Selina Kyle | The Beginning

9

Jonathan looked at the alleyway Selina had brought him to. A place where the streetlights were broken and the only light came from through the clouds or from the windows and doors of the brick buildings on either side of the street. The area was dirty and dangerous, like most of Gotham, but this part of Gotham was particularly scary. They were two men standing at the end of the street who kept glaring all around and were obviously dealing drugs. Not a street sign insight for Jonathan to identify exactly where they were. Just the sight of it all made him sick to his stomach. He prayed that this wouldn't be her street but when Selina came to a stop in front of a gross apartment building he felt his heart sink.

She turned to him and with a worried look on her face but covered it up with a smile, “We're almost there.” She said while walking backwards.

“Oh good. And you should turn around the ground is wet-you could fall.” Jonathan couldn't hide his nerves and Selina giggled.

“You're not freaking out already are you?” She teased still walking backwards.

“Look ou-!” Selina was just about to backwards walk into a metal mailbox only a foot shorter than herself but before Jonathan could finish his warning she swiftly stepped to the left and continued on with her backwards walk Quick and graceful, Jonathan thought, like a cat.

“I know these streets backwards and forwards kid, trust me.” Selina flashed a smile and then turned herself forward so that her back was once again facing Jonathan. She walked confidently with him following behind. He tried not to stare at her in fear that she might turn around and find him checking he out.

On the inside Selina was worried about showing Jonathan where she lived, her “hideout”. He was afraid to even walk down the street and she could tell the deeper into the street the walked the more anxiety built up inside him. On the outside, Selina seemed ready to take on an army of twenty men on her own with nothing but her bare hands. Finally, after what felt like ten hours of walking on both parts but was really only thirty minutes, was over. Selina stopped in front of a large cardboard box that was once used to hold a shipment of jam jars. Jonathan felt his heartbreak- She can't be homeless...can she? Selina had told him she couldn't go to school due to expenses but he didn't think she was living in a box.

She squatted down on all four and crawled inside, “What you waiting for? C'mon in!” She yelled trying to hide the pain and embarrassment her heart felt right now. Feeling queasy, Jonathan opened the folds to the box and crawled in, but to his surprise the box was empty. He crawled a little further to the back of the box where a heavy sewer cover lay pushed to the side, revealing a perfectly cut circle in the box, which left an entrance to the sewer. Jonathan was in shock, the drop down looked about ten feet. Selina suddenly ran insight and called, “C'mon on down I'll catch you!”.

“No way!”

“No really!” She put her arms out, “I'll steady you just come down feet first and drop down when you're ready!” Her voice echoed off the walls of sewer. He looked down at her smiling face and began to sweat. “Al-alright.” He dropped his legs down and but held himself up. He could feel her grab his legs and began to blush and thanked God she couldn't see his face. But he then thought about how stupid he looked with just his legs dangling and decided to drop down. Like she said she would, Selina caught him as he fell and he now faced her. She was holding him up with all her strength with her arms around his waist and they laughed as she gently put him down.

“See? That wasn't so bad now was it?” She giggled. And they both laughed standing on the damp sewer ground. As their laughter died down Jonathan got his first look at what life was like for Selina. She had it much worse than he had expected. He thought she had a life similar to his own, living in a broken home with a broken family, but now he realized, her life needed more healing than expected. This part of the sewer was cut off from the rest through metal bars on each side, but the space was as large as a wide bedroom. The floor was damp but not flooding with sewage like he expected when he was looking down at the space. He could see on the other side of the bars that sewage wasn't flowing in this direction and wondered why the city didn't used this part. Selina could tell by the look on his face that he was trying to take it all in and with a sigh and a saddened voice she explained, “The city started construction on this part of the city years ago and never had enough money to finish. So I don't get sewage running through here, but I obviously get the smell.” She rolled her eyes, “It only gets wet from the rain on this side of the place, but over there,” She pointed to the upper left corner of the stone where many newspapers were spread out and a few blankets were piled up, “I get to sleep dry.” There were cats roaming around as they spoke, meowing. Jonathan counted four but every time he turned there seemed to be one more walking around. Three stood at Selina's feet looking up at her as she sadly stared at what she had. She didn't dare look at Jonathan as the tears formed in her eyes. She hadn't let them fall yet but she seemed to be searching for the right words to say to him next on the walls of the sewer.