Running • Iggy

Out

Two weeks.

That's all it took to completely destroy my life and rip everyone I loved away from me.

Alisha had her baby - a lovely girl with ginger hair as bright as the sun. She called her Amelia. She had moved in with her boyfriend into the empty place on the opposite side of ours - the original art shop in the middle of Alisha and the older flock's apartments.

But that was about the only good news in my life after that - because the day I went back to school, Jessie began relentlessly bullying me when Max, Fang and Iggy's backs were turned. She would shove me around, she would threaten me and my family, do anything that reflexively struck fear in me. I had to admit - she was one ballsy girl to provoke someone as terrifying as me, but I was too scared to fight back. It was a mix between knowing she had the financial power to ruin anyone in my family's lives by hurting them or taking down their business, and the fact that if I lost it I could actually kill her.

Jessie wasn't like Iggy, or like Fang or Max. She wouldn't be able to withstand any of my attacks, even if they weren't full force. She was a human, she was physically weak. My full force attacks severely injure the flock, let alone a human. I couldn't fight back, but I couldn't tell the flock what Jessie was doing.

It was another day of torment about two weeks after the time I had broken down. Lunchtime specifically - the time when Jessie always managed to get me when I was alone. I was heading to the bathroom on my own, while the others got food in the canteen and promised to catch up with me in a few moments. At the bottom of the stairwell that I was about to head up to, Jessie was walking down. A grin began spreading over her lips until the demonic smile had taken full form. She gave off white coat or eraser energy, the type of energy that made me shake.

"Hey, Abigail." Jessie stepped down the last step, two of the boys in her friend group following her like stray, hungry puppies. More friends she bought out, maybe? "What's that necklace? You wear it every day." She walked three steps towards me, and I took 3 steps back into a corner. Shit. I didn't mean to corner myself.

"It's... a present. I got it from James." I answer in the coolest tone I could. "When we were newly 15 and 16 ish. Around your age. Two years ago." I clenched my fists when she got too close, staring directly into the gem.

"Oh? How cute!" She said with fake enthusiasm. "It's so pretty - but it looks really cheap." She pouted, crossing her arms. "What if I took that old, fake thing off your hands and gave you enough money for a new, much prettier one?" She slowly reached her hand over to grab my necklace.

No.

Jessie gasped as I slapped her hand away. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to startle her. "Hey! I was just going to look!" She snapped. Her two boy lackeys stood around and jeered and cackled at me, while Jessie feigned her sweet innocent act. It was only a matter of time before she cracked and started being a rude brat.

"Please don't touch my stuff," I spoke politely. Jessie didn't take my request. She put her hands around my gem and tugged on it, the metal chain digging into the back of my neck. "It's so weak! I could just snap it right now. Why would you keep such a thing? Were you trying to make James feel special? Make him like you? I get you've got a massive crush on him, but he'll never love you. He loves me." Jessie grinned.

"Let go of my necklace." This time, it was a warning. But Jessie continued. She didn't take my warnings, and I could feel my instinctual fury begin to rise. Jessie spoke. "I mean, just look at you! You're a freak. How could he ever like someone like you? He probably only puts up with you because you're his childhood friend or whatever. And have you gained some weight? You're looking kind of... Chunky. Honestly, I don't think you deserve a present from him. I think James would much rather want me to have this necklace than you, don't you think?"