Thirteen

New York. Nowadays.

Two days ago I got a call from my boss and they handed me a mission. This time, the orders came straight from the head of the agency and something didn’t add up. My sixth sense screamed in my head, not to take it, but it wasn’t an option. I was glad when I saw many stars above my head. They would work as my sight once I turned off my headlights and became a ghost. Yes, I could get in and out of places and retrieve stuff, and no one would know I was there.
I’ve always been in love with bikes as far as I can remember. They meant the freedom I didn’t have, and I swore to myself that when the time came I’d have my own, and here I was on my ride. The gentle vibration slipping into my body and the smooth sound she’d make, like a kitten, purring and rubbing between my legs, soothed my broken soul, and every time I sat on her we became one. I jammed the throttle and put more miles behind me. Time was getting short.
Life had been harsh from day one. I was born a little unique from the conventional, and people were cautious around me not to say otherwise. My father, that piece of crap, left us right after my sister was born, and my mother got so disgusted with the situation, she took some meds to help her cope and got addicted. She stopped caring about us, leaving two small children to fend for themselves. I don’t even remember their names.
My sister and I got separated and the person who cared for me didn’t know how to deal with my problems, and after years of abuse she had the decency to release me to the system. Her actions did little for me, because I just changed from one hell to another, until the day I couldn’t take it anymore. When I had given up hope, fate brought me Tony. I loved him like a father, and he adopted me.
Once I got to Peekskill, I turned right onto 92 and made my way to Blue Mountain Reservation. I didn’t know what I was dealing with. They gave me a map with a marked trail to a small lodge hidden far in the woods, and my orders were to find it, eliminate whatever threat in my path, and retrieve documents from a safe box. What could be so important someone had to hide data in the middle of nowhere?
I was eighteen when I met Shane, and dad had hated him from day one, but he was very nice to me and had connections. He talked me into a special government program where I would get military training to deal with my ability. I was eager to understand more about myself, so I didn’t need that much to think about it. The problem was to convince dad to let me join the agency. Unfortunately, I just didn’t know I would become even more of a ghost.
Close to the park, I turned off my headlights and looked at the stars. Now it was time for them to shine on me, and the moon showed the way. I slowed down until I found a bunch of trees about a mile after crossing the entrance, a perfect spot to hide the bike. I needed to make sure no one would find my sweetness until I got back.
This past week my nightmares got worse, and my guess would be my sixth sense, warning me about some sort of danger I still couldn’t figure out. Something told me I was walking into a trap. My night terrors started when I was about three years old, plagued with terrifying scenes of gruesome battles and tortures. They felt so real to me that in my distress everything would move around, crashing to the floor.
I took my helmet off, pulling out a black wool ski mask from the saddlebags. Securing my dagger in the back of my waistband. Dad gifted it to me for my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t know where he got from, but it was a priceless beauty. Moving to get my gun, I attached the silencer to it. I didn’t need a pistol, but this weird feeling of dread gnawed inside me. I pulled my jacket closer and walked. Following the GPS and about a half-mile in the woods, I glimpsed the lodge.
The temperature was so cold even the night creatures were quiet, not brave enough to venture into the weather. I noticed some dim light in one window, like a candle or something, and a heaviness settled in my chest. Something was wrong, and I didn’t like this at all. Everything screamed for me to get out while there was time, but I ignored it. Near the cabin, I concentrated on the gravity on the ground and my body’s energy, and elevated myself a few inches above the soil, gliding the rest of the way. I got afraid to snap a twig or something and give myself out.
The cabin was up ahead, and the silence was deafening. The only thing I could hear was my heart hammering my rib cage. Suddenly the light inside the cabin went out, a total darkness. Not even the stars could help me. There were so many trees around and they blocked the moonlight. Step by step, feeling the air surrounding me, I reached the left wall of the lodge and pasted myself into it. Snaps of twigs called my attention to my right as I tried to calm down my breathing. I cursed myself. I should have listened to my guts.
The only thing I could see were a bunch of shadows closing on me, and I pulled out my gun, aiming for them. Someone set me up, but who wanted me framed? They’d better not let me out of here alive, because I’d hunt down everyone. I’d be their grim reaper and collect their souls, one by one.
“Are you afraid of the boogeyman?” The sarcastic tone resounded through the silence.
“Show yourself, you coward, or I’ll start shooting heads off!” I said between my teeth.
Out of nowhere a strong floodlight illuminated the whole area, and I blinked several times, trying to adjust to the freaking brightness blinding me and focus on the situation. I was surrounded. About six bulky monsters plus a tall one, staring at me with a merciless glint in his eyes.
“Well, what do we have here?” I heard the scorn in his tone, and I was sure the son of a bitch smirked behind that mask. I knew that voice, I just couldn’t place it. “What? Did the cat eat your tongue, sugar?”
“You may call me sugar, but I ain’t sweet!” Who the hell was he to call me such? They surrounded me, and this time there was no escape. I prepared myself to put up a fight, even though I had no chance. I sensed there was someone sneaking up on me from my left, and on instinct, I pointed my gun at him. It was then I heard a shot and felt a pinch on my right thigh. Shit, they hit me with a tranquilizer. Next thing I knew, darkness.