Author's note: The only thing I'm saying here is that I desperately need a beta for this story. If you would like to help, please PM me ASAP!

Enjoy!

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"C'mon, Bridgette! Let's go to Gore Park! I wanna see the pigeons!"

Bridgette groaned and banged her forehead against the dining room table, making some milk spill out of her bowl of cereal. Of course, she had to babysit Nadia while her brother Sasha (who was supposed to be watching the four year old) went to "help" his best friend choose his courses for school next week.

Bridgette could've got Sasha in trouble if she told their dad, but he already left for work. It wasn't worth bothering him at a job they so desperately need.

"Can we? Can we? Can we?" Nadia poked Bridgette in the arm, trying to get an answer. She sighed as she gave her sister a weak smile.

"Sure, Nad. Just let me finish eating, okay?" Nadia nodded excitedly and went to get ready.

Bridgette quickly finished her cereal and stood up, wondering why the heck she agreed to babysit her younger sister. You're a pushover, her best friend Raina's voice rang in her ears. If I asked you to jump off a cliff you probably would.

Bridgette smiled fondly at the memory. Raina was on a cruised for the rest of the summer, so it's not like Bridgette had anything better to do anyways.

Unlike Raina, who was hyper and outgoing, Bridgette was quiet and reserved, with few friends.

Rinsing her bowl and putting it in the cupboard, Bridgette went to get changed (a purple tank top and a pair of black shorts). She put her waist length red hair into a braid and went downstairs to meet her sister, who was currently trying to put her shoes on the wrong feet.

"Let me help." Offered Bridgette. After putting her own shoes on, she quickly packed a bag with two bottles of water, a book, some change, and wrote a note saying where they were going so her father wouldn't wonder when he got back from his shift.

Taking her sister's hand, they walked out of their apartment door and down the flight of stairs to the first floor of the house. The decades old house was split into three apartments; one in the basement, one on the first floor, and her family's on the second floor and attic.

"How did you like the tour of the school yesterday, Nadia?" Asked Bridgette as they walked towards the downtown centre. Her younger sister was starting kindergarten at the school down the street.

Her sister's eyes lit up. "It was awesome, птичка. The teacher was very nice. I cannot wait until I can go to school like you and Sasha!" Nadia went onto explain about how she made new friends during her visiting day, two days before the actual school year started.

They walked for a few minutes before reaching a red light, and Nadia was still talking a mile a minute.

"– and there were also twins, just like you and Sasha, but they didn't fight as much." Nadia stopped, trying to catch her breath. "I think the first day of school is going to be fun." She admitted.

Bridgette chuckled. "that's good, Nad." The light changed, and the sisters walked across the crosswalk, Nadia now telling Bridgette about the activities that she did.

While Nadia was still explaining her day to her sister, Bridgette's mind wandered elsewhere.

She started high school in less than two days, and unlike her sister, Bridgette was not excited one bit. While her sister was hyped for her first day of school, Bridgette was dreading it. She never liked school; too many mean kids and terrible teachers, not to mention the lack of funding since her elementary school was in central downtown Hamilton.

Even though Bridgette's family lived downtown, they weren't terribly poor, but she would barely consider them middle class. Their apartment was small and rundown, but they still got 3 meals a day, which Bridgette would always be thankful for, considering their father's lousy paying job was their only source of income, unless if you counted Sasha's delivering newspaper ads in the summer.

"Aren't you listening, птичка?" Demanded Nadia, snapping Bridgette out of her thoughts.

"Sorry Nadia, I'm thinking about my school too." Admitted Bridgette. "Can you repeat yourself?"

"I said—oh look! We're here!" Squealed Nadia, pointing too the small park. "Let's go, let's go!" Nadia practically dragged Bridgette across the street.

Gore Park was situated in between the two lanes of King Street East. It didn't have much (just a fountain, benches, and grass, really), but Nadia loved coming here because of the dozens and dozens of pigeons.

"You go play, Nad." Said Bridgette, sitting down on a bench. "I'll be here reading."

Nadia shook her head. "No, птичка. First we need to go make a wish in the fountain." Nadia dug her hand into her overalls pocket, bringing out two pennies. "Sasha said he doesn't want these, so now they're my wishing coins." She placed one in Bridgette's hand. "Can we please buy a wish?"

Before Brigette even answered, Nadia was already dragging her over to the fountain across the park.

When they reached the fountain, Nadia let go of her sister's hand and blew on the coin. "You need to close your eyes." Instructed Nadia, staring at her sister with those big, green eyes. "Then you blow, and your wish will come true, like this." Nadia shut her eyes tight, took a deep breath, and threw the coin into the fountain, where it landed with a splash.

Nadia opened her eyes and grinned at her sister. "You're turn, Bridgette. And don't be like Sasha who says he's too old for wishes, Promise?"

Bridgette nodded. "Promise." Mimicking Nadia, she blew on the coin and closed her eyes.

I wish I had a more exciting life. I wish I was more outgoing and wasn't afraid to speak my mind. After throwing her coin in the fountain, Nadia started clapping.

"Your wish is going to come true! I can feel it, птичка." Exclaimed Nadia excitedly. Bridgette was about to tell Nadia how her wish was going to come true too when she heard shouting.

