"She wasn't scared of the fire, she only became it, and that is what scared her the most"
Adaline Nordin is a 22 year old girl trying to navigate her life in the big city of New York. With a job at the NYC Weekly Publisher and at the nearby public...
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May 8th, 2012 - 4 days after the Battle of New York
Why does life have to be so chaotic? Adaline thought to herself as she walked into her closet to start getting ready for the day.
Her editor had woke her at six sharp this morning to remind her to write an exposé on the Avengers and the intergalactic attack that New York had faced no less than a week ago, as if Adaline could have forgotten that event.
It resonated in the back of her mind like a scratch that she just couldn't itch. For Adaline, the battle had destroyed her work space at the "NYC Weekly," and while she was already handling two jobs before the attack, her workplace being destroyed surprisingly didn't stop the work from flying at her like bullets.
As Adaline left her apartment to head to the New York Public Library where she held her second job, she thought about how she would begin her article.
The library was never particularly crowded and was always tranquil. This gave her an immense amount of quiet time to her and her thoughts. While the library was both a blessing and a curse in Adaline's eyes, it was mostly a place of comfort, where she could escape the outside world and its many troubles inside the pages of a book or amongst the many bookshelves that towered over her. But while she was comforted within the walls of the building, she also feared what she could do if her emotions began to flare up.
Adaline sat at one of the many mahogany desks that littered the hall, pulled out her laptop and began to type about the events that happened only a few short days ago. While she continued to dive deep into the research regarding the Avengers and a certain god named Loki and his army of Chitauri aliens, she managed to forget that she was on the clock.
She nibbled on the inside of her cheek, too focused to pay attention to the outside world and the man standing beside her. She was forced out of her thoughts when the man cleared his throat. She looked up to see a man about her age, with brunet hair and caramel eyes gazing down at her.
"How may I help you?" She spoke as she stood from her seat.
"Hi," he said breathily, almost surprised that she was speaking with him.
"I have seen you here before and was just wondering if you would like to go get coffee with me sometime?" He asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"No," Adaline replied confidently with a smile on her face as he looked visibly dissapointed, "I'll be having tea. I get off in about an hour if you would like to wait"
He slightly nodded, relieved that she hadn't turned him down, and then realized he had never actually introduced himself, "Oh, and by the way my name is Ethan Walker," He said as he placed his hand out for her to shake.
"Well it is nice to meet you, Ethan. I'm Adaline Nordin," she replied back with a shake of his hand, before packing up her stuff to go help out a few customers nearby.
At the end of her shift, Adaline found herself walking with Ethan to the coffee shop down the street. As they entered the tiny, quaint café, they told the barista their orders, paid, and went to sit down.
After the waiter had brought their orders to them, they chatted about work, hobbies, and about the recent attack on New York. Ethan then began to mention the topic of family and Adaline faltered, the topic causing a new weight to sit heavily on her shoulders.
She didn't want to scare him away or make him think there was anything strange about her. She didn't want to talk about her abilities and where they came from, especially when she didnt know the answer.
Her powers were something she never shared with anyone, and the only person who knew of them was her father, who, after finding out about them, couldn't see his daughter anymore, just the fire beneath her skin. It was like he thought she would combust and burst into flames as soon as she walked in the room.
She could not stand being thought of as a freak, or a mutant, when all she wanted to be was his daughter. So, she moved to New York, got a job at a well-paying magazine-newspaper publisher and the nearby library, and now owns a small apartment in the middle of the city.
Ethan continued to talk about his parents, who were happily married and living in a penthouse in upstate Manhattan along with his little sister who went to a top-of-the-line private school. He also mentioned how he had this big promotion within his father's wealthy oil and gas company.
"So, what about your family?" He asked breaking her out of her thoughts.
She anxiously picked at her nails but swiftly answered.
"My mom died when I was 5 and my dad lives in a small home in New Jersey where he works as a chemical engineer."
He noticed her hesitance, but chalked it down to her thinking about her answer.
After they had finished their drinks and had left the coffee shop, Ethan asked her if she would be interested in going out again sometime before hailing her a cab and paying the driver to get her home safely.
She said yes, not wanting to disappoint him. She believed he was a nice guy, who she could potentially open-up to in the future.
But for Adaline that was definitely nowhere in the near-future.
After Adaline had safely arrived at her apartment building, she walked up the stairs to her home on the third floor. Once she had unlocked the door to her semi-studio apartment, she made a beeline for her bed.
She was exhausted after the events of today, considering that she was almost never very social.
Most days she would wake up, go to work at the NYC Weekly Publishing firm until two in the afternoon, then go to work at the public library until six. She would then walk home, not bothering to take any mode of transportation, as walking gave her time to think.
Adaline most days would say that she only talks to her managers and the few customers she deals with at the library.
Adaline wouldn't say she lived a lonely life, and although those feelings of loneliness did hit her once in a while, she would instead say she lived an independent lifestyle. She didn't rely on anyone, trust anyone, or open up to anyone in fear of them leaving her, and while most of it was a self-defense mechanism she played it off well.
When Diana Lynne, Adaline's mother, passed away, she had left Adaline with very few memories and a small wooden box that carried a journal and a VCR tape. Adaline had been told by her father to open the box when she had turned eighteen. But with the events that had happened, she let the box sit mockingly on the top shelf in her closet, taking up space and collecting dust as Adaline refused to acknowledge its existence.
Adaline did not want to be reminded of what could have been or what had happened in place of it. She just wanted to live in the now, and somewhere down the line, figure out how to take control of her abilities. Once she did that, she could attempt to have a normal life, but Adaline highly doubted she would ever actually have one.
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