The girl got dressed and left her room. She instinctively stopped for a moment at the doorstep, hesitating. Then, she finally left her shelter. As she walked through the corridor, seeing people passing by, she felt as if she had just started living. Though they were just nurses talking, entering and existing rooms, assistants carrying instruments, it all seemed full of life. She still walked with some difficulty, but her thoughts were not on her physical condition. As she walked to the hospital administration, she started remembering how living feels like.
"Ms. Zirski, would you please sign these papers?"
Still not accustomed to be talked to, Anna answered startled.
"Which papers? Ah, these... excuse, me, how I am supposed to sign? I don't have an official signature yet..."
"Oh, just the way you want. I just need these papers signed because someone has to sign it in order to allow you leave the hospital. As there is no one responsible for you, you must sign them yourself."
That came as a shock of reality. She knew that, but it was still strange to hear that from other people's mouths. "I'm still a girl and there is no one responsible for me... I used to desire this freedom so much, Lord must be punishing me. Everything I wanted know were my parents with me..."
Anna signed the papers, bid farewell to the clerk and let the hospital. The sunlight stunned her a bit. It was the first time in weeks that she went outdoors. To feel the warmth of the sun in her skin, to hear the street noises, to see people passing by, she felt as she had just been born.
"Ms. Anna Zirski?"
Anna is taken by surprise. She quickly turns to where the voice has come. She meets a tall youngster, with short blond hair, wearing dark sunglasses and with a shy smile in his mouth.
"It is me."
"Hi, Anna, I'm agent Steiner. Would you please come with me?"
"What for?". Anna eyes him suspiciously.
"Excuse-me, I forgot to introduce myself properly. I'm a junior assistant from the City Hall. Your presence was requested there, to attend some business, but what business I just can't tell, since I was not informed."
"Well, that must be because I'm responsible for myself now. Well, let's get going..."
"Alright! Put on this helmet, we are going on my scooter."
Anna followed the man. She was a bit unsure whether she was doing the right thing. She was going away with the first man who presented himself to her. She has never been on a scooter before. She had to hug the agent's waist and she felt a bit shy about that. Agent Steiner started a conversation.
"Were you sick?"
Taken by surprise, Anna joined the conversation, expecting that it could ease her tension.
"Oh, no! Yes! Err... more or less..."
"What happened?"
"I've got hurt, but I'm fine now."
"How?"
Anna remained silent for a moment. "Who is this stranger? Why does he keep asking me such questions?" After a small pause, she decided to answer the guy. "I'll have to face these questions over and over, so it is better to face the truth".
"My house was attacked by scoundrels. I managed to escape, but the rest of my family didn't..."
She paused. Thinking about those tragic events would never be an easy thing to do, but they were still too fresh on her mind. She had to fight back the tears as she didn't want to cry anymore.
"Oh, sorry, I couldn't imagine..."
"No problems, I didn't think you would..."
The rest of the trip was done in silence. Agent Steiner dropped Anna at the parking lot of the City Hall and left to attend another business. Anna was on her own again. Not that the agent helped too much, but the feeling of being alone overwhelmed her.
In the City Hall, Anna introduced herself, waited almost an hour, which made her feel tense. Then, she was taken to a room. There was a public attorney inside. He explained the situation to her.
"As you were orphaned, you must be taken to an orphanage till you reach the age of 18. People in your situation are sent to a suitable public orphanage. But, as you are the only heir of your parents' state, you can afford a private one. Your dad's estate was sold to pay the inheritance taxes and the costs of their funeral. The rest of the money is yours, but the law forbids you to withdrawing the money, as you are underage. The money will rest in a bank. The state, as your temporary suitor, can give you a permission to use the money in the bank to pay for a private orphanage of your choice. So I ask you if you will take the private offer or if you prefer to go to a public one."
She had a difficult decision to do. Her inheritance was a good sum, but a private orphanage would cost a considerable part of her money. She also had heard a lot about some public orphanages, where children were treated very bad. This happened at lot among the poorer communities and, as she would be put into a random orphanage and the outskirts of her city were infested by scoundrels and other dredges of the society, it all depended on luck. She was at risky of being sent to one of the worst orphanages and there would not be anyone who would bother trying to transfer her to a better orphanage. Though she couldn't choose the private orphanage, they were generally better. So she decided to take the safest alternative.
