Katia's death



"Mmm" Gaia could smell the pudding even before she got into the kitchen.

"That smells delicious!"

She reached out to scrape some of the cream off it…

"No. Not until dinner time honey."

Said her mother playfully. Gaia withdrew her hand reluctantly.

"Don't worry. You can have as much as your little heart desires."

A smile lit up her beautiful angelic face.

"Thanks mum!" She replied and walked into the living room, and sat next to her father on the sofa.

"Hello angel. Want to set the chess set up? I think it's nearly seven!"

"Okay father! That would be great."

She walked over to the dining room table.

Her father's chess set was truly a work of art. It was made of glass. Every inch of it. Luckily, she hadn't dropped it once.

"Dad!" She called out.

"It's ready."

"Okay, I'm coming." Gaia sat down on the chair facing the window, and not the kitchen. She thought she would run in there and stuff her face with pudding if she stared at the door any longer.

She glanced out of the window, snowflakes falling from the dark sky swiftly.

She put her head onto her hands and sighed happily.

Life was so perfect at the moment. She hoped it would never change.

Russia was a great country, even though she couldn't go to the USA very often, she found she didn't miss it much.

"Hello?" Asked her father, waving his hand in front of her face.

"You awake honey?"

"Yes dad. Sorry, I must have… sorry. Shall we begin?"

"We already have."

"Oh."

"Check mate Gaia." He laughed playfully. Some game this was.

Gaia scanned the board quickly. Sure enough, she was thwarted by her father, five seconds into the game. This was humiliating. What was wrong with her? She laughed anyway.

"Oooh. Evil."

"I think we should start again, don't you?" Her father smiled kindly, his blue eyes twinkling in the light, full of nothing but love.

Suddenly, a sound came from the hallway, and some one came bursting through the door.

"Tom." Said a menacing voice from behind her.

Her whole body froze. She dare not turn around, for she didn't really want to know who was standing there. She wasn't scared though. But she couldn't really care less about the mans face, as long as they were safe, she didn't care about anything else. But it didn't feel safe.

Without warning her father tackled her onto the floor, covering her fragile head, with his powerful body. And then came a shooting sound. That evil man was shooting at her father!

"Tom!" Screamed a beautiful female's voice. Her mother!

Gaia's heart leapt. Her mother could protect them. With father, they were an unbeatable team! But she needed to help as well! She wanted to make her father proud of her, and show him how much she had learned from him in the past few years of her training.

"Mother!"

She could hear footsteps coming from the kitchen, her mother was coming.

"Katia! Stay away!"

Her father stood up, instructed her to stay under the table, and cover her head, and he rushed into the kitchen.

In a second, there was another shooting, and at this Gaia got up and walked tentatively into the kitchen.

When she got in there, she froze at the sight she saw. Her mother lying dead and a pool of blood, with her father holding her hand and sobbing.

"No." I sobbed. 'This couldn't be happening. How could this happen?'

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a blur. The murderer had fled within a few seconds, and unfortunately, she hadn't seen his face, and they were heading towards a private hospital in an ambulance.

Gaia couldn't get her head around the fact that that her mother was actually dead.

Father said that they needed to call an ambulance straight away if there would be any chance of recovery.

But Gaia knew the terrible truth; it was too late. Her mother, her beautiful mother was dead. She just knew it somehow.

She had finally stopped crying, only because she found she had to more tears to shed. 'How could they possibly cope without mother?'

They waited in the hospital for what seemed like hours, and hours on end, when finally some news came.

The doctor signalled to talk to my father in private.

He nodded.

"Wait here Gaia." He said in monotone. His voice was completely cold and emotionless; she had never heard him like this before. 'He must be more upset than I thought.' Poor dad. He didn't deserve this.

They stood there talking for about 5 minutes, when the doctor put a comforting hand on my father's shoulder, glanced in my direction for a split second sadly, and walked away without another word.

Her father finally turned around to face her, but didn't make any eye contact.

He walked towards her slowly.

Dread consumed her, as it had never done before.

"Your mother is dead, Gaia. I'm sorry."

At that moment, Gaia's heart seemed to stop, even though it was expected, it was still a little, no, very surprising. Everything was fine about an hour ago. How could things go so terribly wrong?

His eyes were glittering, and his voice was shaking like hell. Clearly, he found this whole encounter as surreal as she had, and still did.

