CHAPTER 6
AUGUST 2, 2002
"Salut, comment allez-vous?" A feminine voice said from the CD player. "Hello, how are you?"
"Salut, comment allez-vous," Alexandra repeated in a terrible accent.
"C'est une belle journée. It is a beautiful day."
"C'est une belle journée," she repeated. She sighed to herself. She felt it was pointless to teach her French. Her accent was horrible and she didn't know anyone else, other than her father, who spoke the language. She wanted to give up, but she was afraid of disappointing her father. The girl looked up at the Asset. "I think I'm done for today."
He stood against the wall next to the kitchen table where she was sitting. He said nothing and stared back at her. She stopped the CD player and stood from the chair. He quickly pushed himself away from the wall and stepped in front of her before she could walk away. He put his normal hand on her shoulder. She furrowed her eyebrows at him. He pushed down on her shoulder to make her sit back down on the chair. "No," was all he said.
Alexandra stared at the soldier. That was the first time he had spoken to her in weeks. The night of the party, she was reunited with her soldier and he didn't even recognize her. At first she was hurt and angry, but as the weeks went by she noticed a slow change in him. At first he was cold and quiet. Then, she saw something in his face she had not seen in a very long time.
"No?" She asked. "What's the point? I don't even know anyone who speaks french."
He exhaled slowly and turned the CD player back on.
Later that day...
Alexandra laid on the couch and stared at the T.V. The Asset watched her carefully as he sat on a chair next to her. He was concerned. She had not been herself that day, and she complained about stomach cramps earlier. He also noticed that she had not said a word since she finished her French lesson. She didn't looked at him once, but she could feel his eyes on her.
"Soldier," she said, still not looking at him. "Could you get me some ice cream?"
He stared at her for a while before walking into the kitchen and opening the freezer. He heard the soft shuffles from her feet and a door shut. He walked away from the freezer and back into the living room to see where the girl went off to. He scanned his eyes at the front door and saw that it was still locked. She was still in the house. But, where? He turned his head to the right. The bathroom door was closed. He was about to walk away until he heard what sounded like sniffles. She was crying. Why? He wanted to know if she was hurt, so he tried to open the door. It was locked.
"Um, I'm fine! I'm okay!" The girl called out and she searched desperately for something, anything to stop the bleeding. She wished her father had prepared for this. It was her first period and she did not know what to do. She heard the bathroom doorknob rattle from the Asset trying to get in.
"Open the door," he spoke in a worried tone.
Her face blushed from the humiliation. "I said I'm fine! Please just go away!" She felt the warmth from her tears run down her face. 'God, how embarrassing,' she thought to herself. She took a wad of toilet paper and put it on her crotch. She grabbed a clean pair of underwear and quickly put it on. She turned her foot around and twisted it the wrong way. She squealed from the pain and collapsed onto the floor. She instinctively grabbed her injured ankle and began to cry harder.
When the Soldier heard Alexandra scream, he instantly ripped off the doorknob with his metal arm and barged into the bathroom. His eyes were fixated on the bloody panties that laid on the floor in front of the crying girl. She kept her head down in shame. "I started my period," she said in between her sobs. "I don't know what to do."