Running

A/N: For those of you wondering about the time period. The fight occurred right after school began So it's around September currently, Jaya is six as of right now.

*Song of the Day: Little Dark Age by MGMT*

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"How does it feel?"

Jaya snapped her head up at the sound. At those words, it became the only sound she heard. The yelling of the paramedics, the rumbles of the radio, and the busyness of the city all cut out.

She wiped the tears from her vision and looked around. Everyone was frozen. The paramedics attended to her father. Her father froze in an arch in the air. The rain sat still in the air.

Then Jaya noticed her. A breathtakingly beautiful woman beside her. Her skin was ebony, and a long braided ponytail fell down her back which was concealed by a stunning black dress, one similar to a mourning veil.

'Who is this?' Jaya thought.

"Answer girl." The woman spoke in a harsher tone. But there was a contradictory tone underneath her harsher one. As though there was a rock in her throat. Jaya knew the feeling. She had one in her throat as well. Jaya looked away from the woman and stared at her father.

"I… What do you mean?" Jaya pushed out. She wasn't crying. But it felt like a truck was crushing into her chest. She couldn't get enough breath in. She might as well have had an allergic reaction the way her throat could barely speak.

"Your father died. Because you were powerless to stop it. How does it feel knowing you didn't do anything to help him? To know that he was there to help you and died because of it? To know that you are the cause of this?" The woman spoke in a tense voice from beside her.

(Jaya 1st POV)

She was right. It was my fault.

I shouldn't have trusted Uncle Anthony.

It was my fault.

Dad died in my arms.

I could have done something.

I could have called a doctor sooner.

I could have dragged him to safety.

I could have stopped the fight.

I shouldn't have come.

Why did I come?

Why did I trust Anthony?

Why couldn't I have stayed at home?

Why was I powerless to help?

I opened my mouth to respond to the woman. But the words wouldn't come out. Just air. It felt like I had been screaming for years on end. My throat hurt. My eyes stung. It's my fault.

"It's my fault." I was able to croak out.

"Hm. So it is. What now after this? Just going home? Act like nothing happened?"

Oh god.

Home. Sally. Percy.

They are going to hate me.

Dad was Percy's dad as well.

I killed Dad.

I killed Percy's dad.

My eyes made contact with my father's dull eyes. They reflected my body as it just stood there. Looking on. Powerless to help. I put him there. I killed him.

Can I go home?

I want Aunt Sally.

She's going to hate you. You killed her friend.

I want Sally.

But I can't go home.

I can't face them after this.

This is my fault.

Before I could process what was going on my body was already moving into the darkness. I faintly heard the woman call out to me as I ran. But I didn't care anymore for anything she had to say. As I ran further away the rain began to splatter once more. The paramedics began to shout. Nobody called my name. Nobody would want to, not after what I had done.

I began to run into the pounding rain. I rounded a corner and ran into an alleyway and into the darkness.

I ran away from it all. I needed leave. Nobody should be around me. Not around a murderer.

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(10 months later, in August)

The sun beat down from its peak in the sky. People walked the busy streets, trying to get lunch and get back before their boss yelled at them. Within the bustling city, a single patch of green could be seen as though protesting against the encroachment of the concrete jungle that surrounded it.

In the midst of the greenery, trees stood tall and gnarled and looked at the people that passed underneath them. But that wasn't the only thing that looked at them as they passed by.

A small figure crouched on the branches looking down at the people below. The figure wore a dark oversized shirt that helped blend her into the shadows of the tree. Dirt covered her face, hiding any specific detail except for a pair of bright golden eyes that looked over the people below her.

(Jaya POV)

I looked directly at the hotdog stand that people were frequenting below me. I came here often as the owner would give me a hotdog after the lunch rush happened.

People tended to tell him to keep the change, or he would 'accidentally' overcharge which led him to have enough for a single hotdog for me.

Hopefully, he would have water today. It was hot and I was thirsty. I looked at the top of the tree where my clothes were in the trash bag that I had taken. It was good at waterproofing things and blending into the heavily obscured trees.

I had left my nice short-sleeve shirt in there and I was stuck with an XL ACDC shirt that made me look like I was wearing a coat. But to get to the shirt would be a fifteen-minute endeavor that I was too hungry for.

But I couldn't complain. At least I have extra clothes. I found out after a month that New York gets cold, fast. And one set of clothes just doesn't cut it. I needed more. Luckily, I found a thrift store that had a bag drop-off where you could lay off any old clothes you didn't need anymore.

I took one of the bags of clothes so I could stay warm. It had lots of shirts like the ACDC shirt. The person who dumped it off must have had a punk rock phase.

I felt really guilty at first, it was the first time I had ever stolen anything. But at that time I had been freezing for days and had been wearing the same shirt for three weeks. I needed it more than anyone else. It wasn't like the store was going to miss it.

But that was a long time ago. I now had several storage locations across the city where I had bags of clothes and some rations. And I didn't go hungry much. I knew which stores threw out the good food now.

I would have it all stored in one location for convenience but my storage locations would often get taken over by the homeless and occasionally a random devil.

The homeless were annoying to deal with, but I could get my stuff back after a few days. But the main problem with staying in one place was that after around a week and a half, the monsters would appear.

I called them devils to remind me that heaven didn't want me. It's my punishment to get chased by the devils. I deserve it. But at the same time, I don't want to die. I found that out after I had a close encounter.

