Five years earlier
He had finally become a SEAL. All of those years dedicated to achieving his ultimate goal were finally worth it. All that time spent studying, running, working out, all those endless night shifts had finally come to fruition. He had no idea what a vacation was anymore. Hell, he had no idea what a weekend was.
Considering all of that effort, it seemed only fair that he accepted his colleagues' invitation to celebrate at a bar. He wasn't very fond of drinking, but he had, after all, been through all of that with them by his side. It was only logical that they should celebrate together.
He was already feeling a little slow and sleepy. Maybe he should've insisted that he didn't want any tequila, but his friends kept pushing him towards the direction of the girl who poured tequila into their mouths and she smiled at him and said that she could use the tips, so he ended up not saying no.
But now his friends were becoming a little too drunk for his tastes and he had two choices: either drink more and join in or go home and sleep it off.
He looked outside for a moment, saw lightning in the sky. That was a sign that he should definitely go home; he was already going to walk home drunk. It'd better be while it's dry.
After being assured that all of his friends were fine and had safe means to go home, he left a big tip to the tequilera girl and headed for the door of the bar. He had noticed that she had whiter skin around her left hand's ring finger. He figured that she probably had been married and, by the way she constantly checked her phone, she had a kid at home. He could be wrong on that one, but he'd rather be wrong than pass up the opportunity to make someone's day a little brighter.
He turned a left on the dark street, knowing that he was only a few blocks away from home. Luckily, he was familiar with the neighborhood and could've found his way home whilst blindfolded. Still, he hated leaving his guard down the way he had by becoming drunk, so he hurried through. He didn't want any surprises.
Just as he was nearing the final two blocks, he heard a high pitched scream. A woman's scream. He immediately knew that it had come from his right, and guessed the likely source: a small park that nonetheless was covered with enough trees to become a little shady at night. He wasn't one hundred percent yet, even though the walk had sobered him up a little, but he decided to go check on whatever was happening, especially after he heard a second scream by the same voice.
He slowly walked up to the source of the sound, careful not to give away his position, and hid behind a nearby tree. He knew it was most likely civilians, but he couldn't forget his training. He leaned a little too heavy and felt a sharp stab on his right hand; a splinter had allocated itself in his palm. He silently cursed his drunkness. He walked slowly up to another tree and found the source of the disturbance. It was a couple of homeless people, in a heated argument. The woman was screeching and grabbing at the guy's arms, and he just stood there watching. All of a sudden, the guy started choking the woman. She gasped, helpless, and tried to release herself, to no avail.
He jumped from behind the tree in a straight line towards the man. It didn't take much to knock him down; he simply poked the man's shoulder and punched him in the face when he turned around. The man fell flat on the floor.
He shook his hand off, still looking at the floor where the guy was. He suddenly realized that there was a strange silence, but then he looked up and realized why: the woman had stopped screaming. She was wide eyed, staring at him. Up close he noticed that she was a few years younger than him, probably around eighteen. He hadn't realized she was so young when he first saw her from behind the tree.
He noticed her too thin frame, probably from drug use, seemingly confirmed by the red rim around her eyes. She had long hair that was plastered to her head, and baggy, hole filled sweaters on. To him, she looked too young to be worn out like that, and so he stepped forward, unsure of what he was doing. Her eyes widened further, and he noticed that they were a vivid blue that shone even behind the fog of her likely drug abuse. She took a step backwards, and then he realized that she must be afraid of him.
He failed to notice that there was actually someone behind him, who hit him heard on the head, causing him to fall backwards. The alcohol effect seemed to expand tenfold on his brain, simply fueled by what had probably been a shovel in the head. He was blind, not even knowing whether he was turned upside or downside, until he felt a kick in his chest. He coughed loudly and folded his arms protectively, trying to gain a sense of his surroundings. Another kick, this time in the groin. He groaned in pain, feeling a shock go up his spine. The sense of urgency grew stronger in him; he swung his legs in an attempt to get back on his feet. He heard a faint scream "Robbie, NO!". It was the woman screaming as he felt a kick that he was finally able to deflect.
As he got up, he noticed that the woman had thrown herself on top of the man, attempting to tackle him. She had no chance against him with that thin frame though, but it provided enough of a distraction for him to knock the man out cold (this time for sure) with a single blow. The woman stumbled to the ground, entangled with the guy as she had been.
He approached her, his right hand stretched, to help her up. His ribcage was sore and he winced a little at the movement. But to his surprise, she looked up at his hands, with those incredible blue eyes, than looked up at him for a single second. She quickly got up and ran away, leaving him surprised with her alertness. He didn't think to run after her; he only thought to tell her that she should get the hell away from this creep Robbie she was with; and she was already putting a mile's distance from him. Also, he doubted his own capacity to run that much at that point in the evening.
So he turned his back on the guy (after making sure that he was indeed out cold and that there was no one else around) and started walking back his previous path towards his house. His head ached really badly, and he was starting to see red. His house was only one block away now, and he was sure that he could make it, dismissing the pain.
Ten meters from the entrance of his building, darkness engulfed him, making him fall flat on his face in the cold curb. He wasn't even awake long enough to feel the rain that had just started.
On the next day, lying down on his bed, he had a killer headache and no concrete memory of how he had even arrived at his bed. Every time he closed his eyes all he saw was that vivid blue blinking quietly at him.
