Tabitha jumped over the fence, racing down to dark alleyway. Her black messenger bag - the one she had kept with her since being stranded here - flew behind her, the only thing tethering it to the running mercenary being the singular, black strap across her chest. Her trusty knife was hidden inside her dark green hoodie, which was unzipped, but the two sides weren't flying due to being restricted by her bag. She took a sharp turn, darting left into a smaller alley. She quickly ducked behind a dumpster, zipping up her hoodie and pulling the hood up in one, smooth motion before hugging her bag to her chest and curling up into a ball as it started to rain. She heard footsteps in the alley, but she didn't react as she heard voices. She could barely make out what they were saying, as the cound of rain falling onto the cold floor beneath her combined with the now soaking wet hood of her hoodie clinging to the side of her face and ears, she could only hear mumbling and then footsteps, which got smaller and smaller until they were no longer there.
Tabitha rose from her position (curled up on the floor in the small gap between the dumpster and the maroon coloured brick wall) and let her messenger bag hang on her shoulder. Deciding against leaving the alley in fear of being caught, Tabitha raised her gaze to the sky, and looked at the walls. Smiling decisively, she paced back and forth for a few moments, before nodding and running toward the wall farthest from her, and jumped off of it onto the other wall. From that wall, she attempted to jump to the other wall again, only to fall, face first, onto the concrete below. Grunting, she hauled herself to her feet, and brushed off the front of her now wet jeans. Shrugging, Tabitha walked out of the alleyway, hands deep into the pockets of her hoodie as she began to navigate toward the busy streets of the city she now lived in. The soles of her faded red converse squeaked as she walked, and Tabitha shuddered as she stomped through puddles, the water easily seeping through the thin fabric of her shoes.
As she turned into the not so busy street of her neighbourhood, Tabitha frowned, speeding up as she looked around nervously. Her knife, which was hiding inside her hoodie, pressed into her ribs as she clenched her fists inside her pockets, pressing her arms to her sides. The knife was comforting. It made her feel safe - She had something to defend herself with if something went wrong. She entered her dingy, grey apartment building, the gloomy mess of colours and damp walls instantly reminding her that she needed to move - but, alas, she could barely afford to live here, even with a roommate. She often found herself making jokes to her aforementioned roommate about how poor she was - Tabitha couldn't even afford to live a shithole like this on her own. She would always refer to her unfortunate situation when the time came for the girl to blame somebody - she had been thrown into this word with nothing cash wise, and nothing food wise. Tabitha had been homeless for about three months, before she (luckily) met her current room mate and only friend, Amelia-Lily, who took her in. She became a mercenary to help out with work and stuff, and since then she and Amelia-Lily (or Al, as Ta itha sometimes refered to he as) had been living together.
Tabtiha trudged slowly up the stairs - the elavator in this stupid building was always out of order - shuddering as she reached the fifth floor - her home. Her pace remained slow as she waled toward her apartment, pulling the keys out of her pocket. She fumbled with them for a moment, her fingers so numb from the cold she could barely steer the dull, metal key into the lock and twist it. She opened the door quickly, and, in one, swift motion, pulled the keys out of the door ad slammed said door shut. Warmth hit her like a ton of bricks, and Tabitha slid down the dark blue front door inhaling deeply and smiling. She tugged her hood down, shivering as she unzipped her hoodie, took off her bag and pulled off the wet item of clothing. The messed with her laces for a moment, wiping her wet hands on her jeans and pulling off her soaked converse. She sighed and dumped all of the things she had just taken off on the left side of the door, and stood up, shuffling into the small kitchen.
Amelia-Lily stood in front of the counter, her arm moving up and don. Something inside a metal pot boiled away on the stove, and Tabitha could smell the comforting aroma of coffee and tomato soup from her position in the door. Tabitha stopped for a second, letting the warmth of the kitchen distract her from the dampness of her socks and the red stains beneath her fingernails - a remnant of a time she had spent many late nights pushing away, replacing them with thoughts of scented candles and home. Amelia-Lily called a greeting that Tabitha didn't quite hear, and she walked through the warm kitchen and into her cold, dark - unwelcoming, if anything - bedroom. She flicked on the switch, watching sadly as a painfully artificial yellow light engulfed the room, shadows of objects that weren't Tabitha's filling up the small space of her floor. She shut the door slowly behind her, hearing it click shut as she walked toward the window. She spotted her half empty box of matches on the top of a small box, and picked up the damaged item, pushing it open and taking out a pink tipped match. Shaking, Tabitha lit the match, setting the box down on her windowsill. She picked up her favourite scented candle and smiled, lighting it quickly. She didn't switch to a different match as the one she was holding slowly began to burn too close to her fingers, instead permitting herself to enjoy the warmth of the fire it burned her. She managed to light her only other scented candle she owned before the match began to get too close for comfort. Then, and only then, she blew it out, crushing what remained of the match between her fingertips, not even flinching at the heat. She lit another match and then lit the other, not at all scented candles that were positioned around her room, and smiled, turning the lights off and falling onto her bed. She waited for a few moments before sitting up and looking around, and hugging her wet jean clad knees to her chest. The room was no longer engulfed in a yellow light that made her eyes sting - instead, the candles around the room lit it up the room in a soft, orange glow - it wasn't too bright, like her other lightbulb - instead, being just bright enough to see and read by, but dark enough to have the effect that she wanted.
Tabitha knew she would have to go out again later, so she didn't change outfits, no matter how tempting that was. Her eyes flickered to her alarm clock, and took note of the time - 5:57PM. She guessed she should eat something, so she stood up, slowly walking out of the room and into the kitchen again. Amelia-Lily was now in the living room, and Tabitha noticed the second plate of food she had left on the counter, which was accompanied by a glass of a clear liquid - water.
Just as she picked up the plate, her phone began to ring. She heard it blast the generic ringtone even in her kitchen, and sighed softly. She placed the plate back down and walked quickly toward the front door to where her bag was. She rummaged through it for a moment and withdrew her black phone from the bag. A glance at the caller revealed it to be her employer, so she reluctantly answered the phone.
"Hello?" Tabitha asked, noticing her knife protruding from the wet heap that was her hoodie. She quickly hid it from Amelia-Lily, and stood up.
"Kingsway!" The person on the other side of the phone boomed,making Tabitha flinch slightly. When she had arrived in NinjaGo City, she had changed her last name from Tabitha Kingslay to Tabitha Kingsway. Ut had just made her feels safer. "Well done on killing your targets! I notice that you kept my requests in mind with each and every one of them, and for that, as I promised, a bonus will be coming your way."
"I tried." Tabitha responded, thinking of how weird it had been when they (her employer) had requested that she not harm the faces in any way, shape or form.
"Your a damn good worker, Tabitha." They purred. "I should hire you permanently." Their tone made you shudder.
"I'm sorry, but I would have to decline." You responded quickly,not wanting to work for such a psycho.
"What a shame." Tabitha could hear the smile in their voices. My offer is always open. As promised, your payment will come delivered to the normal location, in the backpack, beneath the floorboards." With this, they hung up.
With that, Tabitha shoved her black phone into the back pocket of her blue jeans, pulled on her still wet hoodie, grabbed the back bag and left her flat, leaving the spaghetti untouched and trusting that Amelia-Lily would blow out the candles in her room.
And so concludes the prologue. Still unsure on the spelling of that, by the way, but hey ho. I'm kinda happy with what I've got here, but I'd like to make the first chapter way longer.
I don't know when Chapter One is going to be up, I just know that I need to start writing it, so yeah, that's kinda all I have to say!
Constructive criticism is appreciated!