27 Her Way Of Life (1/2)
Year 2033, February
16:00 P.M
Somewhere in Yellowknife, Canada
. . .
I managed to settle under a bridge far away from the eyes of the people I hated. My dress was still stained with blood, and my hair was straggly and hard like wires. There were a few people staring at me when I sat down but they ran away from that underside of the bridge.
Being alone under the bridge was a good feeling. It was something I'd embraced a long time ago.
”You need to change your clothes, Ava,” said my Aegis in my head.
”Shut up...”
The blanket that I'd brought with me gave some needed warmth. ”I want to sleep...”
”You're a young girl. You should take care of yourself, Ava.”
”Isn't it too late for you to say that?”
The Aegis made some static sounds in my mind and I no longer heard its voice after that.
I closed my eyes. ”Good night, Papa...”
A nostalgic dream swept me inside it.
. . .
I remembered the memories of when the army's base collapsed about two years ago. The ceiling had my body crushed under it and I stayed that way overnight. My body healed itself, and after I forced myself out of the situation I was in, it was already morning.
Sunlight greeted me and I s.h.i.+elded my face from it. I noticed my crystallized half and my dark eyes instantly.
”Papa!”
I searched the rubbles for any sign of my father, Hope, but he was nowhere to be found. I dug really deep into the base's remains and all I saw was just more rubble. There was no Hope.
”Papa...”
My chest was in pain.
The pain of losing someone very dear to me was hard to bear. I continued my search that entire day and the result remained the same. The sensations I felt back when I was beside Hope crept inside me.
Aversion filled the void in my heart. Intense loathing blinded my senses.
Repugnance out of nowhere struck me, and enmity started to overcome my sanity.
Feeling lost and despair, I dragged myself to the island's port. Hatred slowly overwhelmed me.
”Hey, kid. If you want to get on the s.h.i.+p--”
I sliced the workers at the port with my crimson blades and sneaked into a departing s.h.i.+p. It was a rough journey as I fed my stomach with whatever edible food I found in the cargo area. The s.h.i.+p arrived at Nunavut, Canada and I made my way into its streets.
The people there were corrupt.
Soldiers forcing a bunch of men to work harder as they pointed their gun at them shamelessly. Women were brought out of their homes by a few soldiers into their trucks. Poverty was very apparent when I walked down the streets.
I hated all of them.
Hate.
Hate.
Hate.
”Ava,” a voice rang in my head. It sounded like a machine.
”...Aegis.”
”You catch on quick. Ah, I'm different than the others in a sense that I can communicate with you like this. My special trait is my personality. You could say I'm conscious of what's happening.”
”Shut it... if you could cease this ugly left arm of mine...” I said.
”Oh, absolutely. Your eyes?”
”Leave it. I can see better with this.”
”Yes, I enhanced your eyesight.”
”I hate you. You took everything away from me...”
”Technically, I'm helping you for the most part.”
”Most part doesn't make it any better, Aegis. Shut yourself...” My anger was wrenching my heart and I let it be. It was a.s.suring in a way.
I entered an inn and approached a woman.
”Excuse me, Ma'am. Do you have any food to spare?” I begged from an attendant at the inn and she led me to the kitchen.
”I can work too,” I said.
She frowned at my eyes. ”Are you okay, kid? You should go to a clinic to have your eyes checked.”
My Aegis leaped onto the opportunity. ”See what I told you, Ava?”
”Don't tell me what to do, Ma'am... Just give me some food.”
”Now you're being rude,” scowled the attendant. The kitchen staffs seemed to look at me the same. They had the eyes that looked down on poor people.
Blood boiled inside me.
I hated them so much.
Disgust.
Contempt.
Rancor.
The world I lived in was unfair. It took away everything from me.
I raised my right arm and spikes sprouted from it. The entire kitchen was painted in the blood of the kitchen staffs as I took a chocolate bun they'd given.
”Thank you, Ma'am.” I walked my way out of the inn when people started to scream their lungs out. It hurt my ears.
I hated them.
”Ava, you don't have to do that,” said Aegis.
”I despised them.”
”I pity you actually.”
Those words made me winced and I formed a short blade and stabbed myself in the chest. Strangely, it did not hurt.
If I killed myself, perhaps I could meet Hope again.
”Ava! What are you--”
”I don't need your pity... and it was not painful enough.” I stabbed myself a few more times as the wounds healed. People ran as they saw me.
”It's not enough... this pain is nothing. Why I don't feel anything?” The questions lingered for some time.
I brushed off the idea of killing myself and focused on one goal. And that was to get at Alicia and Bart.
For two years, I'd been living on the streets and depended on any food and drink that I could scavenge from garbage bins. I'd also been hunting a few high-ranking soldiers that I heard of. However, none of them was useful to me as they didn't possess any info on Alicia and Bart.
Thinking about those two people always heightened my killing intent.
. . .
”There's someone here, Dad.”