I could hear both of them running to catch up to me. Having no where else to run, I had darted out from between the thugs, surprising them and giving me a head start. But, I wasn't on the track team for a good reason. I began to look for a place to hide. No luck. There weren't any twenty-hour stores, and any alleyway I went into most likely had a dead end. Forgetting this very important fact for a minute, I ducked into an alley and the thugs followed me. I kept running until I saw the brick wall in front of me, which is when I turned slowly around, seeing their maniac grins as they realized I had nowhere to go.
"Shouldn' a run, girly. Now we gotta get violent on ya'."
I backed into the wall as Thug Two came up and pressed a knife to my throat, eyeing my figure. As I breathed heavily, cursing the fact that I matured faster than my peers, Thug One walked up to my side and ripped off my backpack, leaving a thin cut down my left arm. I hissed, but they took no notice as one was hungrily taking in the skin bared by my tight, black tank top and the other was shaking my pack upside-down for anything that might resemble money.
All that came out were two buttons, a bus pass, and . . . . damn, a fifty-dollar bill that was my pay for the month.(A/n: I know, her pay sucks, but so does her job. Deal with it.) I groaned and One smiled at me, coming closer.
"This all ya' got? Maybe we should . . . rough her up a bit, eh Joe?"
Two had a name now.
"Sure, why not Spike, we ain't had much fun in a while."
I tensed as I realized what they were talking about. Rape. The knife was lowered from my neck, and I looked at them critically.
"Aw, babe, what fun is it if ya' look like ya' just came out the beauty parlor?" asked 'Joe'. 'Spike' nodded, took the knife from Joe, and approached. I crouched, but he laughed, reaching down and cutting the strap that held the right side of my shirt in place. It didn't fall all the way down, but the right side drooped noticeably. Now, if I turned around quickly, or even tried to walk normally, my bra would be visible. A large portion of it, which I was not eager to show these guys. I tried to pull the right side up, but failed, and just put my left arm up to cover it. They chuckled.
"So, who's goin' first, then?" asked Joe. Spike got an indignant look on his face.
"I am course! I got her in the first place. 'Sides, this'll be my first brunette in a month."
"It was my knife!"
"I'm the leader!"
"Not for long you're not." This voice came from above, and all three of us looked up. A figure was perched on the left-hand side building edge, and with a sinking feeling, I (and the thugs) realized who it was. Joe was the first to come out of shock.
"It's the Bat! Who cares about the chick, let's get outta' here!" Both Joe and Spike took off running, but if I knew Batman (which I reminded myself that it is not a good thing to know a comic book character) he wouldn't let them get away. He disappeared from my vision. Not five seconds had passed when I heard muffled sounds of fighting from around the corner. Then. . . .silence. By now, I was huddled on the ground, arms wrapped around my knees, head bowed toward the ground, shivering. A shadow fell over me, and I grudgingly looked up. But when I did, there was nothing there but my bag and the possessions that had been shaken out. As I put my things back and set off for home, I got the eerie feeling I was being watched. The scary thing was, I knew who was watching.
* * * * *
Soon I got over my encounter with 'The Bat.' Convincing myself that I was in a coma was even harder now that I had actually seen Batman. I mean, it's not every day that you come into contact with a super hero, right? And, before, I had thought of possibly going to see 'Bruce Wayne', since he had the Batcave and all that. But now that I had seen 'Batman' in action, I couldn't go through with it.
At school, I mostly kept to myself since I literally knew no one. My classes were cake because it seemed as though 'Gotham' were years behind the real world. Ninth grade was easy. But still, something was wrong. It was as if my home life were perfect.
My parents never argued about anything, and we were pretty well off, considering I had no idea where the money was coming from. Heck, my dad could be a hit man and I wouldn't have a clue. Nevertheless, he always appeared happy, so whatever he was doing, it looked to be working for him.
After a couple more weeks in my dream world, they turned into months and I started to break down. I couldn't take the fantasy anymore; it was tearing me apart. Every other day on the news there was something about the famous 'Batman', and it was messing me up inside to have to pretend that it was real and not scream out 'He's a comic book character!'. I wanted out; I wanted reality; I wanted anything but what I was going through. There was one final thing that made me do something reckless during feelings of desperation. One thing that made me risk it all.
We had an assembly scheduled for that Friday morning in school. No one knew what it was about; just that it got it out of class. Nine o'clock was the time everything changed.
As we filed into the bleachers of the gym, I had a horrible feeling of something going wrong. Like I was on the Titanic, but not knowing about anything that was going to happen. Everyone sat down, waiting for the thing that got us out of class that early in the morning. The principal stepped up to the oak podium and began to talk.
"Students, we are gathered here today to witness a momentous occasion! The school has received a donation, allowing us to upgrade many resources, including computers, textbooks, and many other things we haven't had the money for until now. Let me welcome our generous sponsor, Mr. Bruce Wayne!"
* * * * *
I froze, my eyes staring straight ahead. Because I knew something these people didn't. The kids on either side of me didn't notice anything, as they were clapping. He was here? Why? Of course, my common sense told me that he was just making a donation to the school. But in my shocked state, I was convinced that he was looking for me. I tried to look like this didn't phase me, like I was just another kid, like I didn't know Batman and Bruce Wayne were the same person.
But then something happened that just made me crack. It was when the principal said,
"Why don't we have one of you students come up here and say something to thank Mr. Wayne? Speak for the whole school!"
A bunch of kids raised their hands, but I got a feeling that he was looking for someone who wasn't very enthusiastic. Someone like me. And, unfortunately, that feeling was right.
"Marissa Brockford! Come on up!"
I could feel the eyes on me. Slowly, I got up from my seat in the bleachers and walked toward the stage, the principal, and Bruce Wayne. Oh, by the way, did I mention that was my impending doom as well? Anyway, I finally made my way up there. Both the principal and Bruce were wearing big smiles.
"Go ahead, say something!" urged my principal. I put on a fake smile, trembling slightly, and stepped up to the podium as he had done.
"I think that we are all grateful for Mr. Wayne's donation. It will hopefully make things more interesting around here by giving us more resources as previously stated by our principal. I am especially thankful for what you have done Mr. Wayne, because," here I looked him in the eye, and I saw his eyes flash . . . he knew that I knew; I hurried up, "I love to learn. I hope others benefit as much as I will from this donation."
There was clapping and I hurried back to my seat. The principal kept talking, but I didn't listen. Because I had a bigger problem. One that I would solve in a way only a desperate fifteen-year-old could think of. If you have a problem, expose it to everyone in hopes of finding a solution. So the next day, that's exactly what I did.
* * * * *
C'mon. Push that little button, right down there to the left. You knooooooooooooooooooow you waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant to. Oh, and points to someone who can tell me where I'm going with the chapter names. It's not that hard.