Rude Awakening
:Escape From Hell
Hell, a place filled with pain, sorrow, torture, and agony. A place in which no one can ever escape, but instead are forsaken to spend eternity there. They say that if you are bad or evil during life when you die that's where you will end up. But that's a different story for me and my sister, we've lived in hell since the day we were born and from the looks of it, we're never getting out.
The hell I speak of is the slums of Migar. This is where I grew up, this is where my father beats my sister and myself and where my mother finds herself drunk every night, an escape from the pain we all try so hard to block and forget. This place, my home, my hell, is where I learned how to steal because we have no money at home and I hate to see my sisters face damp with tears. I'd kill just to see those tears disappear from her face and have a smile replace the frown.
But I don't want to see Tanya cry anymore. I don't want to have to see the bruises on her face, back, arms, and wherever else my dad had hit her, when I return home from stealing something for her. That's why I've made plans to escape this place we call home. For her sake, not mine, we will escape this hell…
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"Three-hundred and twenty nine gils!?" Tanya shouts after I told her how much money I've already collected. We were outside walking the streets of the slums, the rotten smell of filth was everywhere and seemed to swallow us up in its intoxicating stench. You get use to the smell after awhile, just like you have to get use to everything else around here. Such as the mugging that goes on non-stop, the prostitutes that stand at every street corner, the drunks that wander about everywhere, and the eyes of people that are forever on you, watching you, checking you out to see just how much you are worth, how much money you might have on you.
"I would think you would know better than to scream something like that out in these streets." I tell her half disciplining her.
Her hand flies quickly to her mouth as her violet eyes go wide. "Oh!" she says but her hand muffles her cry. "I'm sorry." She whispers now as her hand drops to her side once again. "It's just that I didn't know you had collected so much already! Maybe we can leave tomorrow!"
I shake my head. Being that we never really had a lot of money of course 300 gils would sound like a lot to her. But in reality it was nothing but chicken feed. We would need a couple of thousand before we could actually leave this place.
Stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans I turn my head slightly to look into a bar window. I stop in my tracks when my eyes fall upon a sharply dressed man with fiery red hair. I've never seen such a well-dressed man in the slums. Everybody knew that if you came here dressed like that you were an immediate target for all the thieves, because more and likely you were carrying a lot of cash on you.
"Alex, something wrong?" my sister grabs my arm, shakes it, but when I don't reply she turns her gaze upon what I was looking at.
"Oh, Alex!" She exclaims softly. "He--he's so handsome."
I give her a look. She had absolutely no idea what I was thinking. "Tanya, I'm going to mug him." I say simply.
"Him!?" her mouth drops. "No, you can't mug him!"
"And why not?"
"Alex, think about this, you know that anybody that comes dressed like that to the slums is either stupid or retarded. That man doesn't look like he's either. He's probably come here armed with a gun or something and--"
I cover her mouth with my hand. "Don't worry." I say soothingly. "I'll be careful, I always am." I look back at the man and I see him getting up from his seat. "Now, I've gotta go."
She grabs my arm. "No, wait, at least let me help!"
She can see the question in my eyes before I was even able to say anything and she begins to quickly explain how she could help me. "On his way out I'll bump into him and pretend like he's hurt me, while he's busy helping me, you can sneak quietly by and steal the wallet out of his pocket."
"Do you know how stupid that is?" I say, but actually thought it was a pretty good idea, I just didn't want her being apart of this, I didn't want her getting in trouble if we got caught. "You just stay out of this, okay."
I can see her eyeing the man and I begin to panic. She was going to do this whether I approved of it or not. My hand reaches out to grab her, but it's too late, with speed that I have never seen before she was at the door of the bar. Next I see the man collide into her and she goes toppling to the ground. Just like she had planned, he was all over her within a second, apologizing and helping her up. I can hear her say something about her ankle and the man wraps a arm under her arms and says something like, "I'll help you home."
"Tanya…" I mutter before heading off after the two of them. "You better know what the heck you're doing."