"I'd rather go to a private one."
"So be it."
Anna was taken to an all-girl orphanage she could afford for the next 6 years and a half. There, she faced a new reality. She used to be pampered by her parents, lived with comfort and never did home chores. In contrast, in the orphanage, she had a simple life, without luxury and also had to work a lot. Ms. Blackmoon, the orphanage owner, didn't employ many servants, so she obliged the girls to take turns doing home chores. She also exerted a strict authority over the girls.
At the beginning, Anna suffered a lot, because, in the eyes of Ms. Blackmoon, she was just a spoiled girl who was unwilling to work, so she gave Anna the hardest chores. Ms. Blackmoon had pleasure in criticizing the girls and even humiliating them when the tasks were not made according to her high standards, so Anna was a constant victim at the beginning. Anna never complained, as she considered that part of ther education. With the time, she learned how to do the tasks according to Ms. Blackmoon standards and Ms. Blackmoon stopped assigning her with the hardest chores.
Ms. Blackmoon, a bachelorete in her mid-thirties, was not a bad person. She just had a love for authority and was deeply concerned about the education of the girls. She cold and harsh, but that was part of her character. When she was a child, she was raised with lots of comfort and few obligations. While a teenager, she went through lots of deceptions, culminating with an ex-fiance, whom she caught cheating her. She faced a long depression after that and resurfaced to life with a completely different mind. She thought girls should be raised to be strong, so they could face the hardships of life and not be so easily deceived as she was. But her theories had no scientific basis and the girls could barely stand some of her harsher abuses.
As the months passed, Anna became more introspective and lonely. She didn't have much in common with the other girls. After her traumatic experience, Anna became a very cold and rational person. She didn't have any pleasure in joining the silly joys of the other girls, which where the same joys she used to have before her family was murdered by the scoundrels. Most of the time she spent reading books borrowed from Ms. Blackmoon library.
One day, a new girl arrived at the orphanage. Sara was a 16-year-old redhead, who was sent to the orphanage by her parents, who considered her too clumsy and lazy, so they sent her daughter to the orphanage to act as a boarding school. That way, they thought, she would be taught how to be smarter and more responsible. At first, Anna utterly ignored her because she saw Sara as her complete opposite. Sara was a lucky girl, well-cared and pampered by her parents, who was just too weak and stupid. If she didn't know how to behave according to what is expected from a 16-year-old girl, it was all her fault.
As expected, Sara soon became the main target of Ms. Blackmoon. She was assigned the hardest tasks and failed to accomplish them every time. Ms. Blackmoon humiliated Sara daily, but Sara could not get better. At first, Anna thought she did deserve the punishments and humiliations, but, after some weeks, Anna started noticing that something was wrong with Sara. It was not that she didn't want to learn the tasks, she just couldn't. Anna learned fast the tasks, overcame the initial difficulties and ended being one of the most responsible girls in the orphanage. Other girls sometimes earned a reprimand because they did some tasks carelessly, but not because they didn't know. With Sara, it was always the same. She tried hard, but was unable to perform well. Anna noticed that Sara was always depressed, crying in the corners, being bullied by other girls. Cold as she was, Anna still had a flame into her heart and that flame triggered some compassion towards the clumsy redhead. One day, feeling uneasy, Anna timidly approached Sara's room. There, she found Sara on her knees, with her head only almost touching the floor, her hands were on her face, sobbing bitterly.
"Girl, why do you cry so much? If you learn to do the tasks properly, Ms. Blackmoon will stop saying bad things to you. It is not that hard."
"Anna, oh Anna, I just can't stand this life. I don't deserve this loneliness, this humiliation... I have a family, I shouldn't be here, suffering with these terrible tasks..."
For a moment, Anna was surprised that Sara knew her name. They were never formally introduced and Anna didn't even know the girl's name at the time. She was somewhat ashamed of not knowing Sara's name, but she got a bit angered by the girl's response for she hated people who put themselves in a victim position.
