Assailant

Chaper 1: Brooklin Hayes

 

What if you found out your whole life was a lie? Would you still fight? Would you still love? Would you still kill?

 

I don’t know, I don’t know.

 

 

I have always known I was different, I could do things other people couldn’t. I could swim since the age of three, I could fight my older brother’s and make them fall to their knees. But I never really realized it. I have never exactly thought about myself. I have been brought up by treating others before myself and surrender when weak. I lived in the country with my Mother and siblings. I had to take the Father role when my Father left, so I have always picked the kids up when they fell, showed them how to fight, I told them to toughen up. I was a second Mother to them. A father role- model. That all changed with a blink of an eye. I remember faint screams and shouting. My mother hurried us into a hut in the garden. It was too small for her to fit in, she went indoors. They caught her. My brothers and sisters all gone. A blink of an eye. I fought back. I told myself I could fight, when really I couldn’t. A gun. A scream. A man. A bullet. My life was changed. I am Anna Willows. I am Assailant.

Waking up was tough. I had to battle to keep my eye lids open. I looked around the small cramped in place what was housing me. It became clear to me what I was in. A steering wheel, windows, chairs, doors, a man. A man? I jumped up and screamed. Why am I in a stranger’s car? Streets surrounded the vehicle, more cars next to ours. A city. I remember Mother taking us into the city when I was about eleven years old. The man spoke “Brooklin, we don’t have much time. I need you to listen to me, Okay?” I couldn’t believe this. A goddamn idiotic man has kidnapped me and thought I was someone else. “Who are you? I am not Brook- whatever her name is. I am Anna. Anna Willows. Take me home. Now!” I just wanted to go home. But this man wasn’t going to let me go so easily. “I know you are confused, just listen. Your mother and Sharon have been taken. We need you to find them before it is too late. They are in the city but we don’t have any information on where and who they may be with.” The man handed me two large swords. The kind samurai people have. My head hurt and I thought why does he know about my mum’s friend Sharon? “Brooklin, you need to go now. Run. And don’t look back.” “I am not Brooklin!” I was cut off by a bang and flames from outside. A car had fallen from the sky and landed on a truck. I had to be dreaming. “Run, Run Brooklin Hayes. Don’t turn back!”

 

I ran.

 

 

I was running for an unknown reason, my legs sore and scraped. I couldn’t run no more. I stopped in front of a lamp post and tried to control my breathing better, I tried to work out what was happening to me and why this man has taken me from my home and saying things about my Mother and Sharon. I tried to run again but something was blocking my way. A girl was in front of me, brown plaits down to her waist, big eyes, funny nose. She was in my way. I tried to move past her but she kept blocking my way. I was getting frustrated with her, and yet I had only just seen her. She looked like the type of girl who was the teacher’s pet, the kind of girl who entered every school competition and won everything. The kind of girl that I had no time for. “I need to get past” I said trying to be as friendly as I could. “Brooklin, could you wipe that frown off your face darling. I am only trying to help you.” The girl had a smirk on her face and I decided to ask who she was. “Who are you? Who is Brooklin?” She frowned at me but still replied to my question. “ I am Mia, you are Brooklin. We are old friends, remember?”  I didn’t remember. “Brooklin are you okay? Are you ill?” she put on a concerned face as I cursed Mia in my mind. “My mother has been taken by someone. I have to find her.” My head was spinning and I felt sick. I wished I was back in the country pulling out weeds or planting flowers with my family. My hair was drenched with sweat and my eyes were blurry. “Come on, I think I saw a man taking them to the underground theatre!” Mia ran really fast, and for a second I actually kind of liked her. That was until she opened her mouth again and started the whole 'darling' thing. "Brooklin, keep up darling we need to get there before it is too late"  she was shouting so loud that the whole world would probably have heard her. " I am going as fast as I can and what do you know about Brooklin Hayes?" I questioned Mia because I want to know who Brooklin is and why I keep being called that name even though my name is Anna Willows. "Brooklin Hayes, you lived in the city with your father who was a professional buisness man and you both had a really close relationship." My father? " My father left me when I was young and I never saw him since?" Mia grinned at me. "Well Brooklin, life is a mystery I guess. Where have you been the past few years? I missed you so much and everytime I went to your house to see you nobody was home." Mia looked at me concerned and I told her all I knew, " My name is Anna, I lived in the country with my mother and siblings. Then a man took my mother and shot me with a gun. I must have blanked out because I don't remember being put into a car. When I woke up people started calling me Brooklin Hayes."  Mia smiled at me and said "Brooklin, your whole life is a lie"