"Get her!" Screamed the all-too-familiar voices of the pain in the ass guards of Damascus.
"Don't you ever give up?" I sighed and leaped into a crowd of people, weaving my way in and out and eventually bumping into a man in a white cloak.
"Sorry, forgive me." I said quickly and ran past him.
He didn't let me go. Instead he roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me into a hay pile.
"What are you.."
"Quiet." He whispered.
"Damnit, she's getting better." A guard said in front of us.
I peeked though the bottom and watched as the guard walked away. I climbed out and brushed myself off. I took my hair out of a ponytail and shook my head, causing my dirty blonde hair to cascade around my shoulders like a waterfall.
"Why were the guards chasing you?" The man asked, climbing out of the hay pile.
From a civilian's perspective, it didn't look right that a girl was adjusting her hair while a man was climbing out of a hay pile.
"I thought it would be funny to chuck an apple at them. Apparently they didn't think so."
"Why would you do that?"
My sun strained grey eyes flashed.
"They harrassed my mother for years, eventually took her away to god knows where."
The man was silent for a full minute before he started scaling up a building.
"Hey wait! Where are you going?"
"Home." He answered, jumping from roof to roof.
I sighed and decided it was time for me to go home as well. I lived in the poor district of Damascus, trying my hardest to make sure that my father, sister and I had enough food to survive for another miserable day, even if that meant stealing it.
"I'm home." I sighed and opened the door.
My father and sister were sitting on the floor, playing some card game with cards that I had stolen from a few school children.
"Jasmine!" Abby screeched and clung to my leg.
"Hey sugar." I sighed and hugged her.
"Hard day?" My father asked, pouring a glass of water.
Yet another thing I had stolen.
"Yeah." I replied and took a sip. It didn't taste right.
I watched as he gave a glass to Abby and she smiled, taking a sip. She was only six, and had my mother's face, while having father's copper-brown eyes and deep brown hair. I can't say I look like my father, but Abby looked closer to my mother than I did. Dad always said that we reminded him of mother and that made him want to cry sometimes, so I swore I'd find her and bring her home.
That, or bring her body back for a proper burial.
Abby's lips twisted as she swallowed the water.
"Daddy, this doesn't taste right." She whimpered.
Father wafted the smell of the water towards him.
"It smells fine to me. Probably just some dirt.
No, this didn't taste like dirt to me.
"Abby, want to go for a walk?"
"Sure!" She chimed.
"Where are you going?" Father asked as we strapped out boots on.
"Just a walk. We'll be back, I promise."
"Don't do anything stupid Jasmine!" He screamed after me as I shut the door.
Abby smiled at me with her beautiful copper-brown eyes.
"So where are we going?" She asked sweetly.
"That's a good question." I said. "I'm not sure yet."
I walked away with Abby trailing behind me. She was a very impressionable six year old, so I tried not to do anything "bad" in front of her. We took a sharp turn down an alley way, passing by women with large jugs balanced on their heads. I kept Abby close to my side, away from the poor harassers of Damascus.
"Get off me!" She screamed and tugged at my leg.
Some poor harasser was trying to take her away. I quickly retaliated and grabbed him by the collar.
"Get away from my sister!" I grunted and tossed him into a wall.
"Come Abby, we're getting out of here."
She trailed close to my side until my knees felt weak. Without warning I tumbled to ground, scratching at the dirt, trying to crawl.
"Abby.." I moaned.
I got to my hands and knees and tried to crawl to her. My head was splitting open and I fell again, watching her fade from my view.