them. At least most people were subtle about moving away from her when they were scared. She quickly forgot the girl's behavior, however, when she glanced into the office window and saw the object of their admiration.

His face was strong and well groomed with a military look to it. Hair was a gray that was in contrasted with his well-tanned skin, and when he turned a bit she saw that he had and eye patch on his right eye. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans boot cut with black leather boots, a black leather jacket with some type of patch on his left shoulder of it.

After staring at the man for a few moments a wave of familiar washed over her as if she had met this man before or known him some how, but she didn't know how. Just as if the man had known that she was staring at him he turned around and looked out the office widow right at Karen. She was shocked, and just quickly walked away down the hall to her study hall in the library.