"Mom? Mom? What's wrong?" A 10-year old girl sat beside her weeping mother, trying to comfort her.
"My baby. My poor, fatherless baby." the girl's mother cried.
The young girl was shocked. Her father, now gone. She held her mother till the woman had calmed down. She looked into her daughter's sweet face. And saw no tears.
"We mustn't weep, Mom. Dad wouldn't want us to. You know that. We need to carry on. I need to train more. Perhaps learn some European languages so I can go in search of my sister that Dad was always telling me I have when the time is right. Until then, Mom, we need to be strong. Whoever killed him is going to come after us, too." Her mother nodded, wiping her eyes of any remaining tears.
Brooke looked to the opening door of the apartment she shared with her 12-year old daughter. The girl entered, her sundress so dark brown as to almost be black, and seemed to be engrossed in something.
"Cherish?" She asked her daughter, noting that what the girl was so engrossed in was a business card. The dark haired girl looked up at her mother and said only one word.
"Now."
Cherish walked into the apartment and found her mother's prone form on the Living Room floor. Brooke's throat had been slit and now the woman lay, lifeless. Two big thugs stood over her mother's body. They turned as she entered, and one of them moved to catch her. Cherish turned and bolted out the door, not caring where she went.
She watched the young boy standing against the wall, taking in everything about him as she passed. Including the outline of a gun hidden in his pants cuff.
She ducked into a bookstore, knowing he would follow. She was not disappointed. From her vantage on top of a bookshelf, where she usually did her reading, much to the dismay of the on-duty Librarian, she watched as his blue-dyed hair came closer. He paused at her aisle, looking down it with disbelief.
"Why are you here to kill me?" She asked him. He jumped and looked up at her. His eyes were hidden behind bangs that touched his nose.
"Because you are a threat." He responded.
"Do I look like a threat to you?" She asked him, throwing him off guard. He answered before fully thinking. "No." he mumbled. "I didn't think so. Shall we go for coffee?" He nodded and she hopped down, pulling her ever present backpack with her.
The gunshots rang out in the quiet air and before she could react, her newfound friend lay face down on the table. More gunshots pierced the air and she ducked under the table, pulling him down with her. She checked his wound and for signs of life. She found none.
Biting back tears, she kissed the dead boy lightly on the lips. "Thanks for the fun and the tips, Darrell. I'm sure we'll meet again sometime, a long time from now. Until then, rest peacefully." With that, she bolted, resolving that it was time to find her sister.
Wearing her green dress, her dark hair in a ponytail, a 16-year old Cherish wandered the streets of Berlin, looking for her elusive sister. She stood against a wall, watching the passers-by. Across the street she watched in amusement as a foolish man walked up to a youthful-looking woman, trying to hand her cash. The woman grinned at the man, and Cherish notice his face fall as she spoke.
As the man walked away, heartbroken, the young woman scanned the crowds, as if looking for someone. And her amethyst eyes locked with Cherish's.
