That Summer

I ran through the park, laughing with my friends. The summer would last forever, our innocence retained. How stupid we were.

Darkness came. Street lights glowed. Villains rose. Parents came.

They found my friend's bodies. They never found me.

Morning bell rings and I force myself out of bed. My empty dreams fade away in the light of the rising sun.

I start my morning routine: get dressed, knife throwing, breakfast, work-out, brush teeth, polishing gear.

The second bell rings and hundreds of "recruits" like me file out of rooms identical to mine.

We walk down the hall in straight lines. Eyes kept to the ground.

Screams come from training rooms. I flinch, remembering the harsh words and pain.

Alice works her way up next to me, breaking the lines. We quickly form them behind her.

'Kai,' she says, poking my forehead, 'Sir wants you to report to briefing before morning training today. Better hurry, I was supposed to give you this message an hour ago.'

I widen my eyes at her, and peel away from my line at the next hallway.

Now that I'm out of routine I can think clearly. Marsha, Henry, Tallie. Marsha, Henry, Tallie.

I need to remember their names.

October 14, 2008. We were ten. Now I'm 25.

'Hurry up!' Alice comes running down the hallway, 'I really don't want you to die! You're funny!'

She pushed her face in front of mine and stared at me with her startling blue eyes.

I nod at her, and try to hide a smile. If a higher up saw me now, I would surely be punished.

Alice smiled at me more and I cracked.

I laughed and hugged her tight. 'Alright, lets go before someone sees us!'

Alice giggled, then grabbed my hand and led me down the hall. If anyone had looked at us, they might have mistaken us for a happy couple.

No couples, rule no. 178. No smiling, rule no. 5. No running in the halls, rule no. 68.

For a second nothing else mattered. Footsteps sounded in the hall and I fell into a steady face, shoving my emotions into a box.

Alice kept trying to pull me along but gave up when trainer Tami turned the corner.

I nod, and Alice smiles and waves. Tami nods back and continues walking.

We turn the corner and stop in front of a door like the thousands of doors in hundreds of hallways.

Alice opens it and leads me inside, 'Dad! He's here! Can I get shopping privilege now?'

I smile on the inside, as I've taught myself to do. If Sir ever found out about us, he would kill me and take away Alice's privileges.

She really loves shopping. She took me once, when she needed someone to help her hold packages.

'Bring him in. I'll give you a shopping trip when he comes back successful from his mission.'

Alice pulls me past the hard waiting chairs and into Sir's office.

He is sitting in his high backed velvet chair fit for a villain. 'I can never tell whet you find interesting about this one, he's hardly the strongest.'

'I've told you, Dad, he's funny!' Alice lets go of my hand and steps back, giving me a little smile.

I stare at Sir and he looks to me for an answer. I simply shrug my shoulders, showing no more emotion than that.

'Alice, sweetie, you know you're not allowed in my room when there's a briefing.'

'I know... Just this once? I won't tell anyone? Please?' Alice gives her best angel eyes that I fell in love with.

Sir sighs, but his mouth twitches. 'I don't see why not. You're old enough to go on missions yourself. Maybe you can accompany Forest on his mission today?'

Alice squeals, 'This is way better than shopping!'

Sir laughs, and I almost smile.

'Forest, your target today is Emily Holter. She owes us money, lots of it. She's being very difficult, and I've decided to send you to take care of it for me. You have until sundown.' He pauses to look pointedly at Alice. 'If anything happens to my daughter, her fault or not, you will be punished severely.'

I nod, and Alice stays silent. We were going on a mission together. Alone. We would have the day to ourselves.

I wait for three seconds, then turn to leave. Alice waves goodbye, then follows me.

She chatters all the way to my room, talking about places she'd like to see, things she'd like to do. I just hope she doesn't become scared of me when the target is neutralised.

I gather my gear, and hand Alice a Browning Hi-Power. 'For safety,' I say, and she stares at it, 'You do know how to use it right?'

She shakes her head. I stare at her, she really is a spoilt girl, sheltered from most of the goings on in the facility.

'It's simple, just turn off safety and squeeze the trigger. It's already loaded. You probably won't need it, just in case.'

Alice smiles cheekily, 'You'll protect me right?'

I smile back, 'Of course, that's my job.'

Outside it's still morning and orange leaves litter the ground. Alice and I are posing as a dreamy couple on an early morning date.

People smile at us as we walk along the path, her hand in mine.

Alice leans her head against my shoulder, and squeezes my hand. 'This is nice,' she sighs, 'Why can't we do this every day?'

I squeeze her hand back. 'Because you're the daughter of a big time mafia boss, and I'm a lowly recruit.'

She laughs, 'That sounds like the plot of a romance story.'

I lean my head against hers, 'One where they get away and find true love... Or one where they both end up dead...'

'Don't be such a downer, we might have our happy ending. Just... stay positive, and we'll work something out. Why don't we fake our deaths and run away?'

I look down at Alice, she gazes back at me. Maybe that's not such a bad idea. Maybe we could get away...

In an instant I've decided. 'Alice.'

'Yeah?'

'That's a great idea.'

'Wait, really?'

'Yes!' I stop walking and pull her over to a bench.

'It's simple, we'll pretend like an enemy organisation found me and you got caught up in it too. It'll be easy.'

Alice shakes her head, 'But how will we convince them we're dead?'

I smile, 'Baggs.'