Lucy had been in a sort of funk for a few weeks now. She'd finally built up the courage to run from home a couple of months ago (a day after her 17th birthday), but she'd recently run low on money. For the next few days she tried to be frugal, but she eventually did run out. That was last week, she'd been hopping from alley to alley sleeping and occasionally snacking on some leftover foods from when she still had money. She never thought things would change so drastically so quickly. Alas, everything that could go wrong would go wrong.
Then it came to today. She woke up to a growling stomach and rain. She was fresh out of food, her only set of decent clothes were now soaked and she was sure if she got sick now she wouldn't survive.
She wandered the streets, looking for any type of shelter, there had to be something, right? It was a big city after all, and some people are generous, there had to be something. She let herself hope, because it made it easier to keep walking, and eventually she ran into a group of men that looked nice enough. They approached her, according to them because she looked like she needed help. And it was true, she must have looked like a wreck. They said they'd let her into their home so she could clean herself up and let her be on her way.
The fact that a group of men approached her with such offers should have been a red flag for her, but she was desperate. How often do strangers approach people in need walking down the street offering help? Lucy wasn't a beggar she didn't sit with a cup in her hand asking for help. She just didn't see it working out for her, so she took to the streets looking and hoping. Then there they were the group of men who approached her, saying she could stay with them until she was dried, fed, and groomed. It didn't seem quite too good to be true, just believable enough for her to trust them. And she was absolutely jovial about it, the idea of clean clothes and a hot shower almost sending her raving.
She'd take care of her needs thank them and be on her way, that's how she pictured it at least. Maybe if they'd let her she'd do a few chores for them, oh, but lucy was naive. She was young, seventeen, she would have started her senior year soon, and she should have known better. The moment she was finished cleaning up, packing her freshly cleaned clothes back into her small suitcase prepared to thank the kindly men for letting her use their home, they surrounded her. Worry struck her features, her imagination running wild, there was five of them, one of her. If they tried anything she had no chance to fight back. Realizing this she shrunk in on herself slightly, she was so foolish, she should have never run away from home look at her now.
One of the men grinned at her, the hairs on her neck standing on end, she knew instantly she was in for something horrible. "Don't you think it's only fair we get paid for letting you use our home?" one of the men spoke. The voice hit Lucy's ears and she felt her fight or flight reflexes flaring up.
They began closing in on her as she stood stiffly, her head turning in every direction it could. She barely managed to mumble out a protesting, "get away from me," before one of them clamped their hand over her mouth. Lucy thrashed and kicked, but she barely made them flinch back. She bit the hand of the person holding her mouth shut earning her a sharp elbow to the stomach, she screamed against the hand holding her. The place she'd been elbowed now had a dull constant pain, but she continued to fight.
Then, out of nowhere, a boy fell through the roof, a blue cat was perched on his shoulder next to a full head of unruly pink hair. Lucy had never seen anything like it before, he'd just busted through a roof and he stood there grinning like it was nothing. It was like he had fallen from the heavens themselves. And it was with that dastardly smile that he rushed into the group of men. Lucy was released, but all she could do was watch as she clutched her stomach. This single boy took down all five of the men, the smile never leaving his lips.
She didn't know what to make of it, here she was watching a strange boy pummel a group of men that had just assaulted her. He'd fallen through the ceiling, like it was a sheet of paper, with a blue cat of all things. Surely she must be losing her mind? She couldn't help but notice that he was having fun. She saw him punch a fist into the air in a little mini celebration when he threw one of the men into another causing them to fall into a groaning heap on the floor.
It wasn't long before the stranger reached a hand out to the damsel, a boyish grin adorning his face. She shakily took his hand and stood up in silence. No words were exchanged as the two stood there, she felt a silent understanding that he wanted her to follow him. And so, she grabbed her bag and followed him. Lucy followed him silently out of the building, neither of the two had said a single word until they were both outside.
"Thank you," Lucy managed to push out, her voice was shaky at best. She didn't think she would live this down for a long time, and she knew she'd have a bruise forming where she'd been elbowed.
"Just doing my job," The boy replied scratching the back of his head. Lucy watched him curiously as he approached the building again. It took but mere seconds for flames, seemingly out of nowhere, appeared on the building's walls. (But Lucy knew better than that, fire can't just appear.)
Lucy let out a shrill noise of surprise as she stumbled backwards, the boy seemingly unaffected by the flame simply walked away. She was taken aback with his confident stride and this mixed with the flames, Lucy was too shocked to stop him, and frankly, she didn't know if she wanted to stop him at this point. They never exchanged names, all she knew was he'd saved her, then burnt the building down. Lucy was pulled back to her senses when she heard sirens, quickly she stumbled through the shadows of a nearby alleyway. Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest, none of what just happened could be normal.
Later that day Lucy had found a wad of cash in her bag enough to get a motel room and some food for at least two weeks, she had her suspicions it was the boy from before but didn't think about it too much. It hurt her head much to badly to think of the series of events that had happened that day.