Turning around, she saw a guy not much older than her waving a gun around, shouting at a nearby group of preteens that were probably around 11, 12 at the most. Eyes wide, she was shocked to see the teenager taking aim at one of the girl in the group.

Acting on instinct, she tackled Nadia to the ground, so that the fountain was between them and the guy with the gun. A gunshot rang out, and Bridgette hugged Nadia against the ground tightly.

There was lots of shouting, but luckily Bridgette didn't think anyone had been hurt yet.

"птичка, what's happening?" Whispered Nadia. Are those kids okay?"

Those words hit Bridgette like a freight train. Children, younger than me.

Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was the fact that she did just make a wish saying that she wanted a more exciting life. Whatever it was, Bridgette made a choice.

"Stay here, and stay down, or else we won't go get hot dogs after, got it?" Bridgette didn't wait for an answer before she crept around the fountain, behind the shooter's back.

"Please don't hurt us, we are sorry about the car, we'll pay for the damages." Whimpered one of the kids.

"Fuck off." He aimed the gun. "You think that since you live in Ancaster, you can get what you want, you little spoiled brats, but you're about to learn that's not how it works."

Right before he pulled the trigger, Bridgette tackled him from the side.

In all honesty, she didn't know why she did it. She had a good chance of getting shot herself, but she wasn't thinking of that right now. All she was thinking of was the look of terror on the kid's face, thinking this was the end.

She slammed into him, knocking the teen to the ground. The gun slid a few metres away, in front of a blond hair boy who was hiding behind a bench.

The shooter was shocked, to say the least. When he realized what had happened, he aimed a punch for Bridgette's face, but she rolled off him just in time.

He paid no attention to Bridgette while he looked around widely for the gun, finally spotting it near the blond teenager, who still wasn't moving, just staring between the gun and the shooter, who was now making a mad dash for it.

"What are you doing? Grab it!" Yelled Bridgette to the boy.

When the shooter was less than a metre away, thank God the boy had enough common sense to kick it in the opposite direction, right into the middle of the busiest street in the city.

Bridgette breathed a sigh of relief, partially since the gun was gone, and partially since she heard sirens. Soon, there were several police cars, with two officers putting hand cuffs on the shooter, who was too stunned to move.

Bridgette went to grab Nadia, who (thank God) hadn't moved from the spot where Bridgette left her.

They started walking home about twenty minutes later, after the police finished questioning

"Would you like a ride back to your home?" Offered the particularly nice officer who had been questioning Bridgette.

"It's fine, Ma'am." Answered Bridgette. "It's a beautiful day, and our place isn't that far."

While Bridgette bid the officer a goodbye, she didn't notice a man in a red print Hawaiian shirt watching her intently, a smile on his face.

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Twenty minutes later when they reached the house, Sasha was sitting on the frontsteps, arms crossed and looking pissed.

"идиот" He swore. "Dad is going to kill you when he gets home."

Bridgette walked right past him up the stairs to their apartment, holding Nadia's hand. "Yeah, cause it's my fault that some idiot felt like threatening some children." She swung open the door to the apartment and patted Nadia on the back. "You go watch TV while Sash and I make supper." Nadia happily complied and headed to the small living room.

Bridgette walked to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. "Where is dad?"

"Looking for you." Answered Sasha, getting some uncooked pasta from the cupboard. "We were watching the game, and suddenly Mrs. Laura from downstairs barges in here and turns on the news, which is showing Gore park, and guess who's in the security camera picture they're showing? A girl with red braided hair and a purple tank top, not to mention the anchor saying, "There may be injuries, but we cannot be sure at this time." He filled a pot with water and put it on the stove to boil.

"Sorry, Sasha."

"It's fine, but dad's probably worrying so much right now. When he realizes you aren't there he should head straight back here, figuring that's what you would do."

Bridgette opened the fridge and got out the head of lettuce to make a salad. "Too bad we aren't like the rich folk who have those cell phones. It would be so easy to stay in contact."

Sasha nodded. "It would be. Anyways, you go get changed. I don't want you in my kitchen with dirt all over you."

Bridgette nodded and went to the "third floor."

It wasn't so much of a third floor, more like an attic. There was a door in the front hallway that looked like a closet, but was actually the door that lead to an old staircase.

At the top there was what the siblings liked to call the "common room." It was a little area with a bookshelf, chair, and all of Nadia's toys.

Behind that there was a whole row of shelves, meant to act like walls for privacy; one half was Sasha's, the other was Bridgette's. They used blankets for doors, which surprisingly worked out better than you would've thought.

Whenever Raina came over she would always say how much she loved the attic; how it felt like a fort. Which was fine if it wasn't you who was living in it.

Bridgette walked into her small bedroom, sighing and flopping on the bed. What a day.

After a few moments she decided she should get dressed. Yawning, she went to her dresser and got a plain white shirt out of the top drawer before stopping suddenly.

What the hell? Thought Bridgette to herself as she looked at the foreign object on her dresser.

It looked like a jewelry box, wooden with red symbols on it. Bridgette guessed it to be Chinese.

Hesitantly, she opened it. All of a sudden, there was a flash of red, forcing Bridgette to shut her eyes.

She opened them. Looking around widely, she finally spotted something floating…

Not something.

Someone.

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