-1Ow! Man did my head hurt. I felt like I had gone up against a wall and lost the battle with the back of my head. I looked around and noticed my vision was slightly blurry but I could still see where I was going. I couldn't remember what happened yesterday and thought I was late for my first day of school.
My head must've been hit pretty hard to forget my first day of school. I looked on my clock and realised it was a Saturday so I was fine. I breathed a sigh of relief and put my clothes on.
I opened the door and blinked a couple of times. Was I dreaming? "NO WAY!" I yelled. Bad idea, my head yelled back at me in a lot of pain. The hall outside my room was filled with everything from the rooms along it. I looked at mine to notice that luckily nothing had been touched. I made my way towards the stairs to see the hall below it was in much the same way. 'Oh, great.' My mind groaned as I sat on top of the stairs and looked at the mess before me. Depression set in very quickly. 'Where to start?' My mind moaned.
Well first things first. I needed some tablets to stop this pounding in my head. I sighed thinking I had to dive in to all the kitchen stuff just to find them. But when I came in to the room there was a glass and some painkillers on the table. 'A thief with a conscience?' It was then I remembered who did this in the first place and what he said to me before I passed out.
"Go back to sleep, this is all a bad dream."
Jeez. Didn't he realise that was the pinnacle of lame? Well I took the painkillers and drank down the water in three angry gulps. That black hedgehog made me so mad I wanted to kill something. Luckily I had no pets or the animal would be dead right now.
I set straight to work. I started upstairs and was amazed nothing was broken. He had piled most of the stuff in each room away from the doors so I could get in there easily. Granted he didn't do it neatly but it made my life a hell of a lot easier. Some of the items were scattered on the floor but nothing much to complain about. In three easy hours I was finished with the top. So I stopped for a break and ate some food before starting on the ground floor. 'Man I wish we moved in to a bungalow instead of a two floored house.' I groaned in my mind.
Another three hours had passed and the house was clean again. I was so tired I collapsed on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. 'If I ever see that hedgehog again…' I growled at the back of my throat to prove a point.
Five on the dot and as usual the phone rang. "Katrina Shulong reporting for duty sir!" I always answered it like that and my parents never got bored of it. My father chuckled slightly. He usually wasn't the one to call but I liked it when he did. He was tough and sometimes thought of as emotionless. But that was only because the army trained him that way, he doesn't mean to be offhanded with people geez. "Report." He said flatly. I didn't know whether I should tell them about the black menace because it looked like he wasn't coming back. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Um…dad?"
"Hmm?"
"When are you and mum coming home?" I asked feeling my heartache. He sighed and I could tell he was going to say the same thing he usually did. "You can't ask us that Kat. We don't know when our missions will be over." He said making a knot tie in my stomach. "O-ok." I stammered before pulling myself back together. "You still have that number?"
"Uhuh."
"If ever you need help call it and you'll be alright. Don't think for a second your mother and I don't care about you." His tone of voice was becoming serious now. I held the phone to my ear and sighed. "I love you too dad." I said and he hung up the phone. I don't ever recall him saying he loved me…not once. I slowly put down the receiver and sat down on the couch. I hugged a cushion and tears started to leave my eyes. I really missed them. I tried to be strong god knows I've tried. But what I could really do with now is them being here with what I just went through. I wasn't sure if that hedgehog had gone so I was too scared to leave the house.
But when Sunday came I had enough. I wasn't going to be scared to hang around with my friends just because some mutated rodent knocked me out the night before last. 'Ok, try not to think about that or your courage will disappear.' I warned myself and stepped outside.
I was very careful to make sure I wasn't being followed. Hell I even doubled back pretending I forgot something from my house. But there was no one following me.
The tram took me all the way to the park. It was fun jumping off as it was stopping because it didn't go that fast to begin with anyway. I met up with Chris and the others at the park and we played basketball. Helen was on the sidelines cheering on the girls. Danny was good, Chris was ok and needed a little training but us girls whipped them like fresh cream.
By the end of it me and Frances had scored over thirty baskets whilst the boys had a miserable five. "How?" Danny asked looking frustrated. "I'll let you in on a little secret. I was captain of the basketball team at my old school."
