Scarred Memory
Chapter I - Helpless
A sharp pain was present at the back of her burning mind and she could barely remember what had landed her in this position. She tasted blood in her mouth and was just about to reach a hand up to wipe the red liquid from her cut lip when…
Mia Fey realised she couldn't move her arms.
"Wh-Wha…?" She exclaimed in surprise and opened her eyes fully to see herself tied by several strips of tight white cloth around her wrists to a bed.
She was lying back first on the clean sheets and restrained, barely able to move. Her legs had also been bound so that they were held down and further restricted her movement. Her mouth was gagged, hence she could not speak clearly.
And then, a horrible thought crossed her throbbing mind.
Was this part of some street conspiracy to target unsuspecting women?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly opened quietly. And the sight that met her watery eyes was so shocking she choked on her gag.
"Hello there, Madame Fey." Dahlia Hawthorne walked towards her captured prey with an angelic smile pasted on her seemingly innocent face. "It's been a long time…I'm glad you're finally awake."
"…Where's Mia?" Diego Armando noticed only just then that his favourite pupil was no longer running errands around the office.
Xekuto Zoren looked up from his case files and sighed softly.
"She went to fetch some coffee beans for you almost an hour ago…how could you forget when you were the one who sent her to do it?"
"Ah…my apologies." Diego looked away sheepishly and gazed at the clock hand.
"She should really be back by now…I only asked her to get a small bag from the supermarket, which doesn't take that long to get to and back."
Xekuto's expression grew stony and he put down the paperwork he had been scanning through.
"I think we should go check on her. She may be in trouble…"
"Trouble…?" Diego chuckled softly but the slightly concerned tone in his voice betrayed his true cocky act.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well…when we were children back in the village…"
The coffee addict grew attentive at once. Xekuto's recounts of his childhood with Mia were always crucial to the current moment and to the point. Why, the first time Xekuto had informed Diego about his past, the attorney had been able to use the information to save his traumatised pupil from hurting herself in midst of hysteria.
Xekuto's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued, his expression unchanging.
"Whenever Mia had been in trouble, whether it be she had injured herself, or if someone had hurt her…as soon as she grows extremely desperate, her magatama would send a signal into the air. And being an exorcist, and trained to sense such signals which are similar to spirits, I can pinpoint her location and know that she's in danger."
"That's…pretty impressive." Diego admitted and stared intently at his colleague.
"Am I glad that we added you to the crew."
Xekuto smiled grimly.
"Well, it's a useful skill…but it never means anything good."
"True…can you tell where she is right now?"
He closed his eyes and grasped his dark green tie with a hand and enclosed it into a fist.
"She's…far away…and nowhere near the grocery store…"
Diego stood up from his seat immediately.
"Then you were right about her before…she really is in trouble."
Xekuto looked up with a gleam in his eyes.
"And she's not alone."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry…you can't talk like in that state, can you?" Dahlia chuckled softly as she watched her squirm.
She removed the gag from her mouth and Mia gasped slightly for breath.
"Y-You…! What…what did you do?"
"How disappointing…I was expecting a much warmer welcome from you, Madame Fey…You are and always will be so…dense."
And Dahlia did the last thing Mia thought she'd do to her. An ice-cold hand reached forward to touch her cheek.
"What...?" Mia was stunned into speechlessness as the hand traced its way down the frame of her face.
"I knocked you unconscious, you daft woman." Dahlia once again smiled her innocent smile.
"Hiding from the outside world can be awfully boring…which is why I set myself a list of goals that I wanted to complete before the police attempt to capture me…oh, and do you know what's on the top of that list?"
Mia simply stared at her, fear trickling down her system like cold liquid.
"…to torture you." The redhead finally abandoned her act and sneered at Mia for the first time since she'd entered the room.
"…!" Mia desperately tried to break free of her bonds but there was nothing she could do…she was trapped, and couldn't do a thing to stop her.
Dahlia smirked and reached into her dress pocket, where she retrieved a sharp blade.
Mia stared at it in horror, her arms still tugging frantically at their bonds.
"Don't you worry, I'm not going to kill you." She whispered and placed the knife next to Mia's shivering body.
Instead, she cupped Mia's cheeks, bringing her own face close to hers and whispered in her captive's ear.
"However, you'll be barely alive by the time I'm finished with you."