...a small apartment in a bustling city... Deling City... Traffic sounds invade the silence of a dead room as a young woman with short silver hair and a cast on her left arm deftly packs a small bag. Her beauty is marred with experience and an unnatural coldness. She looks to a clock with emotionless eyes and then finishes her packing. A slam of the apartment's front door is heard as she closes the lid and zippers it closed.
clomp clomp clomp clomp--bedroom door crashes open.
She looks up with an unmoved gaze.
"What the hell? Where do you think you're going, you little slut!"
She picks up the bag and steps toward the exit blocked by the huge frame. "AWAY."
"Like hell you are!" He grabs hold of her arm and shakes her. She stares up at him with dead eyes. "You don't go nowhere until I give the word, you ungrateful bitch!"
"NO."
He cuffs her hard across the face, sending her backwards. She trips over the tattered carpet and turns, falling into the old desk to the left of her bed. "Don't you say no to me, girl! I'll whip you within an inch of your life!"
He strides forward as she struggles to her feet, grabbing her by the arm to lift her the remaining way. Blood gushes from her left eye. He cringes in disgust and pushes her away. She falls back, smacking her head into the desk and tumbling to the floor.
"Get away from her!"
The man turns sharply to see a towering form filling the doorway. A blond haired young man dressed in a military-type uniform of dark blue strides forward and grabs him by the shirtfront, lifting him several inches from the ground. Rage and revenge flash in the young man's dark eyes.
"You bastard," the young man hisses. "I'm gonna kill you, you sack of shit."
The young man punches the father in the face to the sound of cracking bones. Blood splatters the young man's clothes and the floor at his feet. The father groans in pain and goes limp. The young man tosses him hard to the left, sending him into the far wall with a loud crash and crunch. The father slumps to the ground.
"Ahndra!" The young man strides forward, gently holding the young woman by the upper arms and pulling her up from the floor. Blood continues to ooze from her left eye and her head falls limply back. "Ahndra." The young man lifts her up into his arms and strides from the bedroom.
*
I gave a choked cry and sat up. The throbbing had worsened, so I carefully removed my patch to gently massage the scarred area just beneath it. 'It's been five damn years.' I released a deep breath and closed my eye, not noticing the tear that wet the trousers of my SeeD uniform.