Chapter 6 – Run, for your life!

 Page, falling to the floor, closed her eyes. The smoke had become less, making the breathing easier. With the drowsiness fading, reached out for whatever she could grasp.

 "Ouch!" Page's voice rang through the hall. Her skin smelled, and all she wanted was to pull away. Impossible. The girl held the doorknob like a life-line. She screamed, and her face was tearing up.

 It felt like flames were eating away her flesh. What felt like a solid wall gave away. Page had turned the doorknob, opening the door. Still in her fall, she crashed into the room. The door slamming against the wall.

 Page was inside. He looked up. Holding her hand in pain. Frantically checking left and right. Before finally finding her sister, coughing in the corner of her room.

 "Alive. Relive." She stumbled towards the little heap of clothing and grabbed her sister. Her hand was held in front of her in pain, wrinkled face.

 There was a stinging pain. Pain she tried to hide in front of her sister, at all cost. "Come."

 My sister, who was crying, no end in sight, got up and flowed to me. We went up to the window and with a shoe, page shattered the window.

 "Well… There goes a reasonable height." Page looked at her sister. "Ready to jump?"

 Endless crying was all she answered verbally, but her body said it all. She tugged away and sat down.

 "On the count of three-" Suddenly the woman came into her view. "Caught up."

 Page looked at her. Cornered as they were, Page threw away all reason. Grabbing her sister. Pulling her at her dress and diving out of the window.

 Both of them fell to the ground. At the moment, even more pain could be felt. It was unbearable. Too much. Page bit her lips, until they started bleeding.

 "Sister. Let's run!" Leaning on her sister, the two girls made their way out. Abandoning their parents, wealth and home.

 ***

 For years all her sister did was cry, and all Page did was work. She took several part-time jobs, trying to support her sister.

 In the end she was able to support her sister and with time the jobs grew worse. Page did everything for money.

 One night, a man offered help. Page only had to go to train. Page accepted, and her sister started to live the life of a normal kid.

 And Page, in turn, was trained in the arts and crafts of smuggling, fighting and killing. When Page was 18-years-old, she could twist a man's neck within seconds or interrogate people by pulling nails or cutting off limbs. And all of it without a silver of emotion. Like a robot Page earned for her sister.

 ***

 For many years it all stayed like this, until the old man died and Page took over the company. She decided to keep everything as it was. With the endless money from selling drugs, to everyone who wanted, she sent her sister to a counselor to have her forget the trauma.

 This worked out for her and Lilly, her sister, moved out at the age of twenty. She sends a letter, four years later, inviting Page to her wedding.

 "Another shotgun wedding." Page sighed, knowing this ruffian of a boyfriend. "What did he do to my page!"

 She was annoyed, but at the thought of her sister's happiness, her heart grew weak. She smiled. And in the rain decided to leave the house. She went into an alleyway, over several streets, along sidewalks. Walking through puddles, passing people selling and consuming drugs, several guys with knives and guns. The usual in this city.

 At half point, page stopped. A loud meow was heard and a little black cat with white paws followed her.

 "Hello, kitty." She smiled at it and while walking along the fields of lilies, she told the cat about her sister and the happy wedding she would attend. The happiness of her mother's second daughter.

 The cat's eyes reflected the stars. As a kid, Page loved to look at the stars, her mother had told her many stories about them.

 "You see, kitty, you become one of them after you die. You become one shining star in the sky. And if you're lucky, you'll be a star-"

 A loud meow, as if to answer.

 "No kitty. Not a protagonist, a star."

 Meow.

 "Well. Maybe that is a funny double meaning"

 Page chuckled, and her hand softly touched her face. Her skin was rough, burned and scarred.

 "I will need to wear a glove. To hide the scaring, you know."

 Meow?

 "My sister could finally forget. I always wear a glove. I don't want her to remember."

 Meow.

 The two just went on in silent, mostly. The cat meowed a few more times before Page stopped.

 They were in a lush forest, the cat had brown paws from the mud. In front of them, a high metal fence, enclosing a field of graves. Page went to the last row, the moon shining on the way.

 "Here we are, kitty." She pointed at a gravestone. Two names were engraved into the stone and below stood. Reaching for the stars is reaching out for love, family and hope.

 "Mother used to say that all the time. I am here to read them the letter."

 Page folded the paper out and began to read. Telling the wind about, the wedding and how she would make sure the husband-to-be would be good to the little Lilly.

 A rustling, a glinting of glass like the stars. And one silent shot. The bullet flew through the air, Page noticing it too late, was pierced right through her heart.

 In her last moments she fell to the ground. More bullets aimed at arms and legs shot her. This was it. The cat, stayed there. Not running away. The sniper did.

 After confirming the successful hit, he ran.

 Page saw the stars; in the ten minutes, one could reminisce back. All sorts of thoughts would mix together as she was laying in the wet grass.