Drowning In A Sea of Misery

Quentin never told anyone about this. The very incident that set off his telepathic & telekinesis abilities. To this day, looking at the ocean brings a wave of panic and anxiety that only the mutant knew about. He never confessed to Charles. The mere thought of what occurred often sent him into a depressive state, which often resulted in alcoholic binges and screaming ‘why me’ into the night.

Xavier was only the tender age of thirteen at the time when the entirety of his world changed...

Quentin got in yet another fight with his drunken, ill-gotten mother. The front door slammed as he ran out and stopped in front of the motor vehicle that she owned. Not that it was used much, besides the times when his mother dearest told him to go take the car into town to get her more booze.

He had the keys in his pocket, she wanted him to get her a case of beer. Of course, he screamed at her saying the woman didn’t need anymore and that it was late, past curfew. If he got caught again, CPS would be checking out the Coldwater household yet again. How she weaseled her way out of a court appearance was beyond the teen’s reasoning. Q despised her with every fiber in his being.

Putting a shaky hand into his jeans side pouch, he took the car keys out and went to unlock the door, sniffling. The tears were drying on his face as he slid into the driver’s side and buckled up his seat belt. Starting the car up, it wheeled out of the short driveway, going past the unkempt yard.

Driving often cleared his mind, tonight was different. He felt numb, even if he was practically balling. The car quickly accelerated down the side road, taking the route that went alongside the beach of Montauk, New York. It was a small beach community, but got plenty of tourism year-round. It didn’t matter if it was dead of winter like it was now, people still came to visit.

Reaching down, he went to crank the window part way down, allowing the cold ocean breeze to whip inside the interior. The frost-bitten air smacked him in the face as he focused on the road ahead. Soon his crying stopped. Wiping his face with his sleeve, the teen took a deep breath. He didn’t know that his life was about to make a turn. A sudden change forever. The same course Charles’ did when his abilities became apparent.

A sharp turn was ahead, so, Quentin leaned closer to the steering wheel. Suddenly, as if fate laughed wickedly at Xavier, a deer came jumping out of the road in front of him. This shocked him, as his mind was already pretty jumbled up. Q’s reaction was to slam on the brakes, which caused the car to go into a frenzied circle, merely missing the animal. It happened fast. The car went off the road into the icy waters.

The boy’s head slammed on the wheel he had been holding on to, almost knocking him out. The seatbelt saved him from bouncing all over the car as it hit the cold waters that used to be below him. As the car hit and started to slowly sink, Q sat up, shocked. Water poured in through the cracks of the door. Panic rose to his throat as he quickly freed himself. Throwing it away, Xavier tried to open the door, but the water proved too heavy to do so. For a long moment, Quentin looked around for anything to help. Not knowing what to do, tears that were left overcame, flowing out in shock.

Am I going to die?

That was his only thought as his instincts kicked in as the water came in to around his waist now. Terror gripped him as he tried to bang on the window hard enough to try to break it. The glass did not budge. The water was up to his neck now as he pushed his body against the seat to hit the driver’s side with his feet-over and over again - coughing from water getting in his mouth. He had no choice but to sit there. Nothing was working.

I'm going to drown.

Dismay took a hold of him as he pushed his face against the roof of the car, trying to get the last breath available before his head was submerged. The water came around him quickly as he took the last gulp of air.

Taking his forearms, he banged on the glass repeatedly knowing, that if he did not get out of the prison, he was in, that this would be it. Distress set in as his lungs burned, crying out for air. Quentin screamed letting, what he had out, trying his hardest to slam his elbow into the window. Nothing worked. Now he was choking from having water fill his lungs. His eyes still opened, a weird sense of calm took over him.

Q stopped breathing. His eyes closed. For a moment he was gone.

Like a thunderclap, it happened. Loud voices from the community entered his head all at once. Fears, hopes, dreams of people he never met came over him. They were louder than his thoughts. Too loud. Bright light forced his eyes open as he looked around, panicking again. How was he alive?

Another scream suddenly came from him as the glass started to break slowly, the glass cracked through and shattered - letting him snap out of it and come back to the situation. Seeing the glass broken, he swam through the open window up to the surface. As soon as his head came out of the freezing water, he gasped, coughing.

Still, the voices were deafening. Too noisy.

How Q managed to swim to the shoreline, was a shock to him. All he could when reaching there was lay in the sandbanks breathing hard, putting his hands over his ears. . .

To this day, Quentin still can’t drive past any water source or step on a beach.

It reminds him of the day he almost lost his life.