Madleine packed the leftover pastries and rolls into the containers, where they would be sold at a lower price the next morning. This way, nothing went to waste and the "fresh" rolls from today would become the basis for the sandwiches tomorrow. She prepared everything, scrubbed, cleaned and took a final look at the store. Manfred, the owner, arrived 10 minutes late as usual, she "compensated" herself with some of the unsold food, which he pretented to hand them over to her reluctently as reimbursement, and she took her sandwiches.
She put her coat on, wrapped her scarf around her neck and then her headphones followed. These, and her smartphone, were her most prized possessions. It was also purely due to the fact that she worked at an electronics store and bought both with the employee discount, on top of the discounted price. This, and her TuneMeIn account that allowed her to listen to music, were the only things she'd bought just for herself. For herself, because she wanted to.
She scrolled through her playlist as she rode down the escalator and finally settled on Raise Your Banner by Within Temptation. Her thoughts quieted, every part of her just followed the music. If she wasn't on her way to the tram, she would be singing along, headbanging, pretending for a brief moment that she her life hadn't been consisted of just sleeping, going to work, eating, going home, and sleeping again over the past few years. She got on the last car of the tram, reserved for the 'magically talented', and sat down in a free single seat, close to the entrance door.
It smelled of stale sweat, covered in cheap perfume and deodorant, mixed with the smell of rancid grease and urine. Madleine was overcome by a feeling of nausea and discomfort. Pull yourself together, she told herself in her head, it's not forever!
As soon as she was able to blend out the discomfort and the smell, she lost herself in the music:
You're pushing me into the corner
Don't fight with me
Don't fight with me
Don't fight with me
I'm crowning no man for his armour or Rhapsody
For what I see and what I feel
Someone stood next to her while she scrolled through her smartphone and read a book she'd had in the back of her mind for ages.
He was close. Very close. She could smell the scent of cigarettes and beer. She held her breath and tried to ignore him.
A few times he rammed his knee into heras the tram rounded a bend, but Madleine ignored it. Then she felt a clear tapping.
Ignore.
The tap with the finger became a tap with the flat of his hand on her shoulder.
Just ignore it!
Suddenly, she was thrown hard against the window, only to stare at the blade of a knife: "Your cell phone!" the guy grumbled at her. Madleine squinted up at him. The music from the headphones continued to play in the background.
"What?" she asked, completely caught off guard.
"Give me your cell phone! And your headphones too! Or I'll stab you!" Madleine stared at the guy. She had been saving up for a new cell phone for months. Almost a whole year. And she had only been able to buy it because it was on sale, after the old one had started to go belly up.
It was her most prized possession.
Her numbers, her life, her music, everything she had for herself was on that phone. The only contact with important people in her life, the only way to make herself heard and be heard. She would lose everything, probably even her job. Marik wouldn't be able to contact her.
"Will you hurry up?" he slapped her against her shoulder in an aggressive way.
No. No way! She would be as good as dead without her cell phone. Marik would be as good as dead! No! There was no way she was giving up her most prized possession!
Wake up
I'm defying you, seeing right through you once I believed in you
Wake up
Feel what's coming deep within we all know
"I can't." she whispered, intimidated and so quiet that she was barely audible. She repositioned her feet.
"What?" the man nagged, continuing to hold the knife under her nose.
Madleine looked around uneasy: the backrest to her right had a horizontal metal bar to hold on to. To her left, there was also a bar to hold on to, anchored vertically to the floor and the roof of the coach. The knife prevented her from standing up.
"Please don't hurt me! I'll give you my cell phone! But I can't." She said a little louder and let the cell phone slip unnoticed into her pocket with one hand while she raised her hands one after the other.
Suddenly her attacker lurched to the side and the knife swung to the right, along with its owner, as the track took another tight turn.
Blood for Freedom!
Madleine had been waiting for this moment: she jumped up and struck the crook of the arm of the hand holding the knife with her hand. In a flash, she slammed her wrist against the handrail, but the force was not enough to disarm him.
She felt the muscle in her attacker's arm tighten and she knew she would going to get the blade in retaliation. Out of pure survival instinct, she ignored all caution and went straight for the blade of the knife. The stinging, painful feeling of the blade that went through her left hand, slicing the skin and cutting almost to the bone. The blood ran to the ground like a thick soup. Madleine kicked violently at her opponent's shin as she clung to the blade of the knife, feeling it cut deeper into her flesh with every movement.
So raise your banner, fight your war
Break the silence, no remorse
Won't die within
The surprise of someone grabbing a blade seemingly without hesitation was enough to make her attacker flinch. The pain of her kick and the fruitless attempts to pull the knife out of her hand set off a panic reaction in him: suddenly it was he who feared for his survival. He dodged a second kick from Madleine, but leaned forward as she pulled at the knife with her heavily bleeding hand, dragging him to her side of the fight.
He fell right into the trap of his much smaller opponent: his head was now within reach, and so was his neck! She grabbed him right at the base of his skull and pressed with two fingers on the points on the sides where his brain box was connected to his neck. The pain paralyzed him for a moment, but he didn't have a chance to think about it: she rammed his head into her knee, nose first! He cried out - and finally let go of his knife.
Madleine didn't let go of his grip and he began to thrash about wildly against her legs because he couldn't get any higher. But the blonde 22-year-old was so furious and in an adrenaline rush that she barely noticed his blows. Instead, she tightened her grip and smashed his head against the bar on the door with all the force at her disposal. Madleine hastily pressed the button to get out.
Raise your banner, won't you come
Fight the venom, the good die young
Won't die within
The knife was stuck deep in her hand and she didn't dare open it. He yelled out, but it was no use: her grip was iron and merciless! He could just as easily have tried to get an angry terrier off his neck. When the tram stopped and the door opened, Madleine smashed his head face-first against her knee one last time. Taking advantage of Newton's third law, she timed the impact of his nose with her knee, so that it came into the action with plenty of momentum. Then she threw him hard against the bar again before jumping off the track, before the doors closed again.
Into the darkness, further and further and further, until she had left it all behind her.
YOU ARE READING
Children of Adaygue Book 1: Mad World
FantasyBook One. It's a strange, even mad world indeed. A world where magic once long ago filled the air, and was felt within everything, until humanity explored it's potential for power, destruction, and war. And with it came the true nature of it: Chaos...
