What's that? My name's Jinx? Oh, that's so funny! I must have really bad luck! I know, I know, did my mum walk under a ladder when she was pregnant with me? And now I carry bad luck with me wherever I go?

Ha. Like I haven't heard that one a million times before, especially as I'm a black cat. But yes, I do have bad luck, so much bad luck that I actually watched both of my parents die.

I'm not kidding.

I remember it so vividly. I couldn't find Mum anywhere, so I headed into the back garden, and froze.

Hunters.

With guns.

Circling Mum and Dad.

My reaction was immediate (and kinda stupid) I screamed.

One of the hunters glanced up at me quickly, and my heart stopped.

But as he looked down again, he saw Dad slowly edging away. The hunter knew what to do. He raised his gun, and with one terrible BANG.

That was it.

"Dad, no!"

Tears streaming down my face, I tried to run to him, but I was stopped abruptly when someone seized my wrist. I screamed and struggled to get away. I turned to see who it was and was shocked to find out that it was none other than my big brother Ebony.

The relationship between Ebony and me was…odd.

He insisted he wasn't a goth, but I called him one anyway, because he sure dressed like it. He acted kind of like a goth too, he wasn't mean or anything, he was just mysterious, hiding away inside himself, not talking to anyone. I wished I had a more interesting brother.

"Ebony, let go of me!" I demanded. "What are you doing?"

"You can't go out there Jinx," he replied. "It's too dangerous."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I snatched my hand away. "But we can't just stand here and do nothing!" I cried and ran out to Dad.

However, I'd only ran three paces before another shot rang out, in my direction this time, and I shrieked and dived behind Ebony, shivering.

Oh how I wished I could have swooped in and saved Mum from the evil hunters but I was and always will be a terrible coward. Besides, Mum was snowy-white in colour; there was no way the hunters could miss.

I had to shut my eyes tight when I heard the next bullet being shot. Ebony and I hugged each other, sobbing.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked.

Ebony sighed, glancing down at the grass to avoid eye-contact. "I don't know, Jinx. I really don't," he said.

I looked over at the hunters and…

Shock, horror! They had noticed us!

They were loading up their guns!

"Ebony!" I said. "The hunters have seen us!"

He looked up. "Oh no," he whispered.

I clutched his arm in fright. "We have to get out of here!" I insisted.

Ebony shook me off. "You have to get out of here," he said. "I've got some unfinished business to attend to."

"What?" I gasped. "But Ebony, you can't-"

"Go!" he insisted. "I'll be fine."

I realized that this was the last time I was ever going to see my brother.

"Goodbye Ebony," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too, little sis," he said and ushered me away.

~::~

So I ran. I ran and ran and ran. I didn't know where I was running to; I just knew that I had to get away. I ran out of the garden but as I did so I heard a shot ring out. I whimpered. Whether it had hit Ebony or not was beyond me but I knew that either way, I was never going to see my big brother again

I ran harder. I ran down the street, crossed the road, faster and faster. My lungs were bursting, my legs were burning but I couldn't stop, I had to keep running. I entered a part of town I didn't recognize. I knew I should stop, go back to a place I knew, but I couldn't. My brain was panicking and the only thing it could program was telling me to run. So I did. When I finally felt like I couldn't run anymore, when I felt sick and dizzy, when I felt so tired I just wanted to curl up and die, I collapsed to the ground.