The Stray Dragon and The Lonely Flower

Once Again, You Saved Me

You were wrapping your hand with a bandage, it was severely swollen after you slapped the metal face of the cyborg. Damn, it really pissed you off, and it was really painful. He wasn't being serious when you asked him the questions, but that didn't change the fact that he saved your life at the bridge; if what you thought was true, he might have saved you twice.

If only he could answer your question properly, then you would've given him the gift, which was now missing after you threw it to him.

Now you're in your room, in a cheap apartment right at the 21st floor. You got up from your bed, decided to go to the kitchen to fix dinner. You lived alone obviously, missing dad and deceased mother, with an aunt that lives far from you; you got no one to talk to or someone to accompany you. But you didn't mind. Living alone wasn't that bad, in fact, you don't have to deal with annoying people. Just you and your precious solitude. Nothing can change that.

You reached the kitchen and went to the fridge, opening it with a good hand. You crouched as if you were bowing, checking the contents that you have in the fridge. There was a leftover cake that you got from your neighbor yesterday, which their daughter celebrated her 6th birthday.

You took it out, and went to take a fork with you to the living room. You sat on the couch, looking around for the remote of the TV. When you found it, you picked it up and pressed the 'on' button. The TV lighted up and you started to take a small chunk of the half-eaten cake. It was some sort of a cooking show.

As you ate the cake, somehow it reminded you your birthday. You managed to celebrate them with your aunt, but only after you were turning to 5. Then she started to become fully occupied with her job until she only came home for sleeping, but that didn't mean that she was neglecting you. Sometimes she would left you a note, apologising for not being a good aunt and make it up to you by giving you gifts and bought you a slice of cake just for you to eat.

It wasn't the best, and you never cared if she didn't give you presents, just her being with you for one day is actually enough, but you couldn't demand for such thing now could you? At least, she didn't forget your birthday. Without realizing it, you already finished the whole slice, but you were still hungry. You wonder if there's sonething else you could find in your fridge.

You got up from the couch, the TV was still on. You were on your way to the kitchen, but something wasn't quite right. But maybe it was just a feeling, or the cake, so you kept on walking to the kitchen.

You went in, and checked at your pantry. Spaghetti sounded nice for tonight, and you got a can of tomato paste to spare. So, you took out the ingredients to start your cooking. You took out a pot and filled it with water. You placed the pot on the stove and turned the fire on. You went to take a ladle so that you could prepare the sauce. As you waited for the water to boil, suddenly you heard a crash at your living room. You jumped at the sudden sound, so you quickly ran out to see what was the ruckus. You saw that your front door was barged in. The door got kicked until it pulled off from the hinges; didn't they know fixing that would cost a lot of money?!

You looked up to see the intruder was, there were a few men in familiar black cloaks staring at you under the shadows of their hats. They looked almost similar to the woman that came to your shop a few days ago before the incident. They were holding something sharp in their hands, which you would assume that they're knives.

Without warning, one of them lunged at you, and you were clueless that time, so you closed your eyes, screaming as you shield yourself from the incoming impact. But the man grunted in pain. You were shocked when you heard that, so you slowly opened your eyes to see that you actually hit him with the ladle. Due to reflexes. Who knew ladles can be useful at times on different occasions.

With the opportunity, you quickly ran away from the man, on your way to your room. Of course, the entrance was filled with bad looking people, so how can you even outsmart your way out? The men saw that you're fleeing, so one of them screamed something to the others in Japanese as they chased you.

You managed to outrun them and went inside your room, locking it. You leaned yourself on the door, heart beating fast as adrenaline rushed through your veins. You searched through your room, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna fight them? If so, what can be your weapon?

A table lamp?

A pillow?

A baseball bat?

Whatever it is, it couldn't fight back the knives they were holding, though the bat had a slight chance. The door you were leaning on suddenly went wild. They were kicking it off like they did to your front door. You didn't have much time. Fear overpowered you, and you felt like you wanted to flee. But the window of your room wasn't an option, you're in the 21st floor for goodness' sake. Without thinking any further, you ran to the baseball bat and swing it to ready mode. You're still scared, but you face yourself at the door at a safe distance. You are sweating so much, you almost lost grip to your bat.

The door managed to open by the bad guys, they were looking at you, outnumbering and overpowering you. What did these people want from you actually?

"Stand back! Or I'll...I'll..." you were lost for words, and the cloaked men already inched closer to you. You were cornered. Tears already formed in your eyes, didn't your neighbors hear the commotion? Or maybe they weren't home right at this time? You felt helpless, even with the bat. You tried to hit them, but one of the men quickly evaded it and took the bat from you, tossing it aside.

You already stood at the corner of your room. But there's still room for you to back away.

"Please... don't hurt me... What did I do wrong...?" They didn't answer quickly, instead they took a step closer with knives in hand.

"You have to come with us. Our boss is expecting you..."

Boss?

"Wait..? What?" You already at the end, your back met the corner of your room and slowly your body slid down until you sat on the floor, looking above to your intruders.

" You are an asset to our plan." One of them told her. They were a few inches away, and you cowered yourself away from them, but it was no use.

You closed your eyes, hiding your face away from them as you don't want to look at them. With ragged breaths, you tried to use your last resort.

Taking a deep breath, you screamed out,

"AAAAAHH!!!!"

A few seconds, everything changed.

Just by the sound of broken glass.

You didn't see what was happening, because you were too scared, but you could hear the men was yelping in pain and a few thuds on the floor. It took a few good minutes until all went silent.

Not a single word.

Or a single sound.

Silence.

You wanted to look, but you didn't dare to lift your head. Until,

"You're safe now."

A familiar half-robotic voice came to your ear canals. Your head shot up to see the same cyborg that you met at the bridge.

With the same color of green neon.

"H-How did you..?" Then you realized your room was a bit chilly.

You turned to see a broken window at your room.

Did he went inside from there?

Isn't this the 21st floor?