I follow closely behind them and make sure he doesn't notice he's being followed, Tanya does an excellent job of keeping his attention on her.
"Why were you going into a bar anyway?" I can hear him ask her. "Somebody as beautiful and fragile as yourself doesn't belong in a place like that."
"I'm looking for my brother." She answers shyly.
"Your brother?"
"Yeah, he's all I have in this world and we kinda got into a fight and he ran off angrily. Now I've come looking for him so I can apologize."
Now where did she learn to lie like that?! She was so believable when she said it I began to think that it was true.
The two continue talking (well actually it was more like flirting) until they came to the busiest part of town. There were so many people around that after I stole his wallet, if he noticed, he wouldn't know who did it.
He stops suddenly and jerks her in front of him so she faced him. I also stop and look on in anger and fear as I see his hand go to her shoulder and slide her shirt down off of it. Tanya is squirming to get away from him but he holds on tightly.
"Did he do this to you?" I can hear him spit.
"Huh?" her face is full of shock. "Do what?"
He presses a finger up against the bruise that she had just recently got from my father and she lets out a sharp cry, her head falling upon her chest to hide the red in her face.
"He beats you, doesn't' he?"
Her head slowly lifts to meet his gaze and I can see her lower lip trembling.
Oh, god, she was going to cry! I told her that she didn't know what she was getting into! But I couldn't allow for this to go on any longer. I wasn't going to let him touch my sister like that.
So, without thinking I run, bump slightly into the man, quickly slip my hand into his pocket which contained the treasure I was after and head off quickly without turning around.
Sloppy, I did everything sloppy and I did that on purpose. I didn't run as fast as I could because I wanted him to follow me. I didn't care about the money anymore, I wanted him. I wanted to fight him.
I stop in a dark alley, hands on my knees as I pant loudly. I can feel sweat forming on my brow and I wipe it away with my hand. Still trying to catch my breath I stand back up straight and lean up against the wall. Given some time to think about it I shouldn't have ran away like I did because it didn't seem like this stranger with the flaming red hair was going to follow me. I ball my hand into a fist and hit it against the wall behind me. I shouldn't have left my sister with him!
Clop, clop, clop. The noise was crisp and loud and I could tell right away that they were foot steps. My head jerks up and I look to my right. My breath catches in my throat when I see who had followed me.
"You weren't the first one who tried to steal my wallet today." His voice sends shivers down my spine and I pull away from the wall. "No, you weren't the first to try," he stops in tracks. "But you are the first one to succeed in doing so."
He stood a good ten feet away from me and although I was scared out of my mind I wasn't going to back up any, I wasn't going to run away. I see his hand slipping into his jacket and a smile crawls upon my face. Tanya was right, he did come armed, but then, so did I.
My own hand quickly goes under my shirt and I pull out a gun I hid safely tucked into the waist of my jeans. By the time I had my gun out and positioned at him he had his out and positioned at me. The smile was still on my face and I can see one now forming on his.
"Did you steal that too, just like you stole my wallet?" he jest, and his smile looks more playful then evil.
"Hmph," I say, "you want your wallet back?" My left hand goes into my jean pocket and pulls out the treasure I stole from him. I throw it on the ground near my foot and then I kick it to him. "I don't want your money, I'd rather kill you."
"And what, may I ask, do you have against me?"
"I don't like the way you treated my sister." As soon as I said sister his eyes go wide.
"Sister?" he stops to think about this for a second before realizing who I spoke of. He frowns. "You mean that girl you beat?"
"I don't beat her!" I find myself yelling. "My father does!"
The expression on his face now was one of interest. He lowers his gun and slips it back into his pocket. Why was he doing that? Was he giving up? Did he want me to kill him?
"If your father is the one who beats her," he says, his eyes narrowing. "Shouldn't you be pointing that gun at him, instead of me?"
He was truly baffling me. "What do you care about my sister anyway?"
