Miss Jackson

Chapter 1

        "Natalia, Non tutte le ciambelle riescono col buco,  non lasciare che nulla ti fermi! We l-"

That's when I woke up. My heart was racing and I could feel it about to jump out of my chest. Drenched in a gallon of salty sweat, I hopped out of bed. Ever since the incident, I couldn't sleep peacefully without the same nightmare. I'd tried prescribed sleep medication, an entire bottle of NyQuil, pretty much everything you could think of. Nothing had helped me sleep through that nightmare. Time for a cold shower I had told myself. I was too distracted to even realize it was only six-thirty AM, two hours earlier than my usual wake up time. Once I got in the shower, I let the water run down my body. I found it soothing how the water would slide off my skin and drop onto the hard, beige, tiled floor. Drop by drop, I watched, convinced the world was against me. After what seemed like hours, I turned the water off. As it slowly trickled to a stop, I dried myself off and slipped on a casual black dress. It had ripples in the bottom and showed off my curves.

I made my way over to the phone and called out to everyone, "Group meeting in the lobby at nine!"

Andrew is always the first one to show up. He is my right hand man after all. I lived with him and his family for a while in Italy. Technically he is my cousin, but I see him as my brother.

"Hey Andrew, have you seen Ali? I sent her on a mission yesterday and she hasn't been seen since."

"No, sorella, the last time I saw her was in her room with some lucky guy. I mean, he was lucky until he saw the gun in her back pocket. I've never seen a guy so afraid in his life. I think he soaked up his pants!"

Andrew smirked when he said that. He's always had the same stupid humor that nobody laughs at but himself. Yet, he is still irresistible to all girls. Maybe it's his looks, but it's definitely not his jokes.

"Ha-ha very funny Andrew. I should probably give her a call after the meeting, I'm starting to feel worried about her."

"Go right ahead. Why did you call for a meeting in the first place?"

"I'm concerned the Black Pythons are on our tail. There have been a few reported sightings of the Pythons' gang scoping out our area."

"Eh, there is nothing we can't take on. I mean, we are the dream team! Kinda like Iron man and Spider-man."

"I'm not joking around, the Pythons have become so much stronger and I don't know if we can beat them again."

"You really are serious about this, aren't you? I get it, we probably should warn the rest of the gang."

By the time Andrew and I were finished talking, the other members had shown up. I hate to keep them worried, but incase there was an attack, I need them prepared. Just as I was about to tell them the news, I heard some strange bustling coming from the doors. The lights flickered a few times, but soon burned out. We could all hear the screeching of all three doors being forced open. Suddenly, it stopped.

"Oh shiitake mushrooms" I heard Andrew whisper.

We were in complete darkness and surrounded by the Pythons.

"Hello, Natalia, it's a pleasure seeing you again"

I heard a voice talking to me. I didn't know who the person was and what they wanted with me. The person sounded like a man. He had a deep, coarse voice, like one of a man who smokes. I slowly reached for my gun, careful to not make any noise.

"Are you really gonna just stand there and talk to me in that nasty tone?"

"Oh Natalia, I'm going to do so much more than talk to you. I'm going to treat you just like I treated your parents. I'm going to make you suffer, make you want to be dead, And you can't do anything to stop me."

"Is that so?"

I wasn't sure if I was going to pull it off, but I had to try. I pointed my gun at what seemed like a shoulder from what I could see. I cocked it back and shot. I heard a groan, so I assumed it worked.

"Don't let her get away! Kill her if you have to!"

I hadn't realized there were several more people standing around me. I really needed to pull off a major stunt to get away from this. I was about to run towards the lights when I felt a pair of masculine arms wrap around my waist. I instantly kicked under his knees so he would fall, hopefully letting me go in the process. I squirmed away for only a second. The man grabbed me again and this time more tightly. I grabbed a dagger out of my boot and stabbed his leg. I heard the man cry out to the other people as he let me go. I couldn't tell what he had said. I was too focused on reaching the light switch. I flipped on the lights and covered my face in effort to not blind me. Once my vision adjusted to the light, I saw around twenty people I had never seen all surrounding me, but they were just standing there. I was confused. I had no idea what was going on.

I heard Andrew yell at me from afar, "Natalia watch out!"

He was being held back by several more men. As was the rest of the gang. But why did he tell me to watch out? I then felt it. My chest was burning, sort of like being on fire. My mouth was filling up with a metallic, unfamiliar taste. My legs were giving out and I couldn't breathe. I looked up at Andrew trying to speak, but I couldn't. I fell to the floor and my memory slipped away.