"You are just a big cry-baby, girl! You can't stand such easy tasks! Why is it so hard to scrub the floor or remove the dust from the furniture? Your parents want you to grow up! Even a 7-year-old can do these tasks!"
"But... I don't need to go through all this abuse and humiliation. The tasks are too hard for me. Besides, I have a family..."
"Oh, shut up! If you can't stand that, how do you expect to stand the hardships of life? Listen here, you spoiled little brat! My family was murdered in front of my eyes, I had to fight the scoundrels who murdered them for my life, and, even so, you have never seen me crying in the corners because life was unfair with me and I have to scrub that stupid kitchen floor twice! You are just a coward cry-baby!"
Angered by Anna's heavy remarks, Sara stood up in a moment, faced Anna and shouted back, staring intently her green eyes, which were on fire, into Anna's blue eyes:
"I'm deeply sorry for your tragedy, but you just don't need to accept injustice! Nor do I!"
Anna was surprised and scared by Sara's reaction. Sara was several inches taller than her and had a much more developed body, so she looked menacing. She also had a valid point. Anna was paralyzed from shock and kept staring at Sara's eyes, without moving or even blinking. She was unsure whether she should knock Sara down or run away, but, for her surprise, Sara fell on her knees, crying again. She embraced Anna's hips and rested her head in Anna's bosom.
"Forgive me, Anna, forgive me, please! I didn't know, I didn't know that! You didn't deserve, you don't deserve. Poor Anna... I just can't stand that anymore. How can you accept every thing that happened to you? You don't deserve, dear..."
Anna was still frozen, staring at the same point Sara's eyes were when she was facing her. Anna released her tension, but did not move. She just put her and over Sara's head and stroked gently her red locks. "I know, I know..."
The relationship between two girls started developing. Anna offered her help and protection to Sara, who, for her turn, was the only acquaintance Anna had. Anna noticed Sara had problems in learning how to accomplish the tasks assigned to her not because she was a fool or careless, but because she had a real problem in learning, so she patiently started teaching her how to do the things. She also secretly covered up Sara to make her not be punished. She also noticed that Sara loved abstract thinking and loved chatting with Anna. She even easily surpassed Anna knowledge in abstract subjects without reading the books Anna read. Anna discovered that Sara had special needs and that she was, in fact, a good girl. With less harassing from Ms. Blackmoon and their friendship, the lives of the two girls improved.
Suddenly, Ms. Blackmoon changed. She started acting strangely. Her behavior changed, she was often nervous and she, who always ruled the orphanage with iron fists, started to overlook and even neglect the management of the orphanage. At first, Ms. Blackmoon was only target of frivolous gossips, most saying she was in love. She denied that and punished the girls she caught talking about the subject. Anna and Sara didn't care about the subject, they were concerned about more serious things. The things got worse and Ms. Blackmoon started applying random punishments not only to the girls, but also to the servants, who were not a bit pleased. One of those days, Ms. Blackmoon appeared with a black eye and scratches in her face and arms. She was not able to conceal them and people got really worried.
One of the teacher assistants followed her for some days and discovered she was in fact dating a guy, a twenty-year handsome guy, who was a crook and always drunk or drugged. He also demanded money from Ms. Blackmoon. She started spending more and more with the guy, and the orphanage started suffering financial difficulties. She delayed the payment of the employees and there were occasional food and cleaning material shortage. The payments didn't come and teachers and maids started abandoning the orphanage, till the girls found themselves on their own. Ms. Blackmoon was almost never there and when she was, she only blamed the girls for her personal problems. Anna and Sara supported themselves, but both were scared. Anna felt a very bad omen that tragedy would struck again in her life, and that would happen soon. She tried to prepare herself, but she was really frightened.
One day, Ms. Blackmoon's lover stormed the house, drunk and drugged, pulling Ms. Blackmoon by her hair. He threw her on the kitchen floor and started saying bad words to her. The girls listened to the commotion and were deeply scared. They started retreating to their rooms and locking the doors. Anna was alone. reading a book, and locked her door. She heard the man scream "You are not worthy a penny! You are old, ugly and stupid! I'll have your girls as a compensation!" Anna grabbed an iron bar she had hidden in her room and waited beside the door in case the man tried to break into her room. Though she was just 13, she had become stronger than she was two years ago and her confidence she could protect herself has grown too. Even so, her heart was racing madly for she couldn't feel at ease.
