Short Story

Okay, since you all (or two anyway) wanted to see it, here it is. Like I predicted, I was too lazy to W101-ify it; plus it just wasn't working out.

BUT there is a small hint in there about what will eventually happen in ODAD. (Hint: MYTH! MYTH!) It's subtle, but it will become clear by part...6, maybe? (What part am I on now? Still 3? Good lord.)

I still have my doubts since it's not W101, but this IS a creative writing blog too...oh, and keep in mind that even though I had my heart set on going over the limit, I didn't want to go too far over the limit. So I know that it could be a whole lot more detailed. It's not my best, but considering it was for school...
Sarah S.

A Second Look

The blonde woman pressed herself farther up against the door of her silver car. She couldn’t believe they had actually found her again.

She paused, counting footsteps. “Six,” she said to herself. There were definitely at least six of them.

“Gabbana Rosemerin, please exit the vehicle,” she heard one of them say.

Gabbana rolled her eyes. Only a cop would say something that stupid.

Then she heard the voice of a small child. “We’re going to catch her, right?”

She frowned. They had brought an apprentice here?

When they reached a certain age, children could apply for apprenticeships to select jobs. But why would they bring one here of all places?

Once again, the stupidity of the so-called protectors of the city astounded her.

A sigh escaped her ruby-red lips. When she got out of this mess, she swore she would strangle Piers. He should’ve been here ages ago with reinforcements. Some partner he was turning out to be.

“Freeze!”

“Show yourself!”

Gabbana smirked. This time she couldn’t resist. “So? Which do you want me to do?”

“Just come out where we can see you,” one of them barked. “And no funny business.”

Gabbana slowly began to rise, fingering the small, cold object in her coat pocket. Fortunately for them, showing herself was part of the plan.

Unfortunately for them, freezing wasn’t.

At the last second she turned lightning-quick and pulled the handgun from her pocket. She fired two shots, and faceless cronies one and two were lying on he ground, dead or else close. The other four policemen fired at her, but in their panic, they missed. She fired two more shots, knowing that the cops would scatter to avoid getting hit. And that was enough; there was no need to kill them all.

Taking advantage of their split second hesitation, she slipped through the car door, started the engine, and slammed down on the gas.

As she sped out of the alley, she glanced in the rear view mirror, scanning the area for any guns pointed her way. All she saw was a small boy no more than ten with messy, brown hair and very pale, blue eyes. Although he had gone very white, he hadn’t screamed or cried once since Gabbana had emerged from the car. The kid might make a fine cop someday.

Of course, she didn’t shoot him. Even she wouldn’t stoop as low as to kill a child.

Once she was sure she was far enough away from the scene, she slowed down to normal speed. Speeding cars, she had learned earlier on, were far too conspicuous. If they found her, though, she would speed up again.

She drove farther up the street, calculating a route that would take her to the Mellenia Bridge. Once across, there was a road that would take her to a certain point of the highway that was so crisscrossed with interconnecting roads that she was certain that no policeman would be able to trace her. Once there, she was safe.

Out of habit, she slowed a bit and drove as casually as she could through the normally crowded town square, although it was completely deserted now at half-past midnight. As she passed the central notice board, the papers rustled in the slight breeze. One of them fell free of its thumbtack and fluttered to the ground, lying face up for all to see.

It was a wanted poster. On it was a pale woman with white-blonde hair. Her face was twisted into an angry scowl. Below her picture were these words:

Gabbana Rosemerin

Wanted for theft, murder, and terrorization of the public

Extremely dangerous: If sighted, do not attempt to reason. Call the authorities straightaway.

$20,000 reward for capture

Overall, it was a face that didn’t belong on a wanted poster. In addition to being dazzlingly beautiful, she also had electric purple eyes and a large mole below the corner of her lip. Her defining mark was also more unusual than most: a series of shining, silver swirls positioned around her right eye, looping and curling around it like a many headed snake. It was an unforgettable face, easily recognized. And although that was a good thing in some cases, it didn’t do much good in the criminal world.

