I ran up the alley next to the orphanage. I knew it was way past curfew, so I picked up a small pebble and threw it at the window of my room. After about twenty seconds, the window was opened by the other girl who shared that room, Iyunae Hall, only a year older than myself. Her long, lavender hair fell over the edge of the windowsill as her dark purple eyes glared down at me.

"You, my one and only friend," she said, "are crazy!" I smiled and ran up and into the room. "Do you know what time it is? Holt's gonna be checking for lights out soon!" I nodded as I reached the top of the ladder.

"I know, I know," I said. "I may have gone a little farther than I thought." I quickly, and I mean quickly, changed out of my black T-shirt, blue jeans, and running shoes and into my one pair of pale blue pajamas.

"Well how far did you go?" Nae asked. "You couldn't have gone too far." I looked at her, trying to look as innocent as I could as I braided my hair. "Chris, tell me you didn't go farther than Paris." I smiled again and she sighed. "Where did you go?" I sat down on my top-bunk-bed with a plop.

"I may or may not have . . ." I took in a sharp breath. ". . . ranallthewaytoGenoa." Nae glared up at me.

"You did not just say you ran to Genoa," she said. I smiled before burying my head in a pillow. Nae sighed. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. Just get to sleep, or at least pretend to be, before Holt comes by." She flipped off the light switch and climbed into bed, leaving me to my thoughts. How far had I gone? I had run all the way to Genoa, 1,200 miles, in a little over an hour. That meant I was going at least 1,000 miles an hour! The speed of sound was only 767.269 miles an hour!

Man, I just impressed myself!

⇔

I woke up the next morning to a pillow being hurled at my face.

"Nae, what the-" I started to yell, but the look on Nae's face told me I needed to be silent for once in my life. If I strained, I could hear muffled yells coming from downstairs. I ran to the door and Nae followed as I slowly (for once) made my way down the stairs, making sure none of them creaked. I heard Holt yelling to someone from the kitchen on the other side of the wall.

"Do you have any idea what trouble you could've gotten me into?!?!" she yelled. I heard a sickening crack and a muffled cry. "You could've gotten me put in jail!!" Another crack, another cry. "Where would that leave you lot?!?!" Crack, cry. I peeked around the corner and held in a scream. There stood Holt, in all her glory, belt in hand, before a trembling Trina, one of the youngest girls in this home at only age eight. "You would all be out on the streets if not for me!!" Holt raised the belt again, but before she could bring it down on Trina, I broke. Before anyone knew it, I was there, standing in front of Holt with Trina on the ground off to the side, and the belt came down on my arm, leaving a sick, burning feeling. Thank god for metabolism, I thought.

"Get out of the way!" Holt yelled. I let out a deep breath and stood up to look her in the eye. I stood up to almost her height and barely had to look up.

"No." She glared at me.

"Do you know what she did?" she yelled. I shook my head.

"No," I repeated. "And I don't care! You need to stand down." She scoffed.

"Nice try, kid," she spat. "You don't stand a chance." She raised the belt again and brought it down, but not before I'd moved behind her and shoved her into the table. I stared at the floor, silently grinning as she stared up at me. "What?" she asked in disbelief. I looked over at her, smirking.

"Oh, trust me," I said. "I'm more than a kid." I grabbed Trina and Iyunae and ran them upstairs to my room, grabbing my backpack and toothbrush from the hall and bathroom on the way. As I let go of the two girls, they collapsed, Trina onto the floor and Iyunae onto her bed.

"What was that?" Iyunae asked. "You've couldn't even stand up for yourself against a boy your age who made fun of your braces in Groep 7! How did you stand up to Holt?!" I shrugged, quickly (but not using my speed) gathering what clothes I had and shoving them in my backpack.

"Get what you need," I told them. "I'm getting us out of here." I continued running around, grabbing the few things I had (not much) and grabbing a bag for each of them. Once I was done, I stopped in the middle of the room, looking between the seventeen-year-old and the eight-year-old.

"But Holt will find us," Trina said quietly. "We can't go." I shook my head, dropped my bag, and knelt down to look her in the eye.

"No, Trina," I said. "She won't. I can get you out of here. Anywhere you want." I smiled. "I can take you all the way to England." She smiled. "Would you like that? Would you like to go home?" She nodded, whereas Iyunae shook her head.

"No, Chris," she said. "We can't leave. What about the others here?" I shrugged.

"I don't know," I said. "I mean, she always took things out on us the most. She hated us with a burning passion." I stood up, not a hint of a smile on my face. "But I'm leaving. I have to get Trina out of here." I looked her in the eye. "Are you coming?" Nae looked at the floor, thinking, then back up at me.

"You two go," she said. "But I have to stay." She smirked. "Someone has to take your place as the guardian angel of these kids." I smiled and hugged her.

"I'll come back when I can," I said. "Make sure you're okay." She nodded, and I looked at Trina. "You ready?" She nodded, and I picked her up, holding her tightly. I looked at Iyunae. "Be careful." She nodded, and I looked back at Trina. "Hold on." I smiled at Iyunae one more time before running Trina as far away as I could.