Hero

Jesse
I brushed some hair back behind her ear while she slept, making faint snores. I could see the marks her father left on her. It was so cruel of him.

I always heard remarks from Jax about wanting to kill her father, even if I was across the courtyard at school.

“Chri…Christ, shut up, Jax,” she mumbled. I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing. She tried to bury a live goldfish. Well…he was alive once I got hold of him. Christ, huh?

And they call me strange. Whatever. “Jesse…” she coughed out of her dreams.

I glanced at the clock and climbed back out of her window. As I did, I reminded myself of my promise to her: to stop that man, her father, from hurting her, no matter what it takes.

I knew I’d be her hero, even if it was the last thing I did on this earth.

“Good morning,” I whispered softly and rolled my shoulders, as the sun rose, knowing my words sent to her woke her. I could hear the sharp intake of breath and her sigh at the drool stains on her pillow.

- - -

Her
“Oh…how embarrassing,” I sighed. I got out of bed and stumbled down the hall in my house, all the way to the fish tank. I pressed my nose to it to get a good look at Christ. I usually didn’t study them like this but all of the goldfish seemed to follow him with ginormous, curious, dark eyes.

I pondered finding a bible to pick out names for them, but gave up before I began. My father had burnt all bibles after mom died. And my school books. I had to sneak out to go to school and do chores for my neighbors to pay for the books. Now I hide my books. I hoped Christ had a fish bible on a rock or something. They looked so curious; they lived for discovery; they needed to read.

Because I had got distracted by the fish, breakfast wasn’t done when dad woke up. So he turned on the toaster, and forced my hand in it. I think he liked the smell of burning flesh and bibles. I screamed and tears soaked my cheeks, making them feel spongy. It was kinda obvious when I got to school too.

My friends know about my situation, so when Jax found out, he wasn’t happy about it.

“Hey! You can’t ignore me when he’s being a fucktard!” I ignored Jax yelling across the courtyard as Caddy and Lacta walked with me to the clinic. I was still sniffling and I my hand was uncontrollably convulsing. Passing a window, my reflection hooked me in and I stared at the pale girl with a black eye.

I pushed my nose against the glass, and closed my eyes and pretended to be a fish. The feeling was icy cold and scorching hot. Life was simple and I had ginormous, curious, dark eyes. And when I opened them, as a human, I stared the clinic nurse in the eyes, which always had that sympathy in them. My hand grazed the glass and I hissed in pain, pulling away hastily.

“You need to get away,” the nurse muttered as she applied ointment and wrapped my hand in gauze.

“Thanks,” I replied and before she could go on, I rushed out of there; my personal life was none of her business. Once I was outside, Caddy and Lacta comforted me with hugs for a while.

“Okay, guys, you can’t tell Jax this, promise?” I asked and leaned in close to meet their eyes, though I made constant glances over their shoulders at Jesse.

“Promise,” they chimed together. “Now tell us, what is it?” Jesse caught my eye and tilted his head with a question mark.

“Okay, so Christ– er, my goldfish was killed by Jax’s shoe, right?” They nodded. “Well… he lived. But Jax can’t know! It’s not okay for him to just kill something, whether it was on purpose or not, he had no remorse for the thing. So, just let him suffer.” The girls agreed, and Jesse, I noted, had also nodded. I bit my lip. What did he do to my fish?

- - -

Jesse
I will admit, it was my fault Jax tripped during lunch. No, it wasn’t me physically, but I just couldn’t help it. It was the same way I had made her father accidently staple his finger. They were both alike. Willing to hurt and kill without any guilt. That was the essence of a true psychopath.

I made sure to walk with her after school down the long stretch road we lived on, occasionally nipping at her hand so it could heal faster.

“So, how’s your goldfish?” I questioned, even though I knew the answer. I wasn’t quite sure why I brought up the topic anyways. Did I want her to know I was… different? Yes, inside, I wanted her to think of me as special.

“How?”