The Bodyguard

3

"She won't do anything, Andrea. Relax." Benji assures me as we reach headquarters. I knew better. The captain would either make a spectacle of my failure, suspend me or the worst, relieve me of my duties.

***
"Your badge, Leister. I'm tired of games. I've been after Leonid for five good years and every single time, you've failed me. I want you out of my sight. Your badge!"

I scratch my head, embarrassed. I loved my job but deep down, a part of me was relieved to an extent. My job has taken away most of my time, heck, no— it had taken my entire life away. I had no friends apart from the few ones I'd made in the service. I had no romantic life, not even a pet or family that I could rely on. My parents had given me up for adoption after my birth. To make matters worse, I wasn't even lucky in getting adopted by a foster family. I'd grown up in the system until I'd reached eighteen.

"That's the shit I'm talking about!" I hear Chief Webster scream, jerking me into reality. Shit.

Deputy Jenkins begins to laugh. I'm embarrassed. My face must be tomato red.

Deputy Jenkins speaks, "Why are you always lost, Andrea? What are you thinking about? You've got kids?"

I begin to drop my badge and guns. This was really it. I was done. Tossed out like a common piece of shit. Labeled as incompetent. "It was an honor to serve my country, Chief. I hope someone finally catches Leonid. I'll be rooting for you."

"Damn right, we will." The woman says, rolling her eyes at me. I scoff.

***
"You have my number don't you? Come for beer whenever you're free." I say to Benji, packing my things from the locker. I tie my hair in a messy bun as I bend to tie my shoe lace.

"You should have put up a fight, I mean, if you told the chief that you wouldn't go, if you argued, she wouldn't have let you go!"

I sigh. "I think it was destined to happen this way, Benji. Relax. It's not the end of the world."

"How will you survive, huh? Rent? Food? Water?" He asks. Benji was concerned. He'd always been.

"I'll be fine. I'll get a job, but I just want to find something interesting, something fun to do first, you know?"

"But you said you like the gun life. You like the thrill. Did you lie?"

"I do. Maybe that's why I'm weird." I say, referencing to how I'd been lagging behind romantically. All I could do was read romance novels and use my imagination to fulfill my physical needs and desires. I'd never been with a man.  I was twenty five years old, I'd be twenty six in a month. I'd never once seen a man's nakedness physically. I wondered what it felt to have a man, know a man and be with one. The books I read always made it seem as though love was an exciting fairy tale. A bed of roses ready to be laid upon. I wanted to experience it, and maybe my termination was the starting point of it.

"I've gotta go, Benji." I say, hugging my closest friend. "Don't get too worried and don't miss me too much. I'm fine, okay? I will be."

*****
The sound of the waves are extremely calming to my ears. I throw some rocks into the water.

My life was boring. Nothing exciting, except for the operations I burst with my squad and the thrill of fighting for my life during a gun fight. Going home was even tasking, because I'd just return to an empty and plain house. I just had two couches, a mini fridge, one mattress and a few cutleries. I had always wanted a cat, but I knew I'd be too busy to take care of any pets if I got them.

"Do you think the rocks are happy to be lost?"

I tilt my head to the side, wondering if I was being spoken to. "Huh?" I ask, confused.

The woman who seems to be around my age range sits beside me. She's holding a can of monster.

"You're taking the rocks and tossing them into the water. They'll get lost, don't you think?"

I arch a brow, wondering what sort of gibberish she was talking about. "Mm." I respond, looking away.

"Jeanna Walkings. Do I sound crazy?"

"Andrea Leister. No. No, you don't." I respond.

She gulps down the entire drink and drops the empty can on the floor.

"Why are you here? It must be your first time. I'm here everyday, but I've never seen you."

She was a total stranger. I could tell her and lift some weight off my shoulders, knowing I would never see her again. "I'm lonely. I've lived 25 years of my life lonely. I've never had a family and at times, I just wanna cry out loud, in the rain and you know, kiss a stranger. Make it all go away." I throw another rock into the water, defiantly ignoring her rock talk. I continue, "To top it all, the only place I considered a home— I got kicked out. I lost my job."

"Loneliness is like a disease. It eats you up slowly from the inside and you become like me." We look at each other. She continues, "Antisocial personality disorder. That's what I have. You can avoid that too. I hope my advise helps." She says, getting up.

"Thanks." I respond awkwardly.

"My father owns a security company. Fast Guard Inc. Say Jeanna sent you." She says and walks off.