Destia Jayden February 21st,20XX

“I’d say it was a pleasure to meet you again, captain, but it hardly seems like a suitable greeting.”

“Considering we met a few hours ago, no, it doesn’t.”

I could hardly believe my eyes as I saw Joyce Knightly casually trade jokes with the captain of the station over a cup of coffee. My wrists hurt from where the handcuffs scraped the skin, but the pain was negligible compared to the shock I felt.

The cops that had seemed so aggressive on the scene of the fight now nearly broke their backs in their enthusiasm to please Ms. Knightly.

“Thank you for keeping my ward safe after those terrible thugs tried to harm her and that poor child.”

It was amazing.

The way she effortlessly spun the truth into what she wanted and how the police officers, despite having been present on the scene, nodded in agreement and even spoke up to support her new reality.

“No problem at all Ms. Knightly!”

That was the one that had tackled me to the ground before asking questions. I couldn’t be angry though, as the scene had looked more than incriminating enough.

“Once we heard the report that there was violence in the area, we rushed right over!”

That was the one that had hung around the back of the group as their colleagues had worked together to handcuff me on the ground. The chief took Joyce’s offered handshake and smiled brightly.

“I’ll make sure you can get her out as soon as possible! We must do a quick questioning, but it’s obvious that those thugs were up to no good. We’ll handle them well.”

Joyce put on a soft smile, but her eyes remained cold as she calmly took in one more sip of coffee.

“Let them volunteer for a few months and get on the right track. You don’t have to be so hard on kids.”

“Ahh…. Of course! Of course! The 25th precinct is a friend to the people and children!”

She set the empty cup down and brushed herself off from the invisible dust. The station looked pretty clean to me, but it must not have been up to par for a person as wealthy as her.

I had only seen her with a kind smile before, or a professional but determined expression. Seeing her look around the room and at me with an expression of disdain and slight repulsion made me scared. I wasn’t even sure what I feared, but once my heart started beating, it escalated until I could hear my sloshing pulse in my ears.

“That sounds like a lovely slogan for your next campaign, sir. Put it into the proposal and I’ll make sure Kingdom looks at it. Miss Jayden.”

She suddenly called my name and her dark eyes bore into mine.

I sat up in my seat and tried my best to fix up my clothing. Mud and blood stained the light pink fabric of my sweater and made me self-conscious. I tried to twist my torso to hide the most obvious splotches, but it was pointless, they were everywhere. There was also no way to take it off, with the handcuffs still on my wrists.

“Yes!... Ms. Knightly?”

Her eyebrows creased at my panicked tone, and she motioned for me to calm down. Her voice was still as dry and hard to hear as before, but I supposed it was a good thing that she was talking to me at all.

“I’m going to process your release… Please stay still and be patient.”

I couldn’t say much as she briskly walked out of the room and left me alone with my thoughts.

Today had been far from being a great day, but this very moment capped it off as one of the worst days of my life. It had started with my mother locking me in my room and trying to guilt-trip me out of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Then I’d stupidly gotten myself involved in a gang fight. I hadn’t gotten hurt much since I was moving too fast, but it had been difficult to control the force of my hits. I’d used a wooden stick as an instrument, but it had still drawn more blood than usual.

A ‘kind and concerned neighbour’ had called the police to the scene, so we’d all been ‘escorted’ to the station.

Since I was an adult, I didn’t need to have anyone called on my behalf, but a familiar-looking woman had identified me and called Joyce. What was more incredible was that she had come in person?

Honestly, if not for Raf, who had somehow missed the opportunity to run away while we fought, then there was no way I would have let myself get caught.

“Miss Jayden.”

The woman that had identified me at the station peeked her head through the door and offered a shallow smile.

“Ms. Knightly would like to speak to you. Is that okay?”

In the situation I was in, I didn’t think I had the right to give any other answer but ‘yes’.

The woman made sure she’d seen me nod properly before retreating behind the sill of the doorframe.

I waited for Joyce to come in, or for someone to come in and bring me to another location, instead I was abandoned to nothing but the discomfort of the icy floor and my loud heartbeat.

The first few minutes passed by on a metaphorical snail’s back and slowly ushered in the mark of a full hour that I’d waited on my own.

At first, it hadn’t been too bad, but after the clock marked half an hour that I’d spent isolated, I lost myself to my thoughts.

What if she retracted my acceptance to the Page program?

I’d already blown up so much at my mom, but maybe she was right.

A soft, depressed chuckle left my throat as I took a candid look at my current situation.

It wasn’t like I’d waited until the day I left my mother’s house as an independent adult before I landed myself in a police station on charges of aggravated assault and excessive self-defence.

Ah, maybe it would be best to just go with her to the south.

What was I thinking? That I was a hero? That I could do anything on my own? Half a year ago I wouldn’t even have been able to say a word to those thugs, why did I think now would be any different?

Because I’d gotten powers?

What difference did that make?

Underneath the super speed and invisibility, under the stupid mask I’d thrown on last minute, I was still just Destia Jayden. An idiot that couldn’t do anything right on her own, and an idiot that had lost an opportunity of a lifetime after ruining her relationship with her mother.

My thoughts kept swirling in my head, becoming more and more depressed by the minute.

The dark grew walls suffocated me, and my vision turned dark. My wrists hurt from the child-sized cuffs they’d strapped onto me, and the bottom of my feet was less than a few millimetres away from the cold, hard floor.

My stomach rumbled, and the hunger I’d fought off for so long finally roared so loud it couldn’t be ignored.

I’d used more energy than I should have, and both my shoes and my stomach were taking the hit. Trying to take on five large guys when I’d never even thrown a punch had been over-ambitious. And in the end, what did I get for it?

Raf had barely even thanked me before he’d been dragged off by his dad.

My stomach growled louder and louder until its sound echoed off the walls.

“Did I take that long?”

At some point, the eerily quiet door had swung open and Joyce knightly, the woman who held my entire future in my hands, looked at me with an expression I didn’t care to analyze. I figured I already knew what it said, but seeing it on her face would only make me lose the little hope I had left.

“Ms. Knightly. I- I know this isn’t the best way for us- this- I can explain!”

My words came out jumbled as I tried my best to explain that I wasn’t a thug and that this was my first time inside a police station, never mind behind bars. One thing I’d used to pride myself on was my speaking ability, but somehow it completely failed me today.

I gave up on trying to explain and just looked down to her feet. They were clad in expensive heels that must have been difficult to walk in, not that anyone could tell by the powerful stride she used as she walked.

“Please… Just give me another chance. Don’t take away the acceptance.”

My voice became smaller and smaller until I finished my desperate request, but I forced myself to say it. I didn’t dare hope that whatever had drawn her to me at school would be enough to make her look this over completely, but maybe she could just put me on probation instead of letting me go altogether.

“Before you get depressed, shouldn’t you hear what I have to say? Miss Destia Jayden.”

Hearing her address me directly by name was bittersweet. After all, who knew if it would ever happen again. She strode towards me in three powerful clicks of her heels and lifted my head by my chin until we were making eye contact.

“From the little I cared to hear, it looked like you only acted to save that little boy.”

She trailed off in the middle of her sentence and tightened her grip on my chin, securing the eye contact with more warmth than I deserved to receive from her.

“No matter what happens or who says otherwise, you saved that child. Even if he wouldn’t have died, who knows what sort of injuries he might have sustained? That’s nothing to repent for, and no one right would make you do so.”