Gabbana checked her GPS. She only had to drive about two more miles, barely three minutes at a steady pace.

Just then, she heard static coming from the communication system overhead.

“God, no!” she groaned. Piers was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. Still, she had little choice. Hoping for his sake that he at least had a good excuse for not showing up tonight, she switched it on.

“What, Piers?”

“Hey, Gabs, how’s it going?” He sounded smug, euphoric, even. It was not how someone should sound after they had ditched their partner, now driving for her life through the city. “I got good news.”

“Good enough that you had to leave me to fend for myself with six cops? I could’ve died!”

“What? No! Gabbana, this is different!” said Piers indignantly. “This is actually important. I found—”

“I don’t want to hear it!” she all but screamed at him. “Just shut up before I—”

She was cut off by the sound of a siren blaring behind her. She looked out the rear view mirror and swore; the police had found her.

She slammed down on the gas pedal. Then she reached up and flicked off the system. She didn’t have time to listen to anything that jerk had to say.

There was a slight bump under the car, and Gabbana smiled. She had reached the bridge spanning the Mellenia River. The chase would be over in a matter of seconds.

Of course, she mused, that was how she operated best. She was used to situations in which she had a minute or less to act; it was more or less a criminal thing. Who needed those blasted Time Angels anyway? She had all the time she could ever need.

The wail of sirens got even louder. Were the police catching up to her? It couldn’t be; there wasn’t a car in existence that could outrun hers. The dealer had sworn so right before she stole it.  

Her eyes widened slightly as she saw flashing lights out the front window. They were in front of her now too. Anywhere else this would have been easy to get out of. But on a fifty-foot bridge, she was trapped.

She stomped on the brakes with a cry of frustration and wrenched open the car door. The way she saw it, there was only one thing she could do. She didn’t like it, but between loosing the car and risking jail or possibly death, she’d ditch the car in a heartbeat.

She sprinted over to the side of the bridge. She heard the squeal of brakes and car doors slamming behind her, but by then she had already hopped up onto the steel railing and was poised to jump.

With a smirk, Gabbana half-glanced at her pursuers. “Adios,” she whispered.

And she bent her knees, preparing to spring.

At the last possible second, a blinding, white hot pain erupted in her lower back. The force of it caused her to waver perilously on the edge for a split second. Finally, the pain was too much to bear, and she gave into gravity. She fell into the water below, screaming in a blind panic.

*     *    *   *    *    *    *     *    *    *    *    *   *           

Gabbana was dead, and she knew it.

It was peaceful enough, she decided. Her eyes were closed, and she was lying on some hard surface. All that remained of the bullet’s trace was a dull throbbing in her back.

A clock rang out somewhere in the distance. For some amusement, she decided to try and count the chimes. One…two…three…four…

Someone was speaking, someone nearby. But she couldn’t make out the words.

…five…six…seven…eight…nine…

After each passing bong, the person’s voice grew slightly clearer. Soon, she could distinguish her own name: “Gabbana. Gabbana. Come on, Gabs, wake up.”

…ten…eleven…twelve. It was midnight.

But hadn’t it just been past midnight?

“Gabbana!”

A man’s voice rang out in her head surprisingly clearly. Seconds later, she received a sharp blow to the side of her head.

“Ow!” Gabbana sprang up to her feet, her eyes darting back and forth. A moment later, she relaxed; it was only Piers.

But being relaxed didn’t stop her from being angry at him.

“What the heck was that for?” she spat at him. “And why didn’t you show up today? I could have been killed!”

It was on that word, “killed,” that she remembered.

“But…I was killed…” She reached behind her, feeling around for a wound, a bullet hole, a bandage, or at least something. It was completely smooth. And although it was slightly tender, it was devoid of any wound.

Piers grinned. “Not yet.”