Suddenly she heard a woman screaming. She heard some noises of a fight, the man screaming bad words towards the woman and the woman screaming. By his words, she knew it wasn't Ms. Blackmoon. She paid more attention and realized it was Sara screaming. Sara was tall and tried to fight the man, but he was very strong and she was no match for him. Anna was moved by her friend's screams, so she decided she should do something. She knew all the other girls would never do anything for Sara. She also knew that she could sneak into the hall and call the police, but she had already a bad experience with the police arriving too late. She decided she had to take a stand and help her friend. She unlocked the door and, trying to not make much noise, climbed downstairs. Arriving at the hall, she heard Sara's screams weakening and the man changing his words. He was still using bad words, but now praising the girl's appearance. She only realized now how Sara was attractive. She had to act before it was too late. Her eyes caught a glimpse of a poker, in the fireplace. She didn't think twice, she dropped the iron bar, grabbed the poker and raced madly towards the kitchen, were Sara was.
Arriving there, she saw a disgusting scene. The man has hit Sara's head on the floor and she was partly stunned. The man was ripping Sara's dress. Without thinking too much, Anna ran and stabbed the man in the left eye, full force, with the sharp extremity. The stab was so violent that the poker made a hole through the man skull and the sharp extremity exited from the back of his head. He collapsed as Anna released the poker. Ms. Blackmoon fainted as she saw the scene and blackened out. Anna was horrified too. "Oh my God, I've killed a man! He is dead! Dead!" But she didn't have time to lose. She started shaking Sara and screaming her name, for she was stunned. Sara didn't react, so Anna raced to the laundry, caught a cleaning product with ammonia and gave it to Sara smell. That helped the girl regain her senses.
"Anna? What happened? My head aches..."
"Sara, be quick! We must get out of here now"
"Why? What happened? My body aches... GAHHH! What is that? What have you done, Anna?" Sara had just seem the body of the man beside her and a pool of blood soaking her partly torn dress.
"I have saved you from this scoundrel. Now we must leave this place immediately. Pack your things now!"
"Anna... Anna..."
Anna was already running upstairs. She was not feeling well, but she didn't have the time to think. She had to run for her life. She packed her things and went to Sara's room to help the girl to pack hers. Sara was in doubt. She didn't know what to do.
"Where are we going, Anna?"
"You are going back to your home!"
"And you?"
"It doesn't matter. I just can't stay here, otherwise I'll be arrested."
"Anna..."
"Fast, fast, we must leave before the girls get out or Ms. Blackmoon wakes!"
The girls finished packing their belongings and exited the house. For a short time they walked side by side in the streets. Sara was still scared and uneasy, as it was still dark outside.
"Anna, where are you going?"
"I have to hide myself, Sara, I've killed that man..."
"I wish you could come with me."
"I know, Sara, but that would be dangerous for you. By the way, it is too risky for you to stay with me. Go to the hospital or any open drugstore and, from there, call your parents. We must part ways now. Farewell, Sara."
Anna quickly hugged her friend and then started to run away from her, through the dark streets. She heard Sara crying her name, by the cries became fainter and fainter as she kept distancing herself, till the cries disappear in the night... the last cry would be the last time she would ever hear Sara's voice.
Morning came and Anna felt that awkward feeling again. She was by herself again, but his time she had to hide herself. She knew she had to find a place to stay, but she needed money and she didn't have any. She couldn't draw money from her account, so she was virtually penniless. Also, she didn't know that, but Ms. Blackmoon has drained all her bank account, so she was also really penniless. She had to find a job. Because of her age, she was not allowed to work, but she knew where she could find work. She went walking to the outskirts of the town and started looking for a factory where she could work. It didn't take long till she spotted a cigarette factory. She knew that, if she was lucky, she would be employed before noon. And she was, indeed. The factory owner used illegal workers in order to save lots of money, by paying ridiculous wages. For Anna, who was in dire straits, a hundred meseta per month was a fortune, so she accepted the job offer. They made a "gentlemen agreement" where she would not tell anybody she was underage, she would not meddle with the others and she would be paid. She left the factory with a small advancement of thirty meseta.
