Thalia hid behind a building outside the burning wreckage of her home on the lower levels of Coruscant, looking desperately, hoping that she would see her mother and her sister come out of the smoldering remains. The street gang outside her home was still fighting and blaster shots rained down from the smoky clouds above their heads. Screams acted as claps of thunder and shattering windows as lighting, flashing as they landed on the burning street.
"Come on… please…" she whispered silently, pleading that they would be ok. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she saw her burning home was about to collapse. Squinting her eyes, she looked as closely as she could to see if those were the figures of her family, or simply the smoke playing tricks on her. Limping out of the skeleton remains of the house, she could see her mother, and her thirteen-year-old sister Mara, making their way to safety while trying to avoid the violent war being waged in the streets.
"Mama! Over here!" Thalia waved her arms to get her mother's attention, but the blaster shots were too loud, and all her mother could hear was the crash of their burnt home, collapsing in a heap onto the ground. "Mama!" Thalia, screamed, hoping they would move faster before the gang members saw them and shot them to death, or worse.
This time her mother heard her, and called out in a faint but frantic cry, "Thalia! Where are you?!" Thalia ran out into the street towards them, but as she made her way there, a stray blaster shot hit her mother in the abdomen, causing her to collapse to the ground, screaming.
"Mama!" Screaming, she pulled out her blaster as she saw two gang members making their way now towards her fatally injured mother and sister. Slipping over the shards of broken glass and ashes that now rained down over her, she ran.
"Thalia! Help!" Her sister screamed as one of the men picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. One of the men aimed his blaster at her, but she expertly dodged the bullet and returned it with a shot from her own blaster into the head. He collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out from his wound and pooling around him, but Thalia barely noticed as she left her dying mother on the ground to try to catch up with her sister's captor. Sprinting towards the man, she aimed her gun towards his heart with expert precision but was too late. She missed him just as the man stole a parked speeder and got away.
Screaming, Thalia stood in the street as she watched her sister get smaller and smaller. "Mara, no! Mara!" Sobbing, she began to run after the speeder, but could only make it a few paces before she saw the speeder crash into an oncoming police tank and burst into flames.
Stopping in her tracks, she fell to the ground and placed her hands on her knees as the sobs shook her body. Reality too its toll. Her sister was dead, her home was gone, and her mother… Her mother!
Jolting up, she retraced her route until she saw her mother's body in the street again and kneeled next to it. Her mother was still alive, but Thalia knew she wouldn't last for long. Cupping her mother's cheek, she looked down and saw the wound in her chest which only served to increase the rate of her tears and frantic sobs.
"Thalia- "her mother gathered all the strength in her and shakingly grabbed her hand with her own blood soaked palm. "Thalia, where's Mara?" tears formed in her eyes as she pleaded with her to know.
"Mama… she's…" she couldn't, she couldn't finish the sentence.
"She's gone?" Her mother's eyes widened as she asked the question, desperate to know. Blood started to come out of her mouth as sobs began to shake her. But Thalia still could not finish the sentence as she watched her mother groan in pain and her eyes become glossy.
A long slow breath went out of her as she left, it was as though her breath and spirit came out as one, and Thalia turned away as she knew what was happening. She had seen it before.
Sobbing she kneeled over the body of her mother as flames still ravaged the street around her, singing her clothes and making her smell like smoke, but she didn't care, her entire life had just been destroyed before her very eyes, and she was all of what was left.
Suddenly the sound of police sirens penetrated the smoky air with their shrill wail. She could tell they were coming closer and the reality of her first kill struck her with a pang in the chest. She had killed someone. She was a murderer. Frantically she scrambled up, grabbing the blaster she had dropped beside her, and ran. Leaving her mother's corpse there she ran from her past and straight towards her future.