That was the first time Lucy encountered the mysterious boy, but certainly not the last.
It had been nearly three days since the incident with the pink haired boy and Lucy was looking for a job, hoping to prevent living on the streets. She was walking down the shopping district streets when she suddenly heard screams. There was a car swerving around wildly the windows were down and painfully loud blasts could be heard from the vehicle.
Lucy was caught in a drive-by shooting.
She swore to herself she had the worst luck as she ducked along with at least a dozen other pedestrians. This time Lucy spotted the blue cat before she did the boy himself, they came barreling out of the alleyway opposite of Lucy the same grin as before. Lucy stared in shock as the boy ran at the, now stopped, car full of people with loaded guns. Rushing into a fight to save a girl was one thing, but running at a group of people with guns unarmed was another.
She thought he was insane, surely he was, why else would he do this. She watched crouched frozen in place behind a street stall, meanwhile, all the other seemingly sane people fled the area. Lucy, however, was curious, so she stayed. She watched the boy. She watched as he jumped through one of the open windows landing a kick on the driver's face. And she watched as he climbed into the back seat and knocked out the last two people in the car. Lucy saw the boy open the back door and fall out in a heap. (She had to keep herself from laughing at this) Next thing she knew he was standing up and scanning the area, he paused for a bit when he looked at the stall she was behind. She knew he'd spotted her when she saw his eyebrows furrow, a look of recognition quickly adorning his features.
Lucy saw the boy attempt to approach her, but she ran. She ran before her mind could ask why she was running, and by the time she realized what she was doing her heart was already racing. She ran through the mess of alleyways as fast as she could, hoping the boy wouldn't find her even though he seemed to appear out of nowhere. She kept running until she physically couldn't anymore. She spent the rest of the day finding her way back to the motel she was lodging in deciding to look for a job again the next day.
Lucy had later found out the car from the shooting had gone up in flames killing everyone inside, investigations were ongoing. It seemed like Lucy was the only one who knew that boy had something to do with it. That was the second encounter of the two, Lucy hoped she never had to see him again seeing as how he only showed up in times of danger. However, to her dismay six quiet days later she would see him once more.
Lucy was walking home from her new job, she'd found a quiet book store with a nice owner. She felt lucky to have found such a place, she was surrounded by books all day and her boss seemed like a nice old lady. So she found herself smiling as she walked home, it was already dark out but she didn't mind. The only noise was the quiet hum of the street lights above her as she walked to the motel.
The previous two incidents had almost completely left her mind as she thought it best for her sanity not to dwell on them. Of course, that was until Lucy was snatched right off the sidewalk by a pair of rough hands as she passed an alleyway. Nobody was out to notice as she thrashed around trying to get free to no avail. Lucy's eyes widened as she felt a hand move under her shirt as she let out a loud sob and tried to elbow the person holding her. She decided at that moment that she hated this city and everyone in it. Why were there so many negative things happening, and why for the love of all that is holy was she seemingly caught up in all of it.
Lucy almost cried when she spotted a familiar blue cat sitting in front of her, that had to mean he (whoever he was) had to be close right? And correct she was, not moments later was she freed from the man who'd attempted to assault her. She fell to the floor feebly catching a glimpse of the boy punching the man's lights out as he landed in a mouldy dumpster.
The boy turned to her, seemingly in thought before speaking, "It's almost like you go out looking for trouble." There was a brief silence in the air before Lucy looked at him, her annoyance at the boy being lost in his childish grin.
"You're always there too, what's with that?" she snapped back, not really in the mood to be questioned. He looked about her age maybe a bit older, but she was sure no normal human would be capable of what he was. And if he just happened to be talented at beating people up, the normal benchmark had been missed due to his hair and cat.
He gave her a quick look before turning to the dumpster, "just doing my job," he said a sudden distant tone covering his previously cheerful one. He'd said the same thing the last time they spoke. Lucy watched intently as his hand brushed the dumpster, sure enough, there was no match or lighter of any sort but the whole thing went up in flames. The overwhelming stench of burning trash caused her to stagger and by the time she turned back to the boy he was gone.
Had she upset him? He seemed cheerful until she snapped at him. Granted it wasn't nice, but had she really upset him with such? She couldn't imagine having someone like him mad at her, it was sure to cause some issues. She threw her hands up and let out a frustrated groan, it was just like her to anger some magical pyromaniac wasn't it.
Nearly an entire month went by, no incidents involving her, although she'd heard of a couple of unexplained fires around the city. Lucy, at this point, was happily working in her book store. It was quiet though, and for some god forbidden reason her mind kept going back to that boy. Sure it was probably due to the fact that he'd saved her three times now, however unconventional, who knows where she'd be if he wasn't there. Still, she should be glad she didn't need to be saved, so she decided to focus on that.
There was a soft ding at the door and Lucy put on a bright smile welcoming the customers in, "Hi, how can I help-" She was cut off when she saw two masked figures walk past the shelves and towards the register. Fear immediately struck her and she waited for them to speak hand over the panic button. She jinxed herself, didn't she? There was a short pause between the three, and Lucy couldn't help but ask who would rob a bookstore?
