The Glow Stick Strikes Again
12 year old Clementine Potter caused quite a lot of mischief growing up in the local Orphanage of Nockly village, England. Wether it be unintentionally scaring away the younger children with her "magic tricks" or annoying the Matron by simply existing, she just couldn't seem to keep out of bother.
Matron wasn't a very nice woman, in fact, Clementine would go as far as to say she was evil. Clementine didn't know matrons real name, non of the children of the orphanage did. But what they did know, was that matron was a bad woman with an alcohol addiction. She'd often order Clementine or one of the other older children to fetch a bottle of whiskey from the basement storage.
Clementine hated the basement, not only was it where matron hid her alcohol stash, but it was also where she would send the children when they had misbehaved. Locking them in the damp, dark room for days at a time without so much as a slice of bread. Only remembering she had locked a child in there when she needed to get a new bottle of alcohol.
what most people didn't realize, was that young Clementine truly didn't mean to get into so much trouble. For as-long as the girl could remember, strange and unexplainable events seemed to happen all around her.
From water pipes bursting when she got sad (she received a bad beating and a two night stay in the basement for this), to random objects spontaneously combusting whenever she got angry. If she consentrated super hard, she could control it, making books fly over to her from their usual place on the shelf, or filling up an empty cup with water that seemed to come from no where. One thing she couldn't control though, Was the way her skin seemed to glow a beautifully haunting silver at nighttime. Some of the other children teased her, calling her a human glow stick or a walking-talking lamppost. She didn't mind though, she knew she was different, she always had.
But some of the kids' jokes weren't always so easy to brush off; sometimes they'd hit her, steal her few belongings, call her a freak. Oh how she hated that word. She would put up with almost everything, but not being called a freak.
So when the biggest bully of the orphanage, 14 year old jess Morton, pushed her to the floor and called her that terrible name infront of a group of their classmates in the school yard, something within the usually forgiving girl snapped.
Clementine sucked in a deep breath, and lifted her fallen head to look at her attacker. A crooked smile worked its way onto her tan, freckled skin as she stood back up from the floor, dusting her small hands on the front of her old and shabby blue jeans.
"Say that again" clementine dared.
"The freak talks" Morton chuckled, turning towards the other children as if looking for praise for her nasty ways.
"I did warn you" Clementine pointed out before lunging at the larger girl with a snarl.
The other children stood shocked at the sudden outburst of the usually quiet girl as she tore into the bully, sending left hooks and hair pulls as veraciously as her small, malnourished frame could give.
Morton cried and shrieked as she flailed around on the floor in attempt to get the feral mound of red hair and green eyes away from her, but not succeeding and the small girl somehow managed to overpower her.
She patted her hands around the floor in search for something to defend herself with, stopping every few seconds as Clementine threw another punch causing a wave of pain, when she found a large rock. Clasping her chubby hand around the jagged stone she swung her arm up and aimed for the smaller girls head, smashing her hand down only for the rock to not collide with her head, but with a ghostly white light that surrounded Clementine. She widened her eyes in shock, unconsciously loosening her grip on the rock in her hand, it falling and hitting her own head with a loud "crack!" Knocking her out cold.
Clementine stopped, just staring at the scene in front of her. She was straddling Morton, but not only was she unconscious, she was bleeding profusely from her head where the rock had hit her. Clementine didn't notice the various other less prominent wounds she had inflicted on the girls body, that were also bruising and oozing blood. She just stared at the girls head. Something about the forehead gash seemed familiar, like she had seen someone with one similar before. And the white blinding white light, it seemed to have... protected her. It was different to her usual glowing skin, it was like a force that shot from her body. She was sure she hadn't never done it before, so why did it seem so familiar?
"Miss Potter!" one of the teachers screeched as she rushed over, only just noticing the group of students surrounding the two girls who now lay unmoving on the floor.
Clementine was jolted out of her trance like state at the sound of her name being called, and looked up to see multiple now staff members barging their way through the huddle of students.
It only took a single glance at the adults faces for her to panic. They looked furious, and if one thing Clementine had learnt from living in the orphanage for 12 years, it was that angry adults was something that should be avoided at all costs.
So, she did what seemed to be the best and only option.
She ran.
Unedited