2004 New York CIty
Car horns honked and a siren wailed off in the distance. However, eight year old Charlotte didn't care. She was running ahead of her mother as fast as she could so she could feel her waist length brown hair blow out behind her. It was almost like flying, she thought. She ran on for another couple feet before returning to her mother and slipped her small hand into her mother's pale slender one.
The mother and daughter walked down 44th street, stopping and an icecream vender along the side of the road, before continuing on. Strawberry for Charlotte and nothing for her mother. Charlotte had always wondered how she and her mother could possibly be related. She was short, chubbier and had long dark hair; while her mother stood tall at six feet, was extremely thin and had shoulder length blonde hair. She loved any kind of sweet, while her mother was more of a salty fan, she was a night owl, her mother an early bird. They were so different that they got along brilliantly.
As they came to the corner Charlotte's eyes lit up, here was the toy store of legends. Glancing around quickly, as if to make sure they weren't being followed, her mother allowed herself to be pulled into the store.
Once inside, Charlotte looked up, just noticing her mother's distracted appearance. She seemed suspicious of everything and everyone and her brightly colored lips were pursed with worry. "What's wrong Mommy?" She said with all the innocence of an eight year old. "You seem worried."
"Well aren't you observant." Her mother said, bending down to tap her daughter on the wrinkled nose. "I'm just worried about finding you the perfect toy. How about we get you an american girl doll?"
"Yes!" Charlotte squealed, and together the mother and daughter went off to find the toy. All this was observed by the man leaning over a display case, pretending to be interested in the model train below. His purpose of being in the toy store that day was to find the little girl with dark, waist length hair. His display said she would be occompanied by either a tall man with dark brown hair and a missing finger on his left hand, or a tall, skinny blonde woman with very narrow bone structure, pale skin, and red lips.
Watching the retreating form of the little girls mother, she was definately the woman described on his case overview. This was definantly them. At over six feet tall the mother was extremely recognizable, her daughter however was, from what he could tell, nothing special.
It was not his job to question why the lab asked him to bring in each target. He just did what he was told and got paid according to speed and precision. He was the hired gun. So why did it seem so wrong to go after this youngster. Deep in his mind he knew why he was hesitant. This was his youngest target, and because noone he had every brought in, had ever come out alive before. With a shrug he pushed the thoughts out of his mind, put his hands in the pockets of his sports jacket, and went after the girl, he needed this one alive.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and her mother had made their way to the second floor doll section.
"Mommy, can we ride the feris wheel after this?" Charlotte asked, before realizing her mother still seemed distracted. As the brightest student in her grade Charlotte had learned to read people: teachers, sales people, her parents, even random people on the street. However this was a different kind of distracted then she usually saw in her mother. While her eyes usually glazed over and unfocused, now they were darting about, as if looking for something or someone. Charlotte realized her mother still hadn't answered her question and she was about to ask again when she saw her mother's eyes focus on something. She turned to see what her mother was looking at.
Behind a life size cut out of an American Girl Doll was a man in black pants, with a sports jacket and tie. He seemed to be just standing there, stealing occasional glances at them. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and brought it to his ear. Suddenly her her mother turned around and squated next to her.
"Charlotte whatever happens, I just want you to know that I love you. Wait here for five minutes, and then go home as fast as you can. Don't stop for anything. Do you hear me? For now just stay put." Her mother then stood up and walked towards the man behind the cutout. As she did she messed with her ring. Charlotte watched as her mother slapped the man and he passed out, a small prick of red was visable on his cheek. Looking around her mother pulled the limp man into a nearby supply closet. Taking a jump rope from a display rack, her mother tied the door shut and started walking towards the stairs.
Confused, Charlotte ran after her mother, only to have her turn and yell at her.
"I thought I told you to stay put!" She screamed, no concern for the fact that people were staring. Tears started to blur the edge of Charlotte's vision. She didn't want her mother to yell at her, especially not like that. She seemed so angry, so scared, so unlike her mother. Charlotte nodded out of fear of upsetting this new side of her mother and retreated to the doll section. Her mother then continued walking angrily towards the exit.
"She's leaving me here." Charlotte thought with alarm and ran to a nearby window overlooking the front of the stoor. Sure enough her mother was just exiting the store. "What is going on? Why is she leaving me? Who was that man?" Charlotte's questions seemed endless. But all thoughts stopped when she saw her mother suddenly turn and walk straight into the busy New York street. There was no way she could survive. With a gasp Charlotte turned her eyes from the window before she saw her mother get hit. Out of fear, she turned and ran out of the store, too afraid to see her mother dead. She didn't wanted to see her mother's silky blonde hair stained red from blood, or her gentle arms broken and twisted at odd angles. Once outside she didn't stop running, careful not to go the way her mother had. She ran and ran, until she was so lost she thought she would never get home. In a back alley the tears finally came as Charlotte sank exhausted into a dark, damp corner.
After what had seemed like ages of crying, footsteps came up to her and a boy no older than ten sat down and put his arm around her. He had shaggy black hair and appeared muscular dispite his young age. Charlotte slowly turned her head up to him, and he wiped away her tears, as if she was the most important person in the world. Her tears stopped as she looked into his startling emerald eyes. They were the deepest shade of green, so mesmerising, so beautiful. They stayed like that for a while, just looking into each other's eyes, before he stood up, pulled her up, and led her by the hand out of the dark alley.
He led her forward, and without telling him where she lived, he led her home. As she was about to leave, the mystery boy grabbed her hand and pulled her into a warm embrace. "I'm David" he whispered in her ear, ". Do me a favor, go inside, get your father and come back outside quickly. And don't forget me, I will always be there for you" With that he had left.
Charlotte rushed inside and found her father in the sitting room with the newspaper open in front of him. When he saw her he stood and came over to hug her.
"No Daddy! We have to get out of the house." Charlotte yelled, the tears coming back. Without a word he followed her outside and stood in the middle of the street. They stood there hugging each other for just over ten minutes when a small flame penetrated the darkness. Charlotte hadn't even realized it was dark until she saw how her apartment building lit up the night. Within a matter of seconds it was completely engulfed in flames and other families were rushing out. How had David known? She realized David had probably saved her twice that day, and the terrible events of the day caught up with her. Charlotte snuggled further into her father's arms as sirens sounded in the nearby fire station. Despite the fact that she had lost her mother, it somehow didn't seem as bad as it should have, like no matter what happened David would always be there to protect her.
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Thanks for reading. This is my first story so I'm kind of new to this so hang in there with me. Tell all your friends to read the story :) Now that you kind of know what everyone looks like, who do you think I should list as my cast for this story?