The scars on my arm throbbed as I thought about it. My hideout was on the roof of a building that had a fire escape to the top. I had gotten up there when I thought I saw a homeless person sniffing around my things. It wasn't one.

It was the first time my stuff was ravaged, so I was super scared at the time. I quickly hid on the rooftop in some laundry, hoping they would just leave. But instead, the thing somehow noticed me and slowly got closer while sniffing loudly. I figured out after it pinned me to the ground that they found where you are by your smell.

I was always curious. What smelled about me? I smelled like the rest of the city. Like trash. Maybe it smelled my sins. I don't know.

Anyway, rather than hands pinning me down the homeless old lady had disheveled gray wings and sharp talons that dug into my arm.

It was as I was pinned down that I realized that I didn't want to die. I was able to shove her off and escape initially, but the monster just followed me like she knew where I was. I only escaped that day due to luck.

That's why I called them devils. Because they knew where you were, and no matter how many times I escaped them another would always find me. Only devils have that power.

I even killed a big black dog that spat flames a few months ago with a combination of an abandoned truck and an icy hill. But it didn't even die, it just got turned to ash. See what I mean? Devil.

Even after I killed one, they still kept coming. So that led me to my current situation. Moving around constantly. I had to maintain random movements as if I created a pattern the devils would find me once more.

I wasn't living ideally. But I had nowhere to go. After the first few months of crying every night, I realized that crying is just a waste of water. All it did was waste time and make you thirsty. Nobody is going to come and save me. I had to work for myself. Work to be stronger. Work to not be weak.

I still tried to do the training regimen my Dad and I used to do. Just some running, stretching, and some simple kicks and punches. I didn't know anything complex. But I got more flexible and agile, able to move my body how I wanted it.

My train of thought was broken as I looked down at the hotdog cart once again.

There it was. My chance. The never-ending flood of people that were approaching the hot dog stand had finally died off. I grabbed the vine rope that blended in with the tree and lowered myself to the ground carefully.

I made my way over to the hot dog stand using the bushes as cover. People usually gave me weird looks, so I stayed out of the way of people as much as possible. Which led to my current situation of just monologuing to myself. I had no one else to really talk to. So I was the next best choice.

As I approached the woodline by the hotdog stand I glanced at the line once more and froze. Something was wrong. I had learned to trust my gut while I was out here. It guided me to food and life. And right now it was telling me the last person in line was bad news bears.

It was the middle of summer, but the girl wore a cheerleading outfit for some middle school. But there was no school this time of year.

But what really threw me off was the fact that she wasn't really paying attention to the hot dog stand. She was just staring into the air, breathing the hot dog air as if it was delicious, then she looked at the tree that I was in a moment ago.

Wait.

Shoot.

That's sign number one that it's a devil disguised as a human. Let's look for sign two.

I looked for any form of payment on her. Yep. No pocket, no purse, no nothing. They didn't usually carry stuff on them.

It was time for me to get the heck out of dodge. I made sure not to step on any twigs while I crept away from the tree and the strange girl. I had learned the lesson of brittle branches the hard way when I was trying to not get noticed in the middle of the night.

I had a scar on the side of my thigh from that one. Apparently, they had a bow. Not sure what it was that shot me and I didn't stick around to find out.

I moved away into the darkness of the trees. I would have to leave the Park for a while. I had been here too long.

Where haven't I been lately? There were the warehouses by the docks which were nice because it was sheltered, but that's where I was last week. There was a few building I could stay on top of, but the heat of the summer deterred me. The best choice was an abandoned sewer tunnel to the north of here that I could enter. I didn't go into too much as it was scary.

No matter what you say, a long hallway (sewer) that is pitch dark is very scary. But it did serve as a good hideout against angry homeless people.

I made my way through the city walking towards the gate. I stuck to abandoned alleyways and shadowy places. Most people avoided them, which made it great for me.

Of course, there was the occasional crackhead, but one look at me told them I had no money for them. There was a creepy guy in an alley to the north who always looked at me weirdly, but I just avoided that alleyway.

As I turned the corner and saw the entrance to the sewer, I heard the noise of what sounded like a soda can clanking toward me at a fast pace. I quickly hid in a pile of garbage. After a few months on the streets, I fit in perfectly.

I glanced behind me, and oh boy. That's new. It was the cheerleader, but she had got rid of her human disguise. She had vibrant red eyes, flaming hair, and a… was that a donkey leg?

One of the more interesting-looking devils I had faced.

I just lowered my breath until I couldn't hear it. I could still hear my heart beating fast, but that was it. I heard the steps of metal getting closer to me as well as the sound of heavy breathing.

Luckily I knew from experience that trash did a good job of covering the smell of my sins.

Then I heard the thing stop right in front of the trash bags. I held my breath. Maybe it was my breath instead of my sins? It was hard to find a good toothbrush around here.

Remember. The trash bags conceal you. It can't find you.

Then the trash bag was ripped off me.

I stand corrected.

I dived sideways as I felt a tingle from above. That was also a new thing I found out. I had like this sixth sense that I called the tingle. It told me when I was going to be hit. Helped me dodge a lot of things. Like people, cars, pigeon poop, and most importantly, devils.

"Found you girlie." I heard the thing cackle behind me. "No matter where you go, you can't hi- Wait not in there-"

I didn't worry about what she was trying to monologue about. I just hopped into the sewer that had a weird blue triangle on the manhole cover and sprinted into the darkness.

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A/N: 2.5K words. Hope you enjoyed!