"WHAT?" Danny yelled and chased me around the playground yelling things like 'cheat' at me. After five minutes of running around we stopped to catch our breaths. It was then I noticed someone in the trees watching us. I thought it was that damned hedgehog again but this time the creature was a person. He was leaning against the tree and looked like a very shady character indeed. I played around with my friends again and looked back at the trees when it was time to go. The figure had gone. Ok, now I was really confused.
On my way home I took an alternative route and ran for it. I ducked in to alleyways, slid under a wooden gate with a hole in it big enough for me and even went over some rooftops. But when I got home there was still no me following me. 'Am I going crazy?' I thought but shook my head. With my mother's letter and that black devil I wasn't being paranoid at all.
I was home safe and sound. The phone rang at fifteen hundred and this time it was my mother. She was a bit more cheery than my father and could comfort me just by hearing the sound of her voice. "Katarina Shulong reporting for duty ma'am!" I said and she chuckled lightly. God did I love to hear her when she did that. "Report." She said and I gave her the same message I gave to my father. "Really? Why do I not believe you?" Oh crud. Did they know about what happened on Friday? "You sound happier than usual. What did you do today?" She asked sounding strangely pleased for me. I heard my father sigh in the background, my mother was never good at keeping things from me. "I met up with some of my new friends from school. We went to the park and played a game of basketball." I said and she sighed in a happy way. I had a feeling the guy under the tree was there to check up on me for my parents. "We've nearly finished our work here. If you're lucky we should be back by next weekend."
"Yeah, if I'm lucky." I grumbled not realising I said that out loud. "What was that?" My mother inquired and I quickly coughed. "Eh…nothing. I'll be glad to see you." I laughed nervously. "Hmm." My mother said suspiciously. "Alright." I heard a noise in the background and I smiled. "Your father says goodbye." I know. "I love you sweetie."
"Love you too mum." I said and hung up the phone.
I was always happy when she promised to come home but knew never to get my hopes up. Last time I did I was crying for the whole night with disappointment. That was a lesson well learned and I'll never do it again. When they finally did come home I was happy and covered up my anger very well. But my father knew I was faking and for the first time in my life he hugged me and apologised. Luckily my mother was out shopping at that moment. I just broke down and cried in to his chest. Who can blame me? I was only nine years old and had just started living on my own. My father had serious emotional hang ups so I thought he'd shrug me off or something and tell me to get a grip. But he did nothing like that and just let me cry.
I'll never forget that day. When I had finished crying he told me to never get my hopes up because my parents had an important job to do. It was completely against protocol but he told me all about what they did and why sometimes I wouldn't see them when they said they would. We sealed it with a salute and I giggled. I think that was the first time I had ever seen my father smile.
When my mother came back she was none the wiser and we had a great time as a family no matter how short lived it was. I smiled and sighed deeply. How I wish those days would come more often than not.
I went down in to the basement and started some training. In the basement there are weights, a punch bag and some exercise machines. It looks kinda like a mini gym which was there for my dad really but I use it when they're not here. First was the exercise bike and treadmill for an hour. Then I put on some fabric straps for my arms and wrists. I so felt like hitting something and turned to the bag imagining it to be that black menace. If he was here right now I'd show him. The force of my kicks on the bag echoed throughout my basement.
But ten minutes in and the bell rang. There was an intercom in the basement so I turned on the image viewer. 'What the?' There were two what I could only guess were people wearing yellow coats with the collar turned up with matching yellow hats. Can you say…dick Tracie look-alikes?
I took a metal pole used for putting the weights on and hid it behind me. They rang the bell over and over again. I pressed the intercom in the hallway. "Yes?" I asked, seeing them turn to the speaker. "We have an urgent matter to discuss." I heard the tall one say. "Very urgent." The little one agreed. "What? Who put you jokers up to this?" I said glaring at the door. "No one. But it's a matter of life and death if you don't give us that chaos emerald." I froze with my finger on the button. When I regained my senses I was angry. "Listen pal. I don't have a chaos whatever because a certain black rodent already searched the place." Then I saw something in the corner of my eyes. I stopped and pointed the pole towards the stairs. "What are you doing in my house?" I growled and turned to see what had distracted me.
"Another rodent?" I said in dismay looking at this tart of a bat standing in front of me. "HEY! Now there's no cause for that. I'm not like Shadow."
