Mornings in the Hut of M ran along a series of predictable outcomes. Layla usually woke first, for example, followed by Richards, and then, finally, Jamie. Even on those days where he needed to wake up early, whether it be for a class or his rounds for the IPD, he tended to be the last to rise, though given the difficulties he often had falling ( Read more... )

They say our youth has become desensitized to violence. That the media, in its infinite wisdom, has blown the door on death wide open. By the time a child has reached their eighteenth birthday, he or she will have witnessed, on television alone, over 200,000 acts of violence, of which 40,000 murders are included. It's a big number. The kind of big ( Read more... )

Christmas had never held that much importance in the Madrox household, and Jamie had had enough Christmases throughout adulthood through his various dupes that he had as many good memories as bad ones. Still, it was his second Christmas Eve on the Island, now, and while he preferred the decor of the previous year, he undoubtedly preferred the ( Read more... )

They say near-death experiences bring about clarity. I've spent the past year thinking that was a bunch a hokum... I mean, I almost died by my own hand last year, and the only epiphany I had was that drowning was a really lousy way to go. Nothing about my purpose in life, nothing about what I'm meant to do or what decisions I'm supposed to make. ( Read more... )

Chandler once said the true detective never marries. It's something I've kept in mind throughout the course of exploring this... thing with Layla, a niggling doubt at the back of my head that whispers at the most inopportune of moments. Marriage isn't in the cards for me, not by a long shot, but it is part of the natural progression. First comes ( Read more... )

Richards at his heels, Jamie shouldered open the door of the hut he shared with Layla, adjusting the strap of the worn messenger bag he'd got from the clothes box some weeks prior. It was loaded with new books to add to the increasingly crowded shelf that stood by the messy desk and the perpetually unmade bed. Someday he'd tidy the place up, but ( Read more... )

Even now, after all this time, Jamie Madrox was never one for routine. He’d managed for a while, shortly after his suicide attempt, but besides his daily standing appointment with Reid and baseball practices, he’d done away with it almost entirely, preferring instead to wait and see, playing things by ear in case something more interesting cropped ( Read more... )

My memories of yesterday are fractured at best. Later, when I wake up from this nightmare, there'll time to sort through them all...figure out exactly what that dupe said to Terry...but for now I have more pressing concerns.For all that his short term memories were clouded, however, his long term memories were surprisingly intact. It had been over ( Read more... )