Everywhere
"Ta-Da!" Kid Flash exclaims, holding the door for me to enter…
His home? My home? Our home?
This is going to take some work.
I glance around. It's a nice base, although somewhat small. There's a big room that's split into two sections. One looks like a kitchen, the other a living room. I can see a hallway with doors to other rooms. The whole place seems…
Cozy. Compared to the H.I.V.E. base.
Kid Flash takes my hand and pulls me through the room and into the hallway. "There's the bathroom, a closet, and there's my room." he explains, pointing at each door as we pass it. "And this one," he continues, opening the door at the end of the hallway, "is your room. Well, actually it's the guest room. But now it's yours."
It's a fairly simple room, with a bed, a desk, a dresser, and not much else. I place my bag on the bed. "It's a… Nice house?" I comment, managing to make it sound more like a question. Why can't I think of anything to say?
Kid Flash grins. "Thanks, but it's okay. I know it's not much."
"Really! It's fine!" I reply. I think sound at least a little convincing. "So… What do you do around here?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
"Nothing special. You know, fight villains, play video games, eat. I'm not really here that often anyway, I travel a lot. But you knew that, right?" Kid Flash jokes. He dashes off and is back seconds later. "Sushi?"
I reach out to the plate of sushi he brought back from his five-second trip to Japan and take a piece. He sits down on the bed, and, for a moment, I consider sitting next to him.
I sit on the other side of my bag instead.
It's quiet as we finish off the sushi. Why am I so bad at this? Why can't I talk to him?
My stomach is twisted up into knots, and my heart is beating a bit to fast. It's too hot for a second, then it's too cold, and back to hot again. I must be getting sick.
But, somehow, I'm not sure if that's the only reason I feel this way. There's something else, something I can't quite put my finger on, that's making the twists in my stomach tighten.
Is it love? That seems like the obvious explanation. But I can help thinking it's something else. After all, if there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of, it's that I love Kid Flash. I know by now, what love feels like.
This is definitely not love.
The silence is too much. I have to break it. I open my mouth, waiting for something to need to be said. But nothing comes to me. I sigh. Why do I always have nothing to say?
My stomach is even worse now. I think I might throw up. Maybe if I'm alone for a little, I'll be able to collect my thoughts and whatever it is that's making me feel this way will just go away. I look around the room, searching for some excuse to get him out of here. My eyes stop on the clock. Eleven fifteen.
"I-It's getting late." I stutter. He glances at the clock.
"Yeah, it is. I'll see you in the morning!" He replies cheerfully, standing up to leave. The door swings open as he walks through it, and than closes with a soft bang. I collapse backwards.
I am losing it.
No. I've already lost it. I lost it a long time ago.
I feel dizzy. My head is pounding. This room is much too hot. I'm going to suffocate. Obviously I'm sick. I have to be. There's no other logical explanation.
I almost chuckle. Despite the fact that I am, always have been, and probably always will be, bad luck, I have suddenly gotten very lucky. Why am I talking logic?
I need sleep. Sleep will clear my head. I dump the contents of my bag onto the bed, carefully propping my plush unicorn on the pillow. After grabbing my pajamas and toothbrush, I shove the rest of my clothes into the dresser and place my hairbrush on the desk.
As I open the door to leave, I remember the rose. Looking over my shoulder, I can see it lying on the bed. The water from the vase must have spilled out or evaporated, but the rose seems unaffected. I grab the vase. I might as well refill it.
I walk across the hall to the bathroom. Turning on the sink, I carefully refill the small vase, and than splash some cold water on my face. "That doesn't help at all…" I mumble. Why is it so hot in here? I've been sick before, but I've never been this overheated.
Maybe taking my hair down will help me feel less dizzy. I reach up and remove the black bands holding my hair in place. I shake my head a bit, letting my pink hair fall in front of my face. I don't feel as dizzy now, but my head still hurts. Quickly, I change into my pink pajamas, brush my teeth, and race out of the bathroom.
It's colder in the hallway. Just a little bit, but it's definitely colder. That's a relief. Kid Flash is waiting by the bathroom door, already in a pair of bright yellow pajamas. "Hey, Jinx!" he says, waving. As he opens the bathroom door, he turns his head and adds, "You know, you look nice like that. You should wear your hair down more often."
