The Ambiguous Life of Anonymous

Chapter 1

I shoved people out of my way as I surged through the terminals trying to escape this airport as quickly as possible. Hopefully, people just took my rudeness as a passenger trying to hurry and make her flight. But of course, I had much more at stake than the three hundred dollar plane ticket a regular passenger would be worried about.

I had managed to outmaneuver the men who were after me in Los Angeles, but they had eyes everywhere. I didn’t know if it was smarter coming to a small town because it was relatively off the grid and unsuspecting, or if it would be easier for them to find me, but I hoped for the former.

I felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of my neck as I saw three men huddled together in a corner. They were far away and hadn’t seemed to notice me yet, but I could see the edges of the signature butterfly tattoo on one of the guys’ backs, peeking out from the bottom of his shirt.

I knew the risks when I took this job, but honestly my life was worth so little, it only made since to risk it in a job nobody else would care about. Still, I wasn’t too keen on dying anytime soon, no matter how my life was. In fact, my life was far from pathetic. I loved the adrenalin rush doing what I did, although it’s nothing like how it’s portrayed in the movies.

The man turned his head slightly, and my life flashed before my eyes. I took a couple deep breaths. I could not freak out now. In that brief moment, I saw so many things. No little girl grows up thinking her life is going to be like this. In all honesty, I couldn’t really even remember my childhood before that day, other than the fact that I once had a mother and father. I once wore frilly dresses, and lived without a care in the world. But that’s now a long forgotten fantasy while I’m living a nightmare, and it’s never over. I had been rescued twice, and got to return back to a normal life nearly twelve years after that day. But how could I adjust? I really did try to live a civilian life style, but I didn’t know how to behave. I became slightly more depressed every day, secluded, and over all caused many problems in the society. People called me paranoid, but who wouldn’t be on edge after what I had been through? When I finally assaulted my third pedestrian that happened to be jogging by me, they finally understood that I couldn’t go back to a normal life. Heck, I didn’t even know what a normal life was. However, my quick reflexes and experience in the field along with the fact that I had nothing going for me caused me to encounter my third brush with the CIA, and at that point, I was so involved that I was practically one of them. I officially took the job at the tender age of nineteen. In all honesty, it was a lot better than the job I had just before that, two years ago, as a grocery bagger.

Despite being incredibly smart, I never had the chance to get a formal education and obtain my degree, so there weren’t many jobs open to me. I couldn’t stand the people who lived their lives so easily, having to fake smiles at them, listen to their stories, and do the same thing over and over. I guess you could say living the life I did, I acquired a sense of adventure. Plus, I never really was good with people. When feelings were involved, I had no idea what to do. This lady at the checkout line once stated bawling about her husband’s affair, looking for comfort in me. Was I supposed to hug her, tell her it would be alright, or act angry at her husband? The first thing I really thought was, how can she not keep her emotions in control? She’s wearing her heart on her sleeve for the whole world to see. I really felt no empathy towards her. She had no right to dictate the life of another human being. If he wanted to do something, or guess someone else, then so be it. Plus, wasn’t it good that she found out sooner than later? She should just move on...