Glimpses of Moonlight

chapter 3

6 years earlier

Shyloh watched Victor's face. She had told him she was leaving and she begged him to come with him. His face gave away no hint of what he was feeling when she told him, but he had told her that he needed to stay with Jimmy, to protect him. She told him he had promised to protect her. He didn't respond and she knew her answer. She ran a small tan hand through her long black hair and sighed. She had wanted him to come with her, but she guessed he didn't care enough about her. She walked over to him, got up on her toes and kissed his cheek. She had thought he would pull back, but he didn't. Instead he pulled her into a hug. She hadn't expected him to do that and she remained still for a moment before wrapping her arms around his waist. Her head rested against his chest, he held her for a good five minutes before he pulled back. His face blank and she whispered goodbye, he didn't reply. She walked out of the room and out of the facility. They all let her go.

She had wondered around for weeks before she found an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. She entered the house and looked around, the place was small, but it would suit her well. She set to work cleaning the house and went out to chop wood after finding an axe near a woodpile behind the house. She got a fire going and found a blanket and a bed, curled up on the bed and fell asleep. About a month later she heard about the deaths of two of the members of her former team, Wade and Bradley.

Wade was a jerk but he was always made her laugh and Bradley, he didn't deserve to die, he was just a great guy. He was a bit timid and shy but he always talked to her. She had tossed the newspaper into the fire and she knew immediately who had done it. Shyloh wasn't stupid. She stared at the flames. The follow day she had gone out to chop wood when she felt a presence. She didn't turn to face the new comer who had just emerged from the woods, but instead stood perfectly still.

"Have you come to kill me, like you killed the others?" Shyloh's tone was accusing. She turned slowly so she was only half facing him. Half her body in shadow. "Victor"

present

Shyloh had to leave, she couldn't be around Jimmy without thinking of Victor. She had spent to much time trying to forget Victor. When Jimmy told her he didn't know where Victor was, she took that as a sign that she would probably never see Victor again. She took off in the middle of the night, quietly and fast. No one even knew that she was gone. She left the grounds managing to do so without setting off the alarms and the machines they had protecting it. She scanned the ground below the wall she was perched on, but not a sound was heard, not even the mouse that scurried quietly across the street. She jumped off the wall silently landing on her feet and taking off in a full run. She didn't know where she was going, but she was going there fast.

She found herself, a few days later, in the back woods of Canada. She had reached her old home, without even thinking about it. The house was dirty and windows were broken and covered with cobwebs. The front door was cracked down the middle like someone had kicked it in. She pulled out a flashlight since the sun was setting. She turned it on and made her way slowly into the front door. There was broken glass, lamps, tables and furniture everywhere. She frowned as she moved the light around the room. The living room was a mess. The couch was ripped in half, the coffee tables were broken, her favorite lamp lay in pieces on the floor. She moved cautiously over a broken chair and into the kitchen.

Pots and pans were everywhere. Cabinets were ripped off the walls, the sink was broken more so then it was when she lived there. She had always used water from the small stream that wasn't far from the house. There were claw marks and scratches all over the surfaces that weren't beat up or destroyed. She recognized the marks. She moved slowly through the kitchen to the master bedroom. The bed was torn in half, her clothes, his clothes were ripped and torn in pieces all over the room. On the broken bed lay her favorite blanket, still intact.

Shyloh walked over to it and picked it up. It was a faded red blanket with moons and stars on it. Victor had bought it for her at a fair they went to. It was made by a native American woman and Shyloh had fallen in love with it. She held it to her chest and sat down on a chair nearby that was still in one piece. She sat with the blanket to her chest until she heard a noise coming from the closet. She put the blanket down and got up slowly moving towards the closet. She brought the flashlight up to check in the closet. She let out a noise that was quickly silenced by a hand around her throat.