I stared at the beaten man in front of me. His jet black hair was scruffy, his brows a bush over his eyes and had a dirty line of shaven moustache under his nose. His nose looked broken one too many times as it faced the left. His white dress shirt and pair of black dress pants were covered with a layer of dust from when I tuckled him to the ground.  I didn't have time for him

I knocked on the old, all too familiar oak wood door, memories of the last moments I had there flooding my mind. They were still fresh and bruised just like a wound from a bicycle fall.My foster mother opened the door. Shocked to see me, she called my foster father then moved to hug me."I can't believe you are here. We left off on the wrong foot. I never thought you'd come back." Shamali said pulling away just as Ian appeared beside her."Becca! It's so great to see you." He said, hugging me too then ushered me inside.I walked in the newly renovated house. What used to be a polished wooden floor was replaced by a stone vinyl cushion. The wood on the stairs was evenly polished and shiny, a brown carpet running all through only allowed to expose the sides.Just by the door, there was a long, raised stool cabinet that gracefully held three picture frames.  Two of them were of Shamali and Ian in Venice while the other one, between the two was of me whe

"Becca, I can-let me make this up to you." "Don't you give me that threadbare crap." I scolded as I picked myself up. "You've known all this time we were related, haven't you?" I asked as I forced him by his arm to face me. He still didn't spare a glance, instead his ga

"Spill!" Xander interposed, walking into his office where I had hid myself. He made himself comfortable on one of the armchairs across from me and crossed his legs. He was still on his scrubs since two hours ago."What do you want me to say, father?" I asked, meeting his eyes."Why you got Becca shot. She just got a life back and there you are on the verge of ruining it." He said, raising voice."What do you mean? She was perfectly alright." I asked frazzled, furrowing my eyebrows."After the surgery she came to feel again. She could now decipher things and make decisions without being stoic, violent or repulsive. She was just starting to become the person she was in the first place. Did you know she went back to her foster home after thirteen years, where they had kicked her out? She wouldn't have if she didn't feel anything."I leant back on the chair, silent."Jeremy!" He called lowly, concerned."Fine!-Dan shot her.""Dan?

"How are you holding up?" Xander asked just after he finished examining me.My chest, just close to my heart was burning up. It wasn't as painful as at that moment I was shot but the pain was bad. I've suffered a gunshot wound before when Marlon had invited me on one of the typical police chases. The suspect was a drug dealer, abuser and a single father. He had slaughtered his fifteen year old daughter in cold blood because he was high, drunk and angry.One of the officers silently opened the door to his house, followed by me then Marlon. I couldn't tell about the others, but I was already bored...and hungry. My stomach growled just as we stepped in, reminding me I skipped lunch for some stupid assignment against my will.Marlon signaled to split to cover more area. I took the basement the stupid girl I was, who refused to put on a bulletproof vest. The man was hiding behind a pool table, armed, high and drunk. When I approached him from behind and he, out