She stood at the window, staring with golden eyes out at a dark glass and stone city jungle, lit up by late office workers burning the midnight oil. 20 stories below, with the aid of road-side lights, she could see the street. A man sleeping under a heap of dull cloth and news paper, taxis cruzing to and fro, a woman strutting between two large rott wielers, oblivious to the woman looking down on them.
As she pulled on her gloves, she glanced over her shoulder at the mess behind her. The police would have a field day with this, not to mention reporters. Perfect.
Balling her hand into a fist, she pulled her arm back and smashed it into the top right of the double glazed window, leaving a perfect circle. The warmth was sucked from the room and the wind howled against the hole in the window. Grabbing its edge she pulled, breaking a few large chunks away. Tossing them aside, she continued yank bits of glass from the window until she could easily step out onto the ledge. Frosty wind bit at her cheeks and scratched her eyes. she inhaled deeply, the crisp night air shocking her insides, making her heart beat that much faster. Then she jumped.
Cool air rushed past, entangling itself in her long, black strands of hair. The ground rushed to meet her. A moment before it did, she twisted, positioning herself to hit the concrete silently, knees bent, her right hand following her feet to the floor, keeping her steady. she crouched there for a minute, eyes closed as the throbbing pain in her feet, legs, hand, arm and spine began to subside. Standing up, she surveyed her surroundings. The bum she had noticed from the window was fast asleep while the woman and her rott wielers were facing away from her. They hadn't even heard her. No one had noticed the girl free falling 200ft from a city building before landing safely on the sidewalk below. she looked up to find the window she had jumped from and grinned. Damn I'm good. she dumped the brown gloves in a near by trash can and stuffed her hands in her pocket as she walked down the street.
she caught the subway to the edge of the city. she had left her bike at a clinic parking lot two minutes away from the station.
she slid her black leather gloves on and kick-started the engine. she didn't bother with a helmet. she found it constricting, and anyway, no one would notice at the speeds she traveled at.
A siren waled over the growl of her engine and there were red and blue flashing lights in her rear-view mirror. Damn idealists. she hit the gas and the car faded back into the night. Too easy. 100 yards before her were three cop cars, bumper to bumper, across the road with an additional car behind them for good measure. Their lights flashed simultaneously in front of her. she screeched to a halt 40 yards away and three other cop cars turned on their lights and parked across the road behind her.
Cutting off the engine, she straightened the kickstand and slid off her bike. Three officers advanced on her. Taking one last look at her beautiful, sleek, black motor, she launched herself from the road and into the trees. The officer's boots resounded on the tar as they pursued her to the forest, but they had no chance. she was quick and agile, zig-zagging between the tree trunks and over fallen logs. Because the cops couldn't see in the semi-dark, they were forced to give their positions away with flash-lights. Their bobbing lights soon vanished along with the sound of three men crashing through the forest vegetation, but she kept running. she knew her way home from the forest. When she was younger it was her playground, and when she was older, her refuge.
When she found herself in front of her house the moon had disappeared and the sun was an hour or so from rising. Everything was quiet, seemingly hushed in confusion between day and night life. she moved around to the back of her solitary brick home and took her boots off to feel the cool grass beneath and between her toes. her bedroom window was open, the curtains flapping noiselessly above her head.
Leaving her boots on the back door step, she walked over to stand 10 feet beneath her window. Jumping up, she grabbed the window sill and planted her bare feet against the cool stone wall before quietly pulling herself through the frame and onto her bed. I should get at least three hours.
A brisk knock at the door awoke Adia from a deep slumber.
"C'mon Adia, 45 minutes past eight, you're late!"
It took a moment for her mothers words to make sense, Adias head was still groggy and slow.
"No, no, no." She began to fumble around in her wardrobe as she hastily brushed her hair.I cant be late again, its causing way too much trouble.
15 minutes later and she was finally ready, but was still lacking car keys.
"Mom, have you seen my keys lately?" she asked running down the stairs two at a time. she was careful never to jump up or down more than two stairs in front of her Mom, or any one else for that matter.
"On the computer desk, I think your brother was messing with them last night."
"He was messing - Never mind. Thanks, bye." Adia said, unclenching her teeth.
Shoving her keys into the ignition of her old jeep, she put it into gear and skidded off.
