Chapter 3: Robberies and Traitors

One night, Sadie approached Mindy and asked, "Hey, Mindy, you wanna go out with us somewhere?"

"Heck yeah!" Mindy replied. She had never gone out anywhere with Sadie and Josh before. They had always just gone out together to go get groceries or something and Mindy had always stayed home because Sadie didn't want anything to happen to her. Now that she was finally being offered the chance to go with them, Mindy wondered where they were going.

"Alright, then," Sadie replied. "Get dressed. I'll tell Josh you're coming with us."

"Okay," said Mindy. And with that, Sadie walked off and whispered something to Josh. Mindy strained to hear, but couldn't.

A moment later, Sadie and Josh turned back to Mindy, and Sadie said, "'K Mindy, let's all get ready to go. Get dressed and we'll head out soon." Mindy did just that, as she pulled a pink t-shirt and some black leggings out of her suitcase.

As she was putting on her red converse, Mindy thought she heard something like crying coming from behind the sink. Josh wasn't paying any attention, so she decided to creep over and look. She peered over the counter to see, to her shock, that it was Sadie crying.

Mindy saw Sadie bent over something small that she held in her hands. Sadie sat up to look at the small object and Mindy saw that it was a picture frame of two people; what Mindy knew at once were Sadie's parents.

Suddenly, Sadie's mood changed. The teenage girl became extremely angry. She thrust the picture frame away from her and rubbed her temples before grabbing something off a shelf. It was a little pill bottle. Sadie took a handful of pills and shoved them down her throat. Mindy was shocked. How long would Sadie be able to survive on that amount of pills?

Mindy could tell that Sadie was about to get up again, so she quickly walked back to the bed and pretended she hadn't seen anything.

"Everyone ready?" Sadie asked.

"Yep!" said Josh.

"Yeah," Mindy said.

"Great!" said Sadie, grabbing her purse. "Then let's go." And then they headed out.

After a lot of walking, the three kids finally reached a house. Mindy was confused.

"What are we doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Mindy," Sadie said.

"This is just...uh..."

"Just what?"

"Just how we get our stuff we need to survive," Josh finished.

"Yeah, thanks Josh," Sadie replied, and Josh grinned in response.

"So, why don't you go in first just so you can get the hang of it?" said Sadie.

"Okay," said Mindy. She spotted a window and went to climb inside. As she grabbed onto the handle to open the window, she glanced back at Sadie and Josh, who were watching from a bush. Josh grinned and Sadie waved.

Mindy turned back and forced the window open. There was a loud bang. Mindy quickly slid in.

From what Mindy could make out of the house from the light flowing in from the street lamps, she was in a kitchen. But the place seemed eerily familiar.

She turned around to try to get a better look around, when suddenly the lights clicked on.

"What are you DOING here!?" a shrill female voice shouted. Mindy recognized the voice immediately and was chilled to the bone when she heard it. She spun around in horror to discover the angry faces of her parents.

Mindy was speechless.

"Why did you come back?" Mindy's dad growled angrily.

"Please, Mom! Dad!" Mindy begged. "I didn't know!"

"Maybe you should have known then!" Mindy's mom shouted angrily.

She whacked Mindy hard across the face. Mindy fell to the floor. From outside, Sadie looked horrified. Mindy tried to will herself to stand up, but it was too tough. Her father kicked her in the stomach.

Mindy then experienced a long and hurtful beating from both of her ex-parents. It soon got to a point where Mindy could barely make out anything in front of her from both tears and sheer pain.

Mindy's dad moved in for the final blow. But suddenly, Mindy felt the feedback and headache from that one night come back again.

Oh no, Mindy thought, before she was consumed by rage and sadness, unable to control it.

She was suddenly given an incredible amount of strength. Mindy sprang to her feet and punched both of her parents in the face with incredible speed and accuracy.

Sadie and Josh had seen the whole thing from the outside and watched in shock and horror, Sadie especially.

"I hate you, too," Mindy spat at her now unconscious parents. Then she came back to her senses, terrified at the sight.

