CHAPTER ONE: WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

DANI'S POV

SIX MONTHS PRIOR

TW: adult dialect, mentions of death/blood

"A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that the next time you feel alone." - Mandy Hale

___________\____________\___________\___________\

Life in Time Square was anything but still.

There is a reason New York is referred to as the city that never sleeps. Even when the sun falls, the street lights illuminate the town where the shadows come alive. The air is hot and dirty this time of the year and new fumes exfoliating every day. Like the air, you had to have a certain thickness to survive.

Hardly anyone made eye contact in the rush of the city. It was best to keep your head down and pockets empty since the crime was boiling into the streets even during daylight. No one will spare an ounce of kindness or stick their neck out for a stranger. Not in this city.

There were heroes in this world. But lately? America has slammed shut with high security regarding its citizens, and individuals with unnatural abilities were always punished and disregarded. No matter how little or big the crime. Suppose there was one at all.

Tourists were scared to venture to the northern sea. Humankind will scrutinize a new strand of genetic conversion called HCDM (heterozygous congenital disease mutation). Variants of the disease began its spread in the 1900s, and the government began to treat it like the plague.

Anyone with the mutated genes was imminently processed, assessed, and tagged as a mutant. Fear overlapped the minds of Americans, and the government stripped freedom from HCDM carriers. Verified mutants are often placed into service jobs to belittle their ethereal abilities and 'serve' for the greater good of society.

And while everyone hated their sense of stripped freedom- America avoided the issue altogether and blindly accepted it. The tabloids always shared criminalizing stories of evil or savage mutants because fear sells.

As a result, New York's crime rate was at an all-time high, with Los Angeles and St. Louis following second.

People are scared.

Hell, Dani thought as her breath hitched. I'm scared.

The street lights turned red, and the pedestrian walk sign provided an eerie glow. Dani looks up at the street signs studying the letters and avoiding eye contact with the flowing crowd. She glances at her phone, reading the directions quietly as she clicks her heels against the concrete sidewalk.

To get to the pavilion, I need to go down West 26th St and take a left. She stashes her phone into her pocket with a smile spreading across her lips.

Gripping onto the handlebars of the wheelchair, Dani glances at the walkway as the cars remain still. She trailed behind the crowd, surfing in the vigorous motion of a frenzy of people.

"Dani? Are you listening to me?"

Dani turned her head to the soft voice beckoning for her attention as her cheeks grew hot, "I'm sorry, I was reading the sign." Then, finally, she responds, waving the embarrassment from her mind, "What is it?"

"We don't have to be home for another hour," the young girl shrieked as she smiled at Dani with her head tipped upwards, "let's head to Howard's Ice Cream Shop!"

A small laugh escapes Dani before she can respond as they come to a stop at the other side of the street. "Oh, is that so?"

"Please, please!" The girl insisted enthusiasm with a pout, "you'd be my favorite!"

I can't believe I forgot what I was doing, Dani thought to herself quietly.

Glancing down at the girl in her wheelchair, Dani smiled as she pushed her forward. "Whatever you want, Abby. Today is your birthday, after all!"

Abby raises her arms and cheers as her golden curls fall from her shoulders. She turns her shoulders to the side to wave to passing citizens as she basks in her accomplishment. Her soft blue varsity jacket laps over her body as she pulls out a small pamphlet from the Ice Cream Shop.

She holds the paper over her shoulder for Dani in excitement, "we can bring some home for mom too!"

Dani lowers her glasses to share a wink with her and pulls on the brim of her baseball cap to uncover her eyes, "we can't leave Aunt Leeland out, now can we?"

"No way!" The girl screeched in delight as Dani quickened her pace breezing through West 26th Street. "Are we almost there yet?" Abby asks as she tips her head backward with a toothy grin.

"Yes!" Dani chirps as she teases the girl's golden curls, "we just got a little lost, that's all! I'm still your favorite cousin, though, right?"

Abby covers her mouth as she laughs, "well- you're my only cousin."

Technically, Dani pondered; she wasn't wrong.

The thought of her father brought a sliver of happiness to her before it was replaced with sorrow. She couldn't recall many thoughts about her father, but Dani remembered the nickname he would call her. Danielle's father was Aunt Leeland's older brother. And the two siblings only had one offspring from their marriages.

But Dani's parents had died in a house fire when she was just five years old. The cause of death was asphyxiation by carbon monoxide poisoning. That's what Leeland said. But the events of her parents' demise were bleak and brutal to retain.

Leeland also claims that her grandfather was the first to arrive before the fire department or police. And that he whisked Dani away from the flames of her childhood home and the ashes of her parents. Before, she too, was engulfed in the hungry flames.

After the accident, the Department of Human Services rehoused Dani with next of kin- her Aunt Jamie Leeland. Seven years later, Leeland became pregnant with a baby girl. And her marriage fell apart with the burden of supporting two children in a city like New York.

So she left her husband and landed a well-paying job on the mayor's council. Hence, Aunt Leeland's absence was why Abby spent her birthday alone with her cousin for overpriced ice cream cones.

"Cheese and crackers." Dani pouts as she glances at her phone.

GPS MAPS 14:38

Head south on West 26th St.

The destination is on your left.

427ft

"Well, birthday girl, it looks like we made it!" She leans against the back of Abby's chair to show her the GPS update, "Let's share some ice cream to celebrate before we head home."