They took him from my house, and he grabbed onto me and conveyed "DO NOT WANT" really frantically. He had tears in my eyes, and I had never seen him so scared. That was the last time we saw each other.
I went to where they were torturing him, some strange guiding force drove me to the theme park. That's when Jean Grae levitated in front of me and told me to stop.
"Stop." I ceased movement immediately. "Do you know why we took Thomas?" I shook my head. I had no idea. "Crimes against Mutants, that's why. He did unspeakable evil upon our kind, and by the powers of the Geneva convention, we have every right to torture him as we see fit. Eye for an eye, that's how it works. He has just been transported to that Ferris wheel. For your consideration, we have sealed off the Ferris wheel with admantium walls so you cannot view his punishment." Then she was gone, without an "I'm sorry" or anything. That's when I heard my name.
"Simon you poor boy!" shrieked a woman in an orange vest. She came to me and gave me a sincere hug. If Jean Grae wasn't going to console me, this woman would.
"Simon I'm lead activist against the X-Men, as you see we have drawn quite a crowd here in support for your father's release. We don't know how or when this is going to happen but we are doing everything we can," and she looked at me for a moment and suddenly burst into tears. "Simon I am so sorry." I studied her face for a moment. She really cared about Dad, but why? And why wasn't I able to produce tears for my father? I decided to say something. "He's a school teacher. He makes $60,000 a year, he has never joined the army or held a gun that I know of. What could he possibly have to do with these people?"
Lead activist wiped the tears from her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know Simon but I think we ought to join the rest of the protesters and TELL THEM HOW WE FEEL" She took my hand and we went into the crowd of what seemed to be thousands. We waded our way through the sea of angry people until we reached a podium. Lead activist grabbed the loud speaker and began her speech.
"CITIZENS," she roared. "Here stands next to me, the son of Thomas Wood, the offspring of the man himself!" The crowd roared my name. Simon, they yelled. I could feel my stomach begin to sink into my feet. "Citizens, we our going to raise hell, isn't that right? Why don't we show Simon how we raise hell one time," and suddenly the sea of infuriated protesters erupted into one giant thunder of noise, noise that even the Admantium walls of the Ferris wheel could not suppress. And it was then that I felt hopeful. Maybe Dad would come out alright...
We waited hours. 4 hours I think. Maybe 7. I don't really know, I dozed off for about half an hour and woke up sweaty and shivering. A protester came over to me and gave me his coat.
I had been getting text messages from my friends. "Simon, I am so sorry about your dad," or "Dude you're on the news, what happened!" They comforted me to a certain degree, but I still felt sick to my stomach. I wouldn't be able to be at peace until I saw my father's face.
Around 3 in the morning, a figure came out of the Ferris wheel. It was Cyclops. He scanned the crowd for a moment until his eyes (eye?) fell upon me. Then he pointed at me and I began to sweat bullets. "Come here and reclaim your family member," he called out.
Lead activist followed right behind me. As we approached, Cyclops emmitted a beam of energy a foot away from her. This was her only warning. She was shaken but grabbed hold of me and whispered in my ear. I frowned at what she said but continued walking to greet Cyclops.
He took me down a long corridor and we entered a room where Wolverine and Jean Grae stood by on either side of a man. A man with a black back over his face, cowering in a chair like a meek school boy.
Cyclops put his hand on my shoulder and stared at me for a long time. No one said anything. Then he spoke.
"That woman, the lead activist. What did she whisper in your ear?"
I swallowed and then spoke.
"She said this is a drea..."
and I woke up sweating and gasping, because I did not want to remove the black bag from my father's head, because I know they did something horrible to him and I in no way wanted to see it. Scariest dream of my life.....