He said down in a chair next to her, and embraced her tightly. He was holding her so tightly, she thought she would actually stop breathing. He jerked up suddenly

"I'm just going to get a cup of coffee. Okay honey? I'll just be a second." He said.

Gaia could do nothing but nod. 'Coffee? At a time like this?' She didn't feel safe here. Without her mother, nothing in this world would be safe anymore.

Finally, after about half an hour, Gaia began to get worried. Why had it taken her father so long to get a cup of coffee?

She waited, and waited and waited.

She yawned. She realised she hadn't slept in ages. God was she tired. 'Oh well, might as well try and rest. Father can wake me up when he gets back.'

Finally she awoke. It was pretty dark. The only light that was visible was around the corridor.

She checked the clock at the end of the corridor. It was five o'clock in the morning, which meant it had been fourteen hours since she last saw her father. Where was he? She had to wait though, no matter what. Was he okay? If she went to look for him, he might come back and not find her here. No, she had to wait.

She found she had a very few memories from the last fifteen and half-hours. Her life just seemed to stop. She couldn't think about her mother because she would just start crying again, and this time she was sure she wouldn't be able to stop.

Without realising it, she once more fell into a deep-deep sleep.

'What was that? Strong-arms…shaking her… but also soft…. A beautiful face, calm and all knowing. Her mother. She tried running to her but kept getting pushed away.

"Wait for me!" She cried. "I'm coming. Hold on."

She had to wait. But her mother didn't even glance behind her. She just completely ignored her. No. This couldn't be happening. What had she done that made her mother hate her so much that she would completely ignore her?"

The shaking started to hurt. 'Stop it. Please'

She opened her eyes. It was a dream, and she was soaking in wet.

A woman in a blue uniform was shaking her.

"Are you okay dear? I think you were having a nightmare." She said with a deep Russian accent.

Okay? How could she be okay? Her mother was dead, and her father was lost.

But she nodded anyway.

"It's just that, you've been here for ages, and I haven't seen anybody come to visit you. I haven't seen you eat or drink anything either."

Gaia didn't reply. She wouldn't be able to explain anything, or she was sure she would have a serious emotional brake down.

"Where are your parents?"

The woman didn't seem to take the hint. Time to turn your heart into stone Gaia. Stone mode… activated. Period: As long as I live. 'Love is a weakness, I know that now.'

"My mother us dead, My father went to get a cup of coffee, but I think he's gone." She said in monotone.

"Oh, you poor dear. Your father's left you?"

Dah, that's what I just said you moron.

"No" She whispered. The truth seemed to finally sink in. He couldn't have left. Her father was the kindest, most generous person she knew. The mask on her heart was malfunctioning.

"Father would never leave me." She whispered. What am I saying? Move on girl, said a voice in her ear. Yes, that was what she would do. Move on.

The woman sat down next to me, and hugged me tightly.

My father has left me. My mother is dead. Where will I go? Foster home? Orphanage? Probably. Nobody in their right mind would want to 'purchase' her.

It was sick. How could anyone 'buy' a person?

Maybe there was hope though. Maybe her father would come back. Maybe he had a very good reason for disappearing for so long.

Suddenly, without warning, she burst into tears.

The entire trauma that had hit her in the past few hours was finally having an impact on her. She couldn't hold it in much longer.

This woman must think that she was some emotionally unstable orphan. But she didn't care. What was there to care about? She had nothing left in life to live for. She would just always be an empty shell. Void of emotion.

'I am fearless. I can get through anything, and I don't need ANYONE. I'll do it on my own. I can't let myself down. A 'fool-proof' plan. Perfect.'

She shimmied away from the woman.

"Where are you going?" She asked, trying to conceal the fact that she thought this child was some kind of drone. One minute she was crying, the next minute she was a stone faced warrior.

"I can get through this without anyone's help. I don't NEED anyone's help. I will go wherever my feet carry me. There is nothing that can stand in my way. See ya lady."

And with that, she disappeared out of the hospital.

Her life would never be the same. She would never be the normal girl she once was. But she could get through this… totally. She grinned. All the training she had wouldn't go to waste. She would just kick-butt for the rest of her life. Kick some 'bad-ass' butt. She was only thirteen, but she was powerful. The world had underestimated her.

* * *

Okay, let me guess. You all thought this was rubbish right? Oh well. I tried. I was probably really repetitive though wasn't I? I would be really, very grateful if you would review this for me, even though I am a very talent-less writer. I tried though. Sighs

-Fearless