EXIT WOUNDS.
003. | ❛ mexico. ❜

THERE WAS NO ESCAPE FOR MILA DOWN IN MEXICO; THE ONE THING SHE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM THE MEDIA THAT WOULD IDENTIFY HER AS A THREAT. The first stop when she landed in Mexico, there was a newspaper stand with the headline of a freak mutant attacking a civilian. Her new name terrified her; mutant. That was all anyone would see now, she thought. The good and strong scientist who wanted nothing more than live up to her parents status and fulfill their dream was now washed over with a criminal attacker.

In Mexico, she sought isolation. The idea of hurting more innocent lives baffled her mind. Her hands now released waves of radioactive material from her fingertips. Emerald mist flowed from the palm of her hands, falling to the ground in small little flakes before it would glow green and disappear as fast as it came. She couldn't touch anything in the fear that it would suddenly gain radiation.
Even in her own body, with these new powers, she felt like a stranger.

Her mind didn't know where to start in order to reverse the harmful effects of the explosion, it wandered in loops as if there was a way to cure it. She guessed that the molecules of radiation stuck to her skin and it seeped it way into her bloodstream and then to her DNA, where it would bind with the genes. If it was in her genes, then any form of recovery was hopeless unless an antidote was created.
But most cases showed that the exposure to radiation and radioactive material was almost irreversible.

Many could suspect why she lost hope that a miracle would occur. That a magical breakthrough would happen when no one really knew what Mila's case was. Towards the end, she knew that she was destined to die alone. Pretty morbid to anyone at the surface, yet it was true in many occasions. If she couldn't control herself and what was happening to her, how could she be trusted in society? Who in their right mind would be with her? She was damaged goods and nobody would ever want to be with her.

When she found refuge in Mexico, she did her best to stay away from the big cities and retreat to a dead end town where her powers wouldn't hurt anyone in large quantities. Most days, she would find herself struggling to pronounce Spanish words since it's been years since she took a Spanish class. She was pretty sure that the small town hated her and referred to her as gringa. Which in long term was better than mutant or threat.

Mila would stay inside her household unless she urgently needed supplies like: fruits, vegetables, and other essentials. She would watch from the window and see the empty streets all around, not even a cricket would chirp. She would place her hand against the window, almost grasping out towards something that wasn't there. Like her fingertips craved escape and longed to be out in the world than barricaded by four walls. Inside her head she knew that as long as she had powers, she was unsafe for everyone.

When she would lay in bed sometimes, she'd think about the past and what she could've done differently. Perhaps if she didn't insist on going with her parents to work then they'd be alive at this moment. If she was quick enough, she would be on the track team. If she was pretty enough, she'd be homecoming queen. If she was smart enough, she wouldn't have made the calculation error.

If she....

All the things that went wrong in her life wouldn't have happened if she decided not to be a scientist.

It's funny the amount of twists and turns that happen in life. And how all those twists and turns get everyone to where they are today in life. Mila didn't believe in much, unless it was backed up by science, but she believed in the concept of good. That good people are rewarded and the bad people pain the consequences. This idiotic concept that she had followed for most of her life, shadowed down upon her because it dawned on her if she was the good or the bad?

Good would've equated that her experiment which she had worked over for an era, would've worked and been a success story. While it seems good, it frowned upon Mila that perhaps her determination was why she was in this position. The bad was something that she could never find in her situation.
Nowhere did she find bad within herself because she was good.

Perhaps that's why her logic was flawed back then because while Mila did believe that was true, the real truth was that sometimes really bad things happen to very good people.

She hoped at least.

She had hope in the good people rising above the bad things that had happen to them. That their experience would make them stronger and more prepared for the battles ahead. Or that the good people would stand up and fight for the future of other people like themselves. She believed in people like those, ones she would read in comics. Superheroes as many nerds would call it.

There was something spectacular about reading them, because even though many did have secrets and fears at one point or another, they rose above it and fought for people like them. The concept of good like that made her hopeful for anything.

Anything at all.