"Nice gun," she said, smiling back at the man in front of her.
"I'm going to shoot you now," he plainly announced, unclasping the safety lock.
When you have superpowers you don't necessarily become a superhero. At least, even with all her capabiliti...
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January 1st, two years ago – Woodland Hills Juvenile Detention Center – Denver, Colorado
Today was not a good day.
Jungkook, his plastic food tray in hand, slowly shuffled through the cafeteria, his eyes grazing the familiar plain grey walls, the tables nailed to the floor and the few inmates already seated, their ugly orange jumpsuits contrasting with the monochrome theme of the room.
It was the beginning of a new year, which meant everyone was sad and depressed.
Being locked up in a cell at only 18 years old was bad enough, being locked up in a cell at 18 on New Year's Day was worse.
Jungkook sighed, thinking about a time so ancient it was almost forgotten, when the new year was a synonym of new beginnings, lots of food and a family to come home to.
Here, there were no second chances, no starting over, only ruminating about the past and how, so early in life, he had already managed to fuck things up. His New Year's resolution was just to try to stay sane in the middle of all of this.
The boy slowly blinked and his mind returned to his blue food tray, his tiny portion of chicken and his over-cooked broccoli. He quickly walked to the furthest table to the left and he sat there, careful not to make eye contact with anyone.
They were all thieves, murderers and rapists here, so keeping his head down was a necessity to stay alive. With another sigh, Jungkook tried to cut his chicken with his plastic fork. Of course, they didn't have any knives around; they wouldn't even let the inmates have metal utensils, afraid that the boys would use them to stab each other. So here he was, stuck to struggle with his piece of chicken with a pitiful excuse for silverware.
Suddenly, someone sat right in front of the boy who immediately shot his head up in surprise.
Nobody ever sat with him.
He immediately opened his mouth in shock when he realized who was in front of him.
She was floating in her red jumpsuit, her bony, thin figure clearly too small for the detention center uniform. With her bushy raven hair contrasting her sickly pale skin that was covered in tiny freckles, she looked more like little red riding hood than an inmate.
Jungkook recognized her full lips, chiseled nose, high cheekbones and those eyes... This girl had unusually wide eyes covered in thick eyelashes. However, the detail he noticed first was the colour of her irises; a pale grey-green, almost the shade of the sky after a heavy rain, and strangely enough one was a little paler than the other, giving her an almost comical appearance.
He had seen her before. Since the first time he had observed her, playing basketball in the courtyard with the other girls, his gaze had kept coming back to her thin figure whenever the girl inmates were around, which wasn't often. The girls were always separated from the boys. That's why Jungkook was so surprised to see her in the middle of the boy's cafeteria, sitting right in front of him like all was right in the world. Even more surprising, the guards and other staff members didn't react at all to her obvious trespass. It was almost like she was invisible to the rest of them.
"Hello," she suddenly said, tilting her head to the side.
Jungkook thought she looked like a sick child and certainly not like someone who would commit a crime. However, the colour of her jumpsuit indicated that she was a high-security convict, and detainees in this category were generally first-degree murderers and dangerous gang members.
No way this girl killed anybody, he thought.
To him, she looked more like she belonged in a hospital for malnutrition rather than in a prison.
"You're right," she said, staring at him with her wide curious eyes, "I didn't kill anyone. They just put me in juvie so I would make friends... and if you think I'm skinny... it's not my fault, it's because of all the meds they give me."
Jungook's eyes widened to the size of two plates and his jaw dropped to the floor.
Did she just read my mind?
The girl smirked, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
"I've seen your drawings," she exclaimed, "in the art room... you're Jungkook, right?"
The boy nodded mechanically, lips parted. He suddenly remembered a detail that made his cheeks become a bright shade of red. If she had seen his drawings, that meant she had seen the illustration he had drawn of her.
Again, just like the girl could read his thoughts, she took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. Unfolding it slowly, like it was something precious, she revealed Jungkook's drawing.
The etching wasn't a work of art, it wasn't his best work, but it was undeniably well-done. The girl was drawn sitting on the roof of the juvie building, legs crossed in front of her with a leaky sun like an egg yolk shining on her raven hair. She was smiling, her odd-coloured eyes looking down at the courtyard beneath her.
"Do you want to be my friend?" she asked unexpectedly.
Jungkook gazed back at her and he finally remembered he could speak.
"Yeah... sure..."
"Do you want to escape with me?" she inquired, a wicked smile stretching her lips.
The boy thought for a second. This girl didn't make any sense. She was probably crazy, just like half of his cell mates. However, there was a curious glimmer in her uneven eyes telling him there was more to the story.
"Alright..." he simply stated, shrugging.
She beamed back at him, clapping her hands.
"Good," she announced, and then stood up from her chair, ready to leave.
"Wait..." suddenly called Jungkook.
The girl stopped in her tracks, standing in front of him with her hands in her pockets.
"I can't leave," revealed the boy, "I have a little brother... I can't abandon him."
She shrugged, wide smirk not leaving her face.
"He can come with us."
After that she turned around and resumed to walk away.
"Wait!" called Jungkook again, this time standing up as well, "What's your name?"
She sent him another wicked grin.
"I'm Hannah."
"Miss! What are you doing here?!" someone cried out to their left.
One of the staff members had finally noticed that a top-security female inmate was standing in the middle of the boy's cafeteria. The woman quickly grabbed Hannah by the wrist, pulling her towards the exit with a distraught expression. The boys who were sitting around, noticing what was happening, started to scream, shouting very inappropriate comments at the poor girl.
However, she smiled the whole way out, completely oblivious to the rumpus she was causing, her black hair bouncing at every step. Jungkook's gazed followed her outside the cafeteria, still puzzled about what had just happened. He was hoping she would turn around to look at him one last time, but she didn't, staring straight in front of her with her chin held high, beaming at the empty space. She didn't even seem to hear the distasteful comments that were thrown her way.
The truth is that Hannah could hear everything but didn't care for a second. She had made a friend, finally, and she was ready to put the second part of her plan in motion; escaping this horrid place to get a taste of freedom for the first time in her life.