I nod, but I'm really only half listening. My head hurts so much. I think it might be a migraine. I really wish I could listen to him, but all I can seem to focus on is the throbbing pain in my head.
Kid Flash disappears into the bathroom, and I fling the door to my bedroom open. As it shuts, I place the vase on my desk, and than collapse into a heap on my bed. I pull the covers around myself, only to realize it makes me too warm. I kick them off.
Great, now I'm shivering.
I wrap my body in the blankets. It's too hot with them, too cold without. I throw the blankets off the bed entirely and thrash around. I'm freezing, but it's just going to have to do. There is no way around it.
I shut my eyes. Everything seems to be swirling around me in circles, making me dizzy and nauseates. I try very hard to focus on breathing in a steady rhythm, hoping it will make the spinning stop, but it doesn't help. I guess this isn't new. The world's been spinning uncontrollably since I left the H.I.V.E.
Maybe I shouldn't have left. Maybe, if I'd stayed, I wouldn't feel like I'd lost control of my life. I wouldn't feel like everything around me is changing and dying and I had no way of stopping it. I wouldn't feel so… Scared.
No. If I'd stayed, I would probably be frozen right now. Or, at the very least, I would be confused and hurt and lovesick. No. Leaving was better. Better. Yeah. I made the right choice. I did… I left… I…
---
It's dark.
The wind blows just a little to hard. If it were any colder, I would be coated in a thin layer of ice. There's no snow, no rain, nothing to make the air less dry. Nothing but sharp, bitter cold, and absolute silence.
I can't see anything. I have no idea where I am or how I got here. I'm lost in the darkness, and I don't know how to get out.
It's terrifying.
I hear a voice. I've heard it before, but I can't understand what it's saying. It's too far away. I don't know who it is.
It gets a little louder. Closer. Whoever it is coming near me. I can hear the words now. No. I hear the word.
"Traitor."
It whispers it, over and over, exactly the same each time. Like an echo, but it doesn't fade out and die away.
"Traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor…"
I know that voice.
"Gizmo?" I ask. It comes out in a tiny whisper, nothing more than a shadow of my voice.
His face comes into view. It's filled with rage.
"Traitor," he snaps again, "I can't believe you. Leaving us for a superhero. You'll never make it. You're nothing but bad luck. You're just gonna destroy everything you and your pathetic friends are trying to save. And besides, he doesn't even like you. Sooner or later, he's going to leave you, and than you'll be all alone. Traitor."
He disappears.
The silence doesn't last long this time. Just a moments quiet before the voices pick up again. It's different this time. Older. Wiser. I listen, and soon I can hear what it says.
"Failure."
Brother Blood.
His face appears. He looks just as angry as Gizmo. He sounds furious.
"You had so much potential. You could have gone to great lengths. You were my best student. You could have become headmistress. With enough practice, if I had taught you enough, you could have single handedly taken anyone down. Even me. But what are you now? A hero? You've failed me. You failed the entire H.I.V.E. You'll never be anything. Failure."
And than he's gone.
I'm back in the silence. The dark. The cold. I have nothing to do but wallow in my own thoughts. Is it true? Am I a traitor? A failure? Will I really never be anything?
I feel like I'm about to cry. My throat is swelling and my eyes are filling with tears. I blink them back. I won't cry. It's not true. Nothing they said was true. I am something.
I'm a hero.
I can breath easier. Everything will be okay. I'm a hero now.
And than I hear another voice.
"Jinx…" It whispers. I look around. No one is there.
"Jinx…" It whispers again.
It doesn't sound mad this time. It sounds… Sad. Longing. Wanting, but knowing it can never have.
He comes into clear view.
See-More.
"Jinx…"
I can barely speak. "I… I…" The words come out a nervous stutter. "I…" He interrupts me before I can finish.
"I loved you."
He fades away, his words echoing after him. "I loved you… I loved you… I loved…"
This time, the silence and darkness is too much. I burst into a rage of tears I can no longer stop. They fall, hot and sticky, down my ice-cold face.
"Why?" I scream, "Why would you ever love me? Why would anyone ever love me? Why? Why? Why…"
"JINX!"
It's a new voice. Warmer, concerned. I know exactly who it is this time. Slowly, the voice drags me away from consciousness.
