CH 29: John West

John West was a mutant, he was of black heritage and had a very weak physique, his only power was that his eyes were a little better than others but it made his iris look yellow. Making him look weird to people and scary to children.

And thus, in his childhood, he was boycotted by both Mutants and Humans. His parents had abandoned him at his birth because of his eyes and mutants didn't want him because of his weak body and his supposed useless powers.

It was a dog-eat-dog world for mutants at the time. And humans with their unlimited hatred for mutants tried to kill him just because of his weird-looking eyes, thinking it could harm them. Thus John became an outcast and a reject.

On a particularly cold night, 7-year-old John was strolling through the suburbs, looking for shelter and food. While looking with the help of his enhanced vision, he came across a house with a luscious garden filled with fruits in the distance.

He didn't waste any more time and ran towards it, trying to reach there as fast as his little legs could carry him without caring about the consequences that would entail as his hunger dominated his rational mind.

And after running for 5 minutes straight, John reached the garden showing how farsighted his eye power was. As the fence wasn't that high, he climbed atop it and entered the garden, voraciously gobbling up any fruit he could find.

But, as he was enjoying the taste of the fruits, suddenly, something cold touched the back of his head, something metallic and before he could turn around, he heard a raspy voice, "Who are you, Little goblin?"

The metallic feeling at the back of his head and the raspy old voice made John afraid. He finally realized how stupid his actions had been. He let go of the half-eaten fruit in his hand and it fell to the ground. His breathing became labored as he feared what would happen to him if he turned around.

The voice rang again, this time with a little chuckle seemingly toying with him, "Turn around…little goblin."

John felt the cold feeling move away from his head and decided to follow what the voice said.

He turned around with his breath still shaking, his face couldn't hide his fear at this moment and then he saw an old man holding his cane towards him with a smile on his face.

The cold feeling came from the lower metallic part of the wooden cane.

"Hahahaha! Don't worry, I was just messing with you…Y'know, nobody comes around to eat this old man's fruits anymore…Most of this town's kids are afraid of an old man living alone, and now I am all alone with nothing to do except tend to these plants."

John's fear lessened quite a bit after hearing the old man speak, but he still didn't let go of his guard. And then he saw the old man looking at the half-eaten fruits on the ground.

"I see that you are quite hungry too. Come, come let's go, I have just prepared supper."

The old man used his cane as support and invited John inside his house.

Seeing that the old man was not like others, John decided to follow him inside. But that was just one reason, the other being, that John was also pretty hungry and had nowhere else to go.

After entering the house, John saw that it wasn't very big, but t was quite warm and cozy.

"Alright, Sit tight. I will go and bring supper ." The old man said as he walked towards the kitchen with the thumping of his cane hitting the floor resonating in the entire house.

While the old man went to get food, John was looking around the house, when he found the fireplace in the hall.

He quickly went and sat near it, basking in the warmth of the fire. The night was quite cold and John had only dregs left for clothes.

After a few minutes of sitting in front of the fireplace, John heard the tapping sound of the cane again.

"Here, little goblin. Come to the dinner table-"

The old man saw John sitting beside the fireplace and a thought clicked in his mind.

"Oh! You're cold…My old brain, I forgot how cold it was outside…", he put down the steaming bowl of food and said, "You wait here, I will bring some warm clothes."

John again heard the departing taps of the cane and looked back towards the food on the table. A sweet scent slowly traveled and entered his nostrils, inciting a reaction from his stomach.

He stood up from his place and went to check up on the food at the table. But when he looked inside the bowl, he saw some weird creatures, some were spherical with many branches emerging from them, and some were cylindrical and used some sort of hair-like tail to get around. But that wasn't the end of it, when he looked closer, he saw a palace, it was weird as it was floating in the middle of nowhere.

Suddenly, his eyes started to hurt. And he quickly closed them. After the pain lessened he slowly opened them back, John saw that there was nothing of sorts in the bowl, instead, it was sweet porridge. Thinking he might be imagining things cause he was hungry, he stopped thinking about other things and launched himself onto the food.

When Old man Joseph returned with some warm clothes, he saw John devouring the food like a beast. Seeing the scene in front of him, he felt both happy and sad for this small kid.

Happy at the fact that the boy was happy with the food and sad at the fact that he realized the cruelty of the world at such a young age.

Joseph went ahead and put the warm clothes on the nearby chair and then sat down with a huff.

After John was done with his food, he sat back relaxed, and let out a burp.

"Oh, looks like you are done…Alright, then come with me…I will show you your room."

Joseph stood up and picked up the warm clothes from the chair and made his way toward the room. John also followed him like a little duckling.

After a few seconds, Joseph introduced John to his room. "Here!" He said while throwing the warm clothes at John. "Change into them and take a nap, go ahead."

John complied and went to sleep. And that sleep was the best thing he remembered having in his entire 7 years of life.

The next morning…

"Wake up, little goblin!"

John woke up in a hurry after hearing Joseph's voice, "Huh, what is it?"

"So you speak? I thought you couldn't. Well, that makes things easier." Joseph said in a bemused tone.

"...umm, it makes what easier?" John asked in an uncertain tone.

Joseph caught John's uncertain tone and turned his face serious, causing John to gulp, and then he said, "Of course, It makes it easier to feed you to the demons. Muhahahahahahah!"