"What have I done?" Mindy began to cry again.

Then she was angry. Sadie had betrayed her! She didn't at all intend to help Mindy heal, she had only been trying to break her more than she already had been! Mindy was heartbroken. She felt herself slip into anger. How could Sadie have taken advantage of her like this for so long. When she found Sadie, Mindy would... She didn't know what she would do, but it wouldn't be pretty.

She marched back toward where Sadie and Josh were hiding, where Josh was trying to comfort Sadie. "It's alright," he was saying. "You didn't know." He had his arm wrapped around Sadie, who had her head buried in her hands. The fact of the matter was that Sadie had never meant for any of this to happen. Yes, she was going to have Mindy break in to a house and steal things, but she never could have predicted that it would be Mindy's parents' house that Mindy would be breaking into. And for that matter, she had no idea of the abuse Mindy would suffer when she did. This is why she almost cried when Mindy approached the two angry and broken.

"How could you!?" Mindy yelled. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"Please, Mindy!" Sadie said. "I didn't know!"

"You KNEW!" Mindy shouted. "And you didn't care that you knew what would happen!"

"It was an accident!"

"It was completely intentional!" Mindy shouted between sobs. She paused.

"Mindy," Sadie said. "Please, I didn't mean to cause you any harm. Sure, this went way wrong, but there's always next time, right?"

Mindy didn't respond. "Right?" Sadie asked again.

"No," Mindy simply replied, and bowed her head. The feedback and headache were coming back again and this time they were stronger than ever.

"Look, I know I screwed up, but-"

"I said NO!" Mindy screamed, and fired a blue beam at Sadie from her eyes. The beam struck Sadie in the face and the teenager fell to the ground.

"SADIE!" Josh screamed, as he ran to her side. Mindy came back to her senses. She couldn't stick around and watch this happen. It was too painful.

So she started running.

She ran and ran without even really knowing where she was going. Soon enough, she reached the alleyway where she had been living with Sadie and Josh for months now.

By the curb was motorcycle that had been tipped over on its side. Beside it lay its owner, a biker man, passed out. Mindy threw a quick glance at the two before running down the alleyway as fast as she could, until she reached the dumpster, upon which she pushed it aside and crawled through the opening.

She stuffed all her things into her bag, and also grabbed a few things from the cupboards for food. Then she grabbed everything she had brought with her and crawled through the opening with it, only to find Josh waiting at the entrance, holding Sadie's corpse.

"YOU!" he shouted. "Why have you come back, you monster!?"

"I can't stay!" Mindy sobbed. "I came to get my stuff!"

"Then GO!" Josh yelled. "Before I call the cops!"

"You wouldn't, Josh!"

"I would! You killed her, Mindy! Murdered her in cold blood!"

"It was an accident!" Mindy said desperately.

"I don't believe you!" Josh shouted. "I HATE YOU!"

Mindy stopped. Here was her crush for the past several months telling her how much he now hated her right in front of her.

"Fine!" Mindy shouted. "I'll just take my things and go!" She headed toward the motorcycle, when she felt Josh's arm swing into the back of her head.

"Not until I'm done with you!" he said.

Josh threw another punch at Mindy, but Mindy dodged it. Josh tried to kick Mindy in the stomach, but she quickly dodged and brought the motorcycle to its feet.

She kept dodging Josh's attacks as she put her luggage in a little compartment in the motorcycle, grabbed the helmet off the biker dude, put it on, and ignited the engine. Josh threw another fist, but this time Mindy caught it in her hand and tried to hold it back. Josh struggled against Mindy's grasp.

"This isn't what Sadie would have wanted!" Mindy shouted.

Josh stopped. Mindy hopped on the motorcycle. Josh appeared to be deep in thought and sorrow.

"Goodbye, Josh," said Mindy.

Josh didn't even reply as Mindy pulled away from the curb and drove into the night, tears streaming down her face and into the wind, as she sped away from the city of cruelty, never to return again.