Chamber
written by Lord_Lassic
Jonothon Starsmore, a.k.a. Chamber, exits the infirmary building. He
walks off onto a small path that leads into the surrounding woods with
his head held down low and his hands deep into his leather jackets’
pockets. His dark brown hair blows in the sweet evening’s wind, but it
doesn’t uplift his mood. As he walks, his black combat boots kick at a
small, black stone. Soon, he comes into a large clearing that surrounds
a medium sized lake. Thick woods surround all around, except for the
path he just followed. He sees the faded yellow of the moon’s
reflection glint off the pond and he thinks of Paige Guthrie, one of the
main conflicts in his life, and one of the main reasons he is at the
lake in the first place. He is in a desperate need of solitude.
The cool wind begins to pick up, and he is actually thankful for the
huge black scarf that covers his OTHER never ending conflicts; the fact
that his mutant power has left him without a mouth and chest. He walks
to the edge of Jonothon rolls back the left sleeve of his jacket,
exposing his bare skin to the Fall element. Taking a quick glance
around, he doesn’t see or hear anyone. He takes this opportunity to
retract a syringe from with in his pocket. He looks into the needle and
sees that it is full to the max with a clear substance. He clenches his
left hand into a tight fist, and slowly aims the sharp needle into the
center of arm.
Chamber hears a nearby rustling, looks up into to see a string of gray
skin stretch forth at tremendous speeds, and retrieves the syringe from
Jonothon’s reach. Chamber rams his left fist into the ground in
frustration as he watches the skin stretch back like elastic to the
mutant that beholds it. Angelo Espinosa, still holding the needle,
stomps over to where Chamber begins to rise. The grey-skinned Mexican
mutant does not look very happy.
Using his only means of speaking, Jonothon speaks telepathically into
Skin’s, a.k.a. Angelo Espinosa’s, head.
"Give it back, Angelo."
Chamber reaches his hand out, waiting for the needle. In response,
Skin says in a low, fierce voice,
"What the hell were you thinking Jono? What is this, crap?"
Jono bluntly responds, "Morphine."
Angelo shakes his head angrily and speaks.
"Morphine!? What do you need this for? I never to you much for a drug
addict, you always seemed level;-headed enough. Do you realize that
this stuff could kill you, man!"
Folding his arms across his chest, Chamber replies telepathically :
"I don’t care anymore Angelo. I am sick to death of not being able to
do anything right. For four weeks, I have done my best to help Paige
along for with whatever troubles her, doing anything I can to help her
out, but it just isn’t working. I questioned her about it, but that
lead to an argument. For the past hour and a half I have listened to
her vent and complain that she is not sure what she wants and that I am
just another problem to her. I am sick of it."
Angelo says in a low voice, "So, what? You turn to Morphine for your
troubles. Just because a girl doesn’t like you? It isn’t going to help
you. It may take the pain away for a little bit, but it will do more
harm to you. Take it from experience, drugs is not the way to go. "
Rolling his eyes, Chamber says, "You don’t have to preach to me
Angelo. If I wanted that, then I would go back to London. Paige and me
have been through a lot and I know when she is being troubled. She is
changing, Ange. Everything about her is changing. We use to really
care about each other, but the love or what ever was there, is gone. I
just don’t care to be hurt any more. Being a walking freak is bad as it
is, but trying to help a girl who won’t even acknowledge to accept
help… I am sick of being a good guy. I just need something to help
ease the frustration."
Angelo says, "And drugs is the way to go, right?"
Angrily, Chamber growls telepathically into Skin’s head, "Gee, Ange,
if I were actually capable of it, I could DRINK my troubles away. But
seeing as how I can’t, it is just another reminder that I will never
live a normal, healthy life."
Hearing a sudden hoard of footsteps approaching, Jono and Ange turn
their heads. Out of nowhere, Jubilee comes running into the clearing,
carrying a small brown paper package, with an exasperated look on her
face. " Hel..., help! Ev is chasing me! Protect me!"
Everett follows right behind her yelling, "I’ll teach you to run off
with my brand new comic-book shipment! Come back Jubes!"
As Jubilee rushes behind Angelo, Chamber takes this opportunity to grab
the needle and eject it into his left arm. Before he loses conciseness,
he sees a fearful, shocked expression pass over Jubilee’s face and hears
Angelo curse loudly in Spanish.
