1:07 am

I sat by the window, fighting sleep. I'd rolled up the grimy blinds to see the city of Gotham outside. I really didn't like sleep, and I didn't get it. When I slept, I only ended up having nightmares every two hours and waking up grumpier than when I went to bed- staying awake as late as I could made me peaceful. Like the night was mine.

It wasn't.

There were certain things that belonged in the dark- stray cats, foaming from the mouth, with flea ridden fur. Homeless people drifting from building to building looking for whatever one has the warmest trash can to cuddle next to. And criminals, doing whatever the hell they please with spray paint and baseball bats and homemade cigarettes full of something illegal. So the night really wasn't mine, it was for the people with so many regretted tattoos that they had to hide them in the dark. Though there were heroes in the night as well.

There was one criminal who wasn't all bad out there, not really a criminal. She walked around with any spray paint she could steal and colored every brick in the city with her doodles. "Those brick walls belong to the people," She explained. "And I'm a person,". That was another reason I stayed up, to make sure she made it home every night without cops chasing after her. My best friend, Kendal, was a menace.

That night she was so late. An hour after her usual fashionably late entrance. I pressed my face to the glass to see every moving shadow outside, making smalls squeaking sounds every time something startled me.

"Aaron!" Someone whispered harshly. "GO TO SLEEP!"

"Quiet Jaime. I'm waiting,"

And I waited...

And I waited...

I knew that my being awake all night was somewhat of a distraction to the four other girls in the room, but what could I do? If my roommates wanted to keep me up with their snoring then I was going to stay up.

Something darted from the side alley, nearly tumbling onto the sidewalk as she turned. Kendal. Something ran out after her, quicker than humanly possible, a woman...I thought. She brought a rope from her belt and slapped at Kendal, knocking her down. Such a strange figure that was grabbing my friend, her body seemed to be snug in some sort of shiny black jumpsuit and on top of her head a pair of pointy ears seemed to twitch as she moved. Like a cat...

I opened the window slowly, preparing to climb down the fire escape, but it was too late. The Cat Lady picked up Kendal and swiftly disappeared. "WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SEE?"

"Okay, I give up," Jaime said grumpily, rising from bed and stumbling through the dark room over to me. "What's so interesting out this window?" She ran her chewed fingernails through her long messy hair.

"It's Kendal!" I exclaimed, hopping up and down. "The Cat Woman just kidnapped her,"

"Oh my gawd..."

"Tell me again exactly what you saw," A big smelly officer asked me again, leaning in close to my face until his mustache tickled my nose.

"A lady, dressed like a cat, followed my friend home-"

"Kendal?" The officer asked.

"Yes. . She knocked Kendal out with a whip then carried her away before I could call for help or do anything!"

"What did she look like?"

"I TOLD YOU!" I snapped. "A CAT. Like...like...meow! Hiss!"

"Yeah...uh huh..." The officer heaved his fat ass out of the chair he was sitting in and waddled over to his buddies. Not far away enough though, because I could still hear him whisper "No wonder she's at this school,"

Right, my special little school, where orphans, crazies, and children whose parents didn't love them came to rot- I mean learn. That's where Jaime and Kendal lived with me too. I'd been there ever since I was five- never went home.

The cop, I think his name was Smith or something boring like that, came back to me. "So you really believe in the Cat Woman?"

"Of course! I saw! I've seen the places she robbed on the TV! There's no denying her existence!"

"Oh yes there is! Saying there's a Cat Lady is like...Saying Batman's real!"

"Batman is real!" I shot up from where I'd been sitting on the floor. "And he's not just some thug either!" Officer Chubby-Butt cackled, spraying bits of his breakfast into the air. "Creep!" I ran out the front door, too angry to care about how illegal yelling at cops was.

I ran five blocks without stopping, needing a place to hide. I was weird like that- always finding little places to go. This time it was a fort of boxes I'd built behind a fence that divided two buildings. I could see a lot from that little fort, and I always thought I was completely hidden. Until of course that day when after curling up in there for an hour Jaime jumped in next to me, nearly crushing my foot beneath her.

"You know where this is?!" I yelled pulling my foot out of harms way.

"I have for awhile, you know that ginger kid who follows people everywhere?"

"yeah..."

"I just followed him," She brought her knees to her chest and sighed. "I'm sure she's okay,"

"Well they'll never find her. Cat Woman captured her and if they believe anything else then Kendal's gone forever,"

"Calm down Aaron, Kendal's probably out there kicking that cat's ass and pulling out her whiskers,"

"I sure hope so," I looked into the fading pink sky, the sun was near the end of setting. "Let's go back before we're caught in the dark,"

Some time passed and the police gave us weekly reports on their findings. Every week it was just as disappointing. Nobody believed me in saying that she'd been taken in the night by a giant cat and sometime I caught Jaime giving me doubtful looks as though she herself didn't believe it.

Like she didn't believe me.

I went wandering around counting the missing girl posters all over the city and watched as over time they fell down and thinned out as though no one was looking. That was unacceptable- some one had to be looking. Foolish hope kept me awake longer every night watching to see if she came home, foolish hope made me wait every day. They say that most kids who go missing usually end up dead but foolish hope told me she was still alive.

Jaime was less hopeful and more angry. She started blaming it on all sorts of things like our teachers and the police. And though she never admitted to this I knew that deep down she blamed me because I saw it happen.

We were trapped, trapped at school and trapped by authority. The school was a tragedy, about five hundred girls going to school and living in this one large building split up between dorms and classrooms. It was a sad reputation our school had, all the kids knew they were there because people were out of places to put them. Some had no parents, like Kendal, but others like me and Jaime were just unwanted by our parents and only saw them on summer vacation.

"I hate this!" Jaime growled under her breath. We saw it on the news "One month passed and still no sign of missing girl Kendal".

"Well we can't do anything about it! So calm down."
"Maybe there is something we can do," Jaime said. I stared at her, almost afraid to ask about her plan. "What about Batman? Couldn't we ask him for help?"

"Jaime, that's crazy. But I don't have any better ideas!"

The same night we stood outside the school, watching cars go by. Our plan was simple enough, just follow him home- how hard could it be? Still, we waited an hour after it got dark and still nothing.

"We were stupid to think he's come this way!" I cried. "There's no possible way of knowing where he goes!" Just then there was a roaring sound and the screech of tires. Around the corner a sleek black car whizzed past us. I recognized it from the news and reported sightings. As it rushed by I noticed something that confirmed my thoughts, there was the symbol of a bat where the license place should be.

"Follow it, Jaime!" I yelled.

"Why?!" She asked, alarmed.

"Follow Batman!