With one problem solved, she had now another one. She had to find a place to stay. She started going toward the darkest alleys of the city, in order to find a room she could afford. It wouldn't be an easy task. She started to ask wherever there was a room available, regardless of the quality of the place, which was always very low. Even so, all the rooms were too expensive for her and the lodgers also wanted a full month in advance. Anna was getting desperate, since she was entering worse and worse neighborhoods, it was already getting dark and she would have to sleep in the streets. Everywhere, she could only see strange people, drunks, beggars, prostitutes and other dredges of the society.
Then, she noticed a sign hanging on the wall of a very ugly building "Will rent rooms for women only." She noticed there were two women seated at the doorsteps of the building, chatting. They were wearing heavy make up and very sensual clothes. Anna knew what they were. She stayed looking for the building for some seconds, wondering whether she should as for a room there or not. One of the two women at the doorsteps noticed Anna looking at the building, so she stood up and asked defiantly
"What are you looking at? Get out of here!"
Taken by surprise, Anna asked shyly "I... I'm looking fo-for a room..."
"Do you intend to work near here?" The woman was very angry at Anna.
"No, not at all! I just... need... a room..."
"It is none of my business!"
"But..."
"Get out of there before I beat you, fool girl!"
The other woman, who was only watching the scene, intervened.
"The owner is not here."
"I'm desperate to find a room. Where can I find him?"
"That crook must be drunk in the bar next street. Now, leave us alone."
"Thanks" Anna tried to smile.
"Buzz off, you devil" The woman dismissed Anna compliment with a gesture of her hand and resumed chatting with the other woman.
Anna started looking for a bar nearby. She was frightened, as it was getting darker and darker and that would be her last chance of finding a room. If she failed, she had to decide whether to spend a good part of her money in an inn, making it impossible for her to find shelter for the whole month or to sleep in the streets. After some search, she finally found a very dirty bar and dark bar, with odd people inside. She entered the bar slowly, under the suspicious eyes of every men inside. She didn't know if she should stay or she should run. She opened her mount, but only a faint voice exited her mouth.
"P-plea-se, sirs, any of you... is... the owner... of t... the re...red buil...ding?
A grizzly man, probably in his sixties, who didn't look very bad, stood up and calmly answered. "It is me. Why?"
"I want to rent a room..."
"Come here, come here..." He said, tapping the chair by his side.
As Anna walked into the bar, the other men kept starring at her. She was nervous and focused on the man who had presented himself as the owner of the building, but she knew the other men were analyzing her body and heard them say "See how she shakes it?" "Wow, that one is really good! I'd teach her a thing or two." "You will see how I'll leave her after I get her." "I'll surely take her one of these days..."
"What do you want, honey? To rent a room, honey?"
Anna was disgusted with his "honey" talk, but she didn't have any alternative, so she went on. "Yes... yes".
"It is fifty a month. There is a common bathroom and kitchen on the second floor. The room comes with a bed and a chest. You are responsible for cleaning it. Don't mess with the other girls. If I see you fighting, you will be expelled immediately. And, at last, never, never take a man into your room, do you understand?"
"Yes, you can rest assured I'll never do that. But there is something... I don't have the money yet..."
"Then forget about it! What do you think I have? A homeless shelter?"
"Please, I'm desperate for a room. I can give you 25 meseta now and pay the rest by the end of the month... I beg you to help me."
The man examined Anna's body carefully and she was afraid he would ask an alternative way for paying the room, but he smiled. "Well, I'm sure you will soon have the money. Deal done."
Anna sighed in relief. He took a key chain with lots of keys from his pocket, chose one and handed it to Anna. "Here is the key, give me the money." Anna took the money from her pocket and handed the man, warmly thanking him. As she was about to leave, he heard the man ask "Hey, you are not 18 yet, are you?" Anna felt a chill down her spine. She couldn't believe. She had found the worst place in the world to stay, but at least that was a place to stay, but now she would lose it. She used her wit and answered in a disdaining tone "Are you mad? I'm 20 and very, very experienced."
