Chpt.4

Jinx sat on the other side of the door, trying to calm herself so she didn't feel so jittery. Having to sit still wasn't one of her favorite pastimes, so having to sit outside of an office was pretty boring to her. Especially when she didn't have much to do.

"Hey Jinx, what're you doing in the hall?" Dick inquired, walking by the door.

"Jai and Bruce are talking about adult stuff, so I have to wait out here." She frowned, a small pout forming on her lips. Jinx did understand that what was going on was important, but that still didn't stop her from getting bored.

"Well, while you wait, do you wanna play cards? I know I have a pack around here." Dick suggested and Jinx beamed up at the man in excitement.

"Sure."

The man left and quickly returned with a deck of cards, where the two then proceeded to play Go Fish.

"Got any threes?" Dick inquired and Jinx giggled.

"Go Fish."

"Aw man, I thought I had you that time." Dick laughed.

"Well… do you have any Kings?" Jinx inquired and it was Dick's turn to pout.

"Aw man."

Jinx liked Dick. She couldn't exactly put her finger on why, but he just gave off a friendly vibe that Jinx picked up on and enjoyed.

"Got any fives."

"Go Fish." Jinx giggled.

Yes, she enjoyed company like Dick.

Meanwhile, in the office, the mood was much more melancholy as Jai explained how she met Jinx. And for Jai, her memories went far back to when she was young.

"It's too expensive to send you to school, so you're going to spend the day over at Mr. Lewis' house. He'll teach you how to read and write. For free too. He's such a nice man." Jai's mother smiled as she threw on her jacket. "Meanwhile I'm going out to get a job. Go over to Mr. Lewis' alright?"

"Alright mom." Jai, ten years old, said as she watched her mom leave, and then got dressed herself. Her small fingers struggled with the buttons of the shirt, and when she looked in the mirror, she noticed how the buttons were misaligned. However, she figured that she looked fine enough to learn.

She had only met Mr. Lewis on several occasions. He seemed nice enough but… something about him. Jai couldn't really put her finger on it.

She went to his house where the tall man opened the door. His skin was pale and his clothes always seemed to hang off of his gangly frame.

"Jasmine, come in. come in." he smiled, letting the girl into his house. He then took notice of Jai's shirt.

"Let me help you with your shirt. Your buttons are misaligned." He informed and Jai let him run his fingers up and down her shirt, fixing the buttons while his eyes lingered on her torso.

"Mom said that you were gonna teach me how to read and write." Jai informed with a smile once the man had finished helping her button her shirt.

She really wanted to learn. She always had trouble, the words floating off the page every time she tried to read. She thought that maybe this time would be different.

"Yes of course. However, I was hoping we could play a little game first." Mr. Lewis smiled.

Jai didn't like the game. It hurt and made her cry and Mr. Lewis wasn't too nice during it.

Ever since then Jai would try to skip out on her "lessons" with Mr. Lewis, but some days her mother would make sure that she would go, saying an education was important. When Jai told her mother what Mr. Lewis was doing, she told Jai that that was just something that happened.

She even told Jai that that was how she made money for a while, back when her body was in prime shape.

Then when Jai was thirteen going on fourteen, she got pregnant.

"You're what?" her mother questioned.

"I'm pregnant. I told you that Mr. Lewis was doing inappropriate things to me." Jai stated and her mother rolled her eyes.

"Fine. we'll take you someplace so you can kill it and-"

"I don't want to kill it." Jai stated and her mother stared at her.

"What?"

"I said that I don't want to kill it. I want to raise it. The baby will be my responsibility." Jai informed and her mother glared at the girl.

"Do you know how expensive babies are? Do you know how expensive you are!? We can't afford a baby!"

"But I don't want to kill it! Maybe Mr. Lewis-"

"Mr. Lewis won't give a shit! Either kill it or I am not allowing you into this house anymore!" the woman screamed.

