"Please! You-you can't!" A bruised figure huddled in the corner of a darkened room, shuddering with fear. She sat among drops of copper-smelling red liquid, still flooding the cracks in the cement. She clutched onto her left arm desperately, trying to stop the flow. Mixed with the blood were pain-filled tears, reflecting each hit from the attacker.
"Maybe next time you'll listen, hmm?" Another blow, another bruise, another scar, more blood flowing. "Maybe next time you won't run." The sound of shattered plastic ran out to the shadows as the girl's sunglasses broke. Her eyelids were clenched shut, and parts of her charcoal hair were clumped and matted together with her blood.
"N-n-no! Never!" the small girl sobbed. "I p-promise!" She flinched, waiting for the next fist, which flew towards her with inhuman strength-
The scene changed. The same girl was older and now standing among a musty pile of rubble that had once been Mt. Justice. Her left arm hung limp at her side, dripping with someone else's blood. Behind her a boy with a toughened figure grasped her shoulder. The orange of the fire burning the horizon gleamed against his blue/black bodysuit. "We'll fix it. Somehow," he reassured.
She turned to face him, mask to mask. "I know," she said, her voice clear. "But there's only one way."
"Kyra!" another black haired girl shouted. "Kyra!"
"Kyra Grayson! Wake UP!"
I gasped and turned to face my impatient geometry teacher, pointing to the board. I blushed, embarrassed, as everyone around me, including my brother, sister, and best friend, laughed in mocking. I blew the single strand of hair out of my face, and toyed with my silky black braid of hair.
"Now that you're awake, would you mind telling us what the answer to this problem is?" Surveying the board, I read:
Triangle ABC is a right isosceles triangle. Side a is 8/3, find side c. Answer in radical form.
I sighed. This was easy. "Eight root two divided by three." There was a solemness to my voice that had never been there before, especially not in geometry class. Whatever traces of laughter remained in my siblings was instantly gone. They looked at me, and I avoided eye contact. Five more minutes... why couldn't she have waited five more minutes to wake me up?
When school finally ended I packed my bags and sped out as quickly as possible. "Kyra! Wait up!" Dick and Danna came up behind me, along with Aisling, Artemis, and Nathan. "Something wrong?" my sister asked. "It's nothing, really."
Aisling pulled my arm. "It's something, Kyra. What's wrong?"
I looked at their faces, worried and caring. I grabbed a hooded jacket from my locker and shrugged into it. "C'mon." I told them, pulling my hair out of it's braid, letting it loose. "I'll tell you... at the cave." I whispered. I slipped my hood over my head and slung my backpack onto my shoulder, walking out into the cold rain that covered Gotham.
"Maybe next time you'll listen, hmm?" Another blow, another bruise, another scar, more blood flowing. "Maybe next time you won't run." The sound of shattered plastic ran out to the shadows as the girl's sunglasses broke. Her eyelids were clenched shut, and parts of her charcoal hair were clumped and matted together with her blood.
"N-n-no! Never!" the small girl sobbed. "I p-promise!" She flinched, waiting for the next fist, which flew towards her with inhuman strength-
The scene changed. The same girl was older and now standing among a musty pile of rubble that had once been Mt. Justice. Her left arm hung limp at her side, dripping with someone else's blood. Behind her a boy with a toughened figure grasped her shoulder. The orange of the fire burning the horizon gleamed against his blue/black bodysuit. "We'll fix it. Somehow," he reassured.
She turned to face him, mask to mask. "I know," she said, her voice clear. "But there's only one way."
"Kyra!" another black haired girl shouted. "Kyra!"
"Kyra Grayson! Wake UP!"
I gasped and turned to face my impatient geometry teacher, pointing to the board. I blushed, embarrassed, as everyone around me, including my brother, sister, and best friend, laughed in mocking. I blew the single strand of hair out of my face, and toyed with my silky black braid of hair.
"Now that you're awake, would you mind telling us what the answer to this problem is?" Surveying the board, I read:
Triangle ABC is a right isosceles triangle. Side a is 8/3, find side c. Answer in radical form.
I sighed. This was easy. "Eight root two divided by three." There was a solemness to my voice that had never been there before, especially not in geometry class. Whatever traces of laughter remained in my siblings was instantly gone. They looked at me, and I avoided eye contact. Five more minutes... why couldn't she have waited five more minutes to wake me up?
When school finally ended I packed my bags and sped out as quickly as possible. "Kyra! Wait up!" Dick and Danna came up behind me, along with Aisling, Artemis, and Nathan. "Something wrong?" my sister asked. "It's nothing, really."
Aisling pulled my arm. "It's something, Kyra. What's wrong?"
I looked at their faces, worried and caring. I grabbed a hooded jacket from my locker and shrugged into it. "C'mon." I told them, pulling my hair out of it's braid, letting it loose. "I'll tell you... at the cave." I whispered. I slipped my hood over my head and slung my backpack onto my shoulder, walking out into the cold rain that covered Gotham.
