She heard footsteps that nobody else could hear.
No usual person could detect these sounds…the sounds of a master thief. Garrett, it must have been. She knew his name, knew who he was…If he had found out that there was a blind girl living in the house, his arrival would be inevitable.
But there wasn't much that a blind person could do. With the Mechanists running about with their robots and what not, it wasn't safe for someone with no eyes to roam freely. So she had lived her entire life indoors, harnessing the power of her other senses.
"I know that it's you, thief,' She said.
Garrett froze in his tracks. This young lady was the only person in the bedroom, sitting at a desk beneath a window. There were no lights, candles, or fires.
"How are you sure?" Garrett asked quietly.
"I am not expecting visitors," The girl said. "Nor is my helper around right now. And unfortunately, I have nothing of value to you."
Garrett stood up from his crouched position and walked into the room.
"You are the blind one I've heard about. You are Alichya."
"Then you are definitely the thief that I have heard about, Garrett?" Said Alichya. She stood up from her chair perfectly and turned around to face the thief.
"How do you know where to look?" He asked.
"I can feel your vibes. I know you're in the room. I could tell when you were in my hallway, as well. I can also tell when the ghosts are silently pushing against my window."
"You are not blind."
"I am. I assure you. I have no idea what you, or I, look like."
"Because there is no light in the room." Garrett plucked out a fire arrow from his quiver and quickly shot it at a torch he saw on the wall.
"I still can't tell what you look like…but I wonder…" Alichya said, stepping forward. "You aren't very tall, I can tell that…"
She became within inches of the master thief. She extended a pale hand and put it onto Garrett's face.
"You're flirting with me." He said, annoyed. "I'm not interested; it's that last thing I need."
"I'm not interested either. Judging by your face…you can't be very young, and I am."
Garrett grabbed Alichya's wrist and threw it back at her.
"You're flirting." He said again, firmly.
"You don't have to be here, I have nothing for you."
"I'm convinced that you DO, for why else would you keep telling me that you don't?"
Garrett pushed the girl away and began to rummage through her belongings. There were millions of random objects; scraps of metal, wood, glass…strange little things that she had collected because she enjoyed feeling them. Against one wall was an assortment of old musical instruments that had just barely lived through time's destructive clutches.
"There is nothing that somebody with eyes would ever want here." Garrett said with disgust.
"I told you." said Alichya. She had remained in the center of the room. "Mr. Garrett, I would suggest you leave. I could very easily call security on you; I have that power."
"You call security and I will kill every last guard that comes in here. I will spill their blood upon your room and face, and I will kill you too."
"You doubt my ability."
"Ability?" Garrett laughed. "Ability to what? Trip and fall? I doubt your ability to survive!"
Alichya suddenly pulled a small dagger from around her waist and lunged at Garret. She held the very tip of the blade straight beneath his chin. Garrett blinked.
"There's no way that you could've done that without eyes." He said with astonishment.
"You doubt me, but I will skin you alive."
"You aren't blind." Garrett said, walking away. Alichya's dagger fell to the ground.
"No sympathy…You are a terrible, cold man." she said.
"Exactly." Garrett replied with a grin.
"Where has your heart gone?"
"Gone away, like it should. Everyone's should. It's a wasteful thing."
"A heart is a beautiful thing…Your eye, one is mechanical."
Garrett turned around.
"How do you know?"
"An evil being tore it out. But he did not put the machinery in."
"Your point?"
"There was a time where you could not see out of one eye. You know what it's like, a little."
Garrett thought back to Constantine, and how he had to kill the beast with only one eye. He blinked.
"You gained a higher understanding of vision, didn't you? You appreciate it more." Alichya ran forward to Garrett, now centimeters apart.
"I am only sixteen years old," she said. "and I was born blind. There is nothing more in the world that I want than to see what I look like. I want to see what color the sky is, what color fire is. I want to see what a human being looks like, not just what they feel like."
Garrett put his hand onto the girl's cheek.
"You are beautiful." he said. "…but I don't care. Your life is nothing to me, as mine should be to yours. We are years, houses, cities, planets, worlds, dimensions apart. You're chasing something you can't ever have."
"I don't want you."
"Then what do you want?"
"I want to be like you, I want to see."
"I respect your wish, but I find it unlikely to happen."
"I'm skilled with a bow and arrow, I can kill a human being with the smallest of blades. I can feel my surroundings better than anybody with eyes, yet I cannot enjoy what you can."
"You're a foolish girl."
"Foolish maybe, but I have dreams. Don't you dream, too?"
"I dream of death and pain, screams and fear. Nothing that suits you."
Alichya put her hands onto Garrett's shoulders.
"You've been to places I never will be, done things nobody will ever do." She said.
"And that's the way it should be."
"If I could only go with you…I know where the Mechanists hide out in this city, I could help you out."
"Tell me all you can."
"In the next room over, there is a library. There is a bookshelf in the very back that has some scrolls on it. I believe some will tell you. But I want to help you find them…"
"You are a foolish girl. There is a reason why I want you to leave me alone and never see me again."
"Why?"
"I lead a tormented life. Tormented by things that you, and most people, could never comprehend. You have a life ahead of you. YES, it may not be the most colorful, but you still have hope. My hope lies within the walls of a tomb. Thank you for the advice."
"I will call guards on you."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I can. And obviously you want to die."
Garrett moved in very close to Alichya. He put his hands on her waist and waited a moment.
"You will not call guards on me, and I will get the information that your library holds. I will leave, and I will no longer be a problem to you."
"You will always be a problem to me." She said quietly. "Now that you've come into my life, I will never stop worrying for you."
Garrett pressed his nose against the girl's cheek. He slowly removed his right hand and reached behind his back.
"You're here, and can't leave." Alichya whispered.
"I know…" Garrett whispered back. "I will never leave. Nor will you."
He withdrew his sword from his waist and quickly jammed it through Alichya's waist. She choked on her own death, twitched into the blade and fell against Garrett.
"I only wanted…" she gasped. "to see the world through your eyes."
The thief withdrew his sword, put it away and kicked the dying girl to the floor.
"Foolish girl." He said with a sigh. Her dagger was still lying beside her, and Garrett put it in her hand to look like perhaps she committed an extremely mutilated suicide. He got up and walked out of the room.
Slowly closing the door behind him, Garrett looked through the crack of light that was left and saw the girl's dead body lying on the floor.
For the first time in the entirety of his career, he felt a small feeling of sadness over a corpse.