Although Gabbana herself looked more like a model than a criminal, Piers was so ordinary-looking he could easily be lost in a crowd. He was about a head taller than she, and he had dark hair and was of average build for his height. He was also lucky in that his defining mark, a birthmark of sorts which everyone had for identification, was a small dark splotch on his foot, easily concealed by a pair of shoes. And while Gabbana had a numerous amount of disguises she couldn’t go anywhere without, Piers could simply throw on a hooded jacket and go anywhere he wanted.

Gabbana threw Piers a death glare. “What is going on?”

Piers then shifted aside, revealing what, or rather, who was behind him.

A woman was slumped against the wall behind him. She appeared to be no more than twenty. She had golden-brown hair tied into a messy knot at the nape of her neck. Her chest rose and fell with her breath, so she was alive. But she also appeared to be unconscious.

“I don’t get it,” said Gabbana. “What’s she got to do with this?”

Piers strode over to the girl and yanked up on the back of her white sweatshirt, revealing a defining mark on her back.

Gabbana stared. This was like no other mark she’d seen before. It shimmered brilliant gold, and it was shaped into a pair of wings on the girl’s back.

“She’s a Time Angel,” Gabbana breathed. Suddenly everything became crystal clear. “Does that mean we’ve gone back in time?”

Piers nodded. “To save you.”

Gabbana allowed herself to be amazed for a few more seconds before her practical side took over. “So how exactly do we plan to do that?”

Piers frowned. Even Gabbana had to admit that he had his short spurts of brilliance. But when it came down to details, he could be hopelessly lost. “I didn’t really think of that,” he admitted.

“Of course…” Gabbana said to herself. But even as she began to say this, a plan started to form in her mind. “What time is it?”

“Just past twelve, I think. Why?”

“This area isn’t too far from where the police had me holed in before,” she replied. “We can go to the spot where I first escaped them, and when they get out of their cars…”

“…we can steal one and drive to the place where you got shot!” exclaimed Piers.” Brilliant!”

Gabbana smiled despite herself. “I’d say we have a few minutes, so why don’t you go out and check to see if the coast is clear before we leave?”

Piers nodded and cocked his gun. “On it.”

As he walked down the street, Gabbana heard a low moan behind her. The Time Angel was waking up.

The girl opened her eyes, and Gabbana was momentarily shocked. Her eyes were pale gray, so full of age and wisdom that they seemed out of place on this young woman’s face. Gabbana had seen such eyes on women four times her age.

The girl started muttering something inaudible. Curious, Gabbana leaned in to hear.

“Change…quartz…memory…meridian…” The girl kept murmuring seemingly random, disconnected words without pausing once to look up at Gabbana. She wondered if they bore some sort of hidden meaning.

Without warning, a sharp pain hit Gabbana’s kneecap, and she buckled over in pain. When she got up, the girl was up and running down the sidewalk.

In all fairness, it was a clever trick, but Gabbana was ready. She pointed her gun at her and said, “Stay where you are.”

The Time Angel took one look at the gun and fell to the ground, hugging her knees. Gabbana strode over to her side and nudged her with the toe of her boot.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Myra,” said the girl. “Please don’t hurt me,” she added hysterically.

“I won’t unless necessary.”

The minutes ticked by in silence. After a time, Gabbana grew weary of waiting for Piers and allowed her mind to wander elsewhere, like how he got ahold of Myra in the first place. She had heard that Time Angels were supposed to be near impossible to catch.

The only problem was that Piers certainly wasn’t here to tell her. That left only one source.

 “Look,” began Gabbana, causing Myra to swivel around and look at her. “I really don’t know how I got here or what happened after I died or how Piers even got ahold of you. So why don’t you just tell me all that happened while I was either unconscious or dead?”

Myra, at most, seemed relieved that Gabbana was at least attempting conversation and not attempting to kill her.