She didn't look like a 20-year-old woman, but at least she looked much older than a 13-year-old girl, with her body fully developed and attractive to men. Her disdaining tone helped convincing the man and he asked no further questions. Anna left the bar and went hurriedly to her new home. As she walked the blocks, a tear of joy was rolling down her cheeks and she was muttering a prayer, thanking her god.
Joy could not describe her situation, but at least she could say she was in peace. Her next three months were uneventful. She left her room early in the morning, went to work, worked a lot and returned home before sunset, locked the door and never left for anything. On Sundays, she didn't exit her room. From time to time she went to the market to buy some food or other things she needed. She never talked to anyone.
But people came to talk to her. Sometimes, while arriving home, a man would approach her asking her services. They offered her money and other things, but she never considered taking the route of prostitution. She loathed that way of life. To feel safer, she bought a long knife and always walked with it hidden under her clothes, for she feared being attacked. But the only violence she suffered was being cursed at for not submitting to men's offers.
As she didn't have anything to do, she spent her time reading. She bought some cheap second-hand books and had them as a companion. Many of the books were about religion. Religion, at her time, was not a popular subject in Algol, since the inception of the Mother Brain. It the past, there used to be churches in all villages, but now the churches were rare and most people believed on in the Mother Brain and nothing else. Anna liked the religious books, because they gave her an explanation for her suffering and hopes of a brighter future. When she peeped through her window, she could only see a terrible world, filled with violence and sorrow. She could see prostitutes, transvestites, people on drugs, scoundrels, crimes. It was not rare for her to see or hear some kind of violence. She was alone, amongst the dredges of the society and didn't see anything good being done, so her mind was filled with doubts. She believed in god, but she wasn't sure about many things.
Meanwhile, Sara tried hardly to convince her parents to shelter Anna, but her father refused to "take a murderer home". Regardless of the girls arguments that she acted in self-defence and saver her life, her parents were not inclined to change their minds, so she eventually abandoned her project. Anyway, she had lost track of Anna for a long time, so she didn't know where to find her friend in order to help, though she grieved for not being able to do anything for her friend and savior.
After three months, things started changing for worse in Anna's neighborhood, as if they were not already bad enough. A new gangster leader started bringing terror to the neighborhood. He and his minions blackmailed drug dealers and prostitutes, spanked people who did not pay their protection tax and even murdered anyone who meddled with their business. Almost everyday there were drug addicts and prostitutes being robbed, spanked and, in the case of prostitutes, being taken by force. At first, most of the violence happened in the late hours of night, but then the scoundrels grew confident and started acting even on daytime. Anna was really frightened. One day, scoundrels beat to that a prostitute who lived in the same building as hers because she didn't submit herself for free. When Anna left her home to work, she was shocked and almost fainted by the sight of the dead woman at the doorsteps. Other day she heard shots outside and, peeping through the window, she saw scoundrels in a jet motorcycle shooting drug addicts at random. They left 5 killed and many more murdered. When the locals called an ambulance, the same scoundrels returned, seized the ambulance and set it on fire. They had many times stormed the building she lived in and taken the prostitutes by force. Anna prayed a lot, thought a lot about the situation and decided she had to do something.
She noticed that the gangster leader loved to walk the streets with his bodyguards, bragging about their actions and even doing some harm to a random victim. She studied her neighborhood and noticed also that there was a dark alley where there were lots of abandoned garbage cans and containers. There would be the place where she would do what she had decided to do.
At night, she hid herself for some time among the garbage cans and waited for the group to pass. In the first night, they didn't pass that way, so Anna returned home.
In the second night, Anna was there for some hours when she spotted the group coming down the street. "It is now or never." She positioned herself behind a large garbage container. "Lord forgive me, I don't know His ways, but I must do that. It is not fair to leave it as it is..." She was aware she could die and she was resigned as an infantry soldier who goes to the battlefield. "I just want to do the best I can." The group consisted of 4 men: the gang leader on the right, a scoundrel body guard on the left and two scoundrel bodyguards behind the two men. They were walking carelessly, as few people bothered about the garbage alley. It was the perfect opportunity for Anna. Doubt crossed her mind. She had fear, was anxious, but decided to go on. As the group passed by, Anna carved the long knife on the throat of the gang leader and started running away. She was so fast that the bodyguards were surprised with the action and hesitated a bit. One bodyguard tried to help the dying leader while the two others got their sub-machine guns and shot at random. Anna was racing through the garbage maze and was safe from the bullets. She had carefully studied the alley, so she managed to escape. The bodyguards tried to chase her, but she was far ahead and the soon lost her track.