By the time she reached school, she was ten minutes late. She then spent an extra ten minutes searching the campus for a parking space, so when she'd parked, walked to class and knocked on the door, she was about 23 minutes late. After a few moments a large, grey haired woman swung the door open and walked out into the hall before addressing Adia.
"Well?" her cruel lips formed angrily around the word.
Tearing her eyes from the prominent unobrow shadowing the womans beady eyes, Adia smiled and answered.
"I'm so sorry Miss Charles, I overslept, but I came as soon as I could have." And how, in this day and age, can you not know how, when and why to buy tweezers?
She glared at Adia. "You certainly did not come as soon as you could have, because you could have set you alarm, like everyone else did, and, like every one else, you would not have disturbed my lesson! So don't tell me you "came as soon as I could " because you didn't. You have no time or consideration for me or anyone else besides yourself."
Miss Charles had spat a little while speaking and it had landed on Adia's cheek. She made a show of wiping it off before staring back into Miss Charles' eyes. She hated teachers who took the misery of their personal out lives on students. They were the pests of every school in every town of every state.
"I suppose you're right." There was a tone in Adia's voice and a look in her eye that was both aggressive and defiant, betraying her carefully placed smile.
Miss Charles' eyes grew a little bigger, perhaps outraged, or to intimidate, but Adia saw something resembling fear in Miss Charles' small, bird-like blue eyes.
"Are you trying to stare me down girl?" Her voice was low, defensive.
Adia recognized the woman's fear, weakness, and wanted to pursue it, to beat her oponant at her favorite game, predator and prey. Something nagged at her as she nearly replied. Normal teenage girls don't turn their school teachers into prey. Adia was meant to be a "normal", innocent high school student. She had to play the part. So, realizing that their conversation was being overheard by students in the classroom and that this was a war that she could not fight without consequences, Adia quickly broke eye contact an looked down at the ugly yellow floor beneath her.
"Of course not."
Adia's entire body rebelled at the thought of backing down. Her toes curled in her shoes and her hands clenched into tight fists.
"Good. Your generation is the rudest to ever go to school, in the old days I would have smacked you for your disrespectfully behavior." Her voice was back to her normal bitter tone.
And I would have slapped you back for being an incompetent old hag. It was difficult for Adia to keep her thoughts to herself, but she managed, barely.
"Go sit down before I change my mind."
It took every ounce of self control not to throw the books under Adia's arm at the back of Miss Charles' huge grey head as she followed her into the classroom. Adia took a seat at the back of the class, near the window and did not copy the notes on the board. Stupid really, it would only affect her grades.
The boy in front of Adia turned to face her as Miss Charles wrote more notes on the board. "What a witch, I've had her for the last few years, she hasn't changed."
She really didn't feel like talking, and kept her gaze on a little brown bird outside the window. "Yeah, well luckily I've only had her for this year."
Before the boy could answer Miss Charles cleared her throat loudly, silencing the room."No speaking! If you want to talk to your friends then there is the door!" She stood pointing at the door, mouth slightly open for a moment while looking around the class, before turning to continue writing on the white board.
All of a sudden, Adia felt like talking. She leaned forward and whispered to the boy infront of her, " I don't recognize you, you were in this class last year too?"
He didn't turn round to reply. Adia was mildly disappointed, but it didn't last long as she was in near hysterics as she watched the boy in front of her spin round, place a note on her desk and twist back, his face hard in military like precision. Adia felt the teacher's eyes on her as she tried to stifle laughter.
"Excuse me but what is so funny about my lesson?"
Adia cleared her throat "Um nothing, nothing is funny."
"Nothing what?" The woman stood, eyes bulging from their sockets with one hand on her hip and the other pointing her pen like a weapon at Adia as she hissed.
"Nothing, I'm sorry?" Adia offered innocently.
"Detention!"
"What?"
"After school, today, detention." Miss Charles stood, hands on hips looking satisfied with herself.
"Why? I haven't done anything to deserve it!"
" After school tomorrow too. And I don't see why I should explain myself to you."
Adai visualized ripping the woman's throat out. Miss Charles silenced with one fatal jerk of a feline head and the removal of a bloody chunk from the woman's neck. Adia closed her eyes. Normal! Pretend to be normal!
When Adia opened her eyes again she found the dark haired boy infront of her watching her. She shrugged her shoulders and set about doodling on her desk. He turned back around in his seat looking puzzled.