The following evening
Saturday
Morton Grove

I was grounded till I was at least seventy-five!

But that was not all that sucked!

Josh wasn't talking to me and neither was Mindy, which really fucking hurt! Mom is pretending that I don't exist, except at meal times! I had spent the past day feeling really small and very, very guilty!

Why did I do it?

I loved the way that I felt when I was out as Shadow. The surge of adrenalin, the surge of excitement when hunting criminals and yes, I enjoyed making use of my weapons, especially my compound bow, but that was now gone!

Mindy was arguably my best friend in the entire world. I would do anything for her... But I had thrown it all away in a selfish attempt at experiencing the thrill of being Shadow! The one thing that really scared me? Mindy didn't shout or kick me about, as I had fully expected her to. No, she spoke calmly, which just made it worse. I suppose in hindsight, I should be pleased! It was the cold, collected Hit Girl that was telling me to get out, not Mindy Macready.

I suppose my little problem had given me time to look at me life.

Who was I? Or should that have been: What was I?

I was a girl.

I was fourteen years-old.

I killed people!

So, what did that make me?

A murderess?

A vigilante?

Was there a difference?

I suppose that would depend on your point of view.

I took law enforcement into my own hands and I acted as a judge, jury and executioner, where required. Did that make me a bad person?

It should have done! But why did I sleep at night? I'd killed... Now I thought about it, how many people had I killed? I didn't really know; I honestly didn't know! Was that bad? Everybody I had killed, to that point, had deserved it and in most cases it was while defending myself or others from harm.

My life officially sucked!

That evening
West Ridge

Mindy was one hell of a grumpy bitch!

I knew that she was pissed with Chloe, but Mindy needed Chloe. I could tell that she was distraught over her decision. She had ignored all of Chloe's texts and phone calls. I hated seeing Mindy like this; she was even yelling at me now!

I'd had enough!

While Mindy was ranting and raging on the mat downstairs, I got on my cell.

..._...

Fifty minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

I opened it to find Dr Bennett and a very unhappy looking Chloe.

"Hi!" I said to Dr Bennett and then grabbed hold of Chloe and physically dragged her downstairs.

"Mindy!" I yelled.

Mindy stopped kicking the bag and turned towards me. She stared at Chloe and then she glared at me.

"What the fuck is she doing here?"

Chloe was looking down at the mat and not at Mindy.

"Look, I know you're pissed with the little bitch; we all fucking are, but get off your fucking high horse and have make up sex, or whatever, but fucking sort things out between yourselves!" I yelled and headed back upstairs to where Dr Bennett smirked at me.

"You enjoyed that!" She stated.

"I did, too!"

That fucking asshole!

That was exactly why I'd been avoiding Chloe! Dave knew full well that I would forgive her, if I spoke to her!

We both avoided each other's eyes for a few minutes.

"Okay! I hate to disappoint you, but I am not having make up sex with you! I know you're sorry and I know you won't do it again! Friends?" I asked.

"Always!" Chloe replied and hugged me tight.

"You might need make up sex for Josh, though! I gather he's really pissed at you!" I quipped then got serious. "This won't be the end of it, either!"

Chloe blushed and said nothing!

We both went upstairs to find Dr Bennett and Dave waiting. They both smirked at us.

"Quickest sex ever!" Dave commented.

I felt my cheeks warming up and Chloe blushed too!

"Shadow's still grounded, though!" Dr Bennett warned and Chloe groaned.

"Being a teenager sucks!"

"Tell me about it!" I agreed.

South Cottage Grove
Apartment 301

"Okay! Your idea would have probably worked! We should have just asked for their help," Cameron admitted.

"They really are the good guys! Look at what they've done for us; first good night's sleep we've had in days!" Natasha agreed.

"We owe these guys; you know that don't you!"

"What do we do then?"

"We ask to stay; we can't get at our money, we can't leave the country, so what else can we do?"

Apartment 202

I knocked on the apartment door.

The door was opened by Mrs Wilson.

"Hi, I'm Mindy; your Landlord. May I come in?" I asked.

"Of course!" Mrs Wilson replied waving me in.

"You settling in okay, Mrs Wilson?" I asked and saw Megan, coming through from the living room. Megan was looking at me strangely; her eyes were narrowed and she looked deep in thought.

"We're wonderful, thank you Mindy and please call me Paige."

Megan was still staring at me strangely, but I ignored her as I went on.

"I'm starting a new business, over on South Morgan Street and I need an Office Manager. I thought I'd offer you the job; you have any experience in that?" I asked.

I knew full well that she did, as Marty had pulled up a lot of information about the Wilson family.

Up until about six months ago, the family had been doing well; Mr Wilson was a successful IT Manager and Mrs Wilson worked as an Office Manager. Between them both, they earned a decent wage and were doing okay, but then Mr Wilson was killed by a hit and run driver. Paige Wilson was left to raise Megan, alone; but her job fell through and she was then forced to move to that crappy apartment that I had found them in and Paige was finding things really difficult financially.

Now, this was kinda getting too close to home, so I decided that I wanted to help out as much as possible.

"This isn't charity; it will be hard work! You would be running the place, doing the books and other administration type stuff. What do ya think?" I asked.

"I'd love to!" Paige replied, with a broad smile. "Anything to get back to work and get our lives back on track!"

"I'll come by and pick you up on Monday?"

"That would be fine! Little madam will be at school," Paige replied.

I looked down at Megan, whose expression had finally changed from intense thought, to intense surprise. Her eyes then went wide as saucers and her mouth dropped open! I knew exactly what she had worked out; damn that kid was intelligent! I raised a finger to my lips and bent down to her ear.

"Our - little - secret!" I whispered.

When I stood up, Megan's expression was one of extreme happiness!

West Ridge

Even though Chloe was well and truly grounded, I had asked that she be allowed to check in on the two Brits.

I was still very unsure what to do about them. Okay, Hit Girl seemed to gone a bit soft when dealing with innocent British kids, who were way out of their depth! I knew nothing about these two kids, but I couldn't just kick them out onto the streets. That was where we had found them and they hadn't been doing too well!

For now they could stay in that apartment and Chloe would check in on them, periodically. I sent over a cell phone today, so at the very least I would be able to speak with them, when required.

I did not want them seeing any more faces, at least not yet!