With tears in her eyes, Jai shouted,

"FINE!" With that, she slammed the door shut and moved on. She did go to Mr. Lewis to tell him the news, and just like her mother, he wanted her to kill the baby.

Jai stormed away. She hated Mr. Lewis for doing what he did. She hated her mother for not caring. But this thing… this life in her stomach. She cared for it. and if she loved it, it would love her. Love her better than her mother and Mr. Lewis. She would care for it and it would care for her.

She truly wanted that baby.

As the months dragged on and she worked odd jobs and squatted in buildings, she finally had to give birth to the baby.

She was in an acquaintance's house. The woman worked with her at one of the odd jobs Jai worked and offered her a place to stay while Jai was pregnant. The two weren't very good friends with differing ideals, but she was nice enough to let Jai give birth in the bathtub.

However, to Jai's heart wrenching discovery, it was a miscarriage.

Jai sobbed as she found a place to bury her child. She buried the baby in a shoe box in a nearby woods.

Due to the depression she was put into, she was out of a job and she stopped staying at the other woman's house. Jai just sat around in an ally, wanting to die.

One day it started to rain, and Jai noticed a little girl drenched in water from where she was staying in an abandoned building. The little girl was shivering from the cold and crying.

"Hey, little girl." Jai called and the girl looked up at her. "Come here. It's warmer and out of the rain."

The little girl apprehensively made her way to Jai and in that time, Jai had read her shadow.

"You have such a sad story." Jai whispered. She then took off her sweatshirt and handed it to the little girl.

"There, that should make you warmer." Jai smiled and the little girl started crying. However, she ran to Jai and buried her face into the older girl's shoulder.

"Shh, it's alright, Jinx, right?"

"Mhmm." The girl nodded, still crying.

"My name's Jai." She informed. She hated her name Jasmine just because she remembered all the time Mr. Lewis screamed it.

"You're really nice Jai." Jinx informed. "Really nice and… and warm." The girl sighed heavily, curling up closer to Jai and falling asleep.

Jai knew that it wasn't right, but looking down at Jinx, she thought about her baby.

As the days went on, Jinx stayed by Jai's side and they took care of one another. Jai went back out looking for work and making sure Jinx was alright while Jinx looked after Jai and would talk to her and hug her.

To Jai, Jinx was what she had wanted from her baby. She might have lost her child, but she found another one. One that she had cared deeply for.

"Hey, Jai?" Jinx questioned one day as they sat next to each other in an old warehouse they were staying at.

"Yeah, pup?"

"I love you." Jai smiled down at the girl.

"Love ya too, Jinx."

"So you met Jinx on the streets. Do you know where she got her abilities from?" Bruce inquired and Jai sighed heavily.

"No. I believe it's genetic and Jinx told me that she was on her own ever since she could remember. She spent a lot of her young years as a wolf, and people in the city would think she was a stray dog and feed her scraps and she would survive off of instinct. She'd morph into a human during different situations. She'd do it a lot if the dog catcher was nearby. However, she was also treated poorly as a wolf and would try to be a human more often. She wants to be completely human and hates her wolf tendencies. She doesn't know if she's a wolf who can turn human or a human who can turn wolf." Jai let out a long sigh, shaking her head. "Jinx worries a lot about this. I told her not to and that it didn't matter, but it matters a lot to her."

"I see." Bruce nodded. "Well, you and Jinx can stay here as long as you like until you can figure out what you want to do."

Jai stared at the man in shock. Her eyes then started to water, but she forced herself not to cry.

"Thank you so much, sir. You… have no idea how much this will mean to Jinx."

"It's not a problem, Jasmine."

"Please, call me Jai." Jai stated. She still didn't like hearing her given name, memories of Mr. Lewis still haunting her. Bruce seemed to pick up on this.

"Alright. I admire the care you have towards your sister, but while here, don't be afraid to let yourself be happy either." Bruce informed and Jai smiled.

"Thank you, sir."