“Your stalker friend grabbed me in the street.” She sounded as though she were struggling to appear angry but too frightened to really pull it off.  “According to him, he knew who and what I was for some time. He was going to force me to join you two, I guess. But when he heard you had died, he forced me to take him back to where he could stop it. And of course, he made me drag you along too, although I really don’t know why.”

Gabbana thought she knew. Both of them had always considered her to be the mastermind of the group, and of course he wouldn’t think he could pull it off without her.

Suddenly, an idea struck her.  “But if I came back in time, then I wouldn’t need saving, would I? Because I’m right here.”

Myra shook her head. “I don’t think so. Your past self still exists, and you still have to save her. And since she is you in the past, if she dies, you will too.”

Against her will, Gabbana’s curiosity was aroused. She wanted to know more about the rules of time, never having them explained to her. “You and Piers too, then?”

“No.”

Gabbana noticed that Myra’s eyes constantly kept darting between her and the gun in her hand, and it annoyed her somewhat. So she lowered it. “But why me and not you?”

“I don’t know,” said Myra, sounding more relaxed. “Piers and I went back physically, meaning that it’s as if we’re actually doing that moment over. But I couldn’t bring you back the same way. I don’t know if it’s because you caused too much to happen in the world or you weren’t aware of what I was doing or I literally had to drag you back from the dead. But I couldn’t, and just bringing you back in the way I did cost nearly all my energy, knocking me unconscious.”

“It sounds complicated.”

 “It is,” Myra agreed. “I just hope he knows what he dragged you into…”

Gabbana was sure her heart rate quickened. “What do you mean?”

“Time changes people, Gabbana. Especially your type,” Myra said.

“My type?”

“The kind that race through life in a matter of seconds, not even looking back on the things they’ve done. Sometimes all it takes is a second look to completely change a person or their lifestyle.”

“Well, thanks for the concern, but I think I can handle it,” said Gabbana dismissively.

“Don’t be so sure. I happen to know that you aren’t cut out for being a criminal.”

Gabbana gaped. “Who are you to say that?” she demanded. “I have been doing this for nearly ten years and I’ve never had a problem with it!”

“That’s because you’ve never had the time to look back,” said Myra, her voice rising.

Gabbana was tired of this. “Shut up, okay? I can do what I want and when I want to, and I don’t need your help either!”

Luckily, Piers chose this moment to poke his head around the street corner. “The cost is clear. Let’s go.”

After tying Myra’s hands together with a bit of rope, they set off down the street, keeping her close by them at gunpoint at all times.

Gabbana was fuming. Of course she was perfectly suited to being a criminal. What did that Time Angel know anyway? This was probably just another one of her tricks to escape, she realized.

They had covered about nine blocks before they came to a parked police car and heard voices coming from an alleyway in front of them.

Gabbana grinned; it was just too perfect. The car was parked just out of sight of anyone who happened to be there. “Piers,” she said, “see if you can hotwire the car. I’m going to—whoa!”

A silver Ferrari shot out of the alley and sped off into the night. Gabbana caught a glimpse of her own white-blonde hair before it disappeared from view.

“That was just too weird,” she muttered. “I’m going to keep lookout,” she said to Piers, who nodded and got to work.

The first thing she saw were three policemen slumped against the wall. They were stirring as if close to unconsciousness. She looked past them, towards the back of the alley, and saw the other two policemen. One was dead, killed by her own gunshot. The other was near death, and kneeling over him was the apprentice boy she had seen earlier.

The wounded officer was speaking to the boy. “…never should have brought you here tonight, Eithan. It was back luck that we happened to be the closest ones in the area. I’ll say you’re at least fortunate she had the decency not to shoot you.”

The little boy bit his lower lip. “I’m not afraid of her.”

Gabbana suddenly felt a little sick to her stomach. What was this? She hadn’t even shot the boy, yet guilt still coursed through her like a title wave.

She would bet anything that Myra had something to do with this.

