Going Up In Flames

Chapter 1

VALESKA

Crouch down, Valeska...

Keep your grip steady...

Finger on the trigger...

Focus...

Aim...

Shoot.

Go again.

She always thought that if she listened to him, she would grow up to be just like him. He was her inspiration as a child, but it seems relationships can take quite the tumble, for the worst.

Family or not.

But she knows that one day, she will get her hands on him. She is determined.
She will use his own techniques against him.

Against her so called, deadbeat, narcissistic, devilish father.

Valeska Kuznetzov, that's the name of the young Russian taking on her demons one by one, her nightmares, as well as serve justice to the rest of the trash on the streets.

She used to look up to her father, she wanted to be just like him. She wanted to be as intelligent, although he was actually just manipulative, and she wanted to have the power over people that he had, but that was, of course, just fear.

As she grew up, she realised what a monster her father really is, and has been all along. She used to idolize her father, she used to follow him wherever he went, but no longer will she be so naive, nor foolish. Those days are dead and gone.

Her father ran away after betraying his whole family, after tearing everything apart, and the only reason he ran away, Valeska was well aware of this, is because he was afraid of his daughter.

He knew what storm was approaching...

As for Valeska's mother, she doesn't usually talk about her much, all it causes her is heartache and sorrow, as she is also gone, absent, and she despises feeling weak. There's no place for tears, nor heartache, nor sadness, when she can just go after the cause of it all.

Because of that, the two sisters were left abandoned, and them only being young teenagers didn't make the situation any easier.

So at sixteen, Valeska stayed in school while juggling work, studying and looking after her sister. First it was waitressing, then being able to serve drinks at a bar after pulling some strings with an older friend.

It kept food on the table, but she soon learned that it was not enough for everything.

Valeska started dabelling in illegal situations made possible through encounters with people she met as time went on.

She sold cigarettes to teens after school, which turned into drugs, and after that, turned into weapons manufactured by someone who quite literally came out of nowhere.

The same helpful stranger introduced her to some fat cat who claimed he needed her assistance. Interrogations turned into threats, which turned into kidnapping and torturing, and then, lastly, led to her first assassination at eighteen.

The thrill of it all became a real reality for her, and things went downhill from there, but she was able to put food on the table, pay the bills, give her sister comfort, and more.

It was all worth it, if it meant her sister's safety, health and happiness.

When Valeska finished school, she made a priority of tracking down her father, and finally putting an end to her family's misery.