"Get back here you bitch!" Quinn grabbed her little sister's hand and pulled her out the door, before hoisting the five year old onto her shoulders and continuing to run. She wold never stop, at least that was what she thought. She would never forgive her deadbeat parents for hitting Rylie. The little girl was crying her eyes out, holding one hand to her bruised face. Quinn was glad at that moment she was part of her school cross country team. She kept running, not even stopping when the sound of cursing had long faded into nothing. Only when she was out of breath after forty minutes of non-stop running did she finally stop. She let Rylie down from her shoulders and hunched over in an attempt to regain her breath. Rylie said nothing, still whimpering in pain. Her left cheek was swollen and she was shivering in the cold. Quinn hugged her little sister close. "It's alright Rylie, we're never going back there again. You don't have to worry about them anymore," Rylie wrapped her arms around her big sister's middle. "What is a bitch Quinny?" She asked, eyes wide. "A female dog." Quinn gave her sister a soft smile. "Why did daddy call you a dog, Quinny?" "It doesn't matter."
Quinn woke early the next morning, her sister clutched to her chest. They leaned against the back wall of a stranger's house. The sun had not yet come up, and the air was still freezing cold. Rylie shivered in her sleep and Quinn hugged her closer. As slowly as she could, Quinn got up onto her feet, Rylie still asleep in her arms. She walked down the street in the dark, sore from her running the night before. She knew there was a place for her, but was not sure how they would view her sister. Rylie was not a mutant. She had the potential to become one, but Quinn would never wish anything upon her sister. Rylie was her little angel, and that's how she would always be. If their birth mother could not be a caring woman, Quinn would be the mother that their mother was supposed to be. Quinn loved her little sister more than anything.
Quinn had not thought to pack anything before they left. It had been a sudden thing, not expected. Quinn had never planned to leave, no matter how abusive her parents had become towards her. But then again, she'd never planned on them hitting Rylie. Rylie let out a quiet snore, and Quinn couldn't help but chuckle. Then all of a sudden, she became serious. She laid her palm across the bruise on Rylie's face, to which she mewed in protest, and used her mutant power. She healed her sister, but in doing so, absorbed the damage onto herself. Her face swelled up, and she was hit by a sudden wave of nausea. But she didn't mind, upon seeing the creased look fade from her sister's face.
Her sister woke up a few minutes later, when the sun began to rise. She open her eyes sleepily. "Quinny, why is your face purple?" She asked, half awake. Quinn smiled down at her and lowered her shakily onto her feet but remained silent. "Where are we?" She looked around, her eyes now wide. "Remember I used to tell you about the castle with all the friendly monsters, Ri?" Rylie nodded her head. "That's where we're going Ri, where nobody can ever hurt us again." "Am I gonna be a princess, like in the story?" Quinn squeezed her sister's hand. "Of course Ri. You can be whatever you want to be."
The two of them walked hand in hand until Quinn found a map. She pointed to the little green dot on the map. "This is where we are, Ri." She then moved her hand to another spot, that didn't seem so far on the map. And this is where we need to get to." Rylie smiled. "Can we get some food? I'm hungry Quinny." Quinn went through her pockets and pulled out a small amount of money. They then walked into the closest fast food restaurant. She only had enough for one burger, and got the biggest one she could afford. She then split it in two and gave her sister the bigger half. Rylie chomped her's down in less than a minute, and out of love, Quinn gave Rylie the rest of her's.