He smiles, smuggly, a smile that fit that round face of his all to well. "I don't know." He shrugs. "But I will tell you that I have taken a liking to her." His eyes narrow. "And you too."
He's taken a liking to me? What could he possibly mean by that? From the way he was all over my sister just a little bit ago, he couldn't possibly be…unless he was….My grip tightens around the gun, it was the only way I could stop myself from shooting the guy. "You sick pervert!" I shout.
"Now wait a minute." He says with a chuckle. "What I mean is that you've sparked my interest." My grip grows tighter. "No, wait, that still doesn't sound right, does it? Let me put it this way, I would like to get to know you better." My finger is now slowly pulling the trigger. Seeing this the guy holds up his hands in front of him. "Now don't go and kill me, give me a chance to explain!"
"I've heard all I needed to hear." I say calmly, but know I don't look it.
"Alex, no!"
"Tanya." Before I even realize it her name leaves my mouth. I see her as she runs from behind a corner only to stop in front of the red head. She is breathing deeply and a light sheen of perspiration covers her face. My gun is now aiming at her, yet I find myself unable to lower it.
"Tanya, move out of the way!" I command.
She gulps. "No." she shouts, her head shaking from side to side. "You can't kill him. I won't allow you to."
"This isn't your decision."
Her eyes grow wide when it finally hits her that I was serious about this. "Alex, I can't believe you! Will you please listen to yourself!"
"Tanya, you don't understand, I'm doing this for you."
"For me?!" she exclaims. "Isn't this all about the wallet you stole."
I look at the man who stood behind her and I can feel a wave of hate wash slowly over me. "Not anymore." I say.
"You're right." The man says as he grabs a hold of my sisters arm and pulls her behind him.
"Hey, wait a minute!" she shouts.
"Just listen to me, okay." His voice is soothing and he sounds as if he has total control over the whole situation. I didn't like that. "I'm going to offer you a proposition, if you like what I have to say, then good, if you don't, you can shoot me."
But I did where this was going.
"My name is Reno and I belong with an organization called the Turks."
"You're a Turk?!" My sister shouts but is quick to shut up once she sees the look on my face.
"I came to the slums today on business, but that can wait, because you, young man, have caught my eye." His head turns slightly so he was able to look back at Tanya. "As well as your sister."
"You see, we've just recently lost two group members and we've been looking for new recruits. I would like you two to fill those places."
"Us?!" Once again my sister speaks before me and once again she finds me giving her an angry stare.
"How do I know this isn't a trick?" I ask him.
He smiles. "How do I know you won't just up and pull that trigger right now, hm?"
"Don't tempt me."
The smile leaves his face and he gets serious. "Listen, nobody wants to live in the slums. I'm giving you a chance to get out of this hellhole and start a new life. A life I know both you and your sister deserve. So, what do ya say? Will you join us?"
I find my eyes lingering on Tanya. She does deserve better, I've always known that. But what I also knew was that the Turks were ruthless, dangerous people who'd kill anyone and anything at the drop of a hat because of orders, or because a person did them wrong. I didn't want Tanya to have any part in that.
"I'll join."
"What?!" The gun slips through my fingers and falls to the ground. "Tanya."
"Just as long as you promise that you won't let anything happen to me." She smiles up at Reno, her nose crinkling just a little. "And you won't let anything happen to me, now will you?"
Wh-what was she doing? "Tanya!" I say again, this time with more power.
"I would never let anything happen to you." That smug smile of his is upon his face again. I can feel my stomach churning as I look at it. Who did he think he was? He was taking away from me the one slimmer of light I had in this godforsaken place. I couldn't allow that. Yet, it wasn't my choice. It was hers. Tanya's.
"What about you?" His eyes are now settled hard on me. It wasn't my sister he wanted, he was only using her to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was me. During these few minutes I held him up at gunpoint he's learned a lot about me and he was using what he learned about me against me. So, the question is, do I have any choice in this matter?
"I'll join also."
No, I didn't.