But before she could round on her, the officer started speaking again. “I know you’re not, kiddo. That’s why I have a very important job for you.” He shakily pulled something from his belt, a walkie-talkie. “Do you remember how to use one of these?”

“Yeah,” said Eithan, taking it from his outstretched hand. “Dad taught me how.”

“Do you know what to do?”

“Yes, Sir.”

The man smiled weakly. “’Atta boy, Eithan.”

\He died two seconds later.

Gabbana barely had time to think about what she just saw before she heard the cold click of a gun behind her. Piers was standing there. He was pointing his weapon directly at Eithan.

“No!” Gabbana wrenched the gun from his hand and pushed him against the wall. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“We’ll be seen!” she added; Myra was looking at her strangely.

Piers scowled. “And are you trying to get yourself killed? That kid is calling for reinforcements. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have been shot in the first place!”

Gabbana froze; she realized that Piers was right. Even so, he had been about to kill a child…

Gabbana and Piers were silent, and they could clearly hear Eithan’s voice in the background. “Come in, Dad. I got a status report. Two men out of five killed, the rest unhurt. Gabbana Rosemerin speeding south down Venetian Drive, heading toward the Mellenia Bridge—north entrance. We are in need of reinforcements as soon as possible. Do you copy?”

Good Lord, the child sounded just like a professional.

Gabbana shook her head, clearing it. “It’s too late anyway. Anything we do now won’t change anything. There’ll be some other way we can stop it. Let’s go now or we’ll never get to the bridge. You hotwired the car, right? Good.”

She slipped through the already open car door, aware of two pairs of eyes on her back. Piers was staring at her openmouthed with a mixture of astonishment and scrutiny. Myra, however, looked smug, as if she had proven a point.

And however much it disgusted Gabbana, she had to admit that the girl might have.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Gabbana knew, speeding down the highway, that they were very, very pressed for time. However, they did have one advantage. While her past self was struggling to avoid conspicuity, they, in a police car, could go as fast as they wanted.

Plus, she knew the exact route to take. She herself went that exact way, after all.

Every once in a while, Piers, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, would shoot her a glance that said clearly, What on earth have you gotten yourself into? And it would take all her effort not to throw a furious glare back at him. It wasn’t as if she could go back and kill Eithan and fix it all. What was done was done, and if she had to work twice as hard to make up for her small mercy, she would.

Worse still was Myra, perched in the backseat. Whenever Gabbana glanced through the rear view mirror, she would catch her looking up at her with a knowing yet painfully somber expression on her face. She assumed the Time Angel was trying to make her feel guilty on purpose, and she hated her for it.

Although it felt like hours because of the awkwardness between the three of them, it was actually on about three minutes before Gabbana’s silver car came into view.

Piers let out a whoop when he saw it. “Almost there, Gabs!”

Almost simultaneously, a searing pain racked Gabbana’s skull, nearly causing her to faint against the steering wheel.

The car started to swerve dangerously to the side of the road. Luckily, Piers managed to avoid the crisis by grabbing the steering wheel. But in doing so, he accidentally hit a switch with his elbow.

A siren reverberated around the car, splitting everyone’s eardrums. Lights flashed outside the car, and Gabbana and Piers watched in dismay as the silver car sped up and pulled away from them.

“You’re getting away, Gabs! Step on it!” Piers shouted.

With a grunt of effort, Gabbana took the car up to 120 miles per hour.

Piers looked at her worriedly. “What happened?”

“I don’t know…”

The pain had gone, vanished as quickly as it had come. Still, Gabbana was shaken; nothing like that had ever happened to her before.

And it only made it worse when she heard a frightened whisper from the backseat: “I was afraid of this…”

“STOP!” shouted Piers suddenly, and it was only this that saved them from crashing into the silver Ferrari that had screeched to a halt in front of them. They had come to the Mellenia Bridge.

A figure emerged from the car in front of them and dashed to the side of the bridge.