*** *** ***
When Jonothon Starsmore wakes, he finds himself in a hospital bed with
white sheets pulled over him. His shoes, socks and jacket have been
removed, but he is left in his jeans shirt and cotton scarf. In his
left arm, he sees he is hooked to an IV. With an expressionless look,
he sees all of Generation X surrounding his bed. To his left is Sean
Cassidy, (Banshee), with a really angry look on his face. He looks like
he is about to burst from frustration. Emma Frost, (the White Queen) is
to Sean’s left, dressed in full white attire, with a deeply concerned
look on her face. Chamber has never seen her this sensitive.
Next in line is Everett Thompson, (Synch) looking incredibly upset,
with his face formed into a frown, staring at the floor. Monet St.
Croix, (M), stands in a designer dark blue skirt, with a matching velvet
sweater. Jonothon sees her arms held behind her back and an emotionless
expression across her face. Chamber does see a glint of fear in her
eyes, though. To Monet’s left, with his Grey arms crossed over chest,
stands Angelo Espinosa, (Skin), chewing his frustration out on a
toothpick, glaring down at Chamber. Jubilation Lee, (Jubilee), is at
the right foot of Chamber’s bed, with her eyes slightly glinted with
tears, holding back her urge to cry. Last, but not least, stands Paige
Guthrie, (Husk), arms folded across her breast, staring down at
Jonothon, with an incredibly hurt look on her face. She is the first to
speak. In a small voice, Paige says,
"Jono, are you awake now?"
Chamber slowly nods his head and telepathically replies to everyone in
the room,
"Regretfully, yes. Going by the pissed off and hurt expressions in the
room."
Paige’s expression changes from sorrowful to angry in a period of one
second. With angry tears streaming down her face, she begins striking
repeatedly at Chamber, screaming, "How could ye’ DO that to ye’ self,
Jono!? You’re an idiot!"
Paige’s barrage of fist into Jono continue for a few more seconds until
the Irish man Banshee says, in a very commanding voice,
"Paige, that is ENOUGH!"
Husk gives one last good strike to the side of Chamber’s face, and then
wipes her face of tears.
Banshee, trying to keep his anger under control, says to Jono,
"Jonothon, that was a very stupid thing ye’ did, lad. What could
POSSIBLY have caused you to do something so drastic as to shoot morphine
into your arm."
Chamber responds, "Life sucks."
Banshee sadly shakes his head,
"That it does, Chamber. But that is no excuse for drug abuse."
Angelo suddenly sprouts a grin at the rhyme, but quickly composes
himself as Jubilee elbows him in the ribs.
Sean Cassidy continues into his speech, but Chamber simply rolls his
eyes, wishing the shot had killed him.
"This campus has a strict NO DRUG policy, and I expected it having no
problem being followed. I thought ye’ were more mature than this,
Chamber. It is such a shame to have one of me better students have to
go off and do something like this. As for punishment, I am not sure
yet, but for starters, we are going to find ye’ a counselor."
Sean straightens his shirt and nods his head at what he just said. He
thinks,
"I have got this father figure image down pretty well."
"I wouldn’t go that far, Sean."
Banshee looks straight at Emma and returns a telepathic message,
"Stop reading me mind, Emma!"
The White Queen gives him a sly smile, but then turns her attention
back onto Chamber. In a stern voice, she says,
"I will be your counselor, Jonothon. At least three times a week, you
will be forced onto my company. Until further notice, you will not be
permitted to leave the campus UNTIL I see some improvements."
A shocked Banshee looks at Emma Frost and says, "Shouldn’t we both be
deciding his punishment? How come YOU get to be the counselor?"
With a superior smile she says,
"Because, Sean, I am telepathic. In addition, we will discuss it
later. For now, though, we all need to leave Chamber to recover."
The white queen is the first to leave, quickly being followed by
Banshee. All single filed, Generation X walks out of the room with
their heads held down. The last one to leave is Paige. Halfway out of
the door, she turns back to look at Chamber. He sees that tears are
running down her cheeks. Paige Guthrie quickly clicks off the light and
leaves, leaving Jonothon Starsmore in the dark.
