Falling.
The wind on my face hit like a thousand raindrops.
I'm falling!
Snapping my eyes open, I quickly removed my arms and looked toward the ground as I fell. Thinking quickly, I spread my arms as if I were a flying squirrel and braced my body for an impact.
And then as quickly as it had started, it was over.
I had landed on the ground perfectly – like a cat – and ran down the alleyway and around a corner, coming to a stop in front of a dumpster. I slid down the brick wall until I was sitting against it.
What the hell just happened? I couldn't have survived that. That was a three-story fall!
Pinching myself, I closed my eyes, thinking this was all a dream. Then, when my eyes opened again, I saw the same dumpster that I had stopped in front of. I sigh.
This isn't a dream, isn't it?
I got up and started walking through the alley, coming out to a kind of wooded area that I guessed was used as a local park or something. Finding a nice, shady tree, I sat down again and relaxed.
How? How did I survive that?
And then I realized.
That was no dream.
It was a memory.
It was real.
It was real.
Feeling my breath quicken, I tried hard to remember what exactly he was doing.
Something about the ultimate human.
That's it! He was injecting me with special compounds he made using chemicals that made steroids! I wonder, does that mean I'm stronger, too? Is this permanent or only temporary?
I got up and started walking again. There were so many questions floating around in my head, and I had no idea where to go with them. I had no idea where that man was, or how to find him. But I did know one thing.
He would never get away with this.
Looking around me, I saw a lot of families with their children. I wished I could be like that, normal, loved. But no. No one would ever love a monstrosity like me.
Facing the facts, I sighed and looked down at the stone pathway, thinking about everything I could recall.
Of course, that didn't prepare me for the flying Frisbee to the face.
I stumbled backward against a tree, rubbing my temple and grumbling as a teenage kid came over frantically.
"Hey! Are you all right? I'm so sorry!"
"Yeah, sure. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
I nodded and went to hand him the Frisbee when he was running away from me. I looked at him with the best confused face I could manage. He smiled and held his arms up high.
"I'm open!"
I couldn't help but smile as I threw the Frisbee to him.
I should never have done that.
As soon as he caught the Frisbee, he fell over due to the sheer force of the throw. And the sickening snap shortly followed. He sat up slowly, cradling his wrist and crying.
And it was awful.
His bone was completely snapped clean off and jutting out of his skin, exposing the bloody muscle and all. With him crying and shouting, it took no time at all for a crowd to form around him, and they were all staring at me.
Oh my god, they're looking at me.
Did I do that?
A man in a polo shirt came over to me and pointed at me menacingly.
"We're taking you in! Come with me!"
As he went to grab me, I swung my leg around him and hooked it onto the back of his knee, the force causing it to buckle and he went crashing down. I took that as my cue and took off, sprinting down the path and into the street.
It didn't take a cop car long to find me.
He must've been going at least 90mph.
I sucked in a harsh, shaky breath and pushed onward.
And soon enough, I outran the speeding car.
I was never an athletic girl, so I figured that this was also part of the experiments done on me. Finding a safe place nestled up in a tree in between two houses; I watched the cop car speed past me and down the street, its sirens blaring.
I sighed as relief washed over me in a huge wave, then looked down at my hands, remembering the sound of the boy's wrist snapping. I shuddered.
I was never that strong before. I wonder; what else has he done?
"Hey. You okay?"
I jumped so high I nearly fell out of the tree. Looking down, I saw a woman standing beside the trunk with a red and black motorcycle. She had short, spikey black hair and two different eye colors; one blue, one red. She also had a scar running across the bridge of her nose.
I clung to the tree, staring at her with suspicion.
"I saw the whole incident. Are you all right?"
I nodded slowly in response, looking her over. She seemed like one of those girls who loved to fight. We would be great friends.
"It's okay, you can come down. I'm not going to turn you in."
I yelled down to her quietly. "Yeah, right."
She held her arms facing palms-up to show she had no intention of doing anything negative.
"I'm not going to harm you. I have no intention of doing so."
Slowly, I jumped down from the tree and she smiled at me and held out her hand.
"I'm Lady."
For the first time in a while, I smiled as my hand automatically reached for hers.
"Name's Sai."
"So Sai, you're not from around here, are you?" Lady asked, and she was dead on.
I slowly shook my head. "N-no."
She nodded and examined my current outfit; a black tank top that was too short for me, so it showed my stomach, and jeans that went down to my calves. She shook her head and chuckled.
"Well, how 'bout we get you some new clothes first?"
Looking down, I realized that I had grown a lot while I was in the hospital. A small blush spread across my face.
"I-I didn't even notice how horrible I look!"
Lady laughed and patted my shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. Hop on!"
She handed me a motorcycle helmet and we were off. She took me to the local mall and bought me three whole outfits; a pair of skin-tight jeans that really showed off my curves and a black Batman shirt, a pair of flare jeans and a grey top, and a red, black, and grey plaid mini dress that flared out at my hips – which was my personal favorite – as well as a pair of black grunge boots, which I completely adored. I couldn't have thanked her enough for everything she'd done for me.
Lady laughed. "It's no trouble, Sai. I can tell that you need help. Do you have anywhere to stay?"
Slowly, I shook my head. "No, but I'll be okay. I used to camp all the time as a kid."
Lady shook her head. "No. You are not 'camping' out in the woods. It's dangerous out there."
"But-"
"No! You're staying with me. Now come on. We gotta get going. It's getting late."
Giving up, I let her lead me back to her motorcycle in the parking lot and soon we were headed down the road to a block of ritzy-looking apartments. I figured you must be a doctor or lawyer or something big in order to live there.
And when Lady opened the door to her apartment on the second floor, it felt almost like home.
