Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Meera's quote from the previous chapter comes from T.S. Elliot's "The Hollow Man."
TWO YEARS EARLIER:
Meera walked with her friends down the main street of Starlack City. To any other person they would look like some kind of a weird gang, all the girls wearing the exact same hat a brown baseball hat, with the letters PFA written within a two-inch wide green strap going across the front. PURE FEMALE ATTITUDE. But to someone who looked close enough, or knew the streets, they weren't just a gang. They were the scariest kids that you could ever lay your eyes on. Spending most of their time underground, hanging out in secret organizations.
A female member could always be recognized by the hat she wore and the barbed-wire tattoo around her left bicep. A male member could be recognized by the same tattoo and brown bandanna worn on his heads.
"Meera, you working tonight?" A guy in the group asked as the teens walked into a convenience store. She looked around, the storeowner's eyes automatically locked on to her.
"Of course, what about you?" she asked him. Her eyes roamed over the store as she tilted her head and popped her neck.
"Yup."
"I'll meet you guys out there," she said to the group. After a few minutes of walking the isles, Meera picked up a candy bar and walked to the cashier. As they walked outside she placed the candy on the counter. "Here you go." The cashier rang up the chocolate and handed her her change.
"He's watching you, you know?" He said as she turned to leave.
"No, I don't know. Who is?" she asked.
"I've already said too much," the clerk answered.
Her immediate conclusion was that the man was a few slices short of a Pineerian loaf, but still she pressed on. "What do you mean? Who's watching me?"
"Meera, come on!" One of the group members walked back into the store to get her.
The shout started the both of them and when she looked at him again, the clerk smiled as if nothing had happened. "Thank you, come again."
Frowning slightly she said, "Yeah, sure."
-----
He watched her from a nearby ally; she had grown up since the last time he'd seen her nine years ago. He remembered her long black hair and entirely green eyes. But her hair had changed. Not that he could tell what color it was. All he saw was shades of white, tan, and violet. Unless he had his goggles, that was the only time he could see regular colors, but at that moment he was not wearing them.
She was no longer the little seven-year-old who had stumbled upon him killing her parents. She was a fifteen-year-old who wanted to know where she came from. As discreetly as possible he tailed her.
"Your turn, Meera. What was your family like?" a boy asked her.
"Meera," he said her name experimentally. He hadn't said her name since he talked to his old cellmate back at the Orion.
"I don't remember. I was adopted when I was seven."
"Why were you adopted?" the same kid asked.
"My parents were abusive," she told them.
"Come on! Everyone knows they were killed. They even say you were there," a girl said. He made a mental note to kill the girl.
"Right! And I at seven single-handily subdued the murderer and handed him over to the police, and walked away without a mark on me," Meera told them all.
"Could have. I mean, have you seen yourself fight? That's why your Chicago's favorite."
Riddick remembered that night like it was yesterday.
-----
Meera sat in her room at the Mackenzie house. She remembered the day her parents died as if it was yesterday.
"Mommy! Daddy! I'm home!" She walked into her home after playing at a friend's house. Then she saw him: a tall, bald guy stood behind the couch with something bloody in his hand. He turned and regarded her with a somewhat blank stare, his hand shaking. The guy seemed to be struggling with himself as he looked down at the floor.
"Leave," he ordered.
"Leaving."
She laid down and put her hands under her head. That guy was definitely scary. Suddenly, she sat up. He's watching you, you know? The clerk's voice echoed in her head. Who was watching her? Was it that guy? Coming to finish the job now that she was older?
Then she remembered the day at the orphanage:
"Meera! Come here!" the headmaster shouted.
"Yes sir?" Meera asked. She was only eight; a year had passed since her parents' murder.
"This was dropped off for you." He handed her a box and looked on with interest. "Well open it." She did as she was told, tearing off the top and peered inside. "Well, what is it?" He examined what she held up: a chain, complete with a set of dog tags. One of which opened into a locket- she did not learn this till years later, one side of the tag revealed a picture. A boy with a shaved head and entirely blue eyes smiled back.
"Who sent it, sir?"
"I don't know."
"Can I keep it?"
"Yes. You may."
"Thank you."
Her hand flew to the locket. She thought she had seen the boy, now a man, lurking around in the shadows. He looked vaguely familiar and it bothered her.
-----
Riddick watched her hand fly to the locket. She was a smart girl, she'd eventually figure things out. A smile crept on his face and his eyes flashed. He had given the locket to his adopted father - the convenience store clerk-slash-owner - to give to Meera after he left for the Orion. He guessed his father did his job.
He would never have killed her parents if they hadn't tried killing him. Of all the nerve. Dumping him in that liquor store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
Shaking his head, Riddick continued to watch over his sister.
Review please.
~Litl A~
