Class was over.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeTwoToi1d
The teacher turned and left right away, as if she couldn’t stand being in the classroom for even one more second.
Jason—well, to be exact, little nine-year-old Jason Todd—watched the noisy classroom with a cool, steady gaze.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qj40rjjAy
It was a public school deep in the slums.
Most of the furniture was chipped or broken.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlT61pScO0
The chair Jason sat on had one leg propped up with a wooden block.
The classroom was loud, Jason thought.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXk9QlHNGZT
The skinny boy stood up and slowly walked out.
He was worrying about dinner.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5XEX3G3iq
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl still sitting at her desk.
That girl… what was her name again?440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhimiWz49E
Nana, maybe.
She was looking at… a book.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZaARzsyr6
Well, calling it a “book” was generous—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZy0WxVH1l
it was more like a stack of torn-up pages.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOe0Vt2xKnJ
Someone probably ripped it on purpose.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi03pj7tlmy
Bullying happened all the time around here.
The girl picked up the torn sheets, put them back together, and kept on reading.
Jason thought, It’s not a puzzle.
But then again, that kind of bullying was normal.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTlHfvvIP8
Especially for her.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvapK1TkB7
She came from Gotham’s poorest orphanage.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQV4eAUb4i
On top of that, she was mute.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhypHBWNLk1
That was pretty much rock bottom.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTHYSxEkh3
Made having a drunk for a father seem… not so bad, Jason thought, a little bitterly.
He leaned against the doorway and glanced at her again.
She turned the patched-up pages so gently, like she was afraid of hurting something.
He didn’t say anything.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gEMDrcjnd
Didn’t plan to help either.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVjht50uGJ
He just paused there for a moment.
It was Sunday.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTefnESiNm
Todd ran to the church to get the little bread they gave out after morning service.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2j8No0vJZ
The line was long.
While waiting, he was thinking about the bread—how he’d eat it first,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmswLC62a1k
then go dig through trash bins for old newspapers,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjv3oM9uN3B
see if there was any news about Robin or Batman.
Jason was lost in thought when he saw the girl in front of him.
Nana was standing there quietly.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycHlFBt6CY
No one could tell what she was thinking.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7O72WMFyX
In her hands was a book.
Jason squinted.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEskhUE41i
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
He’d already read that one.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUmNE43Btp
Actually, Jason liked reading.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdEzUoAZeM
He went to the slum library pretty often.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jdEBjPwmO
Even though there weren’t many books,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Odhco1Ne4
quiet things like reading made it easier to ignore how hungry you were.
Jason got his bread.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtVUwOrBDY
As soon as he turned, he stuffed it into his mouth.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe19UhT7X7c
He was starving.
He turned to the right and started walking—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOYhxzdcuH
then saw the girl again.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJn1ZPxJg8
She was spacing out.
Why is she always spacing out? Looks kind of dumb, he thought.
He walked past her and kept going toward his next stop.
The farther he got from her,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIc6CT5jsr9
the slower his steps became.
Robin came to mind.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MhWCt9BUb
That teen hero who always fought crime beside Batman.
Jason turned around.
He walked back toward the girl,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwNiWbXSnA
who was still staring off into nothing.
He stopped in front of her.
“Hey,” he said.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaxyFuFsuw
“Who’s your favorite character in that book?”
The girl looked up, a little startled.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmZYKRfrfe
Then she looked down at the book in her hands—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyyNSSy0k0
patched up with layers of tape.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4VRBX4od7
She didn’t answer.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNrICWu0hg
Just blinked, like she was thinking.
Jason waited for a bit, then clicked his tongue and took another bite of bread.
“I like Huckleberry Finn the most,” he mumbled through his chewing.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQgJCmacS8
“But honestly, they’re all kinda dumb.”
The corners of her lips moved slightly.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjh3wLvoOI
It was hard to tell if it was a smile or just a breath.
The wind was a little cold.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9t96VPWOHS
Sunlight slanted across the torn corner of her page.
Jason kept chewing his bread,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡun0h4rCJJW
pretending he wasn’t waiting for her to say anything.
The girl watched the boy finish his bread.
Jason rolled his eyes inside.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwK7oRnAPOx
What am I even doing, he thought. It’s not like a mute girl can reply.
He looked down and licked the bread crumbs off his fingers.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAYs4shtGi
That was his first meal of the day—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYeTsZHept
and probably the last.
The calories burned off fast.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq4ojy8mFA
Even the brief feeling of fullness wasn’t planning to stay.
He was going to leave.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TPz4z8hVq
Turn around.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTW9DLdcKUH
Go back to his world—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2aQhNTlMK
trash piles, torn newspapers,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWwXDje7YR
and that faraway, unreachable Bat-Signal.
But just as Jason was wondering what to do about dinner,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveBiQEH4ck
the girl took a piece of bread from her pocket and held it out to him.
Jason froze.
It was untouched.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUizRwsqsB
A whole piece of bread, wrapped in a napkin,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRbhzQUjQ0
carefully hidden in her pocket—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTRDcYAbAH
now being offered to him without hesitation.
Her fingers were a little red and swollen,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRNoWKoVy6
maybe from the cold,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQcoRXJguE
maybe just from standing too long.
“…You’re not hungry?” Jason asked,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEVG23ufXF
his tone suspicious,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZuYTTBRlR
instinctively guarded.
The girl shook her head and kept offering the bread.
Her movements weren’t fast,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6b58CeKxv
but they weren’t hesitant either.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGs7Lu9sOG
It felt like she’d decided this from the start—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1q8LQIb2H
just waiting for the right moment.
Jason’s blue eyes looked at her face,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf27VTYUBrc
his mind calculating.
Alright, he thought. If she’s giving me food,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatrhYer24f
I’ll show her around as a thank-you.
Maybe she didn’t even know where that was.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MwF23HA1l
Maybe she’d never been down the road to the right side of the junkyard—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSv4SkHjSJx
where there were mountains of scrap metal,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SmAVmNn3F
piles of old newspapers,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjz32zhK6Q6
expired magazines,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54IaKjObAp
and sometimes even a radio that still worked.
Jason reached out his hand,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6krOAnB4y
his palm pale from the cold wind.
“My name’s Jason. Jason Todd.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpK7xJ8By46
Wanna come with me to the right-side junkyard?”
The girl hesitated too, just for a second.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XAFVhAOMv
Her eyes widened slightly.
And in that moment,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYyo8JSyqd
Jason saw her eyes clearly for the first time.
Amber.
Clear and quiet.
He stared.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SQJedJjss
And then—just for a second—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLULga1y33u
it felt like something lit up inside them.
Not obvious.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcagKHaUQ2
Not bright.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KO7ZRENVB
But like something had… woken up.
He saw his own reflection in them,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLUCveZVxv
carried by the warmth within.
Like in Pinocchio,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5cV1s8YMN
when the puppet turned into a boy.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULMkZI5vr5
When a lifeless stone began to shine,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdk3ZNWIus
sparkling with color,440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQ1uKUxi4w
marveling at the arrival of life.
440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkzhEDnRbi
and then Add to home screen.