“This is it, Gabs! Go!” shouted Piers. She didn’t need telling twice, bursting out of the car before he had even finished speaking.

Gabbana felt the familiar buzz of adrenaline as the world around her slowed down. She felt fear prickling in her heart, which she dismissed. This was no different than any of her other exploits, except that failure was fatal…

The cops were emerging from their cars, and she could immediately see her target: a man with dark brown hair pulling a gun from his belt. This was it. All that existed were her, her past self, now climbing up onto the rail, and the policeman. Both she and the man raised their weapons at the same time, but she knew she was faster and more capable with a gun.

Lights from the police cars flashed, illuminating the man’s face, and Gabbana stopped cold.

The man looked just like Eithan. It was his father.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to kill the boy, and now killing his father seemed just as bad. She all but hung her head in defeat.

She heard a gunshot, and she knew it was all over. Her small hesitation had been a costly mistake. She braced herself, again, for death.

But it wasn’t she who fell, or even her past self, now diving neatly over the railing. It was the cop who had crumpled to his knees, and Piers was standing by her side holding the gun.

“Quick, in the car!” he ordered, shoving her in the backseat with Myra. He took the wheel and sped off down the road.

Piers turned excitedly to look at Gabbana. “We did it! Those cops never knew what hit ‘em!” And he went on and on, describing their adventure in great, if not entirely accurate detail.

Gabbana, meanwhile, was miserable. Just like Myra had predicted, something had changed inside of her that night. Could she really call herself a criminal if she couldn’t bring herself to kill one man?

No, she supposed she would have to stop. But then what would happen? Would she stay in hiding for the rest of her life? Would she turn herself in?

Before Gabbana could consider any more possibilities, the same pain as before hit her skull, only stronger now. She screamed out loud, putting her head in her hands.

“Pull over!” screamed Myra to Piers.

Piers scowled. “No way! I’m driving and I can do whatever I—”

“I said PULL OVER!” This time her voice rang with so much authority that Piers actually whimpered and made a sharp turn to his right.

“I think I need some air,” Gabbana murmured.

The car screeched to a halt. Piers opened the door, took her by the hand, and led her over to the riverbank where they were parked.

“How do you feel?” Piers asked.

Outside, the pain was less. But it was definitely still there. “Terrible,” she groaned.

“That’s not surprising,” Myra said shrilly. “You may have saved yourself, but two of you can’t exist in this world at the same time. We have to hurry or you both will die!”

“Hurry and do what?” Gabbana asked, cringing from both the pain and because she had already guessed the answer.

“One of you has to be killed.”

As Myra spoke these words, there was a splash from the river. Gabbana’s past self was swimming this way; it would be so easy to just reach out and shoot her right now.

But she couldn’t. Maybe it was because that she couldn’t bear to kill anyone else or because she knew better at this point. But she knew it wouldn’t work out that way.

She withdrew her gun and pointed it at herself.

“What the heck are you doing?” Piers asked, completely dumbstruck.

“Trying to stay alive,” Gabbana snapped, nervously fingering the trigger.

“But…but…the other you is right there!” Piers protested. “Why not shoot her instead?”

“I can’t,” said Gabbana. She took a deep breath; this would require all her willpower.

Piers shook his head. “Gabs,” he said, “you are insane. I’m sorry. That may be you out there, but I can’t let you do this to yourself.” He grabbed the gun from her hand.

“NO!” screamed Myra, but it was too late. Piers pointed his gun out towards the river and fired.

Two screams pierced the night. One came from the direction in which Piers had fired. The other came from Gabbana herself as she slowly crumpled to a heap on the ground.

Myra stared, appalled, at Piers. “You idiot!” she screamed. “You’ve ruined everything!” True fear shone in Piers’s eyes as she lunged at him.

Gabbana glimpsed a pair of shimmering, golden wings growing from Myra’s back. Then her head hit soft grass, and all was silent.