Artemis covered her ears with the palms of her hands and ran upstairs to her room. Jade had snuck out of the house again when Mom and Dad had first started fighting. She wouldn't be back for a while. Artemis knew that. She knew lots of things her seven year old self shouldn't. Like that, when her sister comes home, she won't look at Artemis before going to sleep. How when her mommy screams really loud it's because daddy is hitting her again. He didn't do it all the time. Just after a really bad night. Like tonight.
Downstairs her mother screamed again and her father's gruff voice echoed through the halls. She still couldn't make out what they were fighting about though. She closed her bedroom door and jumped onto her bed. She grabbed Zitka, her elephant and buried under her purple covers, making sure her Alice in Wonderland poster was out of sight. She clutched Zitka to her chest and thought of the boy who had given him to her. He was a teenager with raven hair and a mask. He always wore the mask or sunglasses and a silly cape. Artemis would never admit it to her friend but she loved his cape. It reminded her of the super hero's she saw on TV. The ones she knew daddy hated but couldn't help loving them more for it. Zitka was old and battered but he had been taken care of. Her friend had told her once that his parents had given Zitka to him before they had died. Artemis had put a hand on his arm and had hugged him and Zitka tightly. The boy hugged her back and he made sure to get off the depressing topic. He hadn't wanted Artemis to know but she had heard his voice breaking a little bit as he talked about his parents.
Her friend always came to visit her when she got off school. Her parents were always late to picking her up and he always seemed to just materialize in front of her when she sat down on the grass. They talked for a very long time most often. He had this funny way of laughing to let her know he was still there even when he had disappeared. When he disappeared and didn't laugh though, she would stand up and grab her things because it meant her parents were there.
"Paula! Artemis needs to come with me to train! Jade to!" Her father roared. She heard her mother scream again and she clutched Zitka and her blankets tighter, wrapping herself up in their suffocating warmth.
"No!" Her mother spoke the rest of her words in Vietnamese and even with Artemis' little knowledge, she could tell they weren't very nice words. Her father roared again and she heard footsteps in the hallway outside her door. She waited for her daddy to come bursting in and demand she come with him. Instead she heard Jade's voice resonating through the now silent house. She was saying something about the Justice League. Something about the hero's Artemis watched on the news. She uncurled herself and popped her head out from under the blankets to take her first good breath of air. Jade's voice had stopped. Her last words had sounded confident in dad's compliance.
They were dead wrong.
Even through her door Artemis could hear her fathers laboured breathing and she knew he wasn't done yet. He began to shout and stomp and her mother screamed and Jade was yelling. They weren't going to let him come into her room. But he was going to get through. He always did. But if she wasn't there…
Artemis jumped off her bed and ran to the window, Zitka still clutched in her arms. She opened it wide and felt the cool air on her cheek. She looked out and stepped on the windowsill. If Artemis wasn't here maybe dad would leave mom alone. Jade could take care of herself, but mom…
Artemis Bent her knees and held Zitka close to her face. She inhaled the scent of him, of a long ago circus and the boy who kept her company. She almost jumped when her friend suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Artemis what are you doing?!" His normal smirk was gone and his face was etched with worry lines. She cocked her head to the side. "I'm leaving so dad will leave mommy alone." He smiled at her and held out his free hand, the other one holding onto his birdarang that was attached to the roof of her house.
"Wanna lift?" He asked as he smiled. She smiled back and almost jumped into his arms. She stepped back again though. "What's wrong?" he asked her.
"Only if you tell me your name." He smiled again and his laughter echoed throughout the night.
"You can call me Robin." He grabbed her hand and pulled her close into a hug. With Zitka in her arms and Robin's holding her, Artemis felt safer then she may have ever felt. As Robin seemingly flew away from her father's roars and her mother's screams Artemis felt that silence had never been so peaceful.