She was content she had successfully eliminated the gangster leader, but she didn't have the time to rejoice. She returned immediately to her room, packed her things and abandoned the place. Again, she was running for her life. She knew the scoundrels would soon put the neighborhood under siege, looking for the blonde girl who killed their boss, so she had to leave. She walked carefully through the streets, trying to avoid anyone, specially the scoundrels. She had to hide herself from the dangerous presence of people in the streets and it took a lot of time for her to advance. Her ordeal has started again, she was alone, had to run for her life, but she was almost happy to see herself exiting that dangerous neighborhood. She intended to leave the city and hide herself on the countryside. Suddenly, she feels a hand on his shoulder.
"GAHHH!" Anna was so scared that she jumped and trembled. The person took his hand out of her shoulder and retreated a pace, scared by her reaction. She turned to see who it was and saw a very tall redhead man.
"Forgive-me girl. I didn't expect that I would scare you. You are Anna, aren't you?" "Y-y-y-yess-sss"
"I'm Jake, Sara's brother."
"Oh, Sara! Thank God!" Anna was still trembling, but sighed in relief.
"Were you living in that neighborhood? Oh my..."
"Yes, but I'm leaving anyway."
"Can you come with me? I want to talk with you."
"For sure."
Jake took Anna to a small pub, ordered some food for her, a beer for himself, then started talking.
"Listen, Anna, Sara loves you too much. I don't know what you have done to her while she was in the orphanage, but I have to thank you. I also thank you dearly for saving her."
"I'm glad to know Sara is well."
"She tried to convince our parents to help you, but they didn't agree. I am with my sister on this subject, but I didn't finish my studies yet, I can't help you the way I wanted."
"I see."
"Anyway, I know you don't have family, so you must be facing difficulties, don't you? Living in that neighborhood..."
"You can't imagine..."
"I know that is not much, but I can help you in some way. Have you considered joining the guardian academy?"
"No, but now that doesn't sound like a bad idea."
"Listen, Anna, I have studied there and I have a friendship with Colonel Numar, director of the academy. I have already talked to him and he seemed interested in helping you. Take this card with his address."
"Oh, thank you very much, Jake..."
"It is nothing compared to what you have done to my sister."
"You don't know, you have just saved my life tonight."
By the morning, Anna went to the address indicated in the card. There, she was taken to a room to wait for Colonel Numar. After a few moments, she was called. Colonel Numar greeted her and took her to his room.
"You must be Anna. Jake told me about you. He mentioned you are interested in joining the academy."
"Yes, sir, I am interested."
"He told me a little about your life. Is it true that you don't have any relative alive?"
"None that I know of."
"It must be very hard for you, girl. You are so young and alone. But I can help you, provided you really want to become a Guardian."
"Yes, I really do."
"There is only one problem, Anna. We only accept people over 16 to the academy and, as Jake has told me, you are not. How old are you, Anna?"
"I'm 13."
"Whew... I know that is wrong, Anna, but let's pretend you are 16. Never tell anyone your real age or from where you have come from. I'll see for your needs, you will live in the academy, have food and clothes. If you have any problem there, just contact me."
"Oh, I thank you very much, Colonel."
"Well, do you want to pack your things before going?"
"All that I have is in this bag..."
"Right, so sign here and get ready to go to Zema!"
Anna's eyes shone bright. "Zema? The resort town?"
"Yes, the guardian academy is there. I'm sure you will love your stay there."
"I'm deeply thankful for this opportunity."
Anna left the room in a turmoil of feelings. She was still disturbed by the last night events, scared, anxious, happy... She thought of her past, her present and her future. "Oh, Lord, after what I have done, you didn't leave me. Thanks, thanks, thanks..." And Anna muttered a prayer while waiting for the transport which would take her to Zema and a whole new life, with tears of joy in her blue eyes.