One of the people put a duffle bag on the counter as the other one pulled out a gun. "Come on then, money in the bag," he stated aggressively, and Lucy was frozen still. Her hand was still on the panic button, but what if they shot her the moment the alarm rang. It was a possibility, the police couldn't arrive instantly and all it would take is one pull of the finger when the alarm rang. There had to be another option. "What at you, fucking dumb. I said, money in the bag," They told her more sternly this time. Her hand shook as she opened the register a single thought in her mind. That boy, he had to show up, right? He'd been at every scene of trouble in the whole city, at least all the ones she'd been at, that had to mean he'd show up again. It had to mean he'd show up it just did, in her mind, this was the only positive outcome to this.
The ring from the register bounced on the walls as she opened it, going for the small bills first. "Hurry it up will ya," Said one of the two, Lucy didn't care which one. She bit her cheek to stop herself from making a snappy reply. She didn't like being spoken to like this but a robbery was quite possibly a good enough reason to swallow her pride.
All her prayers were seemingly answered once she saw a strange blue cat jump on the counter, she let out a breath of relief. Moments later she saw the boy flying over the counter from behind her, to tackle the robbers. They were knocked out quickly and he turned to her once more offering her a hand. She almost took it but the realization hit her, he was going to burn the store down if she did. If she left she knew he'd turn around and every book in this store would go up in blazes.
"Oh no you don't!" she said a surprising amount of force behind her words, "you are not burning down this book store!" The boy looked shocked to say the least, and she couldn't blame him. He's probably never had anyone tell him he couldn't burn down a public building, surprising as that may sound.
"You, what's your name?" He asked inquisitive eyes staring into her own in
"I'm Lucy, what's it to you fire boy," she said annoyance obvious. This was the one place she didn't want him to burn down, she's barely scraping by and that only because of this job. And even if she'd had it set in her mind that she hated this city this was the one place she didn't want him to burn down.
He scoffed a frown forming on his face. "It's nothing to me weirdo," he said getting up to leave. She didn't stop him, she was too busy seething at the weirdo comment. How could some random vigilante wanna-be with pink hair and a blue cat call her weird?
When she actually noticed he was gone Lucy freaked, she started looking around for any hint of fire, but to her relief, she couldn't even smell any smoke. After checking everything for a second time just to be certain she called the police Lucy told them a customer had stopped the robbery from happening but he left before she could catch his name. As she was telling the story she severely hoped he wouldn't just come back when she had left.
Soon enough the police showed up asked her some questions and gathered her statement, and the owner of the store had dismissed her for the day, he thought it best to close the store for today. With all of that out of the way, Lucy returned to the motel. She walked down the bustling streets a surprising smile on her face, even though there was almost a disaster at work. Sure she was tired but she got to go home early, perhaps indulge in a new shirt.
Lucy was exhausted, to say the least. All this trouble was finally getting to her, the only thing she could ask herself was, why her. And with that thought in her head, she fell asleep, far too tired to even dream that night. Her sleep was peaceful, the thoughts of all the mishaps lately leaving her completely as she twisted and turned in her sleep. That was until she woke up.
There was a shrill ringing surrounding Lucy as she shot up from her slumber. Confusion shrouded her, it was bright and she couldn't breathe. Panic shook through her body as she tried standing up. Almost instantly she fell down the bed sheets tangled in her legs as coughs rang threw her lungs. She tried crawling to where she knew the door was as she could slightly make out what she thought were flames. Her stomach sank, she had to make it out of there, she just had to. Her room didn't have a window and the door was already in flames by the time she had woken up, could this really be her undoing?
Everything felt sluggish to Lucy, although hardly three minutes had passed it felt like hours to her. She was laying sprawled out on the floor her thoughts were cloudy and her breaths raspy. She didn't want to believe that after all that's happened in the past month and a half this was how she was going to die. In what she thought would be her last moments she thought of her parents, how her dad had treated her and how much she dearly missed her mom. She let out a strained sob which threw her into a coughing fit, and slowly Lucy's senses started to die down. The previous cracking of the fire that had been overwhelmingly loud lowed to a whisper, the burning heat that almost seared her skin faded. There was a low hum of nausea in her stomach and she could barely feel herself dry heaving, her body shook on reflex but she couldn't feel it.
She couldn't feel anything.
The last thing she could make out of reality before the soft buzzing in her ears lulled her to sleep was what she thought someone frantically calling her name. She didn't see who it was, she didn't even know if it was real but it gave her comfort. Perhaps someone was coming for her, or maybe it was her mother welcoming her. She didn't know and she didn't care, and she knew was that she was too tired to think about it any longer. She was just so tired, her already foggy vision started spotting before it went completely black.
These take forever to write omg. That's the end of chapter one though! I'm very excited about this book, although I don't know how quickly I can update due to the amount of time it takes to write and then edit. :P Please let me know of any grammatical errors :) and all constructive criticism is welcome.