The New Girl from Earth - REWRITE (a Star Wars Rebel story)

A Numbing Void

Her stomach growled an angry rumble. Her head ached at every blink. The bitter taste of cigarettes lingered in her mouth. Sure her appetite was down, but her gut didn't care. It rumbled and growled as if she hadn't eaten in days - which was partially true if you count a couple of granola bars and a bag of Doritos good enough nutrition for the last few days. Her cigarettes were gone as of last night, so she had nothing to keep her appetite down and her nerves calm.

Every police siren. Every shadow around the corner. Even every person walking too close on the sidewalk was enough to send her running and hiding. She probably killed that girl in the cafeteria. She'll be thrown in jail for who knows how long. She'll never get out of the system. No one will ever want to open their house up to her again. No one wants a juvenile delinquent, let alone a juvenile murderer. The girl didn't know what to do now. She had no one who would take her in. Nowhere to go. It's not like she can go running into mommy and daddy's arms. Mommy and daddy didn't exist. They just left her on the doorstep of a police station in a cardboard box with nothing more than a weird-looking bracelet and a note written in a language no one on Earth had ever seen before.

She needed money. She needed to get out of Cleveland. Find a new town. New people. A new life.

The girl lurked at a corner of an old, abandoned building somewhere in her hometown. Yes, she had lived in Cleveland for years, but that doesn't mean she knows every neighborhood and every street and every building. It's a large city. And, frankly, she didn't care. She didn't care where she was, she was concerned about where she was going. Anywhere but here. Somewhere far away.

It was barely dawn now. The sun took its good ol' time to creep up into the sky today. The remnants of the night still strong in the air. She hid the black water pistol in her hoodie pocket as she scanned her eyes around. Almost no one was out yet. Most of the city was still asleep. That meant there was no one to see anything.

When she saw a boy in white clothing, the girl had to squint to see if she was correct. He was in what looked like pajamas. Weird. She glanced ahead of her one more time at the boy in white. He had a small bag on him. 

A man purse? Man, how weird was this kid? Oh well. Worth the try.

The boy with dark hair passed her and didn't get more than two steps before the girl turned around and wrapped her arm around his neck. He felt something poking his back, between his shoulders The girl was smaller than him, but she managed to drag him into an alleyway. She let him go and he turned around to face her. She pointed the gun at his head as she barked in a hushed voice.

"Give me your money! Now!"

He seemed stunned. Understandable. This was her first mugging, but it wasn't her first time threatening someone. She knew how to seem serious and dangerous, though still small and unassuming.

He hesitated, holding up his hands in a surrendering motion. Ezra couldn't speak he was so stunned.

"Are you deaf?! Give me your money or I'll kill you!"

Then he started to laugh. The girl was stunned. She was threatening to kill him, and he was laughing. She got angry. She was hungry and desperate.

"You're trying to mug me? You're just a little girl!"

She kicked him in the groin. Her foot flying through the air, fueled by anger. The boy let out a squeal of pain as he fell to his knees, gripping his crotch in pain. The girl in the dark hoodie placed the end of the gun between his eyes as she barked.

"I'm not joking! I'll kill you! Now give me your money!"

Ezra looked at the girl through the tears of pain welling up in his eyes. She couldn't be any older than him. Her eyes reeked of desperation and anger. He knew that look from the streets of Lothal. She reeked of a stench he couldn't describe other than burnt and toxic.