"NOOO!" Hearing Joseph's serious tone and sinister laughter, John decided to make a run for it. He tried to run past the frail old Joseph but was easily caught by him.

"C'mon now. I was just joking…Demons aren't real probably. so I won't give you to them… yet.

After a little bit of flailing around, John calmed down after hearing Joseph speak.

" Now that you're calm, let's start with today's job, training."

Hearing Joseph, John made a questioning expression.

"Oh! You don't understand why I am asking you to train?... Well, that's because you're a mutant. Now, I know what kind of world is out there waiting for you guys. So, it's better to train now to prepare for whatever comes in the future."

John was a little confused by Joseph, "If you know I am a mutant, why are you taking care of me? Why don't you hate me like others and gave me good food? Are you like me? "

"I am not a mutant but…as for why I am taking care of you? Let's say, I got my life saved by a mutant friend of mine in the war. So, I understand that not all mutants are as bad as the media is trying to portray… Now that you know. Let's get to training."

That started the true beginning of John's life. An outcast and a reject found a place he could call home. These memories which he would always cherish and if not for that single event, he could have kept living a better life for a little longer.

Life was so long yet so short and just like that, 10 years had passed in an instant….

"No, you trap didn't do shit, old man. My shot took that boar down," argued John with his foster father.

"That's what you lack, kid, humbleness, and by the time you learn about that, I'll probably be 6ft underground." joked joseph

17-year-old John and 75-year-old Joseph were just returning from a hunting trip in the woods.

After they had just reached their house, the duo suddenly heard a commotion outside.

"Go back into your room, hide. I will see what the commotion's all about." Joseph patted John's shoulder and urged him to go to his room.

John went into his room and after that Joseph went ahead and opened the main door. "Hey, James, Oliver…Daniel, I see all the town's big wigs here. Why are you all at this humble man's abode?

Joseph had vaguely guessed their purpose but he still tried to see if he could bluff his way out.

Unfortunately, fate was against Joseph tonight, "Oldman Joseph, we know you are hiding a devil in your house. That kid of yours, my child saw his eyes yesterday, they were glowing yellow. Only a demon has glowing yellow eyes…We suggest you silently hand him over or we will go inside and drag him out ourselves."

And a chorus of agreement rang between the crowd.

Hearing that, Joseph knew that the crowd was going to kill John today. But he couldn't let that happen, "JOHN RUN!" Joseph tried closing the main door on the crowd's faces as he screamed hoping John could escape

But before he could do so, Oliver, who was on guard, overpowered him and pushed it open, which caused Joseph to stumble and hit his head on the edge of a nearby table. He didn't die, but blood started to come out of his head.

Meanwhile, John was hiding when he found out that the people were here to kill him. And then, he heard Joseph's scream. Fearing the worst, John picked up a loaded rifle and hurriedly ran towards the hall.

Oliver squatted near Joseph with a smirk on his face, "You should have just handed him over, Joseph I could've convinced others to let you live for old times' sake. But now, I have no choice. You both have to die."

John reached the hall and saw a man squatting near the bleeding Joseph saying something, "...you both have to die."

*Bang!*

Joseph saw Oliver's face burst open like a melon, and then his squatting corpse fell to the side.

John didn't stop there, he aimed toward the other three intruders and shot them one by one before they could draw their guns.

As soon as the four corpses fell, the crowd dispersed in a ruckus. John went ahead and closed the door.

And then came and squatted beside Joseph, trying to pick him up.

"Lea..ve…me…run…" Joseph's voice came in between his labored breathing, signifying that his end was not far away.

"No, we have to get out of here, together... I will take you to a doctor." John wasn't ready to lose the only man in his life who provided him with the comfort of a father and the love of a mother. No, he would do whatever it took to keep him alive.

He again tried and picked up Joseph which took a lot of effort. After which, he used the backdoor and got to Joseph's Jeep.

He put him down on the front passenger seat and put on his seat belt to make sure he stayed in place. Then, he jumped into the driver's seat to start the car.

John hurriedly drove the car towards the nearest highway, while consoling Joseph that he would survive. "For my sake Joseph, please don't give up. What would I do without you?...Whe…Where would I go?" Joseph only kept smiling at John.

Assured, John kept driving, but a minute later when he looked back at Joseph, he saw that his eyes were closed.

Fearing the worst, John tried to shake him awake but he didn't respond. John kept shaking him hoping he would wake up but he never did.

With his enhanced eyes, John could see that Joseph had stopped breathing.

John tried to remain strong as Joseph taught him. Joseph used to say, "Real men never cry". But a few drops of tears still fell down his face. Remembering that the only person who ever cared for him was no more, pained him more than he ever thought.

At this point, he knew that he was all alone again. No family, no home, nothing.

He understood that, from now on, he had to carve his own path into the world. But, before heading on that journey, he had to do one last thing.

He decided to go back to his old house again to take something as a keepsake so that he could never forget the place that had housed him for the last 10 years.

Only to see a fire covering the land which he walked, trained, and spent making precious memories with his one and only family.

And slowly his old house burned to ash which also erased the few good memories he had in this world.

At that time, he finally understood how low humanity can stoop and how demonic they can become against things they don't understand. Or how far they push others and break them.

He left silently, afraid of who he would become if he stayed another minute at this place and hoping to never return, for there was nothing to return to.

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