"Kid… Flash…"
---
"Jinx, wake up! Jinx! JINX!"
I open my eyes. I'm back in my room. Kid Flash is in front of me. His arms are on my shoulders, shaking me back and forth vigorously.
"Jinx, are you okay? You were screaming in your sleep. We're you having a nightmare or something?" He asks.
My breath is short and unsteady. "Y-yeah. A nightmare. Just a… Just a… No, I mean… I'm fine, really… I'm fine…" I'm trying to convince myself just as much as I'm trying to convince him.
"That bad?"
I try to answer, but I can't make enough sense of what's going on. Instead, I just bury my head in his chest and cry.
"Shhh…" He whispers, stroking my hair gently. "It's okay. It's okay."
"I don't understand…" I choke, "I was fine when we were at the Brotherhood Base. Nothing they said to me hurt at all. Why does it hurt so much now?"
"Nothing's wrong with being hurt and scared," he soothes, "You did the right thing. You're going to be a great hero. Shhh…"
I drift off into a dreamless sleep.
---
It's morning. The sun is shining brightly through the window, leaving patterns of light across the floor. I can hear birds outside. It's peaceful.
It's nice.
I feel much better. Still a little dizzy and light-headed, but it's a definite improvement. I guess whatever I had was just a one night thing.
Quietly, I stand up and leave the room, walking to the kitchen. Kid Flash is there, busily cooking something. He waves at me.
"Morning, Jinx! Feeling better?" He calls. I nod. There are some flashes of color, and the next thing I know I'm sitting at the counter with a stack of pancakes in front of me. "Eat up!"
I take a small bite. "Mm! These are delicious!"
Kid Flash chuckles. "Thanks. My nephew, Bart, says they're world famous for being completely inedible, and should be used as paperweights instead of eaten. But he's just jealous because he can't cook. And even if he could, never listen to anything Bart says. Ever."
I laugh. "Paperweights, that's a good one. You have a nephew?"
"Yeah. He's kind of an idiot. Really an idiot, actually. He..."
He trails off. Somehow, just listening to his voice, I can tell that whatever Gizmo or dream-Gizmo, says, Kid Flash will always be here for me.
"I'm going to go get dressed," I say I walk back to my room and examine my dress. It looks terrible, probably because I was sitting out in the rain with it on. I dig through my bag and put on the first clean dress I find, and than walk to the bathroom.
I brush my teeth and hair as quickly as possible, and than reach for my black hair bands. As soon as my hand hits them, I remember something Kid Flash said last night.
"You know, you look nice like that. You should wear your hair down more often."
Well, I am starting over, right? Nothing wrong with trying something new to accompany this new beginning.
I glance at my face in the mirror, and than my gaze shifts back to the hair bands.
On second thought, I think I'll leave my hair down.
'Cause you're everywhere to me
And when I close my eyes it's you I see
You're everything I know
That makes me believe
I'm not alone
I'm not alone
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Notes
I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry that I made you wait on this chapter for so long! You all have the right to be mad at me. I was very busy with schoolwork, and since I am writing multiple ongoing stories it is sometimes difficult for me to update them! I promise I will try to be faster!
Anyway, about the chapter. I have plotting this one for a while. I really do not know why I came up with it or decided to use it, but I like it, nonetheless. Jinx is being kinda dependent. I suppose the transition from villain to hero was just hard on her? But that is alright as it will give me a chance to make her mature and become less dependent throughout the story. And I have been planning the downfall of the horn-hair thingies since chapter one. I love Jinx, but I rather dislike her hair. The title of this chapter comes from the song "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. The lyrics at the end are from that song.
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Review Responses:
Shadow929: I am glad you liked it! Hooray for the non-existent early holidays!
TTSpeed Demon111: Thank you so much!
KF Fan: Thank you! I agree Jinx may be a bit tougher. I suppose the transition to being a hero was rough on her? I will have to work on that.
Jesus Titan Freak: You shall find out what happens!
WWMTgirl: Thank you so so so much! I am so happy that you think I am good enough to be a novelist! Who knows, maybe someday I will be!
jster1983: I am afraid that is not part of my plan. It is a good suggestion though!
WWMTgirl (again): Yes! I am so sorry for the delay!
A special thanks to my brother for helping edit this.
