Story
Pain… the only thing that lives inside me.
Like a burning ember in a dull wreckage, everlasting ever glowing. Every day I hate myself, I’m like torturer trying to torture himself.
Being a mercenary was the only thing I was good at. It gave me a sense of pride and made me forget about what happened that day…. (“You idiot”! “What have you done Squall!!”)
“ I…..”
(“You’re a failure” “you’ve…killed her)
“No! I didn’t….”. “Mean to?”.
I suddenly turned round and saw this little girl standing there staring at me with a ghost like face.
She spoke again. “You didn’t mean to kill her”.
I replied “who are you?” she looked down at the floor then stared up at me with a face so pale and so young that it was almost transparent. “I have no name” “I’m only a bad memory,” “Think deep inside you, and you’ll know who I am”.
“NO!” I suddenly remembered “ you can’t be … she died 20 years ago!”
Her eyes pierced my soul like a knife into my side. It was as if she was trying to search through my memory.
“Tell me what happened…. On that day” That warm summers day”.
Her voice faded and all of a sudden my surroundings became a blur and I felt myself being scanned and in an instant I was standing with the little girl in one of my darkest memories.
“Look around you Squall” “what do you see?”
I looked around and could see pieces of my life all around me.
A feeling of anger and confusion came over me and I replied
“what is this?” “why am I here?”.
“To see the truth Squall” She raised her ghostly hand towards the sky and then made a gesture of some sort.
Then a flash of dazzling white light shone over us and after a while I was standing in the middle of a field.
I looked around for the little girl but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Find the truth Squall” “find the truth”.
In front of me I could see two children running towards me laughing and singing with big smiles on their faces.
They ran past me as if I didn’t exist. Deep down inside me
something was telling me to follow them and after a while I was suddenly standing in front of a cliff face.
The children were nowhere to be seen. I looked up and I could see the two children I’ve been following.
They were playing at the top of the cliff. A faint voice said
“Joy” “the pleasure of children”
I spun round sharply to see the little girl standing behind me.
She spoke again. “But in an instant Joy can be turned into sorrow”.
She pointed her ghostly hand towards the top of the cliff with a stony stare in her eyes. “Look”.
I turned round and could hear familiar voices coming from the top of the cliff. “You idiot!” “what have you done Squall”.
I gasped as I saw a girl falling from the cliff top. “NO!” “HOLD ON!” I shouted. I raced to the cliff side my heart pounding like a steady drum beat. With all of my strength I dived forward to catch the girl….. but she just fell through me like a stone in a river and hit the rocky ground with a dull thud. My heart sank and tears welled up in my eyes as I realised who it was.
“You cant change the past Squall” “only the future”.
I couldn’t think my mind was in a state of rage and despair. “shut up!” my heart was burning with remorse and hate. I hated my self so much. “Why do you torture me?!” “In time you’ll understand” “in time you will find the truth”.
Chapter 2
The Job.
All of a sudden everything became a blur. I looked around for the little girl… but she was nowhere to be seen.
As I came to, my senses told me to head home or a place I called home, a shelter from my fear, my pain. I wandered around the dark and dank streets of downtown. Only crime, murder and drugs thrived in these parts.
I came to my front, pale rusty door on which I would enter.
Inside here was where I’d spent most of my life alone and afraid. My only companions were my gunblade my 9mm automatics my various other weapons and my bad memories. It was like living inside a giant toolbox of destructive toys. I opened the door and went in.
I locked the door behind me and made my way to the back entrance.
I paused for a moment trying to make sense of what just happened. What was that girl trying to tell me? Why did she show me my past and why was she saying ‘find the truth’.
All of a sudden I heard a noise it was so faint yet so loud. I turned round and drew my gunblade from my holster and made my way cautiously forward towards the middle of the room.
Darkness seemed to creep into every corner of the room like a thief in the night. The noise seemed to come from one place although it wasn’t the most likely place for someone to hide. I crept forward and heard voices say
“You’re late” “I know” “ you go on ahead…I’ve got something planned”. I quickly hid in a corner as a mysterious man in a long grey jacket stepped out of the doorway. I couldn’t see his face but He was smoking a cigarette and as he looked around he dropped it on the floor and squashed it with his foot. He left out through the back door and shut it behind him.
The other man he’d been talking to started to hastily make his way to the front door. “Damn!” “It’s locked”. He made his way to the back door but little did he know I was waiting for him.
“I’d wish the boss would let me know about these details before I go rushing into these situations”.
“Unfortunately he didn’t warn you about me!” I came out from my hiding place and swung my gunblade and pulled the trigger. A Bang like a dull thud rang out and The man let out a cry of pain as I gashed his abdomen and blood dripped out of his cut but he wasn’t hurt badly. There I stood with a smoking gunblade in my right hand looking at this man this shifty character slumped on the now blood stained floor. He looked up at me and said, “who the hell are you?” “My name is not important” “what’s important is what the hell you’re doing here”.
I tied the wounded man to a chair with some rope and landed a couple of blows to his face before asked him “who sent you” “why are you here?”
“I’ll never tell you” “he’d kill me If I did” “what makes you think I won’t?”
I tipped over the chair he was sitting on and pointed my gunblade to his neck then he hastily replied “OK OK OK OK! someone sent me to rob the contents of this building and burn it to the ground” “ he also said something about a job down at the ammunitions warehouse. Not convinced I pointed my berretta at his chest and he cried, “I swear I swear that’s all there is”. I slowly lowered my pistol and could see that he was sweating.
“You have no idea what you’re up against” he started to laugh and I replied “I find this funny” “how’s this for a punch line?” knocked him on the head with the butt of my gun.
He stopped laughing. “you stay here while go find out about this job”
A feeling of confusion and a slight feeling of concern came over me. I untied the man released him and said “ tell you’re boss he’s going to have to get through me before he burns this place” and headed out the back door.
“it’s time I paid his boss a visit”. But little did I know that there was worse to come.
To be continued…..