"Oh, so that's his name. Well sorry if I don't seem hospitable. But he knocked me out, tied me up and it took me six hours to put everything back when he left! The only thing I was grateful for was he left my room-" I stopped. "This is all just a rouse isn't it?" The bat nodded. "You fell for it hook line and sinker." She smirked and flew out the window. I turned to the intercom to see the robots had left as well.
"DAMMIT!" My grip tightened on the pole and I ran up the stairs. I have never been so angry in my life. I saw my stuff piled in the hall and stopped by my door.
Shadow was in the middle of my room with his arms folded looking very angry. But I was just as angry as he was. "Where is it?" He asked growling at me. He had the nerve to try and order me around after what he did? "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" I yelled. It was then and there my patience flew out the window like my old clock with that annoying alarm. Shadow opened his eyes and seemed a bit unnerved at the anger I showed but quickly pulled himself back together. "The chaos emerald. Where is it?"
That was it. I couldn't take this anymore and completely lost control. It the blink of an eye (Shadow's to be exact) I swung the pole and hit him out my open window with all my might. "HOMERUN!" I yelled and slammed my window shut. Bet you weren't expecting that you oversized fur ball.
That's when it dawned on me. What I did was probably a big mistake. A very big mistake.
It became very clear when the door bell rang a few seconds later. A terrible feeling started to grow in the pit of my stomach. I fell to my knees and dropped the pole. "What have I done?" I murmured just as the door flew open. I sat with my back against my bed with the door on the other side. A shadow…his shadow to be exact appeared in the doorway on my wall. I could hear someone walking very slowly and purposefully towards me. It was laughable to think he could intimidate me now. I was too tired to be scared right now.
He came around my bed and stopped before me. I could see were I hit him. He was holding his arm and giving me one hell of a death glare. "If you've come to kill me I wouldn't blame you. I probably would do the same."
"Hmph! You're not worth the effort. But if you ever try anything like that again I will-" I just laughed, I couldn't help it. He stepped back and looked at me like I was crazy. Well in a way I guess I was right now. "What's so funny?" He asked, man did I ever take him off guard. "Y-you are." I choked. "Y-you s-sound just like my f-father." I said gasping through breath. "ENOUGH!" He yelled and slammed me in to my bed glaring at me again. "WHERE IS THE CHAOS EMERALD?"
"I have absolutely no idea. You think killing me is a waste of time? Turning this whole house inside out was a waste of time." I said holding back the giggles that threatened to come out. Instead there was stupid smile plastered across my face. "No! It has to be here." He growled and took out the rest of my room.
When he had finished within the next few seconds he sighed deeply. "You really don't know where it is, do you?" He asked and now it was my turn to sigh. "There's no point in me saying it anymore when you're not even going to believe me." I said and Shadow came over to me. "Your parents should've told you where they had hidden it. The man I am working for tells me they haven't put it in the base just yet. It is heavily guarded and just down the road from here. If you find it don't put it there and give it to me, I promise I won't kill you."
"What can I give you that I don't have?" I said bowing my head. "This is what it looks like." He said and I lifted my head to see a glowing emerald the size of my head. I just looked tiredly at it and shrugged. Shadow sighed again. "Well if you do happen to find one keep it and I'll come get it." He turned to leave and I just had to say something. "Shadow. I'm sorry about your arm." I said and he froze. "I guess you could say we're even." He said and walked out the house closing the door behind him.
After about an hour of staring at the ceiling I dragged myself downstairs to see the extent of the damage. The door was barely closed and I came to a decision.
I picked up the phone and found my mum's letter in the pile of stuff from my room. I dialled the number and a friendly sounding woman answered the phone. "How can I help?" She asked so I cleared my throat. "My name is Katarina Shulong daughter or Michael and Annie Shulong. They told me to ring this number if someone was following me. Well they didn't follow me, they broke in to my house instead."
"Are they still there?" She asked in that stupid cheery voice. "No." The phone on the other end hung up and I raised an eyebrow in question. "Hmm."
Five minutes later and someone tapped on the door. It slowly creaked open and a tall black guy was standing there wearing shades and a suit. "Whoa, you weren't kidding." He said and stepped in. A few other men came in behind him with some tools by the look of things and fixed the door. "So you're Katarina. I've heard a lot about you." He said smiling at me and bending down to my level. "Can't say the same about you." He laughed at my tough act and put a hand on my shoulder. "Who are you?"
