The Jinx and the Flash

Chapter 1

Jinx woke up to the sound of clattering pots and slurred cussing.

She scrambled out of bed and stumbled down the stairs.

Jinx bursted into the kitchen to see a sight that made her almost choke on her own heart.

Cleo was crying in the corner of the kitchen, while her mother screamed at her, breakfast spilled all over the floor.

The woman shrieked in frustration, eyes bloodshot and hands shaky.

Hangover and withdraw.

Never the less when Cleo's mother raised her fist to strike Cleo she immediately intercepted, earning a hard punch to the back.

"Go Cleo." Jinx hissed to Cleo as her guardian shrieked in anger.

Cleo luckily listened but not after whimpering Jinx's name.

But thankfully she ran upstairs leaving Jinx with her doom.

- - - - -

Jinx cringe as her fists smacked repeatedly into her back, the woman was drunk out of her mind but she was causing damage.

A sudden kick to Jinx's legs make her collapse onto the cold tile slapping her head to the floor.

Then she got beat, and beat, and beat.

And she let herself get beat, one strike back was all it would take for her to get sent pack to the foster care system.

Jinx couldn't leave Cleo like that

Finally with a final stomp on her aching back Cleo's mom stumbled to her room, probably getting ready to go to the bar again.

Jinx forced herself off the floor, back hurting like crazy, dang those high heels.

She clumsily staggered up the stairs and popped her head into she and Cleo's shared room.

Cleo was neatly packing a backpack and getting ready for her first day of school.

Jinx grabbed her bottle of painkillers, quietly closed the door, and headed to the bathroom.

She spashed her face with cold water, took a couple of painkillers, and took out her makeup.

After covering her face's bruises with concealer and getting dressed she put in her many earrings and left the bathroom.

"You ready Cleo?" Jinx asked with a smile on her aching face as she stepped into the room.

"I'm always ready!" Cleo responded.

Jinx grabbed her backpack and opened the window.

Due to past experiences, they preferred not to go out the front door, in some twisted way the window was safer.

They dropped our bags onto the floor 3 stories down, and Jinx stretched her legs a final time before grabbing onto the trunk of the tree which was pressed up against the left of the window.

She waited for Cleo to clutch onto her back, then she slid down the tree until she reached the next thick branch.

Then she held onto the branch and lowered them onto the branch below that one.

Jinx could feel the palms of her hands being scraped but she ignored it.

And when the branches ended she shimmed by way down the tree's trunk, clutching the tree between her thighs and arms and carefully slid them down.

When they were finally down, Jinx brushed both of them off and grabbed their bags.

She held Cleo's hand and they began the walk to school.