Radioactive: The Mystery Avenger

1~ Forgotten Days

4 YEARS LATER:

May 22, 1998

*Jodie's P.O.V*

Playing soccer with a bunch of boys... Not quite how I had imagined spending my 12th birthday, but at an orphanage there is not a lot you can do.

That night when I left Iowa, I hitched a ride in a mobile home to New York. I still have the duffel bag with me, along with my toy dog, the photos and the key. I wear that on a chain around my neck, and on a separate chain is my mother's necklace - the same one she'd given me for my 8th birthday.

The head of Morningside Orphanage, a lovely woman named Ms. O'Dell, had happily taken me in when I had appeared on the doorstep, cold and hungry, that night 4 years ago. As far as she knew I was a lonely kid, a girl abandoned by her family, by the name of Jay. Of course, I was teased and outcast by nearly every kid at Morningside when I first arrived, but after I saved one of the boys from a fight at school, they grew to like me. The boys let me join in their games, hang out with them. I became one of them, walking around in shorts and t-shirts covered in mud with either bare feet or sneakers that were falling apart from the constant use.

One boy in particular, who is only two years older than me with sea green eyes and dirty blonde hair named Caleb, I have especially grown to be good friends with. Although our rooms are at opposite ends of the hall, we are seen nearly everywhere together. Caleb was like my big brother when I first arrived. The few other girls at Morningside laughed at my haircut and treated me like dirt no matter what I did. Caleb walked in on them beating me up once, as much as I had tried to defend myself. Since then the girls haven't bothered me, but I do get the odd look of pure dislike. Especially from one girl, Maria, who I learned was Caleb's older sister.

I've managed to stay clear of Maria, and thankfully she's only got three more years here until she can leave. Somehow I doubt she'll take Caleb with her.

So here I am, 4 years after I ran away. It's my 12th birthday, and just like the birthday of any kid at Morningside, there's not many people around to care. Even with the others at Morningside 'celebrating' with you, it's nothing compared to the few birthdays I celebrated with my family. Then again, I haven't really cared about my birthday since that night in Wisconsin. I'm glad it only happens once a year.

I haven't told anyone about my past, not even my closest friends like Caleb. I don't want to bring that sort of trouble down on Ms. O'Dell's shoulders; it had made breaking news all over the country that the main suspect in the murder of the Roberts' family and a house burglar had disappeared... And guess who that suspect was.

Within a year of my arrival at Morningside, the chief of police had turned up on the doorstep with a photo of a girl - it was me, or how I apparently would look like now. I honestly wasn't that surprised; I had known eventually they'd come knocking around on doors - but almost halfway across the country?

He had shown the photo to Ms. O'Dell, and she had mumbled something about the girl in the photo looking familiar, but then she had frowned and said, "My eyes must be playing up, but I thought for a moment that was Jay."

The chief of police had asked about this "Jay" kid, and Ms. O'Dell had pointed me out to him, playing soccer with the boys, my clothes stained with mud and my hair returned to its original brown-blonde color. She had explained to him that my family had abandoned me, and left me to fend for myself on the streets. It was then I noticed he had CSI Banks with him, and my curiosity sparked, as well as a touch of fear. Ms. O'Dell pointed me out to them, and for the first time in a year, CSI Banks and I made eye contact. Again, there was that familiar look of curiosity and kindness in his brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and for a moment I wondered if he knew it was me. I was so glad I had taken off my mother's necklace earlier, else he probably would've recognized it almost immediately. I had grown my hair out to way past shoulder length, and had tied it up in a side plait that morning. In the photo, the girl had short hair that went above the ear, meaning they still thought I had kept my hair short.

I don't know what I had expected. For CSI Banks to declare that I was the one they were looking for and drag me away in handcuffs back to Wisconsin? Nah, I wouldn't have let that happen anyway. Still, I had tried to keep my gaze as innocent and curious as possible, though I don't know how well that turned out.

At that moment, Caleb had tapped me on the shoulder, and our eye contact broke. The chief of police hasn't been back since - except to deliver one or two kids back here after being caught for theft, or being caught out after curfew - and neither has CSI Banks. I mean, he arrived here all the way from Wisconsin... What is he doing? Checking out all the orphanages in the country? That would take him ages, not to mention that he could be looking in the wrong place.

So, back to the present. My 12th birthday... and I don't even care.

__________________________________

It's night, and I'm sitting awake in the room that I share with two other girls, Yvonne and Eleanor. They are both fast asleep, and I'm sitting on my bed by the window in the corner, staring up at the moon. All I can think of is how different my life could've been if I had managed to hold my anger in...

I clenched my fingers around my mother's necklace and forced myself to calm down. The last thing I want to do was blow up the orphanage when I haven't had an incident for 4 years - unless you count the one small incident while I had been on the run. But anyway, I don't want to break that streak.

Over the last 4 years I've thought about going back to find my brother, but every time I think of some clever scheme to get to him, I realize that would put both of us in danger for many reasons. I have faith that Alvin raised him well, and hopefully he has forgotten about me and managed to move on - I hope he asks Lisa out, because they are really close. It would be a comforting thought to me that he's managed to move on from the secretive chaos we once called life.

Although, my life is still a secretive chaos now. I'm very secretive, a lot of my questions are still unanswered, and I haven't even thought about where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do once I'm old enough to leave the orphanage, because I doubt I'll be sent to a foster home or someone will want to adopt me anytime soon. I'll probably stay as far out of the way as possible, maybe stay on the run.

The lyrics I sang to myself the night I left came to my mind, and I smiled to myself as I climbed into bed and turned over. Now that I think about it, Jean Valjean and I are very much alike. Both fugitives on the run, we created a new face and a new life for ourselves. But for him, his past came rushing back to meet him one day.

I can only hope the same won't happen to me