Sina Saves

Chapter 27: A Haunting of Me by Me

Once we got back to the old headquarters, the sun was slipping down. Nico and Will both agreed they would tag team me if I didn't sleep that night. I fell asleep fairly quickly.

I awoke with a jolt. I didn't remember what I'd dreamed about, but there was screaming. I heard the scream again and realized it wasn't a dream. I shadow traveled to the area I heard it from. There was no light anywhere, and the air was cold. I sensed a strong life force that wasn't quite alive in the room near me.

I ran in and saw Mikasa with her arms raised above her face. Two black, cloaked figures swirled around in front of her. Dementors?

"Yo, dementors! Want some hope? Come get it!"

I took off down the hall and thought desperately of Armin as they chased me. I ran about twenty feet and met the wall. Before I could turn, the dementors caught up to me. I turned on my heel and threw one of my daggers. As it passed through the dementor, it sounded like sheets ripping. The other one advanced, and I felt turmoil churning inside me. I stumbled back to the wall and tripped. I felt every hope, dream, and drop of joy disintegrate.

Bastard was screaming at me and throwing stuff. I was lying on my stomach, and he was kicking me and stomped on my back.

Bastard was screaming at me and pointing at the garage door, spray painted to say faggot. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into the house. He beat me for a painstaking amount of time before the door banged open. I screamed as he kept hitting me. I backed closer to the wall as he caught his breath and raised his hand to backhand me again. My mom ran up to him and grabbed his arm. He shouted at her and shoved back. Hard. She fell to the ground. Snap. He pushed me back to the wall, and I hit my head on a stand.

He came back with a gun. Bang for me, bang for mama. Four bangs for him.

I was on the freezing street. My lungs burned. My shoulder was numb but felt like it was injected with acid. My entire body ached.

I was in the same spot, still in pain. A man in a black blazer I'd never seen before approached me. He reeked of alcohol. "Hold still and keep your mouth shut, and you'll live." He sank to his knees and grabbed the bottom of my shirt. I stabbed him weakly with my left hand. It barely hurt him.

"That's no way to behave, little girl."

He took the knife from my hand and threw it. I screamed, and a black pit bull barreled around the corner of the alley. He bit the rapist's arm.

"Let go of me, you mutt!"

The pit shook its head, and blood oozed from the man's arm. He yelled and pulled his completely-mulled arm away. He stumbled off.

I was sitting on the corner of the street hugging my knees. A group of teenagers approached me. "Ew look at all this trash. Maybe it'd be community service to throw it in a dumpster."

"Oh my God ewwww! It's a person!"

"It smells."

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't stand dirt. I snuck into gyms to shower at least once a day.

"Were you thrown out? Do you drink?"

I restrained myself from beating them all, knowing the police would blame me, especially with my past run-ins with the law. One of the guys laughed and hooted before kicking me over. I heard a deep bark, but they were gone already.

I could see my favorite people in the world, but there wasn't any happiness in me. Steven was pointing a gun at all of them. "All of your money, now!"

I pulled out my own gun and stepped forward. I waved it back and forth in a way the made me look too experienced with a gun for comfort. "You heard the man. Money. Now."

"What...what are you doing here?' Steven demanded.

"My alley isn't it? Anything that stumbles in here lies in my hands, whether it's their money, possessions, ...lives." I smiled. "So get out of here. We don't need a middleman, do we?"

I smiled and chuckled madly as I pointed my gun at Steven. My eyes shifted over to Jacksepticeye. He was terrified, poor bean.

"Leave. No? Fine then, warning shot!" I fired and grazed his hair. He turned and fled, and I shot at his feet as he ran.

I pointed my gun at my people until Steven disappeared. I put my gun away. "Sorry 'bout that. Goddamn it. That's the stupidest thing I've ever done, even beats stealing ten dollars from a bank for a week's worth of pizza."

Sean looked at me, clearly afraid. "Chill my dudes. So worth it. You guys saved me a ton of times already, really. I could never hurt any of you. 'Specially you, Sean." A smile spread across my face.

After a few seconds, Sean asked, "You stole ten bucks to get pizza?"

"I was a crazy, hungry street-rat."

"Wait... you shot at that guy. What if you hit him?" Mark asked in a truly Mark-ish way.

I emptied my gun and held out the bullets. "Blanks, only would've bruised."

"Thanks for the heads up!" Steven shouted and fired at Sean. I threw myself in front of the bullet, and it penetrated my stomach. I slung off my backpack and pulled out my Winchester from the side pocket. I threw it and hit my target. Steven was dead.

I turned to Sean and put my hand on his shoulder. "Sean, Mark, Amy, Ethan... I need you to get away from here fast. This is one of the most dangerous parts of the city anymore." I turned to Amy. "I'm the homeless girl you talked to on Instagram. Thank you, Amy."

She seemed to start having a breakdown. "I'm okay now."

"Oh God, come to the hospital with us."

"I can't. No police. I am not going into foster care again. Tell no one."

Everything around me turned dark. Once my eyes adjusted, I realized I was back at the old Scout headquarters. Will was on my left, Nico on my right. "Sis? Sis? Hey, it's okay. We're here. Everything's okay." My knees were pulled to my chest, my arms around them, and my head on top of my knees. My chest was heavy, but my eyes were dry.

"I'm okay, just relived some of the worst parts of my life."

"I'm so sorry sis," Nico said with a strained voice. "It's okay though because none of that will ever happen again."

I heard running on my right. Levi and Erwin came into view. Will explained what happened as he rubbed my back gently.

Erwin's face was tight; Levi's was horrified. Levi regained composure when we heard running from ahead of me. Mikasa came into the light followed by Armin and Eren.

"Are you okay? I felt really sad and stuff but they only had me for like forty seconds. It's been about two minutes."

Will, being a doctor, knew how to be gentle. "Sina's okay. She just saw some things from her past and relieved it. She's coming with me to the infirmary now."

Will rose to his feet and pulled me up. My shoulder twinged badly, and I flinched. Armin looked at me, and I knew he was confused but desperately wanted to help.

"Nico, Levi, tell them about my past. Everything."

"Sis... are you sure?"

"Yes, Nico. Tell them." I shook slightly as I spoke, but I knew it was time.

Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm glad I don't have to help explain or hear it again. Good luck. There are tissues in the infirmary when you're done."

Will put an arm around me and led me to the infirmary. He gave me some nectar and sat down beside me.

"I love you."

"Love you too." We were both silent for a few seconds before he said, "You need to get some sleep." I closed my eyes and fell asleep, knowing I was safe with Will at my side.